ESPN draft insider Mel Kiper Jr. had enough of the constant bashing of the Cincinnati Bengals franchise. Kiper Jr, appeared on ESPN's First Take to talk all things about the draft, and he didn't mince his words talking about how much success the Bengals have had.

ā€œWell first of all, the bashing of the Bengalsā€¦the Bengals have been to the Super Bowl. Four teams in the NFL have never been to the Super Bowlā€¦they had success with Carson Palmer, they went to the playoffs, he got hurt in the playoff game. And then Andy Dalton went to the playoffsā€¦This notion the Bengals have been just horribleā€¦is ridiculous.ā€

All this talk comes after Joe Burrow told the media that he does have some leverage with the franchise. Burrow has made clear he wants to go to a winning franchise, which made some question if he would want to play in Cincinnati.

ā€œI do have leverage,ā€ the former LSU quarterback said via ESPN during a reception in Fort Worth in which he accepted the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top college quarterback. ā€œ[The Bengals] have their process and I have my process. We haven't even gotten to the [NFL] combine yet. There's a lot of things that happen leading up to the draft and a lot of information gathered.ā€

There is still a ways to go before the draft, but could we be running into another Eli Manning situation where he refused to play for the San Diego Chargers.