PFF's lead draft analyst Trevor Sikkema breaks down Cincinnati Bengals' 2024 draft class

PFF's Trevor Sikkema thinks the Bengals' 2024 draft class was a top 10 haul in the NFL. He joins the guys for a deep dive into what Amarius Mims is ready for and where he can improve, Kris Jenkins' high floor in a class highlighted by home run swings, Jermaine Burton's NFL fit, and why Erick All was his TE3. Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengals
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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
It's the Lockdown podcast Network, yourteam every day. The Bengals twenty twenty
four NFL Draft is in the booksand how did they do? Trevor Sikima
of Pro Football Focus is here tobreak it all down. You are Locked

(00:27):
on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengalspodcast, part of the lockedwn podcast network,
Your team every Day. Hi againeveryone, and welcome in to the
Lockdown Bengals Podcast. I'm James Erpen. I'll be joined by Jake Lisco and
Trevor Sikima. Pro Football Focus willjoin us coming up in just a second
to talk all things Bengals draft.Today's show is brought to you by Monopoly

(00:50):
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And as always, thank you somuch for making us your first listen.
Hit that subscribe button on YouTube,follow wherever you get your podcasts.
And without further ado, let's getto Trevor Sikima on all things Bengals draft.

(01:14):
Let's chat with Trevor Sikhama a PFF'slead a draft analysts and co host
of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast aboutthis Bengals draft class and Trevor, it's
a B plus for you. Inotice with the PF post draft grades for
every team, but one question inaddition to the grade is where do you
rank it if you had to putit top third, middle third, bottom

(01:34):
third of NFL draft classes this year? Where I heard you guys talking in
your live show that it seems likeNFL teams aren't making a ton of extremely
crazy decisions this year. Do youthink that that B plus puts them in
the top third of the NFL anddraft classes this year. Yeah, I
would say top third for sure.And honestly, B plus might be kind

(01:55):
of harsh on my end because theonly pick I really didn't love was the
McKinley Jackson selections. I know theywere going for. It was just a
big time reach for where he wasranked on my board, But so many
other picks that this team had,I mean the a Mariusman selection. I
think it's a perfect landing spot forhim. Love them getting Chris Jenkins Junior
to really improve that interior defensive lineafter losing out on a reader, Jermaine

(02:16):
Burton could be the X factor ofthe entire draft honestly and what he could
mean for Cincinnati both short and longterm. I love Eric All He's my
tight end three in this class.I really like Josh Newton coming into the
season. Struggled a little bit lastyear, but I still like him as
a player. Cedril Johnson I seethe athletic upside too. So this draft
was great, I think so,honestly, Like just hearing that out loud

(02:38):
and when you ask it, like, oh, where does this rank?
In my head, immediately I waslike, I mean top ten probably,
like you know, eight, nine, ten, something like that. But
that B plus label might even bea little harsh if I was comparing it
to where what grades I gave otherteams just because of the McKinley Jackson pick.
But I really did like Cincinnati's drafta lot. Amrius Mams was obviously

(02:59):
therefore selection and going with the bigtackle, given Joe Burrow and given the
fact that they want to protect him. I think a lot of people are
on board with the philosophy of it, but there are plenty of people in
town, specifically that are looking atthose eight starts that look at a guy
that had the hamstring at the combineand the ankle injury this past year.

(03:23):
How risky of a pick is it. How concerned should Bengals fans be?
Obviously we all know about the upsideat this point. Yeah, I mean
it's worth bringing up, right,I mean, injuries are they're tricky,
right because even if you have aguy who has been injured quite a bit,
as long as the injuries aren't chronic, like unless it's something where okay,

(03:44):
yeah, like medically we can seeyou're really weakening your body in this
area, you're highly prone to injuringthis. Again, like outside of these
chronic injuries, it's just a violentgame. It's just a fast game.
It's just one where you're just gonnaget hurt all the time. So you
know, with Mems, yeah,he hasn't played a ton of football in
this past year. The ankle injurywas a big reason why. But the

