alleycat

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.

Ed Reed probably forever broke the metric. What did he run, a 4.57? Just like Burfict, who ran a 5.09 or something. Brains trump athleticism at certain positions (MLB and S probably being the most notable on D.

Don't sleep on Nick Martin, LB Oklahoma, who the Bengals had in for a top 30 visit. One of the top tacklers in the nation in 2023 and was on track before going down with an injury after 5 or so games this year. Still recovering from an injury so didn't do all of this testing, but still ran a 4.51 at the combine.

A guy whose tape I loved, who seems to be on no radars (NFL.com doesn't even register him), except the 49ers who had him in for an official visit, is Coziah Izzard from Penn State. He has super high RAS, but his tape screams Geno Atkins to me. I'm taking that guy all day long in the 4th round or later.

Shemar Stewart also scored a perfect 10.00

Point blank, I think Zac Taylor should have gone along with the rest of the Defensive staff. Aside from a few absolute superstars, the trend on the team has been regression of players that have come here. Promising flashes in year 1 go downhill after that. Competent FA's sign flashy (for the Bengals) deals and then come here and promptly suck it up. My greatest optimism about future seasons would have been triggered simply by hiring a new regime (top to bottom), that hopefully could find a way to better develop the talent we have here. CTB, Dax Hill, should have gotten markedly better, not flat-lined or gotten worse. Joseph Ossai has all the athleticism and motor in the world, but a broken 30-something year old has been Hubbard had to play exhaustively, robbing him (and/or Murphy) of snaps. Every single OL under Pollack got worse while he was here. Absolutely mediocre LBs are celebrated like they are anything but bottom of the barrel (and no, tackle numbers mean nothing when you have the worst run-stopping DL in the league, and your first contact comes 5+ yards beyond the LOS). Alas, we aren't getting the total house cleaning I wanted, but we are getting it on the defensive side of the ball, at least. Does a new DE buy Zac MORE than 1 more year? I hope not. Hilariously, Golden might not even get more than one of the first 3 round picks because draft and FA player acquisition and development has been so piss poor, and even the Bengals FO recognizes the calamity that would be if they continue to field such a woeful OL in front of the best QB in the league. It's a crappy place to be, but when I look at all possible scenarios, it's hard to see beyond the logic that we should shore up protecting Burrow, and giving the offense even more tools to be elite, and stick poor Golden with long shots this year - and getting the whole farm next year. Which, I'm afraid to admit, feels a whole lot like Zac Taylor getting a not just a guaranteed 2 more years to let that play out, but probably more like 3.

Must add positional value to this conversation. Changes the calculus…

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/allbengals-insiders-plus/building-modern-defensive-line-new-reality-for-cincinnati-bengals-nfl-01jnp7a3kz9d

Excuse me in advance if this becomes a ramble, but I'm having some thoughts that I'm going to work through as I type. I'll start by saying Defense is what excites me, I think generally sets the tone for a team and its identity overall. It pains me when we have a sucky one and I love it when we are tough and can set the tone on that side of the ball. Yeah, Burfict was my guy. And our defense was...indefensible last year. So that's where we should focus our premium picks, right? Well, lately, I'm thinking maybe not, ironically, because of the stars we just resigned on offense. Hear me out. We now have, locked down for the next 4 years, 4 of the 5 biggest pieces on an offense, and offense that was, BTW, the top passing offense in the league last year. We have OBJ for 2 more years, and then the question marks grow as we work inside. So the question I started with was, if I knew we could create the most dominant Offense in the league this year, would it be worth it to forgo the Defensive studs I want this year, in the hopes that some of what we have on the team develop, and we focus all of our efforts - FA and DRAFT - on that side of the ball NEXT year, the year we actually go all the way? So I looked up some stats. We were the top passing offense in the NFL, but only #9 overall. Why? We were a full 500 yards less in rushing yards than the next lowest team. The two top offenses in the league had 1500+ yards rushing more than we did! That's a glaring stat discrepancy, and I'm starting to see why they are looking at RBs. But when I continue with the thought exercise, with this idea that we have Joe Freaking Burrow and his Boys, Mims looking like he has all-pro potential at one of the Tackle spots, I have to ask...If we drafted now, with an eye to plugging our G hole, and perhaps even our swing Tackle hole, we'd be locking a group that could be truly dominant for a while. But we're one injury away right now (and at least one glaring G spot), from once again forcing Joe to be Superman in front of a line that, frankly, he deserves much better than. I'm less focused on the RB role, as I do think we can get a banger later, but I'm starting to see the argument to, counter-intuitively, focus on offense in the early rounds of this draft versus what I've been focusing on all off-season. MAYBE you can take the risk that you can get the OL you need in rounds 2 and 3, but if it were me I think I'd rather take the sure thing in 1, and then do it all over again based on who's there in round 2. After round 3, you focus both barrels on Defense, maybe even high risk/reward guys, hoping one or two might hit, and hit big. If so, you get where you want to go sooner. If not, well, that's the plan. Defense next year. Would you accept an OL heavy early draft in exchange for a multiyear Super Bowl run?

That's not a list you want to be on. You get there because you whiffed on too many picks before.

Grant was more disruptive to me than Harmon on tape. The thing is, he is a 1-Tech, but that rare bird who brings legit agility and pass rush skills to the table, which is to say, he's a guy you are happy to have in there on any downs. As I said, the only issue I saw with him was taking breathers on plays. If he can lose 15 lbs, that will help. But, statistics aside, the two most disruptive players I saw from watching guys outside of the top 10 were this guy and Shemar Stewart. No, Stewart didn't get to the QB, but holy Moses did he blow play after play up. It's why I think he's an interesting chess piece EVEN IF he doesn't develop into an elite edge. He's essentially already proven he's an elite 3-tech. (yes, he shaded more between Tackle-Guard (one reason he didn't have a lot of sacks) than Center-Guard, but the biggest thing you want from a 3-Tech is penetration that freaks the QB and disrupt run play design. Both of these guys give you that in spades.

They interview lots of guys they hope miraculously free fall on draft day.

I’ve been nuts for Grant for months. I said a ways back you can take him at 17 and not look back. He even has some Chris Jones to his game. Only knock is conditioning,NOT effort IMO, and if he can rotate with and NFL line and get his Body optimized I think he has all pro potential.

Not a bad move, especially if it doesn’t hamper his speed or agility. He’s moving more toward becoming variable with Geseicki and one would hope outside, contested receiver status.

Athletic's latest mock had us taking 1) Mike Green 2) Tate Ratledge 3) Xavier Watts