{"id":843026,"date":"2026-03-30T14:48:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843026\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T14:48:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:48:28","slug":"bengals-land-nice-defensive-values-across-latest-seven-round-2026-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843026\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals Land Nice Defensive Values Across Latest Seven-Round 2026 Mock Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN’s Matt Miller dropped a\u00a0seven-round mock draft<\/a>\u00a0to start this week as we barrel towards draft month in the NFL.\u00a0The Bengals<\/a>\u00a0hold eight draft picks between April 23-25, and most of them are in the top 10 within those rounds.<\/p>\n

Defense gets plenty of love again in this exercise, with Cincinnati picking Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles to fill a big need.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard to imagine Styles lasting this long, but teams selecting early often prefer premium positions and draft for need over talent,”\u00a0Miller wrote<\/a>. “Styles is a top-five talent\u00a0on my board, so the Bengals would be wise to stop his slide and make him their new enforcer in the middle of the field. Last year’s fourth-rounder,\u00a0Barrett Carter, looks like a hit at middle linebacker, but Cincinnati could use an upgrade at weakside LB. A former safety, Styles has the range at 6-foot-5 (4.3 speed) to be an eraser against tight ends and in-breaking wide receivers. He also provides pass-rush upside, with seven sacks the past two seasons.”<\/p>\n

According to the Mock Draft Database<\/a>, Styles is ranked fifth on the consensus big board and second at LB behind Ohio State’s Arvell Reese.<\/p>\n

Hammering Defense\"Oct<\/p>\n

Oct 5, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego State Aztecs cornerback Chris Johnson (1) warms up before the game against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at Snapdragon Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images | Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

At Pick 41, Cincinnati took San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson.<\/p>\n

“The Bengals might seem set at cornerback on paper, but\u00a0DJ Turner II\u00a0and\u00a0Dax Hill\u00a0are free agents after 2026.\u00a0This\u00a0is about the future as much as the present, as Johnson could take over for the departed\u00a0Cam Taylor-Britt\u00a0now and ascend to a bigger role later. Johnson has length, speed, and great instincts in coverage,” Miller wrote.<\/p>\n

Johnson is ranked 47th on the consensus big board and sixth among cornerbacks. The Bengals landed on Texas Tech defensive tackle Lee Hunter with their next pick at No. 72.<\/p>\n

“B.J. Hill\u00a0and\u00a0Jonathan Allen\u00a0are good frontline players, but both are 31 years old and declining. Hunter is a plug-and-play nose tackle who will do the dirty work in the trenches,” Miller wrote.<\/p>\n

Hunter is ranked 43rd overall and fourth among defensive tackles.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati’s top-10 slotting garnered them three solid values across the opening three picks. Check out the rest of the selections projected by Miller below and his\u00a0full mock draft here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

110 –\u00a0Anez Cooper, G, Miami – 235th on the consensus big board<\/p>\n

189 –\u00a0Bishop Fitzgerald, S, USC – 230th<\/p>\n

199 – (from DET via CLE):\u00a0Patrick Payton, Edge, LSU – 340th<\/p>\n

221 – (from NYG via DAL):\u00a0Seth McGowan, RB, Kentucky – 169th<\/p>\n

226 –\u00a0Zane Durant, DT, Penn State – 124th<\/p>\n

Sign Up For Our DAILY Newsletter for More Free Coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals Delivered to You Directly<\/a><\/p>\n

For more on the Bengals,\u00a0subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio,o and Amazon. Make sure you\u00a0bookmark BengalsTalk.com\u00a0for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more! We’re a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the\u00a063,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN’s Matt Miller dropped a\u00a0seven-round mock draft\u00a0to start this week as we barrel towards draft month in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-843026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116318681890293039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843026","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=843026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}