Grade The Draft

[*ochocincos*]

(05-08-2023, 12:37 AM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: I think some of it may be as you say, regarding individual posters. 

But I think the lack of A's may have other explanations. 

One, aside from the 6th round punter, Robbins, all our picks projectc as backups next year. Hard to give a draft an A when you pick 7 backups and a starting punter. Plus, we passed on the hometown kid who most people had as a super safe, can't miss TE prospect. A position of need. Kind of deflating for a lot of folk. 

Two, we did not land a HR guy. Wright, Forbes, Robinson, Kancey. Maybe even Gibbs or Kincaid. Singles & doubles screams B/B+. 

Lastly, we didn't draft or acquire anyone who would allow us to shed a high salary guy & make additional moves. RT or RB. 

It comes down to need, I feel.
The most controversial picks were Murphy and Battle, which some (many?) fans felt weren't as big of needs compared to the likes of TE and DT.

Bengals have Hendrickson, Hubbard, and Ossai all under contract over the next two years. However, Reader and Tupou are set to hit FA after this season and the Bengals aren't getting as much pressure inside, so it seemed to make sense to get an interior guy over an edge.
I think people are more in favor of Murphy over Battle though because the Bengals could play Murphy or one of the other DEs inside to get pressure from all over.

Battle is probably the biggest head scratcher, especially knowing Darnell Washington was there and they chose to instead trade back just for a 6th round comp. And the Bengals signed Nick Scott as the starter for SS, which some thought was a good value signing.
Had Bengals selected Darnell Washington instead of Battle in 3rd round and not traded back to get that extra 6th rounder, I would almost assuredly say more fans on this board would have voted an A.
A punter could have been selected with the 7th rounder instead of another CB, or even picked one up as UDFA, which most punters are.