Welcome back to another year of the SB Nation Community Mock Draft!
NFL mock draft 2026: Cincinnati Bengals select Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU
The Bengals grab their pick of any cornerback at No.9, selecting LSU’s Mansoor Delane.
As we do every draft season, all 32 NFL sites at SB Nation come together to fill out an entire first-round mock draft leading up to the actual event that takes place from April 23-25. One by one, our site managers will make their picks and provide their reasoning behind the selection. From there, I will provide further analysis on top of giving a final opinion on the pick!
Without further ado, let’s keep things rolling!
With the 10th overall pick in the 2026 SB Nation Community Mock Draft, Cincy Jungle’s Dale Altman and the Cincinnati Bengals select Mansoor Delane, cornerback, LSU!
Altman’s analysis:
NFL
SB Nation NFL Mock Draft: With the 10th pick the Cincinnati Bengals select…
Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU
My ideal targets for the Bengals were Bailey, Bain, Downs, and Styles going into the mock draft. With all four of them off the board, my top two players remaining were Mansoor Delane and Jermod McCoy. With McCoy coming off the ACL injury, I decided to go with Mansoor Delane. The Bengals have DJ Turner and Dax Hill currently projected as the two starting outside corners. Both players are entering the final year of their contracts. This gives the Bengals flexibility at the position, and some potential leverage in contract negotiations, which they seem to value quite a bit. Even with that said, Delane is worthy of the selection here with what was already off the board.
Rec 4ReplyRead 15 replies
My analysis: In a cornerback class lacking a consensus top player at the position, a team’s preference in cornerback this year will come down to flavor. In a normal year, McCoy is most likely the top guy if it wasn’t for his ACL injury, so I’m not surprised that ended up being the deciding factor here for Altman, especially after the board fell far from what he hoped.
The thing is, Delane is quite the consolation prize for a team that needs to their defense up to par with where the offense normally performs under Joe Burrow. If edge rusher is the most premium position on defense, cornerback would be a close second. Getting your choice of any corner is still quite the opportunity.
Delane is a high-ceiling cornerback who plays with ideal aggression and exhudes that alpha mentality that most top cornerbacks need in the NFL to rise up the ranks. At the same time, that aggression can backfire in crucial moments, but that is something the coaching staff will be tasked with polishing at the next level.
I like this pick for the Bengals.
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