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There were such a large amount of teams trading up/down, and unfortunately as a Bengals fan wanting to get rid of Chad Johnson, I’m sad to say that there were no trades done on the first day that involved current NFL players.

By PFC Bengals Writer Collin Keith

One of the trades done interfered with the Bengals draft plans, it was believed that Sedrick Ellis was the player that the Bengals were looking to grab with the 9th overall pick in the draft.

Many fans including myself thought that Ellis would fall to Cincinnati after seeing Jake Long taken by the Miami Dolphins, Chris Long taken by the St. Louis Rams, Matt Ryan taken by the Atlanta Falcons, and Darren McFadden taken by the Oakland Raiders.

Well me and many other Bengal fans were a bit upset to see the New Orleans Saints trade up with the New England Patriots, when the trade was announced we all knew what that meant; Keith Rivers will be in Cincinnati Bengal stripes.

I’m happy as a fan to have landed a player with so much potential, skills, and heart. Although it was not who I had been wishing for in the first place.

There were also a large amount of reaches and players falling farther than predicted on the first day as well, who would have imagined that Jacksonville would trade with Baltimore to grab Derrick Harvey at #8? Who would have thought that with the first round draft pick that Jacksonville traded to Baltimore that the Ravens would take Joe Flacco at #18 overall? I certainly didn’t expect it.
So to continue breaking down the first day of the 2008 NFL Draft for the Cincinnati Bengals.

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1st Round : Keith Rivers - OLB - USC
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Keith Rivers is a 6′3″, 235 LB Linebacker who has the ability to play all three of the linebacker positions in a 4-3 defense, and the inside linebacker position in a 3-4 defense, which the Bengals are believed to use occasionally as a 4-3/3-4 Hybrid defense.

I actually like this pick a lot, he was the best defensive player available at a position that the Bengals have had issues with in the past, I’m thinking of a very deep line backing corp with a possible starting lineup of Ahmad Brooks, Odell Thurman, and Keith Rivers. That sounds good to me, and with a large amount of linebackers behind them who are also solid players in Rashad Jeanty, Dhani Jones, Darryl Blackstock, and Brandon Johnson.
I’m no longer worried about having only Two healthy linebackers in a game(a game wear the Bengals were then forced to move Robert Geathers to LB)

Rivers is also a very solid tackler, and when he makes contact it’s not very often you are getting away from him.

Grade: A

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2nd Round : Jerome Simpson - WR - Coastal Carolina
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Jerome Simpson is a 6′2″, 195 LB Wide-out, he had some very good seasons with Coastal Carolina and he holds the Big South Conference career record for receiving yards with 2,340. His hands measure at 11 inches long, and I’ve heard/read that he had the longest arms and hands of any wide-outs at the combine.

He did track at Coastal Carolina as well, and it didn’t surprise anyone when he turned up a 4.47 time in the 40 Yard Dash.

His production slipped in 2007 a bit due to Quarterback issues the team was having, here’s a year by year look at his stats.

2004 (Freshman) - 11 Games Played - 26 Receptions - 419 Yards - 16.1 Yards Per Catch - 8 TD
2005 (Sophomore) - 11 Games Played - 33 Receptions - 527 Yards - 16.0 Yards Per Catch - 9 TD
2006 (Junior) - 12 Games Played - 61 Receptions - 1,077 Yards - 17.7 Yards Per Catch - 16 TD
2007 (Senior) - 11 Games Played - 41 Receptions - 697 Yards - 17.0 Yards Per Catch - 11 TD
College Career - 45 Games Played - 161 Receptions - 2,023 Yards - 16.9 Yards Per Catch - 44 TD

So there’s no question that Jerome Simpson is productive, but can this productivity translate from a small name school into the NFL?

There’s no question that a Wide Receiver or even Two should have been drafted this year considering the troubles/release of Chris Henry, who was arguably the best Third String Wide-out in the NFL, but my question and many others as well is why draft him this early? He would have most likely been available in round Three, and why Jerome Simpson when Malcolm Kelly, DeSean Jackson, and Limas Sweed are still on the board?

The only thing that would make me assume DeSean Jackson was not picked would be because of his apparently large ego, Malcolm Kelly for similar reasons, and Limas Sweed due to injuries.

Here’s a couple of Quotes from Bengals Offensive Coordinator, Bob Bratkowski.

“There are things that don’t become public knowledge about individuals all the time, whether it’s background, injury or things like that that people don’t know about. What we’re looking at here is a guy who is a top-notch young man and is very healthy and has a lot of upside to him.”

“One of the words I wrote down watching him on tape is courageous.”

NFL.com says he is comparable to his now teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh, due to his great leaping ability and “courageous” tendencies. And if my wish of having Chad Johnson traded comes true, I really wouldn’t mind having Two T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s as my #1 and #2 Wide-outs.

For now I’ll leave the scouting to the Bengals, but this pick puzzles me a bit, and as much as I like the guy I’m disappointed that we drafted him this early, as I would have much rather taken Trevor Laws due to the fact we did not get a Defensive Tackle in the First Round.

Grade: C+

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3rd Round : Pat Sims - DT - Auburn
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Pat Sims is a 6′2″, 310 LB Defensive Tackle out of Auburn, a guy who really excited me when they grabbed him in the 3rd round, the dude has an thick frame and some great body strength.

