Grade The Bengals Draft Of 2021

[lone bengal]

I gave them a B- which means nothing lol

Chase - elite top end talent

Offensive line - still uncomfortable thought they would do more to address the line with higher picks/ more pro ready players. They have a ton riding on Carman panning out personally I liked Jenkins better but liked the return of getting two 4th rd. picks. Smith seems like he could be a swing tackle not expecting him to be a starter. Hill good size / SEC not expecting much from a 6th rounder / makes the roster I’ll be happy.

Ossia / Sample - My 2 favorite picks far as value goes. We had no edge depth whatsoever and I think one of these guys could emerge as a good 3rd edge rusher.

Tyler Shevlin - I get we need to stop the run just feel like we have a ton of huge nose tackles on our roster who lack versatility. Feel like he needs to shed a few pounds as a pro , he could be insurance for Tupou who opted out last year.

McPherson - “Kicker “ excepting this guy to make the roster and be good considering he’s a 5th round pick. Liked him in college. Most 5th round picks usually end up being special teams guys anyways.

Evans / Hubert - I never expect much from 6/7 rounders they make the roster it’s a win. Maybe Evans competes for the 3rd back spot.

[Amalone002]

(05-01-2021, 08:03 PM)GodFather Wrote: The real kick to the nuts to me is when this season ended, the Bengals coaching staff and front office said the offseason would make fixing the OL a priority. It wasn't addressed other than the Riley Reiff signing during FA and the draft certainly didn't feel like the OL was a "priority"

Some will never be happy unless they take who you think they should take. 

[CarolinaBengalFanGuy]

(05-02-2021, 03:15 AM)TheBengalsMind Wrote: I'll breakdown what I think of every pick.

A - Ja'Marr Chase, I was a Penei Sewell guy, but Chase is a great WR and an A+ prospect.

B+ - Carman Jackson, Injuries don't bother me, but some of his tape does. He wouldn't be a guy I'd trust at tackle, but he was an exceptional run blocker. Smart, kept with his assignments. I think he can be pretty solid at guard, like a Eric Steinbach. I can can see a lot of pulls to the other side, like we did for Rudi. At tackle he might struggle against the speed. Look at the video to see what I mean.





A - Joseph Ossai, he only had one single year and 9 games total as an edge player and came away with 55 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for lost. So natural and fluid when blitzing and stunting. Relentless and hard work ethic. Needs to get better at the point of attack against the run sometimes.

B - Cameron Sample, 6'3, 267 so he's got good size. He's another guy that was known for being relentless and finishing the play. A very solid pick.

A+ Tyler Shelvin, 6'3 346 a big nasty as they say. I absolutely love this pick. I think he'll be a Domata Peko or Vince Wilfork were his number will probably never do him justice. However, I think he'll help against the run tremendously. His biggest concern, is probably going to be himself.

B D’Ante Smith, has the height, length and speed you can't teach. If he hits the workout room and strengthens his frame he could really develop.

A Evan McPherson, he's one of the best kickers to come out in years. He can boom them, he can have pinpoint accuracy. Ultimately, he makes the team better.

I'm not sure how I feel about the last three yet. Overall, I'll give us a B+. This is going to turn out to be a very crucial draft and free agency for this franchise!

After watching that he seems like he’d be an awful tackle, but what he sucks at isn’t as big of an issue playing inside.

[Rubekahn29]

(05-02-2021, 01:38 AM)Benton Wrote: C+

Chase is going to (most likely) be a good receiver. And from reports, he has existing chemistry with JB.

Please tell me you didn’t have to rely on “reports” to know this?

[SladeX]

B
Wanted Sewell, Jackson = show me, but the move for extra picks mitigates this disappointment/hesitation.
The fact that Jackson appeared to be nonplussed to be selected by us worries me as well, however.
Like I said, Show Me.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I called it a B+ since it feels right in my bones. But I am pleased with the haul.

[GodFather]

(05-01-2021, 11:40 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I think with the players added, this is a 7-9 win team. I don’t think this team competes for a playoff spot.
That’s not dogging the team though, as it’s still an improvement from last year.

Playoff spot? I don't see this team moving out of last place in the division this year never mind making the playoffs. 

I think they whiffed this year as a whole with the offensive line in both free agency and draft. They needed a complete overhaul and nothing less. That didn't happen. Pollack is so much better than Turner and think he will do good things but he needs talent. His OL was dead last this past season with he Jets in QB pressures, and when he did great in Dallas, Pollack had a great OL to work with. 

I just don't want to see Burrow with matching scars on both knees after this season..

