As the 2018 NFL Draft approaches, we continue our look at the best classes for the Cincinnati Bengals in the Marvin Lewis era — finishing with the five best.
The Cincinnati Bengals will be on the clock with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft on Thursday, April 26. And so will begin the 16th draft in the Marvin Lewis era. While it’s been a series of ups and downs in terms of success, it’s clear that the Bengals’ focus over this time has been building through the draft.
That’s why now is the perfect time to look back on the last 15 years and assess each class individually. Over the past week, we’ve looked at the five worst classes, and then the classes ranked No. 6-10. Now it’s time for the five best classes.
But first, another look at 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.
5. 2003
Number of Draft Picks: 9 (one first round pick, one second, one third, two fourth, one fifth, one sixth, two seventh)
Total Points: 15 (two Pro Bowl-caliber contributors, one multi-year starter, two depth pieces)
When you have the first selection of a draft, you gotta get somebody who can change your future. Even for terrible teams run by horrible management, it is rare to see teams stay that high up in the draft in even back-to-back years; they’ll often still be plenty awful, but not top-of-the-draft awful. If you miss here, you can quickly relegate your team to mediocrity or worse for years to come.
With the first pick in his tenure, Lewis’ squad got exactly the sort of player who had the ability to give Cincinnati a level of success and competency they hadn’t achieved in over a decade. Carson Palmer never truly became the quarterback he could have been, but what he did become was plenty enough to often give Cincinnati an advantage under center over their opposition. In only his second season as a starter, he led his team to win the AFC North and reach the playoffs for the first time since 1990. Had the knee injury Palmer suffered at the start of that game never occurred, maybe that sort of winning would’ve stuck throughout the late 2000s.
This draft wasn’t just Palmer, of course. Eric Steinbach was the second round selection that year, and he went on to be a good left guard for the next four seasons. Jeremi Johnson was a fullback in a time when those players still held esteem across the league; though he didn’t put up stellar stats, he made hay as a powerful blocker in the run game for six seasons. Kelley Washington was never starter material, but for four seasons he was part of the receiving corps and scored nine touchdowns in that time. Langston Moore was around only for one season, but he did start eight games and picked up 22 tackles and a sack.
This draft had the early makings of becoming the foundation for Super Bowl runs; with some better injury luck to the head of the class, maybe the team would’ve become the sort of perennial playoff contenders the later Andy Dalton-led squads would eventually turn into.