Less than a week until the draft! What do the Bengals need? It’s a harder question to answer than most
years. While the Bengals are in
transition at multiple positions, they have a plan in place at just about every
spot. As fits with their organizational
philosophy, younger players are slated for promotion into roster voids caused
by free agency and roster cuts. I’m not
opposed to the strategy, but it makes ranking their biggest weaknesses murky. Basically,
they need a player at every position.
Which player do they need the most? Well, who is more likely to excel Cedric
Ogbehoi at LT or Nick Vigil at outside linebacker? It’s a dirty job, but here’s my crack at
it.
1. Center
Until they move on from Russel Bodine I’ll probably have
this penciled in as the team’s weakest position. He’s a liability in pass protection and the
offense is never going to be able to function consistently if they keep
allowing a pipeline of pressure up the middle.
It didn’t matter as much when they had high-end guard play next to
Bodine, but now their guards consist of Clint Boling trying to bounce back from
a down year and some combination of Andre Smith/T.J. Johnson trying to fill the
void left by the departure of arguably their third best offensive player. More than likely center will not be a
priority in the first or second rounds of the draft, but keep an eye on names
like Ethan Pocic, the unusually tall center from LSU and Jon Toth, the gritty
center out of Kentucky, late in day 2 or early in day 3.
2. Guard
As noted above, they are in transition at guard as well and
it’s not clear if the current solutions on the roster are sturdy bandages
capable of stopping the bleeding or flimsy Band-Aids destined to allow the
Bengals offense to hemorrhage to death as they continuously allow opposing DT’s
to sprint straight to the quarterback every passing down. I like the idea of playing Andre Smith at
guard, but I’m still a little skeptical it is going to pan out. While this year’s OT draft class has been
maligned, the interior OL crop is fairly strong and deep. Forrest Lamp likely won’t fall to them in the
second round, but they could look at guys like Dan Feeney (Indiana) and Dorian
Johnson (Pittsburgh) on day 2.
3. Linebacker
I’m lumping the whole linebacking corps together. The Bengals couldn’t stop the short to
intermediate passing game to save their life.
As a whole, they need to get more athletic in the middle of their
unit. Is promoting Nick Vigil the
answer? Will free agent Kevin Minter pan
out? Can Vontaze Burfict stay
healthy? I’m not confident enough about
any of those answers for me to be comfortable with them standing pat with what
they’ve got. Vinnie Rey is a nice
backup, but if you’re going to ask him to contribute beyond a fill-in role,
you’re just treading water. Haason
Reddick (Temple) might be a player that is elevating onto their radar in the
first round. It will be interesting to
see if they like Reuben Foster (Alabama) enough to take him at 9.
4a. Cornerback
This one hurts. They
have dumped plenty of resources into filling this need, but it is unclear if
any of their efforts are sufficient for the upcoming season. Adam Jones seems hell-bent on scuttling
what’s left of his career. Dre Kirkpatrick
hasn’t shown signs that he’s any more than an average player. Darqueze Denard has yet to develop into a
significant contributor and William Jackson has yet to step on the field. 9 probably isn’t the spot to take a CB for them
unless Marshon Lattimore falls due to injury concerns. It’s a deep class though. They will be able to find help here all the
way into day 3.
4b. Ofensive Tackle
Same deal on this one.
They’ve allocated plenty of resources but it isn’t clear if it will pay
off and it will likely be a disaster in 2017 if it doesn’t. Pundits will hound all offseason about how
the Bengals poor O-line play was the problem in 2016, they lost their two best
guys in free agency, and consequently they will be challenging Cleveland for
the cellar of the division in 2017. I’m
cautiously optimistic that narrative is ill-conceived, but not confident.
5a. WR
Brandon Lafell is fine as a poor man’s version of Marvin
Jones at WR2. Tyler Boyd will be decent
as a WR2/WR3 upgrade on Mohammed Sanu, but he has a fairly low ceiling. If this offense is ever really going to hum
like it almost did two years ago, they need a little talent boost opposite A.J.
Green. I’m not sure what they have in
Cody Core and whether he is a potential solution. Corey Davis (Western Michigan) hasn’t tested
in the pre-draft process due to injury.
I like him, but he might be a little too risky for Cincy at 9. Mike Williams (Clemson) is too rich for my
blood any earlier than the late-teens.
John Ross could be gone at 9, and has his own injury concerns (shoulder
and knees). Fortunately, this WR class
has something for everyone in every round.
