Bengals have had 3 #1 overall picks since inception

[fredtoast]

Here is an interesting look at taking a QB #1 overall.  


http://thebengalsboard.com/Thread-Perspective-on-the-value-of-a-top-5-pick


I went back almost two decades to '00 and excluded the '19 draft because it is way too early to judge those picks.  In the 19 years from '00 to '18 there was a QB taken number one 12 times.  Two times it is clear the best QB in the draft went number one (Palmer 05, Stafford 09).  A few more could be argued about (Winstead or Mariota 15, Goff or Prescott 16, Vince Young or Jay Cutler 06), but it is clear that it is rare to get the best QB in the draft at #1.  

Over the same period there have been a total of 23 QBs taken in the top 5 of the draft but the numbers don't change.  The same two to five QBs mentioned at #1 are the only ones in the 23 that were the best in the draft.

HOWEVER.  .  .  The best QB in the draft almost always comes in the first round.  13 of the 19 years I looked at the best QB in the draft was taken in the first round.

So I don't mind us trading down in the first round, but if we are going to take a QB it better be in the first round.