CINCINNATI — Now in the sixth draft of the Zac Taylor-Duke Tobin era, the types and trends of the players they selected were easy to spot.
A collection of captains, national champions and team leaders from large schools filled their roster. They spent drafts stockpiling a culture reset deemed necessary to rejuvenate the franchise with Joe Burrow.
There were lessons learned when picks went off track and a general analysis that picking the player about all the right stuff that might have slightly less enticing traits produced a team greater than the sum of its parts.
But, the Bengals are title-hunting right now.
“We’re on the cusp,” college scouting director Mike Potts said before the draft.
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Cincinnati Bengals NFL Draft picks 2024: Grades, fits and scouting reports
A new lesson was learned over the first four picks in that chase: Time to take chances.
The first was in taking Amarius Mims in the first round Thursday. His upside is as high as anyone in the draft but lack of experience and whispers (or Nick Saban speaking into a microphone on national TV) of motivational questions were part of his equation.
Then, in looking to fill the open receiver spot between Tee Higgins (who has not signed his franchise tag and requested a trade) the Bengals took a big chance on Alabama’s Jermaine Burton. Yet again a player whose tape looks like a first-round talent. With offensive offseason objectives of adding explosiveness and speed, they found both in a huge way with Burton. He led the SEC in yards per reception last year. He roasted defenses down the field, separated against everyone, shifting both inside and outside while leading the Tide in receiving yards each of the last two seasons.
“He’s a legitimate ‘take the top off’ deep threat, but that’s not all he does,” offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. “He’s a threat over the middle of the field, he separates on abrupt breaking routes, he finishes on the football in difficult situations. He’s a complete player.”
Pro Football Focus graded him the fourth-best receiver prospect in the draft.
How could somebody with that tape be available at pick No. 80?
“He picked up a reputation as an undisciplined player,” Dane Brugler wrote in “The Beast,” adding, “NFL scouts say he had ‘up-and-down moments’ with the coaching staffs at both Georgia and Alabama.”
Jermaine Burton makes a play in a 2022 game against Austin Peay. (Gary Cosby Jr. / USA Today)
Most notably, Burton had an incident where he struck a female Tennessee fan during a postgame field-storming celebration, though he was never charged with a crime.
“It was something I had to move past,” Burton said. “It was a very emotional, passionate game. A lot was on the line throughout the season, and I moved on from that and learned from situations like that. We played LSU two weeks later and the same thing happened, and I was one of the first guys back in the locker room, so I clearly separated myself and understood what was at stake and didn’t want to take the opportunity for granted.”
The Bengals vetted Burton. They brought him in for one of their 30 in-house visits (together with former teammate Mims) allowed before the draft. They talked to him at the combine. They reached out to franchise friend and former star receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh, who wasn’t just announcing the 80th selection in Detroit but has been training with Burton for years.
TRAINED BY THE HOUSH HIMSELF! Welcome to Cincinnati, Jermaine.
📺: NFL Draft on ESPN/ABC/NFLN pic.twitter.com/9V8QFYhNcJ
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) April 27, 2024
“It’s honestly amazing having T.J. train me the past few years,” Burton said. “We also developed a relationship to the point where we talked about other things — just life things and a lot of maturity and growth.”
Through the combination of it all, the Bengals came away comfortable with him.
“(The Tennessee incident) was something that we talked about with him just to hear what he had to say about it,” Taylor said. “Again, we did our research on all these guys that we’ve talked to and made sure we’re aware of every incident they’ve been a part of. There’s certainly maturity things that come with some of these guys coming out of these colleges, and that’s one of the things he’ll continue to grow with.”
Burton will enter one of the best receiver corps in the NFL playing alongside Ja’Marr Chase and Higgins. He will play under one of the best receivers coaches in the league in Troy Walters. He’ll be under the oversight of one of the best quarterbacks in the league, noted for his natural ability to connect with teammates and understand how to get the most out of those around him.
Make no mistake, the Bengals will be leaning on the $275 million man for plenty more of that this season.
If all those forces can help Burton grow, then he becomes one of the steals of this draft. You could easily see him setting the world of one-on-ones ablaze playing next to the two star wideouts. The options to augment the usage of Chase, allowing him to shift inside and outside more, would be just one advantage of Burton’s speed and explosiveness. Burrow can attack more downfield. Every blade of grass is threatened, as are opposing defensive coordinators.
You can see the future vision.
You can also see the past. Can the lifestyle of the NFL and a potentially ideal situation alter personality concerns? Sure. Happens often across the league. But there’s a reason Burton was available at pick No. 80. Teams were unsure how deep these problems went and it cost him about two rounds of draft slot money.
For the Bengals, this pick felt different. A stray from the sparkling off-field reviews mostly associated with their picks of the past — or, more precisely, those that looked exactly like polished Michigan captain, All-American and second-round pick Kris Jenkins. There also was Washington’s Jalen McMillan and Michigan’s Roman Wilson still on the board, with seasons of squeaky clean resumes and enough production to be worth picks 84 and 92.
Finding value in character concerns can be a dangerous game. One the Bengals under Taylor have preferred to avoid. The idea appears to be that years of doing it the right way allow the advantage of surrounding someone with strong leadership and structure and get the most out of a young man with Burton’s immense potential.
If that happens, the payoff is limitless. The Bengals believe they did their due diligence to find an angle. The beauty of the draft is you can never predict future human behavior and success mostly hinges on that fact.
It’ll be interesting to see how Burton’s career in Cincinnati develops. His addition is one that you wouldn’t have expected from the Bengals when the night began.
(Photo: Brandon Sumrall / Getty Images)