2019 Bengals season awards: Rookie of the Year

It wasn’t exactly a great start to the Zac Taylor era, in a number of respects. Aside from tying a franchise record for the worst finish to a season, his first draft class had minimal impacts on the season.

Those two aspects are not coincidental. In fact, Cincinnati’s draft class was rated as the least effective by Pro Football Focus’ metrics.

Making the class a big disappointment was the season-ending injury to Jonah Williams before the year even began. Even so, a handful of the 11 picks they made saw some action, so cast your vote for the Bengals’ 2019 Rookie of the Year.

Germaine Pratt, linebacker, third round: It was a slow start for the rookie defender, but he began to take some nice strides towards the end of the year. Pratt finished with 72 total tackles and four tackles for loss. Both areas were good for fifth-best on the team’s defense.

Ryan Finley, quarterback, fourth round: Try to hold the laughter on the next two nominees, if you can. Despite going winless, Finley did get some high-profile starts with the Bengals last year. He threw two touchdowns, two interceptions and 474 yards in three games.

Renell Wren, fourth round, defensive line: Wren only had eight tackles on the year, but showed promise down the stretch. With Andrew Billings set to hit free agency, Wren may be poised for a bigger role in 2020.

Michael Jordan, offensive guard, fourth round: Jordan played a total of 648 snaps on offense and supplanted his Ohio State buddy, Billy Price at left guard. He played in 100 percent of the snaps from Weeks 13-17 and not coincidentally, the offense and run game saw an uptick in performance. He only had a 43.7 Pro Football Focus score, though.