My take on our first round pick

[Jason]

The way I see it, there are really only 6 guys that meet both value and need at 4:

Da'Quan Bowers
Nick Fairley
Patrick Peterson
AJ Green
Robert Quinn
Marcel Dareus

As I see it, the odds of Blaine Gabbert getting into the top 3 are remote. Which means 3 of those guys will be gone.

I feel fairly certain that 2 of those guys will be Bowers and Fairley. I think it's 50/50 that the other will be Peterson or Green.

If it's Peterson, do you want Green, Quinn or Dareus? I haven't seen a lot of Dareus, but he hasn't impressed me nearly as much as Fairley, and Fairley is really the only DT I would consider at 4. I haven't seen Quinn at all, and has he stayed in shape over the past year, and how much will the year off hurt him?

[MichaelWeston]

I dont like the idea of Bowers due to reasons that I keep banging against the wall. I do like Fairley, Green and Peterson. Whichever falls to us I would take. If they were all there I would have

Green
Fairley
Peterson
?

[BigDawgBengal]

If Fairley, Green, and Bowers are gone I want us to trade down. Quinn scares me at four because of the year off and the brain tumor in the past. Dareus is not worth a top five pick. He is just not going to be a dominant player in the NFL. He should be a good player just not great. Peterson to me is not a huge need if we can resign J Joe and I don't want to experiment with him by moving him to safety with the 4th pick.

If those top 3 are gone, our best bet is to trade down and pick up a LB or S and use the extra picks we get in the trade on O linemen.

[Jason]

[quote name='BigDawgBengal' timestamp='1295280016' post='962551']
If Fairley, Green, and Bowers are gone I want us to trade down. Quinn scares me at four because of the year off and the brain tumor in the past. Dareus is not worth a top five pick. He is just not going to be a dominant player in the NFL. He should be a good player just not great. Peterson to me is not a huge need if we can resign J Joe and I don't want to experiment with him by moving him to safety with the 4th pick.

If those top 3 are gone, our best bet is to trade down and pick up a LB or S and use the extra picks we get in the trade on O linemen.
[/quote]

I think we will have a very hard time trading out of #4 if Fairley, Green and Bowers are gone.

[Bengals1181]

Once Fairley is gone, I make a serious attempt to move down 2-4 spots and pick up an extra 2nd rounder. Odds are a dynamic player that can help will still be there as low as pick #8. If by chance they aren't, you can slightly reach for a guy knowing you still have a 2nd round pick in your back pocket to go with it.


My overall board looks something like this:

1. Fairley

2. Trade Down (select from what's left of Quinn/Petersen/Dareus/Julio Jones)

3. Bowers

4. Green

5. Quinn

6. Petersen

7. Dareus




That's not exactly a ranking of who I think is most talented, but rather takes into account team need.


Like Jason, I'm not that impressed with Dareus (as a pro prospect) and think he's a much better fit as a 3-4 DE.

[Bengals1181]

The way I see it with Petersen, you draft him and give him a year to develop at FS while also franchising or re-signing JJ. If Petersen works out a FS, do your damndest to keep all three of JJ/Hall/Petersen, if he doesn't work out and JJ is healthy, you always have the option of letting Hall walk. Hall, while more technically sound and reliable than JJ, doesn't match up well to the top WR's like JJ can.

[BigDawgBengal]

[quote name='Jason' timestamp='1295280349' post='962552']
I think we will have a very hard time trading out of #4 if Fairley, Green and Bowers are gone.
[/quote]
It depends. If one of the top QBs put up a crazy combine, I could see someone trading up a couple spots to get one at four.

[MichaelWeston]

The next 6 picks

5 Arizona 5-11
6 Cleveland 5-11
7 San Francisco 6-10
8 Tennessee 6-10
9 Dallas 6-10
10Washington 6-10

Arizona-San Fran-Tenn and Washington all want QBs

Cleveland probably wants a WR.

