Bengals and Their 2009 Draft Selections

For every NFL fan every year, there is the Draft. As a Cincinnati Bengals fan I can't say enough about how bad their first round selection was this year. As every Bengals fan knows that the one thing they really needed help with last season was the offensive line. So, for that fact alone I will give the Bengals credit. But, in the past few drafts, to date, the number of lineman who have come in and made a difference to their teams have out-weighed the number of lineman who have. If you think back to last year's draft there were eight offensive lineman drafted in round one alone. The number one draft overall was Michigan's very own Jake Long. In his rookie year he was absolutely man handled by just about every team that faced him. With all this being said, I can't help but think that the Bengals' first round pick in Andre Smith, from Alabama was a bad idea. Yes, of course the Bengals desperately needed help on the offensive line, but stats have proven that if you draft for offensive lineman higher in the draft that you have just as much success as if you were to draft lower in the draft. For example, in the 1998 draft Matt Birk was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings and has been one of the most beneficial draft picks ever taken. He single handily had solidified the Vikings O-line. This isn't the first occurrence of a late round O-lineman making a difference either. But, if you think in years past, skilled player coming in and making a significance are few and far to come by. Personally, I think they needed to take either Michael Crabtree or Knowshawn Moreno. Let's hope that I'm proven wrong, for the Bengals sake.