In case you haven't noticed, we here at Cincy Jungle like to provide you with various mock drafts from various media outlets and what not. It's probably because most Bengals fans have a higher interest in this year's draft than usual, given their two first rounds picks after coming off of a 2011 playoff season. We came across one that raised our eyebrows for the players that they had slated for the Bengals, come April. Chad Reuter of www.nfl.com provided his latest mock draft today and we wanted to share it with you.
At No. 17, Reuter had the Bengals surprisingly land the talented pass-rusher out of North Carolina, Quinton Coples.Each year a player drops out of the top 10 unexpectedly, like Nick Fairley did last April when he fell to Detroit at 13. Former first-round picks Jamaal Anderson and Derrick Harvey were signed as reserves, but a value like Coples might be too rich to pass up.
Reuter brings up an interesting point. Much like his mention of Fairley, another recent example is the Giants landing Prince Amukamara. Though the team wasn't necessarily targeting a cornerback (or the Lions targeting a defensive tackle), the value of the player was too good to pass up at that spot. Even though the Bengals are relatively loaded at defensive end, if Coples were to fall this far, the Bengals would be hard-pressed to pass on him. And, if they want to take a blueprint from the Giants, NFL teams can never have enough good pass-rushers. It will be interesting if this scenario presents itself to the Bengals higher-ups.
At No.21, Reuter has a player who has been commonly linked to them in many mocks. The Bengals arguably still need a starting-caliber cornerback and Dre Kirkpatrick of Alabama was given to the team by Reuter.
With Leon Hall coming off a season-ending Achilles injury in November, the Bengals will have interest in a good value at cornerback like Kirkpatrick.
This pick makes a lot of sense for the Bengals and it would not be a surprise to see Kirkpatrick land in Cincinnati. He's widely-considered the third-best cornerback in the draft. Reuter has Trent Richardson going to the Buccaneers at No.5, Luke Kuechly going to the Seahawks at No.12, David DeCastro going No.14 to the Cowboys and Stephon Gilmore going to the Bears at No.19.