Bengals News: Top players under 25, acing the draft, and more
In Bengals news, two members of the stripes have landed on the top 25 under 25 rankings. Also, the Cincinnati Bengals' 2020 draft might go down as the best in franchise history.
Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus ranked the top 25 players under the age of 25 years old and two members of the Bengals made the list. It shouldn't surprise you when I tell you that they were Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Chase came in at No. 4 while Higgins appeared at No. 14.
Funny enough, these two players are both due for extensions in the next year. Higgins is waiting for his extension this offseason while Chase will surely receive one a year from now. No one will be angry if the Bengals take care of both of these guys.
Speaking of Higgins, the 2020 draft looks to be one for the books for the Bengals franchise. They landed Higgins in the second round and that came after selecting Joe Burrow first overall and snagging Logan Wilson in the third round.
Check out what's trending in Bengals news.
Ranking the top 25 players under 25 entering the 2023 NFL season: Sauce Gardner, Justin Jefferson and more [Trevor Sikkema, PFF]
"Chase’s receiving grades for the first two seasons of his career came out to 86.1 in 2021 and 85.2 in 2022. Over the past two years, he’s recorded 3,000 receiving yards and 25 receiving touchdowns. He’s also been one of the top big-play receivers in the league, recording 60 explosive plays of 20 yards or more."
- Trevor Sikkema
"Higgins is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons while recording 908 receiving yards in his rookie campaign before that. It’s been a career of high-level consistency for Higgins, who would likely have even better stats with Ja’Marr Chase not acting as the team’s No. 1 receiver the past two years."
- Trevor Sikkema
Regrading 2020 NFL Draft: Bengals class goes from great to franchise-altering, Raiders go from B to the only F [Pete Prisco, CBS Sports]
"The rest of the draft produced three backups, although linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither (fourth), offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji (sixth) and linebacker Markus Bailey (seventh) have all started games. "
- Pete Prisco
Yeah, even the late-round picks in this draft have been decent. Sure, Adeniji starting on the offensive line scares people now but as a rookie he did okay and he's more than outperformed what most people expected of him as a sixth-round pick.
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Dehner Jr.: When Joe Burrow’s ‘involved,’ all is calm on contract front [Paul Dehner Jr., The Athletic]
It is a good sign to see that Joe Burrow is involved with the contract extension process. We haven't heard much about the situation and that's because Burrow prefers it that way. He doesn't want things leaking to the media and causing unnecessary drama.