Cincinnati Bengals select William Jackson III in the 2016 NFL Draft
By Jon Dove
Cincinnati Bengals select William Jackson III to help overcome the loss of several cornerbacks in the past year.
William Jackson is a long and highly athletic cornerback with a ton of upside. His combination of size and speed give him the ability to develop into a true shutdown corner. The thing to remember with Jackson is that he’s still learning the game and will only get better.
Cincinnati now has Dre Kirkpatrick, Darqueze Dennard and Jackson to patrol the back-end the defense. They are sort of taking a page out of the Denver Broncos play book by putting together a young group of cover guys.
All three gave great size which gives the Bengals options. You could see someone like Jackson or Dennard matchup with tight ends. This is a team that knows they will likely have to get past Rob Gronkowski and the New England Patriots if the hope to make a Super Bowl urn.
The Bengals have earned some trust over the years with their smart drafting. This pick follows that trend as they are addressing a need and getting a good talent.
However, the defensive line and wide receiver position are left untouched for now. They found themselves in a bad spot after the run on wide receivers left the Bengals empty handed. The big thing to take from this that they didn’t panic and reach.
There are players like Michael Thomas, Tyler Boyd or even Braxton Miller who could be had in the second round. It’s amazing to see a franchise go from one of the worst drafting teams in the league to a real solid organization.