QB carousel-Gonna start with QB news as free agency begins. Phillip Rivers to the Colts looks very likely, expect Brady to return to New England. This would mean the Chargers would likely draft and start that QB. There are a lot of rumors the Raiders really want to draft either Herbert or Love(or even Hurts) and will trade Carr. So the teams in the market for Dalton seems to be the Bucs and Bears should those scenarios all play out. In a mock trade the Bucs will grab Dalton for the rest of Bruce Arians career at the cost of their third round pick.
Free Agency-Some Bengals free agency news. Cordy Glenn was cut, Green was tagged, Dre Kirkpatrick is still in the air, Dalton will not be on the roster. The free agents to watch from the Bengals are Nick Vigil, Andrew Billings, Dennard, and Tyler Eifert. Expect Eifert to be gone. Billings isn't a great pair with Atkings(both are very short) and he is interesting because he is decent and is only 24, there may be better NT out there for a short deal at similar prices. Dennard is adamant he wants to play outside and if he sticks with that don't expect the Bengals to resign him. Vigil is the lone linebacker worth anything on the roster but isn't great, it will be interesting to see if they would pay him money or try to draft another LB to pair with Pratt. My personal want in free agency is Graham Glasgow from Detroit, he is a C/G that could really fill in the biggest need.
Now onto the mock draft, we have the extra Bucs third rounder which won't change much strategy for how the Bengals would want to draft. Talent on defense and a receiver are the targets for those picks.
1 Joey B-I would guess he could cure Corona
2 CB Jeff Gladney TCU-First time I am mocking him and this is a real possibility. A lot of guys we would want went at the end of the second and the choice was down to Gladney, Cesar Ruiz, or Ross Blacklock. No receivers in this range are worth it and I would probably try to trade back in this scenario. Gladney excels at press coverage and with a 4.48 and nearly 40 inch vertical he is athletic enough to continue doing that. His negatives are he is only 5'10" 191 and when paired with William Jackson that gives you a couple of short corners. Still he is very good and has mostly gone in the first round, this would be a really good player to get to tumble out of the first because flashier players went ahead of his solid film and combine.
3 DT Neville Gallimore Oklahoma- Very interesting prospect as he was in college for 5 years but can still be seen as a project due to his athleticism not matching what he puts on tape(probably should have came to OSU but oh well.) His combine was also very interesting as he had incredible explosion(jumping) and speed(running) but terrible agility(shuttle/ 3 cone.) Agulity is pretty important for a defensive lineman. He also is not big enough for NT so he would be Geno's backup and ideally take over for him when he is gone. He is good and has the potential to get much better, I may have taken him a few times in round 2 so his value here is very good.
3.12(bucs have the 12 pick in the third round) Ezra Cleveland OT Boise State- This is a very intersting prospect who has shot up the boards since his combine, Paul Dehtmer wants to take him in round 2. His RAS(relative athletic score) is in the 99th percentile. He is light and needs to gain weight which even showed up against MW competition. He also had an injury this past year and essentially only played in games and didnt practice. Very sound technique and not much to dislike about him. Ezra will not be able to step in and start but he has a very high ceiling.
4 Troy Dye LB Oregon-Dye has tumbled a bit from when I started these, he announced he finished the season on a torn meniscus and had to get surgery for it. Dye was going to be a combine star but now he has also missed his pro day. He doesn't have another shot of showing himself off before the draft so his stock likely wont come back up. The fourth round would be a really good value for the Bengals. With his injury he could be developmental for a year and and could sit behind a LB the Bengals sign in free agency.
5 H-Back Josiah Deguara UC-He made himself a lot of money at the combine. Only being 6'2" he likely would not have been big enough to play TE in the NFL. However he has good speed, explosion, agility, and elite strength for a TE. Deguara can be used as a special teamer and an Hback that can be mismatched to a degree on defenders. He is an interesting chess piece to have on the roster.
I am very happy with this draft and it feels like the Bengals need just one more third round pick to reach this level. Having an extra pick allows them to fill multiple needs. CB,OT,DT,LB were all improved with good prospects that don't have to play right away. While this kind of draft won't help much for 2020, it could give them a huge boost going forward. Next week free agency should have moved forward quite a bit and team needs will be easier to identify.
