Forget Andre Smith...

[Whur CHad At?]

I'd be pissed. This guy is a immature joke. I question his heart, because it seems like all he is going worry about is how much money he makes. I think someone asked his at his pro day if he earned his millions after his workout and he stopped and said "No, Multi-Millions". It just says to me that he doesnt have a passion for winning. I know it is all about money these days, but you still see players who want to win even more and I dont see that in Andre Smith. That is just my opinon

[ArmyBengal]

I think that's a hard sell though. I'm sure EVERY player regardless of their love for the game understand FULL and WELL the amount of money they are going to get paid. The way I see it is, once they realize they are good enough to play college ball, it shifts to doing as well as they can to get paid as much as they can. I really don't see anything wrong with that either. It's just the way the sport has progressed.

As for Smith, he's just another one of those guys functioning within the system created. He knows he going to get paid and it's hard to watch his play and think he's incapable or lazy.

[HAPPYJAQ]

I think that's a hard sell though. I'm sure EVERY player regardless of their love for the game understand FULL and WELL the amount of money they are going to get paid. The way I see it is, once they realize they are good enough to play college ball, it shifts to doing as well as they can to get paid as much as they can. I really don't see anything wrong with that either. It's just the way the sport has progressed.

As for Smith, he's just another one of those guys functioning within the system created. He knows he going to get paid and it's hard to watch his play and think he's incapable or lazy.

He's got great feet and does remind you a little of Big Willie, but I thought Mayock made a great point about him only having 19 reps in the bench press. He says that teams usually associate big players with low bench numbers as players who don't work very hard in the weight room. He might be a decent NFL RT, but I think it's a luxury pick if the Bengals pick him as we already have Whit, Collins and maybe Roland that can play RT next season.

I'm sort of torn on this guy, as it stands right now. I think I'd much rather have a game-changing defensive player and the Bengals should have some options on that side of the ball, when they're on the clock.

[ArmyBengal]

Once again, there are other players I would prefer and only said I wouldn't be "really" pissed off, if he were the pick.

[kentjett]

None of his coaches have ever questioned his work ethic and he never dogs it on the field. He's a big boy and will always be fat but he has really quick feet. I've been pimping him for awhile and I still like him more than any LT outside of Monroe. I'd rather pick Orakpo or Curry but it doesn't seem like either will be available. I like our DT rotation w/ Peko, Sims & Shirley. So that takes Raji out of the picture. We have plenty WR's so Crabtree's out. In a perfect world we'd trade down and gain picks but we all know Mikey isn't crafty enough to pull that off. Smith is the only logical #6 pick that fills a major need. Everything else seems like a reach.

[HairOnFire]

He's got great feet and does remind you a little of Big Willie....

Thank you.

...but I thought Mayock made a great point about him only having 19 reps in the bench press. He says that teams usually associate big players with low bench numbers as players who don't work very hard in the weight room.

That would be my guess as well. But there's the rub, because it only serves to strengthen the argument about Smith being a bit of a natural. Because how else do you explain him being considered the top overall high school OL prospect before signing with Alabama, his ability to start for that major college program from day one, and his high level of play during his 3 seasons? He hasn't really struggled, has he?

I'm sort of torn on this guy, as it stands right now.

I think we're all torn to some degree because no matter where you sit....man boobs aren't pretty. But once you look past the moobs you're left to consider some of the positives, including quotes attributed to unnamed scouts who compare Smith to other bad body types like Willie Roaf.

[Wraith]

My issue is less with his body or any of his physical attributes more his mental attributes. He flakes out on his college football team, he flakes out on the combine, he doesn't do the preparation to make sure that the little things are covered for his pro day (like wearing a damn shirt for example) So I have major concerns about his ability to do the little things for the Bengals. Pro Football is grueling and if you don't have passion for it beyond getting paid and you don't put the film time in and the extra work to make yourself great then you won't be <period>.

[HairOnFire]

Here's Pat Kirwan's take from a few days ago. Amongst the more interesting points addressed are Smith's low number of bench press reps as well as Kirwan's thoughts about how Smith's recent slide is the result of scouts and front office types framing the debate, not NFL coaches.

