This was originally published in The Athletic.
The Athletic Cincinnati’s columnist Mo Egger has questions about the NFL Draft and The Athletic Cincinnati’s draft expert Joe Goodberry has answers. Here are the results of their back and forth.
Mo: In The Athletic’s inaugural Mock Draft, you chose on behalf of the Bengals, selecting Notre Dame’s Mike McGlinchey with the 21st overall pick. Not only does McGlinchey have a name that evokes images of a muckraking crime reporter from the ‘70s, it seems like the Bengals would feel very, very lucky if he fell to them in the first round, allowing them to completely overhaul the tackle spot in one offseason. Let’s say they were able to take McGlinchey, which would mean that barring some sort of trade back into the first round, they’d have to wait until Friday to take a center. How confident are you that they’d be able to address that position in round two and beyond?
Joe: This would be the perfect year to be forced into waiting to draft a starting center. Not only is this class exceptionally strong at the top, I think you can find plus-level starters in round two in Billy Price (Ohio State) or Austin Corbett (Nevada) and even into round three with Scott Quessenberry (UCLA) and Mason Cole (Michigan). After that group, I think you’ll find replacement-level starters in guys like Bradley Bozeman (Alabama) and Will Clapp (LSU) in the fourth round.....
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