The Cincinnati Bengals spent three picks on linebackers in the 2020 NFL draft — but one of them could’ve been Texas Tech’s Jordyn Brooks.

Brooks came off the board at No. 27 in the first round to the Seattle Seahawks. But it sounds like the Bengals had hopes he’d fall to the first pick of the second round.

Here’s the note from Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

“When Seattle foiled them with the 27th pick to take Brooks, Wilson was probably talked about in the second round since they believe he’ll provide an immediate impact on defense. But Higgins’ dripping first-round talent of 27 touchdowns in 37 games couldn’t be ignored.”

Yet look at how it all worked out.

Instead of panicking and leaning heavily into need to get Logan Wilson, the Bengals instead got an A.J. Green-esque prospect with Tee Higgins. They then turned around and got Wilson anyway at the top of Round 3.

Make no mistake — Brooks is an excellent prospect. A four-year player with good production and instincts at 240 pounds, we’ll probably be hearing about him for a long time if things go well in Seattle.

But this speaks to how badly Bengals coaches wanted to dramatically remake the linebacker room, never mind how highly they view Wilson. Tracking Brooks against Wilson over the next few years should be quite the interesting exercise.