At face cover, the Cincinnati Bengals selected the player that they had number one on their draft board. With Georgia's A.J. Green, the Cincinnati Bengals are putting together a core of young wide receivers that includes Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell, as well as Jordan Shipley, who was selected in last year's NFL Draft.
Simpson and Caldwell posted 35 receptions for 547 yards receiving and three touchdowns, combined, during the final three games last season. Jordan Shipley and tight end Jermaine Gresham, last year's first round pick, led all AFC rookies with 52 receptions last season. And now the Bengals are adding the dynamics of a player like A.J. Green. That's just scary.
Some, including yours truly, preferred a defensive player like Patrick Peterson to supplement a (possibly) departing Johnathan Joseph. But Green is a top-ranked wide receiver prospect that the Bengals had a need, allowing them to address the position now that Terrell Owens is gone and Chad Ochocinco isn't expected to return.
Soon after the Atlanta Falcons swapped first round picks with Cleveland, giving the Browns this year's second and fourth round picks, as well as next year's first and fourth round selections, it was also learned that the Cincinnati Bengals were originally involved with the Falcons, who also wanted Green. However, the deal fell through at the last second because the Bengals felt the selection was undervalue and decided to make the selection on Green themselves.
A flurry of quarterbacks were selected early in the first round, including Florida State's Christian Ponder, who is one of three quarterbacks the Bengals were targeting in the second round. With Ponder gone, TCU's Andy Dalton and Arkansas' Ryan Mallett appear as the most likely candidates to be selected in the second round on Friday, which starts at six o'clock with the Bengals selecting third.