THURSDAY TAVERN DRAFT TALK….

REMINDER.....TOMORROW THERE WILL NOT BE A DINER REPORT.  THE DINER WILL BACK MONDAY MORNING. 

Thursday night means football and here in the Tavern, it means some draft study.  Today's target is the Cincinnati Bengals.  The Bengals are a unique drafting team because they still operate as if they were in the 1960's, as the assistant coaches act as personnel directors at their own positions.   

Paul Brown, the founding father of the Bengals, is also the founding father of 40 times and some of the infrastructure that comes along with scouting.   Brown was a great innovator during his time in Cleveland. He was the first to use intelligence tests to judge players, establish a game film library, instruct players in a classroom setting, use a radio transmitter to communicate with players on the field, and install face masks on helmets. Another innovation was the use of "messenger guards" to relay plays from the sidelines after the radio proved problematic due to the technology available at the time. The offense, directed by Graham, was the predecessor of the West Coast offense made famous by Bill Walsh, a protégé of Brown.  But as time passed, the Brown family has not changed or been willing to be innovative.  “If it worked then-- it should work now” seems to be the old adage in Cincinnati.  And that kind of mentality is why we have car company CEOs in front of the Senate-- but that is another story for another time. 

We hear the commom refrain,  "the coaches want to select the groceries since they are cooking the meal".  The Bengals allow all of their coaches to do extensive shopping and most of the preparing.  The Bengals operate as if they were in college, not in pro football, which is what their founding father did when he coached at Ohio State.  Each coach operates with a list of potential recruits, goes through the tape and work out process, and makes a determination of who they like and in what order they like each player. The philosophy in the building is that since the coaches are coaching the players, they should be the ones who are picking the talent.  But this has not worked, as we can see from the win/loss record of the Bengals and the lack of success in their drafts. 

This is a very unfair method of business for the coaches as well as unfair to the organization. Too often is the case that some of the staff can coach talent, but not evaluate talent.   Not everyone can indentify and project talent in the draft.  This places a huge burden on the coaches to learn about the players before they select them. And it seems to me that the Bengals learn more about the players after they draft them--which defeats the whole purpose of scouting. 

The Bengals ownership group sets the team’s needs and will select players in the draft based on the needs of the team and how they feel they can improve their organization.  They are very hard to trade with before, during or after the draft.  They want things to stay stagnant, and do not think outside the realm of conventional, old school, 1960's thinking.  If they feel they need a linebacker, they pick one, regardless of who is on the board and rarely do they change the hand that is dealt to them. 

Bill Walsh once said to me, “Michael, we are only competing against 8 teams.”  He must have learned that lesson while working for the Bengals.  Since the Salary Cap has been in effect, the Bengals are in the bottom half of the league in wins (29TH OVERALL) and have posted an 87-146-1 record to date, for a winning percentage of 37%.  Many have called for them to hire a GM, but that does not solve the basic fundamental problem.  The problem with the Bengals is not their reluctance to spend money on players, but their reluctance to be inovative and have a personnel department (pro and college) with knowledge of the game today.  Without the revenue sharing in the NFL, the Bengals are not forced to change or to be innovative.  The Bengals make money regardless of how many mistakes they make in their business practices.  They have to re-evaluate their method of business and if they don't, they might be in front of the Senate looking for a bridge loan too.    

Here is the breakdown....

• 59 overall picks since 2002. 21 are still on the team for a 35% ratio.  They have 12 starters from the draft and 2 from their own college free agent pool. 
• 7 First Round Picks
• 8 Second Round Picks
• 9 Third Round Picks
• 10 Fourth Round Pcks
• 6 Fifth Round Picks
• 8  Sixth Round Picks
• 11 Seventh Round Picks
• Only two second round picks remain with the team.  They have been picking too high in the draft to miss on this many players. 
• Only four third round picks remain with the team. 
• They do not favor any one position in the draft: 13 DBS, 11 DL, 8 LBS,  9 OL, 9 WRS, 3 RB, 3 QB, 2 TE and 1 K.  The Bengals have balance because they assume that since the coach selected the player, he must be good.  In addition, Cincinnati does not make changes until they admit they made a recruiting mistake.