Just bored the other night and looked into the players drafted since Zach Taylor became Head Coach.
The Bengals have drafted 41 since 2019.
Only 10 are no longer with the team.

Do what you will with that information. Love to hear any opinions on what this means / doesn't mean.

Player - Draft Year - Team Status
Jonah Williams  2019 Bengals
Drew Sample  2019 Bengals
Germaine Pratt  2019 Bengals
Ryan Finley  2019 Traded to Houston, 2021
Renell Wren  2019 Waived, 2021
Michael Jordan  2019 Waived, 2021
Trayveon Williams  2019 Bengals
Deshaun Davis  2019 Waived, 2019
Rodney Anderson  2019 Waived, 2020
Jordan Brown  2019 Waived, 2019
Joe Burrow  2020 Bengals
Tee Higgins  2020 Bengals
Logan Wilson  2020 Bengals
Akeem Davis-Gaither  2020 Bengals
Khalid Kareem  2020 Bengals
Hakeem Adeniji  2020 Waived, 2023
Markus Bailey  2020 Bengals
Ja'Marr Chase *  2021 Bengals
Jackson Carman  2021 Bengals
Joseph Ossai  2021 Bengals
Cameron Sample  2021 Bengals
Tyler Shelvin  2021 Released, 2022
D'Ante Smith  2021 Bengals
Evan McPherson  2021 Bengals
Trey Hill  2021 Bengals
Chris Evans  2021 Bengals
Wyatt Hubert  2021 Retired, 2022
Daxton Hill 2022 Bengals
Cam Taylor-Britt 2022 Bengals
Zachary Carter 2022 Bengals
Cordell Volson 2022 Bengals
Tycen Anderson 2022 Bengals
Jeffrey Gunter 2022 Waived, 2023
Myles Murphy 2023 Bengals
D. J. Turner 2023 Bengals
Jordan Battle 2023 Bengals
Charlie Jones 2023 Bengals
Chase Brown 2023 Bengals
Andrei Iosivas 2023 Bengals
Brad Robbins 2023 Bengals
D. J. Ivey 2023 Bengals

It's all about how good they are. And I'd say some of ours are really good.

The ZT era has been awesome for adding free agents as well. DJ Reader, Trey Hendrickson, Awuizie, Hilton, Cappa, Karras, Orlando Brown Jr all fantastic additions. Can't imagine our team without those 7 players.

Just to break it down:

Drafted: 31 total: 14 starters (7 O, 5 D, 2 Sp)
QB: Burrow
RB: Mixon; C. Brown, T. Williams, Evans
WR: Chase, Higgins, Boyd; C. Jones, Iosivas
TE: D. Sample
OT: J. Williams; Carman, D. Smith
OG: Volson;
C: T. Hill
-------16/25 on O; 7/11 Starters--------
DE: Hubbard; Ossai, C. Sample, Murphy
DT: Carter
LB: Wilson, Pratt; ADG, Bailey
CB: CTB; Turner, Ivey
S: D. Hill; Anderson, Battle
-------15/25 on D; 5/11 Starters--------
PK: McPherson
P: Robbins
------2/3 Specialists---------

UDFA's signed by Bengals originally = 2 (no starters)
TE: Wilcox
----------
DT/NT: Tupou

Signed by Bengals as FAs = 10. 9 starters.
TE: I. Smith
OT: O. Brown
OG: Cappa, Ford
C: Karras
DE: Hendrickson
DT/NT: Reader
CB: Awuzie, Hilton
S: Scott


Claimed off waivers or signed after being waived = 6. 0 starters.
QB: Browning
WR: Irwin
OG: Scharping
----------
DT/NT: Tufele
LB: Bachie
CB: J. Davis

Let's assess specifically the 2019-2021 draft classes, as we've seen them in the league for 2+ years now, so we should be able to assess success decently well.

2019:
Pratt took a couple years to get going, but he finally came into his own the past couple years, and he (surprisingly) re-signed with the Bengals on a new veteran contract. He's become the best of the 2019 draft class so far.
Jonah has been a good OT at times, a decent one, and a bad one. It's not great for his potential suitors this coming offseason that he got moved out of LT spot, but he may end up thriving at RT this season and land a pretty good veteran contract with the Bengals or someone else because of it.
The other guys are just perennial mediocre backups or off the team.

2020:
This was the home run draft class. Probably no coincidence the Bengals also picked first, giving them the best chance to grab talent.
Burrow, Higgins, and Wilson are very good, if not great.
ADG is a solid rotational guy, but I don't think he'll ever take over primary defensive snaps unless an injury occurs. He might have to go elsewhere to get more opportunity.
Bailey, like ADG, has become a solid backup.

2021:
Chase is a stud, but he's been about the only guy to show much to this point.
McPherson has been a great kicker selection.
Carman's only decent play has been at LT, and there's been a better/more experienced guy in front of him this whole time, so he's not going to get much playing time there unless injury occurs. It wouldn't surprise me if he's not re-signed when his rookie contract ends after 2024 season, if not let go before then.
Ossai was plagued with injury his first year, put up a few sacks last year. He could potentially turn into something toward the end of this season, but he's nothing more than a decent backup right now.
The rest are just perennial mediocre backups or off the team.

So out of 27 picks, 6 have been true hits so far - Pratt, Burrow, Higgins, Wilson, Chase, McPherson
Jonah has been ok, but not lived up to his draft status.
So you're looking at 22-26% of the picks in that window have been good, depending on your thoughts on Jonah.
From an offense/defense perspective, every hit has been a Day 1/2 selection. They haven't really had any diamonds in the rough emerge from Day 3 yet.

While I'd like to see a couple Day 3 offensive/defensive picks emerge into decent-or-better starters at some point, at least they're having pretty good success on early picks. It was those early picks that doomed the latter years of the Marvin era.

Im in the minority here, but the ZT drafts have not been great. Burrow and Chase were absolute lay up picks.

Outside of that, who have we hit on? Logan Wilson, Pratt, McPherson, Higgins? This team was built on free agents. Reader, Chido, Vonn Bell (past couple years), Nick Scott, Orlando Brown, Cappa, Karras, Eli Apple, Mike Hilton, BJ Hill, Hendrickson.

The next couple of years will go a long way in showing how good the 2022 and 2023 drafts were. Can Dax Hill, Cam Sample, Zach Carter, Volson, CTB, Murphy, etc. step up and become above average players? If so, I will take back my stance on the Bengals drafting as of late.

Sorry, but some of the picks the Bengals have made are just flat out bad. Carman was a terrible pick in the second. Drew sample was a terrible pick in the second. Ryan Finley was a terrible pick in the fourth.

(09-01-2023, 10:21 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Let's assess specifically the 2019-2021 draft classes, as we've seen them in the league for 2+ years now, so we should be able to assess success decently well.

2019:
Pratt took a couple years to get going, but he finally came into his own the past couple years, and he (surprisingly) re-signed with the Bengals on a new veteran contract. He's become the best of the 2019 draft class so far.
Jonah has been a good OT at times, a decent one, and a bad one. It's not great for his potential suitors this coming offseason that he got moved out of LT spot, but he may end up thriving at RT this season and land a pretty good veteran contract with the Bengals or someone else because of it.
The other guys are just perennial mediocre backups or off the team.

2020:
This was the home run draft class. Probably no coincidence the Bengals also picked first, giving them the best chance to grab talent.
Burrow, Higgins, and Wilson are very good, if not great.
ADG is a solid rotational guy, but I don't think he'll ever take over primary defensive snaps unless an injury occurs. He might have to go elsewhere to get more opportunity.
Bailey, like ADG, has become a solid backup.

2021:
Chase is a stud, but he's been about the only guy to show much to this point.
McPherson has been a great kicker selection.
Carman's only decent play has been at LT, and there's been a better/more experienced guy in front of him this whole time, so he's not going to get much playing time there unless injury occurs. It wouldn't surprise me if he's not re-signed when his rookie contract ends after 2024 season, if not let go before then.
Ossai was plagued with injury his first year, put up a few sacks last year. He could potentially turn into something toward the end of this season, but he's nothing more than a decent backup right now.
The rest are just perennial mediocre backups or off the team.

So out of 27 picks, 6 have been true hits so far - Pratt, Burrow, Higgins, Wilson, Chase, McPherson
Jonah has been ok, but not lived up to his draft status.
So you're looking at 22-26% of the picks in that window have been good, depending on your thoughts on Jonah.
From an offense/defense perspective, every hit has been a Day 1/2 selection. They haven't really had any diamonds in the rough emerge from Day 3 yet.

While I'd like to see a couple Day 3 offensive/defensive picks emerge into decent-or-better starters at some point, at least they're having pretty good success on early picks. It was those early picks that doomed the latter years of the Marvin era.

Zach Carter and Cam Sample are going to go a long way in determinig how good our drafting has been of late. Those guys have flashed recently. If they become good starters then I'll feel much better. 

(09-01-2023, 10:52 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Zach Carter and Cam Sample are going to go a long way in determinig how good our drafting has been of late. Those guys have flashed recently. If they become good starters then I'll feel much better. 

Carter and Sample are going to be the type of players we are going to be drafting for awhile just because of our draft position. They are solid football players that contribute when called upon. Yes, we are going to draft a klunker every now and then, but name a team that doesn't. Not every draft pick is going to be pro bowlers.
Personally, I think this year's draft class will go down as one of our best.

(09-01-2023, 10:52 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Zach Carter and Cam Sample are going to go a long way in determinig how good our drafting has been of late. Those guys have flashed recently. If they become good starters then I'll feel much better. 

I personally don't think Cam Sample will ever be a starter on this team.
He's being used primarily as a DE, and there's no way he takes over there for Hendrickson/Hubbard.
He's just a mediocre pressure guy.

While Carter isn't there yet obviously, I see him having more opportunity because he's predominantly playing inside, and the Bengals will be losing multiple DTs in the next couple years.

