B+
Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals let McNeil-Warren fall and pounced. Final grade: B+.
by Garrettvan27 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 7 steals
· 0 reaches
Thirty-one other rooms let Emmanuel McNeil-Warren slide, and the Bengals were the ones holding the card at the 92nd pick. Highway robbery.
The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend. The McNeil-Warren pick is fine in a vacuum, less so with quarterback still on the board.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through quarterback.
Not a headline-grabber, but a perfectly good weekend's work.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 18 they get a three-down second-level presence. A clean fit for the roster.
Dillon Thieneman in pick 41 lands just on the right side of the ledger. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Lee Hunter at pick No. 72 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren adds a safety and leaves quarterback untouched.
They let Darrell Jackson Jr. come to them and pounced at the Round 4 slot. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They barely believed it either: Ja'Kobi Lane still on the board at No. 112. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Isaiah World slipping to the 152nd pick is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. The roster fit checks out.
The board had Marlin Klein higher than the 189th overall pick, and the tight end fell to them anyway. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Le'Veon Moss in Round 6, Pick 18 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A need, and now a little less of one.
No drama and no debate, Lander Barton went about where he belonged in pick 221. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Thaddeus Dixon at the 226th overall pick is money in the bank, a cornerback taken below his worth. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.