Cincinnati Bengals 7-round 2021 NFL mock draft: Building around Joe Burrow

The Cincinnati Bengals have their franchise quarterback in Joe Burrow; now their task is building around him, which is the goal of this 2021 NFL mock draft.

In last year’s NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals owned the first overall pick. Naturally, they filled the need at quarterback with Joe Burrow, the LSU quarterback fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy and leading the Tigers to a National Championship. But while the quarterback was impressive when he was on the field, his rookie year was cut short due to a torn ACL.

Burrow has vowed from the day he was injured that he’d be ready for the start of the 2021 season and all signs point to that being the case. However, that increases the pressure on the Bengals. While they have their quarterback, the pieces protecting him and around him are not where they need to be for Cincinnati to win a lot of games.

Armed with the No. 5 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the franchise will have the opportunity to start putting some more of those pieces into place, though. So let’s take a look at how they can help Joe Burrow and build as we help reshape the Bengals with a 7-round 2021 NFL mock draft.

Note: This mock was compiled using The Draft Network mock draft machine.

Bengals 7-round 2021 NFL mock draft

During the magical run for LSU, the offense was loaded around Burrow. There’s a reason that the quarterback threw for 60 touchdowns en route to the title. But while his favorite overall target was Justin Jefferson — now with the Vikings — his biggest scoring threat in the passing attack was Ja’Marr Chase.

Chase was a dominant force for the Tigers, catching an unreal 20 touchdowns and racking up 1,780 yards. With Jefferson leaving, he was primed for a huge season this year but, instead, the wide receiver opted-out before the season began.

Even still, Chase comes into the 2021 NFL Draft as the best wide receiver in the class. He’s not an athletic marvel by any stretch but he’s plenty capable in that department while shining as a route-runner and in his ability to make any grab look routine.

Admittedly, the Bengals would love to grab Penei Sewell with this pick to help the offensive line. However, he was off the board in this simulation, so that left us with Chase. However, pairing Burrow with his favorite weapon and making a receiving corps of Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd is enticing.