The general consensus seems to be that the Cincinnati Bengals should address the defense early and often during the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft. However, a recent mock draft from Draft Wire goes in a completely different direction and sees the Bengals add to the offense in not only the first round, but in the second also.
Round 1: Emeka Egbuka, Wide receive, Ohio State
The first round of NFL Wire's mock sees Cincinnati selecting Ohio state wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, who is fresh off of helping to lead the Buckeyes to the National Championship. He's one of the more highly-rated receivers in the draft class, and would be a nice addition, but his selection seems extremely unlikely.
No rationale is provided for the picks, but one would think that this mock assumes that Tee Higgins will sign elsewhere in free agency, and thus the Bengals would be looking to replace him. If Higgins remains in Cincinnati, there's almost no chance the Bengals would take a wide receiver in the first round. If Higgins leaves, it could be a different story. But, even if Higgins does sign elsewhere, the Bengals would probably still have bigger needs to address with their top overall pick.
Round 2: Dylan Sampson, Running back, Tennessee
In the second round of the mock draft, the Bengals select Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson. This is another pick that seems unlikely given the emergence of Chase Brown in 2024. Brown clearly established himself as Cincinnati's back of the future, and proved that he can handle a large workload. He ran for 990 yards and seven touchdowns on 229 carries and added 360 yards and four touchdowns on 54 receptions.
You don't usually draft a running back in the first round unless you need a star-level starting back. The Bengals already have one.
The backup spot behind Brown could be a bit of a question mark, depending on what happens with Zack Moss, and the team could want to add some depth there. But that would likely happen in free agency, or later in the draft. Not in the first couple of rounds.
