{"id":793246,"date":"2026-03-05T07:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T07:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/793246\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T07:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T07:35:18","slug":"nfl-mock-draft-features-bengals-sprinting-to-podium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/793246\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL mock draft features Bengals sprinting to podium"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 4, 2026, 12:01 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

If you were to poll Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> fans, it’s starting to sound like Ohio State safety Caleb Downs is the top player on their board and who they want the Bengals<\/a> to select at No. 10, if he is available.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of mock drafts where Downs doesn’t even get out of the top five picks, let alone fall to No. 10. But a recent mock does see Downs fall into Cincinnati’s laps at No. 10. You can thank The Athletic’s Dane Brugler<\/a> for this one.<\/p>\n

The first nine picks of Brugler’s latest mock went as follows:<\/p>\n

Las Vegas Raiders – Fernando Mendoza, QB, IndianaNew York Jets – Arvell Reese, edge, Ohio StateArizona Cardinals – Francis Mauigoa, OT, MiamiTennessee Titans – Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre DameNew York Giants – Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio StateCleveland Browns – Spencer Fano, OT, UtahWashington Commanders – David Bailey, edge, Texas TechNew Orleans Saints – Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio StateKansas City Chiefs – Rueben Bain Jr., edge, Miami<\/p>\n

That allowed Downs to be available for the Bengals at No. 10. The Bengals would likely sprint to the podium if this was the case, even if it’s not a position they or other teams draft this early.<\/p>\n

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“Count the Bengals among several teams that generally don\u2019t draft safeties early in the first round. But Downs is different and will force front offices to rethink that stance. His intelligence, intangibles and on-field impact immediately will make the other 10 defenders on the field that much better.”<\/p>\n

Downs is one of the few players in this draft class that will instantly make the entire defense that much better. Cincinnati has been starved of strong safety play for some time. There are some very good safeties in this class (Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman) but Downs is the top prize here and could very well be No. 1 on Cincinnati’s board come April 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 4, 2026, 12:01 p.m. ET If you were to poll Cincinnati Bengals fans, it’s starting to sound…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[95878,228,227,256,2296,7,6,13078,95905,95882,95930,95913,95895,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-793246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-bengals","10":"tag-cincinnati","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","12":"tag-cincinnatibengals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflbengals","16":"tag-sstsnbengals","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","19":"tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","20":"tag-tagnfl-hub","21":"tag-tagoverall-positive","22":"tag-tagsports-news","23":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116175419845224359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793246","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=793246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}