B-
Cincinnati Bengals
A respectable, level-headed haul for the Bengals: B-.
by Reheheheheh ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 4 steals
· 2 reaches
Nobody else had Justin Jefferson anywhere near pick No. 72. The Bengals did, by 137 spots, and that gap is the whole story. Good, not great, and the B- says as much.
Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Crownover. They punted on tight end, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
Cornerback was the priority and it is no longer a question, which is most of the job. Almost all the early capital went to that side of the ball.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 10 they get a plug-and-play piece up front. A clean fit for the roster.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Keionte Scott well ahead of where he belonged. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They reached a country mile for Justin Jefferson at No. 72, and the board is aghast. A need, and now a little less of one.
Steal is underselling it; Elijah Sarratt at the 110th pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Seth McGowan at pick No. 189 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Dametrious Crownover at the 199th overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Dalton Johnson at No. 221 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
The board had Toriano Pride Jr. higher than the Round 7 slot, and the cornerback fell to them anyway. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.