B
Cincinnati Bengals
More right than wrong for the Bengals, and a B to prove it.
by Kenny proctor ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 5 steals
· 1 reaches
The rest of the league will want that one back. Dallen Bentley tumbling to the Bengals in slot 226 is a gift they did not have to think twice about.
If Stroman pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about. The linebacker spot stays a question, and it was the one they most needed an answer at. Job largely done: cornerback settled and 5 of 8 of the wish list covered.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 10 they get an anchor for the offensive line. A real need, handled.
Peter Woods slipping to pick 41 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A slide stopped in pick 72, with Germie Bernard worth more than the price. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They read the board right and Chandler Rivers was the payoff at pick No. 110. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A wild overpay on Jalen Stroman in No. 189, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
A straight-up fair deal on Cameron Ball at the 199th pick, value and slot in agreement. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They will replay Eric McAlister at the Round 7 slot for years; that is how good the value is. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Dallen Bentley at Round 7, Pick 10 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.