This Pick Unable To Answer All Of The Bengals Questions

A lot of teams have had issues this offseason, aside from the obvious lockout situation, but the Cincinnati Bengals are right up there in terms of in your face issues. What are they going to do with their receiving core, that went from scary to start last season, to gone this offseason. Their franchise quarterback wants to be traded or is threatening to retire, and their pro bowl running back of 2009 was a bit of a dud in 2010.

When looking at the defense they seem to be rather solid, to have young players growing into their positions at spots, and veterans and established players at other spots. Their corners are among the best duo in the league, and with young guys like Carlos Dunlap and Ray Maualuga in the front seven, to go with veterans like Dhani Jones and Domato Peko and Patrick Sims on the line they are set there in terms of spending a top four selection on those positions.

Where the Bengals are in the draft, and what they are being pressed into needing for this team to make last season a detour from the 2009 season's success, comes down to those two positions, wide receiver and quarterback. Terrel Owens and Chad Ochocinco might both be on their way out, the former moreso than the latter, but that means you need someone to fill that void. Losing not just one, but maybe two receivers of that caliber needs to be addressed and addressed quickly. Then on the other hand you can have all the receivers you want, but if there is nobody to get them the ball that is not going to help anyone. Is Carson Palmer really going to be out of Cincinnati? If that answer is yes then the club has to address that before anything else, because you can bring in a receiver to work with a quarterback and that can mesh quicker than a new quarterback trying to work with older receivers, learning curve is much more difficult.

So this pick comes down to one criteria, is Palmer the quarterback for Cincinnati's future? For the sake of this mock draft gonna have to say that Palmer is going to be gone, and with that comes the need for another quarterback. So now you have two names that are sort of hovering above the rest, Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert. Both have highs and lows, and question marks, but those are the names that the Bengals will have been dealt. Given that Marvin Lewis is indeed back as coach, the type of success they have had in the past with a quarterback like Palmer, and the easiest transition for the Bengals it would seem that the pick for Cincinnati would be Gabbert.

Predictions as of today for this pick:

Me: Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri
Mel Kiper: Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
Todd McShay: AJ Green, WR, Georgia
NewNFLDraft.com: Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri