2025 Draft Board | What "The Sheet" says the Cincinnati Bengals should do in the 2025 NFL Draft

Summary

In their 2025 draft episode, Locked On Bengals hosts, Jake Liscoco and Joe Goodberry, delve into the intricacies of "The Sheet"—a comprehensive annual player evaluation tool they've refined since 2019. This detailed spreadsheet ranks nearly a thousand players and combines film scores, data analytics, and expert opinions to guide the Cincinnati Bengals in their draft decisions. With crucial needs across the board, particularly in the offensive guard position, the duo reviews potential picks and discusses the importance of blending film analysis with data-driven insights. Their approach reveals hidden gems, dispelling the myths around certain prospects, while also emphasizing the risks involved with deviating from data-backed insights.

Highlights

• Joe Goodberry's spreadsheet, used since 2019, now ranks nearly a thousand players for the Bengals' draft. 📈
• The Bengals are focusing on offensive guards who might also have experience as tackles. 🔄
• Kelvin Banks and Tate Ratlage emerge as top guard prospects for the Bengals. 🔍
• TJ Sanders stands out as a key defensive tackle prospect, offering great production potential. 💪
• The Bengals aim to balance traditional scouting with a modern, analytic approach for optimal draft picks. 📚

Key Takeaways

• The Bengals' draft strategy combines film analysis with data-driven insights, encapsulated in a tool known as 'The Sheet'. 📊
• With nearly a thousand players evaluated, the Bengals are focusing on several key positions, particularly offensive guard. 🏈
• The process developed by Jake and Joe emphasizes the importance of marrying traditional scouting with modern analytics. 🤝
• Despite a traditionally weak guard class, potential tackle converts show promise, making it an intriguing area for the Bengals. 🛡️
• The evaluation process also involves looking at athleticism, production data, and potential role fits within the Bengals’ team structure. 🧐

Overview

In this episode of Locked On Bengals, hosts Jake Liscoco and Joe Goodberry introduce 'The Sheet', their comprehensive player ranking system designed to aid the Cincinnati Bengals in the upcoming NFL draft. This tool, developed and refined since 2019, merges traditional film analysis with advanced data metrics to provide a holistic view of potential prospects.

As the Bengals face key positional needs, particularly at offensive guard, the discussion delves into how 'The Sheet' can guide their decisions. The guys shed light on promising talents like Kelvin Banks and Tate Ratlage, both offering versatility and potential to become standout players in the NFL. These discussions underscore the importance of adaptability, with potential tackle-to-guard conversions bolstering the available talent pool.

The episode also emphasizes the necessity of aligning old-school scouting with new-age analytics. With insights into defensive prospects like TJ Sanders, who offers significant upside, the hosts convey the Bengals' strategic intent to draft effectively by leveraging all available information. This balanced approach highlights the franchise's commitment to innovative yet cautious player selection.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 04:00: Introduction to the Draft Spreadsheet The chapter titled "Introduction to the Draft Spreadsheet" is part of the Locked On Bengals podcast, discussing the completion and public release of their annual draft spreadsheet. It sets the stage for conversations about which players the Cincinnati Bengals should focus on in the 2025 NFL Draft, addressing all their team needs. The chapter is a welcoming message to Bengals fans tuning in for insights into their team's draft strategy.
• 04:00 - 10:00: Explanation of the Draft Spreadsheet The chapter introduces the annual draft spreadsheet, a project that started in 2017-2018 by the host, Jake Liscoco, and Joe Goodberry. Joe is described as the 'godfather' of this project, reflecting his significant contribution to its development over the years. The podcast discusses the evolution and continuous improvements made to the spreadsheet annually. The hosts also acknowledge other key contributors to the project's success.
• 10:00 - 20:00: Guard Prospects for the Bengals The chapter discusses the prospects for guards that the Cincinnati Bengals might consider in the upcoming draft. The conversation is a part of the 'Lockdown Bengals' podcast, which is known for providing daily insights into the team. The hosts encourage listeners to subscribe to the podcast, especially during the draft season. The discussion about the Bengals' guard prospects includes a deep dive into a spreadsheet that breaks down various candidate attributes, although the details of this breakdown are not provided in the transcript.
• 20:00 - 30:00: Defensive Prospects for the Bengals The chapter discusses the extensive preparation and ranking process for potential draft players, highlighting a spreadsheet containing nearly a thousand ranked players. It is noted that only around 250 of these players will actually be drafted. The chapter serves as a companion to a podcast related to a public release of this draft spreadsheet, often found on Joe Goodberry's timeline and retweeted by Jake.
