Dave Lapham and Dan Hoard reveal their predictions for Bengals first round selection

The Cincinnati Bengals are one day away from making their first round selection. In the past, fans didn’t have to wait that long since Bengals announcer Dave Lapham usually predicted the pick days before.

His track record isn’t what it used to be, but when Cincinnati is picking at the end of the first round rather than in the to 10, it is admittedly not an exact science. Last year, Lapham predicted the Bengals would take cornerbacks Andrew Booth or Kair Elam.

Elam was off the board, but Cincinnati passed up Booth in favor of defensive back Daxton Hill. A vast majority of people really expected corner to be the pick, but the team may have been confident that Cam Taylor-Britt would be there in the second round.

It is still worth noting Lapham and Dan Hoard’s picks. They are usually along the right track of thinking with where Cincinnati will ultimately go. They released their Bengals Booth Podcast outlining their predictions.

“Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes,” Lapham said. “I’m not sure he’ll be there. If he is, I think they take him, unless there’s somebody else that slid. But Emmanuel Forbes, and like I said earlier if he’s not [there], my backup guy is [EDGE] Lukas Van Ness. I think one of those two guys could really, really help this football team. I’m all-in on those guys.”

Forbes name has been popping up more and more for the Bengals at No. 28. A quick summary of him is a lighter than you’d like corner who does everything else like a top corner.

Van Ness isn’t someone we have heard connected with the pick too much. However, it makes sense since he absolutely fits what the Bengals look for as an EDGE player. Joe Marino from Draft Network also used Trey Hendrickson as his NFL comparison.

Dan Hoard went along the same lines.

“I am going to stick with the cornerback position,” Hoard said. “I have landed on Georgia’s Kelee Ringo as my pick with the 28th pick in the draft.”

The Bengals love first round corners. For a period, it seemed like they exclusively would field those who had been taken with a first round selection like Leon Hall, Terrance Newman, Adam Jones, Dre Kirkpatrick, Darqueze Denard, and William Jackson. It seems like this is lining up to be a first round where Cincinnati can continue this trend.

Lapham also noted that he feels like the Bengals should and could acquire some extra mid-round picks. He talked about how the drop-off between the few blue chip players in this class and guys who could be there early in the fourth round aren’t that big of a difference.

To further his point, a lot of those positions we don’t see a huge drop-off at are at positions Cincinnati needs long-term players at, like tight end, corner, EDGE, and running back.

We will have to see if Lapham can reclaim his magic this season.