08-16-2022, 01:50 PM
(08-16-2022, 12:56 PM)Whatever Wrote: I think any OL coach needs talent to work with. The problem I have with Pollack is the guy is a terrible talent evaluator. He's had a 1st, a 2nd, 2 4th's, a 6th, and a 7th round pick and has yet to even hit on someone you could call a quality backup. And even worse, the guy seems to slam his fist on the table every year for more picks to be dumped into the OL.
Yeah, I'm okay with stocking and re-stocking through the draft (granted, I'm biased since I'm a massive draft hound! lol). But you're right in that they haven't hit on anyone. And if they're going to take flyers on guys, they need building blocks in place to guide them- which they haven't had. In that sense they are wasting picks. Hopefully LC, TK and AC will provide that "nucleus" this year to facilitate the younger dudes' development.
It's one of the reasons why I thought Carman was a silly pick, irrespective of his talent or Pollack. You can't make any picks in a vacuum; perception is reality in this league. Any draft hound will tell you it’s one of the most overlooked reasons for why you should think twice… three times… ten times before reaching. It’s not just about picking the “right” guy, it’s also about protecting your asset. Sometimes reaching works out (like Cole Strange in Foxboro- he seems to be doing okay). But most of the time you’re forcing the kid to swim upstream from Day 1. Which is especially risky when you’re dealing with a disaster zone like the Bengals’ OL. You have less margin for error in that context, and you're further impinging on his chance to succeed. That’s not on the fans or Carman imo; that’s on the team for being short-sighted and lacking self-awareness. Whether you’re running a business or a football team, it reflects poor management. Some players (even the “right” players) need to be given a soft landing… for their sake and ultimately your own.
I thought the Bengals trading back from 39 to 46 was a good move in that regard, even if I wasn’t a Carman fan. But now that we see Tyler Shelvin and D’Ante Smith (the two guys who came out of that deal) spinning their wheels, the optics are bad around Carman again. This was inevitable. He came with a lot of risk by being picked where he was, which the team may not to have done enough to mitigate. It's the same idea with guys like Prince and Adeniji. Maybe they weren't the right players in the first place, but the Bengals haven’t done them any favors either.
Damn, I wrote a lot about this lol. My bad.
