The Biggest Bust in Bengals History?

[BengalChris]

(05-28-2019, 11:16 PM)NKURyan Wrote: There's plenty to choose from, but who do you think was the biggest of them all? Kijana Carter? Akili Smith? Do you go more recent and pick Cedric Ogbeughi (I can never spell his damn name and it's not worth looking up)? Play the hipster role and go all-in on John Ross already? Do you take injuries into consideration in ranking the busts, or are statistics all the matter? Does it matter who else the Bengals could have had instead?

Make your case!

(I think I know which direction I'm leaning, but I'll wait until tomorrow to post so I have a little more time to explain why)

It's not Kijana Carter. His injury was really bad and pretty much eliminated his speed. And he came in behind a really bad line. Without that injury he had Zek or Barkley type talent. Carter didn't come in injured and I personally thought it was a great move at the time.

It's not Ogbuehi either, although he would certainly be in the top 5 of the Bengals all-time bust list. The fact that we drafted him injured is another one that can be laid at the feet of the front office.

It's not Ross either. Ross' career was saved by Lazor last year because it was Lazor who figured out that Ross could at least run short routes in the red zone without getting lost. Something Ross can't seem to do when there's green in front of him. I've seen several articles laying Ross' bad catch percentage at incompetent QB play (including Dalton), yet AJ Green, Marvin Jones, Sanu, Boyd and LaFell all had the same QB and they managed to get catchable balls from Dalton. No one writing those articles ever bothered to ask if Ross was in the right spot or not. My guess is that Ross is often not in the right spot. But even if Ross' career ends up being a red zone target and he can give us 8-10 TDs and 3 or 4 hundred yards a year, then at least he'll have contributed something valuable. Which is more than Ogbuehi can say for himself.

There's also WR David Verser to consider. He was drafted in the 1st round (10th overall) in 1981, the same year we drafted Cris Collinsworth (2nd round). Verser played for 3 teams in 6 years and amassed a whopping 454 yards receiving and 3 TDs.

Akili Smith would be my pick and it was all Mike Brown who did it. I don't really think most fans expected much from Smith, I know I didn't. He was a one year wonder in a college offense that wasn't suited for the NFL.