Lewis Looks for a G.M.; OldCleat is Happy with Lewis

According to Yahoo Sports Rumors, Marvin Lewis says that the Bengals need a G.M. in charge of personnel.

They have a reputation for drafting guys other teams take off their boards, according to the report.

But the Bengals have done a pretty good to darned good job drafting under Lewis, with some missteps.

OldCleat will be taking a look at the Bengals draft under Lewis.

Lewis's first pick as Bengals defacto G.M. in the 2003 draft was Carson Palmer, who was picked first overall. There were those who thought that Kyle Boller was going to be a better NFL QB. (Chris Mortensen, Len Pasquarelli were there.) So, that goes a little ways toward very good.

Second round, he picked up Eric Steinbach, which was an excellent pick. Third round, 65 overall, Kelley Washington out of Tennessee. I thought this was a great pick. Washington was a very good SEC player. Didn't turn out that way. Look who they passed up:

66 Cory Redding DE Texas Detroit Lions
67 Antwan Peek LB Cincinnati Houston Texans
68 Lance Briggs OLB Arizona Chicago Bears
69 Jason Witten TE Tennessee Dallas Cowboys

Ouch. Fourth round, 98, Dennis Weathersby, CB. Again, was a risk/reward pick. Gunshot victim as a bystander, he might have worked out, but he was injured in a car wreck and was forced from the game. Here is who the Bengals passed on:

99 Artose Pinner RB Kentucky Detroit Lions
100 Todd Johnson DB Florida Chicago Bears
101 Domanick Williams RB Louisiana State Houston Texans
102 Montrae Holland G Florida State New Orleans Saints
103 Bradie James LB Louisiana State Dallas Cowboys
104 George Wrighster TE Oregon Jacksonville Jaguars
105 Onterrio Smith RB Oregon Minnesota Vikings
106 Shaun McDonald WR Arizona State St. Louis Rams
107 DeJuan Groce CB Nebraska St. Louis Rams

Holland is pretty good, James not bad, McDonald has contributed, but, all in all, no big deal.

Second fourth round pick was Jermi Johnson, the slightly overrated FB still on the team. Pretty good.

Fifth round, Khalid Abdullah, a linebacker from Linebacker U II, Mars Hill. Confusing. Who Marvin missed out on:

137 Terrence Holt DB North Carolina State Detroit Lions
138 Robert Mathis DE Alabama A&M Indianapolis Colts
139 Bobby Wade WR Arizona Chicago Bears
140 Derek Pagel DB Iowa New York Jets

Not good. Sixth round was Langston Moore out of South Carolina, a pretty good pick who is currently on the Lions. Pretty good. Scott Kooistra, a seventh rounder, is the backup right tackle, and he was a pretty good pick. The Bengals also took Elton Patterson in the seventh.

The next year was supposed to be Marvin's big draft. He was saying that he knew better what he was doing. The first thing he did was trade out of No. 17 down to 24, picking up starting CB Deltha O'Neal. The Broncos took DJ Williams from Miami. I still take this trade. So far, so good.

Then, Marvin traded down to 26, passing on Steven Jackson. The Bengals took Chris Perry from Michigan instead. Oops. Nobody thought this was good except for Marvin. Bengals also picked up Stacy Andrews in the fourth round. Here are some of the other players the Bengals passed on for No. 26:

27 Jason Babin OLB Western Michigan Houston Texans
28 Chris Gamble CB Ohio State Carolina Panthers
29 Michael Jenkins WR Ohio State Atlanta Falcons
30 Kevin Jones RB Virginia Tech Detroit Lions
31 Rashaun Woods WR Oklahoma State San Francisco 49ers
32 Benjamin Watson TE Georgia New England Patriots

I would say the Bengals were about in the middle of that mess. Gamble might have been nice. Watson is a good TE.

Second round, 49 overall, they picked Keiwan Ratliff, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year CB at Florida. The Bengals just recently cut him. I thought it was a great pick. They got some value out of him, but in the end, he couldn't really cut it as a nickle back. Here are who they passed on.

50 Devery Henderson WR Louisiana State New Orleans Saints
51 Dwan Edwards DT Oregon State Baltimore Ravens
52 Jacob Rogers T USC Dallas Cowboys
53 Michael Boulware DB Florida State Seattle Seahawks
54 Darius Watts WR Marshall Denver Broncos
58 Shawntae Spencer CB Pittsburgh San Francisco 49ers

So they were in the middle to the end of that. Spencer is at least a nickle back.

Not so good there. Then, with the second second round pick they got from the Patriots for Corey Dillon, the Bengals took Madieu Williams. I thought it was a bad pick, and that turned out great. I think he is one of the most underrated safeties in the game.

