Steelers build thru Drafts but Top picks tend to take starting jobs sooner - Our flaw

[*ochocincos*]

I'd have to go back and do research on Steeler needs the past five years, but it does seem they draft for need in the first 2-3 rounds whereas Bengals lean more toward BPA. With that said, the Bengals do give their rookie/sophomore players some meaningful snaps, but they do typically have veterans in front of them. But some of the Bengals' young guys (especially first-round rookies) have had injuries derail their snap opportunities.

Steelers past first rounders since 2012 in reverse order:
TJ Watt - 751 snaps as a rookie
Artie Burns - 810 snaps as a rookie
Bud Dupree - 563 snaps as a rookie
Ryan Shazier - 258 snaps as a rookie
Jarvis Jones - 630 snaps as a rookie
David DeCastro - 136 snaps as a rookie
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3148 snaps (average 524.67 snaps per player)

Bengals past first rounders since 2012 in reverse order:
John Ross - 17 snaps as a rookie
William Jackson III - 0 snaps as a rookie
Cedric Ogbuehi - 65 snaps as a rookie
Darqueze Dennard - 62 snaps as a rookie
Tyler Eifert - 673 snaps as a rookie
Kevin Zeitler - 1051 snaps as a rookie
Dre Kirkpatrick - 42 snaps as a rookie
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1910 snaps (average 272.86 snaps per player)

Clearly, the Bengals' rookie snap counts are covered primarily by just Zeitler and then Eifert. Five out of the seven rookies did not even reach 100 primarily due to injuries.

At the end of the day, all the fans want is better production whether it's the veterans or the young guys. The Bengals are not getting a lot of immediate snaps and/or production from their drafted players in recent years and the veterans are not being as productive as we'd like.