Day 2 could be a good spot to snag some potential starting WR
talent. Curtis Samuel (Ohio State RB/WR
with a 4.31 40 to his name), Zay Jones (set records at East Carolina running
bubble screens but he showed at the Senior Bowl he might be more than that),
Chris Godwin (Penn St., good WR evaluators that I trust think he’s better than
Mike Williams) would be intriguing in round 2 and Carlos Henderson (Louisiana
Tech), Taywan Taylor (Western Kentucky), and Juju Smith-Schuster Smith (USC)
would be outstanding additions especially if they fall to the early third.
Cooper Kupp (Eastern Washington) set records at the FCS level but I’m not sure
I like him enough to take him as high as he is going to go. ArDarius Stewart (Alabama), Josh Reynolds
(Texas A&M), Chad Hansen (California)…Ok I’m starting to feel like Mel
Kiper just randomly spouting off every player he’s ever heard of. Here’s the point: the beauty of having A.J.
Green is that finding high-end WR2 talent is a lot easier than finding elite
WR1 talent. They don’t need to find
Batman, they need to find Robin and if they can land one of these 12 or so guys
I’ve mentioned I would be thrilled. This
is the year to do it. They will develop
with Boyd and really be ready to rock when this roster really rebounds in about
1.5 to 2 years. Their current crop will
be ok, otherwise this would rank higher.
Yet, I just typed up half a page on it without breaking a sweat. If they want to be great, they’ll find a way
to sneak WR in some time between rounds 2 and 4.
5b. TE
Same deal here? I’d be just fine with their current group of
Tyler Eifert, Tyler Croft, and C.J. Uzomah, but all three missed time in 2016
due to injury. Eifert is in a contract
year. Will he be the latest talent to
bleed out the door in the first few days of free agency triggering the whole
world to scoff at the Bengals’ frugality? O.J. Howard (Alabama) would be a nice
insurance policy to that and it would allow them to go to more 2 TE sets
essentially solving the WR2 problem at the same time. Most think this could be the best TE class ever. Granted a lot of the players project more as
receiving only talents, but that wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing in the
world. There’s more than one way to skin
a cat when it comes to bolstering depth for your receiving targets. David Njoku (Miami) will be gone in the 15 to
25 range, but they will have plenty of other opportunities to add TE depth sprinkled
throughout the draft figuratively and literally… Arkansas TE Jeremy Sprinkle
could a guy they consider (How about that for a football name? Not exactly Tank Johnson or Rock Cartwright)
5C. DE
Most would place DE towards the top of the needs list for
the Bengals. Pass rush pass rush pass
rush will be the number 2 item on the canned list of talking points this
offseason. I see it the same as
WR2. It’s not urgent in that if they
stand pat for now it won’t sink their 2017 season, but if they want to challenge
the top tier teams consistently, they need to get some talent in the pipeline. Solomon Thomas (Stanford) will be gone
quickly. Johnathan Allen (Alabama) might
fall to them at 9. He would be a nice
addition, but I don’t think he has enough upside as a pass rusher to solve
their real problem. Beyond that there is a big jumble as far as
the next best edge guys. I don’t really
like Taco Charlton (Michigan), Derek Barnett (Tennessee), and Charles Harris
(Missouri) as pro prospects. They are better off trying to snag players like
Jordan Willis (Kansas State), Takkarist McKinley (UCLA), Tarell Basham (Ohio),
Demarcus Walker (Florida State), or Derek Rivers (Youngstown State) later in
the draft.
6. RB
I don’t know what to make of the incumbent duo, a recovering
Giovani Bernard and a struggling Jeremy Hill.
Let’s just say I would have liked to see them keep Rex Burkhead. They should resist the urge to draft one of
the big names early and take a swing on somebody late to add some fresh blood
to the mix.
7. Safety
I don’t know if Shawn Williams is going to plateau as an
average player or if he can step up.
There is some safety talent in this class, but the best move is probably
to stand pat unless Malik Hooker falls into their laps at 9. He’s raw, but he could be great.
7. DT
They can hold off here to see what they have in recovering
players like Andrew Billings, Brandon Thompson, and Marcus Hardison.
8. QB
Similar strategy at QB.
Use 2017 to evaluate Jeff Driskel.
Only add a player if they decide to trade A.J. McCarron.
No comments:
Post a Comment