Grade The Draft

[*ochocincos*]

(05-09-2023, 01:27 PM)3wt Wrote: This is kind of how I see it.  I hear that the TE is not really our most used position and that we had Irv Smith and  Drew Sample as our two projected starters that would perform in the context of an 11 man personnel based offense.   In other words our bread and butter is wide receivers.

And I also understand that Washington had issues - primarily with his knees and some rawness in his route running.

1) I think of Gronk.   He had major back issues before being drafted and he had a relatively long career.  And Pittsburgh obviously felt like the third round was a safe enought place to take him
2) I think of the limitations of our offense - particularly against defenses like Baltimore's, where we just did not seem to have the ability to grind it down the field.   A guy like Washington is such a devastating blocker and he makes really tough contested catches.  He is a weapon in the running game, third down and end zone packages.   Combined with our other skill players it would have made us very difficult to stop and would have helped us to control the clock to our advantage.

Just feels like it gives our offense a dimension it has not had and makes us even harder to defend.

I really like all our picks, but the Washington pick would have been too hard for me to pass up.

Sure, there is some rawness to Washington as a pass catcher, but the blocking is likely better than anyone the Bengals have right now. 
And I can't see him being any worse in the passing game than Drew Sample.

If there was an injury concern with Washington, I wouldn't have expected the Steelers to take him.
As much as I don't like them, they are usually pretty solid when it comes to evaluating talent.
They may not be great at every pick, but they always seem to get some kind of decency.
Steelers didn't have an immediate need at TE given they had Freiermuth, so I think they took Washington believing he could be something special.

For the Bengals' sake, I hope the decision to trade back and the Steelers ultimately taking him right after doesn't bite them.