Bengals rumors: How mock draft exercises pushed Cincinnati to make Dexter Lawrence trade

The Cincinnati Bengals made a home run move days before the NFL Draft, acquiring Dexter Lawrence from the New York Giants in exchange for the No. 10 pick. It’s obvious that the Bengals thought that Lawrence was of greater value than the pick, and that’s what NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero said on the Rich Eisen Show.

“What Cincinnati found was that they only had seven blue-chip players on their board,” Pelissero said. “When they were going through their mock draft exercises, none of those guys were coming to them at 10.

“If you’re talking about getting a blue-chip player, they regarded Dexter Lawrence as a big chip player. As one person involved in those discussions told me, 10 would have been a slow death. In other words, every time they were mapping it out, who could take who, who might fall to them, they were getting someone they didn’t regard as an instantaneous difference maker.”

Why did #WhoDey ultimately trade the #10 pick of tomorrow's first round for Dexter Lawrence?@TomPelissero behind the Bengals #NFLDraft curtain:#NFL pic.twitter.com/n9UPlZ6wLr

— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) April 22, 2026

Apparently, this draft doesn’t have much high-end talent outside of the first couple of picks, which is why the Bengals made the deal. It’s why some general managers praised them for acquiring Lawrence.

“There’s nobody of [Lawrence’s] talent in this year’s draft,” one rival GM said via Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “I would take him over every defensive player in this draft.”

With just a day before the draft, it would not be a surprise to see more teams try to trade their picks to get more picks, or for current players in the league. They may not be the same caliber as Lawrence, but they might be getting somebody better than where they were picking.

For the Bengals, they grabbed a player at a position they really needed, and he will be a key part of their defense as they try to find themselves back into contention.

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