• 30:00 - 36:00: Linebacker and Safety Prospects In this chapter, the discussion revolves around the contributors involved in analyzing linebacker and safety prospects. It highlights the collaborative effort required in draft rankings, which the speaker has been engaged in since 2010. The speaker recounts starting to produce more comprehensive draft content via spreadsheets in 2012, driven by the demand for detailed insights beyond just the top 50 or 100 players, basing assessments on film analyses.
• 36:00 - 37:30: Conclusion and Upcoming Discussions The chapter concludes by reflecting on the author's past approach to evaluating potential talent by watching highlight reels and making scores based on individual talent. Initially, this method had mixed success. As time passed, the author realized that incorporating more data, including athleticism and production metrics, could enhance the predictive accuracy of talent evaluation. The involvement of PFF (Pro Football Focus) in college data around 2016 marked a significant advancement in this analytical approach.

2025 Draft Board | What "The Sheet" says the Cincinnati Bengals should do in the 2025 NFL Draft Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 our annual draft spreadsheet is complete And with that releasing to the public let's discuss the players the Bengals should be looking out for all of their needs in the 2025 NFL draft You are Locked on Bengals your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Locked On Bengals
• 00:30 - 01:00 podcast I'm your host Jake Liscoco joined today by Joe Goodberry and today we dive into the annual draft spreadsheet that Joe is the godfather of at this point started as a project that he and I worked on what 2017 2018 and have been completing every year since then with improvements coming along the way We'll shout out the other major contributors to that project here in
• 01:00 - 01:30 just a minute But Lockdown Begels part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team Every Day You can find us on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast Appreciate all the everydayers out there If you're looking to become an everydayer especially here in draft season you can hit that subscribe button to make sure you don't miss an episode We appreciate everyone out there that makes Locked on Bengals their first listen especially if you've been doing it as long as this podcast has existed going back to 2016 Joe let's get into the spreadsheet We'll explain what goes into this thing
• 01:30 - 02:00 every year We've got more players ranked than ever Nearly a thousand players in a draft spreadsheet this year that we'll see 250 some odd players drafted fraction of the players that we've got in this sheet but a huge project that is about to go out to the public Depending on when folks are listening to this this can be a companion podcast to go along with the sheet that you'll see on Joe Goodberry's timeline Joe Goodberry I'll retweet it of course as well Jake But
• 02:00 - 02:30 let's start with what the sheet is Joe and you can shout out all of the contributors this year because I know there are a lot of folks that have put a lot of work in Yeah it's a team effort at this point And I started doing draft rankings and doing draft content and draft work in 2010 So it's been a long time now It's been 15 years of of draft work And then my first spreadsheet was 2012 where I'm like "All right people want to see this go more in depth other than the top 50 or 100 players or whatever I was doing at the time." And I said "Okay based on film," and I used to
• 02:30 - 03:00 watch all these guys in depth and watch as much as we could And at the time it was highlights and cutups on uh on YouTube and I would score them and I'd score them individually based on their talent only and it would spit it out and there was a lot of I had a lot of success with that with with some guys but I missed on a ton of players that later as I got older and and saw more data and saw more more evidence that hey this stuff can be predictive whether it's athleticism or production data and then PFF got involved in the game in 2016 or so uh for college uh information
• 03:00 - 03:30 So I was like "Okay if this can help improve my process and help cut out some of the players I liked and say listen the data says this guy's got a small chance to succeed it could be a Tyler Booker this year right?" Everyone loves Tyler Booker on tape or at least likes Tyler Booker on tape They understand his limitations and you can be comfortable when with those limitations because the tape is very convincing You're watching a guy play football and I'm projecting him to play football It's very convincing stuff But then you see oh
• 03:30 - 04:00 he's in a bucket of players that rarely become better than average starters in the NFL So now how do you let that affect a guy's ranking or a score and that's what we try to achieve You'll listen to podcast If you're like me right now you're cramming in draft podcasts right Listeners are probably doing this pretty consistently Listen to everyone across the internet and you'll get tons of film evaluations and opinions on players Rarely do they marry that with the data And the data is very important teams Every team is using the data to help decide who is a good
