Editor’s note: In this five-part series, Paul Dehner Jr. and Jay Morrison take a deep dive into the Bengals’ draft strategy by taking stock of the neediest position groups and addressing where priority, talent and fit intersect. We’re analyzing the roster through the eyes of the team with trends, analytics, sleepers, bold moves and also opinions from our draft guru, Dane Brugler.
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Release schedule
• Monday: Defensive back
• Tuesday: Defensive line
• Wednesday: Tight end
• Thursday: Wide receiver
• Friday: Offensive line
Positional Priority
No. 2. You could argue finding a backup for B.J. Hill should be the top priority if we’re talking specifically about 3 technique. But when viewing the defensive line as a whole, it drops a spot on the pecking order behind landing a cornerback who can beat out Eli Apple. The Bengals are in good shape with Josh Tupou and Tyler Shelvin as run-stopping backups to D.J. Reader, and the three rookies they drafted last year, headlined by Joseph Ossai, offer plenty of promise on the edge. But there is a gaping hole behind Hill. Even with Hill and Larry Ogunjobi having huge seasons in 2021, the Bengals had to go out and find help in the middle of a Super Bowl run after Ogunjobi went down in the wild-card game. So adding inside pass rush help is an immense and immediate need.
Under contract through …
2022
Noah Spence (28): The 2016 second-round pick signed with the Bengals in training camp and appeared in two games while spending most of the season on the practice squad.
2023
• D.J. Reader (27): Rebounded from his injury-shorted 2020 and had the best season of his career.
• Josh Tupou (27): A solid run-stopper who occasionally flashes as a pass rusher, creating a minimal drop-off when spelling Reader.
• Khalid Kareem (23): Played in just seven games last year. Heading into Year 3, he’ll be in the mix to add depth off the edge.
2024
• Trey Hendrickson (27): The defensive MVP in 2022 with a career-high and team-record 14 sacks returns for his second season in Cincinnati.
• B.J. Hill (27): He slides into the starting role with a new three-year $30 million contract after a breakout season and the departure of Larry Ogunjobi.
• Joseph Ossai (22): He’s now healthy and will have a chance to be near the top of the edge rotation.
• Cam Sample (22): Played more edge than interior as a rookie, but he should be able to showcase his versatility more in Year 2.
• Tyle Shelvin (23): He’s being counted on to take big a step on and off the field in Year 2.
• Wyatt Hubert (23): Like Ossai, Hubert lost his entire rookie year to injury. The seventh-round pick will be battling for a roster spot in camp.
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2025
• Sam Hubbard (26): The team’s longest-tenured D-lineman, he will start opposite Hendrickson after a 7.5-sack effort in 2021.
Rate the class
Dichotomous. The edge rushers are the stars of the class, while the interior linemen are last or next to it, depending on which rankings you are looking at. Brugler has three edge rushers in his top six overall prospects and five in the top 15. The group isn’t just top-heavy, with edge guys accounting for 17 of Brugler’s top 100. As for the interior guys, it’s not a group devoid of talent. There’s just a lack of high-burst 3 techniques, which is concerning for a Bengals team badly in need of depth behind Hill. There are plenty of big-body, nose-tackle types, but the group is listed at the top and mostly will be tapped on Day 3.
Recent draft history
2021
• R3 (69): Joseph Ossai, Texas
• R4 (111): Cam Sample, Tulane
• R7 (235): Wyatt Hubert, Kansas State
2020
• R5 (147): Khalid Kareem, Notre Dame
2019
• R4 (125): Renell Wren, Arizona State
2018
• R3 (77): Sam Hubbard, Ohio State
• R5 (158): Andrew Brown, Virginia
2017
• R3 (73): Jordan Willis, Kansas State
• R4 (116): Carl Lawson, Auburn
• R4 (138): Ryan Glasgow, Michigan
NFL trend
The only position group with more players making at least $20 million a year than defensive line, with eight, is quarterback (15).
The last two Super Bowls are prime examples of why. The games’ MVPs may not have come from the defensive line, but it clearly was the most valuable position group for each of the last two champions — the 2021 Rams (seven sacks of Joe Burrow to go along with a game-ending pressure to prevent a completion to a wide-open Ja’Marr Chase) and the 2020 Buccaneers (who throttled the explosive Chiefs with three sacks and an incredible 19 pressures against Patrick Mahomes).
