Cincinnati Bengals: Ranking the last 15 NFL Draft classes, No. 10-6
By Kenn Korb
7. 2013
Number of Draft Picks: 10 (one first, two second, one third, one fourth, one fifth, two sixth, two seventh)
Total Points: 14 (one elite contributor, two multi-year starters, three depth pieces)
If you want a draft which will give you players of all levels of impact from basically every level of the draft, then this is the one for you. Over half of the 10 selections by the team turned into useful contributors for multiple years; at least one showed glimpses of stardom. The first four selections by the team were some level of successful with Cincinnati.
Tyler Eifert may not be your first thought in terms of star tight ends, but don’t overlook just how dominant he was in 2015: 52 catches, 615 yards, 13 touchdowns. The only thing holding him back from being that type of impact player again seems to be his alarming injury rate (he’s missed more games than he’s played in during his five-year career).
The depth of this group is what really makes 2013 stand out, though. Giovani Bernard has been really good as a pass catching back, and when paired with a between-the-tackles runner the offense has plenty of viable options to gameplan around. Shawn Williams has shown incredible toughness while pairing with George Iloka at safety, and his emergence is what let the team move on from Reggie Nelson after the 2015 season.
Margus Hunt never broke through the defensive end lineup but was long-term depth. Rex Burkhead was an underrated receiving back option in his time with the Bengals, and he arguably would’ve been a better choice than Bernard to keep around. T.J. Johnson has lasted as a backup lineman here for years despite little playing time and numerous possible replacements added.
Finding players at all levels of the draft is rarer than one might think. Cincinnati managed to do so in this draft, and it helped sustain the back end of their five year playoff streak.
6. 2004
Number of Draft Picks: 11 (one first, two second, two third, three fourth, one fifth, one sixth, one seventh)
Total Points: 15 (four multi-year starters,three depth pieces)
Things begin to get most difficult here.
The 2004 draft was one of three which I calculated to come away with 15 points in this exercise. It is tied for the most total draft picks used (11), tied for the most overall impact players selected (7), and has the most hits on players in the first four rounds of these drafts (7). Some of the players selected are thought of among the best players to ever suit up for the team.
How could this draft fall outside of the top five, then? Well, there is a distinct lack of star power. While there are four players who became multi-year starters, none of them really pushed their way into the coveted next level of production with the team.
Madieu Williams racked up tackles, but didn’t force enough turnovers. Tackles were Landon Johnson’s game too (86+ in all four seasons with Cincinnati), but he was so nondescript that NFL.com couldn’t even manage to put a photo up for him. Robert Geathers did pick up 10.5 sacks one year, but he never reached even 4 in another season across his 11 years playing for Cincinnati. Stacy Andrews started at tackle for a couple years, but soon found himself playing for three different teams across the following three seasons.
The other problem is that the biggest swings in this draft, while they weren’t completely useless picks, never got much better than being backups. First rounder Chris Perry only started nine of the 35 games he was active for, and though he did a decent job in 2005 (279 rushing yards on 61 carries, 328 receiving yards on 51 catches) he was perilously fumble-prone (nine fumbles in 177 rushes), causing him to be far too detrimental to risk playing in a major role.
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Keiwan Ratliff couldn’t break through the depth chart, performing passably in spot starts but never consistently making an impact enough to be a viable starter. Caleb Miller had nearly 100 tackles in his third year, but never approached close to that before or after that 2006 season.
With the best shots at a star falling short, this draft essentially underperformed its inherent possibilities. That doesn’t make it a failure by any means, but it does force it to stand as a clear step below what really are the best drafts by the team.