Jerry Lai – USA TODAY Sports
By this point, it’s quite obvious in the case of a large amount of teams, who they will be taking with their first round pick. For those teams’ writers it’s been a case of them writing out the same first round mock draft over and over, the pick almost never wavering. For the case of the Cincinnati Bengals‘ writers, it’s given us a chance to speculate wildly as to who is going to be taken with pick number 21.
At last, the day has finally come where the massive speculation will come to end, and we’ll all be put out of our miseries. We’ve all been fortunate enough to be able to tell what the Bengals really need in the draft, and because of this, it has only been the rarest of NFL Mock Drafts that have the Bengals choosing the likes of a quarterback in the first round (yes, I read one where they chose Ryan Nassib with pick number 21). If you’ve been keeping an eye on mock drafts and NFL analysis as well as keeping up to date with the movement of the Bengals coaches, then you should be, like myself, down to two positions. For me, it’s has to be either a safety or an offensive tackle.
With right tackle Andre Smith still holding out and only eight hours to go until the NFL Draft, it looks as if the Bengals may have to use their first round draft pick to select someone like D.J. Fluker, if he’s still available at that point. If not, they may just get lucky enough for them to wait until pick number 37 or even 53 to take Menelik Watson.
It’s quite clear that the glut that Cincinnati holds at the safety position just isn’t working out. Reggie Nelson is a strong player in the secondary, but the likes of Taylor Mays and Jeromy Miles are not doing what’s necessary to prove they have what it takes to be NFL starters. With a first round pick of safety, the Bengals can turn their secondary into one of the top secondaries in the NFL.
Final Prediction:
With the 21st pick of the 2013 NFL Draft, The Cincinnati Bengals select Jonathan Cyprien, Safety, Florida International.
