How good was Bengals '17 draft.

[BengalChris]

(03-25-2018, 10:20 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I hear a lot of people say stuff like "The Bengals used to draft well, but not any more" or "The Bengals had a couple of good drafts a few years ago, but that was just a fluke" or "It's been a while since we had a good draft".

Maybe they are not specifically complaining about 2017, but they are lumping it in with the weaker drafts we have had in the last few years.

The 2017 draft has turned out to be above average for the Bengals despite the failure of Ross.

I am one of those who doesn't see the recent drafts as being as good as previous ones and here's some examples as to why.

Just because we ended up with some players getting playing time from a draft doesn't mean they were good draft picks. Look at Ogbuehi and Fisher. Both have had lots of playing time the last couple of years and look at what that cost the team. It cost wins and helped contribute to no playoffs.

Going back earlier we spent 2nd round picks on Hunt and Still. Both wasted a lot of coach time and contributed little.

2012 produced Zeitler, Kirkpatrick, Marvin Jones, Sanu and George Iloka. That's a top quality draft.

2011 produced AJ Green, Andy Dalton and Clint Boling. That's two pro bowlers and another good starter. A quality draft.

2010 produced Gresham, Dunlap and Atkins. Two key top starters came from this draft.

Now let's look some that were not so spectacular.

2013 Eifert, Bernard, Berkhead and Shawn Williams. Eifert turned out great, but only part time. Bernard is also a contributor. Shawn Williams is a guy who couldn't replace Nelson, but does start.

2014 Dennard, Hill, Clarke, Bodine, McCarron, Flowers. Bodine gave us weak Center play for 4 years. Dennard is a good player, but he took too long to start in the slot. Hill is a better player than fans give him credit for. Had to run behind Bodine, Og and Fisher, sad. Clarke was cut after 3 useless seasons.

2015 Ogbuehi, Fisher, Kroft, Shaw. Kroft starts when Eifert can't and does ok. Og and Fisher were flops. Shaw is a decent rotation guy. This was not a good draft.

2016 Jackson, Boyd, Vigil, Billings, Westerman. Jackson is a star in the making. Billings is in the rotation. Westerman we really haven't seen enough of. Vigil is starting to the determent of the team. Boyd has not been able to replace Sanu in the slot.


2014, 2015 and 2016 were not as good and 2010, 2011 and 2012.