Cincinnati Bengals: Grading the Team's Day 2 of 2012 NFL Draft

The Bengals did a tremendous job of filling two massive holes on the roster in the first round and managed to pick up an extra selection to boot.

Entering the second day of the draft, Cincinnati needed to find a running back, a second wide receiver opposite A.J. Green and defensive-line depth.

The Bengals elected to address the defensive-line depth by taking Penn State defensive tackle Devon Still.

Still was easily the best player available at any position when Isaac Curtis walked to the podium. The defensive tackle position was ridiculously deep this year, Still is a first-round selection in almost any other draft.

The 2012 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year stands at 6’5” and 300lbs. Still is a bulky tackle that has the ability to do it all defensively. He’s an effective pass-rusher that will line up next to Geno Atkins in passing situations.

Still is also effective at clogging running lanes. He isn’t the biggest tackle but he regularly absorbed two offensive linemen allowing other to make plays around him while at Penn State. This ability in the middle is something that will make the lives of defensive ends Carlos Dunlap and Michael Johnson much easier.

Still is also a great pickup for the future because Pat Sims is only on a one-year deal. There wasn’t any depth to speak of on the roster going into this season behind Sims, Atkins and Domata Peko. Now there is—a first-round prospect that happened to fall into the second round.

Continuing the trend of taking falling players at an amazing value, the Bengals then selected Rutgers receiver Mohamed Sanu.

Sanu is a great possession receiver that has the ability to play all three positions. Standing at 6’2” 210lbs, he is a perfect fit on the opposite side of the field from A.J. Green.

Sanu is eerily strong for his size, which makes it hard for corners to jam him at the line. It also means he’s ferocious when it comes to run-blocking. However, easily his best trait are his outstanding hands; he simply catches anything thrown his way.

Sanu was projected to go in the second round, but he’s a perfect fit for the Bengals in the third. To put it into perspective, he’s almost a mirror image of former Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh—with a better personality and attitude.

Finally, with the pick obtained from the New England Patriots—by moving down in the first round from 21 to 27—the Bengals made defensive tackle Brandon Thompson out of Clemson pick No. 93 in the draft.

Thompson, at one point, was projected as a second-round selection this offseason before seeing his stock fall because of his short arms and build at 6'2" 315lbs.

Thompson is a run-stuffing machine who's best trait is his explosion off the snap. He'll join a defensive-line rotation that is now suddenly very deep. For a third-round pick, Thomson is a great selection.

To conclude, the Bengals entered the second day of the draft with clear-cut needs and managed to address a few while getting jaw-dropping value at each selection.

Cincinnati managed to find a true number-two receiver who should have been taken much earlier. They also added a defensive tackle in Still that should have been selected in the early second round.

The Bengals passing offense is now complete thanks to the addition of Sanu. The team's defensive line is now one of the deeper units in the league. The future of the line is now intact with Atkins, Still and Thompson under contract for a long time.

Cincinnati didn't take a running back as many expected but came out with a best-player-available strategy that is going to work wonders for the team in the future.

Final Grad: B+

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