Pass rushers always have been important, but they are becoming more of a top priority every year. And there’s no question about the premium the Bengals put on the group, as they are paying four defensive linemen at least $10 million per year. Only the Eagles have that many D-linemen making $10 million per year. And the total money the Bengals have allocated to the D-line this year is $49.7 million, which is 25.5 percent of their current contracts. That ranks fourth-highest in the league, and it’s a luxury of having a franchise quarterback on a rookie deal.
- per Spotrac.com
The Chiefs, with Mahomes making $45 million a year, are the only team in the top seven with a quarterback making more than $30 million a year, which illustrates why there wasn’t room for them to keep around one of the game’s top play-making wide receivers in Tyreek Hill.
The Bengals have three of their four highest-paid D-linemen under contract for at least two more years, but with Burrow headed for the salary stratosphere next offseason, the draft and development plan along the D-line is going to need to replace the free agency approach the team has employed the last two years.
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Bengals trend
The Bengals have not drafted a defensive player with a top-50 pick since taking William Jackson 24th in 2016. The next closest was safety Jessie Bates at 54 in 2018.
A big reason for that is how aggressively they’ve attacked their defensive needs the last two seasons, but the five-year drought makes the Bengals an outlier. The only other team that hasn’t selected a defensive player with a top-50 pick during that span is the Rams, who have had only one top-50 pick since 2017.
The Bengals, by contrast, have had eight top-50 picks in the last five drafts.
Bengals trend, part II
Specific to the defensive line, the Bengals have not targeted the group in the first round since 2001, when they selected Justin Smith at No. 4. They drafted David Pollack, who played defensive end at Georgia, 17th in 2005, but the plan was always to move him to an off-ball linebacker.
The franchise’s only position with a longer first-round drought (other than specialists) is safety. The last time it happened was 30 years ago, when the team took Darryl Williams 28th with its second selection of the first round.
Key variable
Depth — specifically when it comes to the 3 technique. We’re talking both in terms of how much the Bengals value it, and how it fits this year’s draft class.
The Bengals were thrilled with the production they received from Hill after trading for him at the conclusion of the preseason, and when Hill proved he can be a starting 3 tech, the Bengals were willing to pay him like one. But defensive tackle is one of the most rotation-dependent positions, and coordinator Lou Anarumo doesn’t have much to work with behind Hill in terms of a 3 technique. Guys such as Sample and Hubbard can move inside on occasion, but ideally, the Bengals are looking for a 1A/1B tandem like they had last year.
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It’s not just about load management, but injury contingency. Even though the only game Hill has missed in his four-year career was the Week 18 finale at Cleveland when the Bengals rested all of their regulars, the Bengals can’t afford to go into this season without a 3 tech capable of stepping in should Hill be forced to miss games.
PFF college research
Here’s a look at the defensive linemen who best project as 3 techniques beyond the top tier. This list omits players Brugler has slotted as first-rounders, as well as his first/second tweeners.
The chart below looks at overall grade, pass-rush productivity, run stop percentage and missed tackle percentage.
Player | Team | Grade | PRP | RS % | MT % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kalia Davis | 82.3 | 4.4 | 7.8 | 23.5 | |
Phidarian Mathis | 81.4 | 6.3 | 10.2 | 3.0 | |
Eric Johnson |  Missouri State | 79.9 | 4.6 | N/A | N/A |
Jayden Peevy | 78.0 | 3.3 | 9.8 | 15.9 | |
Eyioma Uwazurike | 77.0 | 7.6 | 3.7 | 0.0 | |
Matthew Butler | 75.8 | 4.1 | 7.5 | 2.4 | |
DeMarvin Leal | 70.3 | 5.8 | 8.3 | 13.7 | |
Thomas Booker | 49.2 | 3.2 | 6.4 | 8.1 |
The primary objective for a 3 technique is to rush the passer, but the ability to play the run cannot be overlooked. It was the glaring difference between the numbers Ogunjobi and Hill posted in 2021, with Hill outperforming his teammate both in terms of total missed tackles and missed tackle percentage.
Next to salary demand, the missed tackles were the most important numbers in differentiating the players.
PFF did not have run-stop percentage and missed-tackle percentage numbers for Eric Johnson, but it’s worth noting his run defense grade of 86.7 was higher than anyone else on the chart. Also worth noting Johnson is scheduled to visit the Bengals this week.
