Bengals Draft Depot

It's no secret the Bengals Tight End position was the weakest on the team, by far. It was ugly, Coats had countless balls bounce of his hands and a key fumble against Houston. Foschi also had a key fumble against Houston and was mediocre save for one game against San Diego. The guy that was brought in and created alot of buzz was rookie Chase Coffman and due to inexperience lining up in a 3 point stance and blocking he couldn't get active. A Tight End that can stretch the middle of the field can open up the entire offense. Safeties will have to help cover a good TE and that will open things up on the outside for Chad and Antonio Bryant. Plus with that Safety in coverage the box will only contain 7 people and Benson had success against a loaded box last season. A 7 player front will be a field day for Benson.

Jermaine Gresham is the top rated TE in this draft class. Some have Gronkowski right on his heels or even with him, but for the most part the overall consensus across the NFL and across the web is Gresham is number 1. In 2008 Gresham had a dominant year and most likely would've been the top TE off the board in last year's draft. An injury ended Gresham's 2009 season before it ever got started, but he's rehabbed the knee, is cleared by doctors, and had a good combine and pro day.

Gresham is a good all around TE. His pass catching ability is elite. He has good size and a big vertical leap. He can go up and high point the ball and come down with it. He knows how to use his body to shield defenders away from the pass. He's an asset in the Red Zone with his size and leaping ability and will be a good 3rd down move the chains type of receiver. His blocking gets the job done, he is fairly strong and can move people and would be able to meet the requirements of being able to block to get on the field for the Bengals.

Some Negatives on Gresham is that although he has adequate speed, it's not elite for his position and he's not going to outrun defenders. But he will run good routes and gets seperation. He sometimes lets the ball get into his body instead of reaching out and catching it with his hands. He needs to work some on his release off the line, he's not an expert coming out of a stance, but he's not like Coffman where he won't be able to get active. Finally he's had 2 injuries to his knee, an ACL tear when he was in high school, and the cartilage tear last season. He's been cleared from both injuries and doctors have stated that there shouldn't be any lingering effects from either injury and it's no more likely than anyone else to have another injury to the knee.

Gresham could be the big target over the middle Carson Palmer had been missing. When he gets the ball in his hands he's a beast and very tough to bring down. He will run people right over. His frame will allow for him to get bigger and stronger thus making him an even better blocker. People make the argument that a TE doesn't get used enough in Brat's offense to warrant a 1st round pick. That's factually incorrect as the TE has been targeted nearly 5 times a game the last 2 seasons. That's without a good receiver at the position, you'd have to think if an elite TE like Gresham was there that number would go up even more to 7 or 8 targets a game. The biggest plus for him though is the Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez comparisons. If he's gonna end up being like either of those players sign me up right now.