08-20-2021, 02:43 PM
(08-20-2021, 01:10 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Don't think that's true at all.
Just in 2019, the Bengals traded down and picked up 2 extra picks (Renell Wren and Trayveon Williams) and took Drew Sample. Elgton Jenkins and AJ Brown (both positions of need at the time) were both taken in the gap between their original pick and the Sample pick. Also a better TE (Irv Smith Jr) was also taken in between those picks.
In 2017, the Bengals traded down and picked up 1 extra pick (Josh Malone) and took Joe Mixon. The team that traded up got Dalvin Cook.
In 2012, the Bengals traded down and picked up 1 extra pick (Brandon Thompson) and took Kevin Zeitler. The team that traded up got Chandler Jones and David DeCastro got picked in between the original pick and the new pick.
Of course everyone remembers trading down with the Rams so they could take Steven Jackson and the Bengals got Chris Perry. The Bengals got Stacy Andrews out of that trade.
....It's actually pretty much never worked out well for the Bengals trading down at the top couple rounds of the draft. Hopefully this one proves to not be the norm for the Bengals. You'd almost think they're due for getting the nice end of a deal just by sheer odds and that'd be great to see... The two guys seem promising, but I guess we won't know for sure until a year or two from now.
(The only one I can think that wasn't a massive negative for the Bengals was when they traded down and still got Bates, but they added Malik Jefferson with their upgraded pick... so that part of the trade was basically worthless. Lol... so their only non-failure was a push.)
Few things on this. You can only fairly compare draft day trades by looking at the two teams involved. If you retrospectively look back at the whole round and players available you can always make counter arguments.
I'll also argue Zeitler was every bit as good as Decastro whilst he was with the Bengals, there was a reason he was made the highest paid G at the time. Mixon also, not an issue of talent, if he had the Vikings line it would also look different.
The reason I value depth and volume of picks is because it is a solid strategy for success. Sure if you need a QB and an elite talent is there, you make that move, because it's the most important factor in NFL success. But second to that is depth and versatility. Teams that get to the SB have a strong deep team and almost always an elite QB.
A great recent example of this strategy is with RG3 and Washington. Most people decried the taking of Cousins (in the 4th I think) but what a smart move that turned out to be. Ultimately no team can be sure who will become a decent NFL player, but if you give yourself more chances to draft one you also statistically increase your chance of striking gold and building a strong deep roster in the process. Just look at how much talent the Bengals have found past the first two rounds in the last decade.
