Draft Day 2- Third Round

As Bengals fans went to sleep Saturday night, there were plenty of moans and groans. Watching the Saints move up and take who was rightfully ours (at least according to every mock draft this side of the Mississippi) DT Sedrick Ellis. It made a lot of Bengals fans feel like we missed on yet another chance to make the Bengals a great team.
I was still a little perturbed on Sunday morning. A running back was expected in the draft, and now there weren't many decent ones left. Looking at the best available at the beginning of the 3rd round, I thought Kevin Smith had to be the best player left. This was confirmed when Detroit traded up and grabbed him almost before any other team noticed that the draft had restarted bright and early at 10AM eastern. By this time, no Bengals fan knew what to expect to flash up when we finally reached pick #77.
Ahhhh. A sigh of relief. A defensive tackle, and a highly rated one at that. Pat Sims from Auburn, was the highest drafted DT by Cincinnati since "Big Daddy" Wilkinson himself. He was a projected 2nd rounder, so it was good value when he fell into our laps. The first thing to notice about him is his size. He is listed at 6'3" and 310 pounds, an excellent size and more like the type of player Marvin likes to play in the middle. The measureables are there, but he seems to look too much like Sam Adams, even though he's in his early 20's. He's got what coaches call a "pear shaped" body. From the looks of it, he hasn't had much of a strength program to get him in better shape. This makes it even more amazing just how well he played last year. He was credited with 4.5 sacks, 15 Qb hurries, and 13 tackles for loss. If he played that well in the SEC out of shape, what can he do when an NFL strength coach gets a hold of him? He may be nothing more than a rotational player this upcoming year, but look out in 2009. I predict that is when he hits his stride, and starts to make himself a true defensive playmaker.
The second selection in the third round was a WR out of Florida, Andre Caldwell, brother of NFL WR Reche Caldwell. He stands a little over six feet and about 205 pounds. At Florida's pro-day, he apparently ran a 4.35 40 yard dash. He was most often compared to Hines Ward, though I doubt he has the smugness Hines wears all over his face. The comparison was probably due to the fact that Caldwell is such a great blocker for a WR. That is where the comparisons end. Hines runs much closer to a 4.6, so Andre brings a distinct advantage to the table. He and Simpson appear to have the talent and maturity to step in and contribute this fall, Caldwell at the least on special teams returning kicks.
As the third round closes, maybe the fans don't feel so bad after all. Instead of trading the 77th pick to get Ellis, we end up with a great linebacker (Rivers) and a very solid DT in Sims. As one Cincinnati sportswriter put it "I'd rather have an A- and a B+ than just an A+."
We've strongly bolstered our WR core, added a defensive leader at LB, and a young, promising DT to stop the run.
**Interesting note. I read somewhere that the average ypc against teams who draft a DT in the first round, showed that their run defense got worse, by 0.4 yards per carry!! One stud DT can't solve everything against the run, so isn't it better to get 2 guys who can run defend?
Next....Rounds 4 and 5.
Maltzy