Despite troubles, Alabama's Smith remains an intriguing prospect

By Pat Kirwan | NFL.com -Senior Analyst

Every draft has a few storylines that make for interesting speculation. Are the junior quarterbacks worthy of a top pick? How far does Michael Crabtree slide, if at all, because of his foot surgery? And, of course, what do we make of the issues surrounding Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith?

Smith was considered by some to be the top tackle in the draft when he opted to come out as a junior. Some executives would have preferred he returned to school in 2009 and worked on his maturity as well as his physique. Smith knew he had the talent to play at the NFL level, so he left school. That might have been his first mistake. Then his troubles started to mount.

Keep in mind that, as a junior, Smith was not eligible to play in an all-star game like the Senior Bowl. Thus, early evaluation of him was driven by scouts, not offensive line coaches. If he had the opportunity to participate in the Senior Bowl, offensive line coaches would have seen the football player first -- not the guy who left the combine and looked sloppy at his pro day. He clearly made an immature decision when he left the combine on his own. That kind of disappearing act rarely happens to a combine invite and it didn't sit well with the front office people or the coaches. Smith weighed in at 332 pounds and looked soft for the little time he spent in Indianapolis. Could he overcome the blunder at Indianapolis to rise back into the draft's top 10?

The next opportunity to repair his image was his pro day and that didn't go very well when you consider only did 19 reps on the bench press. The conflict, as one offensive line coach said to me, is that "his functional football strength suggests he's much stronger than the tackles that threw the bar up closer to 30 times." Another coach said the 19 reps were below the average for tackles at the combine (23) but he also noted that the bar was literally coming out of Smith's hands as he exploded up and he was catching it on the way down. In other words, the low total was more due to poor form than actual strength.

His weight was down seven pounds from his combine weigh-in -- so he at least demonstrated he can lose the pounds. However, some scouts feel he's a candidate to eat himself out of the league.

The offensive line coach counterpoint to all of the negatives comes from one well-respected NFL line coach who put it best: "Smith looks bad at everything he does except run and pass block." When it comes to being a powerful road-grading tackle, he has what the other tackles lack: the lower-body strength to win on the field.

There's a debate whether Smith's recent troubles have just been bumps in the road as he moves toward an April date at the top of the draft or something more.

After looking at Smith through the eyes of front office executives and scouts, he is a risk and his stock is dropping. After listening to a few line coaches who have studied and watched him work, he hasn't dropped out of the top half of the first round. When I posed the question of moving him to guard, no one fought that concept (but two line coaches wondered why that would be the way to go when he had the special traits required to be an outstanding tackle).

Guys who coach offensive linemen want men with long arms. Smith has the longest arms of all the potential first-round tackles:

Player, School Arm length

Andre Smith, Alabama 35 3/8

Will Beatty, Connecticut 34 ¾

Eben Britton, Arizona 32 ¾

Eugene Monroe, Virginia 33 7/8

Michael Oher, Mississippi 33 ½

Jason Smith, Baylor 33 ¾

Secondly, they want guys who can accelerate their feet to finish a run block or recover from a poor pass block. Andre Smith has the feet to do both. One coach went as far as to say "he makes things on the football field look easy."

After examining everything, Smith's not a top five pick. Still, look for Smith to go somewhere between the sixth and 14th overall pick. After all the yellow flags that have been raised this offseason, his contract could even have some language protecting the club

Management and coaches will have to meet on some common ground when Smith comes off the board.

[HAPPYJAQ]

He's got great feet and does remind you a little of Big Willie....

Thank you.

...but I thought Mayock made a great point about him only having 19 reps in the bench press. He says that teams usually associate big players with low bench numbers as players who don't work very hard in the weight room.

That would be my guess as well. But there's the rub, because it only serves to strengthen the argument about Smith being a bit of a natural. Because how else do you explain him being considered the top overall high school OL prospect before signing with Alabama, his ability to start for that major college program from day one, and his high level of play during his 3 seasons? He hasn't really struggled, has he?

I'm sort of torn on this guy, as it stands right now.

I think we're all torn to some degree because no matter where you sit....man boobs aren't pretty. But once you look past the moobs you're left to consider some of the positives, including quotes attributed to unnamed scouts who compare Smith to other bad body types like Willie Roaf.

Very good post. You made some pretty good points and I'll take him all day if he's Willie Roaf. I still burn knowing we took John Copeland over Roaf and I'm pretty sure that David Klingler does, too.

