Cincinnati Bengals Insider Predicts Team’s First-Round Selection in 2026 NFL Draft

With eight selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals will soon be adding a collection of youth to the roster. It all starts on April 23, where the Bengals hold the 10th overall pick in the first round, and fans have spent the past few months trying to predict who Cincinnati may be locked in on.

Recently, The Athletic‘s Bengals insider, Paul Dehner Jr., made his prediction. Like many other analysts have guessed in Bengals mocks, Dehner predicts Cincinnati will add to their secondary by making Tennessee’s cornerback, Jermod McCoy, the tenth overall pick in the first round.

“Who will be the most likely to slip down the board? Likely the player coming off the knee injury, who didn’t participate in 2025. The Athletic’s draft expert, Dane Brugler, pointed out that some teams took McCoy off the draft board because of his knee. The Bengals wouldn’t be one of them, and it’s hard to see them passing up one of the top two corners at this point in a draft when you put together the pieces of all the moves they have made on defense this offseason. The hole is obvious in the short and long term. McCoy is the most athletic corner in this draft with elite tape, a ball-hawking reputation and an SEC background. That checks a significant number of Bengals boxes.”

Paul Dehner Jr’s Cincinnati Bengals draft prediction

McCoy is widely regarded as the second-best cornerback in the 2026 draft class. Yet, he missed the entire 2025 season with a torn ACL, and he’s still viewed as a lock for the first round. It makes one wonder whether he would have been graded as the best cornerback, had McCoy not suffered the season-ending knee injury.

Either way, it shows that the film McCoy put on tape at Oregon State in 2023 and Tennessee in 2024 is strong enough for NFL evaluators to remain very high on his pro prospects. McCoy recorded two interceptions in his first season and four in his second. More are surely on the way in the NFL, and Cincinnati may be an ideal landing spot for the 6-foot-1, 188-pound corner.

Related: Cincinnati Bengals Pro Bowler Campaigns for Blockbuster Trade Involving All-Pro

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