All-Time Best/Worst 1st Picks for Bengals

[jjakq27]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...SPT02/504220414

Friday, April 22, 2005

NFL Draft: A day of hits and misses

The Bengals' first-round picks have yielded great successes - and some spectacular failures

By Mark Curnutte

Enquirer staff writer

Ten years ago, on the first day of the NFL draft in 1995, the Bengals traded the fifth and 36th overall picks to the Carolina Panthers for the first overall selection.

Then the Bengals chose Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter, whose ill-fated NFL career started with a serious knee injury in a preseason game at Detroit.

Carter goes down as one of the six worst first-round draft picks in Bengals franchise history.

He would rush for 747 yards - fewer than three different quarterbacks on the franchise's all-time rushing list - in five official seasons with the Bengals.

Carter, who never seemed to recover from his anterior cruciate ligament injury, last played in the NFL during training camp last season for New Orleans.

Here, on the eve of the NFL draft, is a look at a dozen Bengals first-round picks - the six best and six worst in franchise history.

THE BEST

1. Anthony Muñoz, left offensive tackle, Southern California, 1980: The only Bengals member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he was an 11-time Pro Bowl player and was named - in 1994 - one of three offensive tackles on the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team. The Bengals took him third overall.

2. Bob Johnson, center, Tennessee, 1968: The first Bengals draft pick was selected No. 2 overall and played 12 seasons for the team. He remains known as "Mr. Bengal."

3. Isaac Curtis, wide receiver, San Diego State, 1973: He played 12 seasons for the Bengals and retired with 7,101 receiving yards, the most in franchise history, and a 17.1-yard receiving average.

4. Mike Reid, defensive tackle, Penn State, 1970: The two-time Pro Bowler played just five seasons for the Bengals but anchored a defense that was ranked in the top 10 twice.

5. Willie Anderson, right offensive tackle, Auburn, 1996: The durable lineman has started 80 consecutive games in spite of a string of injuries that would take a less dedicated player out of the lineup. Anderson has been a standard of excellence and pride through some of the leanest years in franchise history and has been voted to the Pro Bowl each of the past two years.

6. Carson Palmer, quarterback Southern California, 2003: After missing on the first three first-round quarterbacks in franchise history, the Bengals finally got one right. The former Heisman Trophy winner fit in well as a rookie, refusing to complain when he didn't play a snap behind Jon Kitna, and showed great improvement in his first season as a starter in 2004.

THE WORST

1. Akili Smith, quarterback, Oregon, 1999: What makes this worse is the Bengals turned down New Orleans' trade offer of its entire slate of picks to take Smith No. 3 overall. He was coached and managed badly, rushed into starting as a rookie after a long holdout, and he was benched almost permanently after a failed 10-game string in 2000.

2. Ricky Hunley, linebacker, Arizona, 1984: He never played a down for the Bengals after a long holdout and was traded to Denver. Ironically, Hunley returned to the Bengals as an assistant coach under Marvin Lewis in 2003.

3. Ki-Jana Carter, running back, Penn State, 1995: He rushed for single-season career highs of 464 yards and seven touchdowns in 1996 but was a bust, primarily because he could not stay healthy.

4. David Klingler, quarterback, Houston, 1992: Like Smith, Klingler took the brunt of the blame as the starting quarterback on some of the absolute worst teams in franchise history. He was sacked a brain-pounding 40 times as a first-year starter in 1993 and threw just 16 touchdown passes in four years.

5. Jack Thompson, quarterback, Washington State, 1979. He played even more poorly than Klingler and had better talent around him. Thompson completed just 55.1 percent of his passes with 19 interceptions in parts of four seasons.

6. David Verser, wide receiver, Kansas, 1981: Though he had a 17.1-yard average on 23 receptions, Verser played four seasons and had three touchdowns. His holdout allowed a charismatic fellow draftee and receiver, Cris Collinsworth, to seize the spotlight and become a fan favorite.

[TJJackson]

A side note of some importance on the Klingler draft.

We had the #4 choice that year, and Redskins offerred us the #6 and the #28 picks in exchange for the 4 so that they could move up to take Desmond Howard.

http://www.drafthistory.com/years/1992.html

So really, the 4 pick turned into both Klingler (who I am sure they were going to take at 4 anyway) AND Darryl Williams, who I think played very well for the Bengals while he was here.

So yeah, Klinger was a big bust BUT we did get at least some value out of the 4 pick despite all that.

[bengalindian]

It sends chills down my spine to read about those draft busts.

[DontPushMe]

isnt that pathetic when a team that has been around for almost 40 years' 6th best first round pick ever is a qb who has thrown as many INTs as TDs, and has a career qb rating in the 70s?

imo Takeo Spikes should have been 6th on that list, maybe even a bit higher

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

isnt that pathetic when a team that has been around for almost 40 years' 6th best first round pick ever is a qb who has thrown as many INTs as TDs, and has a career qb rating in the 70s?

No. It's because he PROJECTS out for his career to be a damned fine QB. Palmer had a 1st year starting season similar to Brett Favre, Joe Montana, John Elway, etc. He's got what it takes to be great.

[BengalPappaw]

One consistency about our failures -- we either took a player we did NOT need or reached.