Third round, No. 80 overall, Bengals take skinney LB from Arkansas, Caleb Miller. That is an OK pick. He is a good backup, special teams player, occasional starter. Here's who they passed on:

81 Chris Cooley TE Utah State Washington Redskins
82 Devard Darling WR Washington State Baltimore Ravens
83 Stephen Peterman G Louisiana State Dallas Cowboys
84 Sean Locklear G North Carolina State Seattle Seahawks
85 Jeremy LeSueur CB Michigan Denver Broncos
86 Jorge Cordova LB Nevada-Reno Jacksonville Jaguars
87 B.J. Sander P Ohio State Green Bay Packers
88 Darrion Scott DE Ohio State Minnesota Vikings
89 Matt Ware DB UCLA Philadelphia Eagles
90 Matt Schaub QB Virginia Atlanta Falcons

So they were near the top of that group. Chris Cooley, Darrion Scott, Matt Schaub, not bad. The others, not great. Last pick of the third round, Bengals take Landon Johnson, a very good pick. He as been a starter for most of his career. Who they passed on:

97 Reggie Torbor DE Auburn New York Giants
98 Shaun Phillips LB Purdue San Diego Chargers
99 Carlos Francis WR Texas Tech Oakland Raiders
100 Alex Stepanovich C Ohio State Arizona Cardinals
101 Demorrio Williams LB Nebraska Atlanta Falcons
102 Will Poole CB USC Miami Dolphins
103 Bo Schobel DE Texas Christian Tennessee Titans

Phillips and Schobel are very good players. But Johnson is just a step or two below that, I think.

Fourth round, Bengals pick Matthias Askew, a DT from Michigan State who really didn't work out. They passed on:

115 Nat Dorsey T Georgia Tech Minnesota Vikings
116 Niko Koutouvides LB Purdue Seattle Seahawks

So no big deal. 117 overall, they take Robert Geathers, DE, out of Georgia. GREAT pick. Sure, he may be a bit overrated because of the sacks, but he's pretty good.

118 Anthony Maddox DT Delta State Jacksonville Jaguars
119 Mewelde Moore RB Tulane Minnesota Vikings
120 Ernest Wilford WR Virginia Tech Jacksonville Jaguars
121 Bruce Thornton CB Georgia Dallas Cowboys
122 Glenn Earl SS Notre Dame Houston Texans

So that's a great pick. Then they took Andrews 123 overall. They passed on:

124 Michael Waddell CB North Carolina Tennessee Titans
125 Jason David CB Washington State Indianapolis Colts
126 Jared Allen DE Idaho State Kansas City Chiefs
127 Richard Seigler LB Oregon State San Francisco 49ers
128 Cedric Cobbs RB Arkansas New England Patriots
129 J.R. Reed DB South Florida Philadelphia Eagles
130 Brandon Chillar OLB UCLA St. Louis Rams
131 Trey Darilek T Texas-El Paso Philadelphia Eagles
132 Adrian Jones T Kansas New York Jets

Sure, Jared Allen hurts. But Andrews is a starting quality guard, and I do think that he could be a starting right tackle in the league.

NFL Leaders in 1997

Just looking at some NFL history. Went back ten years.

In 1997, the overall touchdown leader was a player in his second year in the NFL. I would not have guessed this if you gave me 25 clues. Here they are:

1. He played for the Miami Dolphins.
2. In 1999, he played for the Cleveland Browns.
3. He went to UCLA.
4. He was drafted in the third round of the 1998 draft.
5. He rushed for over 1,000 yards as a rookie in 1998.
6. He shared a name with another standout UCLA athlete, at least in pronounciation, if not spelling.

Give up?

It was Karim Abdul-Jabbar. How soon we forget.

OK, here's another one:

This Oakland Raider running back in 1997 finished fifth in the NFL in rushing with 1,294 yards. Who was he?

1. It was his third year in the NFL.
2. He was a first-round pick by the Raiders in 1995.
3. He went to the University of Washington.
4. He finished ninth in Heisman voting in 1994.
5. He ended up splitting time with Tyrone Wheatley after the '95 season.
6. He shares a first name with a little French dictator of the Nineteenth Century.

Give up?

It was Napolean Kaufmann.

OK. Last one. In 1997, this quarterback lead the NFL with 35 TD passes. I'll give you one clue:

1. In 1997, he played for the Green Bay Packers.

Da Cubss ... Why This Year Feels Different

Just being in Chicago with the Cubs in the playoffs, 2007 feels so much different than 2003. I am not a Cubs fan, but I've lived among them now for 22 years. They are in the playoffs (though they lost Game One last night). But this year is different.

In 2003, there was actual hope. In Dusty did they all Trusty. They had Wood. And Prior Knowledge.

But then came Game Six of the 2003 NLCS. You know, the game with He Who Shall Not Be Named in OldCleat's blog because it was not his fault, really.

Having gone to the seat that the unfortunate Cubs fan sat in and looking down on the field, it looks to me like Moises Alou would have had to have been Dikembe Mutumbo to have gotten that pop foul.

Anyway, it wasn't just that game, I believe, that has exacerbated the angst. The strum und drang.

First, it was the Red Sox. Misery loves company, and when they won it in '04, it gave the Cub fans hope for '05, which, of course, hurt worse when it didn't happen.

But at least it wasn't happening for Chicago baseball.

Then came 2005. Grinder Ball. Ozzie. Good Guys Wear Black.

When the White Sox won the Series in '05, that was when the Cubs fans KNEW that they were toast. No more Sammy. No more Dusty. No more Woody (well ... he is sorta still around).

The Cubs in 2006 were a morass. They finished in sixth place in the N.L. Central.

But with Sweet Lou and a whole bunch of money, they turned it around and got in the playoffs by finishing first in the Central this year.

And I have never seen more long, unhappy faces.

Sure, they are all wearing their silly Cub uni tops. And they act like they believe.

But they don't. They sit in fear and loathing, waiting for the crapola to hit the old fan. It isn't fun. '98 was fun. 2003 was more fun than this. Nothin', of course, beat 1984. But this is just morose.

Have some fun, Cub fans. It sure as hell beats having seven losing seasons in a row, like the Reds have had.