The Bengals don’t trade up very often in the draft. Try three times since Paul Brown sat at No. 2 in 1968 and made Tennessee center Bob Johnson the first Bengal. But last year they vaulted 2 spots in the fourth round to take North Carolina center Russell Bodine.
Bodine responded by turning in one of the best seasons ever by a Bengals rookie when he took virtually every snap for a play-off team. Learning on the job isn’t always pretty, but he adjusted from his “one call,” college offense to the myriad of pre-snap pro reads well enough for the Bengals to hit sixth in NFL rushing in a defensive-minded division.