A majority of the mock drafts out there have the Cincinnati Bengals addressing defense with their first overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft. However, the Bengals go in a different direction in the latest mock draft from Lance Zierlein of NFL.com. With the No. 17 overall pick, the Bengals select Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan in Zierlein's mock.
Bengals land Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan in NFL.com mock draft
McMillan is considered to be one of the top receivers in the draft class, and was the second receiver selected in this mock draft behind only Colorado's Travis Hunter. He was named a Consensus All-American and First-Team All Big 12 in 2024. He He would be an excellent addition to basically any receiving corps, including Cincinnati's.
From NFL.com:
"This pairing might be the most perfect scheme/roster fit in the entire mock. McMillan plays similarly to Drake London and Tee Higgins."
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The logic here is likely that McMillan would serve as a solid replacement for Tee Higgins, should the star receiver sign elsewhere in free agency, as many expect him to do. The selection would make sense for that reasons, but it still seems unlikely to happen for a couple of other reasons.
There's no guarantee that McMillan will even be available when the Bengals are on the clock. He's one of the top receivers in the draft, and there's plenty of other teams out there that could use a young, explosive receiver.
Even if McMillan is still available, it's kind of hard to imagine the Bengals using their top pick on the offense, given all of their pressing needs on the other side of the ball. The team desperately needs to upgrade the defense at all three levels: Defensive line, linebackers and secondary. Using their top pick on any of those areas would make sense. They also need to strengthen the offensive line. All of those areas are more probably pressing than adding another receiver.
So, while crazier things have happened, Cincinnati selecting McMillan in the first round seems somewhat unlikely.