• 04:00 - 04:30 prospect or maybe someone outside the box that they weren't thinking of before highlighting guys or or or striking guys down putting them on subboards whatever it may be Every team is using it to an extent Uh some more than others but the the process here is to marry those two And so that's what that's what the draft spreadsheet does And it's been we started this the first year you and I did it was 2019 uh for the Lockdown Bengals podcast We started growing it together and figuring it out together and it was in its early stages and we've changed the formulas and added players
• 04:30 - 05:00 and now I think we've reached a thousand players thanks to guys like Neil Angelberger if I can take a minute to shout him out he is doing the heavy lifting but then we did have scorers and graders that take their time and watch the tape like Max Tusano uh Bengals Sands Mike Santaga draft guy Jared and myself and then a bunch of other guys that are filling in information and making it look pretty collecting data and just making the sheet consumable for you guys and I'm very proud of it It's a It's a big undertaking Something we communicate on for a long time And at
• 05:00 - 05:30 the end it's like "All right we're we're finished Enjoy the aesthetic upgrades from the first year we did this thing to now." I mean we we were okay back in 2019 And I had my dates all jumbled there so thanks for clarifying the timeline as I was trying to introduce it with dates that were very unclear in my head But uh the the aesthetics of this sheet have come a long way It's still a spreadsheet don't get me wrong but it's much prettier now than it used to be And and that's thanks to the efforts of all involved And like you said the the point
• 05:30 - 06:00 here is you can go anywhere and listen to what Dame Bugler thinks about guys on tape or what uh Field Yates thinks about guys on tape when he's talking with Mel Kyper or what your favorite draft analyst thinks on tape Those are all written up Lance Zerline's top whatever how many however many players he's graded or on NFL n.com That's all awesome work We use all of that stuff that goes in to the consensus board that we track right And so we've got all that
• 06:00 - 06:30 stuff in here Mike Rener na name the draft expert that you like who we've had on these shows in the past whether it's Joe and I whether it's James and I And and so that's part of the part of the process But while you have those on one hand you also have people on the other hand that are like "Okay here's our analytics board and it's only data." And and the the belief that we've always had is that you have to use all the information available to you which even using all the information we have available to us is missing medical is
• 06:30 - 07:00 missing character specifics and those are things that are data to teams that we do not have access to when you're talking about subboards or where you have guys moved off moved around the board for these different reasons where you'd be comfortable drafting a player that's data to teams that that we don't have But what we do have is an array of film scores from those film graders you talked about Uh largely you Mike's antagonist draft guy Jared and then of course Max Tuscano contributing for
• 07:00 - 07:30 tight ends this year and you can check out his project remember the tight ends uh where he's taking it upon himself to really uh dig into the tight end topic as a position very deeply You'll see that his grave for Harold Bannon is dramatically different from what you might expect when you go dig into the tight end tab because he doesn't believe that Harold Bannon is a tight end He thinks he's he's he thinks he's essentially Kyle Ustrik But the point of this is that we have all this data that
• 07:30 - 08:00 over time has told us these are the things that contribute to the success of players in the NFL And no matter how much you like a guy on tape and let's continue to use the Tyler Booker example guys that have that level of athleticism are rarely successful And so what we try to do and and I remember we originally were calling this like the risk assessment draft right or or something along those lines because what we were trying to do is we're trying to say okay this is a player that's clearly a first
• 08:00 - 08:30 round player on tape but for reasons beyond tape that we have quantifiable in terms of his athleticism in the case of Tyler Booker in terms of his PFF data in the case of Tyler Booker these are reasons that you need to be buyer beware or for a player like uh I don't know let's let's take Luke Kandra or Condra 23 year old We we also have in the past adjusted certain things for age And so
• 08:30 - 09:00 the the whole point of this process is we're going to over the course of this episode dive into what the sheet says the Bengals should be doing for their top needs in a class that if you listen to us two months ago we would have said this is a weak guard class And then you figure out all the tackles that can play guard in the NFL that will play guard in the NFL And all of a sudden the guard depth looks pretty dang good And that's where we're going to start as we dive into some of the players the Bengals can target at positions that are at this
• 09:00 - 09:30 point severe severe needs after what they did in free agency We'll start with what the sheet says about guards coming up next This episode of Lockdown Bengals is sponsored by LinkedIn And LinkedIn knows that as a small business owner your work doesn't end when the clock hits five Your business is always on your mind Which means when it's time to hire you need a partner that works just as hard as you do That's where LinkedIn jobs comes in because when you clock out