I've always had a problem with blaming Ki-Jana Carter when Richie Braham missed the block that caused him to blow out his knee.

Its like saying my Jaguar was a bad buy because my wife ran into in the drive way. Wasn't the Jaguar's faults.

[jjakq27]

isnt that pathetic when a team that has been around for almost 40 years' 6th best first round pick ever is a qb who has thrown as many INTs as TDs, and has a career qb rating in the 70s?

imo Takeo Spikes should have been 6th on that list, maybe even a bit higher

Maybe you should stop following the Bengals since you seem to have problems with just about everything they do. Why aren't you a TB fan anyway? Don't you live down there? Or maybe you should continue your ride on the Dillon bandwagon and follow the Pats.

[turningpoint]

Well dontpushme does have one good point...

Takeo Spikes deserve top be top 5....that man is a consumate pro,he didn;t want to play here, but marvin should of been stubborn...and signed his ass, we wouldn;t have a damn single question about our LBS with Spikes ans Simmons still manning our front 7.

And spikes would of stayed if we went 9-7 that year.

and we coulda got him and gotten james and thorton NP.

f**k hardy and kelley.

[DontPushMe]

Agreed turningpoint, Marvin Lewis's 3rd biggest mistake since getting here (after trading the best RB in the league away and signing an average RB to a huge deal) was not keeping spikes.

And for you guys telling me not to be a fan of the bengals anymore. No thanks, im good.

And as for the bucs, hell no.

the patriots are my 2nd favorite team just because of Corey Dillon, but i dont really like the team outside of CD.

[BengalByTheBay]

the patriots are my 2nd favorite team just because of Corey Dillon, but i dont really like the team outside of CD.

That's simply sublime. There are tons of reasons to dislike the Pat's, but most of them probably come down to jealousy and sour grapes (at least all of mine do). But to dislike everything about such an over-achieving team except their one player that probably least belongs there is priceless. Keep up the good work DPM. Always good for a laugh (maybe I'll start calling you "GFL" instead).

[redsfan2]

It sends chills down my spine to read about those draft busts.

I'd more specifically say it makes my skin crawl, but ......... I know what you mean.

[redsfan2]

Kinda hate seeing Carters name on that list. Hard to argue that he Wasn't a bust because he didn't work out, but I think he could be cut some slack because it was due to an injury.

It's true he couldn't come back from that injury, but no one else did either .... not in those days anyway. If he'd had the benefit of todays surgeries .... therapies ... etc, it could have turned out a lot different.

First thing he did when he signed his contract was to start a local charity to help kids. I know ... a lot of guys do that now, but back then it wasn't quite so common.

[BengalszoneBilly]

There are tons of reasons to dislike the Pat's, but most of them probably come down to jealousy and sour grapes (at least all of mine do).

If other teams and their fans spent a little less time disliking/hating on over-achieving teams such as the Patriots, and more time studying them, and take a few notes on how they go about doing even the littlest things...they might possibly learn a valuable thing or two that might actually benefit them and their team!!

Other than our Bengals, New England is the other team I'll be watching pretty closely!

My inquiring mind would really like to know...

Do they draft by need?

Do they draft by the over-hyped best player available method?

Are they active in trading during the draft?

Do they prefer giving away picks to trade up?

Do they prefer (as Marvin seems) to trade down, and stock up on extra picks.

They haven't become THE dominant team in the NFL by f**kin' this s**t up you know! Class is about ready to start. I gotta go sharpen a few pencils.

[BengalByTheBay]

That's my point bb. I admit to sour grapes and jealousy -- meaning I hate them but mainly because I wish it was us making those moves and having that success. Don't make me explain why I'm a whiny bitch about it in front of the whole board....geeze.

BTW - from what I can tell the Patsy's play a balance of second-tier (or fire sale) FA's and lesser-known draft picks to perfection. They don't seem to get caught up in the frenzy over draft board climbers, etc. That's actually one of the things I generally like about ML. (None of this explains C. Perry, however.)

[BengalszoneBilly]

That's my point bb. I admit to sour grapes and jealousy -- meaning I hate them but mainly because I wish it was us making those moves and having that success. Don't make me explain why I'm a whiny bitch about it in front of the whole board....geeze.

Whiny bitch? No, no, no! I wasn't implying anything about whining, nor was I singling your comments out, BengalByTheBaywatch, even though it was you I quoted. Go right ahead and hate and bitch about 'em all you want. I don't like them all that much myself anymore since they've camped out atop of the same conference that the Bengals live in, but I do respect them!

My point was many people and not just Bengal fans here, I know fans of other NFL teams have their share of folks as well who get too wrapped up in disliking/hating the Patriots due to whatever reason they may have, and don't really pay attention to the details that put them there.

Observant details like those that you illustrated here:

BTW - from what I can tell the Patsy's play a balance of second-tier (or fire sale) FA's and lesser-known draft picks to perfection. They don't seem to get caught up in the frenzy over draft board climbers, etc.

The reality that we all lose sight of, myself squarely included, is that it really don't mean s**t how much we fans study their methods to success no more than what it means to have an accurate mock draft drawn up or not. Who asks us for advice anyway!?!

We have to hope that possibly some people in the Bengals management are keeping an eye on whats happening around Foxborough, and then looking at what may work also for us too!