The Cincinnati Bengals continue to win, which is great news for the majority of the fans who want to see the team succeed. For the fans who were hoping the team would tank to earn a better pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, they're probably not thrilled that the Bengals continue to win and get further away from a top-10 pick.
Don't get me wrong, it'd have been fun to see Brock Bowers catching passes from Joe Burrow over the next five years but the whole tanking thing doesn't always make sense. Why are the players going to tank? This is their job and their job is to play hard and win football games. The Bengals are doing exactly that even in a less than ideal situation.
Where do the Bengals pick in the 2024 NFL Draft?
As of this writing, Tankathon has the Bengals sitting with the 24th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. If they make the playoffs, the lowest they could be drafting is 19th and obviously the highest would be 32nd if they win the Super Bowl.
If the Bengals get out of the Wild Card round and advance to the Divisional Round, the lowest they'd be picking is 25th. From there, if they happen to make it to the AFC title game again, they'd pick no lower than 29th. And obviously if they get to the Super Bowl, they're either picking 31st or 32nd.
In the 2022 draft, the Bengals held the 31st pick because they lost in the previous Super Bowl. They took Dax Hill with that pick. In this year's draft, the Bengals held the 28th pick, which normally would have been the 29th pick but the Dolphins' first-round was stripped from them, meaning there were only 31 selections. The Bengals took Myles Murphy with their first-round draft choice.
What positions might the Bengals address in the first round?
The Bengals could lose both Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins and they'll most certainly lose one of those guys. That means a wide receiver could very much be on the table for the Stripes in the first round.
Offensive linemen are always a need for Cincinnati but the fear is that this organization is terrible at drafting them. Amarius Mims from Georgia was who A.J. Schulte of Pro Football Network had the Bengals taking in his latest mock draft. Jonah Williams is a free agent this spring though, so the Bengals will need to find a new right tackle.
If the Bengals continue to find replacements for future free agents with their first-round draft choice, then we'll want to look at the 2025 free agents. These include Ja'Marr Chase (likely extension candidate this offseason), Trey Hendrickson, B.J. Hill, Mike Hilton, Ted Karras, Evan McPherson, and Joe Mixon.
Out of that bunch, perhaps the Bengals opt to find some help on the defensive line to replace Hill's production. Maybe they look to replace what Hilton has done in the secondary. Maybe it's time to find a new center with Karras already in his 30s.
People might not be thinking of the draft now that the Bengals have proven they can win without Joe Burrow but it's never too early to start talking about it or where/who the team might end up picking.