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2018 Draft Grades


TheVillain112

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Alright, let's put some stuff down on the internet that we can look back and wonder how we could be so stupid in 3-4 years:

Billy Price: A 
    Fills a gigantic need, and is a quality player.  Don't have any issue taking Price this early.
Jessie Bates III: B
    Not a fan of taking a safety this high, but Bates is good in coverage and can hopefully cover TEs for us.  If he can cover TEs in our "3 safety sets", then this pick will be fantastic for us
Sam Hubbard: B
    Solid DE that should be a good contributer in a DE rushing rotation with Lawson, and Willis
Malik Jefferson: A
    My favorite pick after Price.  5 star athlete that should help sure up our run defense.  I think his best days are ahead of him and it addresses a big need that will hopefully keep some of our worst players (cough*Rey*cough) off the field.
Mark Walton: B
    Don't like take a RB this early, but I do like Walton.  If Gio or Mixon get hurt, he can step right in and become a big contributor for us.  I view his impact to our team similar to Burkheads.  The quality and talent is there, it's up to our coaching staff to figure out how to get him snaps.  Supposedly good in pass protection as well despite his size, which has me intrigued.
Davontae Harris: C
    This is where the draft really got off the rails.  While adding a corner isn't a bad idea, there were some quality players still on the board that we missed out on taking Harris, who most likely will be a 5th/6th CB for us.
Andrew Brown: C
    A lot of others seem to be higher on him than I am.  While I wanted a penetrating 3T to be able to give Geno a breather, I don't think this is the guy to do it.  From watching a couple of games of his, I don't see anything to get me excited.
Darius Philips: B
    Plus athlete and has ST ablity that can help us immediately.  I don't like taking another CB and 3rd DB in this draft, but his guy has a lot of potential so I don't mind this late in the draft.
Logan Woodside: A
    Loved this pick.  We needed a QB behind Dalton, and if we took Woodside in the 4th round, I don't think people would have complained.
Rod Taylor: Meh
    I know nothing about this guy.
Auden Tate: C 
    Ok pick this late in the draft. Does have a shoulder issue, so I wouldn't be surprised if we put him on IR.

Overall, I give this draft a C.  But if you include Cordy Glenn, then I put it up to a B...

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6 hours ago, TheVillain112 said:

Billy Price: A-

Only player available I would have rather had was Wynn or Daniels. Good pick. 
Jessie Bates III: B

Supposedly the best true FS on the board. I’m sure I’ll like the pick better if he actually sees the field.
Sam Hubbard: B

Im sure he’ll become a fan favorite. He’ll be one of those solid but unspectacular guys.
Malik Jefferson: A

Best value pick of the draft. Hopefully it doesn’t become another Dawson pick. We aren’t a good LB drafting team. 
Mark Walton: C

Thought we could have waited, especially with the talent that was on the board. 
Davontae Harris: B-

Knew they would go corner earlier than most thought. 
Andrew Brown: C+

Thought this need should have been a little higher. 
Darius Philips: C+

Corner with KR ability. Closes the door on Pac-Man. 
Logan Woodside: C

Not my preference for QB
Rod Taylor: C
Auden Tate: C

 

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Billy Price: B

Bengals absolutely had to get a center in the first two rounds of this draft, but I maintain that I feel like Price was a reach. I also liked Daniels much more as a prospect. Price is an upgrade over Bodine, no question, but I feel the Bengals could have done better here.

Jessie Bates III: B-

Didn't mind the position chosen - Bengals clearly have been trying to add a ballhawking safety the entire offseason. This was another case of me liking another prospect (Justin Reid) significantly more. I have questions about Bates' ability to hold up in the run game.

Sam Hubbard: A

My favorite pick of the draft - I would have been perfectly fine with Hubbard in round 2. Extremely hard worker and a motor that never quits. I think he is a long-term starter on the DL, sooner rather than later.

Malik Jefferson: B+

Thought this was a very good value pick, and it was nice to see the Bengals take a LB a little earlier than I expected. Guy has a ton of potential but needs a lot of work - his play recognition isn't great. He's currently a bull in a china shop. The talent and athleticism is there for him to be a long-term starter.

Mark Walton: C-

Probably my least favorite pick of the draft. Walton will have a hard time seeing the field with Mixon/Gio in the fold and the coaches rave about his ST ability - 4th round is way too early to take someone who you seem to primarily be thinking about special teams with. Bengals needed a 3rd RB, I get that, but this is a position I would have greatly preferred the Bengals waited a round on and taken an OT instead.

Davontae Harris: C

Small school prospect with good ball skills. Adds depth to a position that already has plenty of it.

Andrew Brown: B-

Bengals needed another DT. Brown has talent, but I greatly preferred Tim Settle here.

Darius Phillips: C+

A ballhawking CB with return ability. Two CBs in the 5th was redundant.

Logan Woodside: B

My favorite day 3 pick (though that's not saying much). Doesn't have a great arm but he's accurate and has moxie. I think he competes for the backup QB role even as a rookie (I'm not high at all on Driskel or Barkley).

Rod Taylor: C-

Bengals finally address the offensive line again but Taylor is unimpressive as a prospect. Highly rated recruit who underwhelmed in his career.

Auden Tate: C

Good red zone target whose feet are stuck in the ground.

 

Overall grade: B-

Overall, Bengals hit their biggest need and added some nice talent on day 2 of the draft. This grade isn't higher for me as in the first two rounds they, in my opinion, took lesser prospects at targeted positions and more importantly, more or less ignored the OL after round 1. The Bengals have nothing at OT after Glenn and perhaps Fisher, and if Glenn was to get hurt, the OL is back to being a disaster. If Ogbuehi or Hart get meaningful snaps at OT then we're in big trouble. I would have greatly preferred an OT in round 4 (Will Richardson, Tyrell Crosby, etc.) instead of a RB, and I really don't understand the need for two corners in round 5.

We added talent and depth, but the right side of the line is still a big question mark. Decent overall draft that, to me, feels like it could have been better.

 

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4 hours ago, Hokie said:

Logan Woodside: B

My favorite day 3 pick (though that's not saying much). Doesn't have a great arm but he's accurate and has moxie. I think he competes for the backup QB role even as a rookie (I'm not high at all on Driskel or Barkley

I thought he was one of the better deep passers in the NCAA? 

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I give Billy price an A because he won me the kick draft competition. The tackle from Oklahoma or wherever that I picked in the second round gets an F for not being picked. 

 

 

I won't give a real grade, because I don't know these guys from Adam. But it's definitely interesting that they went defensive heavy. I'm curious the impact it will have on the defense, combined with the hits they had on the defense last year (Lawson, WJIII*, Willis). 

Also curious what impact we'll see on offense. If price hits, then I think the offense can improve in a big way. But not much else is changing, so the potential to be bad on offense is very real. 

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3 hours ago, theJ said:

I thought he was one of the better deep passers in the NCAA? 

Statistically speaking he was. He has a bit of windup when throwing deep though and he's generally considered to have below average arm strength.

Full disclosure - I haven't watched him play. I'm just regurgitating what I've read online.

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2 hours ago, Hokie said:

Statistically speaking he was. He has a bit of windup when throwing deep though and he's generally considered to have below average arm strength.

Full disclosure - I haven't watched him play. I'm just regurgitating what I've read online.

I saw him play last year live and thought his arm was fine. But I wasn't paying that close attention. 

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For getting Glenn and Price out of #12 this draft gets an easy A for me. I would’ve liked another o lineman before the seventh round but I really like that every pick after the second round has both really good value and a ton of upside/playmaking ability. Bates was my favorite safety outside of the early guys. If we get three average to above average starters on defense out of this draft it will be a good draft imo. 

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I'd give it a C-. We definitely needed a center but Price likely would have been on the board at 46 or they could have traded up and gotten him or Daniels earlier in the 2nd. Or at least trade down in the 1st before taking a C. Bad value.

 

Bates is an ok prospect but S isn't that big a need. Seems more like a budgetary move than getting the best group of players. 

We passed on Orlando Brown twice in the 3rd round which is dumb. Hurst was worth a flyer on day 3 as was Griffin. Looks like we're going with Bullock again at K. There were just a lot of missed opportunities in this draft. CB Tony Brown of Bama went undrafted and he's certainly a better special teamer and probably a better cover man than the guy we took from Illinois. 

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Best pick: Billy Price-So of course you're first round pick should be your best one, and I would have been tempted to try to trade down, but after a similar player went at 20, there was no messing around. This pick turned one of our worst positions over the past 20 years into a strength. 

Worst pick: Mark Walton-In the fourth, you should be looking for guys that have a chance to contribute. This guy is buried on the depth chart. Barring injury, he won't see the field. Way too early for a guy like that.

Sleeper: Malik Jefferson-I suppose it might be cheating to call a third rounder a sleeper, but he really wasn't  very good in college.  Still, there is a lot to like from a talent standpoint and linebacker had plenty of opportunities for playing time early. 

Most disappointing move : Do you really need 11 rookies? Trade up or sell  off  for future picks. If we remember more than 5 guys who were in this draft in 5 years, I'll be shocked.

Overall, I give this a B minus. The first two days I was pretty happy with the quality of player and position. Day three  may not see anyone of note, and too  big of a class in general.

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Worst pick I think is Davontae Harris considering where we took him.  Mark Walton I could live with because he seems to be a Dion Lewis clone which if injuries hit at RB (which always happens), then he'll be a valuable contributor.  Also, this should eliminate us drafting a RB for 2-3 years before the 6th round now...

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49 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

Jefferson will be purely a special teams guy this year, we'll see if he can get coached up enough at LB to be a contributor.

I disagree but I probably am entirely too optimistic on him.  I think he struggled to live up to his 5 star ranking come out of high school, but his last season he did seem to step up. You put him next to a guy like Burfict that can guide him and tell him what to do on the field, and I think he can be an impact player year 1.  Vigil mentioned last season how much Burfict helped him on the field, and how he trusted/listened to whatever Burfict said.

Our defense is still way too dependent on Burfict being not suspended/hurt/being a knucklehead, but it's not going to be easy replacing a guy of his caliber.  Unless we got Roquan that wasn't happening...

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