What do you think about taking Jordan Battle in the first round?
The 2023-24 season is over, and it’s time to look forward to things like free agency, the NFL Draft, and all the chaos of summer training camps and the preseason that leads toward NFL commissioner Roger Goodell handing the Lombardi Trophy to Zac Brown after the Cincinnati Bengals defeat the Detroit Lions in Super Bowl LIX.
That’s a run-on sentence, but a good one.
It’s also fun to look back, though. The 2023 season sucked for Bengals fans, but there were some good things that came out of it, including the Bengals rookie draft picks, all of whom contributed in some meaningful way.
CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso took a look back and re-drafted 2023’s first round, seeing how things could have changed after seeing a full season of play. For the Bengals, he took a very familiar face, the team’s third-round pick, safety Jordan Battle.
“Once inserted into the starting lineup,” he wrote, “Battle was a steady back-end playmaker for Lou Amarumo’s bunch.”
The Nick Scott signing didn’t work in the Bengals’ favor, especially with a very inexperienced Dax Hill by his side. While Hill flashed at times, Scott was often caught with his pants down, which gave opportunities to Battle.
And when given his opportunities, Battle shined. He had the second-highest overall defensive grade from PFF, an impressive 82.5. That was higher than Trey Hendrickson, who had an incredible, award-worthy season, DJ Reader, and all other defensive stars. On top of that, since the only player to have a higher score was DJ Ivey, who only played 21 overall snaps, it’s safe to say he had the highest overall grade.
He not only shined in the box, but he had the second-highest coverage grade behind Mike Hilton (again, Ivey had a higher score, but only played a few snaps). The Bengals had hoped the combination of Hill at free safety and Battle at strong safety would recreate what they had in Bates and Vonn Bell. That may be a duo that can never be topped, but Battle did show he has potential as a coverage safety.
There is still work to do for the Bengals at the safety position, but they can safely mark Battle down for one starting spot next season.
What would you think about passing on Myles Murphy to lock in Battle with the No. 28 overall pick?
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