Grade The Draft

[Gdale_Bengal]

(04-30-2023, 09:42 AM)OSUfan Wrote: I don't know why people fail to understand that the TE is not a star in offense that the Bengals employ. The TE needs to be an adequate blocker that can slip out and find a soft spot in the defense and be a safety valve for the QB. The TE in this offense is not an integral part of the receiving game. This offense centers around the WRs and the RB being an extension of the passing game. You would think that fans would consider the fact Taylor know his offense scheme better than they think they do.

I know that. I’m not suggesting high round TE. But after Irv goes down it’s freaking drew sample time.

Drew freaking Sample. Think on that. Could have upgraded him in this class.

[kalibengal]

(04-30-2023, 11:56 AM)MasonDT70 Wrote: B, they got a lot of great athletes at positions that will help with not leaving holes in the roster for the next few upcoming years. Got what should be high end depth for this year, and potential stater later on. Really like the chase brown pick as an immediate contributor, but I'm not high on Mixon atm. I am with the crowd that wanted a TE somewhere in that 3rd-5th round as Irv Smith hasnt realiably stayed healthy. Hoping for a solid vet cut the can grab for insurance there.

Yes, thinking that we are one Irv Smith injury away from having Drew Sample as our Starter at TE is a bad feeling. Maybe they bring in Austin Hooper? 
all I know is we currently have the worst TE room in NFL. 

[KillerGoose]

I gave the draft a B. The Bengals did a great job of selecting BPA. The top three picks were all guys who "fell" to them, according to the Consensus Big Board. Charlie Jones was selected a bit ahead of his consensus position but Brown and Iosivas were fantastic value selections. Robbins and Ivey were considered undraftable, but I think there is some nuance with Robbins in particular. The need for a punter was strong and they wanted to make sure they got their guy. He was an upper echelon punter in college, so I understand the selection. Could they have gotten him as an UDFA? Sure, but maybe not. This at least guarantees he is they got him.

The Bengals did a good enough job at grabbing value that I could see myself giving it an A the more I think about it. I think they did a good job.

[Nepa]

I gave the draft a B.

Productive players at very good value. But ones that likely will not upgrade the starting positions this year, but serve as rotational pieces, depth, and potential future starters.

Zac already said the 2nd and 3rd picks were for depth. The first pick, Murphy, will not pass out Hendrickson and Hubbard this year (and Hendrickson and Hubbard are around for two more years), but will rotate with them and with Ossai. But his presence will no doubt elevate the pass rush, and last year the Bengals were 4th from the bottom in QB pressures and sacks. Murphy will add his own pass rush and keep the often-late-in-the-game-gassed Hendrickson fresh.

The pick in the fifth was one of the true gems. The Bengals needed a RB and didn't reach for one. In fact, between the Bengals third-round pick and their fifth-round pick, there was only one RB taken. So, by not selecting an RB in the third or fourth, the Bengals still had their choice of RBs.

The big shortcoming was not getting a TE in a deep and quality TE draft. Do the Bengals really want to go to battle with a one-year-rental in Irv Smith who has been out injured many more games than he has played and who will be one of the shortest TEs in the league? Do the Bengals plan to get one-year rentals each year, to learn the playbook, rather than get an established player at the position? Look at what the Bengals will face when Pittsburgh runs two-TE sets: the twin towers of Pat Freiermuth (6'5") and Darnell Washington (6'7"). Wouldn't the Bengals like to place other teams in the position where they had to find players to defend against tall TEs?

[Snarks]

Losing Hurst, would have loved a later round TE. But, other than that I’m happy. B+

[Redsbengalsbucks]

C because it is too early to know, but they all have potential

[BoomerFan]

I think we had a good strategy in a draft that was generally underwhelming and where we were picking late.

Let's be real. Most of what we need to win a championship is already on the team. Add some players on defense can't hurt though and eventually may help us with the financial side extending Burrow.

[TKUHL]

Did our Oline get better? How about our D line. I get it we got the DE, and some solid players, just not a fan of how we selected. Tried to be thrilled about it, just can’t. None of these guys puts this team over the top. Had a feeling Zac wouldn’t go after any of the TE’s, yet we take Sample in 2. Im just shocked we didn’t address Oline or DT more.

I don’t have anything against the guys we picked, they just don’t make sense. when we selected Murphy I thought great let’s beef up these lines, then not a single pick for either line the rest of the draft. Common how tf is anyone happy with this. May be my least favorite draft ever! When we fall short again cause Burrows on his ass, or we can’t sack a gimpy ass one leg QB, just remember we got MORE WR’s for those 18 WR sets we run.

