Duke QB Daniel Jones plans to meet with Bengals

With the 11th overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, the Bengals will likely be in a position to take one of the top quarterbacks in this year’s class, if they decide to go down that path.

One of the those quarterbacks is Duke’s Daniel Jones, who said in an interview with Sirius XM NFL Radio that he will meet with the Bengals this week at the NFL combine, among other teams who may consider taking a quarterback in the first round.

This is the first player meeting at the combine for the Bengals that has been reported. Its significance will remain to be seen for quite a while though.

Specifically in the past two years, the Bengals have not considered using a first-round pick on a quarterback. With Andy Dalton entrenched at the position in the middle of his second contract, the thought of pushing him with a top-16 pick has not been seriously entertained inside Paul Brown Stadium.

Of course, that was when former head coach Marvin Lewis and the vast majority of his coaching staff was still employed by Cincinnati. With Zac Taylor and Brian Callahan taking over the offense, the dynamic between the Bengals and the quarterback position could see a shift.

During his podium session this week at the combine, both Taylor and Duke Tobin expressed confidence in Dalton as the franchise quarterback, and he looks to be the guy leading the team in 2019. You could pass this off as coach/GM-speak, but consistency has been the Bengals’ strong suit when Tobin has been running the war room. Very rarely does he stray from the truth in his words.

Jones may not have the meaningful production teams should look for in a franchise quarterback, but he has the classic attributes that the Old money of the NFL always has a soft spot for. Earlier this week, it was sounding like teams were smitten with Jones and Missouri’s Drew Lock.

Where Jones, Lock, Heisman Trophy runner-up Dwayne Haskins and Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray end up getting drafted will be pressing topics from now until late April. For now, expect teams picking all over the first round, like the Bengals, to due their due diligence on all of them.