Nobody would accuse the Cincinnati Bengals of tanking after Monday’s big upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But if they were tanking, the Bengals pulled the perfect move.
By waiting to pull off a big upset until Week 15, the team’s draft positioning wasn’t impacted at all. Cincinnati still sits third in the draft order with two weeks left.
That leaves the Bengals behind the 1-13 Jacksonville Jaguars and 1-13 New York Jets. The 4-10 Carolina Panthers are the closest team to the third pick now.
What does complicate things is the Jets picking up their first win of the season, allowing the Jaguars to leapfrog them to No. 1. If the Jets can’t land a quarterback like Trevor Lawrence, they might opt for an offensive tackle like Penei Sewell.
For what it’s worth, Sewell seems to like the idea of joining the Bengals. We’re a long way off from seeing what the Bengals will be able to do at No. 3, but they did take another step toward it despite the win.
