USA TODAY Ranks the decision makers

[Dadraftnick]

Here is a link to the whole article

/>http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2010-04-29-nfl-executives_N.htm

This what it says about Mike Brown

* Please note they only had 20 rated MB ranked last.

20. Mike Brown, owner, Cincinnati Bengals— It hasn't been pretty since Brown took over the franchise in 1991 after his father, the legendary Paul Brown, passed away. Though they're the reigning AFC North champs, last year's playoff push was only the Bengals' second during Brown's 19-year stewardship. Their last postseason victory came in 1990. Among Mike Brown's legendary first-round whiffs: David Klingler (1992), John Copeland (1993), Ki-Jana Carter (1995, though injuries scuttled his career from Day 1), Reinard Wilson (1997), Akili Smith (1999), Peter Warrick (2000), Chris Perry (2004) and David Pollack (2005, another injury case). The cast of characters with questionable character has also repeatedly burned Brown and the franchise. But it must be noted that last year's division crown is largely due to better drafts in recent years, and the Stripes might finally consistently contend for a few years.

• Best pick: T.J. Houshmandzadeh— The 2001 seventh-rounder averaged 89 catches per year over his last five seasons in Cincinnati. For all of his misses, Brown consistently finds topflight wideouts after Round 1 (Carl Pickens, Darnay Scott, Chad Ochocinco).

• Worst pick: Smith— The No. 3 pick of the 1999 draft was one of the biggest busts ever, losing 14 of his 17 starts with a career QB rating of 52.8. Of course that performance helped the Bengals into position to get Carson Palmer first overall in 2003.

Ranked below Al Davis?

I guess they are taking into account what .he did before he was senile.

I do think that it is fair that Brown does not know how to use the draft, he is affraid to move up or down and target "their " players.

They have never seemed to have a stratagy going into a draft and they do not have a team philosophy for the type of player they draft or a philosophy for the way they build a team.

That said they have one of the best rosters in the NFL so , you have to give MB some credit for that too even if it is just getting out of Marvin's way and letting him draft the players.

[TJJackson]

Well

DUH

Son of a Genius absolutely sucks

[BengalPimp]

Well

DUH

Son of a Genius absolutely sucks

Has it been a week already? You must have been going through Reggie withdrawls.

[BengalPimp]

They have never seemed to have a stratagy going into a draft and they do not have a team philosophy for the type of player they draft or a philosophy for the way they build a team.

For too many years they DID have a strategy. Due to their inept Coaches and GM, and lack of a real scouting department, That strategy was to simply take hyped-up college players from big schools. Dan Wilkinson, Peter Warrick, Akili Smith, David Klingler.

They only had 2 scouts for over a decade, so they didn't see a lot of players in person (especially from smaller schools). Some years, I TRULY believe they just picked up an Athlon or Lindy's draft magazine(remember this was before the internet), and used that. *note* I did not include Ki-Jana Carter, because had he not gotten hurt, he would have been a ProBowl RB for years IMO.

[TJJackson]

Has it been a week already? You must have been going through Reggie withdrawls.

Round 1 was two Thursdays back, Pimp

[BengalPimp]

Has it been a week already? You must have been going through Reggie withdrawls.

Round 1 was two Thursdays back, Pimp

Rd 1 was Thursday April 22nd. Today is Friday April 30th. That's 8 days TJ

[JoePong]

Wait, someobody still actually reads USA Today?

[TJJackson]

Has it been a week already? You must have been going through Reggie withdrawls.

Round 1 was two Thursdays back, Pimp

Rd 1 was Thursday April 22nd. Today is Friday April 30th. That's 8 days TJ

and I didnt change my avatar til the next day

so thats a week, yes?

[BengalPimp]

Has it been a week already? You must have been going through Reggie withdrawls.

Round 1 was two Thursdays back, Pimp

Rd 1 was Thursday April 22nd. Today is Friday April 30th. That's 8 days TJ

and I didnt change my avatar til the next day

so thats a week, yes?

yes.

[HoosierCat]

Wait, someobody still actually reads USA Today?

