{"id":869304,"date":"2026-04-18T17:18:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869304\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T17:18:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:18:43","slug":"bengals-meet-with-sec-safety-ahead-of-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869304\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals Meet With SEC Safety Ahead of 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">The Bengals had another pre-draft visit trickle in over the weekend. Arye Pulli reported Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings had a pre-draft interview with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/bengals\/onsi\/news\/full-transcript-everything-duke-tobin-said-at-bengals-season-wrap-up-press-conference-01kej8v1jn5e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the Bengals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">&#8220;Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings has drawn significant interest, interviewing with 12 teams, per source. Among the teams expressing interest are the 49ers, Bengals, Broncos, Giants, Jets, Packers, and Seahawks. The projected early Day Three pick ran a 4.32 (40-Yard dash) in Indy,&#8221; Pulli posted on X.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">Spears-Jennings suited up in all 13 games this past season with 12 starts (59 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one INT, two pass breakups, and one forced fumble).<\/p>\n<p>Safety Meeting<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kpgrhhq6dhzj30qq8h.jpg\" alt=\"Feb 27, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Oklahoma defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings\" title=\"Feb 27, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Oklahoma defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings\" width=\"6391\" height=\"3594\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"74\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Feb 27, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Oklahoma defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings (DB48) during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com\/big-boards\/2026\/consensus-big-board-2026?pos=S\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">According to the Mock Draft Database&#8217;s<\/a>\u00a0consensus big board, Spear-Jennings is the 193rd-ranked player overall and would be a strong candidate for one of Cincinnati&#8217;s two sixth-round picks (No. 189 and No. 199).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">They also have two seventh-round picks, sporting extra draft capital entering selection week in a few days. It&#8217;s a huge stretch for Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin and the rest of the front office.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">&#8220;I was proud of the group after the bye for figuring out, grinding through, and making the improvements necessary to give us chances,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/bengals\/onsi\/news\/full-transcript-everything-duke-tobin-said-at-bengals-season-wrap-up-press-conference-01kej8v1jn5e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tobin said<\/a>\u00a0about the defense last month. &#8220;It would be a different story if I didn\u2019t see young players progressing and I didn\u2019t see a progression of understanding, knowledge, and execution of our defense. It would be a different story. Believe me, it would be a big different story in my mind. But the reason that it\u2019s not is that I see growth.\u00a0I see growth in\u00a0a\u00a024-year-old Myles Murphy and young corners who have taken the\u00a0jump,\u00a0and\u00a0Jordan Battle, who has taken the\u00a0jump.\u00a0The one thing we really need is we need those guys or somebody else to take on a leadership role and demand the accountability and demand the execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">&#8220;We need more leadership. We have tons of leadership on the offensive side of the ball. We need somebody, multiple people, to step up and lead that group from within our team. And it could come from the outside, and it could come from the inside. We can get improvement from both of those areas. We can get improvement and play from the inside, which I see happening, and we can get improvement from the outside, be it the draft or free agency or however we want to attack it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings has drawn significant interest, interviewing with 12 teams, per source.<\/p>\n<p>Among the teams expressing interest:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfc8 49ers<br \/>\ud83c\udfc8 Bengals<br \/>\ud83c\udfc8 Broncos<br \/>\ud83c\udfc8 Giants<br \/>\ud83c\udfc8 Jets<br \/>\ud83c\udfc8 Packers<br \/>\ud83c\udfc8 Seahawks<\/p>\n<p>The projected early Day 3 pick ran a 4.32 in Indy. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/R1qrohezxt\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/R1qrohezxt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AryePulliNFL\/status\/2045184468248338585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7n\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/bengals\/onsi\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sign Up For Our DAILY Newsletter for More Free Coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals Delivered to You Directly<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7q\">For more on the Bengals,\u00a0subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cincinnati-bengals-talk\/id1789855235\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tr.ee\/8ThI6nHRHl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/1333-cincinnati-bengals-talk-256880212\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">iHeartRadio<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/030daf38-754f-4a5f-9846-3c5689070770\/cincinnati-bengals-talk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Amazon<\/a>. Make sure you\u00a0bookmark BengalsTalk.com\u00a0for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more! We&#8217;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<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bengals had another pre-draft visit trickle in over the weekend. Arye Pulli reported Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-869304","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\/116426855886116352","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869304","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=869304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}