• 09:30 - 10:00 LinkedIn clocks in And I would extend that to the Bengals and our draft sheet that we're talking about today When you need somebody to do the extra work for you just refer to the draft sheet in the locked or in the Cincinnati Bengals front office But back to LinkedIn they make it easy to post your job for free Share it with your network and get qualified candidates all in one place They've got a new feature post your job where you can get help writing your job descriptions and quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep
• 10:00 - 10:30 candidate insights And the pro tip is add the hash hiring frame to your profile picture to double your reach to qualified candidates No wonder 72% of small businesses say LinkedIn helps them find highquality hires Post your job for free at linkedin.comlockn That's linkedin.comlockdown NFL to post your job for free Terms and conditions apply Joe as we dive into the sheet there are
• 10:30 - 11:00 obvious fits for the Cincinnati Bengals at offensive guard You get some first round options you get some second round options you get some hopefully third round options but I'll let you take it away here Talk about what your takeaways were as you put the sheet together What stands out to you as the best player for the Cincinnati Bengals at guard Yeah if we're just look talking about guard and we'll get to other positions here I started like what you said before we went to break Maybe not a great guard
• 11:00 - 11:30 class until the weigh-ins happened and the measurements happen for the tackles and it's like okay a lot of these tackles are going to play guard and they're going to get kicked inside to guard and that is just that's to me the Bengals like to do that right That's not a problem for them Uh they want to move these guys inside they they want to have that flexibility or develop them and in a couple years kick them back out or they just I think they like the size They like the length a little bit more They like the athleticism a little bit more Those guys tend to play tackle in college and will kick into guard So our
• 11:30 - 12:00 scoring process spits it out and it loves Will Campbell and Arman Mebo We don't expect either of those guys to be available for us But right behind them is Kelvin Banks Jr from Texas the left tackle who was 20 years old on tape He's 21.1 on draft day Super young Started all three years five-star recruit played in huge games and I think he looks like a guard So one of the thing is when you're watching tackles and you're saying can they play guard A little bit of difference between in my opinion between like a Josh Connorly and a Calvin Banks is who plays with the
• 12:00 - 12:30 leverage who is comfortable in tight spaces who is comfortable wrestling and digging guys out especially defensive tackles and moving them at the point of attack And Calvin Banks runs head first and slams into these defensive tackles that are 330 pounds Kenneth Grant put on the Michigan tape Uh and the data supports it And the data says Kelvin Banks is a very very good player He gets an 84.3 grade He's in our top 15 in this class And if he's there at 17 for the Bengals I think he's one of the best case scenarios they can land on in the
• 12:30 - 13:00 first round But after that I think we do have a gap And the spreadsheet agrees as well Even though it likes Gray Zable a ton it likes Wyatt Milum a ton who's currently 81st on the consensus is probably supposed to go in the third round It likes Jared Wilson a ton despite him being a center It thinks he could I think he can play guard at 63 310 Uh so the size there shouldn't limit him but he's a third round pick All of those guys I just named have first round grades but it also fringe first round grades for Josh Connorly Tate Ratlage
• 13:00 - 13:30 and I think Connor Lee can play guard just not in the way that I think of like a power guard like a like a Kelvin Banks to me could be a pro bowler allp prolevel guard But I think Connor Leley is more of a Clint Bowling uh technician level guard that's a good athlete and then you'll eventually kick him back out to left tackle But it gives a fringe first round grade to Connor Lee Tate Ratlitch who one of the most commonly mocked players to the Bengals Same thing Fringe first round If he's there at 49 take him I know that some of these mock drafts have him available in the third
• 13:30 - 14:00 round I think they're absolutely nuts I don't think that's going to happen at all And then the last one there of the elite guys at the top is Arant Ursery from Minnesota who is a big dude 66 331 The problem with the evaluation of switching a tackle to guard is also does the guy bend with his knees or does he bend at his waist And for Ursery he is a waistb So I wonder how the smaller more powerful defensive tackles would probably work him a little bit and get underneath him and and out leverage him
• 14:00 - 14:30 and I gave Ursria at the lowest score on film uh than all these other guys I listed So if you're wondering about Don Donovan Jackson Jonah Savana all of these guys scored well enough to be starters in the NFL After that it gets a little slim whether that's Charles Grant Azie Trapillo or Luke Kandra Guys that were probably third rounders I think mostly uh Kandra later So we'll see where he fits in He's probably the lowest scoring guard uh or lowest consensus rated guard that scores high enough to potentially be a starter in
• 14:30 - 15:00 the NFL Yeah Jaylen Rivers reported 30 visit for the Bengals this week as well Coming in a little bit lower although the film grades are probably fringe startable he comes in a little bit lower because of some of the data there What stands out to me the most about these guys is of the fits that I like the best for the Bengals Kelvin Banks in the first round or Tate Rattlage in the second round Those guys both are excellent pass blockers on top of everything else that you would hope for in a guard profile if
