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Ok, I have been doing this for 21 years now. You know the rules. Format: screen name - player name - tie breaker for example: Jason - Jihad Campbell - 95 Your guess will not count until it is in that format and is not protected from book ending until it is. Player's full name unless they go by their initials, but spelling doesn't count. No book ending Tie Breaker: pick number for Lathan Ransom Once you make your guess you will have some time to change it. But once it is entered in this post it is set. You must be a member of this board as of 8:45 am Saturday April 12 and a Bengals fan. Prize is any ONE ITEM up to $50 from the Bengals.com store. Contest closes for guesses at 8 pm Sunday April 20. Go-Bengals is not responsible for any aspect of this contest. Make your guess!! Official Guess List New Jersey Bengal -------------------- Derrick Harmon ------------------------- 154 LostInDaJungle ------------------------- Malaki Starks -------------------------- 107 BlackJesus ----------------------------- Mykel Williams ------------------------- 111 Spicoli ---------------------------------- Kelvin Banks --------------------------- 119 Tex Bengal ------------------------------ Malaki Starks -------------------------- 125 BBR ------------------------------------ Kelvin Banks Jr ------------------------- 125 Claptonrocks --------------------------- Derrick Harmon ------------------------- 117 Jamie_B --------------------------------- Walter Nolen --------------------------- 92 dex ------------------------------------ Derrick Harmon ------------------------- 134 Le Tigre -------------------------------- Jihaad Campbell ------------------------ 116 Shebengal ------------------------------ Kenneth Grant -------------------------- 120 Gary ----------------------------------- Derrick Harmon -------------------------- 125 Hooky --------------------------------- Nick Emmanwori --------------------------120 Cricket ---------------------------------- Nick Emmanwori ------------------------ 110 Montecore ------------------------------- Mykel Williams ------------------------- 121 Bengals1181 ----------------------------- Mykel Williams ------------------------- 128 Kochman ------------------------------- Jihaad Campbell ------------------------ 126 esjbh2 ------------------------------------ Walter Nolen -------------------------- 111 sparky151 ----------------------------- Shemar Stewart -------------------------- 100

It's ridiculous... Teams put up with outright toxic players all of the time when they produce, and we're looking for any minor reason to dislike the Best DE Cincy has seen in a long time. This is a football team, not a boy scout troop. LOTS of vets skip Training Camp entirely without issue. Both Tee and Chase did it last year when their contract demands were ignored... Are they unhappy and shouldn't have been resigned? I mean, they couldn't have JUST been unhappy that they weren't getting paid. That makes no sense! OMG... Listen to how unhappy he is! But you know, Trey's quote was just fake news. Listen to what his teammates have to say about him: Oh, sure... At the END of the day, but what about in the late afternoon, around 3:30?? Let's face it, the dude is a diva who isn't willing to take a $10M pay cut so that Mike and Katie can spend that money on... (checks notes) Umm, damn. $24M in cap space left? Yeah, but next year we only have... (checks notes) Crap. $86M in cap space. Frikkin' greedy Trey. Lining his pockets while Katie and Mike are forced to get by on $100M in profit every year. It's so bad that the Front Office has even had to ask the city for another $350M dollars so they can afford ramen. Let's face it, he's just greedy and wants to take food out of the mouths of our hard working ownership who does everything they can to put a quality product on the field. They didn't just luck into having a team worth $2 Billion ya know. Mike Brown and his brilliant football mind built this team from the ground up after he inherited a Super Bowl roster from his Dad. Not many owners would have been smart enough to take back to back consensus #1 picks! Katie is a goddess, and Trey should be happy to play for the Bengals at all, much less get paid! On top of that, his farts smell like cottage cheese, he wears socks with sandals, is more of a cat person than a dog person, and he likes Coldplay. Seriously. Fuck dat dude. Seen here: Trey Hendrickson not attending offseason events and looking unhappy

I'm one of the biggest critics of Myles Murphy and never wanted him drafted. But I think the comparisons of Stewart as a Murphy 2.0 are way off. Stewart is way more athletic and violent. And more importantly, Murphy has always struck me as timid, soft, and low testosterone without a killer instinct. Football seems like a job to him. Whereas Stewart to me has a energy and fire and plays like someone who loves football and likes to hit and hurt people. There's also a bravado and confidence when Stewart speaks that Murphy lacks. This is the difference between a dog show dalmatian (MM) and a junkyard rottweiler (SS) to me. And this defense needs more nasty.