I just hope Smith is closer to Roaf than he is to Stockar McDougle or George Foster.

The man boobs are awful and it was either bad advice or a bad impulsive decision to run the 40 topless, but Willie Anderson never reminded anyone of Lou Ferrigno while he was here, either.

[COB]

The body beautiful types who shine at the combine have gotten us nowhere. Time to pick football players. I think they've seen the light, and Rivers was evidence of that, as he was a guy who played football very well at the major college level. I endorse picking this guy at 6. Keep in mind he played well at Alabama for two years. Then they fired the coach and a new coach came in. Smith didn't miss a beat, just kept playing at a very high level under a different staff. Football player.

[HAPPYJAQ]

The body beautiful types who shine at the combine have gotten us nowhere. Time to pick football players. I think they've seen the light, and Rivers was evidence of that, as he was a guy who played football very well at the major college level. I endorse picking this guy at 6. Keep in mind he played well at Alabama for two years. Then they fired the coach and a new coach came in. Smith didn't miss a beat, just kept playing at a very high level under a different staff. Football player.

Lately, it seems like the Bengals have focused more on high character guys than guys who have baggage...despite their college Production. Rivers and Hall are extremely classy football players and equally hard workers. I totally agree that Andre Smith was maybe the best LT in college football this season, but you simply can't overlook a player's work ethic and how he prepares himself for football. Smith is at least considered questionable, as far as those things go. I believe that the final straw for Marvin was with Kenny Irons and how he reportedly blew off rehab once he was injured and eventually was chalked up as another wasted pick.

I almost got Chad flashbacks when one of the NFL Network guys asked him what he wanted to be known for and he replied his "million dollar smile". I really just don't know how important playing football in the NFL is to him. Truthfully, that's the bottom line when it comes down to any player, especially a player that you will make one of the highest paid unproven players in the league as the 6th pick overall in the draft. I see a guy like Laurinatis as a guy who loves football and I'm not saying I want him 6th overall, but the guy could've been in the National Hockey League already and turned down potentially millions to live out his dream of playing in the NFL. I would rather have a player with his heart and desire anyday, even if it means reaching. I don't see that same kind of enthusiasm from Andre, other than his realization that playing football in the NFL will make him a "multi-millionaire".

Before anybody bashes me, I understand the natural progression of athletes as far as going to professional leagues and such, but I want to be certain that the player that we select as the #6 pick will be both a building block for the next 6-10 seasons and a future face of the franchise.

[Baraka]

The body beautiful types who shine at the combine have gotten us nowhere. Time to pick football players. I think they've seen the light, and Rivers was evidence of that, as he was a guy who played football very well at the major college level. I endorse picking this guy at 6. Keep in mind he played well at Alabama for two years. Then they fired the coach and a new coach came in. Smith didn't miss a beat, just kept playing at a very high level under a different staff. Football player.

Lately, it seems like the Bengals have focused more on high character guys than guys who have baggage...despite their college Production. Rivers and Hall are extremely classy football players and equally hard workers. I totally agree that Andre Smith was maybe the best LT in college football this season, but you simply can't overlook a player's work ethic and how he prepares himself for football. Smith is at least considered questionable, as far as those things go. I believe that the final straw for Marvin was with Kenny Irons and how he reportedly blew off rehab once he was injured and eventually was chalked up as another wasted pick.

I almost got Chad flashbacks when one of the NFL Network guys asked him what he wanted to be known for and he replied his "million dollar smile". I really just don't know how important playing football in the NFL is to him. Truthfully, that's the bottom line when it comes down to any player, especially a player that you will make one of the highest paid unproven players in the league as the 6th pick overall in the draft. I see a guy like Laurinatis as a guy who loves football and I'm not saying I want him 6th overall, but the guy could've been in the National Hockey League already and turned down potentially millions to live out his dream of playing in the NFL. I would rather have a player with his heart and desire anyday, even if it means reaching. I don't see that same kind of enthusiasm from Andre, other than his realization that playing football in the NFL will make him a "multi-millionaire".

Before anybody bashes me, I understand the natural progression of athletes as far as going to professional leagues and such, but I want to be certain that the player that we select as the #6 pick will be both a building block for the next 6-10 seasons and a future face of the franchise.

that is not unreasonable.

[Wraith]

Exactly why I want Maualuga in the first whereever we can get him.