Just when you least expect it, the Cincinnati Bengals happen to get active. After only signing two outside free agents this offseason, the team swung a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars for defensive end Chris Smith. What does the trade mean for the players at the position currently on the roster? Does the move open up the NFL Draft, especially at No. 9 overall, with the move?
Scott Schulze, Connor Howe and I discussed the move and its repercussions on this week’s episode of The Orange and Black Insider. Many mock drafts have the Bengals taking an edge rusher in the first couple of rounds this year, but does their sacrificing of a draft pick, which they openly value greatly, mean that they might be leaning towards offense in the early rounds? Or does a conditional seventh round pick simply point to a low-risk roll of the dice?
Aside from the rare trade the Bengals made, the gang also focused on prospects in this year’s draft class. We played a fun game called “overrated/underrated”, in which we analyzed the value and ceilings of incoming rookies who have long been linked to the Bengals.
There are a number of national and local draft gurus, but only a handful are truly reliable. We talked about the big names, in terms of draft gurus, and who we trust the most. Should the bigwigs at ESPN and the NFL Network be the go-to guys? Or, are there other under-the-radar pundits everyone should be following?
You can join us live every week at Cincy Jungle or on YouTube. The audio link to the show can be found here via SoundCloud.
If you can’t join us live, you can still get our material here at CJ and on YouTube, as well as the audio portions by subscribing to our SoundCloud and iTunes accounts. You can also get in touch with us by email at theobinsider@gmail.com or on Twitter @BengalsOBI.