{"id":280839,"date":"2026-04-27T15:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=280839"},"modified":"2026-04-28T08:45:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:45:52","slug":"cincinnati-bengals-2026-draft-grades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/04\/27\/cincinnati-bengals-2026-draft-grades\/","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati Bengals 2026 Draft Grades"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> went into the weekend needing help boosting their defense after it was exposed last season. Now that the dust has settled from the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, it seems the Orange and Black understood the assignment with their seven picks. So, without further ado, let’s award some grades for the Bengals’ 2026 draft class.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati Bengals 2026 Draft Grades<\/h2>\n

Second Round (41st Overall): Cashius Howell, EDGE<\/h3>\n

The Bengals go back to the Texas A&M<\/a> pass rusher mill for the second year in a row with the selection of Cashius Howell, who will add to the rotation with Myles Murphy, Boye Mafe, Shemar Stewart, and Cedric Johnson. Howell has a fantastic bend and plays violently, which Cincy’s defense badly needs more of.<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Third Round (72nd Overall): Tacario Davis, CB<\/h3>\n

Tacario Davis was the biggest reach of the draft in some analysts’ eyes, but defensive backs coach Charles Burks was a huge fan and his favorite corner in the draft. Davis has elite size and length for a DB at almost 6’4″ and a wingspan of 33 3\/8″. Look for the former Washington Husky to get early and often playing time.<\/p>\n

Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fourth Round (128th Overall): Connor Lew, C<\/h3>\n

One of the best overall picks and one with great value was Connor Lew, the Center from Auburn. Lew is extremely young at only 20 years of age and is coming off an ACL injury, which certainly hurt his draft stock. The Bengals were thrilled to take him at 128th overall, as he looks to be the heir apparent to incumbent and veteran Ted Karras.<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fourth Round (140th Overall): Colbie Young, WR<\/h3>\n

The Bengals once again took a chance on a highly-touted wide receiver this year in the form of Colbie Young out of the University of Georgia. Young has a very good size and a body type very similar to Tee Higgins. Young’s downfall was some character concerns similar to those of 2024 third-round pick Jermaine Burton. Head coach Zac Taylor was adamant that the team did its due diligence and that several personnel members fully vetted Young, which led him to feel very comfortable taking him in the fourth round.<\/p>\n

Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sixth Round (189th Overall): Brian Parker II, OT<\/h3>\n

Brian Parker II, from Duke, was another sneaky good pick all the way at 189th overall. Parker has positional versatility and is a tackle-to-center prospect with a powerful and compact frame. Parker should be in the mix as a backup along the offensive line, and it will be interesting to see where the Bengals line him up in training camp and the preseason.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seventh Round (221st Overall): Jack Endries, TE<\/h3>\n

The potential for Jack Endries out of Texas is off the charts, and this is another pick with superb value all the way in the seventh round. Endries has prototypical size for a TE at 6’4 5\/8″ and 245 pounds. He has good hands and is a consistent winner on contested catches that Joe Burrow<\/a> will love.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seventh Round (226th Overall): Landon Robinson, DL<\/h3>\n

The Bengals had ties to Landon Robinson<\/a> from the Naval Academy for several months leading up to the draft. Although he’s undersized at 5’11” and 293 pounds, he’s strong at the point of attack, and he uses his smaller frame to his advantage by getting low to disrupt opposing offensive linemen.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

*Stats and research provided courtesy of\u00a0 NFL.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bengals went into the weekend especially in need of defensive help. Let’s award grades for their 2026 class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3872,"featured_media":280857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,7],"tags":[33533,7725],"class_list":["post-280839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-bengals","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-cincinnati-bengals-news"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3872"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280839"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281116,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280839\/revisions\/281116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}