Predicting 3 Round 1 surprises for Bengals in 2023 NFL Draft

Trading up

The Bengals might be a Super Bowl contender now but that doesn't mean we should expect the organization to do things they don't do very often. Trading up in the draft is one of those things that the Bengals organization hasn't been prone to doing.

Per John Breech of CBS Sports, the Bengals have not traded up in the first round of the NFL Draft over the past 25 years. It's not surprising as we know that this is a franchise that values their draft picks and moving up in the first round would cost at least a few picks.

While the Bengals have shown that they're trying to bunk those reputation rumors (let's be real -- signing Orlando Brown Jr. was not something this team would have done even a year ago so this front office is making strides to be better), I can't see many scenarios where they would move up. Maybe a player they love falls outside the top 20 and they have to go get him but I just don't see it happening.

The Bengals moving up from the 28th pick in the draft would be quite the shock.