Assessing the Draft Value of Cedric Ogbuehi

By all accounts, the Cincinnati Bengals pulled in a great haul from this year's NFL Draft.

However, not everyone was on board with their first pick. Texas A&M offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehiwas came very close to entering the draft in 2014, when he was a lock for the first round, but the Aggies paid for his loss-of-value insurance, which helped sway him to return for another year in college.

As it turned out, Ced was in line to possibly need that insurance after suffering an ACL tear in A&M's bowl game. Fortunately, Ced wound up getting picked in the first round by Cincinnati anyhow. But was it a good pick for the Bengals?

Based on where Ogbuehi was projected to be picked, it doesn't appear so, but it wasn't much of a reach either.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein gave Ogbuehi a late first/early second-round projection and the 30th-overall prospect. ESPN's Scouts Inc. had Ogbuehi ranked 35th overall. Mel Kiper had him 30th in his final rankings and Todd McShay tabbed Ogbuehi as his 35th-best prospect. Bleacher Report's Matt Miller had him ranked as his 33rd-best prospect.

CBS Sports was the only service that though the Bengals really reached on Ogbuehi, at least in terms of their rankings. They had him as their No. 45 prospect, 24 spots ahead of where Cincinnati drafted him. Mocking the Draft wasn't too kind either, ranking him 40th overall.

If you average all eight of those rankings, Ogbuehi had a draft ranking of 35.43. Given the Bengals drafted him with the 21st pick, the selection can certainly be called a reach.

However, when you're drafting late in the first round, you can afford to take riskier picks on guys like Ogbuehi. At least, that's how the Bengals likely felt.