Tahj Brooks gets emotional draft call from Bengals’ Zac Taylor

Brooks is ready to put in some work in the Queen City.

With their last pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Tahj Brooks from Texas Tech.

Up until that moment, Cincinnati had only taken players on the offensive or defensive line or a linebacker. Brooks is expected to come in and complement the Bengals’ lead back, Chase Brown.

As for Brooks, he was clearly pumped up to hear from Zac Taylor. Having fallen to the sixth round, Brooks seems ready to make sure all the teams that passed on him made a mistake, and he seems excited to be coming to Cincinnati.

That said, here’s the call from Taylor to Brooks.

The 5-foot-10 Brooks runs mean, which is likely one reason the Bengals wanted him on their roster.

At 220 pounds, he has the size to run through opponents as well. He played five seasons at Texas Tech, putting up over 1,500 rushing yards in each of the last two and hauling in a career-best 199 receiving yards in his final year as well.

Cincinnati is getting an experienced back in its backfield to help aid Brown, and one thing Brooks wants to make clear as well is that he’s good in pass protection. That might help him get some third-down snaps to spell Brown.

That said, Brooks is expected to have some type of impact as soon as he walks into the facility, so hopefully, he can put on a show early to become that No. 2 back for the Bengals.