NFL Combine proves Bengals should be interested in a top tight end that's not Brock Bowers

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.