The 2025 season is just on the horizon, so you know what that means… We start looking at the 2026 NFL Draft!
In all seriousness, the draft is simply a separate thing entirely from watching and following actual football during the season at this point. Many fans love the draft as much as, or even more than, the actual season at this point. It is its own event to the point that it takes up two prime time slots when it happens.
It is also too soon to predict with any certainty who will go where, but as ESPN’s Matt Miller says, “This is an early look meant to identify how things stand right now.” Here is who Miller has the Bengals drafting in Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft (as of now):
Avieon Terrell, CB, Clemson*
Defensive line could become the No. 1 need if the Bengals can’t resolve the Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart contract situations. But assuming cooler heads prevail, Cincinnati should concentrate on its secondary. The Bengals have several young cornerbacks in Cam Taylor-Britt, DJ Turner II and Dax Hill, but they’ve been held back by injuries and inconsistency. Terrell, the younger brother of Falcons standout A.J. Terrell, had two interceptions and broke up 13 passes last season. His versatility, speed and production point to him being a value add late in Round 1.
The thing about the Cincinnati Bengals’ cornerback room is that — yes, they are young and inconsistent due to one reason or another — they are also going to be coming off their rookie contracts soon.
Taylor-Britt and Hill are in contract seasons, and Turner has one more season after this. The way the Bengals maneuver the cap like an overweight middle-aged man going through the American Ninja Warrior obstacle course, it doesn’t leave a lot of room to re-sign these corners, even short-term.
If they play well enough that the Bengals would like to re-sign them, they are almost definitely out of Cincinnati’s price range. If they struggle, why should they bring them back? Unless the Bengals’ front office gets with the times and learns how to properly work contracts to take advantage of the cap, it is hard to imagine these guys are going to be back in 2026 if they played well enough to be a certain starter.
This precise issue is why the switch to Al Golden as defensive coordinator may be a better fit in the long run for Cincinnati than Lou Anarumo’s tenure. Anarumo could barely get these defenders on the field to the point that the team went out and re-signed players like Vonn Bell to play over younger and more athletic players like Jordan Battle.
Golden is used to working with younger players and getting them out and rolling. Coming directly from working at the college level should be something that helps some of these young players bloom a bit earlier under his tutelage.
Because of that, selecting a guy like Terrell makes a lot of sense. It is mostly a financial move. The Bengals’ defense is going to be very young during the rest of the Joe Burrow era, it appears. If Cincinnati needs to be picky about defenders they re-sign, it makes sense to let corners who have not been consistent over their career walk and replace them with a highly talented rookie.