[Jason]

[quote name='Bengals1181' timestamp='1295280831' post='962556']
The way I see it with Petersen, you draft him and give him a year to develop at FS while also franchising or re-signing JJ. If Petersen works out a FS, do your damndest to keep all three of JJ/Hall/Petersen, if he doesn't work out and JJ is healthy, you always have the option of letting Hall walk. Hall, while more technically sound and reliable than JJ, doesn't match up well to the top WR's like JJ can.
[/quote]

The Bengals don't put enough value on safety to take Peterson that high and put him there. Especially in a draft that's fairly deep at safety as it is anyway. I really think the only they take Peterson is if they lose JoJo.

Also, I saw enough from Reggie Nelson at the end of the season to give him a full time shot at FS. But I do want a SS.

[Jason]

[quote name='MichaelWeston' timestamp='1295281775' post='962561']
The next 6 picks

5 Arizona 5-11
6 Cleveland 5-11
7 San Francisco 6-10
8 Tennessee 6-10
9 Dallas 6-10
10Washington 6-10

Arizona-San Fran-Tenn and Washington all want QBs

Cleveland probably wants a WR.
[/quote]

What will the Eagles want for Kolb?

If Gabbert or Mallet explodes at the combine (or Sr. Bowl for Mallet) enough to be worth trading up to 4, will Carolina take him?

[Bengals1181]

[quote name='Jason' timestamp='1295281882' post='962562']
The Bengals don't put enough value on safety to take Peterson that high and put him there. Especially in a draft that's fairly deep at safety as it is anyway. I really think the only they take Peterson is if they lose JoJo.

Also, I saw enough from Reggie Nelson at the end of the season to give him a full time shot at FS. But I do want a SS.
[/quote]


I agree that Nelson played well down the stretch, but I don't think he played well enough that it would effect whether I took Petersen or not.

[Jason]

[quote name='Bengals1181' timestamp='1295283190' post='962564']
I agree that Nelson played well down the stretch, but I don't think he played well enough that it would effect whether I took Petersen or not.
[/quote]

In terms of don't let a good player stop you from taking an elite prospect, I agree.

But I still don't think the Bengals will take a safety #4 overall.

[Bengals1181]

[quote name='Jason' timestamp='1295284273' post='962566']
In terms of don't let a good player stop you from taking an elite prospect, I agree.

But I still don't think the Bengals will take a safety #4 overall.
[/quote]


I agree that he won't be in the top 5 of their draft board.

[akiliMVP]

Even if Joseph is not re-signed and the 1st 3 picks are Fairley, Bowers and Green, I would still not take Peterson.

For 1 I'm not a huge fan of him as a player. Yes he is a tremendous athlete, but it doesn't always translate on the field. He gets beat way more than he should for his size and speed. I'm not sure if it's his intelligence, lack of hips or what but he was not a shut down corner at the college level.

2, he would be a better safety than a corner in the NFL IMO because it's a lot less 1 on 1 coverage and his size is a better fit for it. Not sure how he would do against the run as a safety. WAY too many question marks to take a corner with the 4th pick and convert him to safety.

3, you don't build your defense from the corners in. Even without Joseph we still have 1st round pick Hall, 1st round pick Jones and 3rd round pick Ghee. You don't need every team corner on your team to be a 1st rounder. Most of the dominating defenses in the league have average corners and a monster front 7. The front 7 makes your secondary look better, everyone knows that. 4th is too high for a corner who wasn't dominating in college. 4th would also be the highest a safety has ever been drafted in the history of the NFL.

You take Quinn if Fairley and Bowers are gone and try like hell to re-sign Joseph. Joseph is a proven commodity and one of the best corners in the NFL. Plus he knows our system.

[|Tigers Johnson|]

I think the only way we can trade down is if we get another team drooling over Gabbert and he is still on the board...

QB's notoriously rise up draft boards in the offseason out of desperation from teams needing one.

[-GoBengals-]

we be takin green.