[GodFather]

(05-02-2021, 01:11 AM)Murdock2420 Wrote: That is what really killed the old board off the most.

The Denny types that would just shame people and call them "Not real fans" because they didn't jump on the train with every single move the team made.

23 years, no playoff wins and people still aren't allowed to be critical? Is there a time frame on when we can be critical and say, prove it and not just on paper? 

Every team is excited after the draft and thinks they have "their" guys, and yet every year half these picks don't make a team or don't have a career that is lengthy and productive.

Hard to imagine that all 10 of the picks make the roster much less contribute in the NFL.

Dead on post!  Don't forget the Denny followers and classic line "Well why don't you go find another team" line... that was a classic daily response if anyone had anything critical to say.

Best thing ever to happen for us was that board shutting down and this board opening!

[GodFather]

(05-02-2021, 02:02 AM)Benton Wrote: Honestly, I'll be surprised if carman plays much his rookie year. Like I've said in other threads, I think with coaching he will be a good guard in a year or two and maybe a tackle down the road. But if we're just grading things at face value, projects don't get good grades.

Projects should never be a second round pick!

[Benton]

(05-02-2021, 06:52 AM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: Please tell me you didn’t have to rely on “reports” to know this?

By reports I mean stories, social media, etc. Basically, it's a shorter way of saying "according to second hand information."

Since neither one of them will return the thousands of calls, letters and emails I've sent asking if they want to hang out in my basement, reports are all I've got to go by.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(05-02-2021, 09:24 AM)GodFather Wrote: Projects should never be a second round pick!

He’s not a project. Nor was he a reach. But I see both narratives are going to be a thing going forward.

#Bengals select #JacksonCarmen goes home to #Cincinnati A bruiser with NFL-ready power and strength who is
ready for the league right now in that department. The questions
with him revolve around speed and quickness to the edge

— Dan Shonka (@Ourlads_Shonka) May 1, 2021

Read that tweet (from a former scout of 3 different teams). Carman is an NFL OG right now. The only way you can view him as a “project” is at OT, but that’s not where we’re putting him.

[TJ528]

(05-01-2021, 11:40 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I think with the players added, this is a 7-9 win team. I don’t think this team competes for a playoff spot.
That’s not dogging the team though, as it’s still an improvement from last year.

Maybe I don’t have enough faith in Pollack, but he wasn’t exactly stellar when he was with the Bengals in 2018.

I think the offense will be in the upper teens to low 20s. I think the defense will be in the same range.


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Ocho, I very much agree with you.  We got better in this draft.  There weren't many WTF were you thinking moments about the front office. I'd give this Draft a B-. I wasn't a fan of the Carmen pick. I do think he's a project and you don't draft projects with the 2nd round pick until your the Bengals.  I also thought we improved our defense inn free agency the the tune of $200m over the past 2 years and yet we're still drafting heavy on D. could possibly be the DC could coach a defense if he tried? 

I'm seeing a 6-11 or 7-9 type of season ahead due to the schedule and our division. Hopefully,  with that record Taylor and his cronies will be on the first bus out of town. 

[GodFather]

(05-02-2021, 10:01 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: He’s not a project.

Reading that just makes me think of Arnold saying “It’s not a tumor!” 

[TJHoushmandzadeh's Shiny Shoes]

(05-01-2021, 09:14 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Borregelas from Miami (the U) was the #1 kicker in some boards & went undrafted. We reached twice (Carman & McPherson), picked a RB who was academically suspended in 2019 & ran for 73 yards last year, a C who just had surgery on BOTH knees, and another OL who had an undisclosed season ending injury. 

I see 2 starters (Chase & McPherson). A tweener with potential (Ossai). The rest are low ceiling depth pieces and/or reaches. Still lack WR depth and have LB issues.

I think this draft may be dumb enough to get ZT fired.

It's not ZT's draft but DT's.

Those reaches you cite were both coached and vouched for by former long-serving Bengals - Carman by Paul Alexander and Willie Anderson; McPherson by Shayne Graham - who'd left long before Zac arrived but would have known Tobin well.

Shelvin was another who was coached by a former long term Bengal coach in Kevin Coyle. The rest were almost all players who shined at the Senior Bowl (which Tobin attended alongside Taylor).

[Nicomo Cosca]

I gave it a B+. Probably would have bumped it up to an A- if we could have grabbed one more WR in the mid-late rounds, but they didn’t really make any head scratchers with all those picks either. Obviously Chase is the biggest addition, but that trade back also ended up working out pretty well. We still got a day one starting OG (who some scouts had as the 2nd best OG prospect in the draft after AVT), but also added a couple nice pieces on the other line. I’m seeing a lot of positive reactions to that Cameron Sample pick.

