Risky Draft Strategy Catching up to the Bengals
| 14
|
by user The Beast
Even though a top athlete may have all the skills necessary for NFL bliss, his off-field behavior may cause him to drop in the NFL draft. Typically, teamspass on highly skilled athletes that carry a lot of baggage, but Marvin Lewis and the Cincinnati Bengals are looking like the exception.
In the past two drafts, the Cincinnati Bengals chose players with known histories when other teams had these players 'red-flagged'. Sure, the Bengals may have appeared to get a deal on talent, but are now starting to pay for it in off-field antics, negative press, and potential dismissal of the violating athletes.
In 2005, the Bengals were touting themselves to have the steal of the draft. Chris Henry, star wide receiver from West Virginia, was thought to have 1st or 2nd round talent...but dropped to the hands of the Bengals with the 19th pick in the 3rd round. But there was a reason that Henry dropped on NFL boards. The beat on Henry was that he was a me-first player and a potential cancer on the team. An outburst in late October at Rutgers resulted in multiple unsportsmanlike penalties and an ultimate game ejection. Henry chose to raise his left hand and extend his middle finger to the Rutgers fans as he left the field. But Lewis and the Bengals still took the character gamble.
2006 was another interesting draft for the Cincinnati Bengals. Although it wasn't until the 5th round, the Bengals once again chose to roll the character dice. Florida State linebacker A.J. Nicholson had fallen on draft boards. Nicholson was recently suspended from the Orange Bowl with alleged rape charges and had previous documented alcohol issues. One incident required use of a taser by police authorities to subdue Nicholson. But Marvin Lewis and the Bengals felt the 5th round was a chance they could take...and Nicholson was theirs. In addition to Nicholson in '06, USC DE Frostee Rucker was still a bit of a character gamble for some teams.
Fast forward to June of 2006 and the police blotter has been loaded with Bengals drafted in the past two years, namely Chris Henry and A.J. Nicholson. Henry has had at least three arrests in separate incidents since December and Nicholson is looking at felony burglary charges of a former FSU teammate's residence.
Coach Lewis was initially silent, but recently responded with a statement targeting the incidents and offending players as "embarrassments". Lewis went on to hint that neither player had a guaranteed spot on the team and evaluations would continue.
But, the "embarrassment" can't really be put totally upon the offending athletes. These players had a well documented and known past...resulting in many teams wiping their names completely off of their draft boards.
Some responsibility has to go to the Bengal organization for drafting these guys in the first place. Sure, things may work out (eg: Thurman) and trouble avoided...but indications are that too much of this strategy is a waste of draft picks, waste of money, and temporarily scars the communtity.
All teams take calculated drafting risks, but the trend has been to avoid players with character issues (for obvious reasons). If a flyer must be taken, then it's typically limited to one guy every couple of years...not four or more. Most coaches don't want several guys on their teams feeding off of each other in the locker room.
Now they take the talented Ahmad Brooks in the supplemental draft? Yes, he's a great player, but he carries a lot of baggage.
Date
Fri 07/14/06, 7:24 am EST
