With January 15th being the deadline for draft eligible players to declare for the NFL Draft, the list of underclassmen continues to grow. The majority of players planning to declare have already done so, but we could expect a few more to announce their decisions by Sunday.
Yesterday's news involved the two most talented teams in the country as Alabama and LSU held press conferences for their declaring players.LSU will lose two top-15 picks in CB Morris Claiborne and DT Michael Brockers. Alabama's underclassmen include first round picks CB Dre Kirkpatrick, RB Trent Richardson, and LB Dont'a Hightower. The only surprise of this bunch is Brockers, who was a redshirt sophomore, but he will probably end up being the first DT drafted. Also declaring today is Reuben Randle, WR from LSU. Randle is a big, strong, physical WR who will be very appealing to west coast type offenses starting in the top of round two.
I fully expect four of these five players to be selected before the Bengals first pick at 17. That only helps push down a few more players to the Bengals. We can all hope that any one of these players will fall to the Bengals. Claiborne, Kirkpatrick and Richardson all would fill major needs. Claiborne is expected to be a top-8 pick, while Kirkpatrick is a top-15. Richardson is the wild card. While most consider him one of the few elite prospects, the RB position has been devalued by the NFL recently. There is a small chance Richardson could be available at pick-17. He is the exception to the rule of never drafting a RB in round one. Trent Richardson is a stud and only ranks behind Adrian Peterson and Darren McFadden in RBs drafted in the last five years. That's why I really don't see him being available outside of the top-12 picks. The realistic option from the BCS Championship teams is LB Dont'a Hightower. If the Bengals are ready to move Maualuga back to Sam LB, or have some different combination of LBs to surround Maualuga, Hightower is a guy who could play both positions while the Bengals wait for Rey to figure it out.
Here's the full list of underclassmen who have already declared and a few who I would really like to see in stripes in round one.
David DeCastro - G - Stanford
Lamar Miller - RB - Miami
Peter Konz - C/G - Wisconsin
Nick Perry - DE - USC
Whitney Mercilus - DE - Illinois
Stephon Gilmore - CB
0 recs | 38 comments
Don't we have enough LBs we draft either on the bench or have migraines
njbengalstat - January 13, 2012
anyone know if any of the LSU o-line are coming out for the 2012 draft?
palewook - January 13, 2012
I don't know but,
the whole line looked pretty bad against ’Bama though.
ItsAlwaysSunnyInDayton - January 13, 2012
alexander likes to scout their line
which is why i’m worried if any of them are coming out
palewook - January 13, 2012
Oh yeah... good point
that’s got bad news written all over it
ItsAlwaysSunnyInDayton - January 13, 2012
In that case, I sure hope not
Oregonbengalsfan - January 13, 2012
Im liking what I saw in another posters notes....
I would love to see David Wilson in stripes running the ball…..watched his you tube clips and love the speed and elusiveness of his runs…
Toasted_Orange_Monster - January 13, 2012
Could we draft 2 OL in the first round if Decastro and Konz fall to us?
TCfromDubVee - January 13, 2012
that could be a posibility
but a lot of these scenerios and questions will change after we pick up a few FA. So our needs might change when the draft comes around
AMAS85 - January 13, 2012
True, I don't really want to draft both, but
We can get other needs later in the draft. CB in 2nd, RB in the 3rd, and then BPA from there.
I don’t think it will happen, but it kinda just hit me as a possibility. Would also sure up a young line for years to come.
TCfromDubVee - January 13, 2012
to be honest, I wouldn't mind that scenerio if the coaches truely had them graded higher than anybody else
but I have a feeling RB and SS are probably on their priority list
AMAS85 - January 13, 2012
draft is full of 2nd round Guards. Maybe will be 5-6 taken in round 2!
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
I knew it was a pretty deep draft for OG.
Just didn’t know how many were 1-2 rounders. Thanks Joe and I guess secondary help would be needed before 2 first round picks on OL.
TCfromDubVee - January 13, 2012
What do we know about Reuben "west coast" Randle ? Anybody??
gratefulmax - January 13, 2012
Big, physical type of WR that kind of reminds me of a Dwayne Bowe type. Run after catch type of player. Good blocker. Tough man mentality. Solid-Good hands. Not a straight-line deep threat.
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
anytime you see “West Coast” in a player’s description it’s meant ti describe his Run After Catch abilities and ability to go over middle on crossing routes.
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
Sounds good to me. I would like Sanu to fall to us in the 2nd round.
TCfromDubVee - January 13, 2012
I would too. I think it’s unlikely though. We could see 8 WRs go before the Bengals pick in 2nd round.
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
Yeah,
I’ll keep my fingers crossed though.
TCfromDubVee - January 13, 2012
I won 3 championships with randle on Xbox last uear
He was the focal point of my offense. 8 man league,very competitive.
