04-20-2022, 02:41 PM
I thought I'd bring back this thread series for draft week, since it's always good to keep an eye on what the opposition is thinking even during the offseason. I'll limit it just to AFC North teams, since they're the premier competition standing in the way of the Bengals' 2022 success. If there's concern about this being relevant to the Bengals' forum, I think anything in-division is relevant and many of the prospects Bengals fans are targeting might also be targeted by those that we loathe most.
Pittsburgh Steelers
http://thesteelersfans.com/forums/threads/too-many-holes-to-trade-up.28442/
http://thesteelersfans.com/forums/threads/hypothetical-draft-question-if-pickett-willis-or-ridder-is-there-20-do-the-steelers-draft-a-qb.28472/
http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/52234-The-ONE-player-you-would-trade-up-for
http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/52247-Draft-capital-and-trading-down
http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/52243-Poll-Rank-MTrubisky-vs-2022-QB-Class
http://www.steelersuniverse.com/forums/showthread.php/33745-Hypothetical-draft-question-If-Pickett-Willis-or-Ridder-is-there-20-do-the-Steelers-draft-a-QB
http://www.steelersuniverse.com/forums/showthread.php/33720-Which-QB-prospect-will-have-the-most-success
http://www.steelersuniverse.com/forums/showthread.php/33567-Players-Who-Visited-with-the-Steelers
Unsurprisingly, the big focus in Steeler nation for the draft is on quarterbacks. I'm not sure they're even going to take a quarterback, but regardless when QB is on the table it is naturally going to absorb the dialogue. They have had numerous pre-draft QB visits, to be fair. I expected a decent amount of homerism over Kenny Pickett, but there isn't as much as one might think -- a lot of Steelers fans either think he'll be gone (Panthers @ 6 overall) or that he just isn't good enough for a first round selection. Instead the ones going after QB are focused on Malik Willis. I really like that 5th link up there though in which they're comparing Trubisky to this QB class and, in some cases, kind of realizing that these picks might represent lateral moves or worse.
I've seen a number of mocks projecting certain Bengals fan favorite targets to Pittsburgh, either players we literally desire (e.g., Linderbaum or Wyatt) or in later rounds Bearcats that none of us want to see in that city (e.g., Ridder or Pierce). We might want to mentally prepare ourselves for that kind of thing coming to pass, because it's quite plausible.
Cleveland Browns
https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/board/105323/Contents/looking-at-this-draft-class-pick-34-to-150-186333139/?page=1
https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/board/105323/Contents/the-draft-it-is-starting-to-look-interesting-down-to-9-days-185782093/?page=1
https://www.dawgtalkers.net/ubbthreads.php/topics/1936020/pre-draft-afc-contenders#Post1936020 ***
https://www.thebrownsboard.com/topic/64048-2022-draft-prospects-and-off-season-addition-breakdowns/
https://www.barkinghard.com/forums/threads/in-the-upcoming-draft-who-is-most-likely-to-be-overdrafted.490163/
https://www.barkinghard.com/forums/threads/pre-draft-visit-thread-for-2022.489697/
*** This isn't exactly a draft thread, but some of y'all might still enjoy taking a look. It's interesting to see what division rivals, outside the context of smack talk idiocy, actually believe about the state of the division/conference and their place in it. Some of them view the Bengals as a major Super Bowl threat, and others think we're due for the obligatory regression to the mean. We'll see.
Browns fans seem to be a bit all over the place on their draft prospects (probably because they gave up premium picks for Watson). The vague consensus seems to be on targeting edge rushers and wide receivers, both of which would make plenty of sense given that Clowney still isn't signed and their WR/TE group was annihilated by free agency and trades unless you believe Amari Cooper makes up the difference (I don't).
Baltimore Ravens
https://forum.russellstreetreport.com/showthread.php?226417-Ravens-2022-Draft-Visits
https://forum.russellstreetreport.com/showthread.php?222886-Post-your-Mock-Draft
https://purpleflock.com/threads/3734/page-94
One potential nuisance of the first round of the draft may prove to be that many of the Bengals' most likely targets align with the Ravens' biggest needs. Your favorite cornerback prospect might very well end up wearing purple next season, so be wary about those hopes you may get up. Granted, they're more in the McDuffie range than the Elam/Booth range, so perhaps it won't matter. But it could. Some of their fans have also taken a liking to Linderbaum, understandably. My biggest anticipatory irritation would be if they end up with Karlaftis.
