Bengals go unexpected routes in new 2022 re-draft

One recent 2022 NFL re-draft had the Cincinnati Bengals going away from actual first-round pick Dax Hill.

But the experts in charge of the 2022 NFL re-draft from the ESPN NFL Nation reporters don’t go that route.

Re-picking the first two rounds, the writeup has the Bengals sticking at No. 31 and going with Hill, with Ben Baby writing the following:

“The Bengals were over the moon when Hill was on the board last April. At this point, he still marks a key position the Bengals will need in 2023 when safety Jessie Bates III will be a free agent after spending this season on the franchise tag. Hill has grown as a rookie and flashed potential as a long-term starter, though he played 123 defensive snaps during the regular season.”

The Bengals were very high on Hill and the value proposition married the long-term need perfectly. Not only is Hill the sensible long-term replacement for Bates, he’s versatile enough to play all over the secondary.

In the original draft, the Bengals traded up three spots in the second round to make sure they landed cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt. He’s since had the look of a long-term starter on the boundary, but the re-draft has the Bengals stick at No. 63 and instead select running back Brian Robinson Jr., current star for the Washington Commanders.

Robinson looked solid as a rookie, but the value proposition there might not be to fans’ liking. The Bengals need to figure out if they’re going to cut or restructure Joe Mixon, but spending a second-round pick on the position seems like too much — especially when capable boundary cornerbacks like CTB are much harder to find.

Still, if nothing else, that just reinforces the idea the Bengals need to upgrade at running back this offseason, both in a financial and production sense.