(04:05):
years before that, the reason whyit wasn't starting is just because George is
an incredible football program, so hereally couldn't get on the field. So
yeah, okay, he has thispast year as a starter and he goes
through the injury. Obviously, thehamstring injury is not great either. But
if you get him into the NFLwith a really good strength of conditioning coach
that understands the body limitations and howhard we need to push him in the

(04:25):
offseason, what we need to dofor maintenance during the season. Like,
I don't look at Marius Mims andthink this is an injury pro player,
like this is a risk in termsof health. The only real questions that
I have with Mims is if youwere to start him year one, week
one, the technique's not really therethe way that it needs to be.
To go up against NFL pass rushers, they're gonna be able to set them

(04:46):
up really well. I think thehand uses, especially against the guys that
are much more seasoned in this league, they're gonna be able to bait his
hands and really swipe the hands awayand really just not allow him to get
those long arms on him without reallycausing those fouls. So, to me,
the big question with Mims is simplythe fact that if you were going
to start him right away, youmight have to go through some growing pains.

(05:10):
But that's why Cincinnati, to me, is the perfect spot you gotta
only in a brown junior. Yousigned Trenton Brown, and now Mims does
not have to start right away.You can really groom him. And heck,
even if he starts the second halfof his rookie season, I think
that that's a better scenario because you'regonna get a guy who's gonna be ready,
gonna be hungry to get that outthere on the field. I mean,
he almost transferred from Georgia because he'slike, I'm not playing here,

(05:31):
and they basically had to convince himlike, hey, your time is coming.
We invested this in you, inyou, we wanted you to come
to Georgia. Your time is coming. You please stay here, and he
did. And obviously I think thatwhen he was on the field, he
looked really great, even going backto that twenty twenty two season at the
end of the year when he hadto fill in. So this is somebody
who when he gets to Cincinnati,I think that he's going to have that

(05:54):
same sort of hunger to be like, okay, like I'm ready to play,
and I think that's only going toincrease his desire to get to that
point and get on the field andbe a contributing player for this football team
and the feat and pass protection.To me, Trevor looked like a real
strength to his game. It lookslike he's a natural mirror. He has
natural pass protection ability. You seehim occasionally overset, lose across his face,

(06:15):
guys breaking inside. I think there'smaybe one rep in the Tennessee game
James Pierce, next year's projected firstround pick, gets him on an inside
move. But that Ohio State gamehis first start, I believe, in
the College Football Playoff in twenty twentytwo, I mean it's shutdown stuff,
and sometimes in the run game helooks a little bit lost, like he
maybe isn't sure what his job issupposed to be. To me, that

(06:36):
looked like the biggest question for him. But the past protection, production and
consistency, to me was really impressivefor a guy who didn't have a ton
of time, who seems pretty awareand you're talking about hand usage. Is
that something that is consistent? Isthat on inside moves for you or was
that something that you think is justsomething that needs to come along. Yeah,

(07:00):
First of all, James Pearce Juniorgets everybody with the inside moves,
so I wouldn't be too concerned aboutthat. I think he's going to be
a top fifteen pick next year becauseof how great of a speed rusher that
he is. But yeah, Ithink that you brought up some really good
points. I think the footwork isgood. I think the feet are fast,
especially for a guy who's three hundredand forty pounds. I mean,
that's the alluring part. Right.Normally, when you get offensive linemen that
are above three twenty five, threethirty, you're sacrificing something. You go,

(07:25):
Okay, they're a little bit better. They've got the power profile to
them, but the feet are justnaturally going to be more heavy because you're
dealing with more weight up top.But Mims, it feels like he moves
like a three hundred and five tothree hundred and ten pounder with those feet,
and he's sitting here weighing in athree forty. So I think that
in that regard, he is alreadyfurther ahead of where you would want him
to be. But yeah, youtalk about okay, sometimes he sets up

(07:47):
the inside shoulder to get attacked alittle bit too easily. But to me,
he has one the body type tobe able to make up for it,
and it's just a time thing forhim. Right, it's just about
anticipating a little bit better, makingsure that Okay, let me see what
this guy's doing. Let me understandwhat his pass rush plan is, and
I can understand, Okay, thisis when he typically goes inside, and

