Bengals to host Jeremy Maclin on April 2 -- trying for a possible trade down?

The Cincinnati Bengals are hosting Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin from April 2-3, writes Carlos Holmes. We haven't emphasized enough how much we're against selecting a wide receiver in this year's draft, because Mike Brown looks towards Cincy Jungle for the most precise, balanced, and level-headed analysis on the net. Really.

However, because of this reason, Mike Florio believes that the Bengals are bluffing to trade their pick, a point of view that Alan Cutler denied saying that he's not "buying the logic."

It appears that the Bengals are priming the pump for a possible trade down by sending smoke signals that they are interested in one of the possible first wideouts off the board.

According to Carlos Holmes of the Dayton Daily News, Maclin will be visiting the Bengals on April 2 and 3.

And Holmes, intentionally or otherwise, does his best to sell the notion that the Bengals genuinely are interested in making Maclin the replacement for T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

At times, we were wondering whether Holmes has gotten the memo that the Bengals have signed Laveranues Coles.

Feigning interest in Maclin could give the Bengals a way to squeeze the Raiders or the Jaguars or both to try to make a move up. If the Bengals don’t seem to be interested in a receiver, there’s a chance that the Jags decide they’d be thrilled with either Maclin or Crabtree, taking whichever one is left after the Raiders pick.

By sniffing around Maclin, the Bengals might dupe the Jags into fearing that both Maclin and Crabtree will be gone by No. 8.

Regardless of how it all plays out, we’ve got a feeling that the Bengals will pounce on Alabama left tackle Andre Smith, if Smith is still on the board. The bigger question is whether they call his name at No. 6, No. 7, or No. 8.

That said, there’s a chance that the Bengals will assume an even lower position in round one, if someone decides to spring up from the teens in order to have first crack at Maclin or Crabtree, if both guys are left after the first five names are called.