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Bengals trade for DE Chris Smith from Jacksonville. T


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http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Bengals-trade-for-backup-Jags-DE/3c8ae27c-bf37-49c5-a61c-767255102be1?campaign=cin:fanshare:twitter

 

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Bengals trade for backup Jags DE

Geoff HobsonEditorBengals.com

The Bengals have apparently devoted the month of April to trying upgrade the pass rush in any fashion.

Less than three weeks before a draft they are expected to take at least two edge rushers from among their 11 selections, they swung a deal Tuesday when they sent a 2018 conditional draft selection to Jacksonville for a late fifth-round pick who has played just 19 games over three seasons in defensive end Chris Smith. The 6-1, 266-pound Smith appears to be a pure speed rusher who plays on passing downs on the edge and maybe down inside as well.

The deal comes a day shy of five years to their last non-draft day trade, when they shipped linebacker Keith Rivers to the Super Bowl champion Giants for the last pick in the fifth round that two weeks later turned out to be starting safety George Iloka. The last trade of any kind came in the 2014 draft when  they traded up to get center Russell Bodine in the fourth round.

A conditional draft pick, usually a seventh-rounder, is typically determined by how many games the player is active.

This trade has absolutely no impact on the April 27-29 draft and Smith, the overall 159th pick in 2014 out of Arkansas, is going to be immersed in a terrific roster battle featuring the unknown newcomers as well as proven veteran Wallace Gilberry and highly-regarded 2015 fourth-round pick Marcus Hardison.

Hardison has yet to play an NFL snap, but Smith is also looking for work after getting just 66 plays for the Jaguars last season in the seven games he was active despite showing flashes of production with three sacks in his rookie year in just 91 snaps. According to profootballfocus.com Smith has 312 snaps to go with 4.5 career sacks while averaging 16 plays per game. He missed about a month last season after he got poked in the eye.

Although Smith had a hard time getting on the field in Jacksonville, the Bengals like his speed and wanted to see what he could do up close after rating him a late fourth-rounder when he was coming out of Fayetteville. Before the Bengals played the Jags last preseason, Smith had the most snaps of anyone on defense and had impressed head coach Gus Bradley by also playing nickel inside for basically the first time. But Smith ended up playing just 16 snaps in Jacksonville’s 26-21 win in which he had one of the four second-half sacks against the Bengals’ back-up offensive line.

Smith, a Salisbury, N.C., native who went to high school in Mount Ulla, N.C., has terrific speed. His best 40-yard dash before he was drafted was 4.56 seconds and he impressed with a 4.71-second run at the 2014 scouting combine. That’s where he also added a nice dash of strength lifting 28 reps of 225 pounds.

 

 

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Way small sample size but his production as far as QB pressures go isn't good at all.

The most snaps on D he ever saw was around 13% in 2015.

Jacksonville was at the bottom of the league in 2015 and near the middle in 2016 as far as pressures (as a team) are concerned, so it's not good that he couldn't get on the field as a pass rusher when they desperately needed people to rush the passer.

He's not a guy I've ever given any attention to even when watching JAX games so I can't give much of an opinion past looking at the numbers and some context of the team in general. Seems like an unexciting trade that could end up with him not even making the final roster. Gilberry has been more productive per snap by a reasonable amount in their careers so my guess would be that Smith is only fighting the other youngsters on the line for a spot.

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2 minutes ago, BlackJesus said:

I like his arm length (34"), Vert 37", 28 reps, 4.5 (40), and age 25 .... Don't like his height 6'1 at DE ... but worth a flyer on a conditional 7th rd pick.

Looks like he ran a 4.7 40 and a 4.5 20 yard shuttle.

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4 minutes ago, BlackJesus said:

Maybe he can lose 20 lbs and play OLB too? Seems lean.

One trick pony, pass rushing specialist OLB for our defense actually seems more likely than playing traditional 4-3 DE at a high enough level to see snaps IMO.

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The interesting thing - 

The first round is absolutely loaded with pass rushers. It's not a matter of having insurance when you don't get one guy, you have 3-4 guys in play at #9 who can get to the QB. We're pretty much guaranteed to get one of the top 4 guys in the class.

Between Dunlap, Johnson, Gilberry, Hardison, and Clarke, you already have your 4 DE's. Then you have the fringe guys who I can't recall...

Takes DE off the board as a pressing need... I guess? Doesn't mean we won't still get a guy at #9, but it takes away the urgency.

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2 hours ago, BlackJesus said:

I like his arm length (34"), Vert 37", 28 reps, 4.5 (40), and age 25 .... Don't like his height 6'1 at DE ... but worth a flyer on a conditional 7th rd pick.

Don't forget that being 6'1" was a knock on Geno too, and he uses that tree stump stature to get under the bigger O-Linemen.

Being taller generally allows you to pack more weight on, but it also makes it harder to get low. In Sumo, being too tall is considered a drawback. They even implemented a minimum height rule.

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19 minutes ago, LostInDaJungle said:

 

Takes DE off the board as a pressing need... I guess? Doesn't mean we won't still get a guy at #9, but it takes away the urgency.

 

I doubt it changes anything re: the draft board, or at least shouldn't.  Any 1st round DE should make this dude a nonfactor.  That being said, my guess is Howard or Williams because It's a Passing League™, few of the OL prospects look like they belong in the 1st round let alone top 10, and I suspect either one of the 2 is objectively better than the 3rd or 4th-best defensive lineman.

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1 minute ago, T-Dub said:

 

I doubt it changes anything re: the draft board, or at least shouldn't.  Any 1st round DE should make this dude a nonfactor.

^ this

A guy like Wallace Gilberry is clearly better than Smith. No knock against the big guy as he's been a good rotational piece here that comes on the cheap every couple years, but if Gilberry is clearly better than you, well, let's just say you shouldn't affect our draft board.

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5 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

 

I doubt it changes anything re: the draft board, or at least shouldn't.  Any 1st round DE should make this dude a nonfactor.

I'm not saying it does...

But if you're sold on picking one of the pass rushers at #9, why make the trade?

It's less a matter of this changing our draft board as to giving us clues as to how it looks already.

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7 minutes ago, omgdrdoom said:

^ this

A guy like Wallace Gilberry is clearly better than Smith. No knock against the big guy as he's been a good rotational piece here that comes on the cheap every couple years, but if Gilberry is clearly better than you, well, let's just say you shouldn't affect our draft board.

 

TBF, Gilberry's had the luxury of being used in ideal situations rotating with a pretty good DL.  IDK much about the Jags roster but I'm guessing that wasn't the case with Smith.  Point being Gilberry was clearly more productive, not necessarily better. 

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Just now, LostInDaJungle said:

I'm not saying it does...

But if you're sold on picking one of the pass rushers at #9, why make the trade?

It's less a matter of this changing our draft board as to giving us clues as to how it looks already.

 

Yeh I edited my post with that in mind;  whoever is left at DE when we pick might be a reach.

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