Bengals Had Kroft As The Top-Rated TE

[BFritz21]

Some people saw the pick of Kroft in the 3rd as a reach, given that most experts and other teams had him ranked as an late fourth-early fourth round pick, but CincyJungle explains how Marvin had him as the top ranked TE, and how that probably was correct since Rutgers threw the ball a lot less than they did in 2013 and gave Kroft less opportunities:

Quote:You also have to understand Kroft's situation to see why a team like the Bengals thought he was worthy of a top-85 pick when most had him ranked far outside that range. He was expected to be a bigger prospect heading into the 2014 season after leading his team in receiving yards (573) and receptions (43) to go with four scores in 2013.

However, Kroft was part of an offense that finished 99th in total passing attempts last year (357) and respectively, he was asked to be more of a blocker and less of a receiving threat. If you compare his sophomore numbers to that of Maxx Williams' in 2015, the first tight end taken in this year's draft, there isn't much of a difference.

Williams led Minnesota in receptions (36), yards (569) and receiving touchdowns (eight) this past season. Kroft had seven more catches for four more yards and four fewer scores.

So taking him a bit early wasn't a reach at all, but rather just making sure that we got our top prospect at a position of need in a spot even later than where he SHOULD have been ranked, as opposed to where he was ranked.

Looks like another great drafting move by this organization, so let's hope that it pans out and that we use them properly up the seams to keep the safeties in the middle of the field and off of AJ! We'll DOMINATE defenses!