2 sneaky good players Bengals must take in 2024 NFL Draft

 

Over the previous few years, the Cincinnati Bengals have made a ton of money in the NFL Draft. While selecting players like Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase certainly helps, other players who have performed well outside of the first round include Tee Higgins, Jessie Bates, Germaine Pratt, and Logan Wilson. In the 2024 NFL Draft, they will also have the opportunity to discover some similar jewels. The Bengals should uncover some immediate impact players later in the draft who can help them make another Super Bowl push if this draft turns out to be deep. Oregon’s Bucky Irving and Ohio State’s Cade Stover both appear like players that might help the Bengals right away and could be selected in the second or third round of the draft.

For a few reasons, Bucky Irving appears to be a perfect fit with the Bengals. Irving is first and foremost a superb and adaptable player. Despite his small stature of 5 feet 10 inches and 195 pounds, tackling him is a nightmare. In 2023, he forced 51 missed tackles, ranking among the highest in the nation.Irving is an excellent deep threat as a receiver as well. In his two seasons at Eugene, he hauled in 712 yards from 87 receptions, five of which were for touchdowns. Irving wasn’t used extensively down the field, but his sure hands and dynamism after the catch made him a significant threat in the passing offense.

A player like him would be very helpful to the Bengals in relieving some of Joe Burrow’s workload. Joe Mixon has been a good running back throughout his career, but he’s beginning to lose steam as a runner. According to playerprofiler.com, he placed 16th among running backs last season with 1.4 yards per route run. Mixon’s real yards per carry averaged just 3.9 (carries longer than 10 yards are not included in this metric). He also produced 3.2 yards per touch and had a 3.1% breakout run rate. In every one of these statistics that attempt to remove context and focus primarily on a running back’s actual performance, Mixon came in 35th place or lower among running backs.