{"id":853780,"date":"2026-04-04T19:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853780\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T19:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:07:22","slug":"potential-bengals-top-draft-pick-position-reportedly-coming-down-to-two-man-race-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853780\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential Bengals Top Draft Pick Position Reportedly Coming Down to Two-Man Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN NFL Draft insiders Matt Miller and Field Yates are getting insight from league sources that there are two top candidates to be the first cornerback off the board, maybe to\u00a0the Bengals<\/a>\u00a0at Pick 10.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n

Jermod\u00a0McCoy’s\u00a0Pro Day workout at Tennessee has him right in the mix with LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane to be the first\u00a0CB’s\u00a0taken. They\u00a0are slated\u00a0to start getting picked right around the\u00a0Bengals’\u00a010th selection.<\/p>\n

Coming Down The Stretch\"Feb<\/p>\n

Feb 26, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; LSU defensive back Mansoor Delane (DB06) speaks to media members during the NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images
\n | Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

“The race for CB1 is officially on. Both McCoy and\u00a0LSU’s\u00a0Mansoor Delane\u00a0are viewed\u00a0as top-15 prospects in the class, with the Giants, Commanders, Saints, Chiefs, Bengals, and Cowboys as natural landing spots,” Yates wrote<\/a>.\u00a0“But\u00a0McCoy’s\u00a0health\u00a0lingered\u00a0until this pro day workout, as a\u00a0torn ACL\u00a0caused him to miss the entire 2025 season, and he sat out the combine. While scouts on the road had been getting positive reviews about\u00a0McCoy’s\u00a0recovery, there is a certainty in seeing it on the field. He posted a 4.38 in the 40-yard dash, a 38-inch vertical jump, and a 10-foot-7 broad jump.”<\/p>\n

Miller had similar feedback from his sources.<\/p>\n

“As Field said, the feedback I received from teams was that McCoy is back in the running for CB1,”\u00a0Miller wrote. “There were some questions even from the morning of the workout about what drills he would participate in. But he did everything, including positional drills. Teams love\u00a0McCoy’s\u00a0size (6-foot, 193 pounds) and his over 1-inch advantage in terms of arm length over Delane — 31\u00bc inches compared to 30 inches. And while\u00a0Delane’s\u00a0elite final season might keep him in the top spot, both players feel like top-12 locks.”<\/p>\n

According to the Mock Draft Database, Delane is the top cornerback and 10th overall on the consensus big board, and McCoy is second behind him, while being 15th overall.<\/p>\n

Either player could be a great pick for\u00a0the Bengals<\/a>\u00a0and director of player personnel, Duke Tobin.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want guys that play football well, but you want guys that can play NFL football well,”\u00a0Tobin said about prospect traits at the 2026 NFL Combine.\u00a0“And those traits are what drive a lot of really great players. And we do like guys that are big enough, fast enough, strong enough.\u00a0You have to have those things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You\u00a0can’t\u00a0just have desire. Desire with no physical traits.\u00a0You’re\u00a0gonna be doing my job, and\u00a0you’re\u00a0not gonna be playing NFL football for us. But\u00a0there’s\u00a0a marriage between the two.”<\/p>\n

Check out the full\u00a0notebook from Miller and Yates here<\/a>\u00a0as the draft approaches quickly on April 23.<\/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, and Amazon. Make sure you\u00a0bookmark BengalsTalk.com\u00a0for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!\u00a0We’re\u00a0a 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 NFL Draft insiders Matt Miller and Field Yates are getting insight from league sources that there are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853781,"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-853780","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\/116348011098296094","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853780","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=853780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}