Grade The Draft (PURELY ON TALENT/NEED)

[HarleyDog]

(04-29-2017, 10:11 AM)PDub80 Wrote: What grade would you give the Bengals draft so far, based purely on talent and/or need/impact? And, feel free to elaborate as to why.

If you can, please leave the Mixon character concerns out of it. For the purpose of this, we'll let 3 years ago be 3 years ago and assume that Joe Mixon will go the path of Carlos Dunlap and not Adam Jones.

I would have to grade it out as an A+  

Why?

JOHN ROSS

While I wasn't wanting Ross (he wasn't my 1st choice at WR, frankly) I 100% get the reasoning behind it. He brings special traits that nobody else in this draft has and things that nobody else on the Bengals has. Not only that, but the other two top receivers in this draft were gone by the time the Bengals selected at #9.

In the worst of ways, the Bengals needed what Ross does best. And they got it without maneuvering. Dave Lapham loved the pick - which always brings me on board. It wasn't a reach. Ross is a highly graded player, more unique than anyone in this entire draft, and at a position of need.

While people bring up his injury concerns, I have to go ahead and parrot what has been pointed out in a lot of articles... He ran that fast AFTER his knee injuries. AFTER. The shoulder injury occurred in game 5 of 2016. He didn't miss any significant time and played the rest of the 2016 season WITH the shoulder injury. WITH it?! Tough kid. Makes plays. And is more than just fast. Perfect pick. A+

JOE MIXON

Based purely on talent I think Joe Mixon is the best RB in the entire draft. Especially for the Bengals. Period.

In fact, I think he's arguably the best all around talent in the draft. Every box is emphatically checked.

3 Down bell-cow? YES
Versatile? YES
Home run threat from anywhere on the field? YES
Make you miss? YES
Power to break tackles and run people over? YES
Short yardage? YES
Blocking? YES
Receiving out of the backfield or split out wide? YES
Size? YES
Speed? YES

^ The Above YES'S are not just ho-hum, but he does these things outstandingly well and against big time competition. He killed Ohio State every time he touched the ball, for example.

The kid even returns kicks.... REALLY WELL.

With the exception of RT, RB was the weakest link in the offense last season. This fills a big time need and with big time talent. Based purely on talent, if the Bengals would have taken him at #9 I would have been thrilled. I think he's better than Fournette.

Oh, and for the cherry on top, the Bengals grabbed another 4th rounder - pick #128 - AND Mixon. A+

JORDAN WILLIS

LOVE this pick! Not the typical Bengals DE in terms of height, but fits in a lot of ways. Similar body type to Carlos Dunlap, but about 2" shorter. Fast, quick, athletic, explosive, high motor, and consistent. No question he's 1st round talent. A lot of mock drafts had this kid going in the back half of the first round (an NFL.com mock had the Steelers taking him) and I don't think I saw a single one where Willis was falling out of the 2nd.

- Produced and got better each season he was at KSU. Versatile player and was one of my wishes for an after round 1 DE. If they took Willis in the 2nd I think that would have been good value. In the 3rd? Awesome value.

People not knowing who this guy is will love what they find when researching. The Bengals have said they view him strictly as a DE in their scheme, but NFL.com's Draft Tracker has him with the LBs. He has the exact same grade, but with better measurables, than the Steelers 1st rounder, TJ Watt.

Among DEs, he would have be the 7th highest rated DE, but misses being the #4 prospect at that spot by about .5 points. IMO, if they can get about 20-30 more lbs on this kid he will start tearing it up at the NFL level. Willis is about 2" shorter and 20lbs lighter than Dunlap coming out of college.

With his size and speed, I can see Willis covering TE's off the line similar to what Adalius Thomas did for the Ravens. Willis is THAT athletic and fast. Relentless pursuer.

Another A+ pick.

At this point, I don't know how else to grade the Bengals draft from an impact or talent standpoint than an A+. The way the draft fell, there's not one player they could have taken in their spot that would have been better for them in terms of talent or need. Not 1. Add in grabbing an extra 4th rounder and wow... what a draft so far! Based just on talent, this already DESTROYS what happened in the 2016, 2015, and 2014 drafts.

I give your analysis an A+++. Very awesome read, well written and extremely detailed.

As for the draft, I'm not so sure? I feel if the OL improves this year and can handle their own, we just got extremely awesome. However, if they don't (I understand the draft isn't over) based on what we have, we will be forced to go back to a Bratkowski type offense (remember how horrible that was) where we are doing nothing but quick screens and dumping passes because the QB doesn't have any time to throw. Not to mention we will have a RB with defense in his face upon receiving the handoff.

Very tough to give this draft a grade, so I am going to trust the coaches faith in the improvement of the OL and the addition of A. Smith (who we let go because well, he sucked) and give this draft a grade of A-. If we add some startable talent on the OL who will have a immediate impact, I will improve my grade.