Geathers has knee surgery; more on Rashad Jennings; Lewis-era draft graded a "C-"

+ Robert Geathers had microfracture knee surgery by James Andrews in January after Geathers hyperextended his knee on the super-great-awesome sod in Pittsburgh. David Jones suffered the same injury and Frostee Rucker suffered a hamstring injury that same night.

+ According Scout.com's Ed Thompson, the Bengals are one of two teams showing the highest interest in Liberty running back Rashad Jennings. Here's a compilation video of Rashad Jennings.

NFL.com rates his negatives as:

Negatives: Played against a lower level of competition, although he had one year of experience in the Big East. Runs loose; must consistently keep the ball high and tight to prevent fumbles. Only gets in the way as a blocker, giving marginal effort. A bit stiff in the hips, and is not overly shifty. Runs a bit tall, which will leave him open to big hits in the NFL. Must sink his hips when cutting.

+ Chick Ludwig says that Pat Sims should keep his starting job. I have a slight problem with that pronouncement, and it has nothing to do with Sims. It's simple. Starting jobs should be earned in August, not April. Of course that's not the reality. Starting jobs are typically based on salary.

+ FoxSports' John Czarnecki rates every team's draft dating back to 2003, which works well for us because the Bengals are often divided into three eras. The Paul Brown era (1968-1990), the Age of Helplessism (1991-2002) and the Marvin Lewis era. So what did Czarnecki analyze about the Bengals draft from 2003 until now?

CINCINNATI: The last six drafts will look OK if quarterback Carson Palmer, the first player in 2003, returns to a high-level form this season. Basically, the Bengals have had some bad luck while mixing in some risky picks in recent years. Consider the 2005 draft when linebacker Odell Thurman showed so much promise but couldn't keep his drinking under control, plus the career-ending neck injury to David Pollack. The Bengals have drafted some good offensive linemen in Eric Steinbach, Stacy Andrews and Eric Ghiaciuc, the 119th pick in 2005. The same year, they took LDE Jonathan Fanene with the 233rd selection. The last two drafts have brought two defensive starters in CB Leon Hall and linebacker Keith Rivers in the first round.
Picks: 53
First-round picks: 6
Starters: 8
Pro Bowlers: 1
Grade: C-

I can see his point of view, but I see plenty of flaws. First off, anyone in their right mind can't adjust the Bengals draft based on whether Palmer recovers or not. For his part of the 53 picks since 2003, I think he's in the upper echelon, no matter what happens this year. Name one drafted player since that's blown the cover off the ball like he has. Let's be honest on something else -- Eric Ghiaciuc. Yea.

+ Pat Sims:

“He’s another piece that we have added and we were able to add a good pass rusher,” said Sims on Wednesday. “He is going to help out a lot. Anyone that can make me better is good and hopefully I can make them better.”

“I have a lot of confidence,” Sims said. “I’m much better reading offenses and pre-snap reads. I learned from JT (John Thornton) last year how to predict what happens before the play starts.”

+ Blind loyalty. There's a certain naive arrogance when it comes to a difference between fans that are blindly loyal to a particular professional sports team. People that aren't "blindly loyal" often blame the "blindly loyal" fans for the problems with a team while the "blindly loyal" questions the non-blindly loyal fans for their commitment. Either way, it's all really stupid, childish and a waste of our everyone's time. If you're a fan, be a fan. Stop acting narcissistic and implying some self-delusional grandiose theme of superiority other another fan.