Best Seventh Round Draft Picks During Marvin Lewis Era: Number Four - Clinton McDonald

For those of you tired of the relentless Carson Palmer postings, here's one I'm sure you'll enjoy. We are currently ranking the best players based on the round that they were drafted during the Marvin Lewis era. We've finished the first two rounds. Now we're finishing with the seventh round first. #5 is Ethan Kilmer.

With the 249th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft, the Cincinnati Bengals selected defensive lineman Clinton McDonald out of Memphis, where he made the First-Team All-Conference USA with seven quarterback sacks as a senior. McDonald is one of three seventh round draft picks selected that year, with fullback Fui Vakapuna and wide receiver Freddie Brown joining him. Much like Ethan Kilmer, McDonald made the list primarily because the team has seriously lacked seventh round production in the Marvin Lewis era. And a lot of the reason we have McDonald over Kilmer has to do with the defensive lineman being on the team currently. But we pretty much figure you could swap the two players and be fine with that either way.

McDonald joined the team's practice squad in 2009 and remained there through two months in 2010 before his promotion to the 53-man roster in early November. McDonald recorded a quarterback pressure against the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers while recording four defensive tackles through seven games.

Since defensive linemen are judged by more than just quarterback sacks and tackles, we tend to refer to Pro Football Focus, which grades every player during every play. And according to Pro Football Focus, Clinton McDonald graded higher than Domata Peko and Robert Geathers among defensive linemen.

So Far: Our Top Five Draft Selections During The Marvin Lewis Era.

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2.  
3.  
4. Clinton McDonald (2009)
5. Ethan Kilmer (2006)