Ok, I'm going to stop with the negative talk now. He's a Bengal, and he seems like a really good kid with a good head on his shoulders. I'm rooting for him. He's an elite athlete, which you can't teach. Hopefully our coaches will teach the things that can be.

My first preference at 17 is Jihad Campbell if he is there. He can cover and rush and is a solid tackler. He can be the playmaker this defense has needed for a while. It's a deep DL class, but not so much at LB.

for sure… but it’d be a huge gamble to expect that. (Boom!) Edit: random thought: what if the coaches told him he needed to learn to “play the slot” in the offseason… and he misinterpreted what they meant?

Just me but I think all the Thursday night games should be flexed to Sunday afternoons.

The Bengals could have taken Ratledge at 2 and Watts at 3. It was lined up in a dream scenario. 🙁

Jihaad Campbell. I know LB isn't considered a "premium position" anymore, but he has the potential (and college production) to be a great LB, which makes him premium. He can rush the passer. He can cover. And he can tackle. He was the guy I most wanted of the guys with a reasonable chance to be there. And he was.

It's clearly not for me, as I was very high on him before. But the REASON I was so high on him was because the thing I want more than anything else for this team is an interior disruptor. We weren't going to whiff Mason Graham, I was adamant that Kenneth Grant was a stud (went 5 picks before us, defying the conventional wisdom (of those who don't understand tape), and the red flags of Nolen's character/effort/love of football had me downgrade him. And when I saw Stewart's tape, what I saw was a guy who could run right through the chest of SEC Guards and Tackles (sometimes two at once). Yeah, he played a bit out of control (I called it Tasmanian Devil), but that was precisely the thing that caused so much disruption and penetration. So for me, he's immediate value added to the team, in way and at a spot that I don't think would otherwise have been able to meaningfully addressed with this draft. That's a very high floor. One thing that everyone should also pay particular attention to is Golden's citing of Stewart fitting into their "games," which is to say stunts. Both as a looper and penetrator, Golden touts his value there. I would argue that the Bengals have substantially upgraded their pass rushing disruptiveness with this pick. Golden also mentions Stewarts positional flex, and the fact that you don't have to take him off the field. That's 3 down, impactful snaps on the DL. Starting TODAY.

The common thread with Al Golden and the Phil Simms piece are that they would disagree with you, because they are prioritizing disruption in the same way that people who only look at stats are counting their criteria of value. Disruption IS production. This guy is very high floor, with an astronomical ceiling. The floor is high because on Day 1 he provides edge setting run D coupled with enormous penetration disruption if he lines up over/inside the tackle. The ceiling is what he put on tape at the Senior Bowl, rushing from the edge, which is something, if can truly solidify in the NFL, can make him "one of the all-time greats in the league" as Chris Simms put it. And this is why it's so important to put on the tape versus read the stat line. Who were the two most productive Sackers in college football last year? Mike Green and Donovan Ezriekuau or whatever his name is. Neither of them got drafted in the first round. Obviously because they led the nation in sacks, they should be first round picks, right? How is it that the entire football genius community of Go-Bengals.com knows better than the professional scouting and coaching community of the NFL? Or maybe there's way more to this game than what people here, (who clearly don't actually watch tape), consider "production." Both Al Golden and Phil Simms articulate very well, very clearly, why you should be excited by this pick. Those for whom being critical or negative or who need to say "my ignorant early take was my take so I'm right and I'm not going to change!," don't need to bother watching, because, of course they are always right. Anyone else who is open to learning something, or considering something they hadn't before, would do well to watch. Or they could just watch the tape...but clearly that's something that they've already proven incapable of doing or understanding.

Right now my board begins and ends with Tate.

That's why Howie Roseman will be in the hall of fame. 🏆 He rarely misses.

I think Tee changing his agent was a major factor in the deal happening. There’s no package deal with him and Chase without getting rid of Mulugheta.

