Best Bengals rookie lands in far better place in 2025 NFL Draft redo

The jury is still out on the Cincinnati Bengals' 2025 NFL Draft class, but the early returns are not promising in the slightest.

We should realistically allow three years to see how any given class shakes out. Unless it's a full-blown dumpster fire like the Bengals' 2024 haul. Then it's OK to light the fuse on furious anger

So while I question the efficacy of mock draft redo for 2025 this soon, it's no secret that Cincinnati rolled the dice on Shemar Stewart in Round 1 and got burned. Picked a couple linebackers too early, too. But in this retro mock, the Bengals would lose out on their very best rookie from 2025.

Bengals guard Dylan Fairchild lands with NFC champions in ESPN's 2025 NFL Draft retro mock

ESPN's NFL staff put together a new 2025 mock draft of the first two rounds, knowing what we know now from the season. Kind of silly, yeah, but here we are. And no, Shemar Stewart's name was nowhere to be found.

That's what happens when you pick a fringe top-50 guy at 17th overall, Duke Tobin! Just saying!

Anyway, Georgia left guard Dylan Fairchild was a nice get for Tobin in the third round of last year's draft. In this ESPN scenario, he doesn't make it that far. Instead, the Seattle Seahawks scoop him up with the 50th overall pick in Round 2.

Rather than drafting Grey Zabel with the 18th pick and trading up in the second round for stud nickelback/safety type Nick Emmanwori, Seattle scores Emmanwori in Zabel's place, and lets Fairchild fall into their laps thereafter.

Let the record please show who my No. 1 target for the Bengals was entering Day 2. By a long shot.

Disregard the hilarity that I had Jonah Savaiinaea ranked ahead of any prospect in last year's class. Also disregard my ranking of Demetrius Knight Jr. over Carson Schwesinger. Pobody's nerfect.

Anyway, whether Emmanwori was deployed as a box safety, or as a nickelback to trigger Dax Hill's flex out to the boundary earlier in the season, his impact in Cincinnati would've been massive.

Can you imagine, though, the Seahawks being even better off for the future as they gear up for Super Bowl Sunday? Could've happened in this alternate universe. I prefer to dwell on the time when Cincinnati could've scored Ja'Marr Chase, Penei Sewell, and Kyle Pitts all at once. Oh well.

The Bengals came out of this retro mock draft with Georgia safety Malaki Starks and Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen.

Starks would've been a good pick at safety. He's instead with the rival Ravens. But I have no idea why Nolen was still on the board for the Bengals at Pick 49. He went the pick before Stewart in real life. Although injuries slowed him in Arizona, Nolen was one of the best rookies, hands down.

My main takeaway? I couldn't have been more right about Emmanwori over Stewart. The former was the most physically gifted strong safety prospect out of 1,236 since Relative Athletic Score started tracking testing numbers in 1987. Stewart was tops among 2,012 defensive ends.

Underwear Olympics clearly aren't everything. Notice how I had Emmanwori as a round-better prospect than Stewart? *Sighs.* *Thousand-yard stares out window.*