You are the GM

[TJJackson]

WE WILL NOT DRAFT A TIGHT END IN THE FIRST ROUND EVER EVER EVER, NOT EVEN IF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN TO SAY DRAFT ELVIS PRESLEY! So long as Brat's offense is here, THE TIGHT END DOES NOT FREAKING MATTER. ALL HE HAS TO DO IS BLOCK!

If that were true, they'd simply put another OL out there. After all, thats what they do - block.

A three down TE is what we are looking for.

One who can block and catch equally well. We do not currently have such a player on the roster.

The reason this is important is because to an extent we tip our offensive hand by what TE we trot out onto the field. If Kelly is out, we're running. If Schobel is out, we're passing (albeit, I hope, not to Hands of Stone Schobel)

If a great TE is available and none of the defensive players Mavin covets at this spot are available, then the probability of drafting that TE rises significantly.

This despite your protestations otherwise.

Have a nice day.

[Stripes]

EVEN IF WE HAD A Tight end, there still aren't enough balls to go around to all our receivers, Rudi, Jeremi, AND to pass to a tight end. We have enough weapons.

I've been saying the same thing for a while, but after seeing Heath Miller tearing up the Colts and other tight ends eating our Bengals alive throughout the year... I've had a change of heart.

Adding another weapon would do nothing but advance this offense even more. Imagine how our numbers could go up on third down and in the red zone with a legitimate threat at tight end on the field. Bratkowski loves to throw the ball, I doubt he cares who is catching it. The system calls for the tight ends to block primarily in the current scheme because of the lack of talent at the position.

I bet if we were to land Leonard Pope in the second round or another solid player elsewhere, he would make an impact worthy of the pick. Just ask the Colts and Dallas Clark. There can never be enough weapons.

All of that said, I'll be irritated if we end up using our first round pick on a tight end. As you said, we need defense as everyone knows, so I'd hope we either spend our most valuable pick on such or trade down.

[Tasher]

yes, but does she have a TE for us?

[Stripes]

yes, but does she have a TE for us?

I'm sure she does, but alas we cannot see it from this angle...

Not to worry, our friend Ox has that end taken care of!

[NJ29]

Is it just me, or once we've hit the offseason, half of the threads have been spiraling into retardation?

[membengal]

I am in love, in a football fan platonic way, with Georgie TE Leonard Pope. 6'8", 260 pounds, and fast. And, my Georgia friends tell me, could actually stand to put on 20 or so more pounds.

Give me THAT as an everydown blocking and passcatching behemoth in this offense and I will be thrilled.

And, given how deep the S position is, you can still get Madieu's counterpart in the second round, and address the rest of it from there.

[schweinhart]

Leonard Pope is freakish and fits the bill for an all-downs TE, probably even more so than Marcedes Lewis because of blocking.

But Pope looks like he'd have to be the Bengals 1st rounder if he even is still available by then.

The Bengals might be headed toward a choice where the best available at a position of a lesser need trumps the best available at a position of immediate need -- especially safety not only because of draft depth but also position importance.

A DE who can pass rush to force early throws and cover corners who can be frequently trusted in man without help behind both lessen the need for a safety with all-world coverage skills.

Unfortunately, both the DE and CB prospects who should be available at the Bengals 1st pick look like gambles and reaches, which at those positions hurts more if they are on the roster and don't produce than a safety who doesn't cut it would.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

WE WILL NOT DRAFT A TIGHT END IN THE FIRST ROUND EVER EVER EVER, NOT EVEN IF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN TO SAY DRAFT ELVIS PRESLEY! So long as Brat's offense is here, THE TIGHT END DOES NOT FREAKING MATTER. ALL HE HAS TO DO IS BLOCK!

If that were true, they'd simply put another OL out there. After all, thats what they do - block.

A three down TE is what we are looking for.

One who can block and catch equally well. We do not currently have such a player on the roster.

The reason this is important is because to an extent we tip our offensive hand by what TE we trot out onto the field. If Kelly is out, we're running. If Schobel is out, we're passing (albeit, I hope, not to Hands of Stone Schobel)

If a great TE is available and none of the defensive players Mavin covets at this spot are available, then the probability of drafting that TE rises significantly.

