Another huge 1st for our program! aus10.bruner committed to Bluffton today to play football and run track. 1st class to play 4 years of football here. 1st player to commit to playing… https://t.co/fuLHuP3UkF
Sal Stewart this season (ranks in NL):
30 H (T-10th)
9 HR (T-2nd)
29 RBI (1st)
17 BB (T-6th)
.303 AVG (11th)
1.025 OPS (1st)
172 wRC+ (1st)
He's a rookie.
The Bengals are on fire on Day 3 of this draft.
Landon Robinson was one of the best players available on our board and had a 5th round grade for us.
He filled the stat sheet at Navy and tested like an elite athlete.
Risks? All-time size outlier.
But, we love this swing.
Connor Lew has a future starting C production profile.
108 on our final board, 67 on consensus.
This is a strong developmental pick.
Highlights: Age (he’s 20), strong pass blocking production profile
Risks: No testing profile, coming off an ACL tear
You’ll recognize his top comp, Matt Lee.
The only FBS CB prospects since 2018 with a 40-time < 4.42, arms > 33.000", a man coverage grade > 70.0, and a zone coverage grade > 70.0 in their 'best' college season..
🔘 Sauce Gardner, Cincinnati (Round 1)
🔘 Jaycee Horn, South Carolina (Round 1)
🔘 Tacario Davis, Washington (Round 3)
Bengals CB Tacario Davis is a long, athletic corner with an elite man coverage production profile. He and DJ Turner II should make for one of the better outside corner duos in the NFL..
They talk about Dexter Lawrence in 2025 as a down year.
His down year was still the 10th best DT for PFF
5th in Pass Rush Grade
His 14% pass rush win rate was 6th
His 19.7% win rate in True Pass Sets was also 6th best
All while playing over 373 snaps at Nose Tackle - The most in the league
He had the 8th highest pass rush grade in 2024.
13th in Win Rate
6th in True Pass Set Win Rate
If 2024 wasn't a down year, why is 2025 a down year?
He's never had a bad year. That's for sure.
None of these plays results in a sack for Dexter Lawrence. But he affected all of these plays.
Forcing throwaways
Throws under pressure
Other players getting sacks because of his pressure
This is why I think sack totals don't paint the full picture
While it reads as a 1 year extension worth $28M, that’s not the full story.
Lawrence is owed $20M in 2026; $22M in 2027; and now $28M in 2028. That breaks down as $70M over 3 years for an AAV of $23.333M for a 28 year old game wrecking DT.
Compare that to another player (older) wanting an extension. Again, just a great move by Cincinnati.
3 years of team control for one of the best DTs in the league and their average pay is only $23.333M. Interested to see the breakdown of the 1 year extension.
There simply cannot be a negative spin on this.
Compensation update: Now that he has passed his physical and the trade is official, newly-acquired DT Dexter Lawerence is signing a one-year, $28 million contract extension with the Bengals, per @WinSportsGroup
So in the end, Lawrence gets the trade he wanted while being contractually tied to Cincinnati for the next three seasons.