(08:09):
he could be ready for it becausethe recovery athleticism and again the recovery length
is just so ideal from him,and you're right, okay, run game.
He's still kind of understanding that alittle bit better. But that's that
speaks to the lack of snaps tome, right, those two areas of
his game where you say, realistically, he just has not played enough football

(08:30):
to anticipate inside counters as well ashe would need to, or hand placement
as well as he needs to,which you gotta remember this too. When
you have longer arms, it's withouta question and advantage, but it also
requires you to be even more technicallysound and understand your body really well,
because if not, then you justbecome this hugger of an offensive lineman where

(08:54):
okay, the hands are coming upand they're coming wide, and they're going
to the shoulder pads and now allof a sudden, you're giving up your
chest. You're allowing guy to dipunderneath your shoulders, you're susceptible. The
holding calls because it's really easy tosee for officials to see if you're like
hanging onto the shoulder pads or anythinglike that. So you know, when
you have those longer arms, it'sgreat, but they've got to be compact,

(09:15):
they've got to be ready, they'vegot to be up, and they've
got to be quick and precise.So these are all things that just get
better when he gets more snaps.So the areas where Mims has those deficiencies,
to me speak, just much moretowards lack of playtime than any sort
of lack of ability. Which iswhy I love this landing spot the most,
because you get to ease him in, you get to get that confidence,

(09:35):
you get him to again, Isay this again, but I really
believe it be hungry to be astarter, be motivated to be a starter,
and I think you're going to geta really good product whenever it is
that he becomes that starter for thisteam. I think that's certainly something a
lot of people are hoping for withMims as he develops into a starter.
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or the app Store. Game onexpectations for their second round pick and Chris
Jenkins might not be starting level rightaway, but it's certainly instant contributor.

(11:07):
You mentioned that you really like thatpick. What do you like so much?
Well, I like the fact that, I mean, he is just
such a pound for pound really strongfootball player. I mean they calling the
mutant from Michigan, and it's justbecause of the athletic ability that he has.
Now, you know, he's notbuilt like his dad. He's not
six foot five, three hundred andfifty pounds, but he's got a lot
of that DNA strength to him still. So even the pound for pound version

(11:30):
of strength that we are getting herefrom Chris Jenkins Junior is going to be
plenty adequate for this team. AndI think the Bengals are really at their
best when they have that force andthat strength up front in the middle,
and losing reader is tough. Youknow. That was a big corner stone
of what they did along the defensiveline and allowed them to get a lot
of one on ones with the edgerushers. It allowed him to send a

(11:52):
lot of blitzes from the linebacker levelbecause they knew they were covered up well,
because they knew that those guys inthe middle were covering their gaps and
not letting anything get in between themor get around him, or really get
pushed too far back off the lineof scrimmage. Now, obviously, with
Jenkins being a little bit lighter ofa player, that might naturally happen a
little bit more. But even atMichigan when you saw him when he was

(12:13):
asked to take on double teams,you know, he could really execute a
good corkscrew technique, really bringing hisknee to the ground and holding the line
of scrimmage against two really talented offensivelinemen that maybe we're trying to execute a
duo block or a combo block onhim and just get to that second level,
and he would be able to holdthose guys long enough to keep the
linebackers free to get to their spotto disrupt things to where okay, maybe

(12:35):
you're not making the tackle at theline of scrimmage, but maybe it's only
a two yard gain instead of afive six, seven yard gain and asking
the safeties to get involved from depth. So to me, I wish that
Chris Jenkins would have developed a littlebit more as a pass rusher this year.
That was ultimately our hope for him. That was what we saw as
the thing that held the key tohim potentially being a first round pick,

(12:58):
But to me, the second roundwas always the law for him because he's
just such a steady presence in themiddle as a defensive lineman there, and
I think he's going to be ableto contribute right away, maybe not a
full starting role, but a contributingrole right away as a rotational player.
In his rookie season, Steve Pallazolacalled him one of the best playmakers in
the run game in this class.Obviously had a very very high PFF run

(13:18):
stop rate. When you talk aboutthe pass rush ability, what kind of
upside do you see there. Isthat more of a product of the role
he was in at Michigan playing ona very talented defensive line and an NFL
style defense with Harbat Or is thatmore of a product of the individual player
where he needs to develop a passrush plan in pass rush moves. Yeah,
I think it's more of the ladder. Like if he had the opportunity

