Why Do You Like This Draft!

[KillerGoose]

(05-01-2022, 02:25 AM)Whatever Wrote: The Ravens are not a better team on paper this year than they were last year.  The Bengals are a better team on paper than they were last off-season.  The Ravens had injuries, but they also got completely annihilated in both meetings.  Did they improve 28+ ppg more than the Bengals even including injured players returning?  Doubtful.  Can they come back from multiple possessions down to win games as currently constructed?  No.

The Steelers added Pickens and Austin in the draft, but lost JuJu and Washington in FA.  It really seems like you are only paying attention to the players our division rivals are adding and not the ones they're losing.  Not to mention those WR's will have Rudolph, Trubisky, or a rookie QB from an abysmal class throwing to them.

Again, the Browns drafted Wright and Winfrey, but lost Clowney and McKinley in FA.  How are they better than before on DL?

The Ravens are still a good team and variance happens. Yes, Cincinnati demolished them last year but that doesn't speak for this year. Did the Bengals improve enough to overcome the deficits they apparently had against the Jets and Bears? What about the Jaguars? They barely scraped by them. Perhaps a better question would be did the Bengals do enough to overcome the Browns? Cleveland banished Cincinnati to the shadow realm, in Cincinnati, with a mediocre & injured QB. Now, they have added a Pro-Bowl and an All-Pro contender type player at QB.

My point is that it isn't linear like this. I think Cincinnati is the best team in the division, but they could go 2-4 just as easily as they could go 6-0. Baltimore and Cleveland are good teams and just because Cincinnati is better doesn't mean they will win. 

[Bengalstripes9]

(05-01-2022, 10:07 AM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: All the teams in the AFC North got better on paper in my opinion. The Ravens on paper knocked they're draft out of the park. They got Hamilton, Linderbaum and Ojabo as they're first 3. We would be having parades in the streets of Cincinnati if we got those 3 to start the draft. The Bengals have gotten better. I just think they could've added more in the draft. I mean we gave up 2 picks to move up 11 spots. If we keep those picks get the same players and draft a LB and another position I'm happy.

Ravens had a great draft, no doubt. But they had great draft position. They lost a lot of players in free agency and have a lot of key players on the mend. Their areas of weakness in wide receiver and corner weren’t addressed (wideout is weaker now then before the draft and they picked a couple mid-late round corners). They picked a really promising pass rusher that likely doesn’t play at all this year.

Your talking about not trading up to save a 6th and 7th round pick? What are the odds of the hypothetical players we select with those picks making the team? I’d say significantly less than a coin flip.we can fill out our depth/training camp roster in free agency.

[maclanta]

I think this is the sort of draft you see from perennial contenders.

Agree that this draft is not sexy… but that is not what we need. We need guys that if someone on our team gets injured will understand the culture and their role, fill in and not be a major liability. They will address sexy a little bit more in FA.

At worst almost 100% off these draft picks will play hard and fast on ST. Most of them will provide quality reps in sub packages that allow us to rest starters and decrease injuries.

I also think they have moved toward drafting team first players, and are attempting to avoid trade me or pay me situations which can be toxic. It is impossible to field a team of only superstars and get the culture aspect right.

This may not work as well as we hope, but I see what they are doing. I really think it is very similar to how the patriots have operated for years. If it works out, the next step is trading those pieces to other teams and getting bigger value on the back end. How many backup QBs and other role players did the patriots trade over the last 20 years just to refill their squad.

I think the issue for Cincinnati fans is that we need to see more than one season of results to buy in to the system.


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[NUGDUKWE]

(05-01-2022, 02:28 AM)Whatever Wrote: The Ravens FO is seriously acting like they are taking all of Lamar's weapons away from him so he has a down year and has to settle for a lesser contract.

The Ravens were ravaged by injuries last year. But even putting that into perspective I wasn't worried about the because Lamar struggled and I think hit a ceiling and showed his flaws. I think the Ravens saw that as well and our probably changing how they want to approach the game with they're offense. 

[THE PISTONS]

(05-01-2022, 10:16 AM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: Ravens had a great draft, no doubt. But they had great draft position. They lost a lot of players in free agency and have a lot of key players on the mend. Their areas of weakness in wide receiver and corner weren’t addressed (wideout is weaker now then before the draft and they picked a couple mid-late round corners). They picked a really promising pass rusher that likely doesn’t play at all this year.

