Draft Day dawns in Bengaldom with the fourth and final Bengals.com Media Mock Draft of 2025. A gentle reminder before Thursday's opening bell (8 p.m.-NFL Network, ESPN) that the Bengals wouldn't mind having more than the six picks they currently hold.

"We'll see how many picks we end up with, whether we can make trades or not," said Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin earlier this week. "Trades sometimes are pretty hard to do. If we can get some and add some picks, I think that would be beneficial to us."

They've had only six in a draft class twice, in 2002 and 1995, but Tobin also indicated it could be a busy year for undrafted prospects. In what looks to be the last draft impacted by COVID, the board is full of older players with several seasons of college experience.

"We probably have more ranked players on our draft board than we have in a long time," Tobin said. "Maybe that'll mean great things for college free agency, because there'll be guys that are probably draftable talents that we run out of draft spots for."

Except for the Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase bonanzas that opened the Zooming '20s, there's not a recent draft where the Bengals didn't ponder a trade back in the first round for more picks. The fact they haven't made a first-round trade in seven years and haven't traded down in the first round in 13 years shows you just how hard it is to find a trading partner.

Especially this year, where only half the players in the first round may be worthy of first-round grades.

"The rest of the league is looking at the same thing," is something you often hear this time of year.

"If you could tell me who the first 16 picks are, I would give you a little better answer on how much the guy we pick is actually going to play and start," Tobin said. "We're wide open in the first round. There's a lot of good players at a lot of different positions."

In the Media Mock, we try to tell you who the first 16 picks are. Then we make the call and leave the rest to the draftnicks.

And that includes trades.

1.TITANS: QB Cam Ward, Miami; Paul Kuharsky, Paul Kuharsky.com

Old friend Brian Callahan and Tennessee staff breaking out the Joe Burrow 2020 videos.

2.BROWNS: WR Travis Hunter, Colorado; Tony Grossi, ESPN Cleveland

Grossi called it back on March 25 with the Browns using him as a wide receiver sprinkled in as a cornerback. But can he catch Ja'Marr Chase and then cover him?

3.GIANTS: EDGE Abdul Carter, Penn State; Tom Rock, Newsday

Still smarting from bypassing Micah Parsons.

4.PATRIOTS: T Will Campbell, LSU; Karen Guregian, MassLive

(Drake) Maye Day! (Drake) Maye Day!

5.JAGUARS: RB Ashton Jeanty, Boise State; Michael DiRocco, ESPN

The Jags offense has been missing his explosion and toughness.

6.RAIDERS: T Armand Membou, Missouri; Vincent Bonsignore, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The new tandem of Pete Carroll and John Spytek make good on building in the trenches.

7.JETS: T Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas; Rich Cimini, ESPN

Beleaguered Gang Green gets a bookend right tackle to go with last year's first-round pick, left tackle Olu Fashanu.

8.PANTHERS: EDGE Jalon Walker, Georgia; Joe Person, The Athletic

In the Bengals' win at Carolina last year, the Panthers hit Joe Burrow twice.

9.SAINTS: TE Tyler Warren, Penn State; Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com

New head coach and offensive guru Kellen Moore goes Best Player Available and, coincidentally, gets a versatile playmaker.

10.BEARS: DT Mason Graham, Michigan; Brad Biggs, The Chicago Tribune

Everybody has the Bears taking a protector after Caleb Williams took a rookie mauling, but here they can't resist a proven interior defender with high intangibles.

11.49ERS: EDGE Shemar Stewart, Texas A&M; Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports Bay Area

Too many top-shelf traits to pass despite the low sack totals.

12.COWBOYS: WR Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona; Todd Archer, ESPN.com

The Dallas convention nominates him as CeeDee Lamb's running mate.

13.DOLPHINS: CB Will Johnson, Michigan; Chris Perkins, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Party on South Beach if they can get the draft's best cornerback here.

14.COLTS: TE Colston Loveland, Michigan; Mike Chappell, Fox59

The last two Colts tight ends to have at least 800 yards receiving in a season were Dallas Clark in 2009 and John Mackey in 1966.

15.FALCONS: EDGE Mykel Williams, Georgia; D. Orlando Ledbetter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The first time the Falcons take a Georgia player in the first round.

16.CARDINALS: G Tyler Booker, Alabama; Darren Urban, azcardinals.com

They go for the best O-lineman on the board.

17.BENGALS: EDGE James Pearce Jr., Tennessee; Geoff Hobson, Bengals.com

What a universe, where the stars seem to align for the Bengals needs on the defensive front.

Staring them right in the face here are three highly-rated defensive tackles in productive three-techniques Walter Nolen of Ole Miss and Derrick Harmon of Oregon and an athletic nose tackle in Kenneth Grant of Michigan.

Also leering at them is the highest-rated linebacker on many big boards in Alabama's Jihaad Campbell, the two best safeties in Georgia's Malaki Starks and South Carolina's Nick Emmanwori and Pro Football Focus' highest-rated cornerback in Jahdae Barron of Texas.

It would seem with Banks and Booker gone here, there's no discussion of offensive linemen, although maybe not because Ohio State's Josh Simmons looms.

But, really, there's no discussion here but defensive linemen, right?

Their top three cornerbacks were taken in the last three drafts in either the first or second round, and they traditionally don't take safeties in the first round. Dax Hill ended up playing safety after he was taken with their first pick three years ago, but he played primarily cornerback at Michigan.

So a D-lineman. But what kind of D-lineman? They signed a nose tackle in free agency, the Packers' T.J. Slaton Jr., and in last year's draft they went with a three-technique in the second round in Kris Jenkins Jr. and a third-rounder in McKinnley Jackson who can bounce between the nose and the three.

It would seem the most immediate need is on the edge, where Sam Hubbard has retired, NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson is in the final year of his deal (but there could be an extension), and Joseph Ossai and Cam Sample are on one-year deals.

And the one thing we know about new defensive coordinator Al Golden is that he loves to rush the passer. So here for his first pick we give him his pass rusher, the 6-5, 245-pound Pearce.

Also sitting here on the edge are Marshall's Mike Green (6-3, 251) and Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku (6-2, 248), also guys that would seem too light for the rough-and-tumble AFC North.

But this looks to be a new day with Golden putting heat on the passer and of the three, Pearce is bigger and more productive in the nation's best league. And, Green had only one year as a starter against lighter competition.

Pearce has the kind of big-school resume that the Bengals like. In 39 games, he became the first Tennessee defensive lineman to earn back-to-back first-team All-SEC since College Football Hall of Famer John Henderson in the first two years of the century with 19.5 sacks and 29.5 tackles for loss.

Plus, he's got a Relative Athletic Score of 9.4 out of 10 helped by a flying 4.47-second 40-yard dash. This is why we really like Pearce here. According to Ourlads, Pearce "has excellent speed to get around the edge and has a burst to close. Solid ability to chase down athletic quarterbacks." Did you say Lamar Jackson?

Plus, Golden can line him up anywhere. More Ourlads: "He's versatile, aligning in both a two and three point and playing wide nine down to a five technique … As a run defender he can spill the play against pullers sending a play wide."

So, yeah, maybe Pearce is lighter than you want, but he can make up for it with great speed and athleticism. Look, some people are going to say he could be a second-rounder. But then, some are also saying Nos. 15-30 in the first round could also go in the second.

So we'll go with PFF on this one:

"Pearce is the kind of athlete with the production and disruption scores you don't let out of the first round. His twitchy movements show difference-making NFL traits that can be situational at worst and All-Pro at best."