The 2025 NFL Draft was already going to be extremely important for the Cincinnati Bengals. Failing to properly address significant roster holes in free agency has increased the draft's importance tenfold. 

Cincinnati can go through its board with perfect execution from Thursday to Saturday and still walk away with questions all over the roster. Answers will need to be found when the pads come on later in the summer. If nothing else, solutions for the future can be put into place with just six picks to work with.

Our final Bengals mock draft of 2025 aims to project how the club will tackle a paramount week based on pre-draft contact, recent trends, and the state of the roster. The results may warrant emotions that are. . .let's call them mixed.

1.17: Ole Miss DT Walter Nolen

The only way I see this not happening is if Nolen goes in the first 16 picks. The 21-year old, former five-star recruit has emerged this week as the most likely defensive tackle to go off the board after Michigan's Mason Graham, and it'll take just one team to be content with him as a person. Nolen's football character is perhaps the main reason he's not a lock to go in the top 12, but that may be his fate after all. 

I contend there's a 50-50 chance he's available when the Bengals pick, and I don't expect anyone else to be higher on their board than him. He's the pass-rushing force they're lacking inside while also having competency finishing pressures and tackles. My initial prediction from last month stands, even if it would mean a 31-year old trend breaks.

2.49: LSU OL Emery Jones Jr.

You have to expect a head-scratcher at some point.

Drafting Amarius Mims and Matt Lee last year showed the Bengals were finally relearning how to draft offensive linemen. Is that progress gone with a new o-line coach taking over with his own preferences? That's for us to find out. I've just seen this movie before. Cincinnati needs to address the guard spot in the second round and the answer ends up being a player ranked much lower by the consensus relative to when he's drafted. It may not even matter if there's a run on guards ahead of them. See Jackson Carman in 2021.

Jones, who came in for a 30 visit last week, checks boxes as a young three-year starting tackle at a major program who has the measurables to move inside to guard, the position attached to his four-star high school recruitment profile. I think there will be superior options available to them. I don't quite trust them to know that. 

3.81: Clemson LB Barrett Carter

I've gone back and forth on this debate. Will the Bengals be more aggressive to boot Germaine Pratt or Geno Stone off the roster? It feels important that Pratt has been practically removed from discussions about the defense since he requested a trade in February, a request director of player personnel Duke Tobin claims the team has legitimately entertained. Plus, the third round has been the spot where Cincinnati takes swings at the position. Pratt himself was a third-rounder. 

Carter, whom the Bengals met with at the NFL Scouting Combine, was a five-star recruit and developed into a leader for Clemson. He's flashed in coverage and can move sideline to sideline in a hurry. The fit makes sense at this juncture.

4.119: LSU EDGE Sai'vion Jones

Drafting teammates is one of Cincinnati's specialties. Cedric Johnson and Daijahn Anthony last year, DJ Turner II and Brad Robbins in 2023. Reunions across drafts like Kris Jenkins Jr. and Turner, Dax Hill and Turner, and freakin' Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase.

Speaking of LSU, how about the EDGE who looks like the AFC North? 

Jones is every bit of 6-5, 280 and has impressive speed and explosion for his size. Sam Hubbard may've recently retired but his days as a dominant edge-setter expired long before he called it a career. Jones can help the Bengals get that aspect to their d-line back.

5.153: Iowa State OT Jalen Travis

The most underrated need on the roster is swing tackle. Is that Cody Ford despite his presence in a battle to start at left guard? If not, there's just Devin Cochran and Andrew Coker behind Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims. This is why the Bengals took time to meet with Travis and other tackles at the combine.

Travis played mostly right tackle at Princeton before transferring to Iowa State and taking over at left tackle. Standing just under 6-8 and just over 340 pounds, he'll fit right in with Brown and Mims as their backup in development. 

6.193: Iowa TE Luke Lachey

Knowing they'll be without Erick All Jr. for the next year, it's plausible Cincinnati could draft his former teammate from Iowa to help fill the void.

Lachey isn't as dynamic of an athlete like other Hawkeye tight ends who come from that stacked pipeline, but the Columbus, Ohio native does the basic things well and can push Tanner Hudson and Tanner McLachlan for a roster spot. 

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Possible undrafted free agents to track 

Remember Cincinnati running back Corey Kiner and Marshall safety J.J. Roberts here. The Bengals may not draft a running back at all after reworking Zack Moss' contract, and if they bypass a safety in the first three rounds, they may skip out on the position entirely. Both Kiner and Roberts have been heavily connected to the club.