Bear with me while this gets laid out. I can already hear Cincinnati Bengals fans screaming about how much of a clickbait troll job this is to suggest the team shouldn't have chosen Ja'Marr Chase over Penei Sewell with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Of course Chase has been a Grand Slam franchise cornerstone of an acquisition. He's a Triple Crown winner and arguably the best player at his position in the game.
What I'm arguing, or rather re-raising in light of recent discourse, is that the Bengals should've sold the farm to score Chase and Sewell in that draft to make the most of Joe Burrow's rookie contract window.
I have an "elsewhere in the multiverse" piece centered on this concept, only it went a step further to mortgage the future for Chase, Sewell, and Kyle Pitts. I'm updating it to just feature Sewell, and analyzing what it would've taken to nab the seventh overall pick from the Detroit Lions a half-decade ago.
Updated '75% chance' Bengals Penei Sewell trade package would've created dream Ja'Marr Chase pairing
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler is surveying executives, scouts, and coaches on the top 10 NFL players at each position. On the offensive tackle list, Penei Sewell is No. 1.
Hence my fascination with him. Mind you, the origin of my revolutionary Bengals draft trade idea was before the 2021 NFL Draft. I actually put this on public record that I wanted Cincinnati to score Chase, Sewell, and Pitts in one fell swoop.
Unrealistic? You betcha. But what about just Sewell, considering his presence could've easily altered the course of NFL history? AKA, if an elite tackle like Sewell — he was great even as a rookie — was in the Bengals' starting lineup all season and for Super Bowl LVI, there would've been a Lombardi Trophy parade rocking the Queen City.
Here's the new trade package I dreamed up, where Cincinnati would've yielded picks that would've eventually turned into Jackson Carman, Dax Hill, Cam Taylor-Britt, Myles Murphy, and Jordan Battle.
- Lions receive: 2021 38th overall pick, 2022 & 2023 1st-round picks, 2022 2nd-round pick, 2023 3rd-round pick
- Bengals receive 2021 7th overall pick; the rights to Penei Sewell
I asked ChatGPT if this was even remotely realistic. Here was the answer:
"It resembles the scale of real top-10 trade-ups we've seen, and it's built around the kind of assets NFL teams actually value: future firsts and second-rounders, not lots of late-round selections. If I were putting a number on it, I'd say there's roughly a 75% chance Detroit at least seriously engages and has a legitimate chance of accepting this package, assuming there isn't a competing offer that's clearly better and the Bengals are targeting a player they view as a true franchise cornerstone."
I'll take those odds!
Would you trade Carman (bust), CTB (flamed out; off the team), Dax (might finally stick at his third different position), Murphy (signs of life in second half of Year 3), and Battle (decent starting safety) for the best offensive tackle in the sport today? I think I would! Never mind five years ago.
As someone who really only started to get into the weeds on the NFL Draft in 2020, in the ensuing years, the prospects I've felt the most confident about succeeding at the pro level are as follows:
1. Penei Sewell
2. Joe Burrow
3. Derek Stingley Jr.
4. Caleb Williams
We're batting at least .750 so far on mortal lock guys, and Williams, for all his faults, is the new Madden cover guy.
Bengals' 2021 offseason still a raging success, and 2026 follows a similar path
Guess I"m getting nostalgic of late about that 2021 turning point. Yes, I would've loved to have Chase and Sewell on the Bengals, but shoot, for a notoriously conservative front office, they did score Trey Hendrickson, D.J. Reader, Chidobe Awuzie, and Mike Hilton during that free agency period.
Drafting Chase to reunite with his ex-LSU teammate Burrow was the no-brainer to end all no-brainers.
In the years to follow, Cincinnati's brass sadly regressed to their old ways. That is, until Burrow started wondering last season whether football was fun anymore on public record. Then they got their rears in gear, crushing a defensive line rebuild with Dexter Lawrence, Boye Mafe, Jonathan Allen, and even second-round pick Cashius Howell.
Oh, and as for the safety position that continued to struggle in the wake of Jessie Bates' departure after the 2022 campaign, Duke Tobin and Co. finally addressed that with two-time Chiefs Super Bowl champ Bryan Cook.
Similar shades of 2021 happening with the Bengals right now. And they're way better off than they were back then. And Burrow is a far better quarterback now than he was, you know, coming off a devastating knee injury that cut his rookie campaign short.
It's fun to daydream about an NFL franchise have the gall to score two premium players in one draft with a historic trade. Thankfully, the reality around 1 Paycor Stadium is a lot rosier than it was some 12 months ago — and a breakthrough Super Bowl triumph could very well be on the horizon despite Sewell shining elsewhere.
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