B
Cincinnati Bengals
Stowers should have been long gone. The Bengals pounced, and earned a B.
by Bifflenut ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 3 steals
· 1 reaches
Call it larceny. Eli Stowers sat on the board until the Round 4 slot, and the Bengals did not need to be asked twice.
A whole weekend of picks and running back is somehow still a want. Graves has a lot of ground to make up just to look fairly priced.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 10th overall pick they get a sideline-to-sideline linebacker at fair value.
They did well to land Emmanuel McNeil-Warren in pick 45, just ahead of his grade. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
You do not let a cornerback like D'Angelo Ponds reach No. 72 and blink. They did not. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Taking Eli Stowers in the 110th pick is close to grand larceny; a tight end that good had no business lasting this long. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Travis Burke at the Round 5 slot is right where the board had him, plain and simple. The roster fit checks out.
No edge and no loss on Taylen Green in slot 189; it is a wash and a sensible one. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They went early on Aaron Graves in Round 6, Pick 18, and the value did not follow. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Jeff Caldwell in pick No. 221 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They took Thaddeus Dixon at par in the 226th overall pick, which is nothing to complain about. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.