This despite your protestations otherwise.

Have a nice day.

Ok, I'll give you that if a great TE is there, and there isn't a defensive player worth a crap available, the probability of picking the tight end rises significantly. However, if there isn't a defensive player worth a crap available, or a Quarterback, or a running back, or a lineman, or a kicker, the probability rises even more. To like a 2% chance!

You can say all you want about tipping our hand, but that's not true. Kelly had almost as many catches as Schobel this season. In other words, almost nothing.

Why don't we use an extra offensive lineman? Good question. That's probably more likely than us drafting Pope in the first round.

Oh, and if Bobby Brat gets the head coaching job for the expansion LA team, it also increases our chances of drafting a tight end in the first round. Then again, the chances of LA getting an expansion right now aren't too hot, nor is the chance of Bobby B getting the head coaching job. In other words, if ifs and buts were coconuts we'd all be eating German Chocolate Cake!

[membengal]

Leonard Pope is freakish and fits the bill for an all-downs TE, probably even more so than Marcedes Lewis because of blocking.

But Pope looks like he'd have to be the Bengals 1st rounder if he even is still available by then.

The Bengals might be headed toward a choice where the best available at a position of a lesser need trumps the best available at a position of immediate need -- especially safety not only because of draft depth but also position importance.

A DE who can pass rush to force early throws and cover corners who can be frequently trusted in man without help behind both lessen the need for a safety with all-world coverage skills.

Unfortunately, both the DE and CB prospects who should be available at the Bengals 1st pick look like gambles and reaches, which at those positions hurts more if they are on the roster and don't produce than a safety who doesn't cut it would.

Oh, I agree, schwein. When I express love for Pope, I am expressing first round love, and I don't think he will be there at #24. But IF he is, well, that's who I want.

Yes, we desperately need a S, but this appears to be a GREAT year for S depth, and we can pick off what we need in the second round, a la Madieu.

[derekshank]

Leonard Pope is freakish and fits the bill for an all-downs TE, probably even more so than Marcedes Lewis because of blocking.

But Pope looks like he'd have to be the Bengals 1st rounder if he even is still available by then.

The Bengals might be headed toward a choice where the best available at a position of a lesser need trumps the best available at a position of immediate need -- especially safety not only because of draft depth but also position importance.

A DE who can pass rush to force early throws and cover corners who can be frequently trusted in man without help behind both lessen the need for a safety with all-world coverage skills.

Unfortunately, both the DE and CB prospects who should be available at the Bengals 1st pick look like gambles and reaches, which at those positions hurts more if they are on the roster and don't produce than a safety who doesn't cut it would.

Oh, I agree, schwein. When I express love for Pope, I am expressing first round love, and I don't think he will be there at #24. But IF he is, well, that's who I want.

Yes, we desperately need a S, but this appears to be a GREAT year for S depth, and we can pick off what we need in the second round, a la Madieu.

That may be true. I just looked at a mock draft that had the Bengals taking Blue at SS in the 2nd round. The problem that leaves us with though is that we've waited until the 3rd round to address our greatest need, which is pass rush on the D-line. This is a deep year for DT's too... but not deep enough to get a big-time impact player in the 3rd round. If we can get a pass rushing DE in FA, well then, okay... I'll talk with you about a TE in the 1st roung. But until I can be convinced that those other drastic needs are cared for... no more offense in the 1st round!

[membengal]

I want a pass rusher in free agency. How many Dwight Freeney's come along every year and are available that late in the draft? Not too often.

That frees us up to get Pope in 1, a S in 2, and a DT or CB in 3.

[TecmoFever]

I say that we draft Pope in Round 1, Blue in Round 2, and then cut our scouting department budget by just asking Mark Richt who he likes the best for our team each year.

[Spain]

Hell Im A Gillis fan that bad boy would be hard to pass up on. He is the best Anchor gaurd to come out in a while. He could set behind boobie till he learns. Look at the impact Steinbach had as the best gaurd in the game falling out of the first. Gillis is the value pick. He will drop because teams dont take gaurds in the first.