(13:41):
to be more of a pass rusherat Michigan, I think they would have
given him those chances. We justdidn't really see him be put in those
opportunities very much. I think it'sjust because it's not his game right now.
So there are plenty of things whereeven if Jenkins isn't the most finesse
three technique defensive pass rush out there, I think that there's still room to
grow for him as a pass rusher, you know, getting better at those

(14:05):
bull rushes, getting better at thoseyou know, stack and shed opportunities to
really be able to get in thebackfield. He is explosive too, so
being able to understand, Okay,this is how the offensive line is setting
up, this is how they likethe slant. When they like the slant,
let me try to get myself inbetween this gap, really get into
the backfield. That to me areopportunities for him to make plays behind the
line of scrimmage. But you know, it's just the I A should say,

(14:28):
like the timing of his pass rushmoves. It's not like Johnny Newton,
right, And I know I'm bringingup somebody that Bengals fans wanted to
be on the team, so I'msorry about that. But like Johnny Newton
is just like a karate master withhis hands sometimes. I mean, it's
just so hard for this guy tostay blocked because of how well he is
using his hands and Jenkins just didnot. He just didn't have that approach

(14:50):
really, Like you can tell hesaid to himself, I am getting my
hands up and inside. I amgoing to make sure that I have control
of the guy in front of me, and then we'll see what happens after
that. Instead, you have otherthree technique players, like just Johnny Newton,
but like a Bradon Fisk as well, Like He's another example of these
are guys who just say I amgoing to get past you as fast as

(15:11):
I can, no matter what.And it's just kind of a different mindset.
So I wonder if there will maybebe more of a push for them
to say, hey, let's youknow, we know that you could shoot
your hands inside and you can getcontrol of the guys in front of you
pretty well, but let's see ifwe can increase that hand speed and really
keep you off blocks more over thenext couple of years to develop your pass

(15:31):
rush profile out for you to bea three down defensive lineman at all times.
And we're just thinking that you couldbe a high impact player because you
mentioned it. He's already a reallygood run defender. It's just what more
does he have in the tank.Second round pick, like I said,
was always the floor for him.Is there more to say? Man,
In a couple of years, wewill look back at this one and we
go what a steal the Christiankin juniorpick was, Trevor, I know we're

(15:52):
going to ask you about the tightends and I almost skipped, but I
don't think we can skip the Burtonpick because it's such a a surprise.
I think in the moment for alot of people here, it certainly surprised
me. The first two pickst andthis one did. But it seems to
fit like a glove. What doyou think about his game, particularly in
this Bengals offense with Joe Burrow Jamarchasing company. Yeah, I mean,

(16:15):
look, Jermaine Burton was one ofthe most talented wide receivers in the class.
He really was, And I thinkthat a lot of analysts kind of
came to the same conclusion. Isyou know, we've kind of been told
from different sources that a little bitof a hot head, maybe a little
tough to control, kind of marchesby the beat of his own drum,

(16:36):
and because of that, we're teamsgoing to draft him. I'm gonna be
honest with you. I had asecond round grade. I'm on him on
tape, could have been even higher, could have been like an early second,
maybe even late first on him.I know there's some people who had
him as one of their top fivereceivers in this class. He wasn't a
high for me, but man,he is somebody who I think could be
a major PAC player. He playedat Georgia, he played at Alabama.

(16:57):
He was impactful at both the waythat he get off the line of scrimmage
with so much speed and precision andbody control, and the strength that he
has at the catchpoint despite being alittle bit smaller, his ability to just
stop on a dime and really hita comeback or just a post route or
like an over route over the middlejust to create that separation. I mean,

(17:21):
he really brings you everything that youwant in a player of his size,
and it sets up in a potentiallyelite wide receiver trio with Chase with
Higgins and now it's yourmain Burton herefor the twenty twenty four season. And
genuinely, this move for Cincinnati couldgive them the flexibility to move on from

