With the 18th pick in the Pod Community Mock, the Bengals select...

Last year was a huge letdown for the Cincinnati Bengals. After finding themselves in in the Super Bowl in 2021 and the AFC title game in 2022, the injury bug hit them hard in 2023 and they fell short of the playoffs in the incredibly competitive AFC North.

No one is counting out the Bengals this year, as simply a fully healthy year from Joe Burrow makes them contenders again. However, the AFC is a gauntlet, and how they spend their draft picks could be the difference between another Super Bowl appearance and an early exit in 2024.

So to help the Bengals jump back into relevancy, Pride of Detroit commenter Dogerall will act as Cincy’s general manager in our 2024 POD Community Mock Draft. They have the 18th overall pick in the draft.

Before we get into the pick, catch up on the previous 17 picks here.

With the 18th pick in the POD Community Mock, the Cincinnati Bengals have selected JC Lathum, offensive tackle out of Alabama.

Here’s Dogerall with the explanation:

“I toil in anonymity and if you really want to more about me, you’ll need to look in some boxes that were at Mar-A-Lago. I mean this is some top secret stuff! I’ve been Director of Player Personnel (not GM, I mean Brown isn’t my last name after all) of the Cincinnati Bengals for over 20 years. My name is Duke Tobin, and yes Duke is my real name.

“This year I decided to enlist the help of my dear friend, Dogerall (even my friends use pseudonyms) to make the selections in the first two rounds. So over many bowls of Skyline Chili (5 ways) and countless pints of Cincinnati’s finest craft beers this is what we decided on.

“I’ll let Dogerall take over the narrative from here.

“The Bengals have made some changes in free agency to strengthen the defense that allowed the most explosive plays in the NFL last year. Losing DJ Reader will hurt, but we feel we can get a run-stuffing DT later in the draft.

“Five new tackles in five straight years is starting to make our head coach dizzy.

“The top three tackles were off the board and of the remaining tackles we felt JT Latham (Alabama) was a good fit.

“Of utmost importance is keeping Joe Burrow healthy, so picking a two-year starting right tackle from the Crimson Tide seems a safe bet. JC is only 21 years old and measures in at 6-foot-6 and a svelte 360 pounds! Although he was flagged for 18 penalties over two years, he allowed only two sacks and four QB hits. We can deal with a few penalties if it means our QB has time to throw his accurate darts all over the field. Latham is strictly a right tackle and that’s okay while we have Orlando Brown protecting Burrow’s blind side. Hell, if he doesn’t work out at tackle, he’d be a road grader at guard. Maybe we’ll even play him at nose guard for goal line stands. 360 pounds can go a long ways!”