03-29-2019, 03:06 PM
(03-29-2019, 01:38 PM)yang Wrote: ugh, aside from just linebackers this makes me wonder whey even pay attention to the draft. Damn we suck at it. This explains all the years of abysmal play.
All those pick and AJ Green might be the only possible HoFer. A couple decent corners and lineman. But damn. It is weird how few DE and DT's we take as well. We suck
It isn't that bad. Palmer, AJ, Gresham, Eifert (if healthy), Willie, Levi, Andre Smith, Zeitler, Justin Smith, Wilkinson, Spikes, Simmons, J Joe, Hall, WJIII, Dre (kinda), Dennard, and Williams all were/are good players. That's 18/28 (Price and Ross it's too early to call). Then you have to wonder what Pollack would have done if not for the neck injury, same could be said of Rivers (he wasn't the same after Ward broke his jaw). If you add those two you're at 20/30 and while 66.6% hit rate on picks isn't unbelievable, it's better than average.
Missing on the 2 QB's (Klingler and Smith) really set them back because of how important QB is; doubly so for Akili since they turned down Ditka's 'take all my picks' trade offer. Ki-Jana really hurt them due to not just being the #1 pick, but the extra picks they gave up to move from #5 to #1. And we're still reeling from the aftermath of what drafting Ogbuehi (and Fisher) brought down upon us. That's the real problem. Whiffing on a pick is bad; but whiffing on a pick that has catastrophic ramifications is back breaking, and the Bengals have had at least 4 of them in the last 27 years.
Expecting a 1st rounder (or any draft pick for that matter) to be a HoFer is setting yourself up for perpetual disappointment. And since the HoF is a deeply flawed institution to begin with, it should not be considered a measure of success for a team. Sure it LOOKS nice to have a bunch of HoFers, and it certainly is, but it's ultimately a popularity contest with no rhyme or reason to it. Any HoF that has Dan Fouts in it and Ken Anderson not in it, is a goddamn joke.
That being said, I think you're underselling the Bengals' quantity of HoF caliber players over the last 27 drafts. A.J. might be the best chance, but there are certainly others. Geno I'd say has a decent shot. Chad would likely be in if not for how things ended in Miami (and the HoF jacket stunt). Corey Dillon could & should get in. In a fair and just world Willie Anderson certainly would be in. And considering how well he played after leaving the Bengals, I could see an argument for Justin Smith being made, though personally I'd say no.
A better way to look at it is "Did the draft pick play well and contribute?" Because there's tons of guys who might not be HoF material that were/are instrumental to a team's success. Look at T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Was he a HoF caliber WR? Not by a long shot. But was Housh an insanely important contributor to some of the best Bengals offenses we've seen in 30 years? Absolutely! And I don't think you'll find many people around who would say T.J. wasn't an absolutely phenomenal 7th round draft pick.
