Duke Tobin and the Bengals are WHIFFING in the draft

[THE PISTONS]

(09-24-2024, 12:55 PM)Whatever Wrote: Not retaining their own best players is another philosophy shift, sadly.  But drafting to replace is a sound strategy...at positions you can actually draft and develop.  

The Bengals do very well drafting WR's and RB's within the first three rounds.  But instead of drafting to replace Mixon, they overpaid for him for years, even when he wasn't a great scheme fit.  Or, they knew Tee and Boyd were going to be UFA's this year for quite awhile.  Instead of spending some premium picks there to develop and replace them, they put it off and are now starting a 6th round scrub and had to handcuff themselves in FA by tagging their WR2.  Christian Wilkins has a cap hit of $10.4 mil this year, less than half of Tee's.  Sure would be nice to have him on this DL, now, wouldn't it?  

Historically, with our Day 1 and 2 picks, we draft well at WR, RB, TE, CB, and S.  We sucked at LB for years, but that seems to have changed with Pratt and Wilson.  The last "trench" player we've really hit on in those rounds was Hubbard...seven fn years ago.  

It's not rocket science.  Who would you rather have on a rookie deal, the next Joe Mixon or the next Devon Still?  The next Jessie Bates or the next Jackson Carmen?  The next Jonah Williams or the next Jermaine Gresham?  The next Myles Murphy or the next Ja'Marr Chase?  The next Logan Wilson or the next Zach Carter?  The next Jordan Battle or the next Joseph Ossai?

Makes ZERO sense.  None.

We've struggled at S to replace Bates. We've struggled to draft Tackles to replace Whitworth. We struggle to draft defensive lineman.