Monday, April 19, 1999
Draft leaves questions unanswered
Nose tackle, offensive line aren't addressed
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The only things the Bengals lead the NFL in are quarterbacks and question marks. Have no fear. On Draft Weekend, the Bengals padded their lead.
AP COVERAGE
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BENGALS PICKS
 1. Akili Smith,
QB, Oregon
2. Charles Fisher,
CB, West Va.
3. Cory Hall,
S, Fresno St.
4. Craig Yeast,
WR, Kentucky
5. Nick Williams,
RB, Miami (Fla)
6. Kelly Gregg,
NT, Oklahoma
7. Tony Coats,
G, Washington
7. Scott Covington,
QB, Miami (Fla)
7. Donald Broomfield,
DT, Clemson
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If you were looking for a sure thing, don't look at their top four picks. The first two, Oregon quarterback Akili Smith and West Virginia cornerback Charles Fisher, weren't even a twinkle in a scout's eye before they had solid senior years.
They had their third pick, Fresno State safety Cory Hall, rated higher by a round or two than most draft experts.
And while their fourth pick, Kentucky wide receiver Craig Yeast, is the most proven and experienced of the lot, they didn't exactly answer the Carl Pickens' dilemma with a player shorter (5-foot-7) and lighter (161 pounds) than most of the media covering the draft. Yeast should be a wonderful third receiver, but Wilie Jackson still looms as Pickens' every-down successor.
“I'm hoping Carl comes back, to tell you the truth,” said coach Bruce Coslet.
Told of the Yeast pick Sunday, Steve Zucker, Pickens' agent, said, “That's good. They've got a spot for him. We knew for months they were going to draft a quarterback. Carl wants to be on a new team this year.”
The Bengals will at least have some new names. Fifth-round pick Nick Williams is going to push Brian Milne at fullback, but they didn't solve their nose tackle problem by drafting Kelly Gregg in the sixth round.
Bengals President Mike Brown doesn't think his top two picks are merely one-year wonders.
“They did pretty well the one year, they proved they could,” Brown said. “I think they met the test. Not everyone plays three or four years at a high level in college, for whatever the reason. The fact they come in there last year and do well, that's satisfactory to us.”
Free agency hung over the draft room. It's forcing them to do more than deal with Pickens. It's forcing them to fill holes rather than build.
They were delighted to get Hall in the third-round, a 202-pound safety who can run 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash. But the pick raised some eyebrows around the league. One NFL scout called Hall “a free agent.”
But the Cincinnati coaches compared him to Sam Shade, their starting strong safety who would have stayed last August if the Bengals paid him $1.8 million per year.
Instead, the Redskins got Shade for about $2.5 million per year back in February. Which meant in April the Bengals had to expend a third-round pick on another safety instead of being able to make a run at, say, UCLA left tackle Kris Farris.
Free agency made the drafting of Fisher the most angst-filled moment of the weekend. Forget the Saints' offer of three first-round draft picks for the Bengals' No. 3.
Bengals President Mike Brown said the real pressure was watching the cornerbacks fly off the board as Cincinnati's second-round pick neared. Fisher was the last corner available who's got a shot at starting. If the Vikings or Broncos grabbed him at the bottom of the first round, the Bengals would have been sunk.
That's the price of failing to offer cornerback Ashley Ambrose the same $4 million per year deal they offered free-agent corner Jeff Burris 14 months ago. Still, Fisher's presence doesn't mean the Bengals will stop pursuing Ambrose or Rams free agent Ryan McNeil.
It's hard to see them being comfortable about starting the season with a rookie and second-year man Artrell Hawkins at the corners. Fisher can run and has natural skills, but he also has some rough spots since he's only started one full season. In 1997, he rotated as a co-starter.
But Brown sounded like it might happen, although he's hoping the draft has narrowed the market for Ambrose and McNeil and their demands will drop.
“We went last year at corner with a rookie and we could do it again,” Brown said. “That doesn't mean we won't be talking to free agents ... If it brings their price into our range, we'll try to go after them. If it doesn't change matters with them, we'll have to go with what we have.”
The Bengals admit free agency has forced them to draft for need.
Of course, the biggest one-year wonder of this draft is Smith, who rotated as a starter his junior year at Oregon after coming out of junior college and then going supersonic for the Ducks.
Steve Mooshagian, the Bengals' new receivers coach, insists Smith is not a flash in the pan. Mooshagian is Cincinnati's West Coast connection. He came from the University of Pittsburgh after stints at Nevada, Fresno State, and Fresno City College. At Fresno City, Smith strafed Mooshagian's team with three second-half touchdown passes in Smith's debut for Grossmont College.
“He's not just a one-year guy,” Mooshagian said. “Oregon runs a version of the West Coast offense and he did a lot of things we're going to do here.”
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