Ossai seems to be our consensus best pick after Chase. Not much needs to be said there. I loved taking the kicker out of Florida. That’s the kind of move you can make when you have 3 extra picks. And Simmons has already basically said the job is his. We got a couple nice developmental OL picks with Smith and Hill. We got the RB with the highest RAS in the draft to give us some more depth there.

Overall I’m pretty happy with this draft.

[*ochocincos*]

(05-02-2021, 12:23 AM)AtomicBlaze Wrote: We have 17 games now.  In our Division I think we will lose to the Browns and Ravens twice and split with the Steelers.  Out of Division, I see about 7 games that we may be favored.  So 8-9 seems realistic assuming Burrow plays the full year, and we don't have any injuries on the OL.  If the OL plays better than expected I could see us in playoff contention.  I still think maybe we are 1 really good draft away from being a playoff contender assuming we did well on this draft.  I hope next year we try for some premier OL talent, then my confidence will be really high about the team.

Yep I said 7-9 wins, not a record of 7-9.
People are comparing the Bengals to what KC did, but they have a Top 5 offense already and elite pass catchers. They had the luxury of going after all OL. Bengals could have gone OL earlier, but their defense sucks and their pass catchers were slow overall. So even with better OL, the Bengals would have been victim to coverage sacks.

I too think the Bengals could compete for playoffs in 2022, but I don’t think they’ll be there this year. OL won’t be quite where it needs to be (although better than last year) and the defense still won’t be better than average.

I see next year’s draft focusing on OL, pass rushing DT, and maybe TE and/or LB depending on progress at those positions this year.


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[*ochocincos*]

(05-02-2021, 12:33 AM)Mobster Wrote: We got three immediate starters:

Best WR in the draft
Best G in the draft
Best kicker in the draft

A couple guys who can help with the pass rush, then some more depth on both lines.

Carman may have been the steal of the draft. Much better prospect than some of these other linemen who fans were discussing in round 2. Could've gone in round 1.

Bengals I think got 3 eventual good-or-better starters (Chase, Carman, Ossai), some decent depth, and I think a good starting K.

That’s a solid B in my book, and what you hope from a draft.


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[Stewy]

(05-01-2021, 09:14 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Borregelas from Miami (the U) was the #1 kicker in some boards & went undrafted. We reached twice (Carman & McPherson), picked a RB who was academically suspended in 2019 & ran for 73 yards last year, a C who just had surgery on BOTH knees, and another OL who had an undisclosed season ending injury. 

I see 2 starters (Chase & McPherson). A tweener with potential (Ossai). The rest are low ceiling depth pieces and/or reaches. Still lack WR depth and have LB issues.

I think this draft may be dumb enough to get ZT fired.

Simmons wanted the kid we drafted.  It was his decision.  He is one of if not best ST coaches in the league and has been recognized as top tier for at least a decade or more. 

Simmons > Pundits
Simmons > any site that has kickers ranked
Simmons > you

[Shake n Blake]

(05-02-2021, 01:53 AM)sandwedge Wrote: You can't be serious!! Are you really naive? We have morons making threads as soon as the picks are made as to how bad they are. Without any clue about the player, only what they hear from shit sites like Bleacher report and SBNation. Then feel the need to post the same shit in every thread about 20 times...... You don't believe me, look at this thread, why do people continually harp about Carman's back and Hills knees, even though it has pointed out to them 400 times that they have been cleared and have recovered? I didn't like the Evans pick but you don't see me hi-jacking every post to vent. I do what I do and the Bengals do what they do, I leave it at that, nothing I or anyone else says really matters, so why bring down this board with a bunch whining and crying?

They're putting down moves made by the team (opinions).
You're trashing them and calling them morons for having that opinion.

I take more issue with the latter. People are allowed to have opinions. Positive or negative.

[Shake n Blake]

(05-02-2021, 01:20 PM)Stewy Wrote: Simmons wanted the kid we drafted.  It was his decision.  He is one of if not best ST coaches in the league and has been recognized as top tier for at least a decade or more. 

Simmons > Pundits
Simmons > any site that has kickers ranked
Simmons > you

I'm a huge fan of the McPherson pick, but I don't like when people pull the ol' "coach knows more than you" card. For one, we may as well shut the board down if we just agree with every move the Bengals make. Secondly, people only use this when it's convenient. When they like a move and want to justify it.