The Cincinnati Bengals didn't have a seventh-round draft pick at their disposal this year, which gave them a full round of the 2025 NFL Draft to prepare for college free agency.
They put that preparation to good use.
Headlining Cincinnati's 2025 undrafted free agency class are two players who had real chances of hearing their names called sometime Saturday afternoon. It was the Bengals who called them before the draft concluded to confirm their intentions of signing them once all 257 picks were submitted.
And if it weren't for past injuries, they probably wouldn't have made it to undrafted free agency.
Bengals signing multiple UDFAs who could've easily been drafted
Two of the very first reported UDFA signings for Cincinnati were Notre Dame defensive tackle Howard Cross III and Ohio State center Seth McLaughlin.
Cross was the 258th ranked player in this year's class according to a consensus of big boards and was regarded as a potential late-round pick.
The reason why the Bengals landed Cross obviously starts with his alma mater. Defensive coordinator Al Golden coached Cross for the last three years when he was the DC in South Bend. When he had his pick of where to sign after the draft, he landed on the team that employs his former coach and only four other defensive tackles at the time of his agreeing to sign. Starters B.J. Hill and T.J. Slaton are backed up by last year's draft picks Kris Jenkins Jr. and McKinnley Jackson.
Cross will have a good chance of making the team due to the thin position group he's joining, and McLaughlin can't be counted out, either. The former Buckeye and Alabama starter was rated as the best player to not be drafted according to ESPN.
McLaughlin joins Ted Karras and Matt Lee as the three centers on the roster, but he may not have as good of a chance as Cross to make this year's team.
Injuries impacted Cross and McLaughlin going undrafted
Both players never saw their names pop up on the draft day ticker because of reasons out of their control. Cross was regarded as a potential mid-round pick last offseason. He was on track to wrapping up his career on a high note before suffering high ankle sprain which caused him to miss three games late in the year. His production tailed off after he returned to play the final four games of the season, which was Notre Dame's entire run in the College Football Playoff.
Had Cross not gotten hurt, he would've likely played better in the most important games of his career. That he was already a sixth-year player didn't help his chances of being drafted early.
McLaughlin's bad luck was far worse. Ranked 130th on A to Z Sports' Top 200 Big Board, he won the Rimington Award last year, given to the nation's top center. He earned the accolade despite missing the final six games of the year with a ruptured Achilles he suffered during a practice in late November.
McLaughlin's recovery may keep him sidelined for most of his first offseason in Cincinnati, and it undoubtedly prevented him from being drafted. The Bengals have that to thank for landing a player who should've been picked otherwise.
Cross and McLaughlin, when healthy, should make the Bengals a better team. That's all a UDFA has to do to be impactful. Cincinnati may've found some diamonds that simply didn't belong in the rough.
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