NFL Post-Draft 2016 Power Rankings: ESPN high on Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals continue to get some nice praise in various NFL Power Rankings across the net.

The latest comes from ESPN, who has the Bengals coming in as the league's seventh-best team following the NFL Draft.

7. Cincinnati Bengals

2015 record: 12-4

Post-free agency ranking: No. 8

What a draft. Tyler Boyd in the second, Andrew Billings in the fourth, Cody Core in the sixth. April is one of the 11 months out of the year when the Bengals look like they're doing this whole thing as well as any other team. It's just pesky January that they can't figure out.

It's clear the guys at ESPN, like many others, are high on what the Bengals did during the draft, thus increasing the team's ranking. There's no question that many of the guys Cincinnati drafted will make an impact as rookies, especially Pittsburgh receiver Tyler Boyd. He should be able to help offset the losses of Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones at receiver.

But perhaps the rookie who will make the biggest impact on the Bengals is defensive tackle Andrew Billings. Even as a rookie, Billings may become the team's second-best interior defensive lineman and a suitable position mate for Geno Atkins. The thought of those two in the middle is scary for any opposing offense.

And all of this isn't even accounting for what William Jackson III may do. While Adam Jones, Darqueze Dennard and Dre Kirkpatrick are no slouches, Jackson has the potential to become a great weapon for Cincinnati with time and development.

The only bad thing about this ESPN ranking is that the Steelers come in just ahead of the Bengals at No. 6. It may have been a toss-up as to which team is better prior to the Draft, but the Steelers having, by all accounts, a far worse draft compared to the Bengals' solid haul may end up being the difference between these two in 2016.

It is kind of funny to think the Bengals' fourth and fifth-best corners may be better than either of the Steelers' top two guys.