This is the first of a five-part series assessing the outlook of the most important Bengals’ questions of the 2026 NFL Draft.
• Monday: What happens at pick No. 10?
• Tuesday: Can they build the future at CB?
• Wednesday: When’s the best time to add pass rush?
• Thursday: Who fits best at linebacker?
• Friday: Where will they supplement the offense?
The last two times the Bengals selected in the top 10 of the NFL Draft, they landed Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
If only this year were so easy.
An underwhelming number of blue-chip prospects washes away shine and certainty from an otherwise valuable asset.
The Bengals are looking for immediate impact on defense from the 10th pick in the draft, but they might need a few surprises in front of them for a player to match the desire.
Still, sitting on the fringes of the top tier makes for an unpredictable and exciting opening night of the draft in Cincinnati.
Background
Welcome to the draft season of outliers and positional value. Nearly every prospect projected in the top 10 presents a unique question, with more than a page of answers compared to normal years.
Take the debate between Chase and Penei Sewell. The conversation was spirited and impactful, but they were two nearly flawless prospects at premium positions. Turns out, there was no wrong answer in that debate.
This year, the debate centers on significant flaws in the player or the position they play when selecting them this high in a draft.
Edge Rueben Bain Jr.’s tape screams run to the podium. His arm length screams run away.
Safety Caleb Downs and running back Jeremiyah Love look worth every penny. Only, their positions aren’t worth enough pennies.
The top two cornerbacks include one without the prototype athleticism and another coming off an ACL injury and one year of SEC ball on tape.
Finding which weaknesses the Bengals will tolerate might determine the pick more than the strengths on tape.
Understanding the class
Through a Bengals lens, there are three primary tiers of consideration at No. 10 (and any potential trade back).
Let’s start with the dream board of players nobody believes will actually make it to Cincinnati.
LB/edge Arvell Reese, Ohio State
Edge David Bailey, Texas Tech
LB Sonny Styles, Ohio State
The next tier becomes a question of math, assuming QB Fernando Mendoza will go No. 1 to the Raiders. This group on the Bengals’ big board will be the intriguing players the front office must confidently rank.
CB Mansoor Delane, LSU
Edge Rueben Bain, Miami
S Caleb Downs, Ohio State
CB Jermod McCoy, Tennessee
RB Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame
Even a journalism major can see the math doesn’t reach 10 here, so this serves as a reminder the Bengals need at least one or more of the tackles (Francis Mauigoa, Miami; Spencer Fano, Utah) or receivers (Carnell Tate, Ohio State; Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State) to penetrate the top 10 and push one of their best fits back.
Relevant history
Three defensive backs show up in that group of potential picks at 10. The recent history of selecting cornerbacks or safety-plus in the top 15 will be worth noting when the Bengals are on the clock in the first round.
Like any position, the hit rate isn’t perfect, but it’s hard to argue with the recent history of going this direction.
Here’s a look at that group selected in the top 15 dating back to 2018.
Top 15 CB/S+ selections since 2018
Yr
Player
Team
Pick
AP/PB
APY rank
2023
Seattle
5
0/3
Rookie
2022
NY Jets
4
2/2
2nd
2022
Houston
3
2/2
3rd
2022
Baltimore
14
2/3
1st(S)
2021
Denver
9
2/4
6th
2021
Carolina
8
0/2
4th
2020
Jacksonville
9
0/0
—
2020
Detroit
3
0/0
—
2018
Miami
11
3/5
13th (S)
2018
Cleveland
4
0/5
9th
Not a bad trend to follow. This group produced 11 first-team All-Pros and 26 Pro Bowls.
The Bengals have not drafted a defensive player who played in a Pro Bowl for them since Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap in 2010. Jessie Bates probably should have and did notch a second-team All-Pro in 2020, but the point stands. It’s been too long.
Consider the recent corners on this list. They have all been at the center of some of the best defenses in football. The Seahawks, Broncos, Texans, pre-trade Jets and Panthers all boast top-performing groups. You won’t go wrong hitting on premier corners in this league.
