Bengals Draft: Grading the fifth-round selection of Tycen Anderson

The Cincinnati Bengals‘ fifth-round pick was spent on Toledo safety, Tycen Anderson. Fans were a bit surprised to see the team double up on safeties, as they went with Anderson in round five and had earlier grabbed Daxton Hill in the first round.

Whether this means the team isn’t expecting to retain both Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell or just that they wanted to get better in the secondary, the Bengals added a blazing-fast safety in the form of Anderson. The Toledo Rocket ran a 4.36 40 at the combine and is yet another speedster joining the youth movement on defense.

Not only did the Bengals double up on safeties but they gave up one of their seven-rounders to do so and moved up eight spots in the process.

Bengals Draft: What grade does Tycen Anderson pick deserve?

With this pick, the Bengals have continued to show that they’re valuing speed and versatility in this year’s draft. Anderson can flat-out fly and he’s going to join a speedy Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt in this secondary.

While Anderson might be relgated to third-string safety duties, he’ll get a lot of looks on special teams. This is where he shined the brightest in college and he noted when speaking to the media that he played 900 snaps on special teams during his time with the Rockets.

Anderson will give the Bengals another speedy addition in their secondary and he’s clearly a star on special teams. With all of that in mind, I’ll give the pick a B grade.

Did the Bengals need another safety? Not necessarily.

At this stage of the draft, however, the most important thing for teams is to land players they feel they can develop into eventual starters or key contributors. Anderson certainly feels like he could be a future contributor on defense and he should be an instant contributor on special teams.

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What grade are you giving the Tycen Anderson selection?