(03-20-2018, 05:40 PM)Knightmare on Elm Street Wrote: The versatile lineman from Michigan often get lost in the conversation. Experts say his position in the NFL will be Center, but has experience at all 5 spots. Could be had in the 3rd or 4th round if we don't go center early.
http://www.nfl.com/prospects/mason-cole?id=32462018-0002-5600-8995-5da6060a8db7
What are you guys thoughts on him?

(03-20-2018, 07:46 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: If we don’t take a center in the first 3 rounds, then Cole becomes my favorite center option. If we do take a center early, I still like the idea of taking Cole as a super back-up for all 3 interior spots.

(03-20-2018, 05:40 PM)Knightmare on Elm Street Wrote: The versatile lineman from Michigan often get lost in the conversation. Experts say his position in the NFL will be Center, but has experience at all 5 spots. Could be had in the 3rd or 4th round if we don't go center early.
http://www.nfl.com/prospects/mason-cole?id=32462018-0002-5600-8995-5da6060a8db7
What are you guys thoughts on him?

(03-21-2018, 08:35 AM)Au165 Wrote: People tend to get caught up in early round lineman, but there are plenty of good lines made up of mid to late round picks. Heck look at Andrew Norwell who went from UDFA to highest paid guard ever.

(03-21-2018, 08:35 AM)Au165 Wrote: People tend to get caught up in early round lineman, but there are plenty of good lines made up of mid to late round picks. Heck look at Andrew Norwell who went from UDFA to highest paid guard ever.

(03-21-2018, 02:14 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: That's true, but we've also seen the likes of Nate Livings, Eric Ghiacuc, Bodine and countless other mid to late rounders in Cincy that never contribute anything close to good line play.

If we really are trying to win games with the current core players, we need to have guys that can step right in and play.  We can't mess around with another year of shitty interior o-line play.

(03-21-2018, 02:55 PM)Au165 Wrote: Interior lineman is the place where mid round guys flourish. If you told me we needed tackles, which we still may but this conversation revolves around interior, I'd agree with you more. Clint Boling was a 4th round pick and while he wasn't great his rookie year, very few lineman are, he has developed well over the years. My point is the idea that if we don't take a guy in the first 2 rounds we are destined to fail is just false expectations. Plenty of lineman from early rounds end up failures just like plenty of lineman in the mid to late flourish, the draft and where guys are taken doesn't dictate how good someone will. 

This really is about fixing expectations, a lot of people have differing opinions of how to fix the team and many will be upset if their concern isn't addressed in the first round, we found last year that sometimes you can fix issues with 4th round picks. I think in this class there are plenty of 3rd and 4th round graded lineman that can make our team better, but with that said I am not opposed to one early I simply don't think it is a requirement if the board shakes out differently.

(03-21-2018, 03:31 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Agreed.

But I think for most people, the thought around taking players earlier is because you have less options to pick from the later you get.
Yet ultimately, a good scouting department can find those mid-late round guys who perform well. So you don't NEED to take someone early necessarily if you're good at finding those gems late.
I think though at this point, many fans don't believe the Bengals are good at finding those Day 3 gems and therefore must try to address early.

I'll add in though that the problem could very well have been Paul Alexander's approach at evaluating players and maybe Frank Pollack will have better success finding late-round gems. We'll have to wait and see I guess.