Bengals now sit in top half of draft order after falling out of playoff picture

The Cincinnati Bengals looked like a shell of themselves in their embarrassing 41-16 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 9. The loss dropped the Bengals to 5-4 on the year. Two straight losses have dropped the Bengals from first in the AFC to out of the playoff picture entirely that quickly.

That means the Bengals are now currently sitting amongst the top 18 teams in the 2022 draft order. In fact, they’re currently sitting in the top half of the order, as they would currently hold the No. 16 pick in the draft, according to Tankathon.

There are five teams tied for the final Wild Card spot in the AFC at 5-4, with the New England Patriots currently beating out the Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos.

Of those four teams that are out, the Bengals have the second-easiest schedule behind only the Broncos. So the order would be Denver at 15, Cincinnati at 16, Cleveland at 17, Kansas City at 18.

Obviously, this isn’t where the Bengals wanted to be, especially after they were sitting at 5-2 after thumping the Baltimore Ravens just a few short weeks ago.