In all seriousness though, he is a jig strong dude and could definitely help us at WR2 but I still think we have much bigger needs through the second round
TruWhoDey - January 13, 2012 via iPhone app
LB
I think we need a dominant LB….Yes we have a ton of LBs right now…..but we need a dominant leader…I was hoping for Rey…..but we saw how that went this year…Look what Willis did to San Fran….look what Miller did to Denver….Maybe Moch is the answer???I know our guys are young….but are you guys sold on any one of our LBs to be a strong leader….I’m not…I know our guys are young…jus sayin
ticalcaldwell - January 13, 2012
I agree. A play-maker at SAM LB is a sleeper pick I could see them taking.
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
As I said in another post, I was really high Muchleroy
And really hope he can come back from his injury healthy and compete with Rey for the starting MLB job (and the coaches let it be an open competition). He reminds me of alot of Odell Thurman before he turned into a crack head alcoholic
biggie22 - January 13, 2012
What happened to Cordy Glenn
He’s is my favorite lineman in the draft. Georg is a run first team in the SEC so he is a proven guard. It seems the Bengals get into a trend of bringing alot of players from certain teams. USC and Georgia has been two major contributors to our roster. That lineman from UK looks good for a late round pick.
Bigcatdaddy - January 13, 2012 via mobile
I gave Cordy Glenn a 2nd round grade. I know other who have also. Slow, heavy feet. Undiscipline hands. Waist Bender. Doesn’t always use his strength & power. Drops his head when engaged. Will be better at Guard. Can move people in run game.
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
Cordy reminds me too much of Andre Smith
And that isn’t a good thing, I’m afraid.
Big Sky Bengal - January 13, 2012
Exact Comparison I wrote in his report
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
What rnd is Warford projected to go?
I’m not a big college football guy so I’m definitely out of my element talking about it.
Bigcatdaddy - January 13, 2012 via Android app
an O-lineman named Warford? Doesn’t ring a bell. Maybe he’s an underclassmen? What school?
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
Probably Larry Warford out of Kentucky
But it looks like he isn’t planning to enter the draft until 2013. And he’s projected 2nd – 3rd round in 2013 as far as I can tell.
Oregonbengalsfan - January 13, 2012
Thanks for the help. I only know the one who’ve declared.
Joe Goodberry - January 13, 2012 via Android app
Google helped me lol
I have pretty much just been following Walter Football’s declaring underclassman list
Speaking of Rueben Randle has declared also
Oregonbengalsfan - January 13, 2012
"Speaking of Rueben Randle has declared also"
Heh missed that part in the story up top
Oregonbengalsfan - January 13, 2012
That's the guy
I thought he was suppose to come out this year. I’ve seen a couple mocks that have us taking him in a late round. If he does come out he may be a late round steal.
Bigcatdaddy - January 13, 2012 via Android app
Looking things over
there will be changes, no matter the draft, at the Oline and Dline.
Three guys who play big minutes could be gone from Cincinnati’s oline with Williams, Livings and Collins UFA’s. What then? Personally I think all three are gone, especially Collins.
Three guys who play big minutes could be gone from the Dline too with Sims, Fanene and Rucker UFA’s. What then if they leave? I think Sims will resign, the others will be let go.
Secondary doesn’t face anywhere near an exodus as the above with only Pacman a UFA. He’s our bitch in any case and won’t get a better offer than the Bengals.
Add in the inconvenient fact that our run defense sucked down the stretch and the run offense sucked as bad, all together it tells me the Bengals will be working real hard in FA and the draft to address both lines and secondary will be a secondary concern.
BENGALS69 - January 13, 2012
I'm hoping we land a dominate guard
and a play maker on defense. I don’t care what position, though I’d prefer safety, just someone that opposing teams have to game plan for.
Throw the ball - January 13, 2012
we need to get our guards and d tackle in free agency
We still go be pretty young next year. Were going need vets on line. We re sign Williams and Boling and our guards a be good. We need Barron bad I’ll reach for him with first pick. Select Jenkins with 2nd pick. Grab a dominate dt in free agency and you’re probably have best d in division. Pittsburgh and Baltimore pretty much on there last run, too much over cap. Cincinnati should be one of most attractive teams in free agency.
pray4gm11 - January 13, 2012 via mobile
Be interesting to see how Marvin weighs up the Bama talent;
I think, for sure he felt saban played him a bit on Andres’ work ethic. I’d jump at Richardson or Dre Kirkpatrick(neck and neck with Claiborne as best cb in draft imho) but I’m not so sure about Hightower, I watched him a fair bit last year and he had alot of hype but was fairly ordinary,this year alot better but Rolando McLain looked similar in his last season and he has been a dud for the most part.
pilks1075 - January 13, 2012
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