According to Clayton, Bengals Inaction at DT is among the Worst

According to John Clayton, one of the worst "non-moves" of the 2008 offseason was the Cincinnati Bengals' inability to get help at the defensive tackle position.  He notes the additions of Pat Sims and Jason Shirley through the 2008 NFL draft but focuses on the botched trades for Shaun Rogers and Dewayne Robertson, as well as getting outmaneuvered on draft day by the New Orleans Saints.  The Saints traded in front of us to get highly coveted defensive tackle, Sedrick Ellis, a player who many Bengal fans saw as a perfect fit for us.

Two initial thoughts come to mind.  First, Clayton does have a point.  Our refusal to trade on draft day and the inability to complete two trades was very frustrating for Bengals fans.  The sky seemed to be falling when we found out that the Shaun Rogers deal didn't go through and to make matters worse, he ended up with the Cleveland Browns.  Given our desperate need at defensive tackle, it is somewhat questionable that we weren't more active to get Sedrick Ellis (although it shouldn't have surprised anyone).  That being said, judgment shouldn't be rushed on the Bengals decision to take the best linebacker on the board, Keith Rivers, in the first round, especially considering that we were able to pick up Sims and Shirley subsequently in the draft.  Sims was highly rated and (whether proper or not), we got Shirley at a discount because of character concerns and he's roughly the size of a golf cart.  In grading the 2008 NFL draft in the future, we'll definitely be comparing the productivity of Sedrick Ellis to Sims, Shirley and Rivers.

Secondly, it's interesting that one of Clayton's seven moves is not the Bengals' decision to keep Chad Johnson rather than trading him for a 2008 first round pick and a 2009 third round pick (that potentially could have become a first rounder) from the Washington Redskins.  This decision has been blasted by many and praised by some.  It remains to be seen if the Bengals will trade him after June 1st but it's interesting to note that Clayton, a particularly respected ESPN analyst, does not blast the decision as much as some of his colleagues did just before draft day.

Comments

[Winn]

Hey Clayton, why dont you go back to the Star Trek Convention you came from??? Snap! Zing!

[Chaz]

John Clayton is wrong.

To trade up for Ellis, we'd have had to use our picks for both Keith Rivers AND Pat Sims. Two good players filling two desperate needs seem far better than one good+ player filling one need. And, quite frankly, considering our fantastic luck with keeping first round picks injury free, we needed to hedge our bets.

I think the Bengals did better in the draft than they're scored. Of course, we won't know for certain until a few years from now, but I think we'll be scored up.