SB Nation's Brian Galliford recently conducted a full mock draft for the first round. Like most (all) mock drafts over the past month, he selected one of three players for the Cincinnati Bengals: A.J. Green, Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert. The Player he selected, as you can see from the title of this article, was Missouri's Gabbert.
First, Galliford selected Auburn quarterback Cam Newton for the Carolina Panthers and then he selected Alabama defensive tackle Marcell Dareus for the Denver Broncos. Then, for the Buffalo Bills, Galliford selected Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller. That brings us to his selection of Blaine Gabbert for the Cincinnati Bengals.
4. Cincinnati Bengals: Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri. A.J. Green really is a strong option for the Bengals, and could very well end up being the pick regardless of quarterback availability. It's just hard to envision Cincinnati passing on a QB knowing that Carson Palmer probably isn't bluffing.
He then went on to select LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson for the Arizona Cardinals with the fifth pick and Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green for the Browns with the sixth.
Both Cincy Jungle writers and readers alike have argued over who the Bengals should select with the fourth overall pick in the upcoming draft. Some think they should take Peterson to replace lost cornerback Johnathan Joseph and because he could become a Pro Bowl caliber safety in the future, a position of need for the Bengals for some time.
Others, including myself, believe that the Bengals should definitely draft a wide receiver in the first round. Chad Ochocinco will likely be playing in another team's uniform by the time the 2011 season starts, leaving only Jerome Simpson, Andre Caldwell, Jordan Shipley and Shay Hodge on the depth chart for the upcoming season, and only Shipley and Hodge would be under contract beyond 2011. The Bengals could use a talent like A.J. Green, who would become the new No. 1 receiver for years to come, to help a new quarterback make the transition from the college game to the pro game.
There are more theories that exist, including one in which the Bengals trade down to add more picks in the second and third rounds to help fill the holes in their roster, but the least popular, at least as far as I've seen, is one in which the Bengals draft a quarterback with the No. 4 overall pick.
If Andrew Luck decided not to play the 2011 season at Stanford and entered the draft, he would be the best quarterback in this year's draft class, possibly worthy of a No. 1 overall selection. If he were in this year's draft class, he would be picks ahead of the next quarterback. I know that Carson Palmer is out and a new quarterback is one of the biggest, if not the biggest need, of the 2011 Bengals, but that doesn't mean that the Bengals should settle for Gabbert, who's played in a five-wide spread formation throughout his entire career, or Newton, who has some character concerns and questionable accuracy, both of which are probably not worthy of a No. 4 overall pick and they have a high chance of being a bust.
The best option for the Bengals, in my opinion and, I think, in most of your opinions, is that the Bengals should select a player worthy of a No. 4 overall pick, whether that be Green, Peterson or somebody else, and look for a quarterback in the second round like Florida State's Christian Ponder or TCU's Andy Dalton, or trade the No. 4 overall pick to add more picks in the second or third round.
What do you think?