Bengals going from nothing to something at tight end may hint at their NFL Draft plans

Going from zero rostered tight ends to three falls into what's been expected for Cincinnati this week. The position was a glaring hole for the team last season, with Hudson and Sample being the lone bright spots in various parts of the year.

Gesicki becomes the lead target of the group, as he's a better version of Hudson as a move piece that lines up in the slot more times than not. Combine him with Hudson in that role, and the Bengals look like a team that may pass on a top NFL Draft prospect if given the chance come April.

Bengals' free agency moves tells us what tight end they should be drafting

A clear goal for the Bengals this offseason should be implementing competent 12 personnel packages. 12 personnel involves two tight ends on the field, typically with both of them attached to the offensive line as inline players. That doesn't have to be the case, but for the Bengals, it should be where they should start trending towards.

The materialization creating explosive passing plays no longer come from calling four verticals in the shotgun, something the Bengals loved doing a few years back on their way to the Super Bowl. Defenses have fully caught on to defending spread attacks. The more condensed offenses force defenses to be pre-snap, the more opportunities present themselves in the post-snap phase.

The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs abide by this and met in the Super Bowl last month. San Fran may've ranked 27th in 12 personnel usage last year, but they were first in success rate, per Sports Info Solutions. Kansas City was fourth in the league in using both 12 and 13 personnel, the latter involves three tight ends. 

Tight ends who are threats to block in the run game and can catch the ball downfield have become integral in the next phase of offensive efficiency around the league. This is the kind of tight end the Bengals should look for in the draft.

Is that Brock Bowers at 18th overall? It doesn't seem like it. Bowers is an undeniable talent who'd become one of their best players in very short time, but he lacks the size of a true inline player and would be redundant along with Gesicki and Hudson at least for this season. One-year deals shouldn’t preclude you from investing in five years for a younger and better player, but the fit has to be right as well.

The Bengals appear to have set themselves up to take a tight end later in the draft, one that resembles more of Sample rather than Gesicki or Hudson. It would be the ideal way to round out the position, and allow other positions of need to take centerstage in the top two rounds.