Another outlier worth mentioning is the University of Cincinnati’s Curtis Brooks, whom Brugler has slotted as a preferred free agent. Had he been included on the chart, Brooks’ overall grade (83.2) and pass-rush productivity (8.3) would have ranked first.
The Athletic college insight
In Bruce Feldman’s mock draft written with intel from his coaching sources across the college landscape, he projected Georgia defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt to go 19th. But every year there is a prospect who inexplicably falls to the late first round or completely out of it, and this year it could be Wyatt, whose mock results have been the most volatile of any prospect.
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Wyatt is already 24, so plays a role in that. He was also surrounded, perhaps even overshadowed, by elite defenders on a freakishly talented, national title-winning Georgia defense.
Below are a couple of the comments Feldman gleaned from his coaching sources regarding Wyatt.
Coach 1: “He’s an incredible athlete at that size. He’s not the talent 88 (Jalen Carter) is — that guy is a monster — but Wyatt’s really impressive. He’s still pretty raw but is very violent and disruptive, and he’s faster than a lot of linebackers.”
Coach 2: “I thought he was OK. You were so worried about 99 (Jordan Davis) and 88, you didn’t worry about him. But he’s very solid.”
Relative Athletic Score report
There’s no better place to quantify freakish traits than Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score site, which analyzes the complete testing profile for every draft-eligible player. Platte inserts all numbers for all prospects into a massive database with stored info back to 1987, and it produces a 1-10 athleticism score.
Of the players ranked in Brugler’s top 25 at both edge and interior, here are the top five overall testers.
Edge
• Travon Walker, Georgia: 9.99
• Boye Mafe, Minnesota: 9.92
• Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan: 9.88
• Dominque Robinson, Miami (OH): 9.74
• Sam Williams, Mississippi: 9.72
Interior
• Jordan Davis, Georgia: 10
• Thomas Booker, Stanford: 9.88
• Devonte Wyatt, Georgia: 9.59
• Curtis Brooks, Cincinnati: 9.52
• Travis Jones, Connecticut: 9.4
As impressive as a perfect 10 is at any position, it’s especially so at defensive tackle, where Davis becomes just the eighth player to reach the pinnacle.
Jordan Davis has currently tested as the most athletic defensive tackle in the #RAS database, with his 20 split unofficial.
Most nose tackles skip the agility drills, and if he's done, then he's top dog. pic.twitter.com/AF995HJWmk
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 5, 2022
The most recent player to do it was Lawrence Okoye, a British track and field star who never played college football. That was in 2013. Before that, you have to go back to Jason Shirley, who was a fifth-round pick of the Bengals in 2008.
The most successful defensive tackles with a 10 RAS score were Igor Olshansky, a second-round pick of the Chargers in 2004 who played in 115 games with 98 starts, and Danny Noonan, a first-round pick (12th) of the Cowboys in 1987 who appeared in 73 games with 41 starts.
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And with Wyatt showing up here again, it’s worth noting that his 9.59 is the 16th-best RAS score among defensive tackles over the last five years.
Sleepers to track
Edge Dominique Robinson, Miami (OH): The Bengals have never shied away from smaller school guys or local products, both of which fit Robinson. In addition to his impressive RAS score, he shows up on Feldman’s NFL Draft Freaks List in The Athletic. Robinson played quarterback in high school and receiver his first three years at Miami, so he’s still learning how to rush the passer, not to mention setting the edge against the run. The Bengals aren’t loaded with edge rushers, but there’s enough there to allow Robinson to continue to ease into his new position, at a new level, while focusing on development, even at age 24 (as of July).
DT Matthew Butler, Tennessee: One of the SEC’s top scholar-athletes and a team captain for the Volunteers, Butler elected to return for his COVID-19-granted super senior season in 2021 and produced five sacks as a 3 tech, topping the 4.5 he had recorded in his first four seasons in Knoxville. He’s still only 22 and should benefit from some consistent coaching after playing for numerous staffs at UT. He would be a solid depth piece to add behind — or, in some alignments, alongside — Hill.
DT Kalia Davis, Central Florida: He’s coming off an ACL tear in October, and the Bengals have been burned a few times in recent years by guys recovering from injuries. But the Cedric Ogbuehi, John Ross, Billy Price types were higher-leverage picks. Davis would be worth a flyer in the fourth or fifth round. He’ll turn 24 in October after redshirting as a freshman and opting out in 2020. But he’s a true 3 technique who is on the ascending trajectory the Bengals staff loves. He was having his best season in 2021 before the ACL.
