Happy Thoughts Down Memory Lane: Revisiting the Cincinnati Bengals 2007 NFL Draft

by Josh Kirkendall on May 1, 2010 12:20 PM EDT in Analysis

CBS' senior writer Pete Prisco applies the three-year rule and regrades each team's 2007 NFL Draft. For example, the Ravens, Giants, Jets and 49ers were the only teams to receive an "A". But who cares about them, right? The Cincinnati Bengals were given a "C".

The Bengals hit big on first-round pick Leon Hall. He is a top-tier corner they landed with the 18th pick in the first round. He could have been a Pro Bowl player in 2009 and might be this season. He's that good. The rest of the draft produced little. Second-round pick Kenny Irons, a running back, was a bust. The only player of note from the rest of the draft is safety Chinedum Ndukwe, who has started off and on for three years after being a seventh-round pick. The Bengals had seven picks and hit just two.

This is where I get confused about grades. Can one justify a grade because a player was lost to a season-ending injury? That seems a bit harsh, but then again, there's no feelings in hardcore analysis on an NFL draft that happened three years ago.

Regardless, even though I hate letter-grades because there's never a baseline for the grades that isn't 100% someone else's opinion, Prisco's grade, in my opinion, is accurate. Not for the letter, rather it was average at best -- considering that of the seven draft picks that year, only three remain with the Bengals and only two have made significant contributions since.

After picking up starting cornerback Leon Hall, the Bengals went through a rough patch. Let's take a quick player-by-player approach on the team's 2007 NFL Draft.

	Selection	Notes
1	Leon Hall	Started 42 regular season games for the Bengals with 14 career interceptions.
2	Kenny Irons	Tore ACL on the fourth carry of his first preseason game. Bengals waived/injured by the Bengals during summer of 2008.
3	Marvin White	Played two seasons with the Bengals, starting 13 games and recording 68 tackles his final season with Cincinnati. Released on final cutdown day in 2009.
4	Jeff Rowe	Third string quarterback in 2007 and started 2008 on the team's practice squad. Signed away from the Bengals by the Seattle Seahawks. Now with the New England Patriots.
5	Matt Toeaina	Signed off the Bengals practice squad his rookie season by the Bears. Played five games in three seasons with Chicago.
6	Dan Santucci	Played two games his rookie season (2007). Placed on Injured Reserve before the start of 2008 and 2009 regular season.
7	Chinedum Ndukwe	Started 25 career games with the Bengals with 89 tackles in 2009 and five career interceptions.

Note: Bengals didn't have a third-round pick in 2007 after drafting Ahmad Brooks in the 2006 Supplemental Draft.

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Generous:

I’ll go C- on that draft.

by wordtrey on May 1, 2010 12:55 PM EDT reply actions

D

that is just gut wrenching. So many missed opps. We’ve definitely got better

by quickslant on May 1, 2010 3:29 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Ugh, what a mess....

Great 1st pick, good last pick, and a bunch of garbage in the middle.

During the 2007 draft, i was miffed they chose Jeff Rowe over Troy Smith, and i still am frustrated about that. Smith is much better than Jordie P and JTO, and would have been better than Ryan FitzP a couple years ago.

The best thing that happened to them in this draft is that Kenny Irons got hurt, so they have an excuse for that bad pick that would have turned out to be a bust had Irons actually played on the field.

by ephram on May 1, 2010 5:20 PM EDT reply actions

Something they didn't factor

If I’m not mistaken, Kyle Cook would have been a part of this Rookie class. So in essence out of this rookie class 3 years later you have a Starter (who could be considered a Pro Bowler), another Starter at Center, and a key reserve who has started off and on. This helps the draft this year as UDFA are normally considered in these grades. I think factoring this in, and if you give them a pass on the Kenny Irons injury your looking at a solid C+ to B-. What does everyone think if you add this into the conversation. I remember an article on this site that said if you get something like 1.4 starters and 1.2 key reservers is average. If those numbers are correct then we were better than average even if you count the Kenny Irons injury against us. So again what do we think considering this?

by C1ncy4Life on May 1, 2010 8:54 PM EDT reply actions