Cincinnati Bengals Roll All Defense In Three-Round 2026 Mock Draft

CINCINNATI — The Bengals rolled defense early in A to Z Sports' latest three-round mock draft, entering the weekend. Cincinnati picked Miami's Rueben Bain as one of the popular options for the team in the first round.

He has been right outside the top-three most popular selections for Cincinnati in mock drafts over the past week as the third-best overall player on the consensus big board from Mock Draft Database.

"We are all well aware that the Bengals need players at every defensive position," Joe DeLeone wrote. "Taking the best player available should be their approach throughout this draft, and Rueben Bain falling into their lap couldn’t be more perfect. Al Golden can get creative with unleashing Bain onto unsuspecting offenses."

Cincinnati then went with Iowa State defensive tackle Domonique Orange with the 41st pick. He is ranked 68th on the consensus big board from MDD and sixth among defensive tackles.

Arizona safety Genesis Smith was slotted to the Bengals with the 72nd pick in the draft. He is the 120th-ranked player on the consensus big board and the ninth-best safety.

The Bengals figure to go heavy on defense in free agency and the draft, with all of the key pieces on offense basicallylocked in for the 2026 season. Signing guard Dalton Risner to a potential new contract is the only big question on that side of the ball.

Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin is ready to get some talent in the building and sign deals like they mostly just did for their own stars last offseason.

"Those negotiations aren’t easy," Tobin said about the big extensions for Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. "We were satisfied that we were maintaining clear, top-of-the-league players. We have clear, elite, world-class, best-in-the-world players on this football team. That’s one of the reasons we have high expectations. We didn’t want to lose that. We wanted continuity to build off of. Did we build off of it enough? Was the defense up to it enough? Obviously, it wasn’t. That falls on me. We did at the time what we thought would produce for us."

The NFL Draft starts on April 23.

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