• 15:00 - 15:30 you're spending a premium pick on that kind of player The reason you would do it on Banks is because maybe you believe he can play tackle too That's where the Bengals would have to be talked in to Kelvin Banks is can this guy go on the Andrew Witworth plan Can he eventually be a good tackle in the NFL Whereas Tate Ratlage in the second round you're totally fine taking a high-end guard prospect in the second round And both of those guys tested like very good athletes for guard Like there's you go
• 15:30 - 16:00 look at the RA column on the draft spreadsheet on the guard page A whole lot of green a whole lot of really high-end athletes for the guard position but Rattlage and Banks both stand out in particular for their pass blocking prowess So too does Wyatt Milum although there's there's a bit of a different feel to that for me for some reason I I have a hard time putting my finger on exactly why that is Maybe it's just a senior bowl and and Milum having
• 16:00 - 16:30 a tough time early in the Senior Bowl holding his ground and anchoring where you think about the the traits you need for guard You're talking about size and ability to to play in a foam booth but you're also talking about anchoring against these 350 pound sometimes Dexter Lawrence or 315 pound slippery guys like Chris Jones that you're going to have to deal with on the interior of an offensive line And and that's why to me the the guys that have the the clean pass blocking profile are the ones that
• 16:30 - 17:00 stand out the most And Jonah Savanaya is another one of those that has a a strong pass blocking profile if you're looking a little bit later Do you think that if they wait until the third round They've waited too long based on everything that we've seen here Or if it is Wyatt Milum and that's the plan and the Bengals haven't had any contact that we've recorded with Wyatt Milum Another feat fe feature of the draft spreadsheet here is that we're tracking all of the contact the Bengals have had with these players Milum is not one of the players they've had contact with But if if
• 17:00 - 17:30 that's the plan in the third round and that's all you're getting do you think that's too late or or you know maybe you can get uh Jonas Savanaya in the third round Maybe I I think that's pretty wishful thinking although the simulator sometimes would have you believe otherwise What are your thoughts on on how things would go if they ended up waiting until the end of day two Yeah I don't know how many of these guys will be remaining You know what It's always a bit of a sticker shock I feel right before the the draft when this is
• 17:30 - 18:00 finalized because these guys may grade really high and then I go "Oh no I wanted this guy in the third round I wanted Tate Rattlage in the third round I wanted Charles Grant in the third round He's a 90 percentile true pass set blocker I want that." Uh and then there's like reports "Oh no he's going top 50 He's going top." Everyone's going top 50 right now There will be someone there Uh hopefully it's a good player right Hopefully it's not just Miles Frasier and Miles Frasier is fine Uh hopefully it's not just Marcus Embo Like if we talk about guys who did not pass the test on our spreadsheet uh and we we
• 18:00 - 18:30 brought up already Tyler Booker but Tyler Booker has to go in the top 50 right So that's going to knock another guy down but there are quite a few that didn't pass the bar Anthony Belton uh Garrett Dillinger Miles Frasier Marcus Bau Don't want it to be one of those guys I don't want to take another low-end bet on a guard just because they like him and he can squeeze ketchup out of a bottle you know well enough for them or whatever the handshake test is That was Paul Alexander if you don't remember if you're if you're a young and they that was one of the reasons why
• 18:30 - 19:00 they drafted Jake Fischer maybe I can't remember which one it was but it was hilarious Anyway uh we have in I go back to 2021 we had a lot of offensive linemen graded really well This reminds me of that class where Sam Cosmy's screaming at you Creed Humphrey's screaming at you Trey Smith forever was screaming at us Uh Quinn Miners scored super high for us All of them had first rounder friend They were all top 18 for us I just looked at this Jake Creed Humphrey was top 18 Quinn Miners was top 18 Sam Cosm was top 18 on our sheet They
• 19:00 - 19:30 went with Jackson Carman who we had a fifth round basically grade on in round two Don't do that and you'll be fine Like of the guys available if it is one of the guys that scores high I have confidence that that guy can turn into a decent level starter Just don't go off the map and you'll be fine Yeah There's a couple things that we're asking for the Bengals to do when we're talking about guard One is stay on the map as you're saying like don't go off reservation and do something crazy And two is don't get to a point where you're desperate and that forces you to go off
• 19:30 - 20:00 reservation And and I'm reminded and and this isn't anything about what McKinley Jackson did last year but of of the way that they ended up forcing those third round picks last year where we thought forever it was going to be Jayla McMillan ended up being Germaine Burton which was incredibly shocking at the time but the likelihood of them taking a nose tackle last year was 100 in a bad nose tackle class And so doing it in the third round was a round earlier than we would have liked But if you get to that point where you have a dire need and
