Great Article

[jditty47]

Great article by hobson over on bengals.com. i think its the most informative of a piece by him in a long time, for me atleast.

Drafting defensively?

4/17/2005 - 4-17-05, 7:45 a.m.

Just some thoughts wafting around on the winds of a draft with six days to go:

# How set is the Bengals’ offense? You can see a very real scenario at the Bengals’ pick at No. 17 in which they pass by what they feel is clearly the best offensive player left on the board for the first time since Randy Moss was sitting there in 1998.

# The scouts do so much of the key work in the draft when they do the first checking of players early in their college careers and then during the actual season of their last year in school. But the last checking they do, otherwise known as cross-checking, can be just as big.

# With the number of defensive ends that look like they have to make the transition to linebacker in the pros, what do the Bengals have to do to avoid making the same mistake they made in 1997 when they drafted Florida State defensive end Reinard Wilson with the 14th pick?

The separation between a first-round player and a second-round player in this draft is so small that nobody knows much of what is going to happen. But one thing you do know is that a player they didn’t think was going to be there at No. 17 will be.

Remember ’98 when the Bengals had two first-round picks courtesy of the Dan Wilkinson trade? Barely had they got done introducing Auburn linebacker Takeo Spikes with the 13th pick that they made a call on the 17th.

Legend has it that Bengals President Mike Brown and offensive assistant John Garrett were about the only people in the room pushing Moss, the combustible but brilliant receiver from Marshall. Head coach Bruce Coslet, and deservedly so, was concerned about what that would do to an already tinderbox situation at receiver. The club ended up missing out on a Hall of Famer (and half the league is in that line), but also made a very solid long-haul pick in North Carolina linebacker Brian Simmons.

Since then, it’s been quarterback Akili Smith over cornerback Champ Bailey in 1999, wide receiver Peter Warrick over Florida State defensive tackle Corey Simon in 2000, left tackle Levi Jones over cornerback Phillip Buchanon in 2002, quarterback Carson Palmer over cornerback Terence Newman in 2003, and running back Chris Perry over cornerback Chris Gamble in 2004.

In ’01, there really wasn’t a dominant offensive player at the No. 4 pick before the Bengals took Missouri defensive end Justin Smith,

and the talk of Florida offensive tackle Kenyatta Walker never got very far.

Now, in 2005, you could conceivably have the top running back left on the board (Auburn’s Cadillac Williams), or the top tackle (Oklahoma’s Jammal Brown), or the top receiver (Oklahoma’s Mark Clayton), and the Bengals still go defense.

But none of those guys would come in and start, which is saying some things. Two, actually. This offense is now veteran enough and good enough to win 10-11 games. And it’s time for a defensive first-rounder.

Yes, head coach Marvin Lewis did say last week that they have the luxury of selecting a guy and taking one or even two years to work him into the lineup. But until some defensive players get plucked before the Bengals think they’re going to be plucked, it’s just hard to imagine No. 17 not being devoted to defense.

CROSS-CHECKING: Maybe the most important part of scouting is cross-checking, that second look by another set of eyes. The heavy lifting of the college season has already been done by the scouts heading off into their sections of the country: Paul Brown, Jim Lippincott, Greg Seamon, and Bill and Duke Tobin. Now after February’s NFL scouting combine, one of them may head out to look at a player that has already been graded and that they haven’t seen.

“You’ve got a scout, a coordinator, a position coach,” says Lewis of the three guys that will always look at one player. “You could have a cross check from another scout, and then there’s me, so you’ve got four or five different people who have looked at the guy and you get a feel.”

Cross checking can also be done at the coaching level. Offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski says when Lewis arrived before the 2003 draft, he wanted him to come up with a list of the top 30 offensive players. He’s also got defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan doing it.

“I took it a step further,” Bratkowski said. “Let’s put the top 30 together and then let’s cross-compare the top guys ourselves. Compare apples and oranges. Does this guy at this position help us more than this guy at this position, and then we rank them. We do that pretty much for the first two rounds.”

Lewis likes the idea of, say, offensive line coach Paul Alexander maybe bringing up a point to Bratkowski that hadn’t been raised before at any position.

“The (staff) gets together and they just go back through it and they see something maybe you didn’t see the first time through on a guy you were already grading. Maybe Bob brings up a point, ‘This is why I didn’t quite grade that guy that high,’ and maybe Paul does or doesn’t see it, and the other guys look at it and they discuss it.”

