Bengals preseason proves Duke Tobin found a hidden gem

The Cincinnati Bengals are innately behind the 8-ball when it comes to NFL Draft resources. They have the smallest scouting department in the NFL, and de facto GM Duke Tobin can only do so much with the tools at his disposal.

Joe Burrow masks a lot of Cincinnati's organizational issues as quite arguably the best quarterback in the sport. That includes overcoming bad draft picks who can't make a quick enough impact for a franchise in the midst of Burrow's prime. In other words, in a wide-open Super Bowl window.

Thus, it becomes all the more imperative to not strike out on draft selections. Ever since Burrow entered the league with a power trio of draft classmates in Tee Higgins and Logan Wilson, the Bengals simply haven't drafted well enough. That's just the truth of it.

Having said all that, the tide may very well be turning thanks to a certain Day 3 rookie who's coming on strong as the regular season draws nearer...

5th-round draft diamond Jalen Rivers in the running to start at right guard

Jalen Rivers had 59 pass blocking snaps across his three preseason outings, and yielded just two pressures on those reps, per PFF. It's a small sample size, yes, and it came mostly against backups, but there's more reason to be bullish about that than may meet the eye.

During his time at the University of Miami, Rivers played left tackle and left guard. No real experience to speak of on the right side of the offensive line. The Bengals seemed to envision him as a swing tackle at first before giving him some run at right guard once Lucas Patrick couldn't seize the job.

It'd be pressing luck to count on two rookies at the guard positions, but hey, whatever the Bengals can muster to protect Joe Burrow as well as possible is fine by me. Don't care what it looks like nor the experience level. Neither should any fans who've watched Joe Brrr take a pummeling in oft-collapsing pockets for most of his career.

You could argue left guard Dylan Fairchild is a gem in his own right. However, if you're drafting a guard from Georgia in the middle of the third round, you're probably hoping he starts, especially given Cincinnati's lack of viable alternatives at that spot.

What makes Rivers so unique and gem-worthy is his on-the-fly cross-training/conversion to a new position, and how smoothly he's made the move. Then of course, you factor in the elevation in competition of the NFL, and it's all the more impressive.

A big reason, in my opinion, that the Bengals have struggled in the trenches is their reluctance to draft upper-tier athletes at those positions. They get big, burly guys who aren't as athletic, which hinders their ability to diversify their run game and hold up on so many true pass sets.

There's a shift happening of late in that area, showing at least a slight evolution in Cincinnati's thinking. Last year's first-round pick Amarius Mims had a relative athletic score of 9.59 out of 10. Fairchild didn't qualify RAS-wise due to lack of testing, but he's a far more athletic guard than the Bengals have had in the Burrow era for the most part.

In Rivers' case, he was only at a mediocre 6.64 RAS as a tackle. However, that jumps to 7.87 when you adjust his position to be a guard.

Even [4.90 RAS] Ted Karras' potential successor at center and Rivers' ex-Hurricanes teammate, Matt Lee, logged an 8.66 RAS coming out of Miami last draft, despite being quite undersized.

I don't want to get expectations too high for Rivers this early on. Nevertheless, the preseason proved that Duke Tobin may very well have found a diamond in the rough — and a prospect who I was fully on board with at that! Did I call him competing at right guard, or did I call him competing at right guard!?

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