{"id":619954,"date":"2026-04-20T21:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619954\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T21:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:08:11","slug":"nfl-mock-draft-experimenting-with-bengals-trading-back-into-round-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619954\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL mock draft experimenting with Bengals trading back into Round 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> made a very uncharacteristic move over the weekend, acquiring defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence from the New York Giants<\/a> for the No. 10 pick in this week\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Bengals<\/a> are now scheduled to make their first selection at No. 41 overall during Friday\u2019s second round. But is there a world in which the Bengals trade back into the first round on Thursday?<\/p>\n

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Using the A to Z Sports simulator, we explored the possibility of the Bengals moving up to secure an inside linebacker.<\/p>\n

No. 32 (projected trade with Seattle<\/a>) – CJ Allen, LB, Georgia<\/p>\n

The Bengals are able to trade up to the last pick of the first round, sending picks 41 and 199 this year plus a 4th-round pick next year to the Super Bowl champion Seahawks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CJ Allen was a key piece of the Georgia defense for three seasons, starting as a freshman and eventually becoming a leader and captain for Kirby Smart.<\/p>\n

The Bengals are hoping to come away with a potential starting option at linebacker in this draft and this is one possible pathway to that. And it\u2019s not very costly, sending a sixth this year and a fourth next year to move up nine spots to grab a player that can make an impact behind Dexter Lawrence in the middle of the defense.<\/p>\n

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No. 72 – Keionte Scott, CB, Miami<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bengals could also be looking for a potential option at the nickel position and they would get a lot of speed there with the addition of Keionte Scott.<\/p>\n

Scott ran a 4.33 40 at his Pro Day (he did not run at the Scouting Combine). Combine his speed and his instincts, you get a player who can move around well on defense and be a force against the run. We all saw his impact for Miami in the College Football Playoffs, especially in the National Championship game against Indiana.<\/p>\n

Scott could start early in the nickel and allow the Bengals to keep Dax Hill and DJ Turner<\/a> on the outside.<\/p>\n

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No. 110 – Trey Zuhn III, OL, Texas A&M<\/p>\n

Zuhn can play across the board up front, but his potential projection at center would be intriguing to the Bengals. Ted Karras<\/a> is a free agent after the season and the Bengals may look to get younger at the position going forward.<\/p>\n

Zuhn mostly played left tackle at A&M but saw some time at center during the 2025 season. He would have a chance to develop for a year behind Karras before eventually taking over in 2027.<\/p>\n

Remaining picks<\/p>\n

No. 221 – Kaden Wetjen, WR\/KR\/PR, Iowa<\/p>\n

No. 226 – Skyler Gill-Howard, DT, Texas Tech<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: NFL mock draft experimenting with Bengals trading back into Round 1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals made a very uncharacteristic move over the weekend, acquiring defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,1252,133473,24249,55397,63435,5140,1242,593,5353,5142,85,235936,300606],"class_list":{"0":"post-619954","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-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cj-allen","12":"tag-defensive-tackle","13":"tag-dexter-lawrence","14":"tag-dj-turner","15":"tag-miami","16":"tag-new-york-giants","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-seahawks","19":"tag-seattle","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-ted-karras","22":"tag-trey-moore"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619954","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=619954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}