(17:42):
t Higgins if they want to.And so there's a world where if Burton
plays really really well this upcoming season, or you could just tell that he's
jelling well, he's got a goodchemistry with Joe Burrow, he's a productive
player. They might look in nextseason and say, Okay, we can
afford to let Tee Higgins walk becausewe know that we've got a really good
one two combo. Anyways, thenyou could bring in another veteran wide receiver

(18:03):
if you want, You could draftanother one if you want, and so
you could reload in that a bildin that way. So the Bengals,
to me, those first three picksthat they had were so great at supplementing
their current situation. Was it wasa great combination of both improving the team
in the short term but also buildingit long term. I was so impressive
with what they were able to dofor these first three picks. And who

(18:26):
knows exactly what's going to happen withBurton, but all I can tell you
is that when that dude's on thefield, he's a force, and he's
an incredibly talented wide receiver. Soas long as he is on the field
and he is a contributing member ofthis team, they're going to get good
return on investments. From I alreadysaw that in this tape over the last
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Fandle America's number one sports book.I don't know if you saw the
video of Zach Taylor's reaction after theygot the pick in like he's slamming his
chair. He's as excited as I'veever seen Zach Taylor in the draft room,
so he's stoked to get Burton inthere. The Bengals have been pretty
good at drafting receivers too, anotherreason to I think potentially be bullish on

(20:21):
Burton. I have two questions foryou as a follow up. One,
you do player comps NFL comps?And if so, do you have them
for Burton? In two, SteveSmith called Burton a vertical receiver. Isn't
so sure that the rest of hisgame is ready for the NFL? Yet,
where are you on how he wouldbe best used? At the next
level, so I didn't have agood comp on him. I was laid

(20:41):
on doing comps this year, justdidn't really have time to get a lot
of them in for the draft guide. So I don't have a good comp
for you. I wish I did. But to Steve Smith's point, yes,
Burton is more of a vertical widereceiver right now. Like we saw
that again at Alabama, we sawit at Georgia. His average shift the
target is really high, so alot of what he did they were just
sending himlong. And I can understandthe reason for it. He's really quick,

(21:03):
the acceleration is great. His releasesare lightning fast. So if anybody's
playing against him in press coverage,he's got the hand usage and he's got
the releases in the good footwork tobe able to get even with these players
very very quickly. And then itallows the quarterback to give him a shot
deep down the field, most notablytowards the sideline, because he has that
speed in that athletic ability to doit. So you can understand where Steve

(21:26):
Smith is coming from with saying,hey, he is a vertical receiver right
now, because that's a lot ofwhat he did in college. But the
way that he is able to stopon a dime, the way he is
able to control his body to sinkhis hips, to chop his feet,
to flip the hips over like that, all gives me a lot of encouragement
that if you put any route infront of this guy, he's going to

(21:48):
be able to do it. He'sgoing to be able to do it crisply
and create that separation. So,yes, he is more of a vertical
wide receiver right now, but Ithink there is so much more in the
tank for him to become a wellrounded, can run the whole route tree
type of a guy. Trevor,let's switch gears. Let's talk about these
tight end stick with the offense.And you mentioned it earlier in the show.

(22:11):
It certainly got my attention. EricAll was your third tight end.
And I'm not going to compare thistight end class to last year. Certainly
it's a weaker tight end class,but the fact that he was your third
tight end I think is interesting.For sure, what are the Bengals getting
with Eric All? If Eric Allis healthy, this is a starting caliber
tight end at the NFL level.I played a little bit for Michigan,

(22:33):
he was in a crowded tight endroom. Twenty twenty two, he played
the beginning of the season, thenhe ended up having to have back surgery,
so he missed most of that entiretwenty twenty two season. Transfers over
to Iowa for his final year ofeligibility and only played in I believe it
was six or seven games for Iowabefore tearing his ACL. So admittedly not

(22:56):
great, right, I mean,like, these are two major injuries for
the game of football, when youhave a back injury that you're recovering from
and then obviously a major knee injury. So the health is a reason why
I think he would have been draftedaround where he did, somewhere in the
early parts of Day three. Buton the field, on the field,

