Bengals 2026 Mock Draft 1.0: Revamping the Defense! | Bengals On The Brain

Welcome back to Episode 235 of Bengals On The Brain, with Joe Goodberry, presented by First Star Logistics.

It is officially mock draft season! In this episode, we are diving headfirst into our very first full 7-round mock draft for the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2026 NFL Draft cycle. This is Part 2 of our “Mock Off-Season” series. If you missed Part 1, we dedicated the entire previous episode to Free Agency, aggressively filling roster holes to set ourselves up for success today.

By signing key veterans like DJ Reader, Arnold Ebiketie, Cameron Thomas, Bryan Cook, and Demario Davis—while retaining pieces like Chase Brown, DJ Turner, and Dax Hill—we entered this draft with a specific goal: Freedom. The goal was to reach Pick 10 without a pressing need, allowing us to take the best player available and raise this roster’s ceiling.

Did we succeed? We continue using the “Stick to the Model” simulator. We entered the draft room looking to add cornerstone talent rather than reaching for immediate starters. The board fell in an interesting way, with several quarterbacks and offensive linemen going early, leaving us with a bevy of defensive talent to choose from at the top of the draft.

Let’s break down the haul.

18 comments

  1. In a recent interview with Shannon Sharpe, Ja'Marr Chase had this to say about Joe Burrow's injury problems…

    "It's not the O line's fault, it's on him. He's not doing the things he needs to do off the field to prepare his body for football." (I'm paraphrasing slightly)

    What say you, Joe Goodbury?

  3. Probably need to look at Daylen Everette again , I watched a lot of georgia games , and he was making plays all over the field also need to take a look at Bryce Lance, if you think about receiver and Jake slaughter for offensive linemen

  6. I love this plan. The only thing I'd want to see differently is more of push for Lloyd. This plan overcompensates at safety and still leaves LB as a liability in my opinon. I do think Davis is a sneaky good signing. I don't really see great value in signing Cook AND drafting Downs AND picking another safety in Marshall, unless you see Downs playing some box hybrid role that is highly undefined. If that's the case, do you really want to be shipping a top 10 pick on a player who doesn't even have a position on your team?

  7. I like this draft it covers the defense very well.
    My question is what round will the Bengals have there, that are you thinking pick, like Cordell Volson in the 4th round

  14. This year is the first year in a long time that I just can't get into the draft stuff. Bengals never take the guys we want and always take the guys we don't want. What's the point of even caring about the Bengals off-season plans, they're just gonna screw them up again

  15. Haulcy and Thieneman make it so hard for me to like Downs at 10. There is just no tackle in round 2 that's in the same universe as Mauigoa.

    Grab him, let him sit behind Orlando Brown for a year and then have the cornerstone tackle

  16. I would hate for McCoy to go right before us. I’d love to take McCoy round 1, a few safeties id like day 2 to go along with McCoy. I don’t think we will pay both DJ and Dax

  17. Look we have two premier pass catchers in Chase and Higgins. We have Gesicki and Brown who can catch out of the backfield. We have Andre and Charlie Jones and Mitchell Turkey. We DONT need another receiver. Too many other holes on this team. The only, the ONLY thing we need is a young capable guard/tackle guy who is capable of starting . That is the ONLY need this team has on offense. Every pick HAS to count or the Bengals are screwed. We already have our hands tied with Tobin and Taylor with his pass happy out of step offense and his wacky play calling. Don’t burden us with in needed reaches for another receiver.

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