Bengals Pick One of the 'Biggest Steals' and One of the 'Biggest Reaches' in the 2021 NFL Draft

Do you agree with these observations?

Author:
James Rapien
Publish date:
May 4, 2021 9:17 PM EDT

CINCINNATI — The Bengals added 10 players to their roster in the 2021 NFL Draft. Cincinnati selected seven offensive (3) and defensive linemen (4), one wide receiver, one running back and a kicker.

They picked Texas edge rusher Joseph Ossai in the third-round (69th overall). That selection was one of the drafts "biggest steals" according to The Athletic. Ossai was 42nd on their consensus board.

On the flip side, the Bengals spent their fifth-round pick (149th overall) on Florida kicker Evan McPherson. The former Gators star was 316th on The Athletic's consensus board.

Part of the "reach" was simply drafting a kicker in the fifth round. McPherson was the clear cut No. 1 kicker on the Bengals' board and there wasn't a close second.

^{“It depends on what my position evaluations are of that guy, and how many guys do I think are draftable, and how many guys do I think can improve our situation," special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said after the Bengals drafted McPherson. "If I believe a guy was a sixth-round talent and all 32 teams in the league believe he is a sixth-round talent, that means for us to have accessibility, you have to take him a round higher than that. There are some teams that I’ve identified that have a need at kicker, some of which had multiple picks in this round. We felt like we had to stay out in front of those that way, if this is the route we wanted to go to try and bring Evan on.”}

Ossai was a steal and McPherson will offer good value if he becomes one of the NFL's elite kickers. If he doesn't then it'll be fair to question the Bengals' decision to take a kicker with the 149th overall pick.

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