Fact or Fiction

[EdwardG]

We've heard many times that the Bengals were "reaching" for their picks, and could have traded down and gotten the same guy and more picks. However, is this true?

We drafted Chris Perry, but many think he would have been there later. But reports immediately came that Tennessee was highly interested in Perry, and after we drafted him they promptly traded right out of the first round.

Our next pick was Keiwan Ratcliff. Many had him going in the third round. But reports came today that the Eagles were trying to trade up to the Bengals pick solely to draft ... Keiwan Ratcliff. Had we traded or waited, we would have lost out on him.

Madieu Williams was the next pick. He was drafted in the last third of the second round, probably around where he should be as the second or third best safety in the draft.

That leaves the linebackers in Round Three as our "reaches." I'm not sure if anyone else was interested in them or not, although many have expressed a positive vibe about Caleb Miller. Clearly, Askew and Andrews were quality picks, and the jury is out on Geathers. Mann and Brooks certainly seem like quality picks.

Furthermore, compare this to the guys who we "should" have drafted.

Darnell Dockett - Third rounder

Will Poole - Fourth Rounder

Antwan Odom - Late second

Randy Starks: Third rounder

Clearly, Marvin and co. might have been a bit more aware than Scouts, Inc. or NFLdraftcountdown.com.

[Kirkendall]

I think there's a massive different in our interpretation of should have and the guys that do it. We don't know what they need past the starters position, lets be honest for a second. We don't know locker room personalities, and we have no idea how the interview process went during the teams scouting process; do we want another Dillon attitude in the locker room? There's more to define a player other than a combine and players in massive conferences.

I think this team had needs, and filled them fine. So what we didn't have bigger named players, but there is a reason why that didn't happen. We have great depth now. We have first class personalities with a common goal and great talent. Individually, sure we could debate this, but as a cohesive unit, we have NO idea how it will turn out. My vote goes for greatness, but that's my biased self.

[chrishcovga]

That's where I disagree ! You need Dillons, Ty Laws', Terrell Owens , simply because they are the quintessential example of the competitive athlete.

No matter how bad their attitudes are displayed for the media, they produce. Their contracts/their free agency demands, their more of everything only shows their competitiveness. No one will ever question their playing ability or their work ethic.

But you can't have 53 yes men ! You have to have leaders, followers, and headaches. It's called a family atmosphere.

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But back to the post.... Yes we reached for Landon Johnson and probably should have taken P.K. Sam from Florida St. over Maurice Mann.Caleb Miller was probably worth the # 96 pick or # 114, No one else had him as a 3rd rounder.

[BengalszoneBilly]

But you can't have 53 yes men ! You have to have leaders, followers, and headaches. It's called a family atmosphere.

True Chris, but more often than not those traits like Dillons/Owens/Laws lead to a dysfuctional family than a cohesive unit. Nobody wants all "yes men", nor do they want all players with attititude.

What the objective is, and I believe Marvin is working towards, is a family unit with a common goal...

.................WINNING! :player:

[chrishcovga]

I have no doubt that those aforementioned players have as much desire to win as anyone else in this league. Some players have exceptional skills and talents, and demand others to play at their levels. -

* the thing Dillon said best in his post trade interview was, " yeah it got a little better there, but you guys gotta remember I was there a long long time, and 8-8 is good, but I'm not the type to settle, I want to win."

- Dillon got wore down not just by the losses , but the complete and utter disfuntion in the front office. In reality, the draft that we just had probably should have been the draft of '99.

- If we make the trade with Mike Ditka's Saints and get those 10 draft picks, we would have stockpiled talent. - Instead we find ourselves in the same predicament 6 years later. We're behind as a franchise. And taking the picks that we have that we'll have to wait till '05 for their real contributions, means that Marvin and Co. are preparing for a down '04 year.

[ntpou]

I like EwardG draft way better than ours. We reached on most of our picks. Our draft was SOLID but could have been alot better.

[Kirkendall]

You need Dillons, Ty Laws', Terrell Owens , simply because they are the quintessential example of the competitive athlete.

So you need to have a bad public image to be a competitive athlete? That's insane. You need to keep demanding trades to help motivate your team? I don't understand this at all.

