NFC team saves the Bengals from making one of their biggest mistakes from last year in 2025 NFL Draft redraft
Cincinnati couldn’t recreate last year’s NFL Draft class even if it wanted to.
It’s going to take a lot of work for the 2025 NFL Draft to be considered a success for the Cincinnati Bengals. Demetrius Knight Jr., selected with Cincinnati’s No. 49 pick in the second round, is firmly in the group that needs to prove their worth.
Knight was a poor tackler as a rookie, and saw his playing time decrease as the season went on despite starting 14 games, including eight of the first nine. He figures to have a significant role next season, but may not be locked in to be a Week 1 starter as of now.
It would be tough to justify the Bengals picking Knight in the second round again if they had a do-over, but not every team feels the same.
Demetrius Knight Jr. surprisingly gets picked ahead of Bengals in 2025 redraft
Cincinnati ended up with safety Malaki Starks in Round 1 and defensive tackle Walter Nolen in Round 2 as part of ESPN’s redrafting of the first two rounds of the 2025 draft. Shemar Stewart, the club’s actual first-round pick, went unselected in the exercise. The same actual cannot be said about Knight.
Chicago Bears beat reporter Courtney Cronin picked Knight with the No. 41 pick, citing Chicago’s need at the position that was felt last season.
“Linebacker wasn’t thought to be a significant need for Chicago in the draft, which was why using a fourth-round pick on Ruben Hyppolite II, who played only 28 defensive snaps, raised eyebrows. Given all the injuries the Bears dealt with at linebacker, grabbing Knight here was an easy decision, though. His 106 tackles would have been the second most on the Bears, and he finished with three sacks, four tackles for loss and seven passes defensed.” — ESPN Bears reporter Courtney Cronin
Knight’s final tackle tally was about the only relative positive he had from a year-long standpoint. He did end the season on a high note in the final few games, but he certainly fell below expectations for a top-50 pick starting immediately. The Bengals are banking on him to take a leap in Year 2.
Cincinnati landed on Knight out of pure need for a starting linebacker entering last year’s draft. Germaine Pratt was on his way out, and free-agent signing Oren Burks was brought in to be a special teams player rather than a starter.
Knight was deemed a reach directly after the actual draft, and he’ll need to take big steps forward to change that narrative. At least the Bengals weren’t alone in how much LB help they actually needed last year.
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