Despite Tyler Eifert and Giovani Bernard, Bengals given "D" grade for 2013 Draft

The 2013 Draft class has certainly been one of the more disappointing Draft classes of the Dalton era, but by no means was it a poor Draft class. While the Bengals weren't able to hit on a high percentage of players in the Draft class, they were still able to land two blue-chip players who have made, and will hopefully continue to make, excellent contributions to the team.

Despite the Bengals' spectacular picks in Tyler Eifert and Giovani Bernard, Sports Illustrated gave the Bengals' 2013 Draft class a "D" grade in their re-grading 2013 NFL draft classes, three years later.

Average Career Approximate Value: 7.2.

First-round pick: TE Tyler Eifert (No. 21)

Best pick: RB Giovani Bernard (second round).

Worst pick: DE Margus Hunt (second round).

Comment: If Eifert hadn't missed all but one game his second season, this draft might look a lot better with two offensive stars at the top. Third-round pick Shawn Williams may be a starter this season now that Reggie Nelson left in free agency, so it could look even better in a year or two. Other than that, though, the Bengals got nothing out of this draft.

Margus Hunt will likely have one more year to prove himself to the Bengals, but even if he puts it all together in 2016, he has been disappointing to this point. Granted, the Estonian was a project player from Day 1, but he still hasn't even blocked a field goal, let alone made a significant contribution on special teams or defense. I still have hope Hunt can thrive in 2016, but even if he does, he'll be 29 -- that's two years older than Carlos Dunlap -- by the start of the 2016 season. In retrospect, when drafting Hunt, he was questionable at best.

Shawn Williams was an interesting pick, because in 2013, the Bengals had no expectations that George Iloka would be able to start, let alone excel, opposite Reggie Nelson. Williams sat behind the team's two starting safeties, unable to beat out Iloka for playing time and unable to see any significant snaps until 2015, when Nelson went down with an injury. In Nelson's absence, Williams made a couple of huge plays, particularly his interception against the Steelers in the Bengals' Week 8 victory. But the jury's still out on the fourth-year safety, as he's only started four games in his career. Here's to hoping he can become an impact starter in 2016.

Sean Porter, Tanner Hawkinson, Cobi Hamilton and Reid Fragel were never able to make an impact on the Bengals, and none of those four players are in Cincinnati today. Rex Burkhead and T.J. Johnson, however, are both still around, though neither player has carved out anything more than a backup niche role on the team.

Cincinnati's 2013 Draft class was certainly disappointing, but a D-grade for a Draft class that fielded Tyler Eifert and Giovani Bernard is pretty harsh and questionable. Sure, the grade is based on Pro Football Reference's Approximate Value grade, which purely examines a player's on-field impact, but the grade, at least to me, is a bit unfair. Here's to hoping the remaining players from the 2013 Draft class can take the next step and become the Draft class the Bengals hoped it could be back in 2013.