Now, the assessment involves ensuring Delane and McCoy aren’t Jeff Okudah or C.J. Henderson, but the recent results favor the top picks. The same conversation goes for Downs. Will he be Kyle Hamilton or Minkah Fitzpatrick? Considering all the conversation by smart analysts about him, failing to make a Pro Bowl in the next five years would be a significant upset.
They said it
The Bengals leaned heavily into traits over production at the top of recent drafts. Each of the last five first-round picks posted a Relative Athletic Score of at least 9.04 and Shemar Stewart was at a perfect 10.
Bain doesn’t have all the desired traits with short arms and an unorthodox build for an edge rusher, but production is top of the class.
De facto GM Duke Tobin expressed his view of the traits debate at the NFL Scouting Combine:
“You want guys that play football well, but you want guys that can play NFL football well. And those traits are what drive a lot of really great players. And we do like guys that are big enough, fast enough, strong enough. You have to have those things. You can’t just have desire. Desire with not any physical traits, you’re gonna be doing my job and you’re not gonna be playing NFL football for us. But there’s a marriage between the two.”
Analytics angle
Downs ranked in the 100th percentile for college position versatility, according to SumerSports. They calculated him as lining up 51.4 percent of the time at safety, 21.7 percent in the slot and 25.5 percent of snaps in the box, spreading all across the field.
Over the course of his three-year college career (freshman year at Alabama), Downs lined up in the slot 574 snaps, at free safety 920 and in the box 865.
Variable
Could Love fall? The idea of passing on a defensive player for this team and instead gifting yet another weapon to Burrow and an offense overflowing with them feels almost impossible.
As a reminder, when scoring at least 33 points the last two seasons, the Bengals are 6-7. The rest of the NFL is 159-13-2.
Bengals games have been a circus, and they need defensive playmakers like clowns need face paint. How could they possibly rationalize passing on any first-round defensive player for not just an offensive player, but a running back?
Cincinnati did bring Love in for a Top 30 visit, a notable sign they are considering him. What if he is the only one in the above grouping still available at 10, with the rest of the league deprioritizing running back?
There’s an argument to be made with Chase Brown entering the final year of his contract that Love could play alongside Brown this year and fully take over next season, saving the cost of a second contract to the running back, even though the difference in AAV between the No. 10 selection and a projected Brown extension is negligible in relation to the upper tiers of other premium positions such as cornerback and edge rusher.
Such a move still feels far-fetched. Since coach Zac Taylor arrived in 2019, the Bengals have not selected a running back before the fifth round. You could argue that selecting one of the top offensive tackles in the draft would go a longer way toward juicing up the run game against two-high shells than selecting Love, even as one of the most dynamic home-run hitters we’ve seen at the position in recent years.
In the unlikely event he falls, the debate would be fascinating, but still hard to imagine.
Big board
Here’s my projected order of the Bengals’ top nine players, with the best remaining ending up in stripes.
1. Arvell Reese, Ohio State
2. David Bailey, Texas Tech
3. Sonny Styles, Ohio State
4. Mansoor Delane, LSU
5. Rueben Bain Jr., Miami
6. Jermod McCoy, Tennessee
7. Caleb Downs, Ohio State
8. Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame
9. Akheem Mesidor, Miami
Prediction
McCoy.
Who will be the most likely to slip down the board? Likely the player coming off the knee injury, who didn’t participate in 2025. The Athletic’s draft expert, Dane Brugler, pointed out that some teams took McCoy off the draft board because of his knee. The Bengals wouldn’t be one of them, and it’s hard to see them passing up one of the top two corners at this point in a draft when you put together the pieces of all the moves they have made on defense this offseason. The hole is obvious in the short and long term. McCoy is the most athletic corner in this draft with elite tape, a ball-hawking reputation and an SEC background. That checks a significant number of Bengals boxes.
