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I thought they did well with the first couple of rounds. After that it’s always a crap shoot. If some of these athletes they drafted in later rounds are solid special teams guys then they were good picks.
Hill will be to get his feet wet this year before taking over for Bates in ‘23. I think this was a good move and shows how teams should use the franchise tag/draft to work in replacements. This will save $ for the guys they have to sign.
Maybe some got spoiled by the last couple of Burrow/Higgins/Wilson/Chase drafts but I would rather have them win and draft late (obviously).
OP needs to realize that this is a good roster and they were t going to draft anyone who was going to start this year so they planned for the future and drafted a lot of great athletes.
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Joe Goodberry equated this draft to the 2013 draft, which yielded 3 starting-caliber players:
Tyler Eifert (Pro Bowler)
Gio Bernard
Shawn Williams
Bengals also got a rotational guy that didn't pan out for them as much but did go on to have some more success with another team - Margus Hunt.
The Day 3 players ended up doing about nothing from that class.
Burkhead was the only one to amount to anything, and he "just" became a RBBC guy everywhere he's been.
So I think we can equate this draft class probably close to that one.
Hill, CTB, and Carter and/or Volson could end up being at least decent contributors.
Zac Taylor 2019-2020: 6 total wins
Zac Taylor 2021-2022: Double-digit wins each season, plus 5 postseason wins
Zac Taylor 2023: 9 wins despite losing Burrow half the season
Zac Taylor 2024: Started 1-4. Ended 9-8 but barely missed playoffs
Changes needed to do better in Sept/Oct moving forward.
Sorry for Party Rocking!
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I personally liked the draft. We could have traded up for a player, but there weren't many good ones available. Just look what happened to the Reds this season because the FO gave away all the good players. The Bengals FO has a good plan.
Who Dey!
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People have to keep in mind that we aren't in the roster building phase anymore. We aren't drafting in the top 5 and the "stars" are in the building. We we're very lucky to suck in the years that we did. Having a top 5 pick in this years draft wouldn't have done much.
That being said, the roster doesn't have many (if any) holes after free agency. They added guys that they think can fill roles in the scheme. I think they did a great job of doing it. We needed some talent in the secondary and they drafted well given what was on the board.