Seeing those two birds in a bush over there sure makes it a lot easier to let go of the one I have in my hand. These guys get paid to hype up draft picks... To make the draft By Doritos seem more important. Who will be the "Crunch Time" pick in round one?? Let's go over to the "Cool Ranch" telestrator and talk about it! In a few years, Shemar Stewart could be just another Myles Murphy. Or he could lead the league in sacks like the guy we already f***ing have. Facts is facts, 50% of these guys are going to be total busts. Very few will be league leaders, pro-bowlers... We have one of the league's best, already. We don't need to trade in our fortune to buy scratch off tickets, we're already rich. We have 8 positions to fill/upgrade, and 6 draft picks. I dunno, use the $24M in cap space to pay the best DE in the league and take a different position of need? I mean if we're drafting a DE, it should be to man the other side, not to run with Murphy, a Rookie, and Joe "Mid" Ossai. Trey Hendrickson plus a top rookie RG sounds a lot better than Shemale Stewart and whatever 34 year old thinks his knees are good enough for one more season at $6M. I'm sure we'll be able to find a pro-bowl RG bagging groceries somewhere after the draft. It's like every other BRILLIANT plan of replacing Bates with Dax Hill or thinking we could replace Tee with Burton. You want to trust both of our scouts and Katie's nephew to outsmart the rest of the league. Because if that guy is anywhere NEAR being a better than 50/50 chance of being a pro-bowler, he's a top 5 pick. History is littered with sure fire prospects who's names I don't even remember now. Sometimes the #2 overall pick is just Chase Young. Why are we spending draft capital at a position when we already have a Pro-Bowler there? Our defense's pictures aren't on trading cards - they're on milk cartons. And you want to replace the one guy who might get asked for a selfie at the Airport? Frikkin' insane.

Do I believe Tobin could draft 6 of the 7 dwarves and still keep his job? Absolutely.

Do I believe that Scarlett Johansson wants to make hot monkey love to me in the Paycor upper bowl? Absolutely. I believe that Ringo was the greatest Beatle, Absolutely. I believe in Sasquatch, Absolutely.

No. Worse, most just hear the criticism of not finishing or not producing (sack numbers) and that's that. Actually watch Tape?!?! Or even more insane, full-game cutups versus highlight reels?!?! Why would anyone actually do THAT? I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Stewart has already laid down the tape to show he's the most disruptive INTERIOR DL in this draft. That, IMO, is his floor. It's also something we sorely need. Now, he has dropped 15 lbs since he was that player, because he's angling for the EDGE. But here's a guy who's already got elite PRODUCTION in disruption (highest # of pass rush pressures in college), but because of his size and shape and the belief that he was playing DE (which is a misnomer, because he played INSIDE the OT -- which is to say, more DT than DE in A&M's scheme), people want to hold his 10.00 RAS score against him or something (all of this said, I won't disagree or argue that he has lots of room to improve in the areas of finishing). I see a guy who on Day 1 gives us massive improvement as an interior rusher (he's also, btw, already considered and ELITE run defender, but of course, people don't even care about that when they see EDGE, they think only sacks (incidentally, the HUGE knock on Trey Hendrickson is that he's a mid run defender because, yes, he sells out for the pass and you can run right at him (Mike Zimmer would not approve). But Hendrickson has NEVER had a real penetrator to keep the QB from stepping up while he's been here, and Stewart, at his worst, will provide exactly that. Here's what Shemar Stewart is to me, ultimately: he's a guy you can put in as a strong-side, run defending DE who is your #1 pass rushing DT on passing downs, that also lets you have Ossai and/or Murphy on the field coming from the edge to see if they can realize their potential - AT THE WORST...and AT BEST? He flowers at the DE spot where's he's allowed to truly pin his ears back in a way he never could at A&M and this 10.00 RAS score becomes the thing everyone 3 years from now points to when asking "how did he go so low?!" There IS some risk-reward to him, simply because the reward-side of the projection is unproven, but the stuff he's already shown (on tape, duh), to me, is hard to argue with, and raises his floor to a very high place. I, for one, will be very excited if he gets added to this roster.

Banks could also be the future LT and the immediate swing tackle as well so he covers a lot of bases so to speak.

I'm beginning to lean towards taking Banks (if he's there) over Nolan or Harmon. G is a WAY bigger need than DT and the I think dline is deeper in this draft than oline. YMMV.

