Zac Taylor Calls Connor Lew to Make Him Bengals First Offensive Pick of 2026 NFL Draft

The Bengals went with an offensive player for the first time in the 2026 NFL Draft on Saturday. They selected Auburn center Connor Lew at Pick 128 to fill a big position of need behind starting center Ted Karras.

The strong blocker was a 2025 preseason All-SEC pick and two-year captain with the Tigers. Lew unfortunately tore his ACL in week eight against Missouri but played a ton in college. He started 29 games in his career with 1,603 snaps. The Georgia native allowed three sacks in college and was called for only eight penalties.

Lew confirmed to the media on his post-pick phone call that he will be ready for training camp and has had no setbacks in his ACL recovery.

Cincinnati moved back in the fourth and still got a solid big board value while adding the last pick in the fourth round to their coffers. According to Arif Hasan's consensus big board, Lew is ranked 76th overall and is considered the top center in the draft.

Dealing To Get Their Center

July 15, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Auburn’s Connor Lew is interviewed during SEC Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Always. We’re always taking calls and listening to what teams want to do," Bengals assistant general manager Trey Brown said last night after the Tacario Davis third-round pick. "Ultimately, we felt at this time that this was the most important position to address, and the right guy to address there with Tacario. So, there was no reason for us to move out when we had targeted Tacario through the process, and he was right there. We felt great about pulling the pick right there.”

The Bengals were clearly open to a trade.

“We had a ton of conversations all day today with different teams throughout the league, in terms of moving both directions—moving up and moving back," Assistant GM Mike Potts said last night. "We got several calls while we were on the clock about moving back. It just wasn’t significant enough compensation for us to move off that pick and not take a guy we have a great vision for, (and who) the coach has a great vision for. We were completely aligned from a personnel and coaching staff standpoint."

The Day 3 trade back worked out great, and Lew got to have his life-changing phone call with Zac Taylor. Check out the call below:

"I'd love to, Coach." pic.twitter.com/PENFWDNngR
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) April 25, 2026

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