Cincinnati Bengals Select Offensive Tackle in Major Preseason Mock Draft

  The college football and NFL seasons are about to begin, prompting another 2026 mock draft from ESPN's Field Yates before all the action gets rolling.

ESPN had Cincinnati drafting 24th overall based on preseason ESPN Football Power Index simulations. He slotted the Bengals with Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor at that spot.

"Although the Bengals have Orlando Brown Jr. under contract through 2026, any investment that protects Joe Burrow is worthwhile,"  Yates wrote. "After all, Cincinnati had the league's worst pass block win rate (50.1%) last season. Proctor is massive at 6-foot-7 and 366 pounds, and he spent the past two seasons holding down the left side of the Alabama offensive line. Proctor's power, length, and physicality are all impossible to miss on tape, but his overall athletic ability could determine how high he goes in the draft. Can he consistently handle explosive edge rushers? Does he have the reactive skills to mirror players who are trying to bend the edge around him? If he can show that at a high level this season, Proctor will be a first-round lock -- and perhaps go much higher than this."

Brown could definitely earn an extension after this offseason, but he played worse in 2024 than he did in 2023 and has to prove he's still among the top left tackles in the NFL (58.2 Pro Football Focus grade last season, 66.1 in 2023, both career lows).

Drafting arguably the second-most important position in the sport is rarely a bad call, especially if Proctor checks all the film boxes this fall.