By taking Washington running back Corey Dillon in the second round of the NFL draft and Miami safety Tremain Mack in the fourth round, the Bengals may have set themselves up for a big payoff or big problems.

Both players have extensive court records - Dillon repeatedly was in Juvenile Court and Mack was arrested six times in four years.

''There was some risk involved and we understood that,'' Bengals coach Bruce Coslet said Sunday.

The Bengals, who have a history of giving second chances to troubled players, figured they were worth the risk. If Dillon stays out of trouble, he will push Ki-Jana Carter for the starting job. If Mack stays out of trouble, he will become the team's best special-teams player and a candidate for free safety.

If the two continue to get into difficulty, the Bengals will find themselves on the defensive about wasting picks on problem players.

''You get all kinds and different types, guys that were choir boys and guys that have gotten in trouble,'' Coslet said. ''And you weigh that with their talent, with what they've done lately - if they were in trouble, what they've done about it. We're concerned about that kind of stuff.''

In a sense, they're used to it. This is the franchise that gave opportunities to Stanley Wilson, Lewis Billups and Reggie Rembert. During the weekend, cornerback Corey Sawyer was being sought in Florida on a domestic battery charge against his girlfriend.

The upside: It's not too much of a stretch to declare that the Bengals obtained first-round players with their top four selections.

The Bengals took a different kind of gamble with their first-round pick, taking defensive end Reinard Wilson of Florida State with the idea of converting him to right outside linebacker. They passed up two highly-rated linebackers, Dwayne Rudd of Alabama and Jamie Sharper of Virginia.

By taking Dillon in the second round, the Bengals sent notice to Carter, who made little impact last season and hasn't stayed in shape during the offseason, that his job is in jeopardy. "There will be a competition,'' General Manager Mike Brown said.

Although the No. 3 pick, Michigan center Rod Payne, was widely rated the nation's top center, this happened to be a year when nobody desperately needed a player at that spot.

All in all, the Bengals took two linebackers - adding Canute Curtis of West Virginia in the sixth; two nose tackles - Andre Purvis of North Carolina in the fifth round and William Carr of Michigan in the seventh; one running back and one center.