I'm forced to agree. That article is a joke. Let's see...

Brown is worse than Davis, but they have to go back to *1977* to find Davis' best pick? Um...OK.

Brown is worse that Jerry Angelo? I can find you plenty of Bears fans who would argue that point.

Brown is worse than Rick Smith? The Texans last had a winning record when?

Brown is worse than Jones? Wait, the Jones write-up says this: "As Jerry would tell you, it's not how you start — it's how you finish." It then goes on to locate his best pick in '97 and his worst in '01. Doesn't sound like he's finishing strong to me.

Brown is worse than Hurney? Yeah, right. Hurney, ranked here No. 11, is so darn good that "the team's performance in 2010 will likely determine if Hurney gets to run a 10th draft in 2011."

Mikey may not be the greatest, but this is just another example of unwarranted Bengals-bashing.

[COB]

At least they noted "better drafts in recent years." That's progress for a media that usually has only scorn and a truly bitter attitude toward Mike Brown. 2 division titles in the last five years? That should probably put him in the top half, maybe just in the top half.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Sounds pretty accurate to me.

I also see Pong and HC have already come to the defense of their boy.

[derekshank]

I'm certainly not a Mike Brown basher, and believe that if you're going to blame him for the 90's, you have to give him equal credit for what has happened more recently.

That said, I feel like his ranking is pretty fair. You can't just forget about a decade and a half because of some recent success. His track record over his career has not been good, no matter how good the Marvin Lewis era has been.

And I know that no draft board is perfect, but even in the Marvin era, I feel there have been far too many misses. Since 2003, the only decent 2nd round picks have been Steinbach, Whitworth, and Maualuga. That's batting .333 in a round that you should be getting long-term starters... So there's plenty of room for improvement, and I don't feel like there was unwarranted Bengal bashing here.

[derekshank]

*double post*

[BlainThePain]

Wait, someobody still actually reads USA Today?

Yeah its not like its the top selling paper in the United States or anything.

[COB]

Sounds pretty accurate to me.

I also see Pong and HC have already come to the defense of their boy.

I don't care that much what happened in the past. I want a good team NOW. And we've got what I think is a pretty good team. So in that respect, Mike Brown gets my approval. Yes, the 90s sucked, but it's over.

USA Today would probably give Mike Brown higher marks if he'd had a good team in the 90s, and sucked now. But I wouldn't want it that way.

I'll start respecting USA Today's criticism of Mike Brown when they drop their stupid pie charts and start photoshopping Mike's head onto Godzilla's body while he's rampaging through Cincinnati. That's good stuff there.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Look, I think Mikey's incompetent as an executive, and works best when he gets out of the way and lets Marvin et al do their jobs. That said, I'd take a meth-addicted chimp as GM over Al Davis right now. Truly, the decisions he's making now look like Mike Brown in the 90s, only they stem from complete insanity instead of cheapness.

You could draft an impressive list, but I'll go with two:

* Holds press conference so he can deliver a rambling manifesto about why he just fired his 30 year old coach - whose hire nobody could understand originally.

* Drafts a receiver (DHB) so out of position that it screws up the rookie slotting of almost an entire round of the 2009 draft.

As a football fan, I'm truly loving the Senile Al Davis era. It's like seeing what would happen if Fredo somehow became the Godfather.

[COB]

* Holds press conference so he can deliver a rambling manifesto about why he just fired his 30 year old coach - whose hire nobody could understand originally.

I heard an interview with a journalist who was at that press conference. He said that after Al sat down, he asked one of his stooges for the name of the coach they were hiring. He couldn't even think of Tom Cable's name, even though Cable was already on staff for the Raiders as an assistant coach.

[HoosierCat]

I'll start respecting USA Today's criticism of Mike Brown when they drop their stupid pie charts and start photoshopping Mike's head onto Godzilla's body while he's rampaging through Cincinnati. That's good stuff there.

[Ickey44]

Brown is worse than Rick Smith? The Texans last had a winning record when?

Um, last year. But I think that has been their only one.