The NFL Draft process is a long, winding road that will often times lead to an end result we didn’t see coming. Two years ago, Sam Darnold was the consensus to quarterback prospect until whispers arose two days before the Draft that the Browns may be taking Baker Mayfield. They did.
Last year, Kyler Murray was “just a baseball player” until mid-January — and even then, his odds of being the #1 overall pick felt long.
Which brings us to this year’s situation, where the Bengals sit in the #1 spot in the order and are clearly in need of a new quarterback. The general consensus is that LSU’s Joe Burrow will be the pick — even if that consensus is different than the narrative we saw 3 months ago. It was Tua Tagovailoa at that point that served as the favorite.
Could things change again? It is most likely that we see Burrow get his name called first in April. But Bengals head coach Zac Taylor recently spoke with the Bengals team media and at the very least he tried to be diplomatic about the draft process being a fluid situation.
“We’ve started the process of evaluating (Burrow),” said Taylor. “We certainly have a long way to go before making decisions on what we’re doing with the first pick. That’s been exciting. We’re not preparing for an opponent, so we have a chance to jump into the actual film work for all the position groups.”
The Bengals will act as one of the two NFL teams coaching the 2020 Senior Bowl next week in Mobile, Alabama. One of the quarterbacks on their team? Presumed 1st-round signal caller Justin Herbert from Oregon. And the medical situation with Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa seemingly gets better by the day — so there will be other quarterback prospects to contemplate.
The Dolphins, scheduled to pick 5th, would certainly be in striking distance if the Bengals opted to go a different direction. That’s still an unlikely outcome — but it is one worth remembering if this Draft sees another dramatic shift.
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