Assessing the value Bengals received in drafting Cody Core

As expected, the Cincinnati Bengals landed multiple wide receivers in this year's NFL Draft, the second of which being Cody Core out of Ole Miss in Round 6.

Core, who was selected with the 199th-overall pick, comes to the Queen City after an interesting career with the Ole Miss Rebels. The 6'3", 205-pounder grabbed 78 passes for 1,202 yards and 10 touchdowns over the past two seasons.

In 2015, Core ranked fifth among SEC players and 33rd nationally with 17.4 yards per catch while finishing second on the team with 644 receiving yards. The guy who finished ahead of him while getting most of the attention over the past three seasons was LaQuon Treadwell, who was a first-round pick and viewed by some as the best receiver in this draft.

Throughout his four-year playing career at Ole Miss, Core played in 51 games, had 83 receptions for 1,297 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 25.4 yards per game. He played a lot of special teams during his first two years in college and Treadwell's presence on the team held him back a bit.

A big reason why, was Core was a converted defensive back who only began playing receiver full-time in 2014. He finished with 21 tackles in his college career, 16 of which came over his first two collegiate seasons.

All of this caused it to be difficult to project where Core would land in this year's draft. That's even more obvious in looking at how various experts viewed him.

CBS Sports had Core ranked 199th overall, while Sports Illustrated had him ranked 187th. NFL.com had Core ranked as the 198th-best prospect.

ESPN's Todd McShay ranked him 278th overall, while Mel Kiper tabbed Core as his 117th-best prospect. SB Nation's Mocking the Draft ranked him 281st overall. Pro Football Focus had Core as their 184th-best prospect.

If you average out all of these, Core had an average ranking of 206.3. Even though he was ranked as high as 117th by one analyst. All of this reinforces the belief that Core was a late Day 3 prospect, which is where the Bengals got him.

Coldomaha.com rounded up more than 40 draft boards and combined them to showcase how players were ranked overall. They ranked Core as the 257th-best prospect.

So, what made the Bengals like Core enough to spend the 199th pick on him? It's possible they think Core has more room to grow and develop than the other receivers who were on the board at that point in the draft.

We've also seen how the Bengals put a higher value on special teams impact. They've gone as far as to spend picks on guys like James Wright mostly based on their special teams impact. Whether Core is able to make an impact on special teams will be the difference in whether or not he's active on game days this fall, something that can't be said for many players drafted in Round 6 or later.