Jeremy Hill

Bengals could look to draft a first-round running back

It's "not out of the question" for the Cincinnati Bengals to draft a running back in the first round, ESPN's Katherine Terrell said.

What It Means:

We agree with Terrell's assessment that Cincinnati's backfield "isn't great at the moment." Giovani Bernard is coming off ACL surgery and backups Rex Burkhead and Cedric Peerman are both free agents. Jeremy Hill is entering a contract year and has averaged an underwhelming 3.67 yards per carry over his last two seasons. The Bengals hold the ninth pick in this year's draft.

42 running backs had at least 100 carries in 2016, and Hill's 0.02 Rushing Net Expected Points (NEP) per carry was actually 16th-best among them. Bernard's -0.07 Rushing NEP per carry would've been 12th-worst if he qualified for this group.