Cincinnati Bengals Take Huge ‘Boom-or-Bust’ Approach to 2024 NFL Draft

When scouting players for the NFL Draft, there are two important factors for any player: the potential upside and how much risk there is that the player simply fails to develop.  This year, the franchise chose to maximize the former with no thoughts toward the latter at all.  While the team took some talented players like Amarius Mims and Jermaine Burton, virtually every player that the organization selected this year has at least one serious red flag pertaining to their development.

Mims is a perfect example.  Throughout his entire NFL career, he didn’t give up a single sack to his quarterback in a truly rare athletic feat at the offensive tackle position.  The problem with that is that Mims only played in eight games this year and didn’t start in the previous three seasons during his time at the University of Georgia.  That means that the 50% of playing time he had prior to this season shouldn’t count because when the backups come in late in the game when one of the teams is inevitably getting clobbered, there isn’t much of a passing game going on.

Admittedly, he was a monster this past season for the Bulldogs.  He generated a tremendous amount of their offense and if he hadn’t left the national championship game in the first quarter with an injury, it is likely that he would have been a national champion.  Unfortunately, that was his biggest red flag last season as he was only able to be healthy for eight games last season.  That means that not only is Cincinnati banking on Mims not having a substantial issue with the injury bug but that his eight games as a starter weren’t some kind of fluke.  That is certainly a big risk for the 18th overall pick.

Of all of their draft picks, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins Jr. was the least risk-ridden of their entire draft.  He was excellent at the University of Michigan last season and was a huge part of their national championship run last season.  His biggest problem is that he is undersized (weighing in at only 299 pounds) for a team that desperately needs him to step in and play the nose tackle position.

It is likely that the franchise will fit him quickly with a workout routine and nutritionist to put on as much weight as possible but we’re talking about transforming him into a completely different player.  That comes with some serious risk that he’ll be able to pull that off in a relatively short period of time.

Likely the biggest red flag of the entire draft is Burton.  Although he put up respectable but not outstanding numbers at the University of Alabama last season, he has shown signs that he may have serious character flaws.  At the end of the loss against the University of Tennessee in 2022, Burton actually struck a female fan who was rushing the field after the game.  He claims that all of his misdeeds are behind him but there have been numerous reports by those who have known him that he is a hothead with serious problems with authority.

Next up on the list is McKinnley Jackson, a 325-pound 1-technique out of Texas A&M.  Given the scarce nature of nose tackles in this year’s draft, Jackson was actually ranked the second-best 1-technique in this year’s draft.  Unfortunately, he isn’t particularly talented and wasn’t extremely successful during his collegiate career.  Cincinnati clearly chose him out of necessity but will have to accept that their new nose tackle will come with some serious limitations.

To highlight the amount of risk that Cincinnati is taking during this draft, the team selected Erick All in the fourth round.  Over the past two seasons, All has looked like an excellent pass-catching tight end but unfortunately for him, that has been in only ten games.  In back-to-back seasons, All has suffered major season-ending injuries including a spine injury in 2022 and a torn ACL in 2023.  He looks like a complete gamble as it isn’t even guaranteed that he’ll be able to bounce back quickly from his injuries.

Multiple NFL Executives have given Cincinnati credit for the talent of their picks but the red flags on top of them give this group an incredibly low floor.  This could be the best crop in the entire NFL Draft but could also be a list of duds for the century.