(23:18):
this is an impactful tight end,truly, Like, this is somebody who,
again I think can do whatever youwant to do from the tight end
position, and he's a really goodreceiver. I think he's got the ability
to run a lot of different routes. We saw him be able to tempo
his routes when he was at Iowa. Heck, he only played six or
seven games for Iowa and he stillled the team in receiving at the end
of the year. Now, maybethat's more of an Iowa stat than an

(23:38):
eric alstat, but they were notafraid to get this guy involved because they
knew the return on investment was therefor him. I think, to go
along with his good receiving ability,he is a really nice blocker as well.
He is somebody who I think youcould put in inline situations, wing
back situations, as a fullback outof the backfield, but also as a
slot receiver as well. So tome, I saw a lot of what

(24:00):
you would want to see from Ericaall in terms of a potential starting tight
end at the next level. Soas long as he is healthy and it
might take a little bit for himto get fully confident again coming off that
knee injury, I really do thinkthat this is a really good long term
option for them and a potential starter. At what point can we start scouting
the helmet with Iowa tight ends?Yeah? Three years ago? Yeah,

(24:22):
I mean they truly are tight endyou at this point because they also have
another guy who I liked as wellthis year who also got hurt, Luke
Leche, who is going to beone of the best tight end prospects in
next year's draft as well, Sothey're growing a montrees out there. The
fact that you're able to produce inan Iowa offense period as a tight end,

(24:44):
you know you mentioned, is aproduct of the Iowa offense. Probably,
yes, but that's probably a goodsign that he was able to be
productive in that offense. Unfortunately,the injury, of course, cutting short
his season, and who knows whathappens if he's healthy the whole year as
a productive Iowa tight end. We'veseen what those guys have done at the
next level. Any Tane McLaughlin thoughts, is this a guy that can be

(25:06):
a supplementary piece, a good passcatcher. He's twenty five years old coming
into the end of the league,obviously had the path from Canada to Southern
Utah to Arizona before he started reallyplaying with a high level football program,
but seemed to be a smooth athlete, a smooth receiving, productive player in
Arizona. Can you do that atthe next level? Yeah, I mean
I figured that he would be adepth piece tight end. I know some

(25:29):
people were higher on MacLaughlin than Iwas, but you know, you look
at his background, zero star recruitcoming from Canada, ends up going to
Southern Utah, plays there for fouryears, played wide receiver, and then
kind of gained a little bit ofweight move over to Arizona started to play
tight end. But really you're goingto use him as that big wide receiver
type of player, like that bigslot maybe that pseudo X receiver. He's
not really somebody that you're going towant to put on the Lion of scrimmage

(25:51):
very much. If you do,he's going to be again more kind of
like detached from the Lion of scrimmagein that like wing back formation if anything,
maybe asking him to block and splitzone concepts. But even that,
I mean, you don't really wantthis guy in the trenches blocking. That's
not where you're going to get thathigh return on investments. But he is
a nice receiver I think for hissize certainly that gives you that plus value.
And you need to play special teamsas well in order for him to

(26:14):
make the roster. So I thinkthat's going to be the key is to
when he officially makes that game dayactive, you know, fifty three man
roster. So I think that hecould be used as a good wide receiver
but he's to me just much moreof a depth piece than somebody who's eventually
going to become a starter at theposition. To your point, does he
fit with all? It sounds likehe would fit with all long term,

(26:37):
I think so. I mean certainly, because this offense likes to make sure
that they can have receiving threats basicallyfrom all angles, right like whether it's
wide receivers, whether it's tight ends, whether it's running backs. I mean,
that's when Joe Burrow was at hisbest at LSU, That's when he's
been at his best at in Cincinnati, is when he has a plethora of
options to go to because Joe's goingto see things pre snap, post snap

(27:00):
where he's going to be able tofind the open guy. And you don't
want a situation where, Okay,well I found the open guy, but
he's not really the target that Iwant to give the ball to. You
want to make sure that whoever's onthe field has that roi ability, and
I think that McLaughlin does. Oh, and they've had that. I've accused
Burrow of having blindness for certain tightends on this roster in the past,

(27:21):
where like they're open and he justdoesn't want to pull the trigger there,
right, So having guys that arereliable, I think is a a big
deal, and they're sort of startingto build that now. I think with
the depth with adding these two guys, and I think McLaughlin having Mike is
SICKI and even Tanner Hudson to learnfrom. Hudson being a lower end but
crafty zone beating kind of tight endin Cincinnati could be helpful for his career

