DEs drafted during Marvin's tenure

[Burma]

Here’s a quick breakdown of the DEs that Marvin has drafted during his tenure here.  I got interested in this when I was reviewing the DE prospects in this draft.  Why does the team have a fetish for 6’6” 280lbs DEs and pass over smaller DEs that have had great college production.  Does the “System” require these lanky DEs? Whose “system” is it?

In Marvin’s first 4 drafts he selected 5 DEs all near the conventional 6’3” 275lb range. After that the smallest DE drafted was 6’5”.  What brought about this change?  There were a couple of things that came up when I was looking into this.

In 2004 Ben Roethlisberger came into the league. Did the Bengals start drafting large DEs capable of bringing down Ben at the expense of smaller, better pass rushers?  

In 2005 Paul Guenther came on as the Bengals LB coach.  Was part of his “philosophy” as a LB coach getting these long DE that could get into the passing lanes to help out a linebacker core that had, and has, historically struggled in coverage? Since Guenther has been here only 1 DE under 6’5” has been drafted.

Regardless of what the reason is, it is clear that the Bengals struggle mightily to draft productive DEs.  Perhaps they need to invest in a position specific draft advisor, someone with a much better eye for pass rushers.

2003:
7th (259) Elton Patterson, 6’2” 270lbs. Central Florida.  2 seasons, 2 games played, 0 sacks, 1 tackle

2004:
4th (117) Robert Geathers, 6’3” 275lbs.  Georgia.  11 seasons, 152 games played, 34 sacks, 183 tackles,

2005:
1st (17) David Pollack, 6’2” 255lbs.  Georgia. 2 seasons, 16 games played, 4.5 sacks, 22 tackles
7th (233) Jonathan Fanene, 6’4” 285lbs.  Utah. 7 seasons, 71 games played, 13.5 sacks, 66 tackles

2006
3rd (91) Frostee Rucker, 6’3” 280lbs.  USC.  5 seasons, 53 games played, 7 sacks, 62 tackles

2007
None

2008
7th (244) Angelo Craig, 6’5” 245lbs. Cincinnati.  No games played.  No Stats.


2009
3rd (90) Michael Johnson, 6’7” 280lbs.  Georgia Tech.  7 seasons, 111 games played, 35 sacks, 195 tackles

2010
2nd (54) Carlos Dunlap, 6’6” 280lbs.  Florida.  7 seasons, 102 games played, 57 sacks, 214 tackles

2011
None

2012
None

2013
2nd (53) Margus Hunt, 6’8” 275lbs.  SMU.   4 seasons, 44 games played. 1.5 sacks 14 tackles

2014
3rd (88) Will Clarke, 6’6” 271lbs.  West Virginia. 3 seasons, 35 games played. 4.5 sacks, 15 tackles

2015
None

2016
None


Bonus fun fact for making it this far!

Carlos Dunlap:  102 games played, 57 sacks.  .56 sacks per game
All 9 other DEs drafted since 2003: 484 games played, 100 sacks.  .21 sacks per game