It’s still early, but the official 2024 NFL draft order through four weeks says some interesting things about the Cincinnati Bengals.
At 1-3, those Bengals currently sit in the top 10 of the order amongst a litany of other struggling teams, which says a lot about how the season has gone so far.
Buy Bengals TicketsWhat might be more interesting is how projection models view their chances to stay in that range.
ESPN FPI gives the Bengals some very interesting percentages to stay in the top 10, never mind the top five:
FPI chance to earn top-five pick: 14%
FPI chance to earn top-10 pick: 41.4%
Before the season, many were probably justified in thinking the odds the Bengals would land a top-10 pick were sub-10 percent.
Now, not so much. With Joe Burrow’s injury and the offensive play-calling as a whole not showing much in the way of progress over the first month, it’s only understandable how the perception and projections shifted.
There’s still time to make this a funny bit of percentages and projections in hindsight, but it will take a dramatic, fast turnaround as Burrow gets ready to start in Week 5.