Worse draft in the Burrow Era

[*rfaulk34*]

(05-01-2025, 08:17 AM)Synric Wrote: I like the players the Bengals drafted but because of how the Bengals forced themselves to draft I was likely never going to be happy with the results as a whole.


I will explain.

Goodberry is reporting that the Bengals draft board at #49 looked like (in the room with Lapham) Demetrius Knight > Tate Ratledge > Kevin Winston Jr > Barrett Carter. Which I won't even argue with how they had them stacked and the board is reasonable that is not the issue... The issue is they had a second round grade on Kevin Winston Jr but had to pass on him at #81 because they tied themselves into specific positions.

I will say it looks like the Bengals stacked the Linebacker class higher than most of the NFL. It was 26 picks between Knight and Nick Martin. 62 picks between Knight and Cody Simon. Bengals took Carter 4 picks after Simon. They were really high on the class.

My discontent isn't as much who they draft, it's always been more, their vision and what they perceive. Granted, it's their team and they can built it how they want but that doesn't mean i'm going to just trust them that it will all work out. 

They obviously had a plan going in, with a new set of defensive coaches and a new Oline coach. Their plan wouldn't have been my plan based on how i see things but again, it's their team. There doesn't seem to be much--and by much i mean very little--concern on building an Oline that could better protect Burrow and i'm starting to think there's has to have been conversations with him where he's told them they don't need to spend big money on it, focus on other part, i.e., Chase and Tee and i'm sure he'd prefer a better defense. 

They just always seem to be trying to re-invent the wheel when there's other championship team building examples out there.