Depth, Depth, and More Depth

You don’t draft in the first two rounds to add depth when you are a sub-.500 team. Sadly, this is a concept that Marvin Lewis and co. haven’t seemed to grasp in five years of drafting. Not trading up for Sedrick Ellis was inexcusable. Not trading Chad Johnson for two first round picks was inconceivable. But after watching Marvin piss away his fifth draft in six years, I must say I’m almost relieved we didn’t detract talent from this year’s team in order to add future picks. Almost.

WHO NEEDS A PLAYMAKER?

Keith Rivers will be a solid yet unspectacular player, much like the last two first round picks, Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph. He’ll have a career somewhere between Brian Simmons and Landon Johnson, and that won’t be all that bad- particularly if Odell Thurman and Ahmad Brooks can play up to their potential on the outside.

I’m going to take a wait-and-see approach on Jerome Simpson, who bears a scouting report awfully similar to TJ Houshmandzadeh. I’m in the minority of Bengals fans who actually wanted a receiver in the second round (and again in the third) mainly because I’m not a believer in Trevor Laws or the other D-lineman that were available around the 46^th pick.

However, my initial reaction to the Simpson pick was pure disgust - not because of his small-school resume but because of his lack of upside.  Every single scouting report projects him to be a #2 receiver at best - again, not something you should be aiming for in the Top 50 selections. Of course they would take him when the Roy Williams-esque Limas Sweed was still on the board. And they wouldn’t think of trading up for James “Plaxico” Hardy. 

The problem is that this regime never aims for the stars, they’re content getting guys who project to be league average starters, or even worse, rotational depth. When you target players like this, you’re going to end up with your John Thorntons, Brian Robinsons, Antonio Chatmans and Reggie Kellys - guys who are at best league average, and at worse, solid depth.

Marvin has never fully grasped this concept. When he drafted Chris Perry in the first round of the 2004 draft instead of selecting Stephen Jackson, who projected to be an absolute home-run back on everyone else’s draft board, he announced that Perry would provide great depth to the running back position. It sounds eerily similar to how he justified the selection of Simpson over the multitude of bigger home run threats on everyone else’s draft board.

Think that was the only time he opted for depth over a playmaker in the second round? How about in 2006 when he took Andrew Whitworth, who has been a surprisingly pleasant addition to the “rotation of the offensive line,” while a couple of playmakers went in the next five picks afterwards. Their names? Devin Hester and Maurice Jones-Drew. All this coming at a time when our top return man was none other than Keiwan Ratliff. 

Hell, even our “franchise player” Stacy Andrews was franchised because he provides depth on the offensive line. I’m willing to reserve judgment of the Simpson pick, especially given the praise heaped upon it by the NFL Network gurus (who panned the rest of the Bengals draft in the same segment,) but I really hope Bratkowski knows what he’s doing here. 

(more after the jump...)

SPECIAL TEAMERS ARE NOT THAT SPECIAL

Skip down a few rounds, and you’ll find the typical Marvin Lewis draft specials - guys who will never line up from scrimmage, but whose upside projects to be an impact player (not a returner) on special teams.

Haven’t we had enough of these guys? I mean, how many Ethan Kilmers, Benny Brazells, Greg Brooks and Reggie McNeals do we need? These guys should be picked up as undrafted FA’s, just like Herana Daze-Jones.

It’s one thing to draft an impact kickoff or punt returner, but forgive me for being unenthused about a gunner with tremendous upside. Color me unexcited about the prospects of Corey Lynch, and it’s not just because I’m a Wolverine.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THESE GUYS

But the most interesting storyline of this draft lies at the Bengals biggest position of weakness - defensive tackle.   Their ineptitude has never been more evident in their failure to take initiative and trade up to get Sedrick Ellis, who was the best and most logical draft fit for the Bengals since fellow Trojan Carson Palmer came out in 2003. This mistake has been more than well documented. 

So instead of focusing on it, I will say this - the entire fate of the 2008 Bengals draft lies with two players: Pat Sims and Jason Shirley. If either of these guys can develop into above average league starters that will keep blockers off our rejuvenated linebacking core, this draft will be a success. We know that Rivers will be solid. If either Sims or Shirley can become even the best defensive tackle on this team, we can (try to) forgive and forget the Sedrick Ellis fiasco. If not, it is yet another colossal Bengal disaster by Marvin and company. Judging from the long line of hand-picked defensive tackles Marvin has brought us in the past (John Thornton, Langston Moore, Matthias Askew, Brian Robinson, Sam Adams, Shaun Smith, Domata Peko, Michael Myers) I fear that it may be the latter. And finally…

TAKE SOME INITIATIVE, DAMNIT!

Although I said that I didn’t want to beat a dead horse with the Sedrick Ellis fiasco, I do want to mention one thing about the Bengals. Ever since the Ki-Jana Carter debacle in 1994, Mike Brown (or Marvin Lewis?) has refused to take any kind of initiative on draft day, and we have lost out on the best players year after year because of it. 

In 2004 we lost Thomas Davis to Carolina, and after trading down missed out on Stephen Jackson (although the Bengals claimed to like Perry better- silly them!)

In 2006, Manny Lawson was the guy they wanted all along who would help facilitate the transition to the 3-4. Instead of trading up when he was still on the board just two picks before the Bengals, they watched hopelessly as he was plucked by San Francisco.

Last year, it was the Jets who traded up in each of the first two rounds, first stealing Darelle Revis from under us and then nabbing linebacker David Harris in the second. If that wasn’t bad enough, Pittsburgh traded up and selected defensive end Lamarr Woodley just before we could take him. 

You would think they would have learned their lesson after that, but alas this year we watched hopelessly as the Saints (in the most telegraphed move of the century) traded up to get Sedrick Ellis. Jacksonville added insult to injury when they followed suit by trading all the way up from 26 to grab Derrick Harvey. Finally, it then turned comical when the Saints traded up again in the fifth round to take DeMario Pressley, just before the DT-starved Bengals could get their hands on what was by far the best DT available on the board, forcing them to go with Jason “Pacman” Shirley.  

It wouldn’t be that bad if these were just better players that happened to be going before we picked. But it was more than that - these were the guys that we needed in the worst way in every single instance - so much so that these were (shockingly) the guys that even our inept front office had identified as necessary fits. (Maybe they shouldn’t telegraph their targets so much? There’s a thought!)

Call it the curse of Ki-Jana Carter, or more currently the curse of Shaun Rogers, but whatever you want to call it, the lack of initiative to make deals in the draft is costing us our franchise. Viva la revolution!