History points to Bengals targeting Round 1 CB again
Don't look now, but the Bengals might take a CB in Round 1 of the NFL draft again.
The Cincinnati Bengals are moving closer and closer to taking a cornerback in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft. Bengals fans will groan, of course, given the years and years of that happening in Cincinnati in modern times. But the evidence is right there.
The team added a safety fix in free agency with Bryan Cook. They addressed the fading pass-rush with Boye Mafe. And Jonathan Allen arrives to help out the interior pressure.
As The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. pointed out, the current roster construction sure feels familiar: “Three times in a six-year period last decade, they took a cornerback with multiple starters established (2012 Dre Kirkpatrick, 2014 Darqueze Dennard, 2016 William Jackson III) and there is essentially no depth at outside corner right now. ” The Bengals have Dax Hill and DJ Turner penciled in as boundary corners.
They have nobody of note behind them on the depth chart and no starting slot/third corner to speak of right now. In fact, the lack of a starting slot corner could push the Bengals into taking Caleb Downs, technically a safety, and playing him in the slot. Boundary corners are on the table, too, and could be best-player-available when the Bengals get to the podium.