Calijah Kancey could be falling right to the Bengals
The NFL Draft is not a perfect process. If it were, the very best players would all be picked first. Diamonds fall through the cracks all the time, and often for silly reasons. The good teams who consistently pick late in the order end up finding these fallers and stay competitive for a while. There […]
The NFL Draft is not a perfect process. If it were, the very best players would all be picked first.
Diamonds fall through the cracks all the time, and often for silly reasons. The good teams who consistently pick late in the order end up finding these fallers and stay competitive for a while.
There are concerns surrounding defensive tackle Calijah Kancey. As is the case with every incoming rookie, he is not a perfect prospect, but none of his perceived issues are too great to make him fall 28 picks in the Draft for the Cincinnati Bengals to select him.
As it happens, Draft guru Daniel Jeremiah's latest top 50 board has Kancey all the way down at 27th overall, keeping the idea alive that the former Pitt Panther could somehow fall enough for the Bengals to draft him..
If Kancey is indeed available for Cincinnati to call, there shouldn't even be a conversation in the war room.
There's simply not one better interior pass-rusher in this entire draft class. Not Georgia's Jalen Carter. Not Clemson's Bryan Bresse. Not anyone else. The tape proves it, as do the stats that matter.
Compared to those two, Kancey boasts the second-highest pass rush win rate since the start of the 2021 season, and the highest pressure rate in that same time frame.
Kancey wins against his assignment, and he impacts the pocket and the quarterback when he does. But what about finishing the play? Pressure is indeed production, but the very best translate pressures into plays made behind the line of scrimmage.
That's not a problem for Kancey. He ranks in the 76th percentile in sack market share, and in the 92nd percentile in tackle for loss market share. When you factor in his entire production profile relative to his age and competition he faced, he ranks in the 86th percentile for all interior defenders over the last few decades.
When you can play, you can play.
The reason why Kancey is not a lock to go early in the first round is his size. Being just over 6-0 and barely 280 pounds, Kancey is incredibly small for an NFL defensive tackle, and that prohibits him from being a consistent run defender.
(Kancey's) lack of size (6-0, 280) shows up on occasion, with him getting washed right down the line. Overall, I wish he was bigger, but he's a very dynamic and disruptive presence along the interior. – NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah on Kancey
When he's on the field, opposing offenses are going to identify which gap he's in and test him with the run game. If he can't win quickly off the snap, he'll always be at a size disadvantage and an easy target for combo blocks. His defensive coordinator will have to be wise when bringing him on the field.
Enter Bengals DC Lou Anarumo.
The Bengals have bodies at both defensive tackle spots. What they don't have is what Kancey possesses: oodles of explosion. His burst off the snap combined with violent and wise hand usage makes him a pain for guards in pass protection. He has plenty of short area quickness to be utilized on twists as well.
Any defensive play caller could use a player like that, and Anarumo is no exception. He never got a prime Geno Atkins to work with in Cincinnati, but he did get a good season out of Larry Ogunjobi two years ago. The Bengals continue to get the most out of their defensive linemen because they understand the strengths of whom they have.
If Kancey's ideal role to begin his career is a situational pass-rushing 3-technique, then the Bengals are perfect for him. B.J. Hill is the starter at the position and will be for the next two years, but he's at his best when he gets to rotate in and out with someone else. That was what happened in 2021 with Ogunjobi, and the partnership worked perfectly.
Cincinnati never quite replaced what they lost in Ogunjobi, who notched seven sacks in his lone season in stripes. His absence was an underrated aspect to their loss in Super Bowl LVI.
Adding Kancey to a defensive line that is one piece away can go a long way in remedying that.
