With their final selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals took Coastal Carolina’s Jeffrey Gunter in the seventh round (252nd overall). This means that the stripes spent all but one of their six draft picks on defensive players.
Gunter played outside linebacker for the Chanticleers and didn’t have much of an issue getting after quarterbacks in the Sun Belt Conference, finishing with 5.5 sacks in 2021. Gunter also racked up 36 tackles with 8.5 of those coming for loss.
As Charlie Goldsmith noted in the tweet below, Gunter will probably be used as “more of a stand up edge rusher”.
The Bengals have wrapped up their draft with Coastal Carolina OLB Jeffery Gunter.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) April 30, 2022
In the Bengals scheme, he’s probably more of a stand up edge rusher.
The Draft Network listed Gunter’s ideal role as someone who plays on a lot of run plays and also noted:
"In the run game, Gunter mostly aligns outside of the offensive tackle and does a good job setting the edge to help force outside runs back inside toward the field. As a pass rusher, Gunter’s move is converting speed to power to collapse the pocket. In the NFL, Gunter should start his career off predominantly as a run-down defender while he continues to develop his pass rush repertoire in the NFL."
Bengals draft Jeffrey Gunter in 7th round
Despite all of the noise we heard about the Bengals potentially wanting to add help at wide receiver or maybe improve at tight end, the stripes fixated on making their defense stronger. Defense wins championships after all.
Jeffrey Gunter was drafted with pick 252 of round 7 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.75 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 38 out of 1503 DE from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/So3Xb4aEFE #RAS #Bengals pic.twitter.com/ZeLeaKfN0M
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 30, 2022
Gunter is an intriguing seventh-round pick who should be able to find the field for the Bengals. He was a key contributor for the Chanticleers during their high-profile seasons and despite playing outside linebacker for Coastal Carolina, will likely line up at defensive end for Cincinnati, at least according to Zac Taylor.
Jeff Gunter will come in as a defensive end, Bengals coach Zac Taylor said.
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) April 30, 2022
That’s it for the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2022 NFL Draft. Jeffrey Gunter is the sixth and final pick for them this year.
"Cincinnati Bengals: All-time passing leaders in franchise history"
What are your thoughts on this selection?