Five Recent Cincinnati Bengals Draft Picks Entering Make-or-Break Seasons in 2026

Five Bengals Draft Picks Entering Make-or-Break Seasons in 2026

Joe Burrow’s assertion that he’s surrounded by the best roster of his career and that the Cincinnati Bengals have everything they need to make a Super Bowl run hardly feels like bluster.

Returning all 11 starters on offense and making multiple big moves to upgrade the defense has stacked the Bengals with one of the best rosters in the league.

That’s good news for the pursuit of a title.

It’s bad news for the group of players fighting to hold on to playing time or even simply a roster a spot.

Here is a list of five recent Bengals draft picks who are entering pivotal years in 2026:

WR Andrei Iosivas

The 2023 sixth-round pick is close to a lock to make the roster. What makes this season pivotal for him is that it’s his contract year.

Iosivas has hand an up-and-down career thus far, making big plays and showing he can earn the trust of Joe Burrow while also struggling with drops midway through last year.

He’s never going to get the kind of target share that is going to allow him to cash in huge somewhere else in 2027, but the opportunities are going to be there with defenses focusing so much on Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Regardless of how Iosivas has fared in his first three seasons, 2026 is going to be the key data point teams look at when deciding whether to add him to their receiver rotation.

WR Charlie Jones

Selected 73 picks ahead of Iosivas in the fourth round in 2023, Jones has never materialized as the receiving threat the Bengals hoped they were getting when they selected him.

Jones has struggled with injuries and a lack of production with just eight catches for 69 yards in his three seasons.

He has provided a spark on special teams with both a kickoff return and punt return touchdown, but even his job as a returner is going to be a fight this summer with the addition of Isaiah Williams.

If you were mocking up a 53-man roster right now, Jones likely would be on the outside of it. But he’ll have all of training camp to change that perception, which certainly puts Jones in the pivotal category.

DT Kris Jenkins

The highest-drafted player on this list, Jenkins was a 2024 second-round pick with just 4.5 career sacks, three of which came as a rookie.

Rather than ascending into a bigger role, he’s simply trying to hold on to a roster spot after being shuffled to the back of the rotation with the additions of Jonathan Allen and Dexter Lawrence this offseason, along with 2025 first-round pick Shemar Stewart’s likely to move inside on third down.

The door is still open for Jenkins to earn not just a roster spot, but a rotational role. But he had a lot to prove in training camp and the preseason games.

DT McKinnley Jackson

The second defensive tackle the Bengals drafted in 2024, Jackson is a similar spot as Jenkins even though they have different roles.

Brought in to be a run-stopping specialist, Jackson has appeared in 22 games with one start in his two seasons and has logged 22 tackles and one sack.

If he can have a strong training camp and show some of the things the Bengals thought they were getting in making him a third-round pick, Jackson could make T.J. Slaton and his $9.2 million cap hit expendable.

It’s a big “if” at this point.

CB Josh Newton

Nickel corner is one of the thinnest positions on the roster, which means Newton will have a chance to carve out a role.

But the 2024 fifth-round pick saw his playing time plummet from 44 percent of the defensive snaps as a rookie to 30 percent last year.

All that is standing in front of him in the starting role is veteran journeyman Jalen Davis, who is 30.

If he doesn’t make the 53 – and the addition of Kyle Dugger makes it a bigger question – Newton could still stick on the practice squad given how few nickel corners the Bengals have.

But if most of his third season is spent on the practice squad or the bench, it will raise big questions about whether there will be a fourth season.

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