Bengals go shocking route in new mock draft

The Bengals go away from what fans and players seem to want the team to do in a new mock draft.

The Cincinnati Bengals have been able to win their last three games, and in doing so are pushing themselves lower and lower in the 2025 NFL draft that will be in April. With winning football games and still having a shot at making the playoffs in mind, of course the Bengals don’t mind that, but regardless the pick won’t be as high as it might have been before.

In a recent mock draft done by Vinnie Iyer of The Sporting News, the Bengals used their 13th overall pick to take wide receiver Isaiah Bond out of Texas.

It’s not clear yet what the team plans to do at wide receiver, still trying to work out a deal with Ja’Marr Chase, and possibly even trying to still hold onto Tee Higgins in the offseason. But with both of those deals still in limbo, Iyer sees Cincinnati going after a receiver early in the draft.

The Bengals have done well when it comes to drafting wide receivers in the recent past, Higgins and Chase being the obvious examples, so it is a route that they could end up going, but Bengals fans would certainly prefer to see Chase have a long-term deal with the team, maybe allowing them to go with a defensive player with their first pick in the draft, the side of the ball that has seen the biggest struggles this season.

Joe Burrow would also like to see the Bengals attack a different position in the draft when it comes around. He has been vocal about wanting the team to work out a deal with Higgins so he can keep his two biggest weapons around on the offensive side of the ball.

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