Bengals Draft Depot

Could Jimmy Clausen be a factor in the Bengals draft? No I'm not suggesting the Bengals draft Clausen. The Redskins just traded for McNabb so there went Clausen's only shot at the top 5. Cleveland could take him with the 7th pick as walterfootball.com says, but I really don't see them taking him that early when Eric Berry could potentially be there. If the Bills fail to draft Clausen he could be in for a freefall.

In the middle of the 1st people have mentioned SF and Seattle, but Seattle just traded for Whitehurst and Alex Smith is coming along in SF that'd be crazy to shake his confidence by taking a 1st round QB. Plus Singletary is trying to transform that team into the old school philosophy of run the ball and stop the run, like the Bengals use.

21st would be the ideal spot for a team to trade up to get Clausen. The contracts from there down start getting smaller. Arizona could be a possible suitor, but if they want Clausen I'd have to think they'd just stand pat and hope he lasts another 5 picks, which he could as no teams between 21 and 26 are QB needy. Then again neither was Green Bay when they took Rodgers, and teams saw how that's worked out for the Packers. The Vikings could also be a suitor to possibly trade up and Clausen could be the 2nd QB to sit behind Favre for what are supposed to be his last couple years. Yeah right if that guy keeps playing like he did last season he should play til he's 50. I just wish he'd come out and say, I'm coming back but I'm not going to training camp or offseason workouts, I've been in this league 20 years and I don't need them.

Here's the best chance for the Bengals to get some extra picks on a trade back. The Cleveland Browns, they could once again trade up for a Notre Dame QB. Holmgren said he didn't like him enough to pick him with the 7th and that's because an undeniably better player is most likely to be there. One that gets Ed Reed comparisons, you don't pass that up for a QB your not in love with. Here's what the trade would be the Bengals trade the Browns their 21st pick and they get the Browns 38th pick which is 6th in the 2nd round, 71st pick, and 85th pick which would give the Bengals back to back picks at 84 and 85.

If this goes down that'd give the Bengals 2 picks in the 2nd round and 4 picks in the 3rd round. It'd be a busy day 2 in the new draft format. With the depth in this draft they'd be able to land 6 players that would be 1st and 2nd round talent in most other drafts and that could go a long way in keeping the Bengals in the playoff race for years to come. It could also give them the chance to have the most depth overall in the entire NFL. That'd be 6 picks in the top 96 that's an average of 1 out of every 16 picks, which is double what they should have. Don't forget they still will have 2 in the 4th which will also land them some quality players in this draft. My feeling is in this draft I'd like to have as many possible picks as you can get in the first 3 rounds and if that means giving up a 1st round pick so be it.

So the question is what do u do with the 38th,54th,71st,84th,85th,and 96th pick in the draft.

Here's how it could possibly look.Not crazy about only using 1 of those first 5 picks on a lineman for either side, but every one of those picks adds depth to a position that needs it. Perrish Cox could be a steal if available there and most think he will be his stock has slipped. At one point alot of draft "gurus" had him as the 2nd rated corner overall.

38th: Nate Allen
54th: LaMarr Houston
71st: Anthony McCoy
84th: Eric Decker
85th: Perrish Cox
96th: Mitch Petrus
4th round picks: RB and DE/OLB hybrid
I'm gonna throw in another possible scenario, just because I would love having all these picks and there'd be so many different ways they could go.

38th: Damian Williams
54th: Morgan Burnett
71st: Mike Neal
84th: Anthony McCoy
85th: Austen Lane
96th: Jerome Murphy
4th round picks: Guard and RB