The really crappy part of it is that the players don't even get appreciated by the hometown fans. Trey Hendrickson has led the league in sacks two straight years, and people are like "Well, he's no Myles Garrett." "We can't pay him like Maxx Crosby!" Hendrickson also owns the Cincinnati record for most consecutive seasons leading the team in sacks with four. All Andy Dalton did was come in and take a moribund team that Carson Palmer quit on to the playoffs a few years in a row, something that happens here ALL THE TIME, and the fans still have a hate boner for him while they reminisce over the supposed glory days of Carson Palmer. And so on and so forth... I miss the days when we didn't take wins for granted much less playoff appearances. When we were all Willie Anderson fans because he was our guy. When we were 100% behind Jeff Blake even though we knew he wasn't exactly Steve Young. May I remind everyone - The only reason you're feeling any kind of loyalty to the Blackburns right now is because we got the #1 pick two years in a row. Because Burrow and Chase are succeeding despite the incompetence of the Front Office. I'm not about to shill for the Blackburns and dis what Trey has accomplished in the process. I'm not going to sit here and convince myself he "doesn't play the run well"... Or that "he's too old". Quick, name me another Bengal that has led the league in sacks. Frankly, if we can't even rally behind our own guys anymore... Please trade Joe Burrow to a team that is willing to put a real O-Line in front of him. Let Trey play alongside some D-Linemen that weren't bagging groceries a month ago. We apparently can't even appreciate having the NFL sack leader in Cincy. We're willing to hope that a rookie can protect Joe. We're willing to take fliers on Jermaine Burton and Dax Hill instead of paying known performers.

you seem to forget the player signed these deals also, Trey signed the extension he now doesnt like.. he didnt have to.. doing so handed all leverage and freedom to the team. this isnt like Chase or Tee, who were locked in against their wishes so to speak. Trey actively signed the deal he currently doesnt want. his options are: 1. sign the deal the team offered 2. sit out and lose money, age. and now he went public to try to pressure the team which has never worked in the history of the world. this is what happens when you have a baseball agent they had nothing but no name low end football clients. the agency consist of a baseball guy, a supply chain lead from pepsi cola as VP, then the recuiter and a lawyer.. trey is the prize bull at NSA.. they seem to continue to advise him poorly. 1. had him bet against himself, had 14 sacks in 2021 and 8 in 2023.. so he bed against himseld and took a 1 year extensions at 21mil. 2. his agent ignored the entire history of the world where going on pat macafee show talking shit about th team was gonna grease the wheels. 3. you were granted permission to seek a trade, not a single offer with even a 2nd rounder pick offered. no one wants to pay and give up draft capital.. sign the deal or play out the deal you have..you did it to yourself. he came out of NO having had a single good season, 1 seasons over 4.5 sacks. and got 15-16mil a year.. then stacks another good year then an 8 sack year and thinks he is only worth a 1 year 21 mil extension... and since he bet against himself, he now has no power and ZERO leverage. sitting out is a joke. he can sit out 6 weeks, if he sits more he loses the stats and comes across as a pain in the ass. and will be turn 32 the following season. he thinks he is gonna get MORE money then? or more ears then? no chance. and thats even IF he gets 17 sacks again. so he can sign his 3 year 28 per deal, with 50-ish guaranteed right now and nearly double his career earnings.. or sit out 6 games, lose 7-8 million in pay this season.. meaning he needs to get 31+ when he hits the market, going into a season he turns 32, hoping his stats are still sky high, and get a deal to make up for it? he would be better off just playing the 1 year 21 deal then hitting free agency... but once again,. he doesnt want to bet on himself.. seems like a pattern. he handed the leverage to the team. sucker move.

Could they also ask for 2 starting guards?

Joe Burrow (r) meets Al Pachino.

He wants a ring and sees the Bengals as being a great option for getting one. I'm OK with that.

Trey bet against himself and took a 2 year extension. He wanted the safer route and an immediate smaller raise at the expense of an even bigger one later if he balled out. He has nobody to blame but himself for why he's not a free agent right now. With all the said, I would still want him back at a 2 year, 54 mill extension (27 per, fully guaranteed). But if he wants something like a 3 year, 102 mill deal (34 per) I wouldn't give him that.

I believe that some of us realize/believe that with the major pieces that this team has, there is a chance to go on an historic years-long run as top dog in the NFL. THE TOP DOG. This would require the team to take the necessary steps to sufficiently fill in the “other” spots on the roster (currently mostly OL and DL are most glaring needs). The actions of this front office over the past few years does not indicate to many of us that they understand this. Thus, the angst/“whining”. Instead of being happy with an occasional Superb Owl appearance, I would much prefer to be at the top of the mountain. 🦗

This makes me think they would have taken Stewart even with Nolen on the board and Mike Green was never an option.

Some of you may remember the old Waldo formula for edge rushers, which utilized a bunch of different numbers to identify productive, low risk EDGE prospects. There were two categories. Low Risk 1 (Agility), and Low Risk 2 (power). Myles Murphy actually wouldn't rate as low risk in either, because his vertical was sad (31") for power, and his 3-cone slow (7.05 was the cutoff) for agility. The most outstanding rushers in the model were the power guys, and here's who Shemar finds himself with in that group. Bosa Mario Williams Myles Garrett. That's it.

