TRANS ATLANTIC THREE TECHNIQUE

The rookie who attracted the most attention Friday wasn’t No. 1 pick Shemar Stewart or top college free agent Seth McLaughlin.

Try defensive tackle Dante Barnett, an engaging 22-year-old from Birmingham in the United Kingdom who has played all of five games in Division III at Dickinson College and learned much of his football from camps and clinics, and as well as watching the NFL on TV.

This is no neophyte to the game. He can tell you all about the most famous 6-1 Bengals defensive tackle ever in eight-time Pro Bowler Geno Atkins. Not only that, he can tell you about the A.J. Green-Andy Dalton Bengals because he’s been watching the league since he was 11.

“A.J., so tall, 6-3, right? So good,” Barnett said. “I watched Geno. I watched Aaron Donald. Jalen Carter. Any explosive (tackles). Geno has very much a bigger body … Geno’s extremely explosive and a very strong individual.

“At that size, you have to dominant in some sort of category. The main thing I’ve got for me right now is pretty decent quickness. If I can get to a gap quicker than everyone else, I can dominate a gap. That’s why I take so much pride in being a three technique. You’ve got one responsibility. Your gap.”

Barnett, a member of the International Player Pathway program (IPP), caught the Bengals’ eye at the pro day where he trains at IMG in Bradenton, Fla. They timed him at 4.68 seconds for the 40-yard dash, but he has gone elsewhere where he’s been timed as fast as 4.54.

Barnett showed the Bengals enough athleticism at the workout that they invited him to Cincinnati for a pre-draft visit. No one else called, except after Barnett had agreed with Cincinnati following the draft, and he was fine to be courted by Atkins’ team.

“The Bengals always have a good team,” Barnett said. “It makes sense they would take a shot on somebody my size. The Giants have taken smaller D-Tackles. The Eagles might take a few chances with smaller guys. The Vikings. The Bengals took a chance, and it makes sense.”

The move makes sense for the Bengals because they have a chance to develop him all year as an exempt roster player and practice squad player. But he’s trying to join an exclusive club of IPP players. Late last season, five were on active rosters.

“It didn’t hit me,” said Barnett, “until I landed here a couple of days ago and I was a Cincinnati Bengal.”