Assessing the Cincinnati Bengals' remaining options at defensive tackle with DJ Reader gone

Akin to the recent departures of Jessie Bates III, Vonn Bell (welcome back), and even all the way back to Andrew Whitworth, the immediate feeling of watching DJ Reader leave for another team hit hard. 

Reader was more than a blue chip player at his position of nose tackle. He was a pillar of leadership and tenacity for the Bengals defense and locker room as a whole. 

Those intangible will be hard to replace. Can his snaps be replaced more easily? Let's examine the remaining options for Cincinnati. 

Free agency scraps

Reader ended up late to the party as the defensive tackle market absolutely boomed last week. Reserves ended up getting paid higher than anyone projected, and Chris Jones and Christian Wilkins became the two highest paid interior players right before Aaron Donald's retirement.

The Bengals were waiting on Reader while all this went down, and they acted in time to sign Sheldon Rankins to a two-year deal. But the hope was to retain Reader on top of adding Rankins. The options to legitimately fill Reader's specific role are slim.

Teair Tart appears to be the best available, but murmurs from Paycor Stadium indicate that's not the best fit for either side. Remaining options include Calais Campbell, Jonathan Hankins, and Lawrence Guy.

The commonality? They're all over the age of 30. Campbell will be 38 for Week 1! Free agency has eviscerated the market, and the Bengals are left with limited options that fit their usual criteria.

Potential trade ideas

Personally, this is where my attention would be turned towards. The Bengals have 10 picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, including two picks in the third round. Most experts believe that not only is this a subpar draft class outside the top 100 picks, it's also not a very deep defensive tackle class.

Cincinnati has more picks than they likely need, and there are a couple veterans who might be available for the right price.

Jonathan Allen of the Washington Commanders has two years left on his contract and is still playing quality football at 29 years old, but Washington is starting new once more under a new coaching staff and general manager. Would they take a late third or fourth-round pick for Allen to clear the way for new talent and millions in cap space? 

Harrison Phillips of the Minnesota Vikings is another name I'd call about. Phillips is a phenomenal run-stopper entering the last year of his contract and would only cost $6.5 million to take on what's left of his deal. 

The Bengals don't trade draft picks for players, but they do trade players for players. Dax Hill could be an enticing trade piece for either team. The former first-round pick is currently in limbo regarding his role in Cincinnati's defense, and his draft status may be enough to intrigue teams in negotiations. Shout out to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic for bringing up this idea first.

Wait until the NFL Draft

As previously mentioned, this isn't the ideal draft class for a team in need of defensive tackles, but there remains promising options at the top. 

Byron Murphy II and Johnny Newton appear to be the two front-runners to go off in the first round, with Murphy likely to go before Newton. Neither one is built to two-gap like Reader did for years in Cincinnati, and that's where Day 2 options come into play.

Everything about T'Vondre Sweat makes him an ideal long-term replacement for Reader. The massive 22-year old out of Texas is the prototype for the position, and has the tape to back it up. His weight concerns (weighed 366 at the NFL Scouting Combine) will keep him outside the top 40 picks, but he'd make a great selection at 49th overall for Cincinnati.

If we stay in the Lone Star State we'll find McKinnley Jackson, who also fits the prototype and will likely come off the board in the third round. That could be even better value for the Bengals, who hold the 80th and 97th overall picks.

What will happen

I find it hard to believe the Bengals will leave Reader's old spot wide open entering the draft, but it's not impossible. The right fit has to be found over the next two weeks in free agency. It will likely be an underachieving young player, or a blast from the past who's much older than their usual veteran targets.

The draft is a much safer bet for them to address the position. Sweat should be one of the favorites to be the 49th pick the night on April 26, and Jackson makes plenty of sense as well.