The Cincinnati Bengals added another long-term piece to the defense in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft, selecting Michigan cornerback DJ Turner.
Turner, sometimes mocked as a first-round pick, is an excellent selection for a Bengals team that needs to get younger and cheaper on the defensive side of the ball as more money shifts to the offense.
It’s impossible to miss the positives with Turner, former teammate of first-round pick Dax Hill last year. He’s 5’11” and 178 pounds with stunning athletic testing numbers, including that 4.26 40-yard dash.
For all the talk about how fast the re-tooled Bengals secondary was in free agency, Turner arrives as the fastest.
There’s this notable writeup from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein:
Explosive athlete combining fluidity, speed and superior technique to excel at his craft. Turner is scheme-diverse with the ability to line up inside or outside in coverage. He’s graceful with his mirror and match movements from press or off-man coverage, but he is plenty feisty when challenging throws or hitting receivers after the catch. Despite his competitiveness, big receivers can bounce him around and beat him on 50/50 balls. Turner has the tools and talent to become an early starter as a nickel corner capable of matching up with both shifty and speedy opponents.
In a lot of ways, Turner is a complete player. That doesn’t mean he’ll be starting right away, but the team doesn’t need him to with Chidobe Awuzie, Cam Taylor-Britt and Mike Hilton entrenched as the starting trio for at least one more year.
But the Bengals need to think about life after Awuzie with so many key free agents coming up next offseason. On paper, Turner will be the long-term starter on the boundary opposite Taylor-Britt, which could be a fantastic one-two punch.
In the short term, Turner is fantastic rotational depth and another super-athletic chess piece for Lou Anarumo to deploy.
Like drafting Myles Murphy for similar reasons in the first round, the Bengals locked down a prospect at a premium position with massive upside as a starter here. It’s also clear they have a blueprint — rush the passer well and stack the secondary with super-fast guys to combat the quarterback-happy AFC. Turner, like Murphy, is another “A” grade pick.
