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AFC North round-up: Breaking down Ravens, division 2020 NFL Drafts

By Richard Bradshaw

NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 13: Grant Delpit #7, Joe Burrow #9 and Patrick Queen #8 of the LSU Tigers celebrate after defeating the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff National Championship held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 13: Grant Delpit #7, Joe Burrow #9 and Patrick Queen #8 of the LSU Tigers celebrate after defeating the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff National Championship held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 13: Quarterback Joe Burrow #9 of the LSU Tigers on a pass play during the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Clemson Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020, in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSU defeated Clemson 42 to 25. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 13: Quarterback Joe Burrow #9 of the LSU Tigers on a pass play during the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Clemson Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020, in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSU defeated Clemson 42 to 25. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /

Cincinnati Bengals:

2020 NFL Draft class: QB Joe Burrow, WR Tee Higgins, LB Logan Wilson, LB Akeem Davis-Gaither, EDGE Khalid Kareem, IOL Hakeem Adeniji, LB Markus Bailey

We knew for months that LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was going to be the number one overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals, but that doesn’t cheapen how great a pick it was. Burrow had perhaps the greatest single-season in the history of college football, setting records for passing touchdowns (60) and passing yards (5,671) while also completing 76.3% of his passes and throwing just six interceptions in 15 games. Burrow capped off this amazing season with a Heisman Trophy and National Championship victory.

Burrow goes to an offense called by offensive-minded head coach Zac Taylor, who will build the unit to match with Burrow’s strengths. There are already some serious weapons on this offense, too, such as stud wide receivers A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd and running back Joe Mixon. 2019 first-round pick Jonah Williams also returns to man the left tackle spot. As if this wasn’t already enough, Cincinnati added a young, potential star receiver in Clemson’s Tee Higgins. Burrow has a ton of weapons to help him thrive early in his career.

Related Story. Ravens Draft: Ranking the draft class of each AFC North team. light

Through Free Agency the Bengals helped to reconstruct their secondary with players like cornerbacks Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander and safety Vonn Bell. They attacked their front-seven heavily through the 2020 NFL Draft, adding three linebackers and an edge rusher. Couple those four picks with free agent adds D.J. Reader and Josh Bynes and you have a defense completely remade.

The 2020 Cincinnati Bengals look like a completely different team to their 2019 selves. The AFC North should not take this team lightly.

Any time you can draft a franchise quarterback and his best friend at wide receiver you’re going to get a good grade. The last time the Cincinnati Bengals did this they ended up with A.J. Green and Andy Dalton. That panned out pretty well. Joe Burrow is legit. Even if the rest of this class doesn’t pan out, and I think their renovation of the front-seven is huge here, getting Burrow makes this a good class. This class will be huge for their hopes to compete in the AFC North moving forward.

Grade: A

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