It became very clear at the NFL Scouting Combine that the Cincinnati Bengals had their eyes on this tight end class.
All the top prospects at the position were in Indianapolis this week, and the Bengals officially met with damn near all of them, including future first-round pick Brock Bowers out of Georgia.
The hype around Bowers is so large now, he felt it was safer to not perform any athleticism testing Friday evening. This cleared the spotlight for former Kansas State tight end Ben Sinnott to make an impression, and sure made it positive.
Sinnott is currently rated as A to Z Sports' James Foster's 115th player on his big board, and he's also outside The Athletic's Dane Brugler's most recent top 100 prospects list. That should change here shortly after Sinnott added elite athleticism to his already impressive profile.
Kansas State tight end Ben Sinnott has checked all the boxes to be an early draft pick
There's not a more productive inline tight end in this entire draft class than Sinnott. Bowers and Florida State's Jaheim Bell are headliners in this class for their expert receiving ability detached from the formation. Sinnott spent 58.5% of his career passing snaps at an inline spot, per Pro Football Focus, and put up numbers that have earned him a spot alongside them.
In his most productive season last year, Sinnott was one of four Power 5 tight ends with at least 50 targets and averaged at least 2.0 yards per route run. Bowers was one of them, as was Ohio State's Cade Stover.
Unlike Stover, Sinnott mattered a lot more for his team. His 676 yards and six touchdowns led the entire Wildcat passing offense.
Being the No. 1 receiver on a P5 offense while being just 21 years old is rare for a tight end, and we can quantify just how rare it is. Sinnott's production score when accounting for his market share production relative to his age, strength of competition, and strength of team lands him in the 97th percentile.
That's the land of high quality outcomes. Sinnott further validated that by running a 4.68 40-yard dash, and jumping a positional-best 40" on the vertical jump after measuring in at 6-4 and 250 pounds.
There's only so much a player can do to raise his draft stock. Sinnott wasn't listed among the elites of this tight end class due to subjective takeaways from his film. KSU's offense wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire with him leading the receiving corps, and he didn't look like that impressive of an athlete in that setting.
What was undeniable about Sinnott prior to the Combine was his blocking ability. Having so much experience as the Y tight end had Sinnott proficient in the other phase of the offense. He graded out at 76.1 in 2023, which was fourth among over 150 qualifying P5 tight ends.
Mix it all together: age, receiving ability, blocking ability, athleticism, and experience against quality competition. That's the recipe for a draft pick that will hit.
Sinnott may not be able to climb all the way into the first round with Bowers, but he'd be an extremely wise pick anywhere on Day 2.
The Bengals are looking for a long-term answer at the position, and Sinnott looks like the most promising answer outside of Bowers.
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