Podcast: Why the Bengals should help, not replace, Andy Dalton in the NFL Draft

Will Brinson and John Breech break down why drafting Dalton's replacement could be the worst-case scenario

By Will Brinson

Apr 10, 2018 at 12:48 pm ET • 2 min read

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The Bengals are a bizarre team to examine when it comes to the first round of the NFL draft this year. They decided against rebooting the coaching staff and brought back Marvin Lewis despite another poor season in 2017. They have a lot of former first-round picks on both sides of the ball, but we're not sure they're great at anything.

Andy Dalton is ... the answer? We don't know. But we do know this: there are a lot of quarterbacks in the draft, and that means either some skill position guys are going to fall to the Bengals or a potential rookie quarterback is going to fall to the Bengals.

And my colleague John Breech, a lifelong Bengals fan by virtue of ball-kicking genetics, believes trying to find Dalton's replacement in the draft would be the worst-possible scenario for the Bengals this year. Right behind that? Using another first-round pick on a running back or a wide receiver a year after the debacle that was the John Ross pick.

Ross, rather famously, did not catch a pass last year. He was the fastest player at the combine, breaking Chris Johnson's 40-yard dash record, but the speed didn't translate.

For those scoring at home, the Bengals now have: A.J. Green (first round, 2011), Tyler Eifert (first round, 2013), Giovani Bernard (second round, 2013), Tyler Boyd (second round, 2016), Ross (first round, 2017) and Joe Mixon (second round, 2017) as skill-position guys taken in the first two rounds of the draft in recent years. Dalton's a second-round pick from the 2011 draft too, so there's a lot of investment and development.

Breech believes the Bengals need to protect that investment by doubling down on their offensive line. After trading down nine spots -- from No. 12 to No. 21 -- with the Bills and acquiring Cordy Glenn, the Bengals have insurance for Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher (also picks from the first two rounds!). Breech thinks they should draft another offensive lineman with a high pick, and he's got a good argument for that being the best-case scenario.

When you look at available players in the draft, it's very likely the Bengals could end up snaring someone like Notre Dame tackle Mike McGlinchey, Georgia guard Isaiah Wynn, or UTEP guard Will Hernandez with their pick at No. 21. Quarterback economics could easily push down these players into the Bengals' lap.

We also broke down the bizarre comments from Ray Lewis about Odell Beckham needing to find God (or something), the latest news about Andrew Luck (it's not great, Bob) as well as the latest Patriots drama surrounding Bill Belichick and Rob Gronkowski.