{"id":581786,"date":"2026-04-03T00:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/581786\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T00:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:46:12","slug":"bengals-go-in-surprising-directions-in-3-round-nfl-mock-draft-from-espn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/581786\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals go in surprising directions in 3-round NFL Mock Draft from ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN writers Mel Kiper Jr., Matt Miller, Jordan Reid, and Field Yates did a recent three-round alternating NFL mock draft,<\/a> and it produced some interesting results for the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bengals\u2019 first-round selection was made by Matt Miller, who chose LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane with the 10th overall selection. Miller had this to say about the pick,<\/p>\n

DJ Turner II<\/a> and Dax Hill<\/a> are talented, but Delane would be an upgrade on the outside, where he can win at the line of scrimmage with great quickness and instincts.<\/p>\n

Rueben Bain Jr. was still on the board when the Bengals made their selection. I would choose Bain over Delane personally, but it isn\u2019t an egregious reach by any means for Delane to go at pick 10.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With the Bengals\u2019 second-round pick, Mel Kiper selected Zachariah Branch, a speedy wide receiver from Georgia. Kiper said,<\/p>\n

Branch is 5-foot-9 and 177 pounds, but he\u2019s lightning quick (4.35-second 40-yard dash) and does damage after the catch. He\u2019d be yet another playmaker for Joe Burrow<\/a> alongside Ja\u2019Marr Chase<\/a> and Tee Higgins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While we focus so much on defense, I do believe a quicker separator in the slot would be a big upgrade over Andrei Iosivas. Branch would also add value in the return game for Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

With the Bengals\u2019 third and final selection of this mock draft, Field Yates selected Domonique Orange, a 6-2, 322-pound defensive tackle from Iowa State. Yates had this to say about the pick,<\/p>\n

Cincinnati must address its defensive tackle depth. \u201cBig Citrus\u201d is a powerful, explosive nose tackle to aid in that area.<\/p>\n

I would personally prefer a defensive tackle with a little more pass rush juice than Orange, but he represents good value in the third round. He has some surprising quickness off the snap for a player of his size.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

How would you feel if the Bengals end up with a draft similar to this one later this month? Sound off in the comments.<\/p>\n

Add us to your \u201cPreferred Sources<\/a>\u201d on Google to get all the latest Cincinnati Bengals news and views! And Who DEY!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN writers Mel Kiper Jr., Matt Miller, Jordan Reid, and Field Yates did a recent three-round alternating NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[105730,64,63,1252,3376,24249,63435,282833,161670,1215,629,133446,282179,593,85,285027,627,285026,241701],"class_list":{"0":"post-581786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-andrei-iosivas","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","12":"tag-college-football-playoff","13":"tag-defensive-tackle","14":"tag-dj-turner","15":"tag-field-yates","16":"tag-first-round-selection","17":"tag-georgia-bulldogs","18":"tag-joe-burrow","19":"tag-mansoor-delane","20":"tag-matt-miller","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-stephen-lew-imagn","24":"tag-tee-higgins","25":"tag-wydett-williams-jr","26":"tag-zachariah-branch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581786","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=581786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}