That's a wrap for the Cincinnati Bengals and the 2025 NFL regular season. And with the results of Week 18 in hand, and thanks to their 20-18 loss to the Cleveland Browns, we now know where the Bengals will be selecting in this year’s draft.
Unfortunately, despite the loss, the Bengals did not improve their draft position. However, the orange-and-black lining is that their draft position was not made worse by a victory. So there’s that.
Bengals locked into the No. 10 pick after Week 18 chaos
And once again, the Bengals were denied a shot at what they want by the Chiefs due to Kansas City’s inspiring loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, 14-12.
With Kansas City losing, they fall to 6-11 and will pick ninth overall due to the strength-of-schedule tiebreakers.
The other 6-11 team picking ahead of the Bengals and Chiefs is the New Orleans Saints, who own the eighth spot in the draft.
The Bengals will pick 10th overall, barring any trades leading up to Cincinnati’s pick. The team also owns the 41st, 72nd, 110th, 189th, 199th, and 226 overall picks.
Now the question is: what will they do with that draft capital?
Bengals’ draft must deliver immediate impact
The Bengals’ draft strategy heading into this offseason must be to avoid projects and target players who can have an immediate “positive” impact.
The Bengals must make the decision with the intent of their tenth overall pick being a starter at whatever position he played in college.
For as much as we are fans of Miami Hurricanes’ offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa, if he is not the starting right tackle for the 2026 Bengals, then he should not be the pick.
Also, coming off another season in which running back Chase Brown showed he needs to be more involved, not less, in the offense, selecting a running back in the top 10 would be less than ideal.
It is a shame that the team decided to set their 2025 first-round pick on fire by selecting someone who everyone knew would not pay dividends in helping this season’s team. Making their decisions more confusing was selecting players in the second and third rounds with the intention of making them immediate starters.
A few weeks ago, when we compared Joe Burrow to Andy Dalton, the idea that using high draft picks on players to sit on their hands rather than expecting an immediate return on investment was one of the factors that led to Dalton's “breaking.”
If the Bengals continue down that path, we should be worried that history will repeat itself with Burrow.
Immediate-impact prospect and more available Bengals’ draft range
The Bengals showed they can head into the draft with the intent of immediately starting rookies, selecting Demetrius Knight Jr. and Dylan Fairchild last year. Let’s hope that the personnel department can do the same thing for their first-round pick in April.
Luckily for the Bengals, if they scout correctly, several players in this upcoming draft could start immediately or at least play a role that has an immediate impact.
One name that Bengals fans are already very familiar with is Ohio State’s Caleb Downs. And rightfully so, as he arguably would make the most significant impact on the defensive side of the ball.
Downs is Pro Football Focus’ top-ranked prospect. Fortunately for Cincinnati, the positional value at safety is such that teams will shy away from him early in the draft. However, a combination of Downs being excellent and the perceived lack of ‘first-round grades’ from this draft class could push him higher on draft boards.
Other players to keep a close eye on during the draft process include, but are not limited to, Sonny Styles (LB), Romello Height (EDGE), Caleb Banks (DT), and Mansoor Delane (CB).
But now that the front office knows where the team will be picking in the 2026 NFL Draft, they can’t procrastinate in determining their offseason strategy to improve the team’s outcomes next season.
And we can only hope whoever the Bengals come away with will help the team get back to where they want to be: a Super Bowl contender.