We have kind of sucked at drafting lately...

[*ochocincos*]

(01-08-2024, 01:59 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: 5 contributors/future starters is a great draft.

I think OP using the term "kind of sucked" is a bit overkill.

I dunno what happened with Dax Hill the second half of the season, but he was playing well overall the first half. His coverage really fell off.
Jordan Battle played very well, but he had to push underperforming Nick Scott out.
I'm optimistic in both of the safeties going into next year really becoming a good tandem.

Chase Brown showed he deserves more opportunities based on his late-season contributions, but he's not shown worthy of taking the majority of reps.
But that's fine. The Bengals still have Mixon to share touches with, and Mixon is coming off yet another 1400+ yard-from-scrimmage campaign and only going to turn 28 when the next season starts.

Turner, like Dax Hill, had some great moments this season, but he's not a finished product. That's to be expected for players really getting reps their first year.
It's important for people to remember that Hill basically sat the bench all last year, so he and Turner both were pretty inexperienced when it came to NFL.
If I was going to look for one spot to add depth to, it would be CB with multiple CBs hitting FA.

Last, there's Murphy.
He was the obvious guy who was not going to be much of an immediate contributor because he had two established, good starters in front of him.
Murphy ended up with a respectable 3.0 sacks on only 290 snaps (165 pass rush snaps) as a rookie, and he looks like he will become the first guy off the bench when rotating in.

I think what some really wanted (and the Bengals arguably needed) was a lot of immediate impactful players, of which the Bengals didn't really get.
Sure, guys contributed, but we didn't see quite the draft impact for the 2023 Bengals that we saw the Chiefs get the year prior in McDuffie, Karlaftis, Pacheco, and a couple others that really helped get them to a Super Bowl and win.

With all the guys potentially departing in FA this year, the Bengals will likely need a 2024 draft class that gets at least 3 immediate impactful rookies to get them back to a deep playoff run.