The Cincinnati Bengals have often looked to the future in the first round of drafts over the last half-decade. Prior to trading the 10th overall pick this year for All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence, Cincinnati's brass was fixated on finding the next man up to replace established veterans.
Dax Hill was supposed to be Jessie Bates' eventual successor at safety. The same was true for Myles Murphy at defensive end to someday supplant Sam Hubbard. Right tackle Amarius Mims only started early in 2024 when Trent Brown went down with an injury. Lastly, last year, Shemar Stewart was the clear insurance policy amid the infamous, annual contract disputes with Trey Hendrickson.
Who Dey Nation knows the outcomes all too well. Hill has bounced around to three different positions, Murphy wasn't ready once Hubbard retired, and Stewart looked awful as a rookie. Mims looks like he could be a big hit.
It's cool if you can execute a strategy like this. Not so much when it costs you three straight years of no playoffs.
For all the what-if scenarios among all these first-rounders, a recent 2023 re-draft from CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson presents a compelling alternate-universe scenario for Cincinnati.
2023 NFL Mock Draft redo gives Bengals the succession plan they *really* needed
Elsewhere in the multiverse: With the 28th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select...Daiyan Henley, linebacker, Washington State! Here's what Wilson had to say about it:
"The Bengals have tried to draft their way into solid linebacker play but haven't quite figured it out. Henley solves that problem and serves as the link between the much-improved defensive lines and secondary."
Fans may have been up in arms about this pick if it had come to pass. I remember thinking the Bengals were a bit in no man's land at the end of the first round. Murphy was kind of a so-so selection.
At least Murphy was considered a high first-round pick before his final college season at Clemson. Meanwhile, Henley didn't come off the board until the 85th overall pick in Round 3.
Remember, too, that Cincinnati still had Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt entrenched as starting linebackers heading into 2023, with Akeem Davis-Gaither as a capable-enough LB3. It would've been difficult to slot Henley in for any significant action.
All that said, though, if the Bengals were going the succession plan route, as they were wont to do at the time, Henley was a clear-cut better option in that vein than Murphy. Or at least that's how their career trajectories have played out thus far.
Where a player lands in the draft has as much to with their success or failure as anything. Cincinnati didn't do a good job developing Murphy. He didn't do his part well either.
Henley went to a bad situation with the Los Angeles Chargers under Brandon Staley's stewardship —only for the Bolts to hire Jim Harbaugh, and for Henley to take a massive Year 2 leap.
That's the type of jump the Bengals are praying and betting the house on that their in-real-life green-dot linebacker Barrett Carter will take in 2026. Carter was thrust into starting duty last year as a rookie fourth-rounder. He flopped miserably.
Sure would be nice to have an in-command, green dot captain like Daiyan Henley in Carter's place to vanquish the last glaring, lingering doubt about this otherwise much-improved Bengals defense. But again, who knows how Henley's trajectory would've played out if he bade his time behind Wilson and Pratt in Cincy.
Good news is, Murphy finally started showing some positive signs in the second half of the 2025 campaign. Despite seeing his fifth-year option declined, there's a real chance Murphy will solidify himself as a long-term Bengals starter this coming season.
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