Bengals could draft protection for Joe Burrow early

It is prime mock draft season, and even though there isn’t much suspense over the first overall pick for the Bengals, we still have plenty to discuss about what Cincinnati will do with their mid round picks.

You have undoubtedly seen plenty of mock drafts recently slotting wide receivers, defensive backs, and linebackers (oh my!) to Cincinnati. While no one is disputing those selections, Luke Easterling of Draft Wire did a mock draft of every team’s selection, and he had the Bengals’ giving Joe Burrow help up front.

He had Cincinnati starting off the second round with offensive tackle Austin Jackson out of USC, and then they doubled down on offensive line with Cesar Ruiz out of Michigan in the third round.

That obviously is music to plenty of Bengals’ fans as the offensive line has been a huge problem for years now. Jonah Williams will be returning to the field after missing his rookie season, and the team extended Trey Hopkins during the season at center. The rest of the offensive line is up in the air though, and the team doesn’t seem like it is afraid of bringing in competition.

The nice thing about this particular mock it shows a different situation for the Bengals to be facing. There was a huge run on wide receivers in the first and Patrick Queen and Kenneth Murray were both first round picks. What this did was allow Jackson out of the first round. He could easily step in fairly early as an answer at guard or right tackle. He may have to develop just a little bit,

This mock has the Bengals doing exactly what they should, and that isn’t drafting offensive line necessarily. It has them following their board and not reaching for position or need. At the end of the day, if the Bengals can just take some good players regardless of position fans will probably be happy. There are just so many holes for this team to fill or add depth to that reaching is too easy to avoid.