2017 NFL Draft Grades: Cincinnati Bengals Day 2 Picks

Round 3, Pick 73: Jordan Willis, DE – Kansas State

The move for Mixon may have been the spotlight decision, but it wasn’t the only thing happening for the Bengals. Before they even selected him, they traded down from their original second round slot with Minnesota. In the process, they picked up an extra fourth-round pick. Barring more trades, they are set to have nine more picks in this draft — including three in the fourth round.

Even better: they already addressed another major need in the third round too!

Remember the middling defensive line I lamented? Well, they added an athletic beast to the mix. Jordan Willis was a guy slated to possibly go early in the second round; instead, he fell about one whole round, and the Bengals picked him up in the third.

While Willis does have some functional problems attached — most basically amount to being far too predictable — his talents should far outweigh the supposed downsides. His field and play awareness are positive, his handwork for shedding blocks is high-quality, he finishes plays, and can attack from numerous areas in an alignment.

Let me revisit his athleticism again too. Looking at Sparq scores (basically: a system of metrics originally created by Nike which bring together a bunch of different measurables to calculate the athletic potential of players into one easy-to-digest numerical value), Willis comes out as one of the best-graded players at his position-type in this entire draft. In fact, the only other EDGE (i.e.: pass rusher; a 4-3 DE or 3-4 OLB whose primary responsibility is pressuring the quarterback) player who rated higher than him was this year’s No. 1 overall selection, Myles Garrett.

Takkarist McKinley, Charles Harris, T.J. Watt, Haason Reddick, Derrick Barnett, and all those other big-name pass rushing aficionados valued higher that Willis apparently was? According to Sparq, Willis has a higher athletic ceiling than every one of them.

It obviously would be foolhardy to only go by the determinations of one metric (especially one which doesn’t appear to factor in the actual on-field production and ability of players), but it gives a pretty sizable snapshot of what this player could become. Take into account too that Willis was pretty impressive on the field as well, and this looks like a potential steal for the Bengals.

Before Willis was added, the defensive line for the Bengals had a couple excellent contributors (Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap) set to lead a stable of washed-up and unproven players. With him, they no longer have to rely so heavily on Michael Johnson (someone who hasn’t had a good season in three years), and they could now find themselves three-quarters of the way to a dominating frontline on defense again.

The team still has a litany of needs to address on Day 3 (offensive line for sure, and improved depth at plenty of other positions would be welcomed), but their first three selections are a gigantic step in the right direction.