[*bengalfan74*]

(04-30-2023, 08:40 AM)Bronxbengal Wrote: I am so tired of hearing the b and moaning on this board about not getting a TE.  If Tobin and company hasn’t produced a championship caliber roster than I would get the persistent whining, but they have.  I trust their wisdom and plan.  There are only so many footballs that can go around.  I think someone said it best during the draft that the TE just needs to block and find the empty space in the defense.  Don’t need to waste a high draft pick for that.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

X1,000

Peeps act like our season is doomed because we didn't draft a top level TE. Ummm we have some pretty ok receivers last time I checked. And, AND I would guess if Joe Burrow wanted a top shelf TE they would have got him one.

Let it go

[*bengalfan74*]

(04-30-2023, 08:46 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I'll give it an A for now, but we really won't know for 2-3 years how well these players develop.  The team appears to have set themselves up with really good depth at WR and in the secondary, not to mention the huge shot in the arm that STs seems to have received.  If those DBs and WRs develop into contributors and eventual starters, then it will have been a very good draft.

Right

It's impossible to say for now. There's a bunch of potential though for this to be a very good draft, IMHO. I'm kind of excited to see what Chase Brown can do.

[SunsetBengal]

(04-30-2023, 12:05 PM)Gdale_Bengal Wrote: I know that. I’m not suggesting high round TE. But after Irv goes down it’s freaking drew sample time.

Drew freaking Sample. Think on that. Could have upgraded him in this class.

How do you know that they weren't looking at TE, and maybe the guys they had targeted were unavailable come time for the Bengals selections?  You did notice that they signed the TE/H-Back from Houston, right?

[TigerStripes]

Solid draft. I like the depth and direction of the team. My one very small gripe was not taking a flyer on TE Zack Kuntz in the 6th and then punter in the 7th. Kuntz was gone early in the 7th and we ended up with the MIA CB. Had they picked up Kuntz, I suspect they may have still been able to get Robbins in the 7th or at least another decent punter. That said, I really like Robbins, so maybe not a good risk. I trust the staff and like the speed and athleticism added overall.

[Soonerpeace]

According to Arif Hasan's NFL Draft Industry Consensus Big Board, which accounts for 70 different big boards from around draft media, Murphy was ranked as the 15th-best player in the entire class. As the 28th overall pick, he was the highest-ranked prospect on the consensus board, which made him the biggest steal of the first round according to the consensus.

[Goalpost]

I gave them a B. The players picked were fine, but they still ignored some needs imo, particular o-line depth, and TE. They also failed to move Jonah.

[Soonerpeace]

(04-30-2023, 02:02 PM)Goalpost Wrote: I gave them a B. The players picked were fine, but they still ignored some needs imo, particular o-line depth, and TE. They also failed to move Jonah.

I agree but there were some constraints. They tried to move Jonah but most teams low balled them because of the draft. With his salary if a great tackle dropped to them in the draft they’d be kicking themselves for not waiting. At TE several went before their second pick and then several times later. Every time I felt the Jordan Battle pick involved too much emotion. He wowed them character wise and Darrin Simmons and Lou really wanted him. Simmons wowed over him on special teams and Lou knew him as he went to high school with his son. He will be a stellar contributor in the locker room. But at third did we need a safety? Remains to be seen. He was a BPA and great value. But I’d like to have utilized it better.

[Oasis5055]

(04-30-2023, 01:12 PM)TKUHL Wrote: Did our Oline get better? How about our D line. I get it we got the DE, and some solid players, just not a fan of how we selected. Tried to be thrilled about it, just can’t. None of these guys puts this team over the top. Had a feeling Zac wouldn’t go after any of the TE’s, yet we take Sample in 2. Im just shocked we didn’t address Oline or DT more.

I don’t have anything against the guys we picked, they just don’t make sense. when we selected Murphy I thought great let’s beef up these lines, then not a single pick for either line the rest of the draft. Common how tf is anyone happy with this. May be my least favorite draft ever! When we fall short again cause Burrows on his ass, or we can’t sack a gimpy ass one leg QB, just remember we got MORE WR’s for those 18 WR sets we run.

Couldn’t agree more. Draft is a c at best for me because the glaring need was not addressed. Signing brown at left tackle is great but with an injured Williams and Collins overall for the line is is a wash.

Who is going to backup Kara’s Cappa if they go down? We saw sharping get man handled and burrow throwing in to the ground how many times. Ford and scharping are good against average. The result will be the same if they face the chiefs and forget about the eagles.