• 20:00 - 20:30 it's a third round and you haven't taken a guy you're going to take a guy and hopefully the guy that's left is good all the more reason to to make that move a little bit earlier Let's continue with some of the other positions that we're expecting the Bengals to target in the draft and see what the sheet has to say to finish the show coming up next This episode of Blacktown Bengals is sponsored by FanDuel and the NBA playoffs are here FanDuel is then giving new customers an incredible way to get in on all the NBA action Right now when
• 20:30 - 21:00 you place your first $5 bet with FanDuel you'll get $250 in bonus bets if your bet wins FanDuel makes betting so easy Whether it's picking your favorite team or diving into player props whether it's the NBA and you're looking at three-pointers or steals or assist props or you're looking at NFL draft props with the Bengals draft pick right around the corner if you feel very strongly about what they're doing in the first
• 21:00 - 21:30 round you can go get in on the odds for the Bengals to draft a specific position in the first round with FanDuel Plus even after games have started you can combine live prop bets into same game parlays for a chance to win big Don't miss out You get $250 in bonus bets if that first $5 bet wins at fanduel.com to claim your $250 in bonus bets today Joe let's talk about some of the
• 21:30 - 22:00 other positions that we expect the Bengals to address this year Let's go to the defensive side of the ball where there is a high likelihood or at least a solid chance that we should expect to see a whole lot of draft picks spent Uh an edge rusher certainly on the menu a linebacker certainly on the menu a safety likely on the menu an interior defensive lineman almost certainly on the menu That's a lot of positions that
• 22:00 - 22:30 you're hoping to see the Bengals address at some point or another in this draft And that doesn't mention the wild cards of potentially going after a corner potentially going after a running back But this class has been touted for its depth on the edge and on the defensive line in general You go look at Dame Bugler's grades for example in the beast and you'll see more players in the top 100 on the defensive line than any other spot The draft sheet however doesn't
• 22:30 - 23:00 necessarily see it that way It does not And then you're going to see guys that fall below the threshold And we can start with defensive end and talk about like Shamar Stewart and Mah Williams And you got to understand why I I think at this point everyone talks about production Even if you're listening to film uh analysis or whatever you're watching or listening to the production's bad for those guys You need some level of sacks pressures tackles for loss pass rush win rate all of these things Uh it
• 23:00 - 23:30 applies to the defensive tackles too or guys that you'll see in the top 100 Dane Burgler I believe has Normar Omar Norman Lot from Tennessee really high He doesn't score well for us Why Because the guy's played 200 snaps per year in five years in his college career At most 280 snaps what does that mean He's going to be in the NFL Typically players are going to be exactly what they are in college in the NFL They're may get enhanced a little bit They may get the microscope on them a little bit Uh positive and negative Their weaknesses will be attacked by the other team Their
• 23:30 - 24:00 strengths will be utilized by a good coaching staff But at the same time if Norman Lot is playing 250 snaps a year where can you take that guy Fourth round fifth round they're telling me he can go second third I'm not I'm out on that And I think the the draft spreadsheet does a good job of saying that It's also going to knock nose tackles and say you shouldn't take a nose tackle until day three Why Because it's hard to project where the good nose tackles come from The Bengals drafted uh Tyler Shelvin and
• 24:00 - 24:30 TJ Sllayton was drafted two rounds later Well TJ Sllayton was the better nose tackle and that stuff happens all the time But that is pretty common at nose tackle for these guys to come out of the fifth sixth seventh round and undrafted because they need to be big body space eaters that aren't going to have a ton of production So the spreadsheet's going to say that But what I biggest takeaway for me is I dig the DN class even with taking out Shamar Stewart Mike Williams and saying let's just not target those guys at 17 It's super deep We're talking rounds two three probably four There's a
• 24:30 - 25:00 couple guys in each round there that are going to score really high for us Defensive tackle it's almost the opposite It's been touted as a really good defensive tackle class but what do the Bengals actually need They need pass rush and they need a defensive tackle number one if they're going to do it That means you've only got a couple guys You only really have Derek Harmon Walter Nolan And our spreadsheet says "Hey keep an eye on TJ Sanders But other than that that's it If you want a DT number one those are your three guys Has to happen at 17 or 49 if you're lucky that Sanders
• 25:00 - 25:30 is still there at 49 And he's projected at the consensus right now 58th overall And then after that you may get a swing on a Deion Walker Where's he going to get drafted Third fourth round and you may get a swing on some rotational pieces like Darius Alexander or a Tonka Hemingway or a Jordan Burge Simeon Burrow maybe it's Tai Robinson who I've talked about a bunch maybe it's Anas Peeles but half those guys fall below the threshold of becoming a good starter So I think the DTackle class was a little bit overrated because most of
