Cincinnati Bengals should draft Auburn DE Dee Ford

That's the opinion of Curtis Conway, former wide receiver with the Bears, Chargers, Jets and 49ers, and now with the NFL Network.

"I think they're going to go to the front four, and that's at defensive end," Conway said on "Path to the Draft" on Monday. "They lose Michael Johnson to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so that leaves a spot open, and I like Dee Ford, the young man out of Auburn.

"He's explosive off the line," Conway said. "Some may say he's a little short, at 6-foot-2, in stature, but guess what -- we've seen guys like Dwight Freeney flat out get after that quarterback at 6-1. (Ford) can get around big tackles and get after the quarterback while playing the run.

ESPN ranked Dee Ford as the fourth-best prospect entering the 2014 NFL draft. CBS ranked him third-best and SB Nation's Mocking the Draft ranked him as the seventh-best outside linebacker, presumably in a base 3-4 defensive scheme where ESPN theorizes that "he might fit best" because his 6-foot-2, 243 pound frame is viewed as "undersized" at defensive end.

During Auburn's 34-31 loss to Florida State during the BCS Championship game this season, Ford generated two quarterback sacks. Many mock drafts have Ford going late in the first-round or early in the second.