Markus Bailey and the best use of late round picks

[CJD]

I just wanted to say BIG props to Markus Bailey on his great game yesterday. It wasn't Game Ball material, necessarily, but he had half a sack, a pass defensed, a QB hit , 5 tackles and played within his role well. He and Bachie have played admirably in Wilson and ADG's absence. It's really nice having quality depth at a position that we've traditionally struggled to fill.

Bailey's play makes me think back to that draft. He was considered by some draft analysts to be a 2nd or 3rd round talent, but he fell to the 7th round because of injury concerns. And I'd like to talk about that, because I think Bailey is the kind of pick you should make in the 6th and 7th rounds. Those picks are incredibly low risk anyway, since the percentage chance of a 6th or 7th round pick making the roster in their first year is only about 30% anyway. So, in circumstances like that, why do teams not take a flyer on highly talented "injured" or "injury risk" players more often?

Trey Smith is another excellent example of a 2nd or 3rd round talent that fell due to injury concerns and look how he's played in his rookie year. We could have had Smith in the 6th this year, but chose Trey Hill instead. I know we drafted Hill because we had no depth at center with Price and Hopkins both in the final years of their deals, but man, it would have been nice to draft a guy like Smith there.

I hope Bailey's play encourages the Bengals to take a few more calculated risks like this in future drafts.