• 25:30 - 26:00 them are going in the first round Kenneth Grant even Tyl Williams is probably back end of first round to the early second round I think teams are going to love Tyreek Williams but the DN class is strong throughout It's interesting that you mentioned the nose tackle bit where this year we see that there are two really strong nose tackle prospects in Kenneth Grant and Tyreek Williams And then you look at the guys that the Bengals have met with and none of them are nose tackles Even CJ West where they had a presence at the Indiana Proday probably seen more as a nose tackle than a versatile interior defensive lineman And I think CJ West is
• 26:00 - 26:30 a really exciting prospect If you don't get a defensive tackle in the first three rounds and you have a chance to draft CJ West on uh in the fourth round I guess is is probably the latest you would go consensus 107 for CJ West So that's probably hoping a little bit that that he will still be available to you in the fourth round I would think that would be a really good draft pick And the the guys the Bengals have instead paid their attention to are guys that are more penetrate three tech type of defensive tackles And that is your T.J
• 26:30 - 27:00 Sanders your Walter Nolan your Tai Robinson Darius Alexander Ty Hamilton from Ohio State on a local visit or Tai Hamilton in the fifth round You could do worse How much of a differencemaker are you getting at that point I'm not really sure but if you're looking for that DT1 type you're right that's a a first round prospect or TJ Sanders spend spend a second talking about TJ Sanders profile here Because to me and we talked about this before we started recording if this
• 27:00 - 27:30 is a draft where it's Kelvin Banks in round one TJ Sanders in round two one of the more exciting prospects that the Bengals could hypothetically draft at at pick 49 Yeah And TJ Sanders was highlighted by the spreadsheet right I didn't have a film grade on him it spit him out and said "Hey all the production and testing data his data score as we can see on the sheet is the highest of all these defensive tackles at a 92." And I said "Whoa okay let me go look at this guy He's supposed to be a second round pick Maybe we're not talking about TJ Sanders enough." And I gave him a
• 27:30 - 28:00 solid second round a premium second round guy I would target in the second round of 78 on film I thought he was for nearly 6'4 297 and I think he weighed at 305 who we mentioned before we started recording at his proday So that's good size Uh I think he looks like a plus athlete I didn't think he was an elite athlete Tested nearly in the 94th percentile I thought good athlete not great Uh but a guy who won consistently as a pass rusher and a run defender I thought he was stout against the run I thought he was disruptive upfield I
• 28:00 - 28:30 thought he could two gap just fine I like to me I'm watching him I'm like this looks like a good starting level player but the production data is puts him in the 97th percentile and the PFF data puts him in the 85th percentile based on our formula So you're saying everything is above average to elite levels It spits him out as hey this is a guy we're too low on And we've had this before We've had third round defensive tackles get top 12 grades for us Justin Mabke uh Milton Williams right the these
• 28:30 - 29:00 it highlights them and sometimes on tape I love those guys like Milton Williams I loved on tape made a BK I was more like TJ Sanders I'm like looks like a good player not sure he's great but looks like a good player I'd be happy with him in the second round or so well they turned into really really good players and because sometimes the data says if a guy was productive in college he's going to be productive in the NFL and that's what it's telling us about standards and because of it I'm in checking boxes right productive athletic and looks good on tape maybe not like a world beater on
• 29:00 - 29:30 tape but whatever he's doing on tape in the SEC is working The the other couple players I wanted to shout out here before we quickly get to safety and linebacker Ashton Gelot Gelotty I will one day pronounce his name right Uh who who stands out as a massive gap between consensus and the sheets rankings and Antoine Palyland out of Virginia Tech a little bit older at 23 on draft day but a guy that stands out again with a roughly early second round when things are said and done but
• 29:30 - 30:00 is expected to be drafted on day three Can I go quick on both We can talk about them another day this week How's that As we'll have a chance to get back A lot of fun to talk about those two We will come back to the edge position because I think that's one that the Bengals could target anywhere between rounds one and five depending on how things shake out A position that you're either targeting early or late on the other hand I think is linebacker Very topheavy here Jiad Campbell with the shoulder question knee
• 30:00 - 30:30 question that was pointed out in in the beast that you've talked about as well And Carson Swessinger from UCLA the two guys that you could target early And then some guys Teddy Buchanan and Cody Simon in particular standing out as potential late round targets that could be much better than their draft status according to the data that we've got in the sheet I would also point out uh and the sheet does as well Danny Stutzman who's got a consensus 102 and Smail Mond Jr 113 consensus Both of those guys if
