The Bengals only had six draft picks a year ago, but they are getting their money’s worth out of them.
With Trey Hendrickson out, this would be the right time for first round pick Shemar Stewart to step up and have a few flashes of brilliance, but he is still not there. Stewart took a career-high 49 snaps in this one and had only one hit on the quarterback. Stewart is an athletic freak, but they need to give him two pass-rush moves to develop and perfect so he can make a larger impact.
The run defense was atrocious this weekend, and Stewart was not helping matters, but the linebackers were a bigger problem.
Fourth round pick Barrett Carter played every snap at mike linebacker and led the team with 10 tackles. Demetrius Knight played 62 snaps and added six tackles. Both Carter and Knight got their hands on a pass and knocked it down. The linebackers are not getting downhill and making stops quickly and consistently, which has caused the defense to get gashed on several occasions.
Carter and Knight have flashed, but they lack consistency. Their developmental curve has been turbulent, and the defensive staff needs to figure out how to best put them in a position to succeed.
Offensively, the team did a good job of protecting Joe Flacco and ran the ball pretty well with two rookie guards tackling every snap. Third-round selection Dylan Fairchild and fifth-round pick Jalen Rivers appear to be getting more comfortable and consistent each week. In fact, there was a moment in this game when you could see the rookie Rivers correcting a mistake by Amarius Mims immediately after the play.
These two have not been perfect, but they are very promising.
Sixth-round pick Tahj Brooks has yet to make any kind of impact on offense. This week, he played three plays on offense and had one run for 1 yard. Brooks did play 14 special teams snaps and return two kickoffs for 55 yards.
The Bengals didn’t play Chase Brown much in his rookie season either, but he panned out. Brooks may be a year out from having any kind of impact on the offense.
See More:
