Not sure if I've ever made a mock draft before. Here goes.. I used WalterFootball as a reference as far as where guys will land.

Round 1: James Daniels, Center. Center is our biggest weakness on this team after trading for Glenn. We're in the perfect spot to nab the 1st center, so why not? I thought about going with Hernandez here, and seriously considered linebacker Rashaan Evans, but I'm just not confident we still have a shot at our center in the 2nd.

Round 2: Mike Gesicki, Tight End. This is strictly a best player available pick. Walter has him going one pick before us to the Packers. The Packers just signed Jimmy Graham, so I doubt they take Gesicki. I'm not sure we do either. If we bring Eifert back and he's healthy, this guy may not see the field this year. But I just can't ignore the upside with this guy. Huge target for Dalton. When Dalton has a big pass catching tight end to throw to, he's at his best. Other options may be a safety like Rodney Harrison, or maybe an offensive tackle like Orlando Brown, or maybe corner, linebacker, defensive end--who knows what we do here. Picking a center in the first really opens up this pick for anything.

Round 3: Arden Key, DE. Walter Football has Key dropping big time because of off field issues. Sounds like our kinda guy. MJ is nearing the end, and who knows if we have the money for Dunlap after we resign Atkins. There's a lot of defensive ends that will be available around our 1st pick in this round, so maybe the value is too hard to pass up.

Round 3: Alex Cappa, Offensive Tackle. I still think we pick up a tackle in this draft if one falls to us. Maybe Orlando Brown was the guy in round 2, and we go a different route with this pick. I couldn't pass up on Gesicki in round 2 though. Walter Football has Cappa going one pick before us at the bottom of round 3, so this seems like a possibility.

Round 4: Shaquem Griffen, LB. Walter Football has the one armed wonder going in the 4th round. This guy has done nothing but impress with his combine performance, he has great tape, he has a great motor, great drive. I'm really impressed with his character. The only knock is he's missing a left hand. Griffen just seems like our kind of player from a character standpoint. I think we take a chance on him in the 4th.

Round 5: BJ Hill, DT. Here's where I see us nabbing a defensive tackle. I've heard some good things on the Bengalsboard about BJ Hill--comparing him to Geno. I've heard bfine compare DT Pittman to Geno too, so who knows. Don't know what to believe, but this looks like a good spot for us to take a DT. We've had decent success drafting defensive lineman around this area in the draft before.

Round 5: Jamarcus King, CB. I think we need to nab a corner around here. I'm happy with our top 4 corners. I'd like to see us resign Pacman--we'll see. We need to add another body though. King's body type looks a lot like Richard Sherman. He has big play-making ability too. He looks like he could use some coaching to work on his technique though. In the 5th though, I say take a chance on him.

Round 5: This is where I'm not really sure. Well I'm not really sure about any of it.   Do we take a safety here? A wideout? Maybe we can find another Marvin Jones here. Maybe a wideout with punt returning capabilities? A guard?

Overall, I think we can hit on a lot of needs with this draft. One area I didn't touch on was safety. We have a couple starters, but we don't have a bigtime playmaker. Is there a big time playmaking safety available where we're picking in this draft? I don't know.

Another area I didn't touch on was guard. I considered Hernandez in the first, but center is the bigger need, and I'd rather grab who we view as the best center in the draft at 21. I think the coaches could be happy with what we have at guard at this point. But maybe they would've liked us to grab a guard in the middle rounds. I do picture Hernandez on one side and Boling on the other and that makes me drool a bit, but I think we need to take the center there. But hey, if we can nab Hernandez then our center in the second instead of Gesicki, we're looking really good up front.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000924220/article/2018-nfl-draft-missing-piece-that-could-put-five-teams-over-top
Above is a link to an nfl.com article. They allude to the fact that theres a lot of tight ends worth drafting this year. The article specifically talks about the top 3 tight ends.

I keep going back and forth on the center issue. Do we wait until round two, or pull the trigger round 1? I’d love to get will hernandez and a great center, but we’re actually not in bad shape at guard right now.

Ive tried a few times to do new mock drafts and im never as happy as this mock i made last month, in which i dont draft a guard/tackle until the bottom of the third round.

Which brings me to my question: Does anyone else see a lot of potential value in round two? If one of the top 3 tight ends fall to us there it would be nice to have already grabbed the first center in the draft at 21–whoever that may be. Or maybe theres a defensive end worth picking there. Or maybe you reverse it and take that defensive end or tight end or linebacker or guard in the 1st and center in the second.

I just like the idea of having a 1st round pick have the potential of starting this year. I also like the idea of getting our biggest need taken care of right away, opening up bpa for the rest if the draft.

(04-02-2018, 10:55 PM)Bengalstripes18 Wrote: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000924220/article/2018-nfl-draft-missing-piece-that-could-put-five-teams-over-top
Above is a link to an nfl.com article. They allude to the fact that theres a lot of tight ends worth drafting this year. The article specifically talks about the top 3 tight ends.

I keep going back and forth on the center issue. Do we wait until round two, or pull the trigger round 1? I’d love to get will hernandez and a great center, but we’re actually not in bad shape at guard right now.

Ive tried a few times to do new mock drafts and im never as happy as this mock i made last month, in which i dont draft a guard/tackle until the bottom of the third round.

Which brings me to my question: Does anyone else see a lot of potential value in round two? If one of the top 3 tight ends fall to us there it would be nice to have already grabbed the first center in the draft at 21–whoever that may be. Or maybe theres a defensive end worth picking there. Or maybe you reverse it and take that defensive end or tight end or linebacker or guard in the 1st and center in the second.

I just like the idea of having a 1st round pick have the potential of starting this year. I also like the idea of getting our biggest need taken care of right away, opening up bpa for the rest if the draft.

Regarding the tight end topic, the fact that our top 3 TE's are FA's after this year is the main reason to consider drafting one in the upper half. WTS, Eifert showed class by signing a one year 'prove it' deal, and if he remains healthy, he may accept a reasonable offer. Kroft has shown himself to be effective but is not to be confused with an Eifert-like quality player. If he has a great year, then he may get more on the open market than the Bengals would want to pay. Money-wise, he kinda controls his destiny, given an opportunity to shine one more time. Uzomah is the main one to upgrade from, and an early draft pick this year would accomplish that.

As for Center, I'm in the camp of wanting the best available for many years now. I'd be happy with whomever Pollack wants if we pick one at 21. We are better off at guard with who we currently have than we are at center. RT is just a hair less of a need imho, but still a real need unless Hart is a surprise, and I hope we get one after picking a center. Pollack/Lewis may have their eye on a much lesser-know FA that no one has mentioned yet. I can only hope this opportunity to really bolster the Oline isn't squandered. 

(04-02-2018, 11:57 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: Regarding the tight end topic, the fact that our top 3 TE's are FA's after this year is the main reason to consider drafting one in the upper half. WTS, Eifert showed class by signing a one year 'prove it' deal, and if he remains healthy, he may accept a reasonable offer. Kroft has shown himself to be effective but is not to be confused with an Eifert-like quality player. If he has a great year, then he may get more on the open market than the Bengals would want to pay. Money-wise, he kinda controls his destiny, given an opportunity to shine one more time. Uzomah is the main one to upgrade from, and an early draft pick this year would accomplish that.

As for Center, I'm in the camp of wanting the best available for many years now. I'd be happy with whomever Pollack wants if we pick one at 21. We are better off at guard with who we currently have than we are at center. RT is just a hair less of a need imho, but still a real need unless Hart is a surprise, and I hope we get one after picking a center. Pollack/Lewis may have their eye on a much lesser-know FA that no one has mentioned yet. I can only hope this opportunity to really bolster the Oline isn't squandered. 

I kinda forgot all three tight ends have contracts expiring, makes even more sense to grab a tight end. With Eifert a question-mark going forward, definitely makes sense to grab one. It's pretty safe to say one of those three top tight ends will be there in the second. Granted we don't have to grab one that high. If we have our center spot filled though, it allows us to pick the best player there in round 2.

I would feel pretty good if we picked the first center in the draft at 21. A lot of teams have had success doing that; I can think of a couple divisional opponents specifically. Give Pollack the opportunity to grab his guy at 21; i'd feel pretty good about that. And it allows us to go BPA the rest of the draft (allowing us to make good value picks). 


In round 2 we would likely be looking at a safety, tight end, or possibly defensive end or linebacker that falls.
With two picks in round 3 we could look at defensive end or offensive tackle, and we could grab a first round type talent linebacker in Shaquem Griffen at the bottom of the round.
Round 4 might be the spot we go DT, or offensive line, linebacker, safety
Round 5: we definitely have a DT and secondary player taken by the end of the round.

(03-15-2018, 06:07 AM)Bengalstripes18 Wrote: Round 2: Mike Gesicki, Tight End. This is strictly a best player available pick. Walter has him going one pick before us to the Packers. The Packers just signed Jimmy Graham, so I doubt they take Gesicki. I'm not sure we do either. If we bring Eifert back and he's healthy, this guy may not see the field this year. But I just can't ignore the upside with this guy. Huge target for Dalton. When Dalton has a big pass catching tight end to throw to, he's at his best. Other options may be a safety like Rodney Harrison, or maybe an offensive tackle like Orlando Brown, or maybe corner, linebacker, defensive end--who knows what we do here. Picking a center in the first really opens up this pick for anything.

The Bengals have shown many times over the past decade at least that they don't always pick players based on immediate need but rather which positions have players in contract years or close to it. Gesicki (or some other TE) could definitely be in play given Eifert, Kroft, and Uzomah are all in contract years.