GIVE ME YOUR BENGALS DRAFT GRADES!

[Shake n Blake]

(04-29-2018, 03:24 PM)Beaker Wrote: It seems to me that ppl who are giving this draft a lower grade are doing so for lack of picking more O linemen. But most ppl also seem to forget that its been known for Months that this draft class was weak for O line.

Also ppl seem to forget that Westerman and Redmond, and to an extent Kent Perkins all played very well last year when they finally got their chance. They were not just coming in late in games and getting mop up garbage experience. They played full games against two teams in DET and BAL who both needed to win to make the playoffs. And these guys played extremely well, and in fact, dominated for periods of time.

I would much rather go with the commodity we know in Westerman, Redmond and Perkins than in reaching for an unknown in a weak O line class. I give the coaches the benefit of knowing what we have vs what was available when we picked. You cannot just draft for the O line, we had holes all over the roster that they have addressed very well with a wide range of picks.

I give this draft a strong B. It did not get an A because we did not have sliders like we got last year at tremendous value like Willis and Lawson. But that's OK, sometimes the picks do not fall like they did last year.

Nobody forgot anything. 

1. Some people may not be 100% sold on Westerman and Redmond after a couple games.

Or maybe we have qualms about Fisher and his mediocre play + heart problems.

2. I'm not sure how weak this class really was. 

- 6 o-linemen taken in round 1.
- 10 taken in the first 39 picks. 
- 6 taken in round 2.
- 8 taken in round 3.
- 3 taken in round 4
- 5 taken in round 5
- 6 taken in round 6
- 4 taken in round 7

The Jessie Bates pick could've been used on Brian O'Neill or Brandon Parker, a pair of tackles that went a few picks later.
The Hubbard or Jefferson picks could've been Orlando Brown, Joseph Noteboom, Alex Brown or Chukwuma Okorafor.
Walton could've been Rick Leonard or Will Richardson.
Harris could've been Tyrell Crosby, Wyatt Teller or JaMarco Jones.


Obviously I'm not saying we should've went o-line all over the place, but there was some quality there. It was a little frustrating to watch Baltimore and Pittsburgh grab tackles right after we got Hubbard and Jefferson. I would've swapped Jefferson for Brown or Okorafor there. Jefferson seems like the super athletic project that never works here.

If not there, we also passed on Tyrell Crosby in the 5th. A guy CBS called a "mauler" and "a tremendous value".

Mind you, I haven't ripped this draft. Love it for the most part. I just have to ding them for not going o-line again until the very end. I think there was some quality guys available to us.