{"id":497751,"date":"2026-02-23T00:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497751\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T00:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:12:12","slug":"bengals-accused-of-being-worst-spot-for-their-dream-nfl-draft-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497751\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals accused of being worst spot for their dream NFL draft target"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> might just sprint to the podium if Ohio State safety Caleb Downs falls to them at No. 10 in the NFL draft.<\/p>\n

But would Downs sprint to the Bengals?<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report\u2019s Kristopher Knox<\/a> is one of those thinking no. He lists the Bengals as the outright worst landing spot in the NFL for Downs, citing the Jessie Bates saga from a few years ago:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt’s less difficult, though, to envision Downs landing with a team that simply doesn’t value the safety position. The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>, for example, could desperately use a player with Downs’ capabilities, but they may never be willing to give him a second contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: 6 Bengals veterans who won\u2019t be on Zac Taylor\u2019s roster next year<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bengals’ failure to retain an All-Pro like Bates was, truthfully, the biggest thing that kicked off the domino effect leading to multiple failed years. Lou Anarumo\u2019s defenses never recovered and the front office is still trying to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n

Schematically, the Bengals like to use their safeties all over the place when they can. With Geno Stone headed to free agency, Downs would probably get that chance.<\/p>\n

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One would hope, too, that if the Bengals get Downs and he fits as expected, they wouldn’t hesitate this time to properly value what they have and do whatever it takes to keep him in town.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bengals’ key offseason dates for NFL free agency, draft and more<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals accused of being worst spot for their dream NFL draft target<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals might just sprint to the podium if Ohio State safety Caleb Downs falls to them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,133465,1252,213736,150085,250483,593,3373,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-497751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-caleb-downs","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","12":"tag-geno-stone","13":"tag-jessie-bates","14":"tag-kristopher-knox","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-ohio-state","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}