Bengals can’t afford to ignore fast-rising draft sleeper Treydan Stukes

The Cincinnati Bengals mock drafts are coming down to a handful of players for the tenth overall pick. After that, anyone and everyone has seen their name associated with the team on various draft simulator sites. 

However, one of the names we love who is not on the fans' mind as a potential target for the Bengals is Arizona defensive back, Treydan Stukes. 

Nevertheless, prominent voices listed him as a sleeper pick as early as two months ago and as recently as last week, while Pro Football Focus told everyone not to sleep on him. 

National buzz around Treydan Stukes is getting louder

Nearly two months ago, ESPN’s Field Yates named Stukes as one of his sleeper picks. Of the former Wildcat, Yates had the following to say: 

“This guy is physical, and he makes an impact in a lot of different ways… He had four interceptions, Mel, and let me tell you, these four interceptions, each of them, was an impressive play. The ball skills are really legit here for Treydan Stukes…When the ball is in his general vicinity, he’s there. Good luck to opposing quarterbacks, as when he was the primary or the closest coverage player here, Mel, when he was targeted by opposing quarterbacks, they completed just 29.2% of their passes.” 

Last week on ESPN’s Get Up, Peter Schrager asked his guests to give one player that they love in this year’s draft. The first up to the plate was Ben Solak, who promptly hit it out of the park. 

Solak said Stukes was his guy. 

“This is a fringe first round, maybe early second round guy, but when we talk about modern safeties, we talk about guys who can play corner, play nickel, play deep… 6’1”, 190. Runs a true 4.33. Plays the ball wonderfully in the air. His angles, awesome. Especially for a guy who spent most of his time at safety, it’s extremely impressive to watch.”     

The two things that jump out here are that Solak views Stukes as more of a safety than a corner. He also sees a possibility of Stukes sneaking into the bottom of the first round. 

The numbers say Treydan Stukes is a perfect Bengals target

The overwhelming selection in last-minute mock drafts for the Bengals has Cincinnati taking Mansoor Delane with the tenth overall pick. 

According to PFF, Delane had the highest man coverage grade (89.1) in the year’s draft class. Stukes’ 83.2 ranks third. 

If you love Relative Athletic Scores and coverage grades with your coffee in the morning, Stukes is for you. 

Stukes is one of seven players with an RAS score above 9.85 and a man coverage grade over 70.0 since 2018. His 83.2 grade is second to Cooper DeJeans’s 89.7 when he entered the draft. 

Stukes is among a group of four with an RAS score above 9.85, a man coverage grade over 70.0, and a zone coverage grade of 80.0. The other three are Jaycee Horn, Patrick Surtain II, and Christian Gonzalez. 

Among those four, Stukes had the best scores in both man and zone coverages. 

Stukes also compares favorably to Quinyon Mitchell and Cincinnati’s DJ Turner when you take all of the above information and add 40 times faster than 4.42 since 2019.

Hill had a RAS score of 9.71. Stukes came in at 9.95. Stukes’ game is very similar to Dax Hill’s, but with better athletic testing. 

Treydan Stukes brings Caleb Downs–like versatility

On a defense that was the worst at tackling, if you are a fan who wants the Bengals to select Caleb Downs, you should also want a guy like Stukes. 

Stukes’ missed tackle rate was almost identical to Downs’, with the former sporting an 11.3 rate and the latter at 11.1. And since we are here, Stukes ranked a shade higher than Dillon Thieneman (11.5%) and A.J. Haulcy (11.8%).

One of the reasons that so many would like to see Downs with the Bengals is that he could play in the slot. Well, like Hill, Stukes spent most of his time in the slot and performed admirably doing so. 

Downs will make a better pure safety than Stukes, but Stukes would offer more as a slot corner, while their versatility rivals the other’s. 

The secret is out on Treydan Stukes

As the draft approaches, Stukes is no longer a guy that teams can be confident in lasting through the second round. 

While the general public may not be up on Stukes, NFL teams and insiders are all in, to the point where he may not make it out of the first round. 

For the Bengals, he would be an excellent trade-back option. That is, if they can find a partner to dance with at the NFL Draft Ball. 

But by no means can we allow Stukes to go to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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