It’s not a final decision because you also have scouts involved before it goes to the front of the room and Lewis and Bengals president Mike Brown.

“It gives Marvin, it gives Mike the best input we can give,” Bratkowski said, “It gives them our best analysis, and then they can make their decision.”

HYBRID OR PROJECTION?: If you like a guy in this draft in the first round who played defensive end and now has to play linebacker in the pros, you call him a “hybrid.” If you don’t like him, you call him a “projection,” and who wants to take a projection in the first round?

Besides how the top ten is going to play out (where there look to be no projections), that is the No. 1 question of this first round. Are guys like Maryland’s Shawne Merriman, Troy State’s Demarcus Ware, and Georgia’s David Pollack able to make transition? Once upon a time in Baltimore, Lewis thought Florida’s Peter Boulware was able to do it and the Ravens got a Pro Bowl guy with a projection as high as the fourth pick.

But when 10 picks later the Bengals tried to turn Boulware’s sackmaster on the other side of the Seminoles’ line _Wilson_ into a 3-4 backer, it was a disaster when they found out he couldn’t make the adjustment athletically or mentally. They found out he was only a rush end and after six seasons of just 24 sacks, he didn’t make Lewis’ roster.

If the Bengals are thinking about any of the hybrids-projections, they have to be satisfied the guy can think on his feet and be able to back pedal and play in space. Even though there are no defensive coaches around from that ’97 draft, the scouts are still here. So there is some institutional memory as they no doubt discuss the pros and cons making that kind of transition.

[andybren]

Some interesting thoughts, but does anybody really think that Cadillac Williams is going to be around at 17? And aren't we really talking about avoiding the embarrassing mistake that happens when a Randy Moss type player doesn't get taken in the first 17 picks?

Ultimately we can kill overselves thinking, re-thinking, and re-re-thinking these picks but there's only so much prognastication you can do without lying to yourself that any player is less of a gamble (or sure thing) than another.

[BengalszoneBilly]

i think its the most informative of a piece by him in a long time, for me at least.

Dang! You're not the Lone Ranger in that estimation jditty. That's an inside view of the process as it currently stands in Cincinnati, but it only further confuses me as to how the #1 selection was Perry last year. IMO, an abberation must have happened in there someplace.

[schweinhart]

That's an inside view of the process as it currently stands in Cincinnati, but it only further confuses me as to how the #1 selection was Perry last year. IMO, an abberation must have happened in there someplace.

I believe the aberration was bald and ugly, Mr. Broome

[schweinhart]

Some interesting thoughts, but does anybody really think that Cadillac Williams is going to be around at 17?

Doubtful but I'm guessing Cadillac drops to #14 to the Panthers because there will be serious doubts about his ability to withstand punishment in the NFL based on his running style.

[BengalszoneBilly]

I believe the aberration was bald and ugly, Mr. Broome 

Mrs. "bald and Ugly" just called and said she takes great offense at that remark! He is not completely bald.

[schweinhart]

I believe the aberration was bald and ugly, Mr. Broome 

Mrs. "bald and Ugly" just called and said she takes great offense at that remark! He is not completely bald.

The Mrs. ain't bound to dispute the rest

Seriously, though, after reading that insight into the draft mix, what the hell is somebody supposed to make of the Perry pick? That of course should be rhetorical since going through the whole GD 9 yds all over again is just spinning wheels.

[BengalszoneBilly]

That of course should be rhetorical since going through the whole GD 9 yds all over again is just spinning wheels.

How dare you short a man a major percentage of his career yardage! That isn't very nice! It's substantially more than 9 yards (thank you very much) and well into the double digits at 14 total career yards!! One pass play for 13 yards, and two substantial running plays account for that last one.

[schweinhart]

That of course should be rhetorical since going through the whole GD 9 yds all over again is just spinning wheels.

How dare you short a man a major percentage of his career yardage! That isn't very nice! It's substantially more than 9 yards (thank you very much) and well into the double digits at 14 total career yards!! One pass play for 13 yards, and two substantial running plays account for that last one.

Me shortchange Perry What about you, Mr. Broome. Please have the courtesy to give credit where credit is due...Chris Perry did not produce 14 yards from the line of gain as you so mailgnantly claim.....He had 34

And better yet that should be considered quite a bargain. Never mind the $3.9 million split bonus Perry got, but rather just take his $325K salary for 2004.

That's $23k per yard. What a bargain!