The Cincinnati Bengals held the No. 52 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and surprised a lot of people with their selection of Washington tight end, Drew Sample, who wasn’t a prospect who got a lot of buzz entering the draft. Yet, the Bengals made him a second-rounder.
Since entering the league in 2019, Sample hasn’t played up to his draft stock, totaling just 53 receptions for 443 yards and a touchdown in 39 games and 22 starts. That’s not second-round caliber at all, especially when you consider that 349 of those yards came last year after C.J. Uzomah went down with an injury and missed all but two games of the season.
Now it is worth noting that Sample is a good blocker but teams don’t spend second-round draft picks on blocking tight ends. Sample was drafted to be an impact playmaker and he’s been anything but.
When looking at the 2019 NFL Draft, it was easy to find better players still on the board when Cincinnati made their pick in the second round. I narrowed my list down to seven players who Cincy could have had with that No. 52 pick instead of Drew Sample so let’s get to it.
We’ll list these players in the order of where they were drafted in 2019, starting with someone taken 12 picks after Sample was off the board.