Dexter Lawrence trade apparently saved Bengals from NFL draft mistake

Let the always-running NFL rumor mill tell it, the Cincinnati Bengals had six or seven very high grades on NFL draft prospects the team might have hoped for at No. 10 overall.

Clearly, the Bengals didn't think those prospects would actually fall to them at No. 10, hence shocking the world by trading the selection for Dexter Lawrence.

In hindsight, the Bengals might have had a few prospects graded that highly, but they wouldn’t have been a good value at No. 10.

This idea comes up because former Dallas Cowboys scout Bryan Brauddus recently told Jeff Cavanaugh that the Bengals were targeting a specific, surprise prospect at No. 10.

“Here’s Intel for you, they were going to reach on Peter Woods,” Brauddus said. “They were going to take Peter Woods at 10. They were going to reach on a defensive tackle, is what they were going to do.”

No word on why the Cowboys beat has this sort of Bengals intel, but it’s not that far-fetched of an idea.

Peter Woods was, at one point, considered a top-10 prospect. He’s now the 33rd-ranked prospect at Pro Football Focus, but it’s not hard to see why the Bengals might’ve loved his traits.

Woods, though, would also be the sort of prospect who probably isn’t worth the 10th overall pick right now.

And while Woods might go on to have an excellent career, the Bengals instead opted for Lawrence and will get immediate returns. That, rather than waiting on a 21-year-old prospect to develop for a number of years, which hasn’t been working out on the defensive line for them for a while now.

While it’s not as important as the message the Bengals sent to the locker room and fans with the Lawrence trade, the Bengals taking Woods would have been criticized and sent the exact wrong type of message.