Pittsburgh Steelers
http://thesteelersfans.com/forums/threads/too-many-holes-to-trade-up.28442/
http://thesteelersfans.com/forums/threads/hypothetical-draft-question-if-pickett-willis-or-ridder-is-there-20-do-the-steelers-draft-a-qb.28472/
http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/52234-The-ONE-player-you-would-trade-up-for
http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/52247-Draft-capital-and-trading-down
http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/52243-Poll-Rank-MTrubisky-vs-2022-QB-Class
http://www.steelersuniverse.com/forums/showthread.php/33745-Hypothetical-draft-question-If-Pickett-Willis-or-Ridder-is-there-20-do-the-Steelers-draft-a-QB
http://www.steelersuniverse.com/forums/showthread.php/33720-Which-QB-prospect-will-have-the-most-success
http://www.steelersuniverse.com/forums/showthread.php/33567-Players-Who-Visited-with-the-Steelers
Unsurprisingly, the big focus in Steeler nation for the draft is on quarterbacks. I'm not sure they're even going to take a quarterback, but regardless when QB is on the table it is naturally going to absorb the dialogue. They have had numerous pre-draft QB visits, to be fair. I expected a decent amount of homerism over Kenny Pickett, but there isn't as much as one might think -- a lot of Steelers fans either think he'll be gone (Panthers @ 6 overall) or that he just isn't good enough for a first round selection. Instead the ones going after QB are focused on Malik Willis. I really like that 5th link up there though in which they're comparing Trubisky to this QB class and, in some cases, kind of realizing that these picks might represent lateral moves or worse.
I've seen a number of mocks projecting certain Bengals fan favorite targets to Pittsburgh, either players we literally desire (e.g., Linderbaum or Wyatt) or in later rounds Bearcats that none of us want to see in that city (e.g., Ridder or Pierce). We might want to mentally prepare ourselves for that kind of thing coming to pass, because it's quite plausible.
Cleveland Browns
https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/board/105323/Contents/looking-at-this-draft-class-pick-34-to-150-186333139/?page=1
https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns/board/105323/Contents/the-draft-it-is-starting-to-look-interesting-down-to-9-days-185782093/?page=1
https://www.dawgtalkers.net/ubbthreads.php/topics/1936020/pre-draft-afc-contenders#Post1936020 ***
https://www.thebrownsboard.com/topic/64048-2022-draft-prospects-and-off-season-addition-breakdowns/
https://www.barkinghard.com/forums/threads/in-the-upcoming-draft-who-is-most-likely-to-be-overdrafted.490163/
https://www.barkinghard.com/forums/threads/pre-draft-visit-thread-for-2022.489697/
*** This isn't exactly a draft thread, but some of y'all might still enjoy taking a look. It's interesting to see what division rivals, outside the context of smack talk idiocy, actually believe about the state of the division/conference and their place in it. Some of them view the Bengals as a major Super Bowl threat, and others think we're due for the obligatory regression to the mean. We'll see.
Browns fans seem to be a bit all over the place on their draft prospects (probably because they gave up premium picks for Watson). The vague consensus seems to be on targeting edge rushers and wide receivers, both of which would make plenty of sense given that Clowney still isn't signed and their WR/TE group was annihilated by free agency and trades unless you believe Amari Cooper makes up the difference (I don't).
Baltimore Ravens
https://forum.russellstreetreport.com/showthread.php?226417-Ravens-2022-Draft-Visits
https://forum.russellstreetreport.com/showthread.php?222886-Post-your-Mock-Draft
https://purpleflock.com/threads/3734/page-94
One potential nuisance of the first round of the draft may prove to be that many of the Bengals' most likely targets align with the Ravens' biggest needs. Your favorite cornerback prospect might very well end up wearing purple next season, so be wary about those hopes you may get up. Granted, they're more in the McDuffie range than the Elam/Booth range, so perhaps it won't matter. But it could. Some of their fans have also taken a liking to Linderbaum, understandably. My biggest anticipatory irritation would be if they end up with Karlaftis.
