As the Cincinnati Bengals embark on a crucial offseason for this team’s Super Bowl hopes, one popular NFL Draft target amongst the fanbase has been Ohio State safety Caleb Downs.
In a draft class that’s not exactly loaded with elite talent, Downs looks like one of the surest things this class has to offer. And given how weak the safety position has been for Cincinnati, it seems like this would be about as easy a selection to make if Downs is still on the board when the Bengals go on the clock at pick No. 10.
What if the Bengals actually passed on Downs, an instant-impact player, for yet another first-round project who may not play heavy snaps right away?
That’s exactly what happened in Daniel Jeremiah’s first mock draft at NFL.com, where he has the Bengals passing on Downs in favor of Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy, saying, “He’s squarely in the mix to be the top CB in the draft.”
That may be true, but taking McCoy looks like one of the worst-case scenarios at pick No. 10 after he missed the entire 2025 season due to a torn ACL. The Bengals haven’t exactly had great luck with prospects who had a major injury in college, and McCoy will be two years removed from his last game played when he makes his NFL debut this fall, so it wouldn’t be fair to assume he makes a major impact in Year 1.
Not that the Bengals aren’t used to getting little, if any, production out of their first-round picks right away.
And taking him over Downs, who goes No. 11 to the Miami Dolphins in this mock, would be absolutely brutal.
Saying this, McCoy is the type of prospect that Duke Tobin and the Bengals love to gamble on.
First, McCoy is a first-round-caliber cornerback prospect, and the Bengals have spent plenty of first-round picks at corner under Tobin’s watch.
McCoy is also the kind of risky prospect the Bengals are no strangers to taking gambles on. After all, McCoy played at an elite level in 2024, so there’s reason to think a healthy 2025 season would have resulted in him being a lock for the top 10 in this year’s draft, and he may have even cracked the top five.
However, cornerback is not an immediate need for the Bengals, who have a solid starting duo in DJ Turner and Dax Hill. Hill shined last season when he played boundary cornerback but struggled in the slot, and Turner played at a Pro Bowl level throughout the year. McCoy would likely not play heavy snaps in 2026 as long as Turner and Hill are healthy. Then the Bengals would let one of them walk in the 2027 offseason before letting McCoy become a starter.
In other words, the Bengals would be trading either Hill or Turner for McCoy if the latter is the selection. So even if McCoy is an upgrade over one of them, it’s unlikely to upgrade this defense as much as someone like Downs would.
The only thing this would really accomplish is keep Mike Brown from having to pony up a big contract for both Turner and Hill. Maybe that’s truly why the Bengals drafting McCoy is more likely than it should be.
What are your thoughts on the Bengals potentially using the 10th overall pick on Jermod McCoy?
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