Cincinnati Bengals: Draft Breakdown

The Bengals had a horrible season, they finished 4-11-1, Carson Palmer was hurt, Chad Ochocinco (really weird typing that) was a distraction, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Bengals leading receiver is gone. The Bengals have a reality show coming out which should be interesting, but that is about the only positive news coming out of Cincinnati this off season. The Bengals could use help at pretty much every position, let's take a look at what they did on draft day.

Cincinnati took Andre Smith with the sixth overall pick. If you have heard of him it is probably for the wrong reasons. Simply put since missing the most important game of his college career, he has done almost everything wrong.

Don't get me wrong Smith has an incredible skill set. Smith has quick long arms and a gigantic frame that makes him very hard to get around. Andre only gave up one sack all of last year, this in itself is enough proof of how good he is. If not for all of his off the field problems he could of gone number two instead of Jason Smith. Andre Smith will only add to a locker room that is in as much disarray as any other in the NFL. The Bengals leading rusher was Cedric Benson, and Chad Ochocinco is about to be the go to receiver, enough said.

Rey Maualuga was the Bengals second pick. Maualuga had a great college career, and is a very good player. He has great instincts, and he is an explosive hitter. Maualuga should be able to help the Bengals sure up the middle of their defense right away. The only thing that concerns me is his forty yard dash time, at 4.91 seconds he was one of the slowest LB's in the draft. Experts always have a million reasons why players run fast or in this case slow in the forty yard dash, because of this I am willing to let it go.

I think the Bengals have two possible great players, but Andre Smith is certainly a question mark at this point, and Ray has had antics of his own. It will take a while to see these two players feel out the system and see what they can do within it, but don't hold your breath on Smith. I can see him being a very troubled player if he does not right the ship soon.

Overall Draft Grade: C



(Draft party with the video)