Your talking about not trading up to save a 6th and 7th round pick? What are the odds of the hypothetical players we select with those picks making the team? I’d say significantly less than a coin flip.we can fill out our depth/training camp roster in free agency.

Ravens have no quality WRs and a QB that struggles to throw more than 10 yards. Good luck with that combo.

[samhain]

(05-01-2022, 10:11 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: The Ravens are still a good team and variance happens. Yes, Cincinnati demolished them last year but that doesn't speak for this year. Did the Bengals improve enough to overcome the deficits they apparently had against the Jets and Bears? What about the Jaguars? They barely scraped by them. Perhaps a better question would be did the Bengals do enough to overcome the Browns? Cleveland banished Cincinnati to the shadow realm, in Cincinnati, with a mediocre & injured QB. Now, they have added a Pro-Bowl and an All-Pro contender type player at QB.

My point is that it isn't linear like this. I think Cincinnati is the best team in the division, but they could go 2-4 just as easily as they could go 6-0. Baltimore and Cleveland are good teams and just because Cincinnati is better doesn't mean they will win. 

I agree with the Browns part for sure.  They demolished the Bengals at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.  The Bengals replaced 2/3 of their o-line, so that should theoretically close the gap a bit on offense.  Vs Cleveland's offense is where I'm a bit more concerned.  The Bengals d-line was far from bad, and their linebackers and secondary can tackle.  They still go chewed up by Chubb and the Cleveland o-line.  Add Watson to the mix and it's going to get even more dicey.  

As far as the Ravens and the division in general go, I respect them, but we're at a point now where the Bengals have something that the rest of the division does not.  There's an elite quarterback on the roster with a bona-fide once-in-a-generation deep threat to throw to and complimentary players to make defenses pay when they shift coverage to Chase.  They can score extremely fast when they are clicking.  They can run up the score on great days, and they are tenacious enough to come from being behind multiple scores quick.  This is the kind of team you need to go deep in the playoffs and compete vs other similar teams, not just weather the division.

The other factor here is, and I think this gets lost due to the crazy run last year, these guys are just babies in terms of their NFL experience.  Burrow has basically had a year with no training camp and year with a very limited one, followed by a third of a season where he was being used more conservatively due to his injury.  That should be out the window in 2022.  I think they can get even better chemistry-wise.  Burrow is the type of player that although he's terrific now, the sky is the limit.  The more he sees on NFL fields on Sundays, the more dangerous he becomes.  Add that to the level of confidence gained in the playoff run, and I think the Bengals are a team to fear for the foreseeable future, especially if you're a team like the Ravens that lacks the offensive weaponry to keep up and the boundary corners to prevent elite weapons from getting loose in an impactful way.  

[THE PISTONS]

Breaking news! Teams picking higher in a draft have access to higher rated players!

I kind of thought going to a SB and adding 3 high quality lineman would calm people down.

[MTBengalsFan]

Can we wait to see how these guys perform in the NFL before throwing in the towel?

I had a discussion after the Super Bowl with a friend and fellow fan. We both agreed the OL needed help, then laughed about how many years we've said that and nothing happens. The Bengals essentially told us to shut the hell up by signing 3 OL studs.

Next, we agreed D-line needed help, that either of our 2 FA had to be signed. Done!

Then we agreed the defensive backfield needed help. Welcome 2022 Bengals draft class.

Would I have liked another TE and WR? Yes, but the chances of landing a starter there with as late as the Bengals drafted seemed slim.

[Essex Johnson]

I liked the draft because of what he did leading up to the draft, FA and signings of own players. For the first time in a long time we did not have multiple major holes in multiple positions on this team. The one area of depth and possible depletion in the next year or so was Safety and Corner.. so we committed to that area and secured depth and possible replacement players. The other two areas of depth need were Oline and Dline and we addressed both of those. The bengals had a game plan and stuck too it....

[samhain]

(05-01-2022, 10:38 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: I liked the draft because of what he did leading up to the draft, FA and signings of own players.  For the first time in a long time we did not have multiple major holes in multiple positions on this team.  The one area of depth and possible depletion in the next year or so was Safety and Corner.. so we committed to that area and secured depth and possible replacement players.  The other two areas of depth need were Oline and Dline and we addressed both of those.  The bengals had a game plan and stuck too it....

