Bengals' Paul Alexander "orchestrated" drills for Eugene Monroe

if those three tackles are gone i would like to think we go defense but the signs are leaning toward offense. holding private workouts for beanie and attending maclins and morenos pro day it looks like offense!!! i havent even heard of the team attneding any delensive players pro days!!!! if they have, enlighten me please

I can only hope that the talk with Bennie, Moreno, Maclin are part of the traditional pre-draft ploy to throw other teams off and make our draft less predictable for them.

As a lifelong Bengal fan, who strangely enough (its a long story) happens to be a lifelong Alabama fan, I can say with all sincerity that the so called “draft experts” are dead wrong about Andre Smith. He is in NO way a ‘risk’ pick. He is a number 1 pick at number 10 value right now due to a (honestly very smart considering the situation) decision to leave the combine when he realized he wasn’t in correct condition to participate. Since then he is down to 325, 40 lbs lighter, and in better condition than he was in college, when he DOMINATED every SEC de and lb that he faced.

The thing that hurts the most is people calling this ‘risk’ due to ‘character issues’. Just look up Andre interviews on youtube, he is soft-spoken, intelligent, and passionate about the game. The perfect combination that the bengals need. Not to mention his ability to change the game with his run blocking. Another thing the bengals so desperately need.

It seems like unprecedented performance in college would supercede a subpar combine or pro day performance… but i guess thats not the case.

The point is, the bengals would be making a GIANT mistake by passing Dre Smith up due to ‘character issues’. There were no character issues at all in his 3 years at Bama before the Sugar Bowl incident. In fact it was quite the opposite, he was a leader, a hard worker, and a team player. I just wish these media folks wouldn’t tarnish a guy’s entire career due to one small mistake.

I am just not looking forward to watching him go to pro bowls with some other team when I know we could have had him. There is an older guy that had a pretty nice (HOF) career with the Redskins by the name of Chris Samuels who also came out of Bama. The looked pretty similar, the only difference being that Dre was noticeably better (thats right, better) while with Alabama. I don’t want to see the Bengals pass that up.

p.s. his 19 reps on the bench press was due to his abnormally long arms, an attribute usually praised in OTs, but not in this case because of his ‘character issues’. If you need proof of his strength just watch some game film, where it matters.

Antoine is another guy that I would love to see with the Bengals. He has been a very solid center his entire career (a 4 year starter). He gets off the ball very quickly and doesn’t miss assignments. He’s also been a very intelligent player since he’s been there. The only real negatives, as far as I can determine, are that he doesn’t have the quickest feet, which I wouldn’t think is necessarily too important at center.

He’s the type of guy that isn’t going to dominate anyone like Andre, he didn’t really at Bama, but he knows where to go and puts a good hit on his guy. I think his intelligence and steady play would be an asset for Cincy, plus I can’t remember him being hurt once, so durability wouldn’t be an issue.

Personally, I am a fan of the bengals taking a center in round 2, because I am a huge advocate of O Line strength translating into an Offense’s strength and productivity. If Carson has time to make throws, and we can establish a good ground game behind a game changing O Line, that bengal offense will be dangerous again. Combine that with an improving defense, and I feel like we’ll be in the mix.

That being said, I think the best part about Caldwell would be his value, the second round is too high to take him, but obviously if Alex Mack isn’t there, we might not want to stretch on any of the other centers in that spot. Then there are a couple other centers that scouts supposedly have ahead of him, so I could see him being there in the 3rd or even 4th round.

Again, I feel like if you draft a guy like Andre Smith or Caldwell, you’re getting a guy that already has 3 or 4 (respectively) years experience against the best defenses in college football, and would be that much closer to being NFL game ready. So I would feel VERY comfortable with the likes of Caldwell or even Jonathon Luigs (arkansas… ‘07 Rimington winner), despite them not being too high on the ’experts’ lists.

Another thought… Both Caldwell and Andre were in Bama’s big boy club (or whatever they called it). Where the players made a commitment to wake up early (not influenced by Saban or anyone, this is of their own accord) and work out to make sure they were the best O Line in college football. This work ethic I think vouches for both of the player’s characters. It shows a passion for the game, and a commitment to be the best that they can be. (you can at least read more into that than you can someone leaving the combine early… in my opinion)