An overlooked issue with the Bengals

[CincyWestside]

We have heard a ton of issues with the Bengals over the course of the last few years: Marvin, Mike Brown, etc.

But I think an often overlooked issue we have been dealing with has been our draft classes. Think about it. How often have we gotten production out of our more recent draft classes?

I think the problem was that we got really lucky with a few draft classes a little while ago and built a core of players who could carry us to the playoffs 5 straight years. But we lost a few of them in Free Agency and have missed what seems like at least the last three years.

2010 - Gresham (even though Gronk was there), Dunlap, and Atkins.
2011 - Green, Dalton, Boling
2012 - Kirkpatrick, Zeitler, Still, Sanu, Thompson, M. Jones
2013 - Eifert, Bernard, Hunt, S. Williams
2014 - Dennard, Hill, Clarke, Bodine, McCarron, J. Wright
2015 - Ogbuehi, Fisher, Kroft, Shaw
2016 - Jackson, Boyd, Vigil, Billings

So as you can see, we really seemed to set our core players in '10, '11, and '12. Players like Dalton, Green, Dunlap, Atkins, Sanu, M. Jones, and Zeitler all have been great if not solid.

However, we seem to miss on a lot of high picks lately. Picks like Hunt, Dennard, Clarke, Bodine, Ogbuehi, Fisher, Jackson, and Billings all had high prospects, but none have panned out to much. It has really hurt this team to have to continue relying on older players like Peko, Winston, and Dansby to fill starter roles.

[OrlandoBengal]

(11-21-2016, 12:04 PM)CincyWestside Wrote: We have heard a ton of issues with the Bengals over the course of the last few years: Marvin, Mike Brown, etc.

But I think an often overlooked issue we have been dealing with has been our draft classes. Think about it. How often have we gotten production out of our more recent draft classes?

I think the problem was that we got really lucky with a few draft classes a little while ago and built a core of players who could carry us to the playoffs 5 straight years. But we lost a few of them in Free Agency and have missed what seems like at least the last three years.

2010 - Gresham (even though Gronk was there), Dunlap, and Atkins.
2011 - Green, Dalton, Boling
2012 - Kirkpatrick, Zeitler, Still, Sanu, Thompson, M. Jones
2013 - Eifert, Bernard, Hunt, S. Williams
2014 - Dennard, Hill, Clarke, Bodine, McCarron, J. Wright
2015 - Ogbuehi, Fisher, Kroft, Shaw
2016 - Jackson, Boyd, Vigil, Billings

So as you can see, we really seemed to set our core players in '10, '11, and '12. Players like Dalton, Green, Dunlap, Atkins, Sanu, M. Jones, and Zeitler all have been great if not solid.

However, we seem to miss on a lot of high picks lately. Picks like Hunt, Dennard, Clarke, Bodine, Ogbuehi, Fisher, Jackson, and Billings all had high prospects, but none have panned out to much. It has really hurt this team to have to continue relying on older players like Peko, Winston, and Dansby to fill starter roles.

The last three drafts do not look good to this point, especially the 2015 draft.  Drafting two people at the same position with your first two picks, and missing on both of them, is not good.  I don't think he'll be a super star, but do think Shaw will be a quality NFL player (thankfully he jumped out of that window in college and dropped).  Too early to tell with 2016 because Jackson has been hurt.

Interesting to note that if Gruden would not have fought for Dalton, we would have Kaepernick as our quarterback... how good do Green or Eifert look with Colin throwing to them every game?

[WeezyBengal]

The problem with our drafting is that we have been reluctant over the past few years to play guys that we have drafted in the first round. We sit them out and let them rot on the sidelines and don't give them any game experience.

This year you see the culmination of this. With all of the injuries and some of the Bengals depth being depleted via free agency some higher draft picks in recent years have had to step up and play and haven't gotten the job done. This could be due to inexperience or they could just suck.

Regardless, you don't know what you are getting with these draft picks until you actually play them in games and evaluate them. The Bengals don't do that until 2 years after they draft them and then its just too late.

For example they drafted Dennard at cornerback two years ago expecting him to take over a starting position. Now he is seeing playing time and we realize hes not good. Now we have to go out and draft another corner back.

The Bengals philosophy of drafting guys and not playing them has caught up to them in my opinion.

[leonardfan40]

(11-21-2016, 12:24 PM)OrlandoBengal Wrote: The last three drafts do not look good to this point, especially the 2015 draft.  Drafting two people at the same position with your first two picks, and missing on both of them, is not good.  I don't think he'll be a super star, but do think Shaw will be a quality NFL player (thankfully he jumped out of that window in college and dropped).  Too early to tell with 2016 because Jackson has been hurt.

Interesting to note that if Gruden would not have fought for Dalton, we would have Kaepernick as our quarterback... how good do Green or Eifert look with Colin throwing to them every game?

yeah you are right, there is no way we could have snagged him up if he jumped out of the window and didn't drop. Every team would love to have a CB that can literally fly! Imagine the possibilities

[OrlandoBengal]

(11-21-2016, 12:32 PM)leonardfan40 Wrote: yeah you are right, there is no way we could have snagged him up if he jumped out of the window and didn't drop. Every team would love to have a CB that can literally fly! Imagine the possibilities

Obviously, I meant that his draft status dropped.  Most people had him pegged as a second, and possibly late first rounder, before that incident.