Listen, we all wish that the Cincinnati Bengals were in position to secure a playoff berth this season, but that just isn’t the case. We held out hope for weeks, but Cincinnati’s playoff hopes were virtually crushed with their Week 13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But, even though the season hasn’t gone as hoped, we can still search for silver linings and the biggest silver lining to Cincinnati’s struggles this season is draft position. We all know how it goes in the NFL: The worse your record, the better the draft position.
Bengals projected to have a top 10 pick in 2025 NFL Draft
According to the ever-trusty Tankathon, the Bengals are currently projected to have the No. 9 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, which would afford them the opportunity to land one of college football’s top prospects. And the Bengals will have no shortage of needs.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are currently projected to have the top overall pick, follow by the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants. The draft order could change depending on what happens between now and the end of the season, but that’s the way things look at the present moment.
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The Bengals could use their top pick on the offensive line, defensive line or on the secondary. All of those areas need improvement. A recent mock draft from Pro Football Focus even had Cincinnati selecting a wide receiver in the first round. They’ll obviously have no shortage of options.
The Bengals have whiffed on some high draft picks in recent years, but the last couple of times they picked in the top 10, they made some solid selections. Cincinnati used the No. 5 overall pick in 2021 to land star wide receiver Ja’marr Chase, and the team used the top overall pick on star quarterback Joe Burrow the previous year. So, the recent track record of top 10 picks is pretty good.
The potential of having a high draft pick isn’t going to make anyone feel better about the current campaign, but it could potentially make fans feel better about the future.
