The Cincinnati Bengals risk it all in a new mock draft, going away from arguably better prospects on the board for a high-upside gamble at tight end.
The mock, courtesy of the final effort from Pro Football Talk’s Peter King this mock draft season, has the Bengals skipping on a prospect like Clemson defensive end Myles Murphy to take Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave:
Odd in such a great class for tight ends that a guy with 1.4 catches per game in his college career, with just 633 yards receiving and two receiving touchdowns in four seasons, would be a first-round candidate. Musgrave excelled at the Senior Bowl and has been a popular pre-draft riser.
It’s a good example of how unpredictable the draft really is — our new seven-round mock draft, trade-up edition, featured the Bengals jumping up the order to select Branch.
In King’s mock, Musgrave is only the third tight end off the board, which is what makes it such a gamble. This is generally agreed upon as the best tight end draft class in modern times, so selecting a prospect there with limited production all in the hopes of upside is a huge risk.
That’s not to say this exact scenario won’t happen because…who knows? But it’s hard to imagine the Bengals see very productive pass-rushers falling in the first round and instead opt to take one of the deeper positions in the draft.
