Cautionary Bengals tales who prove 'Freaks List' can be wildly exaggerated

Not to throw any cold water on the straight heat Bruce Feldman brings every single year with his "Freaks List" for The Athletic, but I can't help but notice how exaggerated it's become at times. Unfortunately, it's disappointed me in the end as a Cincinnati Bengals fan more than once.

Taking a pause from the granular details of Bengals camp — exciting as some of them are thanks to Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and others — Feldman just dropped his annual lineup of college football's freakiest athletes, rife with the typical eye-popping testing numbers and enough hype to give fans of any implicated teams a gridiron-laced shot of epinephrine.

Not being a hater. Can't tell you how fired up I am to hear about how freaky some of these defensive tackles are. Oregon's A’Mauri Washington apparently runs up to 20.89 mph at 338 pounds. Peter Woods of Clemson runs a 4.86 40 at 310 pounds, with a 33-inch vertical leap. LSU head coach Brian Kelly told Feldman that the team "ran out of weights" for Dominick McKinley to max squat.

You see the premise of this article from the title. Acknowledging that Feldman's data could easily be more accurate as the years have gone on, I still contend certain school sources get a little too high on their own players and inflate numbers. Let me walk you through some Bengals-related examples to prove this point.

Freaks List 2018: Noah Fant

Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled the Bengals bolstered their tight end room by signing Fant recently. He's a former first-round pick with some downright freaky athletic traits, and is a huge boon to the position group with Erick All Jr. out for the season.

Having said that, reports of just how dynamic Fant was during his days at the University of Iowa were a tad hyperbolic. Check out the 2018 "Freaks List", wherein Feldman stated that Fant posted a 1.48-second 10-yard sprint, a shuttle time of 3.95 seconds, and a 42-inch vertical leap.

It's not like Fant's athleticism declined when he attended the NFL Scouting Combine the following year, right? So let's look at his numbers there, shall we? Ah. We have a 1.55-second 10y split, a 4.22s 20-yard shuttle, and a 39.5-inch vert.

Still outstanding numbers for a 6-foot-4, 249-pound tight end. You could write this off and say Fant didn't dial in on perfecting the drills before the Combine, yet that's an exceedingly rare situation for any prospect.

To drive the point home once more, though: I'm positively thrilled Fant is a Bengal, baby. So is he!

Freaks List 2018: Renell Wren

That same 2018 "Freaks List" from Feldman highlighted Arizona State defensive tackle and eventual 2019 Bengals fourth-round draftee Renell Wren.

Given the raw physical tools outlined in Feldman's piece, you'd think Wren was on course to be a diamond in the draft rough. Alas, Wren struggled with multiple injuries, and has been out of the league since 2023. Football is an unforgiving sport to say the least.

Aside from Wren not panning out as a draft pick, my estimation of him was a bit inflated by the "Freaks List." Just like we did with Fant, we have the benefit of Combine workouts to compare with the purported testing numbers Wren put up at ASU.

The difference in 40 times is noticeable (4.85 vs. 5.01), and his broad jump and vert (9'10"/32") were shorter in Indianapolis than in Tempe (10'/34.5"). Maybe this is due to Wren packing on a little additional weight, but I don't fully understand why he'd do that if he already squatted 600 pounds and benched 430.

Necessarily boldfaced: Wren is more of a cautionary tale in the sense that athleticism isn't the end-all, be-all for players, although injuries certainly played a factor in him not panning out as a pro.

It's kind of hilarious that the "Freaks List" might've given Wren a bit too much credit, yet he still rated as Next Gen Stats' most athletic defensive tackle at the Combine.

Freaks List 2023: Kris Jenkins Jr.

Speaking of defensive tackles, maybe Wren isn't the most egregious case of over-hype, but I gotta say, Kris Jenkins Jr. had me beyond intrigued once the Bengals drafted him last year.

Jenkins' father was an excellent NFL player for many years. The son strung together a stellar career at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh. All indications were this was a prospect Cincinnati could count on as an instant NFL starter. Harbaugh himself hyped Jenkins up as a top-10 pick.

Then, the 2024 campaign came and went, with Jenkins banged-up and fighting to crack the d-line rotation on a disappointing defense. Suddenly, my excitement over Jenkins being a prominent member of the 2023 Freaks List seemed deceptive.

Thirty-two reps of 225 pounds at school translated to only 29 at the Combine. Fifty pounds of weight gained that purportedly got Jenkins up to 307 and "more explosive than ever" waned to 299 pounds once he tipped the scales in Indy. His 7.16 3-cone, 4.33 shuttle, 9'8" broad, and 34-inch vert all dipped at the Combine. Well, he didn't run the 3-cone, but logged 4.78, 9'7" and 30 inches in the respective latter categories.

With his NFL pedigree and the presumptive technique know-how that comes with it — not to mention his time in a pro-centric college program in Ann Arbor — Jenkins disappointed as a rookie and struggled to hold his own on the line of scrimmage. His PFF defensive grade ranked 103rd out of 118 qualifying interior d-linemen.

That makes me wonder about the 760-pound combo twist Jenkins was reported to have pulled off.

Were he to truly possess that kind of strength and understanding of leverage, why am I not seeing practice footage of Jenkins human fork-lifting/ejecting/yeeting backup Bengals guards into the bleachers? Or at least into the Gatorade on the sidelines?

Anyway, there's still ample time for Jenkins to live up to his second-round draft billing. He seems like a fun guy. I hope he does live up to the considerable hype generated by his collegiate prowess, and "Freaks List" attributes. Would love to see more interior pass rush wins like the one below, that's for sure.

More Bengals News and Analysis