Bengals should have severe buyer’s remorse as Falcons rookie keeps soaring

The Cincinnati Bengals have had so many misfires, false starts, or belated payoffs from the NFL Draft that it's honestly exhausting to ruminate over on a near-daily basis.

Congratulations to the Bengals now that 2023 first-round pick Myles Murphy is finally showing something in his third season. Nice to see Jalen Davis fill in at nickel so that 2022 first-rounder Dax Hill can finally settle in as a boundary corner — his third different position he's played in Cincinnati.

I won't bore you with more details. That's the tip of the iceberg as to why Joe Burrow wonders whether he still has fun playing football.

Anyway, Thursday Night Football's matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was just another painful reminder of what could've been for the Bengals. Also further proof that I could personally run their scouting department better than the knuckleheads they have in charge.

James Pearce Jr. makes Bengals drafting Shemar Stewart look like a disaster

I could take a vindication victory lap on my rogue theory that Cincinnati should've mortgaged the future back in 2021 to land Penei Sewell, Ja'marr Chase, and Kyle Pitts. Imagine the latter in an offense with Burrow, Chase, and Tee Higgins, with an elite tackle in Sewell blocking. Pitts had a cool 11 catches for 166 yards and three TDs in Atlanta's 29-28 win.

That's not why we're here, though, for that is Fantasy/Shadow Team Land and the opportunity passed the Bengals by. Not my fault. I DM'd them on X/Twitter about my master plan. Shockingly they didn't listen.

What's also on public record is my love for James Pearce Jr., and in fact, the Falcons loved him so much that they traded back into the first round of this year's draft to get him at 26th overall. Atlanta had already drafted Georgia's Jalon Walker, but felt the need for another dynamic pass rusher, hence the audacious move.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati stuck and picked as is the typical protocol, unnecessarily rolling the dice on athletic specimen Shemar Stewart. He who had 4.5 sacks in three years at Texas A&M, whereas Pearce had 17.5 in his last two seasons for the Tennessee Volunteers.

Pearce's pass rush win rate (23%) and run stop rate (10.1%) in 2024 were elite, dwarfing/almost doubling the respective totals for Stewart (12.4% and 5.5%). Let's check in to see how they're doing at the NFL level, shall we?

Quite a contrast, no? And look, the full book isn't written on Stewart's NFL career, but my goodness, he's off to a dreadful, injury-plagued start. Meanwhile, the more aerodynamic, slender-built Pearce is dominating to the tune of eight sacks.

If only the most basic advanced metrics could've told us this was coming, right? Stewart has had six total tackles (two solo) in five games for Cincinnati. Zero sacks.

How about this observation from @battl3szn on X/Twitter:

"James Pearce Jr. has 7.5 sacks in the last 32 days. Shemar Stewart has 4.5 sacks in the last 4 years."

LOL.

Hand up: I will say I had the Ravens' Mike Green as the top EDGE in the 2025 draft, but I was admittedly not locked in on all his off-field issues. This is where it'd pay to be in the trenches of a personnel department. You know, living the dream. Ian Rapoport's disturbing revelation about Green's interview process re: character concerns would've had me ejecting him from my draft board entirely.

I just feel like I sit back every year, watching stupid-obvious players the Bengals should've drafted shine elsewhere, and think to myself, "What in the world are we DOING!?"

This happens in real time during the draft. It happens during the ensuing regular season. I'm so tired of it. The Bengals have to get it right or else, no, Joe Burrow ain't gonna wanna stick around.

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