At the end of the day what stopped them from driving down 1 time and taking the Super Bowl 2 years ago or the championship game last year? I mean in both games the defense gave them the ball 4-5 times in the second half of each to go down and end it. Improving defense is great but not the weakness of this team

It was the weakness and fall off in talent between starters and backups on the offensive line and imo that weakness still exists. Drafting another 2 wide receivers for what appears to now me a modified run and shoot offensive philosophy doesn’t work if the quarterback is having to throw the ball into the ground 2 times every set of downs. More utilization of A blocking tight end would help take the pressure off the edges but that’s not part of the run and shoot philosophy I guess

[OSUfan]

(04-30-2023, 12:05 PM)Gdale_Bengal Wrote: I know that. I’m not suggesting high round TE. But after Irv goes down it’s freaking drew sample time.

Drew freaking Sample. Think on that. Could have upgraded him in this class.

Think on this...4 games in a row last year the Bengals were without TE1 or TE2 and they won all four of those games. 

[TheFan]

(04-30-2023, 01:23 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: X1,000

Peeps act like our season is doomed because we didn't draft a top level TE. Ummm we have some pretty ok receivers last time I checked. And, AND I would guess if Joe Burrow wanted a top shelf TE they would have got him one.

Let it go

How many times are we going to do 1 year rentals though? Hoping Irv Smith stays healthy this year and Drew Sample can be useful after his ACL is not a plan. When Irv Smith gets hurt at some point this year we're going to Sample. That's not a pleasant thought for anyone. We didn't need a top shelf TE but taking a flier on some of the back round TEs that have really good traits (where a lot of the good TEs come from) seems like a missed opportunity. 

Obviously it's not make or break for the offense but neither is a another late round RB like Evans, Williams, etc that we take every year. I like the Brown pick as well as the WRs but think TE could have been chosen with one of them as well with potentially more upside. 

I give the draft a B overall. Don't see any all Pros but maybe some good players picking 28th each round likely isn't going to get an A following the draft. 

[OSUfan]

(04-30-2023, 02:27 PM)Oasis5055 Wrote: Couldn’t agree more. Draft is a c at best for me because the glaring need was not addressed. Signing brown at left tackle is great but with an injured Williams and Collins overall for the line is is a wash.

Who is going to backup Kara’s Cappa if they go down? We saw sharping get man handled and burrow throwing in to the ground how many times. Ford and scharping are good against average. The result will be the same if they face the chiefs and forget about the eagles.

At the end of the day what stopped them from driving down 1 time and taking the Super Bowl 2 years ago or the championship game last year? I mean in both games the defense gave them the ball 4-5 times in the second half of each to go down and end it. Improving defense is great but not the weakness of this team

It was the weakness and fall off in talent between starters and backups on the offensive line and imo that weakness still exists. Drafting another 2 wide receivers for what appears to now me a modified run and shoot offensive philosophy doesn’t work if the quarterback is having to throw the ball into the ground 2 times every set of downs. More utilization of A blocking tight end would help take the pressure off the edges but that’s not part of the run and shoot philosophy I guess

Williams is not injured. Williams was injured but he had corrective surgery. It is possible that Williams is the backup to Carman at RT and or swing tackle. So no the OT was not a wash. They got Orlando Brown Jr. who is far better suited to block for Burrow than he was to block for Mahomes.


The backup to Karras will be either Trey Hill or Ben Brown of whom both can play G or C. That gives depth at G as well as at C. 


It could be argued that last season better defense gets the KC offense off the field more efficiently putting the ball in Burrows hand rather than the hand of Mahomes. The Bengals did not fair as well as could be getting to the QB and spelling Hubbard and Hendrickson without losing level of play could go far in correcting this issue.


I like how so many here feel they know better how this offense operates better than the HC and OC know how the offense operates. 

[Oasis5055]

(04-30-2023, 02:43 PM)OSUfan Wrote: Williams is not injured. Williams was injured but he had corrective surgery. It is possible that Williams is the backup to Carman at RT and or swing tackle. So no the OT was not a wash. They got Orlando Brown Jr. who is far better suited to block for Burrow than he was to block for Mahomes.


The backup to Karras will be either Trey Hill or Ben Brown of whom both can play G or C. That gives depth at G as well as at C. 


It could be argued that last season better defense gets the KC offense off the field more efficiently putting the ball in Burrows hand rather than the hand of Mahomes. The Bengals did not fair as well as could be getting to the QB and spelling Hubbard and Hendrickson without losing level of play could go far in correcting this issue.


I like how so many here feel they know better how this offense operates better than the HC and OC know how the offense operates. 

Ben Brown is the backup? You lost the argument right there I mean Is it even worth responding to? An undrafted free agent from last years class who had talent but was undrafted because of a serious arm injury in college and then in pre season blew out his arm again and hasn’t played a down in the nfl? Trey hill struggled against pre season talent no less last year. The article on Ben brown from last year talks about trey hills struggle in preseason. If these are seriously the backups it’s gonna be bad