The Cincinnati Bengals have had issues for a very long time in the NFL Draft. Certain positions just feel like they are throwing picks away, even trying. I mean, look how long it took to get a decent offensive line. Not just for Joe Burrow but since Andrew Whitworth left following the 2016 season.
Another area, the defensive line. It is such a problem that former Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt called out the team via Twitter in response to a fan talking about selecting a defensive lineman.
Here is the thing. Fans can call it sour grapes after Pratt was released this past offseason, but he is absolutely right.
You have to take a look at the track record, and it really isn’t great. If you take out Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap (fourth and third round pick,s respectively). They have only drafted one other player to even reach the 10 sack mark since 2000. That was Michael Johnson, who did it one time and then never got past five sacks the rest of his career.
Sacks are not the only stat that matters for defensive linemen, obviously. Even then, any attempts to get interior linemen who can stuff the run have usually never received a second contract or gone on to do much in the league.
Sam Hubbard is probably one of the best recent linemen they have drafted, but he was mostly a run stopper on the edge. Joseph Ossai has been a rotational guy, and we are going to have to wait and see on Myles Murphy and Shemar Stewart (the pair of first round picks from the last few seasons).
The best defensive linemen of late have been Trey Hendrickson, DJ Reader, BJ Hill, and, even to an extent, Larry Ogunjobi. All of those guys were either free agents or acquired via trade.
It is the kind of thing that would usually cause a pretty sizable shakeup in the front office of a normal team, but we know the Brown family and Duke Tobin are not about to do anything drastic.
People can have their opinion about Pratt as a player, but he has an eye for talent, apparently. He can at least call a spade a spade.
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