Is the glass half-full, or half-empty?
Cincinnati Bengals fans searching for a silver lining in the team's underwhelming first half of the 2024 NFL season may have just found one. According to ESPN's Ben Baby, the Bengals now have a better chance of landing a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft than of making the playoffs this season.
Bengals now have less than a 30% chance of making the playoffs
After their Week 8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Bengals have just a 27.6 percent chance of qualifying for postseason play, per Baby. Meanwhile, they have a 40.1 percent chance of landing a top-10 pick in next year's draft.
This fact is likely to inspire mixed emotions from Bengals fans. On one hand, it's extremely disappointing that the team is likely to miss the playoffs for a second straight season despite the stellar play of quarterback Joe Burrow. On the other hand, there are few things more valuable than a top-10 pick in the NFL, and the Bengals certainly have several areas of need.
They could use a high pick to add an edge rusher, or a cornerback, or to further bolster the offensive line. There's no shortage of directions that they can go in with a top-10 pick.
The last time the Bengals had a top 10 pick in the draft was in 2021, and they used it to secure star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase. The year before that, they used the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft to bring Burrow to Cincinnati. Both of those were excellent picks, so at least the front office has a solid track record of using high picks well if they get another one next year.
But, while it's never too early to start thinking about the draft, the Bengals still have a lot of football left to play in the current campaign, and since they're not eliminated from playoff contention at this point, their full focus should be on figuring out how to defy the odds and make a playoff push. For fans though, it might be time to turn an eye to the mock drafts.