I’ve read others also suggest his best role could be on the interior, not the edge. The bull rush is pretty much his only move at this point, but he rarely finishes it with a play. He averaged about 3 pressures a game last year, which is pretty good. Despite the athleticism, he’s not someone who can bend the edge and his technique is raw overall. As far as playing the run, he’s all effort and can chase with the best of them. But again, he doesn’t make many run stops and he misses tackles often by overrunning and over aggression. I guess we can hope for the best, but it’s delusional to not have concerns with using another high pick on a developmental player.

You all will love him by midway through the season at worst. No one with his physical gifts and level of effort really fails in the NFL. It’s the ones who lack effort that fizzle out.

At this point I've become a full Jihadist ! Put me on the no fly list baby! 💪🏻

I'm glad Cleveland won't have Travis Hunter, personally

I don't think Green will be there at 17.. If he is Id pass anyway...

Sorry I called you a fascist. I thought you knew you were.

Well they tried nothing but unfortunately couldn't get it done. Just bad luck.

same shit as with whitworth, want to throw him prove it short contracts, and then when he doesnt accept it then act surprised when he walks out 1st week fa for almost double the money and a 3-4 yar contract. you paid the offense now pay the Def guy thats over performed while the defense sucked

Lots of people fertilize eggs in the parking lot at tailgates and other times. No flood needed. A few shots of Jack inhabitation inhibitor help but not essential.

We should have signed him

Trey could have over a dozen sacks and it'd still be a drop-off, that's just the nature of having a year like that. Think you're right on there (same is probably true of Ja'Marr for that matter but WR is fairly deep for now so that won't matter so much.) Another Ossai-level player or thereabouts would be fine. They farted around too long to get a top DE. IDK if they could necessarily afford one, but some halfway decent DE for depth would be a good idea. Even with the draft that position is woefully thin. Ditto at guard, and they could definitely afford someone good at one or the other spot. But at this point, yeah, there's not a lot left. Still think there are guards on the market that are better than Volson. Making sure Volson never takes another snap for the Bengals should've been a priority. They're too complacent. Far as younger players, Golden's system, etc.. That's all speculation. I don't know that Golden is going to magically turn the defense around in a year with mostly the same players. I think the talent level has been allowed to degrade & they blamed Lou because Tobin is apparently untouchable. The FA additions on defense have been underwhelming, They had an opportunity to improve the roster there and instead chose affordable side-grades or filler. It's the same thing they did at DT last year - that was a choice. It's not bad luck when they count on rookies for depth and then have to start them before they're ready to play at that level. It's like dropping a paycheck on scratch-offs then saying it's bad luck when you can't make rent. They did that, it's not some unfortunate twist of fate. Once again they're putting a lot of faith in their ability to draft immediate starters & I don't know what that faith is actually based on given the recent results. If they're going to count on rookies like that they need to do a lot better job in the draft. Then at the same time, this is also a team that refuses to employ a scouting department on par with the rest of the NFL. How can they claim to be "building through the draft" when they won't even meet the basic standard other teams employ in doing so? It's like they think they have some unique and exceptional ability despite the results showing they actually aren't very good at it. That disconnect is hard to understand other than as simple arrogance.

Don't expect a reasonable conversation, he's just here to troll.

For each teams individual draft boards,a reach would technically be taking a player before others rated higher on your own board. Reaches versus consensus can only be looked at in hindsight. Teams usually get into draft trouble when they draft need over best player. Or they get into trouble when their scouting is marginal (I am looking at you Jackson Cartman). I am sure each team at least makes best efforts to have a draft board developed in an unbiased manner. In the end, scouts/coaches push for certain players and no doubt they creep up the boards as the scout jumps up and down screaming. Becuase it is very much an inexact science yet so important to building a winning team - it only makes sense to have a large and productive scouting staff. More eyes on prospects and more 'good eyes' on prospects. I have mentioned this before, but my NHL home team (Winnipeg Jets) are a small market team but we have one of the largest and best scouting staffs in the league becuse we realized we were never going to attract big free agnets, so we had to draft and develop. We are currently in 1st place in the NHL as of today. Hiring scouts is cheap compared to giving money to drfat picks or free agents who fail. It is the cheapest route to a better team.

There are aspects of the offseason that are exciting, but we're creeping into the truly dead period of time in the NFL. FA has wound down, Draft isn't until April 24th After the draft we have the schedule release...which has sort of become a slow trickle instead of a big bang After that...nothing til OTA's? Dreading it lol