{"id":171775,"date":"2025-07-01T01:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T01:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/171775\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T01:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T01:39:08","slug":"bengals-unpredictability-leads-them-to-interesting-name-in-2026-mock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/171775\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals’ unpredictability leads them to interesting name in 2026 mock"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> aren\u2019t an easy team to pin down in mock drafts ahead of the 2025 season because so much remains in flux on the defensive side of the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s one thing feeling like a safe bet right now: Cincinnati\u2019s first-round pick figures to be a defensive player.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a new mock draft from\u00a0 ESPN\u2019s Matt Miller<\/a>, that player is Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDefensive line could become the No. 1 need if the Bengals<\/a> can’t resolve the Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart contract situations. But assuming cooler heads prevail, Cincinnati should concentrate on its secondary. The Bengals have several young cornerbacks in Cam Taylor-Britt, DJ Turner II and Dax Hill, but they’ve been held back by injuries and inconsistency. Terrell, the younger brother of Falcons<\/a> standout A.J. Terrell, had two interceptions and broke up 13 passes last season. His versatility, speed and production point to him being a value add late in Round 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bengals, Shemar Stewart nuclear option includes 2026 NFL draft route<\/a><\/p>\n

Cornerback is a boom-or-bust spot for the Bengals right now. Cam Taylor-Britt looked like a No. 1, only to faceplant last year. DJ Turner II showed promise, only to get hurt. Dax Hill finally came over from safety and looked like a breakout boundary corner, only to get hurt, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the time next year\u2019s draft arrives, we could be talking about the stellar upside of the cornerbacks room (don\u2019t forget second-year player Josh Newton) or about how it\u2019s need No. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s the latter, Terrell is a name to know. And if it\u2019s not cornerback, it\u2019s probably helping out the pass-rusher or interior of the defensive line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bengals standouts after mandatory minicamp includes surprises<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals aren\u2019t an easy team to pin down in mock drafts ahead of the 2025 season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[247,265,223,254,228,227,256,2296,2435,7076,224,7,2341,20842,2512,248,267,88,6,35196,4779,9,266,2340,1503,1385],"class_list":{"0":"post-171775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-american","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-atlanta","11":"tag-atlanta-falcons","12":"tag-bengals","13":"tag-cincinnati","14":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","15":"tag-cincinnatibengals","16":"tag-dj","17":"tag-dj-turner-ii","18":"tag-falcons","19":"tag-football","20":"tag-hendrickson","21":"tag-hub","22":"tag-ii","23":"tag-national","24":"tag-national-sports","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-nfl","27":"tag-nfl-hub","28":"tag-oh","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-sports-news","31":"tag-trey","32":"tag-trey-hendrickson","33":"tag-turner"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114775429227368176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}