One Week Until Draft

*
*

Exactly one week from tonight the NFL Draft will start! I love this new format for a couple of reasons. First is that the draft is broken down into three days, with the first round being in primetime on a Thursday night. Second because the draft is broken down to three days, teams get a chance to evaluate what happened in round one and make plans for the next six rounds overnight and not rushed into doing it immediately. It also gives teams more time to make moves and trade up or down based on what has happened and who's left on the board. The Bengals have the third pick in the second round and that pick becomes very valuable because if someone is still sitting there that a team really loves the Bengals could get multiple picks for that second round pick.

Anyway the Bengals have the fourth pick in the first round and there's been some debate as to who they should take. One thing is I hope they don't take a QB with that pick, especially Cam Newton. Despite all his athletic ability he's not that great of a passer. The most important thing for an NFL QB to have is accuracy. People make huge deals about a QB's arm strength and his athletic ability, and while those things are nice I'll take the most accurate of QB's over QB's with those traits any day of the week. Any QB that makes it to the NFL has good enough arm strength, give me the QB who is accurate and makes the correct decisions that can read a defense and know exactly where the ball needs to go. I don't think there are any QB's that are elite in those areas in this draft so getting the franchise QB of the future is not in the cards in this draft. They should try to get a veteran free agent as a stopgap for a year or two.

There are a few different ways a team can go about building a championship team. One is to have that elite QB that can carry you like the Colts with Peyton Manning. Another is to build a dominant defense like the 2000 Ravens or the Buccaneers when they had Warren Sapp and company on defense. The Bengals already have a pretty good defense and could be a couple players away from being flat out dominant. They could take Patrick Peterson in the first round and have a legit lock down Cornerback. This guy is as gifted as they come. He ran a 4.32 forty yard dash at the combine and he's 6'2" tall. That is big for a CB, but he's just as fast if not faster than the rest of the CB's currently in the NFL. Plus he has fluid hips and can stop and start fast. This guy is going to be able to shut out the best of WR's in the NFL very soon.

Now I know CB isn't the biggest need for the Bengals, but Joseph is a free agent so there's no guarantee he's coming back and he's been injured a lot throughout his career here. Even if they do sign Joseph to an extension you can never have too many good CB's in today's NFL where it's a pass happy league. Imagine having Peterson shutting down team's top WR's. Then you would have Hall and Joseph covering oppenents 2nd and 3rd WR's, who they will be able to shut down. If you can lock down opponent's WR's with one on one coverage that opens up your defense big time. On passing downs you will be able to blitz more defenders knowing your CB's will be able to stay with their men. It will take longer to get people open and the defensive lineman will have more time to sack the QB. With the emergence of Carlos Dunlap and his ability to get after the QB, opposing passers will not have long to get rid of the ball. Getting Peterson would make this defense almost impossible to throw on.

If the Bengals did decide to go that route they would be a good run stuffer to go with Peko and another good pass rusher away from being a dominant defense. If you have that dominant defense an average QB and a decent running game can have you in the playoffs and a title contender. They would also need to beef up the offensive line some to help with that running game and probably would need a new workhorse RB within a couple of years. Some parts are still going to need to be added whatever way they decide to go so being a legit Super Bowl contender is going to be a few years away no matter which route the Bengals go.

Most people have the Bengals taking AJ Green with that fourth pick and that would also be fine by me. We still wouldn't have an answer at QB, but when the Bengals did get their future signal caller some peices would be in place to have an explosive offense. Most draft "experts" agree that Green is the best WR since Calvin Johnson to come out and have him on that same superstar WR level as Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, and Larry Fitzgerald. Adding Green to a receiving core of Shipley, Gresham, Simpson, and Caldwell would give the Bengals the best group of young WR's/TE's in the NFL. Simpson really emerged at the end of last season and if he can keep it going they will be lethal. Simpson himself was looking like a legit number one WR at times at the end of the season. Shipley looks like he'll be the best possesion/3rd down WR in the NFL other than Wes Welker. Gresham has all the tools to be a top 2 or 3 TE in the NFL. If they can beef up the line a little bit and get a good QB they will have an offense as good as the 2005 Bengals offense and probably better.

If you add an offense like that to an already pretty good defense with one of the best defensive coordinators in the league and you have a legit Super Bowl contender. Now if they can teach Marvin Lewis how to manage a game clock, make in game adjustments, and just be a good coach overall they may be on to something. Oh that and get a real GM who knows something about football!