No matter how bad their attitudes are displayed for the media, they produce.

Many times, they are the only ones producing. The rest of the team gets shadowed so badly most don't care. Jeff Garcia is a great quarterback, he's got records as the SF QB that neither Montana nor Young have (that's pretty damned good). Instead of working together, TO isolates the QB, and we see the quick destruction of a team in a matter of a month.

Their contracts/their free agency demands, their more of everything only shows their competitiveness.

Why then does Ty Law think he should be the highest paid corner in the NFL? Didn't he compete on the biggest stage of them all, twice? I think in his instance, it's about greed, money, and self-promotion. Players like Law are doing their best to destroy the best financial system in all professional sports.

I think the same is true with Dillon. He says he wants to win a few years back. Now we're on the path of winning, finishing 8-8. Then he bitched about not getting enough carries and desperately tried to go to a team that was 4-12 in Oakland. He loves himself so much, he has to fool everyone in thinking he wants what he wants because he's a competitor, a desire to win. That's crap if I've seen it, it's called S-P-I-N!

[Bourgeois_Rage]

I think it is funny how all these media outlets can be saying that so and so reached for a player. Why don't we go back and look at their mock drafts and see who they were "reaching" for. The bottom line is there is only one draft that matters -- The real one!

All the speculation about what could've been is just that, speculation. I may or may not be happy with the players we selected, but now they are Bengals so lets welcome them and hope they all turn out to be pro-bowlers. :player:

[chrishcovga]

You need Dillons, Ty Laws', Terrell Owens , simply because they are the quintessential example of the competitive athlete.

So you need to have a bad public image to be a competitive athlete? That's insane. You need to keep demanding trades to help motivate your team? I don't understand this at all.

No matter how bad their attitudes are displayed for the media, they produce.

Many times, they are the only ones producing. The rest of the team gets shadowed so badly most don't care. Jeff Garcia is a great quarterback, he's got records as the SF QB that neither Montana nor Young have (that's pretty damned good). Instead of working together, TO isolates the QB, and we see the quick destruction of a team in a matter of a month.

Their contracts/their free agency demands, their more of everything only shows their competitiveness.

Why then does Ty Law think he should be the highest paid corner in the NFL? Didn't he compete on the biggest stage of them all, twice? I think in his instance, it's about greed, money, and self-promotion. Players like Law are doing their best to destroy the best financial system in all professional sports.

I think the same is true with Dillon. He says he wants to win a few years back. Now we're on the path of winning, finishing 8-8. Then he bitched about not getting enough carries and desperately tried to go to a team that was 4-12 in Oakland. He loves himself so much, he has to fool everyone in thinking he wants what he wants because he's a competitor, a desire to win. That's crap if I've seen it, it's called S-P-I-N!

Despite peoples opinions' about those players, they produce. Every Sunday. They practice hard, and play hard. Like you said about the NFL 'PR" guys that have to put a spin on everything, what was wrong with what Terrell Owens did.. I won't back him on cussin' out his offensive co-ordinator, but I'll back him on his contract situation. He obviously was in the right to choose where he wanted to go, because the NFL was going to lose, that's why they encouraged a last minute deal to be worked out.

Ty Law, has been one of the better cornerbacks over the last 5 years. He's been a key player not only during the regular season, but also the playoffs and Superbowls. But the minute he cries foul about his relationship with Belichik or the Patriots owners, OH , how dare he question us..??

And I Agree with Dillon. Dillon was here too long ! The losses, losing his starters job to an injury. They probably are a little too much to bear especially since he played and we didn't. - Just imagine how many times we as fans got tired of hearing about how bad our favorite team was, can you calculate how much larger it would be to an actual player.. especially the odds on best player we had for the last 7 seasons ?? - His methods,rants , and ravings may not be the best way to handle the situation, but the Bengals still had enough respect for him to handle his situation the way they did.

Ray Lewis was on trial a few years back, but that never comes up because of what he does on the football field. He got off, because he sold the other 2 guys down the field, accompanied by the Fulton County District attorney bringing charges after he got testimony from a bunch of drunk people outside a club !

Image, is how others perceive you, I was raised to not give a damn what others thought of me, only what I thought of myself.