There has been significant speculation over recent weeks regarding which player the Cincinnati Bengals are going to select in the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft. While maximizing talent is certainly a factor as well, an argument can be made that first-round pick selection is one of the most important contributors to becoming a successful franchise. After all, look at what selecting quarterback Joe Burrow in 2020 did to this franchise four years later.
Cincinnati Bengals Expected to Snag Monster Offensive Tackle
Over the past several days, I have seen multiple outlets including big names such as NFL Insider Mel Kiper Jr. predict that Cincinnati will draft Byron Murphy II with the 18th overall pick. Murphy appears to be a solid 3-technique defensive tackle down the road but that decision combined with the offseason addition of Sheldon Rankins would oversaturate Cincinnati with quick, undersized tackles. Whether it would be Murphy, Rankins, or two-year starter B.J. Hill, someone on that line wouldn’t be seeing the field enough to justify their investment.
If Cincinnati wants to maximize their draft class, they’re going to take an offensive tackle and there aren’t any better in this draft class than Alabama right tackle J.C. Latham. Even though he’s projected by ESPN as the second-best option to Notre Dame giant Joe Alt, Latham has played against elite competition in the SEC for four years and his athleticism and skillset have been refined by that challenge.
At 6’6″ and 342 pounds, Latham appears to be the prototypical mauler for a run-dominant offensive scheme. Even with that size, Latham’s ability to protect the passer has been lauded as the best in the collegiate game last season with excellent technique and hand placement. The only thing that comes off as a red flag on his resume is that he has a tendency to over-set to elite speed on the edge which gives up the inside lane to pass rushers. The big concern there is that he doesn’t have the confidence in his athleticism to set normally against them but that should vanish with maturity and experience.
A lot of fans were appeased when the organization brought in Trent Brown last month to presumably take over the starting role at right tackle. If you read between the lines on his contract, his salary of four million dollars for one season won’t inspire his notoriously low work ethic. That means Brown may come into Cincinnati out of shape and if that’s the case, the team will certainly need a backup plan. On top of that, Latham would likely start over Brown to start the season anyway.
Latham has skyrocketed up the draft boards recently and as of this moment, ESPN ranks him as the eleventh-best overall prospect. The first fifteen picks are always going to be a toss-up since there will likely be at least five quarterbacks taken by desperate teams. If Cincinnati can land Latham, they can finally lock in an offensive tackle for the long haul rather than the struggling free agency game that they have played for the last ten years.
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