Still just sick over this...

[PDub80]

(09-05-2015, 10:27 PM)BengalChris Wrote: We almost never draft straight best player available, and few teams do. Instead position needs factor heavily in the Bengals draft picks. We were going to draft two OTs this year regardless and one of them was going to be in the 1st round no matter what. That's just how this team drafts.

The team tries to fill a position of need (or a position it believes is going to be a near future need) with the best player it can draft. That's different than BPA.

In 2010 we needed a TE and we had Ocho and Owens for starting WRs. So we draft Gresham while Dez Bryant was still on the board. The fact is we were going to draft one of the top TEs that year no matter what and no dangling super star was going to stop us.

Hindsight is always better and no one really knows what Mikey B sees anyway.

- In 2010 they signed Owens on the eve of training camp..... well AFTER the draft in 2010.
- Dez Bryant had so many red flags coming out of school I don't blame the Bengals for looking elsewhere at the time.
- The way the Bengals were being ran changed dramatically and almost immediately after the 2010 season thanks to Carson Palmer's stand and public shaming of the organization.

FACT: The Bengals have been one of, if not THE best drafting team in the NFL as a whole over the last 5 drafts and have built what I would consider one of the top 5 rosters in football for 2015 and a top 10 roster in the years leading up to now. So, I guess I am fine with their draft strategy and accept it without prejudice. In NFL terms 5 seasons is a generation ago and to have to go back that far to find a legit gripe using hindsight - and a paper thin one at that - speaks volumes to how impactful the changes made back then have been.

Again, the Bengals are a first class organization when it comes to drafting, players being happy, contract management (The Cap), player retention, in the community, etc. I surmise that the investments made in changing culminate into an exciting year for the Bengals on the field in 2015.