Thanks for checking out my second part on the Cincinnati Bengals RAS — this time we are tackling the defense. If you haven’t read it yet you should also read about the offense. The Bengals historical picks can also be viewed if you like and want go further back. Again we are going back to 2017. So let’s jump into it:
Cincinnati Bengals Defense RAS Breakdown
Defensive line:
The Bengals have drafted five defensive linemen since 2017. Ryan Glasgow, Andrew Brown, Renell Wren, Tyler Shelvin, and Zachary Carter. Interestingly enough, there is not much of a height difference between them. They are all between 6’2″ and 6’4″. There is, though, a large difference in weight with the lightest being 282 and the heaviest being 350. It does seem they like their defensive line with long arms. All have 33 1/2″ arms or longer.
Now the average RAS score comes out to a 6.36, which isn’t all that special in of itself. But, if you remove Tyler Shelvin and his really bad .86 RAS, it jumps to a 7.74. Three of the players have RAS scores over 8. So you can say this is one position they find athleticism important.
Now looking at specific testing, four of the five did score at least ok in explosion drills. 40 speed seems to be of some importance. Four of the five ran a 5.13 or faster. Agility drills seem somewhat similar to explosion testing, in that four of the five tested at least a little above average. Bench does not seem to be of importance as they range from 19 reps to 31.
Edge:
Now here is a position the Cincinnati Bengals have invested a lot of draft capital in. They have drafted eight since 2017: Jordan Willis, Carl Lawson, Same Hubbard, Khalid Kareem, Joseph Ossai, Cameron Sample, Wyatt Hubert, and Jeffrey Gunter. We only have testing on seven of the eight.
They average out to a real solid 8.29 RAS score, and none scored lower than a 5.98. There was a big variance in height, with the shortest being 6’1 5/8″ and the tallest being 6’5 3/8″. Weight wise they are between 255 and 270, with six being 258 or heavier. So you can say they are middle of the road when it comes to weight. They like their guys 260ish to 270. Arm length does not seem to be of importance. They vary from 31″ to 34 3/8″.
They all scored at least good testing on explosion drills. Five of the seven had vertical jumps of 35″ or more. The broad jump does not seem as important, with only three jumping 10′ or more.
As for speed testing, it seems they rely more on 20-yard dash than 40 or even 10. Five of the seven posted elite 2- yard dash scores, with all posting a 2.7 or faster. Agility testing also seems to be somewhat important. One of the seven did not do agility testing. Four of the six posted very good or elite agility scores, with even Gunter posting solid agility scores.
Linebackers:
Linebacker is also a position the Bengals have invested a lot of draft capital in. Duke Tobin has drafted seven linebackers since 2017. They are Jordan Evans, Malik Jefferson, Germaine Pratt, Deshaun Davis, Logan Wilson, Akeem Davis-Gaither, and Markus Bailey. We don’t have testing on the last two.
The five average RAS score is a healthy 7.85. Davis brings that score down a bit with his 2.65. There is some variance in height, with the shortest at 5’11” (Davis) and tallest at a hair under 6’3″ (Evans). Weight wise, though, there is not a lot of variance. Davis-Gaither is the lightest at 224, but after him the rest are between 232-241. Arm length they are all kind of similar, with six of them between 31″-32″.
This seems to be another position where explosion testing is somewhat important. Four of the five Bengals defenders that we have RAS testing on all had sold-to-elite explosion scores. Speed, though, seems to be super important to the Bengals. Four of the five ran a 4.63 or faster 40-yard dash. Agility also seems like a front office wide focus. Again here, four of the five have at least good scores in agility testing, with the short shuttle seemingly more important than 3-cone.
Cornerbacks:
I separated out corners and safeties because some teams do scout them athletically different and some don’t (Packers). So just trying to be consistent across the board.
The Bengals have drafted four corners in the last six drafts. Davontae Harris, Darius Phillips, Jordan Brown, and Cam Taylor-Britt. This is a smaller number than most teams. Their average score is a 6.96, with three of them having a score of 7.77 or higher.
With height there isn’t a huge difference. Between 5’10 – 6’0. Same thing with weight; 193-205. So it does seem they like their corners to be sturdy. The Bengals also like their corners to have solid arm length, with three of the four having at least 31 1/8″ arms.
Explosion testing for corners does not look to be of any importance to them. They vary from bad to elite. The lowest vert was 31″ and the highest was 39.5″. 40 speed, though, does seem to be of some importance to them. The slowest 40 was a 4.54, while the rest were 4.51 or faster. Agility testing, again like other positions, they want their guys to be at least okay. Three of the four ran a 4.2 or faster short shuttle. Same with 3-cone, with the slowest being a 6.96.
Safeties:
For the final position in our look at the Cincinnati Bengals RAS breakdown on defense, we come to the safeties. Since 2017 the Bengals have drafted four safeties, with two just coming this past draft. They were Brandon Wilson, Jessie Bates, Daxton Hill, and Tycen Anderson.
All four tested very athletic. The average score for them was 8.59, with the lowest a 7.18. Height wise they were between 5’10” – 6’2″. As for weight, they were between 191-209. So a decent range, but if you remove Anderson they are all cornerback sizes: 5’10-6’1 , 191-200. Arm length doesn’t seem to be of any importance.
With safeties, the broad jump seems to be more important than the vertical. Three of the four had broad jumps of at least 10’1″, but the lowest vert was 33.5″ with the highest being 41″. Like corners, speed seems to be of big importance with the slowest being 4.5, with the other three being 4.4 or faster. Three of the four also scored good-or-better agility scores, with the 3-cone testing seemingly being more important than the short shuttle. Three of the four ran 3-cones of 6.78 or faster.
With the defense done, that concludes our look at the Cincinnati Bengals RAS breakdown. Which team will be next? Stay tuned to find out!