2011 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft - The Cincinnati Bengals Select...

For the fourth pick in the second-annual Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, our own Jason Garrison selected for the Cincinnati Bengals, who have the standard three picks available. In addition, the rest of the draft team put in their two cents afterward as well. First, however, here is the "official" pick...

With the fourth pick in the 2011 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select...

A.J. Green, WR, Georgia

The Bengals defense had a down year in 2010 (look how spoiled we are.. a No. 15 ranking is a down year for the Bengals defense). But, I think they’ll bounce back without spending a first-round draft pick on them. Instead, the Bengals No. 4 overall pick needs to go to an offensive player.

Even though the Carson Palmer situation screams "WE NEED A NEW QUARTERBACK NOW!" it would be foolish to draft a quarterback that isn’t worthy of a No. 4 overall pick and, in my opinion, none of them are. If Andrew Luck had come out in this draft and was available right now, I’d say go for it. Instead, I’m saying spend this pick on Georgia’s A.J. Green.

We all know Terrell Owens is not going to be a Bengal in 2011 and it’s fairly likely that Chad Ochocinco will be leaving with him. If that’s the case, and it probably is, Andre Caldwell will then be the longest tenured receiver the Bengals have. Even though Jerome Simpson exploded over the past few games of the 2010 season, it’s unclear as to whether or not he’s a one hit wonder. If he is, they’ll need Green. If he isn’t, then you have two very good receivers playing along with Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham. The Bengals would have one of the best receiving corps in the NFL and that’s good for any quarterback who is taking the snaps, whether it be Palmer or somebody else, drafted later.

A.J. Green Highlights

Alternate take #1:

Joe Goodberry also put his two cents in on the matter, with an alternate pick. He selected...

Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri

I do like Jason’s pick for our Bengals and I would have made the same pick. For the sake of argument, I’ll choose Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert.

The Bengals need a quarterback and it’s no secret. Teams in the NFL cannot win without good QB play. Look at the six AFC teams in the playoffs last year. The starting quarterbacks were Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Cassel, Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez. Who is the worst one? Maybe Sanchez, but he’s only heading into his 3rd NFL season and already has more road playoff wins than any other quarterback. Also, out of those six quarterbacks, four were former first round picks. In the NFC, four out of six starting playoff quarterbacks were first round picks.

The writing is on the wall. Take somebody who can lead this young team. Give your franchise a face again. Blaine Gabbert may not be a clear-cut "franchise" quarterback, but was Matt Ryan, Big Ben and Joe Flacco? I’d like to model the Bengals after the Atlanta Falcons. They lost their franchise QB (Mike Vick) and they were left with nothing. They chose Matt Ryan 3rd overall instead of choosing players like Glenn Dorsey and Vernon Gholston. If you remember, Ryan wasn’t a can’t-miss quarterback prospect. He had holes in his game like anybody should. The Falcons selected him anyways. They identified their franchise quarterback, built the team around him and have been in contention ever since. Blaine Gabbert can be our Matt Ryan. It starts and ends with the most important position on an NFL team. Build a team around your young QB and let him lead. The Bengals had their chance with Carson Palmer, and to be honest, it was the best eight-year stretch of the last 20. Let’s reload, rebuild and reclaim the AFC North.

Alternate take #2:

Friar Bob also put in his two cents on the matter...

I'm going to have to agree with picking A.J. Green here. If we are stuck at #4 and this situation, he's the safest pick available and the most likely to actually contribute.

But to be completely honest, I desperately want to do anything else rather than pick here. I want Mikey to grow enough of a brain to realize that in this situation he's in the absolute perfect situation to trade down a few picks and start playing around with trades. There are too many teams out there in desperate need of a QB... somebody is going to be willing to trade up to take a flier on Cam or Blaine or somebody else. For that matter, somebody might even trade up to go for Green. With proper playing of the numbers we could easily end up with two mid-first-round picks this year and/or add additional future-year picks to help us out later. But he won't do it, we know full well that won't happen.

But let's pretend for a moment that he actually did. If he did, what would I want to actually pick? The answer is absolutely blindingly obvious: offensive line. No matter who we have at QB, no matter how great a WR we do or don't have, no matter how great a RB we do or don't have, if we have the absolute pile of crap of an OL we had last year, this team is going nowhere.

But since we can't do that, and because there don't appear to be any "superstar" linemen available worthy of a #4 overall selection, I have to reluctantly agree with picking A.J. Green instead.

Draft Overview: