Cincinnati Bengals: Ranking the last 15 NFL Draft classes, No. 10-6

As the 2018 NFL draft approaches, let’s look back at all the drafts by the Cincinnati Bengals in the Marvin Lewis era — continuing with Nos. 10-6.

The 2018 NFL has finally arrived and it will be the 16th incoming draft class for the Cincinnati Bengals in the Marvin Lewis era. Historically, this franchise has chosen to focus their building efforts on the draft, though to varying degrees of success. That’s where we are now, looking back at those classes.

With 15 prior drafts in his tenure, now is the right time to look back and evaluate the hits and misses of these classes, by ranking them of course. We began this with looking at the five worst, Nos. 15-11. Now we move to the middle of the rankings and Nos. 10-6.

But first, another look at the ranking process.

The Ranking Process

For this particular exercise, I’ve decided to work with a simple point system.

• Five points are awarded for each player who can either be considered a Hall of Famer, Pro Bowler, or would generally be considered an elite contributor in their time with the team.
• Three points are awarded for each player who can be classified as a multi-year starter, or essentially played an equivalent role in that time.
• One point is awarded for players who were able to be a useful depth piece and sizable contributor for at least one season.
• Zero points are given to players who either never catch on with the team or fail to make a notable impact in their time with the team.

These values will be applied to every player taken by Cincinnati in every draft they’ve had since the 2003 season. Then, those values will be added up for each season. The final tallies for each season are subsequently ordered from lowest to highest. Ties (of which there are plenty) are broken with an eye towards the elite players mattering more, but ultimately are left up to my own discretion.

We began this exercise looking at the five worst drafts completed by this team. We continue forward with the five right in the middle, starting with…

10. 2008

Number of Draft Picks: 11 (one first round pick, one second, two third, one fourth, one fifth, two sixth, two seventh)

Total Points: 10 (three multi-year starters, two depth pieces)

It was close between this draft and the 2017 one for who would get mixed in with the “worst” group, but with this one having much more time to solidify itself (and one less pick to do so), I felt we should have the more concrete outing lead things off for the top 10.

This draft reminds me of the 2014 draft somewhat. That one also saw the top five selections by Cincinnati end up finding a role. The difference here is quite simply that the 2008 version was lucky enough to have one more of their five successful picks have a bigger role than the 2014 crop managed.

Like that 2014 draft, none of the picks here reached anything close to stardom. Still, they were useful pieces for multiple seasons. Keith Rivers was a possible star, but injuries played a major factor in him never finding the consistent footing necessary to grow into that next level. Pat Sims has now had two different multi-year stints with the team as at least a part-time starter on the defensive line.

Anthony Collins may not be a memorable name now, but he became a valuable swing tackle for the team before flopping as a free agent after leaving the team on a big-money contract with Tampa Bay. Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell were never top-level options in the passing game, but both had their moments when utilized properly.

This draft haul won’t exactly wow anyone, but if this were offered up to teams, many would be hard-pressed to beat the level of added value in any given year.