Derek Barnett Draws Interest From Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals entered the offseason knowing that they will have to improve their pass rush. Fortunately, they will have plenty of options in this year's draft.
Since Myles Garrett and Solomon Thomas are likely to be taken off the board early in the draft, the Bengals can use the ninth overall pick to select either Alabama's Jonathan Allen or UCLA's Takkarist McKinley. They also can't go wrong with University of Tennessee's Derek Barnett.
According to ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio, the Bengals are one of the teams interested in drafting Barnett and he said the defensive end already had a private workout with the team.
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Barnett might not be rated as highly as Garrett or Thomas, but NFL.com draft analyst and former scout Bucky Brooks said Barnett might be the best pass rusher in this year's draft class.
"In a league that is viewed as the hotbed of NFL talent, Barnett shattered the school marks of a couple of All-Pro players and established a new standard for dominance as a pass rusher. While I'm not one to make evaluations strictly off numbers, I'm a firm believer that sack production translates to NFL performance, and Barnett should be a great pro based on his impressive resume at Tennessee," Brooks said in his report.
"When I study the tape, I see a relentless pass rusher with an outstanding combination of skill and technique," he continued.
It's true. The numbers don't lie. Barnett was amazing at Tennessee and he even recorded at least 10 sacks in three straight seasons. That's quite a feat.
A lot of analysts have pointed out that he has a tendency to go off to a slow start, but that probably won't be much of an issue and it can be fixed.
The Bengals could use a pass rusher like Barnett on their team and he can contribute right away.
