4 worst Bengals draft picks of the Duke Tobin era

2. Billy Price

Cincinnati targeting Frank Ragnow was one of the worst-kept secrets of the 2018 NFL Draft cycle. Unfortunately, the Detroit Lions also targeted the Arkansas center with the 20th overall pick, one slot ahead of where the Bengals were selecting. With the ensuing pick, Cincinnati selected Billy Price from The Ohio State. 

Drafting a center solely because you missed your targeted player is not ideal. It was not optimal when it happened and proved not to be over time. 

Picking an offensive lineman in the first round can be risky, no matter the context. Therefore, selecting a center that had issues with shotgun snapping the ball is probably a risk not worth taking. 

And for those of you who did not closely follow Price’s career after leaving the Queen City, know his issues, in no way, improved. 

Beyond his snap issues, Price was not elite in pass protection or not committing penalties either. Other than that, how was the play Mrs. President?

Tobin and Cincinnati’s offense was in desperate need of line help at this point. So to whiff so badly just continued the string of bad play from that position group that played an important role in the regression of the Andy Dalton, AJ Green, and Geno Atkins era of Bengals football. 

In 2021, Tobin and the Bengals traded Price to the New York Giants for BJ Hill in one of the biggest heists in recent NFL memory. 

Price signed with the New Orleans Saints this offseason but was released shortly after due to a non-football injury. Once healthy, we should expect him to get another shot for an offensive line-needy team willing to give him another chance, based on the mere fact that he was a former first-round draft pick, even though he should not have been.

And yet another fanbase will talk themselves into why Price will work out for them even though it hasn’t at his previous four stops in four years.