| Player | Round | Position | College | Selection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (acquired from Tampa Bay in trade on 6-2-83, then sent to New England in trade on 4-4-84) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Ricky Hunley | 1a | LB | Arizona | 7 |
| Pete Koch (acquired from New England in trade on 4-4-84) | 1b | DE | Maryland | 16 |
| Brian Blados (acquired from New England in trade on 4-4-84) | 1c | OL | North Carolina | 28 |
| Boomer Esiason | 2 | QB | Maryland | 38 |
| Stanford Jennings | 3 | RB | Furman | 65 |
| John Farley | 4 | RB | Cal State - Sacramento | 92 |
| Barney Bussey | 5 | DB | South Carolina State | 119 |
| Don Kern | 6 | TE | Arizona State | 150 |
| Leo Barker | 7 | LB | New Mexico State | 177 |
| Bruce Reimers | 8 | T | Iowa State | 204 |
| Bruce Kozerski | 9 | OL | Holy Cross | 231 |
| Aaron Jackson | 10a | LB | North Carolina | 262 |
| Brent Ziegler (acquired from New England in trade on 4-4-84) | 10b | RB | Syracuse | 265 |
| Steve McKeaver | 11 | RB | Central State (Okla.) | 289 |
| Steve Racquet | 12 | LB | Holy Cross | 316 |
| Wayne Peace | 1-s | QB | Florida | *7 |
| Bill Johnson | 2-s | RB | Arkansas State | *35 |
| Tom Kilkenny | 3-s | LB | Temple | *65 |
*NOTE: On June 5, the NFL held a supplemental draft for college seniors who had been eligible for the league's common draft a month earlier but had already signed a contract with a pro team in either the USFL or the CFL and thus were not selected by an NFL team in that common draft. In the supplemental draft, NFL teams obtained the rights to 84 of those players (76 USFL and eight CFL). The Bengals drafted three of them: QB Wayne Peace (had signed with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL), RB Bill Johnson (Denver Gold, USFL) and LB Tom Kilkenny (Chicago Blitz, USFL). Of those three, only Johnson later joined the Bengals (in 1985), and he went on to make the team's all-time roster (played from '85-87).
