Cincinnati Bengals Hold Pre-Draft Meeting With Big 12 Star Quarterback

Draft visits continue to flow in for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The team is canvassing the 2026 class for all the best talents with eight picks to use next month. A new offensive name is fresh on the radar in Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton.

Sports Illustrated's Arye Pulli reported he met formally with the Bengals before his Pro Day last week.

"The New York Jets hosted a formal dinner with Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton on Wednesday night ahead of Thursday's pro day, a source tells OnSI, joining the Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, and Dallas Cowboys as teams to do so," Pulli wrote.

Morton Magic

Jan 1, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Behren Morton (2) passes the ball against the Oregon Ducks during the first half of the 2025 Orange Bowl and quarterfinal game of the College Football Playoff at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Morton just led the Red Raiders to a Big 12 title and the College Football Playoff after a long career in Lubbock, Texas. He could be a solid developmental option for the Bengals in the quarterback room.

It would be pretty surprising if they used a draft pick on him.

According to the Mock Draft Database's consensus big board, Morton is ranked 390th overall and outside the top 15 quarterbacks.

Cincinnati just brought back Joe Flacco and rekindled their connection with Josh Johnson earlier this month as well to help round out Dan Pitcher's quarterback room.

"When you're looking for a backup quarterback, which is what we're looking for, you want a great player. The same traits that make a starting quarterback a good player are going to be the traits that make a backup quarterback a good player. But the backup quarterback is a unique job, and an understanding of what that is is important," the Bengals offensive coordinator said about the backup role at the 2026 NFL Combine. "Because you have to have a guy that's very intrinsically motivated, somebody that can just go to work and do the work day in and day out because they know it's the right thing to do, and because they can get themselves to a place mentally where 'I might have to play at any given moment, but I also may not play all year.' And that's different than any other position in the building.

"Because everybody else usually has some way, shape, or form to affect the game. Obviously, a backup quarterback is going to play in practice, so they're going to affect the team that way. So there's a mentality that goes with that. There's a maturity that goes with that. And then you balance that against a guy who might have traits that you see being able to develop and grow, and maybe at some point become a starting quarterback in this league. Do you go in free agency to try to achieve that goal? Do you go in the draft? Well, you look at all of it. You just decide what's going to be best for the team based on what type of resources you want to allocate, and you just try to find somebody who fits."

Check out the full visit list from Pulli below:

Source: The #Jets had a formal dinner with Texas Tech QB Behren Morton the night before his pro day.

Morton also had formal meetings with a few other teams last week, I'm told.

🏈 Bengals
🏈 Chiefs
🏈 Cowboys

More: https://t.co/QHgDpkZtsh pic.twitter.com/lR7wLqiSqm
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) March 30, 2026

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