Mel Kiper projects Bengals to take a guy who played in just 2 games last season due to injury

With the NFL Combine arriving, so too has a new mock draft from ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.

Like many projections thus far, the Cincinnati Bengals land a tight end with the 28th overall pick. However, this mock has Cincinnati landing Luke Musgrave out of Oregon State.

Among the tight ends drafted ahead of the Bengals include Utah’s Dalton Kincaid going to the Dallas Cowboys (26th pick) and Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer to the Green Bay Packers (15th).

This projection also has Georgia’s Darnell Washington going to the New Orleans Saints with the 29th pick.

Here is what Kiper had to say of Musgrave landing in Cincinnati.

As I mentioned in January, the Bengals got 556 receiving yards from their tight ends this season, which ranked 29th in the league. Most of that came from Hayden Hurst, who is a free agent. If they want to get quarterback Joe Burrow some more help, the 6-foot-6 Musgrave makes sense. A knee injury ended his 2022 season after two games, but he was emerging as a star. Though he had just 47 career catches for the Beavers, his potential is immense. He’s also expected to test extremely well at the combine. Like Kincaid, Musgrave is still battling to be the No. 1 tight end off the board.

Yeah, I think I’ll pass on a tight end coming off a season in which he appeared in two games before going down with a season-ending knee injury. Just doesn’t feel like that will be the best way to go for a team that’s so close to getting back to the Super Bowl.