Bengals Draft Depot

NFL Teams break down players into tiers to help them with value in the draft. Here's what some of their tiers could look like. This is not the order they will be drafted, it's random within the tiers. This should also give an idea of how deep this draft is. If you look at tiers 4 and 5 with fringe 1st round and 2nd round grades you can see why people are saying this draft is the deepest in years. There are enough players there to go over halfway through the 3rd round, which means players with 2nd round grades will be taken at the end of the 3rd and possibly into the 4th. That creates a domino effect as 3rd round grades will go late 4th early 5th and so on.

There's 94 prospects that I have atleast 2nd round grades on and so do most other draft sites. That means it's guaranteed almost entirely through the 3rd round you can get a player with a 2nd round grade, and likely into the 4th with teams reaching a little to fill needs.

That's why 2nd and 3rd round picks are gold this year, you get the top prospects without having to pay top money. It'd be nice if the Bengals could pull a trade off with a team that has multiple 2nd round picks and pick up a couple 2nd rounders and give themselves 3 picks in the 2nd and 2 picks in the 3rd. They'd have the opportunity to land 5 players with atleast a 2nd round grade, and that coupled with last years draft could build a strong young core of players for the next 5 years and have the Bengals be consistent contenders year in and year out.

Tier 1: Top 5 grades

• Eric Berry
• Sam Bradford
• Gerald McCoy
• Russell Okung
• Trent Williams

Tier 2: Top half of the 1st Round grades

• Dez Bryant
• Bryan Bulaga
• Jimmy Clausen
• Anthony Davis
• Brandon Graham
• Jermaine Gresham
• Joe Haden
• Mike Iupati
• Rolando McClain
• Derrick Morgan
• Jason Pierre-Paul
• Maurkice Pouncey
• CJ Spiller
• Earl Thomas
• Dan Williams
• Kyle Wilson

Tier 3: Bottom half of the 1st round

• Charles Brown
• Everson Griffen
• Kareem Jackson
• Sergio Kindle
• Ryan Matthews
• Taylor Mays
• Devin McCourtey
• Jared Odrick
• Golden Tate
• Demaryius Thomas
• Sean Weatherspoon

Tier 4: Top half of the 2nd Round/fringe 1st rounders

• Nate Allen
• Tyson Alualu
• Arrelious Benn
• Jahvid Best
• Morgan Burnett
• Chris Cook
• Bruce Campbell
• Terrance Cody
• Carlos Dunlap
• Rob Gronkowski
• LaMarr Houston
• Jerry Hughes
• Linval Joseph
• Sean Lee
• Colt McCoy
• Patrick Robinson
• Roger Saffold
• Cam Thomas
• Damian Williams

Tier 4: Middle to End of the 2nd Round

• Geno Atkins
• Jon Asamoah
• Navarro Bowman
• Alex Carrington
• Jamar Chaney
• Perrish Cox
• Eric Decker
• Dorin Dickerson
• Vladimir Ducasse
• Jonathon Dwyer
• Dominique Franks
• Brandon Ghee
• Aaron Hernandez
• John Jerry
• Chad Jones
• Rashed Jones
• Brandon LaFell
• Dexter McCluster
• Anthony McCoy
• Koa Misi
• Akwasi Owusu-Ansah
• Dennis Pitta
• Brian Price
• Ricky Sapp
• Amari Spievey
• Brandon Spikes
• Ben Tate
• Jared Veldheer
• JD Walton
• Daryl Washington
• Jason Worilds
• Major Wright

Tier 6: Fringe 2nd/Early to mid 3rd round grades

• Pat Angerer
• Javier Arenas
• Selvish Capers
• Kyle Calloway
• Jermaine Cunningham
• Ed Dickson
• Toby Gerhart
• Mardy Gilyard
• Montario Hardesty
• Mike Johnson
• Joe McKnight
• Carlton Mitchell
• Jerome Murphy
• Mike Neal
• Eric Norwood
• Mitch Petrus
• Taylor Price
• Andre Roberts
• Jordan Shipley
• Darrell Stuckey
• Tim Tebow
• Torrell Troup
• TJ Ward
• Dekoda Watson
• Corey Wooten

Tier 7: Late 3rd and early to mid 4th round grades

• Larry Asante
• Zane Beadles
• Jonathon Crompton
• Anthony Dixon
• Marcus Easley
• AJ Edds
• Jason Fox
• Thaddeus Gibson
• Jimmy Graham
• Clay Harbour
• Arthur Jones
• Austen Lane
• Brandon Lang
• Myron Lewis
• Tony Moeaki
• Rodrick Muckelroy
• Marshall Newhouse
• Jeff Owens
• Perry Riley
• Daryl Sharpton
• John Skelton
• D'Anthony Smith
• Tony Washington
• Mike Williams
• Al Woods