I love you Marvin and CO!!!!!!

[Kazkal]

/happy dance hell ya

[HoosierCat]

Yup. Where you been for the last 7 hours?

http://forums.bengalszone.com/index.php?sh...pic=11063&st=60

[Kazkal]

Work sense 7:45 am

[lando griffin]

good s**t, good s**t.....first time I've heard of him, but any news on the TE front is good at this point

[Kazkal]

Unlike the others too hes a actual pass threat and could be just as good as pope he has the tools =)

[jditty47]

hes ok. hes never had a qb that could actually throw to him at UNLV ( i went there). so we'll see....

[AMC]

Need to find someone at TE to take Ghent's place on the PS.

[bengalboomer7]

Jditty, havent seen you in awhile

[Dadraftnick]

This guy looks really good. Tall 6'8 Nice production. 567 yds 7 td at 11.5 ypc

He slipped because he had surgery on his foot for turf toe.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

I'll hold back my applause until he makes the roster.

[duus]

There has been much written by many folks on this board about the Bengals failure to actually DRAFT a tight end. I am surely not incredibly familiar with all the TEs out there, especially once you get beyond the top few. It's rather obvious that the Bengals simply were not willing to grab the top names like:

Vernon Davis (6th overall)

Marcedes Lewis (28th overall)

Joe Klopfenstein (46th overall)

Anthony Fasano (53rd overall)

Tony Scheffler (61st overall)

Leonard Pope (72nd overall)

David Thomas (86th overall)

Dominique Byrd (93rd overall)

That takes you through round 3 of the draft. I think round 1 they clearly saw defense as a priority over TE. I agree.

By the time round 2 pick rolls around, you find our Bengals picking at 55th overall and 4 of those shown above were already gone. This is where I wanted a TE, but they must have clearly felt better value at with Whitworth at the Tackle spot. I wanted the TE here, but it's hard to argue with going after this tackle.

So, now we are at round 3, picking 91st. Only Byrd is left from the list above. Knowing this, I like the decision to pass. Folks can argue over the Rucker thing as much as they want, but passing on the TE at this point and clearly deciding to wait until after the draft is acceptable to me.

To me, the group left is not that separable. Let's look at some of the names available from the end of the 3rd round through the undrafted:

Byrd (3rd round - 93rd overall)

Daniels (4th round - 98th overall)

Pociask (5th round - 150th overall)

King (5th round - 155th overall)

Sypniewski (5th round - 166th overall)

Davis (5th round - 167th overall)

Williams (6th round - 202nd overall)

Massaquoi (7th round - 244th overall)

Hamby (undrafted)

Estandia (undrafted)

I honestly feel that the two undrafted guys that the Bengals picked up are not that different from most of those drafted from the end of the 3rd round and forward. The arguments will come from Byrd and Daniels, but I'll live with it. Byrd is probably the one guy out of this group that I clearly think is the top ... and that might be where the Bengals failed, if at all. That said, I think the Estandia signing may surprise everyone in the end. Heck, I've seen some predraft rankings that put him around the top 12-14 TEs available. Given the way the early parts of the draft unfolded, I have to agree that this Estandia signing could end up as one of the most brilliant 'non-moves' during the draft weekend. Su-weet.

[Kazkal]

Yupyup, he doesn't have to beat out ghent too imo ghent beats out tony the I barley block better then schobel

[Dadraftnick]

Mark Bavaro(sp?) was an undrafted free agent back when they had 12 rounds.

The Giants had drafted 2 TE's early in the draft that year.I think they ended cutting them both.

The TE coach remarked that that(ufa's) was the best way to get a TE because you seldom know if the TE with all the catches can block or if the guy can block in school you dont know if the guy can block in the NFL.

[duus]

The other thing to keep in mind is how many teams out there are now, due to the draft, carrying EXTRA TEs. Not sure, but maybe someone knows. I know we don't necessarily want a cast-off, but you bet there might be teams out there that drafted a guy in the 5th or 6th round, but simply won't have the room for him. Wouldn't it be interesting if Davis (taken by Steelers) doesn't even make the team due to the other 3 guys already there? You bet a guy like that would rather jump to a different club's roster instead of joining the PS of the Steelers. Then again, as I said, I think he is no better than the guys we got in the undrafted pool. To me, Coach Lewis and Co. played this very smart.