Over the weekend, the 2025 NFL Draft took place in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It’s time for teams to replenish their talent and build for the future.
Every year, ESPN’s Mel Kiper gives grades after the draft is over. Kiper gave Cincinnati Bengal a “C” and called it the 2025 draft “Ho-Hum.” He wasn’t a fan of what the Bengals did with their draft capital this year. They drafted one defender, two offensive linemen, one running back and two linebackers.
Why wasn’t Mel Kipper a fan of the Bengals’ 2025 draft class?
Mel Kipper gave the Bengals a C. This is the worst draft grade he handed out (docked because he tied up with the Falcons and gave up a pick in the first round of 2026).
This appears to be another incompetent performance by Tobin, Taylor and friends.
– #selltheteam (@barflybill) April 28, 2025
According to ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Cincinnati’s biggest needs heading into the 2025 draft were “edge rushing, linebacker, safety, guard.” On the 17th pick in this year’s draft, the Bengals chose Deschemer Stewart from Texas A&M. However, Kipper believed he had drafted Stewart too much. According to his rankings, Kuiper had Stewart as the 27th best player in this year’s class. Despite meeting the need in De, Kiper considered the Bengals’ draft to be “Ho-Hum.”
Cincinnati chose the general LB Demetrius Knight #49th from South Carolina on their second pick. Knight is the older player in this year’s class. He will be 25 this summer. In his only season with the Gamecocks in 2024, Knight was named team captain. On the third pick, Cincinnati chose OG Dylan Fairchild from Georgia. He was a two-time Bulldog national champion and a full-time starter for the past two seasons. The Bengals believe he can be an immediate starter for the team.
The Bengals checked most of the boxes they needed in the 2025 draft. However, analyst Mel Kipper called their draft “Ho-Hum.” What’s important is how these players develop for Bengal. Kipper is just an analyst and what he says is not always true. In this year’s draft, we saw that Kipper had Chedur Sanders as the #1 QB in the 2025 class. However, Sanders was his fifth pick and turned out to be his sixth QB. We’ll see how this newcomer class will affect the Bengals in 2025.