(27:42):
trajectory if he does make the team. If you can't contribute on special teams.
Last guy I want to talk aboutis Josh Newton Trevor, a guy
that you mentioned you had a Ithink day one great on going into the
season, and then just didn't gogreat for him to start the year.
You mentioned the Colorado game. Whatwere you high on coming into the season
that he didn't live up to thehype? I just overall consistency. Honestly,

(28:06):
I think that this guy's got alot of really good athletic ability.
Maybe he doesn't have quite the longspeed that I thought that he did,
but especially in twenty twenty two whenthey were making their national title run,
really competitive football player, somebody whoyou could play in off coverage and in
press. I think he showed goodability in both. And I just think
that he played with a ton ofconfidence in twenty twenty two. And I

(28:26):
wonder if that Colorado game and himgoing up against Travis Hunter sort of really
really hurt the confidence for him intwenty twenty three, just because I didn't
really see that same football player asthe year went on. I thought it
was a less than ideal game fromhim. But I was like, Okay,
well, Travis Hunter, it's atough assignment, so you know,
maybe he'll be able to bounce back, and he just really didn't. And
corners kind of that tough position.It's as much as it is physical,

(28:48):
it is mental, right because youget beat a lot as a corner and
you've got to be able to comeback and bounce back. And it just
didn't feel like Josh Newton's year.So to get him where they did believe
is a fifth round pick, thatmade a lot of sense for me to
get him as a depth player,as somebody who I think has starting potential.
I know it's tough to save fora fifth round pick. You know,
he's certainly got to get that confidenceback, but that twenty twenty two

(29:10):
season, Newton was awesome and hewas. He was a fringe first round,
late second round player for me goinginto the year, and I don't
really think that ability disappeared. Maybehe's not quite the athlete that I thought
he was in twenty twenty two,but you get a guy playing as confidently
as possible. He's gonna give youthe best he can, so to me,
really nice depth beats for Cincinnati toget in the fifth round as a
potential starter at that position, whichyou don't get to say very often.

(29:33):
You mentioned the long speed, andobviously testing he was in the four or
five range. I believe does heplay a little faster even this past year.
Did he look faster on film thanfour or five? He looked faster
in twenty twenty two, but i'dhave told you that like in twenty twenty
three. Yeah, he kind oflooked like somebody who you're worried about the
long speed a little bit there,And I don't know if it's just because

(29:53):
he was seeing things a lot moreconfidently in twenty twenty two, because let's
face it, you know there aresome other corners in this class, like
Kaylen Carson from wake Forest is anotherone who I really liked coming into the
year because you are able to maska little bit of athletic deficiency at the
cornerback position if you anticipate really well, you know, like if you are
if your foot's in the ground exactlywhen it needs to be, or even

(30:15):
a little bit before to see thingswell, then all of a sudden on
tape, it looks like you're runningstride for stride with this player, when
in reality that guy might be alot faster than you. You just got
to take off a half a stepbefore him. And at that case,
and when that's the case, Imean, let's face it, four four
four five. I mean it's zeropoint one zero of a second difference,

(30:37):
right, and so it's not thebiggest difference in the world. And when
you're able to anticipate, you canmake up for that. So I just
felt like he did that a lotbetter in twenty twenty two and in twenty
twenty three. He has adequate athleticismto be able to do that. But
when you're not anticipating well and whenyou're second guessing yourself, that's when you
really start to see that, Okay, you don't have this elite four to
three recovery speed. To make upfor it, you really have to somebody

(31:00):
who can see it pretty well.So it might take a little bit of
time for Newton, but I dohave faith that he could be a good
pro. Trevor, we appreciate thetime and the depth here that you've been
able to give us on this Bengalsdraft class. You can find Trevor on
the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast, thesPFF's lead draft analysts and until next time,
that's gonna do it for this episodeof the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks

(31:22):
for listening, Wode, and havea good one, hey Prime members.
You can listen to this Lockdown podcastat free on Amazon Music. Download the
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