I liked this pick a lot also because of the Jerome Simpson pick, it seems like we reached for a guy in the 2nd round where-as when Pat Sims was still on the board in the 3rd I jumped for joy.

The dude just makes plays, honestly. This is such a great value pick for a guy who some might had projected we would take in the 2nd Round.

He’s a very young player, as everyone knows because he is now getting drafted. But for his age he seems to be an excellent leader on defense, a guy who can help pump his teammates up. Something we’ve needed since Odell Thurman got suspended, and something we may get when he comes back and has the backup of Pat Sims.

Another solid character guy, as well.

Grade: A-

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3rd Round : Andre Caldwell - WR - Florida
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Andre Caldwell is a 6′0″, 200 LB Wide-out out of Florida, this dude can flat out run.

4.37 in the 40 yard dash? Yeah, I’ll take that in the 3rd round.

He can return Kicks as well, which is something the Bengals have needed for a very long time.

Caldwell had a pretty good season with Florida, he had some pretty big games against South Carolina and Florida Atlantic where he racked up 312 yards in those 2 games combined, finishing the season off with 56 Receptions, 761 Yards, and 7 TDs, Pretty good numbers considering he missed 3 games early in the season.

I also like this pick, because he was a player we didn’t reach for.

Grade : B+

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4th Round : Anthony Collins - OT - Kansas
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Anthony Collins is a big 6′5″, 310 Offensive Tackle who the Bengals say can play all spots on the line except for Center.

This is a very good pick because OT is something we need depth at, and hopefully Anthony Collins can step in and do as well as most say he can.

Ironically Chad Johnson is his favorite football player, maybe Anthony can talk him into showing up to play this season.

Grade : B

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5th Round : Jason Shirley - DT - Fresno State
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Jason Shirley is a 6′5″, 329 LB Defensive Tackle out of Fresno State.

He’s a dominating DT who man handles people when he wants to, but that’s the problem. It’s only when he wants to, sometimes he falls out of games is not by any means an every down guy. Some people will question his motivation because of this.

He’s also got fantastic speed for his size, something you don’t really see out of a 329 LB Defensive Tackle.

But here’s when it gets really bad. Haven’t the Bengals been drafting on character this whole draft? I hope they don’t consider Shirley a good character guy, he was suspended 3 times in his final season with Fresno State.

The only reason I’ll be grading this pick anywhere above an F is due to the fact that if this guy stays out of trouble he could project into a solid starting Defensive Tackle sometime in the near future.

Grade : C+

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6th Round : Corey Lynch - FS - Appalachian State
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Corey Lynch is a very talented 6′0″, 205 LB Safety who will make an immediate impact on special teams, and who I predict will be this years late round wonder for the Bengals.

This was actually a pick I made in my mock draft at this same position, for a guy who went to a college who seems to only get any National Coverage by the Media because of them defeating the Michigan Wolverines, he’s very good.

Good Character, smart player, solid production. You can’t ask for anything more in the 6th round.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention. He was the one who blocked the field goal against Michigan, yeah that’s right.

Grade : A+

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6th Round : Matt Sherry - TE - Villanova
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Matt Sherry is a 6′4″, 255 LB Tight-end out of Villanova, the guy is coming into the season with high expectations although he was picked very late in the draft. Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints thought he was going to be a College Free Agent, so I’m not sure what value this pick was.

Sherry has a good frame, and he’s more of a project guy for the Bengals. Great Passion, Great Character.

He had a time clocked at 4.66 in the 40 Yard Dash, which is very good for a TE his size.

He had some pretty good stats as a Senior as well, he had 37 Receptions for 461 Yards and 5 TDs in that year.

The most I see him doing at the moment is fighting for a spot on the team with Daniel Coats, who showed flashes of a good TE last season.

Grade : C-

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7th Round : Angelo Craig - DE/OLB - University of Cincinnati
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Angelo Craig is a 6′5″, 235 LB Defensive End who had moderate success with 4 Sacks, and 7.5 Tackles for losses.

I think this was another pick who some fans of the Bengals will be happy about, he’s another product player at 235 LBs, he may be moved back to OLB where he was moved with the Bearcats in his sophomore year.

Excellent athlete, he went and joined the UC basketball team as a practice player when they were decimated by injuries in early January.

He had some decent production as a DE with 43 tackles in his senior year, he’s a high-motor player who is quick, big, and athletic.

Grade : B-

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7th Round : Mario Urrutia - WR - Louisville
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Mario Urrutia is a very tall wide receiver at 6′5″, 232 LBs who may turn out to be another diamond in the rough, being drafted as our last overall pick.

Mario had some good years with Louisville, with his best year being 2006 when he racked up 58 Receptions, 973 Yards, and 6 TDs.

His production dropped a bit as he went into his Senior year though when he had 35 Receptions, 501 Yards, and 3 TDs.

He could make this team as a 6th or 7th receiver, depending on how many we carry.

3 WRs in the draft though? The Bengals are either stocking up in case Chad Johnson sits out the season, or he’s getting traded.

Grade : B+

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Finishing Thoughts.

Overall I think we had a decent draft, the first day definitely wasn’t the highlight as we didn’t really grab the DT that we’ve needed, but I have confidence one of the 2 we took in the second day should be able to step in and do well with this squad.

After reading into all of our prospects/draft picks I am pretty confident that this draft will turn out to be pretty good in a few years.

Overall Grade : C+