Grade the pick: Bengals select Jeffrey Gunter in Round 7

The Cincinnati Bengals once again go with a defensive player, as they landed defensive end Jeffrey Gunter from Coastal Carolina with their final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft.

The 6-foot-4, 258-pound defensive end was a two-time First Team All-Sun Belt during his college career.

As a freshman in 2017, Gunter appeared in 12 games (one start) before being named to his first All-Sun Belt team in 2018 and being named the team’s Defensive Player of the Year after leading the team with 14 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, and 49 total tackles.

After transferring to NC State, sitting out the 2019 season, and then returning to Coastal Carolina after NCSU’s defensive line coach left, Gunter led the FBS with six forced fumbles in 2020.

For his career, Gunter totaled 169 tackles (38.5 for loss), 17 sacks, 9 forced fumbles, 4 passes defended, 1 fumbles recovery, and 1 interception.

This is a nice value pick for the Bengals as NFL.com had him graded as a 5^th-6^th round pick. At the combine, Gunter ran a 4.7 40-yard dash and had a 35.5-inch vertical. Based on his testing, Gunter was one of the draft’s most athletic defenders.

The front office has focused in on defense more in this draft than offense, as they have added some great defensive pieces to a unit that was very stout in 2021, and Gunter is another solid addition to the defensive front.

Here is the analysis of Gunter from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein.

“Athletic edge defender who is much more talented as a rusher than run defender. Gunter lacks the functional anchor and scrappiness to battle through contact and come out on the other side. He has the athletic ability and motor to harass the pocket, but needs to get stronger to open more rush doors in the future.”

What grade do you give this pick? Let us know in the poll and comment section below.

Go follow our Twitter page and then go ‘like’ our Facebook page for more Cincinnati Bengals news, views and some other fun stuff for our readers. And as always, Who Dey!