Injured Prospect Pens Letter to All 32 Teams Updating His Recovery - Could the Cincinnati Bengals Be Interested?

Visits for prospects in the NFL Draft ended last week, but one defensive player who could be on the radar of the Cincinnati Bengals found a way to communicate with all 32 teams.

Defensive tackle Caleb Banks sent a letter to every team with an update on his broken foot, per a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

In the letter, Banks said he “is on pace to be fully cleared for full football activities in early June.”

There already was some risk assessment involved with evaluating Banks, who missed nine games his senior season with a left foot injury.

Then the night before he worked out at the Combine in Indianapolis, he fractured the fourth metatarsal in that foot, requiring surgery.

Remarkably, Banks went ahead with his workout, including running the 40-yard dash because he was unaware of severity of the injury. But when the pain became too unbearable, he cut short the workout.

Ranked as one of the top defensive tackles in a thin class of them, Banks may not be as likely of a target for the Bengals after they traded away the No. 10 pick for Dexter Lawrence II over the weekend.

But the defensive line clearly is a position group where they value depth, so it will be interesting to see how far Banks slides.

The letter he sent out didn’t drastically alter his timeline, which originally had been set as mid-June. But it shows he’s recovery is going well and he could be able to get on the field during the latter part of OTAs and the mandatory minicamp for whichever team selects him.

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has a second/third grade on Banks in The Beast, a three technique who also played well against the run at Florida.

In Brugler’s final seven-round mock draft, he sent Banks to the Jets at No. 44.

Banks will be one of the more interesting prospects to follow on the first two days of the draft, as his talent and potential put him in the conversation for a first-round selection, but the injury issues complicate that.

It’s doubtful the Bengals would take him at 41 with more pressing needs at nickel corner, linebacker and offensive line depth, but if Cincinnati makes a trade to move back seven or eight spots and, perhaps, package T.J. Slaton Jr. to obtain an extra pick, doubling down on the interior of the defensive line wouldn’t be out of the question.

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