Breaking down the Bengals’ selection of Josh Newton in the 5th round

The DB room gets some help.

Day 3 of the NFL Draft rolls on, as the Cincinnati Bengals selected TCU cornerback Josh Newton. Newton started his career at Louisiana-Monroe before transferring to TCU.

What are the Bengals getting in Newton?

Newton excels in press-man coverage. He shows patience at the line of scrimmage with quick feet, and he does well with getting his hands on receivers early to disrupt their routes.

Newton is also an effective run-stopper from the cornerback position, showing the ability to take on blocks and shed them. The tape on Newton shows he is a good tackler who gets ball carriers to the ground quickly.

Newton does appear to lack top-end speed, which impacts his ability to recover if a receiver gets behind him. We saw that play out against Texas and their speedy wideouts. That was Newton’s worst game of the 2023 season, earning a season-low 33.7 PFF grade. He could use a little work with keeping his pad level down and being smoother in his breaks.

Newton played primarily on the boundary and occasionally in the slot. Here’s how his snaps looked over the past three seasons via PFF.

In 413 coverage snaps last season, Newton was targeted 52 times and allowed 25 receptions for 303 yards and one touchdown vs. one interception snagged and a 64.8 passer rating. He was even better in 2022, allowing just 24 grabs on 68 targets across 517 coverage snaps for 307 yards and five scores vs. three picks and a 56.4 passer rating.

What will Newton do for the Bengals?

Don’t look for Newton to become a starter in the near future. With Cam Taylor-Britt, DJ Turner, Mike Hilton, and allegedly Dax Hill all playing significant snaps at corner, Newton may battle for the fifth corner spot or look to earn his playing time on special teams starting out. He will compete with the likes of DJ Ivey and Allan George to round out the bottom of the cornerback room.

But if Turner can’t show more consistency, there’s a path for Newton to earn playing time on the boundary this season, assuming Hill’s cornerback snaps come in the slot.

Follow our Twitter page and ‘like’ our Facebook page for the latest Cincinnati Bengals news and views.