The Cincinnati Bengals have invested ten out of their last thirteen picks in the first three rounds on the defensive side of the ball. Some of those picks you could realize at the time, they were picking those players at least a round above where they should be taken. At other times, they have taken players around the range they were expected to go, yet the player has not developed during their time in Cincinnati. It is fair to think they have a problem in both evaluating and developing talent on the defensive side of the ball.
Lets take a deeper look into the recent draft classes over the past four drafts, with a focus on the defensive players that have been selected.
The Bengals used all three of their first picks on the defensive side of the ball in the 2022 draft. The first player taken was Dax Hill. While many people wanted George Karlaftis with this pick, he was selected one spot prior to the Bengals selection. This was coming off a Super Bowl appearance, yet they were unwilling to trade up above the Chiefs to make that selection.
It isnt like Hill was projected to go much later in the draft. If anything, he was a good value selection when he fell to pick 31. The illogical part of the whole thing, was taking Hill to be a Jessie Bates replacement. They wasted the first couple of years of Hills career by trying to force him into being a safety. He had played slot cornerback during his time at Michigan. While Dax is one of the better picks on this list, he still hasnt been consistent enough throughout his career to say he has lived up to being a first-round draft selection.
Taylor-Britt looked like a steal in the second round in his rookie season. He was on a trajectory during both of his first two seasons to be a Pro-Bowl talent. Things have completely gone off the rails the past two years. He has been benched on multiple occasions. He was even inactive for a game earlier this season. Taylor-Britt will enter free agency this offseason, being one of the bigger what-ifs from this list. For some reason, why do I feel like it wont be surprising if he plays well for his next team?
I was doing a live stream on Sports with Strawberry Ice when this pick was announced. I immediately turned my computer off. I felt like this was a reach at the time, and that ended up being the case. Carter was abysmal during his time with the Bengals. To be fair to Carter, the Bengals were trying to move him from playing on the edge more at Florida, to full-time at defensive tackle. That transition didnt go smoothly his first couple of seasons with the team. That eventually led to the Bengals releasing him early in the season last year. Using a third-round draft selection on a player who doesnt even make it through three seasons is a failure on all levels. A couple of the players selected not long after this pick were safety Kerby Joseph and linebacker Leo Chanel.
I may have been one of the few people who didnt have a huge issue with this selection at the time. Based on what fell to the selection, I thought Murphy was a solid choice. That doesnt appear to be the case so far in his career. He hadnt logged a ton of snaps prior to this season. Now that he is playing more, we still are not seeing anywhere close to an impactful defensive lineman. He has a 17.4% missed tackle rate. He has just 1.5 sacks on the season. If he doesnt show more down the stretch of the season, how can the Bengals pick up his fifth-year option next year? The two players selected directly after Murphy were Bryan Bresee and Nolan Smith. Both players have been much more impactful early in their careers.
Finally, we get to a player who has lived up to where they were drafted. Turner is playing at an All-Pro level so far in 2025. Turner has a league-leading 14 pass breakups on the season. He is allowing just a 47.4% completion rate against him this year, while also logging two interceptions. There are no complaints with this selection.
Battle was a four-year starter for Alabama. Getting on the field early for a Nick Saban defense was a huge accomplishment. This didnt seem like a bad choice at the time. For whatever reason, he has not played well in 2025 for the Bengals. He is among the league leaders in missed tackles with thirteen on the season. While he does have three interceptions this year, the negative plays are happening far too often. The missed tackle on Colston Loveland was just the latest in a long line of mishaps for Battle. He is likely to continue seeing a ton of playing time the rest of the season; hopefully, he starts to turn things around. As of now, this looks like another bad selection.
The Bengals desperately needed a defensive tackle that could rush the passer to pair with BJ Hill. The problem with this pick is that Kris Jenkins was never known as someone who could consistently rush the passer. He was a high-level run defender that everyone knew would need development as a pass rusher. That development has not happened. Players like TVondre Sweat, JerZhan Newton, and Braden Fiske were already off the board. They painted themselves in a corner by not being more active to get one of those players earlier. Since they were stuck at their pick, the best available player would have been Zach Frazier. Frazier went two selections after Jenkins. He is playing at a high level for the Steelers, in just his second season with the team.
The Bengals doubled up on run-stuffing defensive tackles in 2024. Many projected Jackson to go in the fourth or fifth round. The Bengals decided to take him in the third. He has been inactive in almost every game this season. When he played last year, he looked like a decent depth piece. For some reason, he finds himself firmly in the Al Golden doghouse this year. Going as far as to request a trade at one point. The Steelers picked directly after the Bengals here. They nabbed starting linebacker Payton Wilson.
Stewart was one of the only players projected to go in the first round that I was hoping the Bengals would not select. He had 4.5 career sacks at Texas A&M. While an athletic freak, that type of production is a huge red flag. At minimum, this is a player who would need a ton of development. Already having Myles Murphy, whom they had been unable to develop, made this seem like it would be a terrible pick. So far, the returns are showing just that. Stewart has been injured tfor he majority of the season. When he has played, he looks completely lost out there. They passed on guys like Grey Zabel, Malaki Starks, and Jihaad Campbell. This felt like Duke Tobin and the front office thinking they are smarter than everyone else, yet again. That usually doesnt work out too well.
If missing tackles were the goal, we would be world champions. Knight also has thirteen missed tackles on the season. That is a rate of 15.3% on the season. In comparison, I mentioned Payton Wilson earlier for the Steelers. He has a 7.7% missed tackle rate on the season. Knight Jr. has been used on the line in Al Goldens vyper role. That was never who he was in college. This is another example where both the evaluation and the development of the player do not make sense. Too often, the Bengals are trying to fit square pegs into round holes. As far as Knight even needing development, you drafted a 25-year old rookie. Just a pick that should have never been made in the second round. The Bengals passed on a guard like Tate Ratledge. Golden even passed on a safety he was familiar with in Xavier Watts. This pick just never made much sense, except that they had forced themselves into desperately needing a linebacker.
We cannot completely write off a lot of these players, but things are looking really grim. Duke Tobin and his small scouting department deserve a lot of blame. Coaches on the field deserve a lot of blame for not utilizing the skill-sets of the guys that are drafted. The players also deserve blame. At some point, the ownership needs to also take accountability. Stop doing things the same way over and over. Expand the scouting department, hire a real front office staff to run the football side of things, and get out of your own way, for once.