If the Bengals were serious about winning...

[Whatever]

(09-10-2018, 04:59 PM)depthchart Wrote: 3 time Pro Bowl Guard Trai Turner was from the 2014 late third round. Pro Bowl tackle Alejandro Villanueva was Undrafted.

Talent can be found anywhere in Drafts though more likely in the highest of rounds.

The Ravens and Steelers believed in Brown and Okorafor to the tune of using 3rd round picks on them.

Yes, they would both need developmental time but I would rather have one of them in the Pipeline right now versus say having Malik Jefferson in the Linebacker pipeline.

It is Bobby Hart and Redmond that they would be pushing to get the Jobs from as they develop & it is not at all impossible that either of them could have been ready enough to do so by mid-season.

Even if that development were to blossom in 2019 with mere positive signs in 2018 from Brown or Okorafor, we would have them in house already versus having LB Malik in house developing.

The need was Greater at O-line, so ADD to that Pipeline versus linebacker with that one pick.

That's what I would have changed & said so right after the Draft.

Now we are ALL IN with Hart & Redmond with Cedric & Westerman in the Pipeline.

We got Fresh Blood at Left Tackle and Center and we may regret not having some on the Right Side even if it is still developing & a 3rd round prospect.

LB has been a weakness for quite awhile.  Burfict is out for the first 4 games.  Vigil was dissappointing last year.  Plus, you also have to give your new DC a chance to draft and develop guys that fit his system.  You can't just dump all the focus on the OL or your D will suffer, if not this year, then in a year or two.  Plus, you can't have Austin feeling like he's chopped liver.

You can find talent in any round, but the fact that your examples run back to 2014 speaks volumes.  

Who cares that those two teams thought enough of those guys to draft them in round 3?  The Ravens thought enough of Michael Oher to draft him in the 1st.  The Steelers thought enough of Mike Adams to draft him in the second.  Just because those teams drafted them at those spots doesn't mean they were a good fit or a good value for the Bengals in the 3rd round.  Every team has it's own draft board because every team has it's own system and different players are valued differently based on that system.  Brown is lazy and Okorafor is a soft, finesse T.  Neither one seems like the type of player Pollack, a hard nosed coach who wants to inject some meanness and nastiness into the OL, would value.  Okorafor sounds right up Piano Man's ally, though.

As for RG, both Westerman and Redman showed flashes last year when they got to play.  Redman especially seems like Pollack's type of player.  At RT, the likely feeling was probably that Pollack could redeem either Og or Fisher, but it didn't happen.  Next year is supposed to be a good T class.  I think it can be argued that they should have pushed for a better potential stopgap than Hart, but we are basing Hart's performance off of one regular season game and a handful of preseason series.  There is potential for him to play better as the year progresses.