Previous Five Picks
4) Oakland Raiders: DeSean Jackson, WR, California
5) Kansas City Chiefs: Chris Long, DE, Virginia
6) New York Jets: Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
7) New England Patriots: Vernon Gholston, DE/OLB, Ohio State
8) Baltimore Ravens: Ryan Clady, OT, Boise State
Click here to see the entire Mock Draft.
The Longest Mock Draft in NFL History Continues...
Something I failed to take into consideration when planning this 230,000-word mock draft was the fact that if I write about the same players 15 times I’m guaranteed to start repeating myself.
I may like listening to myself say the same thing over and over again, but I’m not sure anyone else does (my wife tells me nobody does).
This thing is a work-in-progress—I’m not sure a 31-part column has ever been attempted before. If it has, I guarantee that I didn’t have the attention span to read it all the way through.
So I’ve decided to make a few changes to the format of the Mock Draft entries:
1) I’m only going to write a blurb about the actual pick, not the potential picks. This should limit my ridiculous habit of repeating myself over and over again.
2) Instead of posting all of the previous picks at the top of the column, I’m just going to list the last five.
3) I’ll keep a running tally of the entire mock draft on my blog, here.
Hopefully these changes will keep things running smoothly the rest of the way...
Pick No. 9: The Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals were a huge disappointment last year.
Before the start of the 2007 season, I had the Bengals as a team on the rise. Their season was derailed by a tremendous amount of off-field issues and a serious lack of on-field performance.
I don’t buy the blaming of Chad Johnson, and frankly I don’t understand it.
Chad Johnson may be flamboyant and he may take his celebrations a little too far sometimes, but I would counter with the following:
1) It should be noted that you can’t have an excessive touchdown celebration unless you’re scoring touchdowns.
2) The “No Fun League” needs guys like Chad Johnson.
3) Shouldn’t the Bengals clean up their off-field issues before addressing something minor like a wide receiver who celebrates a little too much?
The fact that an offense with Chad Johnson, TJ “Championship” Houshmandzadeh, and Carson Palmer isn't scoring points in bunches is insane.
The Bengals should be winning games like the 2003 and 2004 Colts—by outscoring everyone and playing very little defense.
Instead, they're playing very little defense and sputtering on offense. It's hard to understand.
We should be talking about a team in need of nothing more than a few defensive additions. A team that’s one or two defensive players away from the elite teams in the AFC.
Instead I’m talking about a team that struggled everywhere last season.
Which leads to the question everyone should be asking: How the heck is Marvin Lewis sliding through this offseason while retaining his employment?
His team lacks discipline both on and off the field.
His team has underperformed two years in a row.
He’s Brian Billick—except he’s never won a Super Bowl as a head coach.
If the Bengals don’t turn things around next year I can’t envision any scenario where Lewis keeps his job.
Of course, after this season I couldn’t envision a scenario where he kept his job either. So what do I know?
The Bengals need better coaching on the offensive side of the ball.
They need better players on the defensive side of the ball.
I expect them to address defense early and often in the draft. The coaching may end up waiting until the next head coach.
The Pick: Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC
Sedrick Ellis is the best defensive player left on the board in the mock draft.
Ellis is a defensive force. He’s strong, athletic, can push offensive linemen around, is great against the run (which is something the Bengals need), and can get after the quarterback with the best of them.
Ellis goes nonstop right through the whistle and knows how to make plays in the offensive backfield.
Most importantly for the Bengals, he’s a solid character guy. He’s a leader with great intangibles. He’s the type of player the Bengals need.
If he’s available at the ninth pick, the Bengals won't walk, they'll run up to the podium to announce their selection of the big man from USC.
I’m SeanMC.
SeanMC is a Columnist at Bleacher Report. His archive can be found here. You can find everything he writes, including articles for other publications, here.
comments (15) write a comment »
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5 months ago
could you envision Sedrick going to the patriots and the bengals getting Gholston instead?
from 5 months ago
Sedrick might be a little small for the Patriots' system.
5 months ago
Sean:
Sedrick will be gone well before 9. Get your facts straight
from 5 months ago
This is called a "Mock Draft" for a reason. He is putting HIS predictions of where he thinks the chips will fall on draft day. The fact that he's this far into it before the NFL combine is impressive to me. What facts does he have to get straight? This is his prediction, he doesn't need to prove that this is who he thinks will be picked.
5 months ago
STOMPED OUT!!!!!!!!!!
The pats got destroyed, the score didn't show it. You guys are still in denial two weeks later come on. We slapped you guys around on both sides of the ball the whole game. I have people writing comments about luck and no-calls ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Do you guys have meetings with one another and plan the bullshit comments and excuses your all gonna use so you sound like you actually make a point. Recent Pats excuses i've heard 1) Brady was obviously hurt-his performance shows that- GUESS WHAT THAT"S A BULLSHIT EXCUSE 2) Giants Got Lucky- Another BULLSHIT EXCUSE only people who get their asses kicked use this lame weak pitiful excuse 3) The refs didn't make any calls for the pats VEGAS must have called-If you go to pg. 56 in sports illustrated you can see a clear picture of our defensive line being held by the giants offensive line and we didn't get that call either- ANOTHER BULLSHIT EXCUSE Your team is the NE Pats and your gonna talk about suspect calls and games that looked like they were fixed. You all sad sad people wake up! You got beat down physically very very badly. Not the by the score thats not my point. PHYSICALLY the pats took an ass kicking and it's time for the fans to shut up and stop making excuses for the loss and let it go.
from 5 months ago
wat provoked this comment??? i saw nothing to make u say this
5 months ago
Sean How does Eli Manning Taste? Maybe you can write an article about that
from 5 months ago
I like that Giants fans are following me around and commenting on my columns even when I don't mention them. Warms my heart.
from 5 months ago
I don't understand this either. They won the Super Bowl, Eli's MVP, just please celebrate quietly and be quiet. Why don't you read Sean's articles because they're good and give him your opinion on how they could be better and what you liked instead of yelling about the Giants' victory. All of us watched the game Sunday and all of us saw what happened. There's no need to keep bringing this topic off. It's in the past now. Please move on all you Giants' fans who make ignorant comments and get ready for baseball season.
5 months ago
Lets be fair, the Bengals will probably go after someone in the secondary or another running back. I'm a Bengals fan and I have been anything but impressed with their drafting in the early rounds for as long as I can remember.
5 months ago
Lets be fair, the Bengals will probably go after someone in the secondary or another running back. I'm a Bengals fan and I have been anything but impressed with their drafting in the early rounds for as long as I can remember.
5 months ago
I like the pick of Ellis hear. He is a bit of a high riser going into the combine but he is the real deal in my opinion.
5 months ago
SEAN is a fat black dick sucking homo. The only 2 things SEAN likes more than his Patriots is, sucking on fat black dicks and eating Lucky Charms. Hey SEAN, I'll see you on your Raiders page, bitch!
4 months ago
Just an FYI.... Marvin has 1 year left on his contract. Things aren't so bad that Mike Brown's cheap ass is willing to pay for a coach who isnt even coaching, as he would if he fired him this year.
I personally have mixed opinions on Marvin, but Chad is overreacting to overreactions by Bengal fans....I like him. Rosenhaus could be to blame too.
4 months ago
O and Brandon....
I think the Bengals are finally happy with the young talent at secondary (Hall, Joseph, White, Ndukwe) so I don't see them drafting there. I think its a safe assumption they go front 7 and pretty likely its D-Line.
Are you gonna tell me you wouldn't have taken Hall with that pick last year?
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