It's draft week, which means it's the week in which we'll hear report after report linking certain teams to certain players and read mock draft after mock draft. Of course, none of it matters because, for the most part, nobody has any clue what's going to happen when the Carolina Panthers go on the clock at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
However, there is a new report that the Cincinnati Bengals, along with a few other teams, are attempting to trade up in the upcoming draft.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reports these teams are trying to trade up in the draft: #Patriots #Eagles #Bengals #Bills #Titans #Vikings
Of course a trade wouldn't involve any players because of the current lockout, but teams can trade picks for picks. Since the Bengals already have the No. 4 overall pick, it's unlikely that they're trying to trade for a higher pick in the first round. It's much more likely that the Bengals are attempting to trade a couple mid-round picks to move up and possibly have two first-round selections.
In Marvin Lewis' annual pre-draft press conference, he said that he feels that the Bengals are picking too high this year.
"I think we want to be very, very careful to make sure we make the picks that we make and we get the value for the picks where we’re making them. Unfortunately we’re picking too high this year at No. 4, and there comes a great value with that pick and we want to make sure in every pick that we make that we that we get a player that meets that value and we feel real good about him in that particular slot."
If this is true, then the Bengals likely wouldn't use their No. 4 overall pick on the most important position on the field: quarterback. In fact, they may not use their No. 4 pick at all.
And then there's the fact that second-tier quarterbacks like Christian Ponder and Andy Dalton have gotten a lot of attention lately. Both have experience running a west coast offense and both have all the intangibles that you want in a starting NFL quarterback. Both quarterbacks began in the second or third rounds of most mock drafts but now many of the mock drafts have both Dalton and Ponder gone by the time the Bengals go on the clock in the second round.
If they are determined to get their hands on a quarterback like Ponder or Dalton, trading up would make sense.So, on Thursday, we may be able to watch the Bengals make not only one first-round selection, but two. It may be the best way for the team to move forward into a new post-Carson era.