Ranking the Bengals’ top 5 options with No. 31 pick in 2022 NFL Draft

Tyler Linderbaum, C (Iowa)

Many believe Tyler Linderbaum, the 6’2″, 296 pound center for the Iowa Hawkeyes will be chosen before the Bengals pick. If he isn’t, Linderbaum has to be the slam dunk selection.

Tyler Linderbaum boasts ideal athleticism for the position, having a wrestling background, even if he is just slightly undersized. However, size requirements for the position of center tend to vary based on scheme and team preference. The hope is any center-needy teams also have significant enough holes to fill that they pass on Linderbaum, allowing him to fall to number 31, and right into stripes.

The Bengals addressed 3/5th’s of the line in free agency, why not go ahead and grab a potential Pro Bowl level center? After all, he won the Rimington Trophy for best college center and was a first-team All-American.

On a side note, the Rimington Trophy is named for Dave Rimington, a first-round pick of the Bengals in 1983. Rimington spent seven mostly mediocre years in the NFL. The hope here is Cincinnati selects the winner of the namesake trophy and he has a much more successful career in stripes.