The Bengals seem to have been in the business of picking up former first round cornerbacks all summer. Yet when one of the best cover cornerbacks becomes available in Asante Samuel, there's no noises about the Bengals attempting to trade for him. Why?

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So Morris Clairborne gets a four in his test, according to CBS. He's also the fourth-ranked prospect in the draft. Would you avoid a player that if four is the correct score, just about manages to get his name correct?

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There's been a lot of love shown for Kevin Huber since he was drafted, there's surely some hometown favouritism thrown in there and a second reason was that he wasn't Kyle Larson. 
Just your average Monday was going by, 6.0 earthquake successfully negotiated when I spotted Football Outsiders's rankings for the top punters for 2009 at http://www.footballoutsiders.com/extra-points/2010/stat-day-best-punters-2009.

Taking into account weather conditions, altitude, coverage team and more, Huber ranks a surprising 10th worst, which also sees luminaries at the position such as Jeff Feagles ranked 5th worse.

More after the jump.

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The reach of the Bengals knows no boundaries.  How many nationalities can you watch the Bengals with?

Not sure if anyone took me up on the offer to watch last week but I was laid up with a stomach bug.

 

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After the first week of the NFL it was interesting to see how many teams were playing Cover 2 D.  Obviously the Broncos did it and we did not do a good job of reacting (surprise!).  The Bills tried it and got beat twice on the same play.  This begs the question on how to proceed for Cincy.

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According to CBS Rapid Reports, the Cardinals signed two Bengals that were released by us last week.

The Cardinals signed four players to the practice squad on Tuesday who were released by other teams: CB Rashad Barksdale (Jets), OLB Chris Harrington (Bengals), MLB Lee Robinson and FB Fui Vakapuna (Bengals).<br />

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It looks like Eric Ghiaciuc will be looking for a new team after he was cut by the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Spotted this as I was mooching round for some sports info.

Roethlisberger injured

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The ever present rapid reports on CBS report that we released Santucci following his foot injury suffered in training camp.

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According to the NFLPA the average career of a player in the NFL is 3.5 years and the lowest rookie salary is $193000.

The reason a career ends is either through injury,self-induced retirement which is more than likely related to injury or being cut - a draft every year and an influx of 7-10 players on average clearly does not give much job security.

Say there is a salary cap on rookies, where is the incentive to play?  Unless the cap is set fairly high and yes I agree $41+ million on an unproven QB is insane, if that rookie gets injured or cut in his first three or four seasons, then that's it, NFL over at age 25 or younger.

This wouldn't be good PR for the league and quite possibly could cause worse problems as younger players look to live life up while they can.

So yes I see the argument for a salary cap as it over-rewards unproven talent but at the same time, cutting their earning potential too drastically could see these athletes look elsewhere for their options.  Certainly if I were young and American I'd want to be a baseball player.  Hell I'm sure the Reds could move Edward Encarnacion to the OF and let a 34 year old Brit that used to play cricket play the hot corner :D

These musings are in in two parts, one is about the defence and the other about our draft.

The Bengals are a team not known for their physical defensive play, more known for attempting to outscore opponents than stop them cold.  Or driving Corvettes into steel railings but I digress.

Zimmer has come in and we've seen a steady improvement, probably not dramatic enough to see us ranked truthfully at #12 and we're closer to the rank for points allowed in terms of ability.  It was also helped by a soft closing schedule.

However, we're actually starting to see a plan for a physical, aggressive defence under Zimmer and "defence expert" Coach Lewis.  I'd say with our new arrivals we could look at a legit top #15 D, maybe better.  Not only that but the first full draft that Zimmer is part of we get a lot of praise and if Bengals fans are arguing over round six picks you know you've done something right.

Now look at the guys we've picked, Rey Rey will have a large chip on his shoulder, as will Michael Johnson.  For the past two drafts we've gone for first round talent and various question marks including having that motor run throughout the game.  If anyone looks and acts like a motivator I'd have to say it's Zimmer and the picks in 2008 and 09 are a testament to his coaching qualities, specifically motivation.

The Bengals are a team that put a lot of emphasis on their coaches' ability to scout.  This again speaks high volumes for Zimmer but I wonder if coaches are really what is required in war rooms?  Just like scouts there can end up being too many voices. 

Plus the skills are different, in Football you plan for months in the off-season, you plan each game to the smallest detail, you have a lot of time to prepare and coach.  The War Room on the other hand is hours of sheer boredom punctuated by 10 or 5 minutes of utter bedlam.

For that you'd need quick thinkers, people that can move up and down draft boards at will and see the bigger picture, second guessing the other teams and trying to place trade offers or decisions to move up or down in context.  I'd argue that the War Room isn't for coaches, at the most I'd have Marv, Mike and Bob (well he wouldn't be there but his replacement) and one draft expert and a couple of people to man the phones.  A scouting director and GM would help of course :)

It just seems that the skill set is different for drafting as for coaching.

Your thoughts?