{"id":859178,"date":"2026-04-07T15:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859178\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:25:14","slug":"bengals-projected-to-draft-lsu-shutdown-cb-with-10th-pick-by-espn-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859178\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals projected to draft LSU ‘shutdown’ CB with 10th pick by ESPN insider"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> need to make some major moves to help bolster the defensive side of the ball. While they have one of the best offensive groups in the league, their defense lags.<\/p>\n

While they could go after an edge rusher with the 10th overall pick, the Bengals’ best option is more likely to be in the secondary, specifically at cornerback.<\/p>\n

That’s why ESPN insider Peter Schrager<\/a>, based on what he’s hearing around the NFL, is projecting the Bengals to draft LSU cornerback Masoor Delane with the 10th pick to land a shutdown corner for the Cincinnati secondary.<\/p>\n

Bengals projected to take Mansoor Delane with 10th pick<\/p>\n

“Cincinnati could look at a few different options here, and while another early-round pick on a defensive back might not be the most popular choice,” Schrager writes, “it could make a lot of sense. The Bengals need a true shutdown guy on the outside.”<\/p>\n

Delane, the LSU cornerback who allowed a 31.3 passer rating this past season, would be a phenomenal pick for the Bengals inside the top 10.<\/p>\n

He’s likely the top cornerback in the draft, with Jermod McCoy being a bit more of a question mark due to his injury issues, and the rest of the cornerbacks being options further down the board.<\/p>\n

Delane had two interceptions this past season, along with four the year prior in his third and final season at Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0Bengals fans should be confident in $40M Bryan Cook signing for 60% reason<\/a><\/p>\n

His 11 passes defended were a career high this past season, and the 6-foot-0, 190-pound cornerback isn’t a smaller corner either.<\/p>\n

While there is some uncertainty about how good he could be in the NFL, it’s not a big enough of a concern for the upside of Delane being a shutdown CB to be ignored.<\/p>\n

If the Bengals took Delane with the 10th pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft, it would be a move that makes a ton of sense.<\/p>\n

Schrarger’s projection, while some fans might hope for Caleb Downs or one of the top pass rushers, would be a good result for the Bengals in the first round.<\/p>\n

More Bengals news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals need to make some major moves to help bolster the defensive side of the ball.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-859178","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\/116364124606951257","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859178","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=859178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}