Bold move
Ending a 21-year drought would seem to qualify, no? Making Houston’s Logan Hall the first defensive lineman they’ve selected in the first round since 2001 would make sense on multiple levels. The 6-foot-6, 283-pound Hall, whom the Bengals brought in for one of their 30 official pre-draft visits, comes with strong Calais Campbell vibes. Hall has the length and versatility the Bengals love on the defensive line, and he hits the tenets this coaching staff covets in terms of work ethic, leadership and ascension. While some teams may knock the tweener label, landing a guy who could play in sub-packages both at edge and 3 tech would hit the Bengals perfectly, both in terms of current depth and an eventual succession plan for a position group in need of cheaper talent with so many big bills coming due soon.
A slightly less bold move would be to trade back from 31 to try to land Hall somewhere in the range of 37, where Brugler has him ranked, while acquiring an extra mid-round pick they could convert into another defensive lineman.
Dane Brugler’s background
Here is what Brugler, who has Wyatt going 27th, had to say on the latest episode of Hear That Podcast Growlin’ about Wyatt possibly sliding to the Bengals at No. 31.
“The chances are low, but there’s at least a chance. There are a lot of teams that are not gonna draft a 24-year-old player in the first round. It doesn’t matter what position you play, maybe except for quarterback. But at a certain point, the talent outweighs what ideally we want in terms of some of these factors.
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“If not for Jordan Davis, his Georgia teammate and the remarkable Combine he had, we’d be talking more about Devonte Wyatt and how much of a freak he is — 6-3, 305, he ran a 4.77, a remarkable time, in the 40-yard dash. You see the motor. You see his effort. But you also see an ability to win with quickness, win with power. You see pass-rush moves. I think there’s going to be a lot of land mines in front of the Bengals from the Cardinals, from the Buccaneers. A lot of teams are gonna look at 3 technique and see a guy that’s going to make their defensive line better in Wyatt. So probably not gonna make it there to 31. But I will not say it’s impossible.”
They said it
Florida’s Zach Carter has one of the most versatile resumes of anyone in this year’s class, as the Gators played him everywhere along the line from the time he arrived on campus until the final game of his career.
In that Senior Day game against rival Florida State, Carter played 15 snaps inside as a 3 tech.
During his podium session at the combine, Carter said the Bengals were one of the first teams he spoke with, and that they and every other team spent a lot of time getting his thoughts on his willingness to move around and which position he feels best suits him.
“It’s interesting because I used to, at first, I used to question my coach sometimes. I was like, ‘Coach, let me focus on just one spot.’ And he was like, ‘It’s gonna help you in the long run.’ At first, I didn’t understand, but I felt like it prepared me to play so many positions. So I feel like as I move on to the next level, I’ll be able to fit in a lot of different schemes.
“I feel like I’m a first- and second-down end, obviously, and then move inside on pass-rush situations. And I feel like me on a guard, especially in pass-rush situations, is a mismatch.”
Where they’ll take one
Third round. There will be plenty of teams offering to move into the first or second round, and the Bengals will listen. They may even go for a second-round trade back for the fifth time in the last six drafts, which would only increase the odds of them hitting their honey hole with a mid-round defensive lineman. Or two.
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Even without acquiring extra picks, look for the Bengals to target a defensive lineman before the end of Day 2. And if they are able to swing a deal that nets more capital, they could target another D-lineman later, either another guy with versatility or one with traits more specific to edge or the interior.
Prediction
Third round, DeMarvin Leal, Texas A&M: No one produces defensive linemen like the SEC, and Leal (pronounced lee-al) was a first-team selection and second-team All-America. He has the ability to use burst or strength to get to the quarterback, and while he projects as a 3 tech, the Aggies used him everywhere from nose tackle to edge. He’s Brugler’s No. 67 prospect overall, so the Bengals may need to acquire a third-round pick earlier than the No. 95 they currently owned to make it happen. Leal already has the skills to contribute, and his untapped potential as a starter will have time to develop as he settles into sub-packages with an eye on a bigger role down the road.
(Top photo of DeMarvin Leal: Adam Davis / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)