Bengals Draft Presents Options

    In the good old days the Bengals, as much as any other team, would adhere to drafting the best player available.  But it is becoming much more apparent that teams are drafting for need more often than not.  This seems especially true in the early rounds.  Last year the Bengals needs and the best players available were one in the same.  A.J. Green and Andy Dalton were the perfect one-two punch in the first two rounds of the 2011 NFl draft.  It's doubtful the Bengals will ever find better fills for their needs with their first two picks.  But we will try to help them along, especially since their first two picks this year reside in the first round.  The Bengals get the 17th (Mike brown should offer at least one more thanks to the Oakland Raiders for this) and the 21st overall picks.
    For a team that made the playoffs last season the Bengals seem to have a healthy amount of needs.  The most pressing in my opinion happen to be offensive guard, safety, wide receiver, cornerback, and running back.  The Bengals signed a couple of veteran guards through free agency but a young stud is needed.  The Bengals are very thin at safety but the only one apparently worthy of first round status, Alabama's Mark Barron, is expected to be gone by the time the Bengals pick.  The Bengals have a home-run hitter in Green at wide receiver but now they need a good hands, good route man to work the intermediate zones.  Cornerback is another position where the Bengals signed a couple of veterans but an infusion of young blood would be a wise move.  Running back is not quite as pressing of a need with BenJarvis Green-Ellis on board.  But Green-Ellis has only once broken the 200-carry barrier in a season.  Cedric Benson broke the 200 barrier each of the past four seasons in Cincinnati.  So with all of that with a backdrop, this is what makes the most sense for the Bengals on draft day.
   With the 17th pick the Bengals should draft:
    Offensive guard David DeCastro out of Stanford.  He is reportedly a perfectionist with a bit of a nasty streak.  He could be the perfect piece to help anchor an offensive line for years.
    If DeCastro is gone the Bengals would do well to grab cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick.  Guys who are 6-foot-2 and have the skills to play corner in the NFL are gold mines.  Kirkpatrick could help lessen the blow of the Bengals huge mistake of letting Johnathan Joseph get away before last season.  If Kirkpatrick is gone, do not, I repeat, do not draft cornerback Janoris Jenkins out of North Alabama.  Way too many red flags waving are waving around Jenkins.  He was kicked out of Florida and is seen as a high risk in the character department.  I do believe in fresh starts and second chances, but never, and I mean never, with my first round picks.
    If DeCastro and Kirkpatrick are gone there is a chance wide receiver Michael Floyd will be around.  If he is, he's pulling on a tiger-striped helmet this season.  For years I have preached against drafting wide receivers too high.  Then along came a guy who goes by the initials A.J.  Floyd is seen as a perfect fit for a west-coast type of offense and could be the perfect compliment to the skills Green has brought to Cincinnati.
    If DeCastro, Kirkpatrick, and Floyd aren't around, is it too much to ask for linebacker Luke Kuechly to be around?  Almost assuredly, but if he is around he could be a guy that is way to good to pass up even if the aforementioned players are around.  The for Cincinnati St. Xavier and Boston College star has been described as the "cleanest" prospect in the draft.  By "clean", they mean no character or injury issues and no weaknesses in the game.  Give me the hometown kid is he's on the board.

With the 21st pick the Bengals should draft:
    Well, a lot of that depends on pick 17.  Let's suppose DeCastro wasn't taken at 17, then the Bengals should take guard Cordy Glenn out of Georgia.  He may not be quite the mover and puller that describes DeCastro's game, but the dude can play.  He is mammoth, 6-6, 345 pounds, and moved well enough to play some games at tackle for the Bulldogs.  He grades very well in the passing game and can be a mauler in the run game.  The Bengals would be well-served by taking this guy.
    If they drafted DeCastro at 17 there is a slight chance that corner Stephen Gilmore is on the board.  Doubtful, but possible.  If Gilmore is there and the Bengals need a corner, presto!  If Gilmore is not there and Jenkins is still available, I'm still passing on him.
    Should all of the above be off the board, I'm confident the Bengals can fill that wide receiver need here.  Kendall Wright of Baylor would be the best, and the best fit of the wide receivers that might be left on the board.  He can be a burner, but he is also decribed as fearless over the middle with great hands.  Wright is a guy who finds the holes to get open and can become a reliable outlet for a quarterback in trouble.  He also isn't afraid to block.  Wright would be my choice but Stephen Hill from Georgia Tech and Rueben Randle out of LSU would be good alternatives.  Randle especially seems to be a guy who would fit well across from Green.  Hill seems to possess a lot of the things Green brings to the game but perhaps not what the kind of game the Bengals need opposite A.J. 
    Let us not rule out a trade at this spot.  I'm skeptical of that but the Bengals are in a good position heading into the 2012 draft.  If drafting for need worked so well in 2011, then as Bill Cosby and his buddies once said in that movie released back in 1975, "Let's Do It Again!"