As far as the Te goes we need one bad because teams around the leauge know what we are doing by the lineup. Also dont forget with our new no huddle Kelley was Carsons saftey blanket. However I wouldnt pass on Gillis for pope. Pope might fall in the second.

We might get gillis in the second and pope in the first. The draft is alwys crazy.

[Kazkal]

i would tender washington, that way if anyone signs him we would get another third round pick

shoulden't we tende4r kitna too so that way if a team did offer him better and we diden't want to equal so we atleast get something for him

[Tasher]

Kit is not a Restricted Free Agent.

[schroomytunes]

Been looking at the draft pages and the available free agents andhere is my idea for the offseason:

1)build through the draft, and lock up the offensive line to extentions.

2)Draft is loaded at TE and Safety, so make sure you lock up a couple of them

3)The DE's are weak in this draft, so FA may be the way to go, also the DT's are a little thin after rd 2.

so here's my plan:

rd 1: Leonard pope(te)-georgia or Ko Simpson(SS)-s.carolina

rd 2: Jesse mahalona(dt)-tenn or Greg Blue(SS)-georgia

Free Agents we need to look at (in order):

DE:

1)Aaron Kampman-DE Green Bay

2)Raheem Brock-DE Indy

3)Kalimba Edwards-DE Detroit

--all are under 28 and are solid guys to have on the outside rush.

DT:

1)Rocky Bernard-DT-Seattle

2)Ryan Pickett-DT-St.Louis

3)Ma'ake Kemoeatu-DT-Balt.

--again all are under 28

QB:

1)Jamie Martin-QB-St.Louis

2)Jon Kitna-QB-Cincy.

--both are veteran #2 guys

In my ideal world our offseason would be:

rd 1) Ko Simpson(SS)

rd 2) Jesse Mahalona(DT)

DE FA-Raheem Brock

DT FA-Ma"ake Kemoeatu

QB FA-Jamie Martin

And we sign our OL to contract extentions!

[Spain]

Shcroomy I could see us targeting those guys in the draft. They wil probably be there when we pick. However a pro-bowl anchor gaurd will probably be there also. Great post.

PS: I love talking draft with you guys even if we have to invent a title for the move thread nazis.

[schroomytunes]

Another guard to look at in rd 3 is Fred Matua out of USC. He has good size and is familiar with the pro style offense after having seen both Leinert and Palmer run it so effectively. I have my doubts about Gilles out of Georgia, I dont see him having the footwork to be an effective pass blocker, his weight may be a factor, but regardless he is a hell of a run blocker. I do agree that we do need to draft a Guard in this draft, we simply cannot afford to sign both Steinbach and B.Williams, and let it be clear I would rather re-sign Steinbach to the extention. Our line in '07 would be:

RT-Big Willy

RG-Fred Matua-Jean Gilles-Mark Setterstrom(U.MINN) or a FA pickup or a stud in "07 draft

C-Eric Guichic

LG-Eric Steinbach

LT-Levi Jones

In all honesty I think we are going Defense in this draft, but it would not surprise me at all if we restock the offense too, we need a couple of guys come 07. and we simply cannot afford to resign the whole line, just need to focus on the ones to anchor it (Big Willy/ES/LJ) Guichic showed promise in the JAX game and in time I think he"ll be ok. I like the above replacements for Williams, and wouldn't even mind if we used a 2nd rounder on them, but not a 1st. In order of Importance come 06:

1)SS

2)DE

3)DT

4)TE

5)OL

6)QB

7)CB

[Spain]

Hey Schroom , Im real high on this Fuulback Bernstein, the guy is like another Gaurd in space. Have you had a chance to watch him? The guy could take our running game to another level.

[schroomytunes]

Good player, big, comes from a running program in Wisconsin, but we simply cannot afford to draft a FB, those guys can be found in the undrafted stages after the draft. Jeremi Johnson is solid so I would pass on a FB unless we decide to carry a guy on the practice squad.