Todd McShay of Scouts Inc. now has the Bengals using the sixth pick of the draft on Virginia tackle Eugene Monroe. He is an athletic tackle with good feet. He is one of 16 children so you know he is tough. Good character guy too.
In his mock draft, McShay notes that if TJ leaves, Michael Crabtree is also a strong possibility. If the Bengals don't go OL in first round, they will likely have to go that direction in the second round and may have to choose between tackle Eben Brittan of Arizona, center Max Unger from Oregon , South Carolina tackle Jamon Meredith or UConn tackle Will Beatty.
Interestingly, McShay now has UC Bearcat Connor Barwin going 25th overall to the Miami Dolphins. As you know, the Jungle loves that guy.
Now that Ryan Fitzpatrick is officially gone, I am hopeful that the Bengals pursue the Lions' Dan Orlovsky to back up Carson Palmer. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, Orlovsky has very similar career stats to Fitzpatrick but is bigger and is a much better passer than Fitzpatrick. Orlovsky and Fitpatrick both have been in the league for four seasons. His game is much more similar to Carson Palmer's than is Fitzpatrick's so Orlovsky may be a better fit for the Bengals in any case. We all have seen the highlight of him stepping out of the end zone last year but, that glaring mistake aside, he was not too bad playing on a very bad team.