Signing Henry Reconfirms Bengals' Failed Draft Strategy

Chris Henry 's resigning earlier this week seems to have been prompted because of the slow development of recent Bengals WR draft picks and the continual under performance of Antiono Chatman, who the Bengals resigned this offseason. 

Going into the 2008 NFL Draft, the Bengals were facing a disgruntled Chad Johnson who was demanding a trade and the recent release of troubled WR Henry.  It was expected for the team to draft a WR in the early rounds, which they did in their suprise selection of Coastal Carolina WR Jerome Simpson in the 2nd round.  The team followed this up by taking WR Andre Caldwell from Florida in the 3rd and WR Mario Urrutia from Louisville in the 7th.  In the week after the draft, the team signed WR Maurice Purify from Nebraska.

With the resigning of Chatman in February, the team had 5 options to replace Henry.  And by resigning Henry this week, the team seems to be saying that none will be ready to play the 3rd WR spot by Week 5 when Henry returns from suspension.   During the entire offseason and after spending 3 draft picks on Wide Receivers, the Bengals resort to resigning the player we cut in April.  Way to go Scouting Department!  All six of you! 

File this as another example of the Bengals' grand plans to build the team through the draft, and then failing completely.

UPDATE: To clarify this post, I did not intend to catagorize the entire draft as a failure.  Rather, I am trying to make the point that the Bengals clearly went into the draft knowng they needed to draft a WR who could step up and contribute immediatly.  With the re-signing of Henry, it seems that their selections have so far not developed as fast as the Bengals needed.  Jerome Simpson and Caldwell could very well turn into very productive players, but the Bengals needed WRs for this season.  And in their attempt to draft WRs who could contribute this season, they failed. 

Comments

[KY6]

Just because jerome simpson is a AA prospect and will take extra time to catch up does not mean this is a failed draft. As reasonable individuals understand, it takes several years before it is even possible to properly evaluated the overall effectiveness of a draft. There was no possible way to know are #1 and #2 receivers would be out or injured. Chad's trade demands were empty and meaningless given the economics of the situation, and the ownership knew it. We got some very talented players in this draft who have a good 'chance' of turning out well, which is all one can ask for at this early stage.

All people like to do on this site is Bengals-bash... and i'm sick of it. We are in better shape than we were this time last year probably (b/c of defense and chris perry) and we have a chance to make the post season if we play well. So quit your whining and get on the bus. At least wait to see what happens, and if we go 0-4 and look like crap, then it's time to start piling on maybe. But now, this early? You sound like Eagles fans or Jets fans (or some other whiney, classless northeastern fans).

Show your character, show you're from Cincinnati. Fear 'da Tiger.

[jjsmith35]

KY6,
What you are saying about the time needed for Simpson to develop is fine, but a team like the Bengals does not have the luxury of drafting a player in the 2nd round who is not ready to contribute. That would be ok for the Patriotrs, Steelers, Chargers, or Colts, but not for us (oh wait a second, those teams would never have drafted Simpson in the 2nd round in the first place). Any reasonable team would have taken Sweed, Kelly, or Jackson with that pick. I personally wish that we had traded up and taken James Hardy, but anything would have been better than Simpson. You are lying if you don't admit that when you saw "Jerome Simpson" flash across the screen on draft day you said "Who the fuck is that?" I bet before you googled and you tubed him, you couldn't even name Coastal Carolina's mascot.

I can't say that I don't appreciate your optimism, but that's the type of attitude that has allowed this team to remain in its terrible state for so long. This site is about raising awareness, especially for true fans like yourself. We deserve better, and the people in this city need to realize it. So excuse the creators of this site if they seem to be bashing the team a little too much. Someone needs to!

Also, the team does seem to be in a little better position than last year at this time. So hooray for them. Maybe they will make it to an 8-8 record this year!

[Andrew Simon]

jjsmith35 - this is exactly the point I was trying to make. The Bengals knew they needed to use the draft to get a WR that could immediately contribute, since they keep repeating that their strategy is to "build through the draft." We didn't have time to groom a prospect.

[IgnatiusJReilly]

I think you simply stick Simpson or Caldwell- probably the latter because of his primetime, SEC experience- out there at the number three and you work with it. I think it's realistic to assume that one or both will step up to the challenge. Our 3 last year was a part time Henry, a mediocre Holt, and Chatman, who I've never been sold on. Surely, Simpson or Caldwell can be more productive than that.

Sweed is big but slow- and injury prone. Kelly was slow at the combine. DeSean Jackson will make a wonderful kick returner but I'm not sold on his durability just based on his dwarfishness. Caldwell was a steal in round 3 because I had him rated with all three guys I just dismissed. Simpson has freakish hands and athleticism and, yeah, he's a little raw but I'll take his upside over the others, Hardy included.

I don't think the problem is the drafting of these two but rather their utilization and a tendency of the powers that be to panic- can you say, Chris Henry? It also might help if, you know, our offensive line could give Carson some time to give the new guys some throws.