2012 NFL Draft

Well, hope springs eternal every spring with the annual NFL draft.

After a surprise playoff season last year, the Bengals headed into the draft hoping to build on the past three strong drafts that they have been able to put together (in the past two drafts alone, they have nabbed four Pro Bowlers).

This year they wanted to grab a corner, guard, and some wide receivers.

They were able to do that and build up some valuable depth.

With their first round pick (17th overall, thanks to the trade of Carson Palmer to the Raiders) the Bengals grabbed a much needed corner, Dre Kirkpatrick.  While I preferred Stephon Gilmore, but he went earlier. Hopefully, Kirckpatrick will pan out and be a suitable replacement for departed Jonathan Jospeh.

Next the Bengals surprised me by trading down from #21 (their original first round pick) to the 27th pick. As a result of this trade, Cincy picked up New England's third round pick.  One of my favorite players, Stanford's excellent guard David Decastro was still on the board at #21.  I figured the Bengals had several guards rated closely (my second rated guard was Cody Glenn out of Georgia), so the trade down was fine.  But their rival Steelers nabbed Decastro with the 25th pick.  With the 2th pick, the Bengals surprised me by taking - instead of Glenn - guard Kevin Zeitler out of Wisconsin.  Zeitler is a mauler, but I thought Decastro was the best guard prospect in years.  So is that worth an extra third round pick?  But Zeitler was one of the rival Ravens' favorite players, so when the Bengals took him, the Ravens decided to trade out of the first round.

By the way, a cruel joke was played on a prospective player at the draft.  When the Bengals were on the clock, Rutgers WR Mohamed Sanu receiver a call (it was a prank) telling him that the Bengals were going to take him with their second first round pick . . . but then the pick was announced as Kevin Zeitler instead.  Ouch.

In the second round, the Bengals grabbed DT Devon Still.  He is a massive DT out of Penn State.  He has great potential, but there were games where he disappeared.  Hopefully, Mike Zimmer can get him to reach his potential (as he did with former inconsistent DE Carlos Dunalp).   This was great value for their second round pick.

In the third round, the Bengals actually - in a weird twist of fate - finally drafted Mohamed Sanu.  They needed a WR and Sanu is good, albeit slow, but he's huge and has great hands.  While AJ Green goes deep, Sanu should have plenty of room underneath to make hay.  With the pick the acquired from New England for trading down in the second round, they nabbed another gifted DT Brandon Thompson.  I really like this pick and it should really help shore up the Bengals DT depth.  They already have Domato Peko, a stud at NT, and Geno Atkins, a Pro Bowler, at DT.  So with these two big boys added, they should really match up well against the Ravens and Steelers.

The remaining picks: Georgia TE Orson Charles, Iowa CB Shaun Prater, Cal WR Marvin Jones, Boise State S George Ilokoa, and Ohio State RB Dan "Boom" Herron all have potential to contribute this season.

Now, if the Bengals can just put back to back winning season together.  That hasn't happened before, so we'll keep our fingers crossed until August when the pre-season begins.