• 30:30 - 31:00 you're looking for later targets interesting and the one guy the Bengals spent a 30 visit on that we're aware of Nick Martin Nicholas Martin out of Oklahoma State coming out like a a solid player according to all the data that we have and that's a guy that you would be targeting probably in the sixth round Uh as far as safety goes I think a lot more depth here that we will have to get into between Nickham and Worry coming out way high Hunter Bowler a guy that we're going to need to talk about as a guy that really stands out The biggest gap
• 31:00 - 31:30 between consensus and where the sheet lands on him since we've been doing this thing Kevin Winston with the injury history there Malachi Starks still looking like a good prospect but really anchored a little bit by the athletic testing even though we did this year alter the formula to count for athleticism a little bit less at safety because we have evidence that athleticism counts a little bit less at safety but the sheet liking those guys then you see a little bit of a fall-off before you get the guys like Andrew Makuba Xavier Watts who doesn't come out
• 31:30 - 32:00 like a second round prospect on the sheet what what are the highlights there you want to hit on before we get out of here Joe yeah so linebacker is very very weird Uh you do have a first round guy you have a second round guy And then I do not know and I like the linebacker class Uh but you're right like Cody Simon and Teddy Buchanan and guys that are fifth sixth round guys scoring very very high And I went back and watched So I'm like "Okay let's" and I'm in on both Both are athletic Both are consistently uh making noise against the run Both are stout tacklers and seem very very smart And I'm like "Okay why are they rated?"
• 32:00 - 32:30 So I think we we're struggling to rate linebackers as a whole I went back and looked at drafting and not just us I mean the NFL I went back and looked at uh who's been drafted at linebacker and these guys are happy Starters good quality starters We Bengals have had two Logan Wilson Germaine Pratt third round fourth round fifth round And then role players Mondon is a tremendous uh pass coverage linebacker He's going to go in the fourth round or so Like I he's a plug-and-play nickel linebacker but he just might only be that So there's a ton
• 32:30 - 33:00 of these guys here that if they go into the right spot they can end up being very good players Uh and I don't know which one the Bengals are going to target but Jack Kaiser falls underneath someone We've talked about it probably too much falls underneath the threshold Maybe he still is a fifth sixth seventh round guy the way he originally was And then at safety uh we're going to keep talking about the same six or so players because that's it And then it's going to fall off But there are a bunch of guys I think could be starter level players Jonas Sanker to down to RJ Mickens and Jaylen Reid and they're right at the cut
• 33:00 - 33:30 off point right at the line but do we want to wait that long And the Bengals have drafted guys like that with Dejan Anthony and Tyson Anderson You know at what point there do you say you know we've got two young guys we like We're not going to stretch this into the fourth round and beyond I I wonder if that's another one where it's early or late like linebacker where they're going to try to get one of those two maybe early if they can if they can get uh Kevin Winston for example or then they come back and and they go JJ Roberts late or at linebacker if they can get
• 33:30 - 34:00 Jan Campbell or Carson Swessinger early maybe they're in on those guys but then if they can't well you got Nicholas Martin or maybe Barrett Carter later although Barrett Carter is a guy that might go earlier based on consensus than the sheet would have him A guy that the Bengals did meet with at the combine where they're doing homework here on on some guys but it doesn't look like they're necessarily prioritizing early linebacker if you're just judging off their visits versus safety where they've spent more time with some of those guys
• 34:00 - 34:30 that are expected to be drafted early And certainly a ton of time on the defensive line between edge interior defensive line a ton of time they've spent with offensive guard prospects especially those that have experience at tackle And so we'll have all of those things to talk about We'll have to talk about running back a little bit Joe as we're going through this week as we have a couple more days where it'll be Joe and I here on Lockdown Bengals And we'll have plenty to talk about as we're gearing up for the draft and trying to identify what players do we think the
• 34:30 - 35:00 Bengals should be targeting in the first round Where can we make a case for these are the guys the Bengals should be honing in on And I always like playing the choose your adventure game trying to come up with a number of scenarios stack them up against each other figure out the pros and cons and figure out which scenario of which players in which rounds feels the best So that'll be coming your way the rest of this week here on Locked on Bengals We're of course keeping our eye on any further top 30 or 30 visits as well as the
• 35:00 - 35:30 Bengals might have some last minute visits that indicate who they're thinking about in the 2025 NFL draft Until then thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast Who day and have a good one