(09-01-2023, 11:36 AM)sandwedge Wrote: Carter and Sample are going to be the type of players we are going to be drafting for awhile just because of our draft position. They are solid football players that contribute when called upon. Yes, we are going to draft a klunker every now and then, but name a team that doesn't. Not every draft pick is going to be pro bowlers.
Personally, I think this year's draft class will go down as one of our best.

Those guys are being counted on to be not only contributers, but good starters once guys like Reader and BJ Hill leave. 

(09-01-2023, 02:16 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Those guys are being counted on to be not only contributers, but good starters once guys like Reader and BJ Hill leave. 

I am not sure we know that yet. I am not sure there are many who could replace Reader

Makes me happy that this list is this long because this is our only path to being a good team for the next decades. We are gonna have to get stars on 4-5 year rookie contracts. Doing that from picks 31 & 32 ? will be hard but can be done.


The question mark was supposed to be the sunglasses emoji

(09-01-2023, 05:22 PM)sandwedge Wrote: I am not sure we know that yet. I am not sure there are many who could replace Reader

Right. But he won't be on the team next year. One of those guys will replace him. For better or worse. 

Bottom line we have drafted well, outside of that horrible 2019 draft. Other than Williams and Pratt the whole draft was absolute garbage, and it showed on the field that year. Sample was an obvious bust, but if you look at what other teams did after the 3rd round the college draft that year didnt produce much in terms of talent overall. Obviously looking back now that would have been a great draft to trade back in the first and acquire future picks. Sweat and Burns were after Jonah and either would have been a nice DE.

(08-31-2023, 03:54 PM)GreenDragon Wrote: Just bored the other night and looked into the players drafted since Zach Taylor became Head Coach.
The Bengals have drafted 41 since 2019.
Only 10 are no longer with the team.

Do what you will with that information. Love to hear any opinions on what this means / doesn't mean.

Player - Draft Year - Team Status
Jonah Williams  2019 Bengals
Drew Sample  2019 Bengals
Germaine Pratt  2019 Bengals
Ryan Finley  2019 Traded to Houston, 2021
Renell Wren  2019 Waived, 2021
Michael Jordan  2019 Waived, 2021
Trayveon Williams  2019 Bengals
Deshaun Davis  2019 Waived, 2019
Rodney Anderson  2019 Waived, 2020
Jordan Brown  2019 Waived, 2019
Joe Burrow  2020 Bengals
Tee Higgins  2020 Bengals
Logan Wilson  2020 Bengals
Akeem Davis-Gaither  2020 Bengals
Khalid Kareem  2020 Bengals
Hakeem Adeniji  2020 Waived, 2023
Markus Bailey  2020 Bengals
Ja'Marr Chase *  2021 Bengals
Jackson Carman  2021 Bengals
Joseph Ossai  2021 Bengals
Cameron Sample  2021 Bengals
Tyler Shelvin  2021 Released, 2022
D'Ante Smith  2021 Bengals
Evan McPherson  2021 Bengals
Trey Hill  2021 Bengals
Chris Evans  2021 Bengals
Wyatt Hubert  2021 Retired, 2022
Daxton Hill 2022 Bengals
Cam Taylor-Britt 2022 Bengals
Zachary Carter 2022 Bengals
Cordell Volson 2022 Bengals
Tycen Anderson 2022 Bengals
Jeffrey Gunter 2022 Waived, 2023
Myles Murphy 2023 Bengals
D. J. Turner 2023 Bengals
Jordan Battle 2023 Bengals
Charlie Jones 2023 Bengals
Chase Brown 2023 Bengals
Andrei Iosivas 2023 Bengals
Brad Robbins 2023 Bengals
D. J. Ivey        2023 Bengals

Why does Chase have an asterisk?

(09-01-2023, 10:51 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Im in the minority here, but the ZT drafts have not been great. Burrow and Chase were absolute lay up picks.

Outside of that, who have we hit on? Logan Wilson, Pratt, McPherson, Higgins? This team was built on free agents. Reader, Chido, Vonn Bell (past couple years), Nick Scott, Orlando Brown, Cappa, Karras, Eli Apple, Mike Hilton, BJ Hill, Hendrickson.

The next couple of years will go a long way in showing how good the 2022 and 2023 drafts were. Can Dax Hill, Cam Sample, Zach Carter, Volson, CTB, Murphy, etc. step up and become above average players? If so, I will take back my stance on the Bengals drafting as of late.

Sorry, but some of the picks the Bengals have made are just flat out bad. Carman was a terrible pick in the second. Drew sample was a terrible pick in the second. Ryan Finley was a terrible pick in the fourth.

Yeah, this team is kind of like watching the lost decade of the 1990s all over again isn't it? Can't wait for the Zac sucks billboards all over town..  

(09-01-2023, 10:16 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: Why does Chase have an asterisk?

Hmmm. I don't know. Probably some stat that was being marked on wiki. 

Really nine. Gunter is on the practice squad.

(09-02-2023, 12:59 PM)grampahol Wrote: Yeah, this team is kind of like watching the lost decade of the 1990s all over again isn't it? Can't wait for the Zac sucks billboards all over town..  

What? 

I thought Rodney Anderson was gonna be a god here lol