Bengals: Stealing one player from every AFC North foe
By Glenn Adams
Sports hate is real, making it hard to acknowledge anything good that the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, or Pittsburgh Steelers have going on. Nevertheless, we will temporarily ponder “What if” when wondering how certain players would look in stripes.
Begrudgingly, let’s explore the one player the Cincinnati Bengals would love to steal from every AFC North foe.
Ravens: Mark Andrews
There was a lot of scuttlebutt around the tight end position heading into the 2023 NFL Draft. The Bengals opted not to select a tight end, opting for free agent pickup Irv Smith Jr. as the leading candidate to take over for departed Hayden Hurst. However, uncertainty still lingers around the position in Cincinnati, unlike in Baltimore, where Mark Andrews is one of the league’s best tight ends.
Bengals fans would love to steal Andrews away from the rival Ravens. With all the talk surrounding the position this offseason, it would be nice to pluck one of the best from a division rival.
Andrews is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and a First-Team All-Pro in 2021. Pro Football Focus ranks him as the second-best at his position.
Adding a 1,000-yard-receiving tight end like Andrews to the Bengals’ offense would be phenomenal. Depriving Lamar Jackson of his primary target would be the icing on the cake.
Hopefully, with Joe Burrow as his quarterback and opposing defenses focused on the best trio of receivers in the NFL, this will be the year that Smith Jr. puts his name in the conversation as one of the best tight ends in the NFL.