Bengals Lair: Bengals Big Board for Round 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft
The Cincinnati Bengals will be on the clock with pick 17 next Thursday and will likely have a myriad of options to pick through. That is partly their own fault, a quiet free agency period has left them with multiple clear areas of need, and that means predicting their first-round selection is not an easy task.
From a personal point of view, I have narrowed my favourite picks down to five, I have also included an ‘off my board’ section just to cover guys you may have expected to have made the top 5. So here’s the players I hope are on the board and that could be the newest member of the Bengals.
1. Malaki Starks, Safety, Georgia
The Bengals have never recovered from allowing Jessie Bates to walk out of the building. Geno Stone was brought in as a replacement, and his 53.7 coverage grade last year left a lot to be desired. That’s why safety should be on the table for the Bengals.
Starks makes a lot of sense for the Bengals. He’s only 21, an immediate starter at a Power 5 college, and his tape shows a safety with excellent instincts and range. The knock on him will be his average athletic testing, but Starks regularly topped the GPS speed tracking stats during drills at the combine.
He’s versatile, having played nickel, outside corner and free safety, but for the Bengals, he projects as a deep safety to pair with Jordan Battle.
His background is one of the cleanest in the draft, which should appeal to the team considering the misses with Jermaine Burton and Erick All in terms of character and injury history.
2. Kelvin Banks Jr., Offensive Line, Texas
Banks hits a lot of the same markers that Starks does. 21 years old, 3-year starter in the SEC and a clean injury history. He played as a left tackle for Texas, allowing only 4 sacks in over 1,500 snaps. His stature and propensity to be vulnerable to speed rushers on the outside make him a candidate to convert to the guard position.
That would work perfectly for the Bengals, who failed to address the position in free agency. Alex Cappa had a rough 2024 and was allowed to leave in free agency; only Lucas Patrick came in the opposite direction. While I have reservations about expecting college players to simply step into a new position and hit the ground running, Banks does have the required pedigree.
The other benefit of Banks’ experience at tackle is that he could be developed into a long-term replacement for Orlando Brown Jr.
3. Jihaad Campbell, Linebacker, Alabama
If it weren’t for a chequered injury history, Campbell would likely top this board for me. He has the athleticism and dynamism this defense lacked for long stretches last season. He can play off-ball linebacker, where he excelled as a run defender and can also drop into coverage. Not only that, but I believe he has the ability to take on more pure pass-rushing snaps.
Stuck behind a log jam of elite edge defenders at Alabama, Campbell never got a proper shot at the position he was recruited for. Once the Tide saw his ability at linebacker, they never looked back. However, his length and power suggest a Micah Parsons-type transition is not off the table. It’s easy to get excited thinking of Campbell dovetailing with Logan Wilson.
The downside is that this is a player with substantial signs of wear and tear. A partial labrum tear needed surgery after this season, and he also has a knee scope in his medical history. If those red flags are okayed, Campbell would be a steal at 17.
4. Mykel Williams, Edge, Georgia
This choice is the kind you make and duck for cover. If social media is anything to go by, most Bengals fans would be pretty lukewarm about drafting Mykel Williams. The key downside to his profile is the lack of production. As a starter, 17 sacks in 3 years is hardly setting the world alight. It’s true that his numbers are underwhelming for a guy with his athletic profile.
Pair that with the fact that the Bengals just drafted an edge rusher who is nearly an identikit of him, and I understand the reservations. So why does he make my top 5? Well, he’s incredibly young, not yet 21, meaning he still has plenty of untapped potential. His high floor comes from the fact that he is a solid run defender, and that the Georgia defense asked him to stop that ahead of pinning his ears back and getting to the passer. An ankle injury also held him back, but a positive to that is that he fought through it rather than having an eye towards the draft.
The Bengals need to be aware that Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai are in the final year of their contracts. Edge is a priority even if Willams isn’t a day one starter.
5. Derrick Harmon, Defensive Tackle, Oregon
At the start of the draft process, I would have highlighted defensive tackle as a key area of need for the Bengals. However, the more I think about it, I’m not sure they address it in the first couple of rounds. TJ Slaton should solidify the nose position, while I think the front office believes Kris Jenkins can make a leap in year 2.
However, if the board falls a certain way, I think Harmon should interest them. He offers a different dimension to what the Bengals currently have. His 55 pressures in 2024 show a player who is adept at getting into the backfield, offering some much-needed pass rush juice to this front. Harmon has played across the line for Oregon, meaning he can provide cover for any one of the four guys currently rostered.
This defensive line still needs reinforcements, and if the board doesn’t provide satisfactory options at edge rusher, I wouldn’t blame the Bengals for turning to Harmon for answers.
Draft prospects off my board
Some of the missing names from my big board may raise a few eyebrows, so for complete transparency, here are the reasons why some of the higher-profile players failed to make the cut.
The Bengals’ draft class last year was hit with problems. Jermaine Burton had character red flags, and those were realised in a tumultuous first season in the league. Tight end Erick All had a well-documented injury history, and unfortunately, that came back to haunt him. All will now miss the 2025 season. With these issues a not-so-distant memory, the Bengals should be particularly wary of any red flags, especially in round 1.
Both Ole Miss’s Walter Nolen and Tennessee’s James Pearce have been dinged for effort issues. Two hugely talented guys who seemingly didn’t like things not going their way. This could be down to a lack of maturity, but for me, I’d rather not find out. Marshall’s Mike Green has two sexual assault accusations in his past, though he was not convicted, it’s enough for me to forgo him.
Tyler Booker has some solid tape; he’s an aggressive, powerful people mover on the offensive line, but a disastrous combine raises question marks about his ceiling. Finally, Nick Emmanwori misses my cut purely because I feel his best position is more the box safety role or big nickel. For me, Jordan Battle should be the safety playing closer to the line of scrimmage, and one of Dax Hill or DJ Turner is talented enough to take on the slot role from Mike Hilton. I personally would be looking at safeties more adept at playing a deep-lying role.
So there you have it,, my top-5 guys for the Bengals on day 1. With so many choices and so many holes, it’s anyone’s guess who will get the call from Duke Tobin and Zac Taylor next week.
Rory-Joe Daniels
NFL & Cfb contributor
AS A LONG-SUFFERING CINCINNATI BENGALS FAN, RORY HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL FOR OVER 20 YEARS. HIS PASSION FOR THE DRAFT LED HIM TO GET ENTANGLED WITH COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND HE HAS BEEN WRITING ABOUT PROSPECTS AND THE CFB LANDSCAPE EVER SINCE.