For possibly the first time in history, I agree with everything you said in a post.

[THE PISTONS]

We drafted fast guys. I like that.

Honestly, I didn't know much about most of these guys prior which is unusual for me for drafts.

[THE PISTONS]

(05-01-2022, 10:38 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: I liked the draft because of what he did leading up to the draft, FA and signings of own players.  For the first time in a long time we did not have multiple major holes in multiple positions on this team.  The one area of depth and possible depletion in the next year or so was Safety and Corner.. so we committed to that area and secured depth and possible replacement players.  The other two areas of depth need were Oline and Dline and we addressed both of those.  The bengals had a game plan and stuck too it....

That's a great point! We didn't need to draft 3 starters.

[Justin1462]

(05-01-2022, 12:38 AM)Emeritus Wrote: Don't forget that the Ravens weren't healthy and to add to the roster what they just did over the weekend make them very formidable. Now you can believe otherwise if you want to but have they really used wideouts in thier offense. They'll have Rashad Bateman coming back from injury as well.

To pretend like a bunch of first year draft picks is going to push Baltimore over the top to be better than us next year is insane. To pretend like anyone even the draft experts can truly predict how any of these draft picks will turn out long term is a crap shoot. Time will tell but we are the better football team than Baltimore hands down. The Browns with Watson on the filed are considerably more worrisome but hopefully with Bauers suspension it forces NFL to penalize Watson heavily. We are one of the best positioned rosters in the league for a balanced roster of playmakers with cap space available.

[Gdale_Bengal]

(05-01-2022, 10:34 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Breaking news! Teams picking higher in a draft have access to higher rated players!

I kind of thought going to a SB and adding 3 high quality lineman would calm people down.

No we as a fan base are used to drafting higher profile players and still expect them to find a way to draft said players.

They couldn’t this time but still drafted fairly well for depth. Just hope the athletes really develop and be good contributors early.

[THE PISTONS]

(05-01-2022, 10:43 AM)Gdale_Bengal Wrote: No we as a fan base are used to drafting higher profile players and still expect them to find a way to draft said players.

They couldn’t this time but still drafted fairly well for depth. Just hope the athletes really develop and be good contributors early.

At 31, what higher profile guy was there? Same with our 2nd Round pick?

This was just a weird draft.

[maclanta]

(05-01-2022, 10:53 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: At 31, what higher profile guy was there? Same with our 2nd Round pick?

This was just a weird draft.

I hope our drafts look like this for the next decade…


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[Bengalstripes9]

I hope to see us blitz more. We already had a couple good blitzers in Hilton and bell. We added a couple more with great speed and tackling ability in the draft. I’d love to see us blitz more to generate a pass rush when we are up 3 scores. Doesn’t have to be two or more extra guys. Even one extra guy could be effective if they don’t know who it will be.

[Tony]

(04-30-2022, 11:35 PM)Emeritus Wrote:

I don't like this draft and I know I'm not alone. So please tell us how this will win the division when everyone in it got better except the Bengals. This was supposed to be a backfill draft of quality depth players but we got ....Nothing of the sort. Yes, we addressed the safety position but at what cost. No tightend No wideout 1 offensive lineman but who are your backups! The other teams in the division got better but we didn't! Stop talking yourself into it. Quinton Spain will be signed at some point but he costs a SB.

I didn't like it at all.. The Dax pick was ok.... I guess we will see... We are use to getting started picks, been a while since we drafted this late...

[Nepa]

(05-01-2022, 10:32 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Ravens have no quality WRs and a QB that struggles to throw more than 10 yards. Good luck with that combo.

If I'm a Ravens fans I'm miffed that with 11 mostly mid-round picks the Ravens could not get one wide receiver for a team sorely in need of wide receivers Meanwhile, some Bengals fans are upset the team did not find a 4th wide receiver for depth behind the most talented trio in the league.

I would speculate the Ravens originally planned to pick a quality WR with the first-round pick they got for Hollywood Brown, but then there was this crazy run of wide receivers before they picked. GB at least moved up to the top of the 2nd to get a receiver (7th selected) for Rodgers. Baltimore drafted well with BPA, but now have a major position group that is totally lacking in quality and depth. 

[Essex Johnson]

(05-01-2022, 10:40 AM)samhain Wrote: For possibly the first time in history, I agree with everything you said in a post.

there is always a first  lol