Bengals draft defensive end Willis in third round

The Cincinnati Bengals continued their shopping spree for speed Friday night in the third round when they took Kansas State defensive end Jordan Willis, whose 4.53 40-yard dash at the Combine was the fastest of any defensive lineman.

The pick comes after their first-round selection of wide receiver John Ross, who broke the Combine record with a 4.22, and the second-round pick of running back Joe Mixon, who ran a 4.43 at his pro day.

But it’s not just Willis’ feet that run at impressive speed. Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said the 6-foot-4, 258-pounder’s motor runs non-stop as well.

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“He plays hard every snap,” Guenther said. “In that league (Big 12), there’s a lot of passing teams that have 80, 85, 90 snaps a game, and he never come off the field. He’s always running to the ball. When you look at the guy — to start it off — we did extensive research on a lot of these guys across the board, the different measurements and sizes and all those things, and that’s what really stood off the tape to watch with him is how hard he plays.

“Anytime you have a guy that plays as hard as he does, it gets to everybody,” Guenther added.

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Willis was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and the Most Oustanding Player for the South squad in the Senior Bowl. A second team All-American as a senior, he was a four-year letterwinner at Kansas State, appearing 48 games with 39 starts. His 26 career stats are third most in school history and are tied for seventh in Big 12 annals.

“He’s a fundamentalist,” defensive line coach Jacob Burney. “He plays the run well. He plays with good hand placement, a flat back, nice (rear), good leverage, good knee bend, those hips — he’s got good fundamentals about him. And he can go rush as well. He knows how to rush. He’s a student of the game and really studies the tackles. And he’s relentless from that stand point. Tremendous upside with this guy.”

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NFL.com projected Willis as a second rounder, and he admitted he was surprised he lasted until the 73rd overall pick.

“My agent and I kept an open mind for what could happen,” he said. “He gave me a range between 19th and 45th. I don’t know exactly why I got to the point where I’m at. I don’t know why teams passed on me. I don’t know exactly what the deal was.”

Willis said being overlooked is nothing new for him after Kansas State was his only Division I offer coming out of high school in Kansas City, Mo.

“I’m in the same position as I was there,” he said. “Like one of my pre-senior seasons, nobody was talking about me, I wasn’t on anybody’s awards for defensive player of the year or anything like that. And then I show up at the end of the year, I’m Defensive Player of the Year. And same thing with this year — no one was talking about me, I wasn’t in any conversations on TV networks. Same thing at the combine. No one talked about me, even though I gave the overall best performance at the combine.

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“It’s been like that my whole entire career,” he continued. “I’ve never been in the conversation, but I always find a way to get in the conversation.”

Willis began his career at KSU playing right defensive end but played exclusively on the left side as a senior.

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With two-time Pro Bowler Carlos Dunlap entrenched as LDE for the Bengals, Willis will battled for a spot in the rotation behind starter Michael Johnson on the right side.

“Obviously, he’s going to start from the back and work his way in just like all the guys that come in here,” Guenther said. “But I think even having an extra guy at defensive end, it takes some of the snaps off guys we already have, so it makes everybody fresh to play in those games. Like I said, he’s not just a pass rusher. He can play all downs, all the time. It’s a good guy to have in the arsenal.”

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