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2012 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft - The Cincinnati Bengals Select...

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With the 17th pick in the 2012 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, Jason Garrison selected for the Cincinnati Bengals, who received the No. 17 overall pick from the Oakland Raiders by trading quarterback Carson Palmer.

With the No. 17 overall pick in the 2012 Cincy Jungle Mock Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select...

Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Alabama

I have to admit, this wasn't my first choice. To be honest, I was hoping Stephon Gilmore would be available here, but I wasn't anticipating the Lions to be so aggressive as to trade up and take him off the board. And then it was risky to sit back and hope that the four teams that selected before the Bengals after Gilmore was off the board wouldn't take Kirkpatrick. Luckily they didn't, because the fact is, the Bengals need a cornerback and Kirkpatrick could be that guy.

Leon Hall is attempting to come back from a season-ending Achilles injury last year and there's a very real chance that he won't be back to 100 percent by the start of the season. That would leave the Bengals with Nate Clements, who's on the last year of his contract, Adam Jones, who signed a one-year contract this offseason, Jason Allen, who signed a two-year contract this offseason and then guys like Rico Murray and Brandon Ghee. If Hall isn't back to 100 percent, Kirkpatrick may not start still, but he'd contribute heavily.

Then there's the 2013 season. The only guys the Bengals would have under contract would be Hall and Allen and if they draft Kirkpatrick, he could start along side Hall. Kirkpatrick is a big and physical cornerback. He may not be the best in man coverage, but he'll still be able to cover good wide receivers, especially in zone defenses, and he'll give the Bengals the best cornerback duo since Johnathan Joseph left for the Texans. He'll also be good in run support.

Like I said earlier, I would have rather had Gilmore with this pick for a few reasons, but if I pass on Kirkpatrick here, there's a decent chance he's not on the board at No. 21 and if that's the case, the Bengals could be in trouble at the cornerback position. On top of that, there's a decent chance that Kirkpatrick could be moved to strong safety as well as playing cornerback.

Dre Kirkpatrick Highlights:

Joe Goodberry's Instant Analysis:

Cincinnati had a pretty easy choice here. I imagine it came down to Kirkpatrick and Kendall Wright after DeCastro, Gilmore, Barron and Richardson were gone.
Kirkpatrick provides physicality and youth to the CB position. He'll never be great in man-coverage, especially off-man but he's very natural in zone and extremely good in run support. I wonder if Kirkpatrick starts (or subs) at safety until there's less of a veteran presence at CB in 2013.
Grade: B+
Value: +1

Draft Overview:

# Team Picked By Name/Positon of Pick
1 Indianapolis Alex Neyer Andrew Luck QB
2 Washington David Farrelly Robert Griffin III QB
3 Minnesota Palewook Matt Kalil OT
4 Cleveland Jason Garrison Justin Blackmon WR
5 Tampa Bay Andrew Bernius Morris Claiborne CB
6 St. Louis Jim0ijk Quinton Coples DE
7 Jacksonville AK513 Melvin Ingram DE
8 Miami Dan Lockhart Trent Richardson RB
9 Carolina Jason Blanton Luke Kuechly LB
10 Buffalo Casey Penn Michael Floyd WR
11 Kansas City Kenneth Taylor David DeCastro OG
12 Detroit (projected trade) Andrew Perrotta Stephon Gilmore CB
13 Arizona Dan Wolford Riley Reiff OT
14 Dallas Joshua Foster Michael Brockers DT
15 Philadelphia Travis Parker Mark Barron S
16 New York Jets Kenneth Taylor Courtney Upshaw OLB
17 Cincinnati (from Oakland) Jason Garrison Dre Kirkpatrick CB
18 San Diego Anthony Knox
19 Chicago Steve Whited
20 Tennessee Jeff Welch
21 Cincinnati Jason Garrison
22 Cleveland (from Atlanta) Jason Garrison
23 Seattle (projected trade) Jared Egner
24 Pittsburgh Jason Garrison
25 Denver Jared Morgan
26 Houston Brett Kollman
27 New England (from New Orleans) Anthony Knox
28 Green Bay Travis Castleman
29 Baltimore Jason Garrison
30 San Francisco Chris Brown
31 New England Anthony Knox
32 New York Giants Matt Leitner