Some surprises, some risks in Bengals draft

CINCINNATI - It looked the Bengals were trying to keep everyone happy.  They split their ten picks right down the middle, five for the defense and five for the offense.  They addressed the needs that seemed very apparent.

"We've gotten younger, more athletic, bigger and stronger" said Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis following the Bengals final pick. "We had a big 3 days."

The Bengals have been trying to stockpile cornerbacks ever since Johnathan Joseph left Cincinnati and Leon Hall got hurt.  The Bengals took Alabama's Dre Kirkpatrick in the first round and Iowa's Shaun Prater in the fifth round.

They found help for the defensive line with two picks on Friday.  Massive Devon Still from Penn State was taken in round two. He was a unanimous Big Ten selection. In round three, the Bengals found wide-body Brandon Thompson, 6-2, 314 pounds out of Clemson. He was productive and he was durable with the Tigers.

Safety George Iloka from Boise State was picked by the Bengals in round five. He's tall at 6-3, and played most of his career at Boise at free safety.

With the departures of Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell, the Bengals needed an injection of talent at wide receiver.  One of their third round selections was Mohamed Sanu of Rutgers and one of their fifth round picks was Marvin Jones of California. He started 37 of his 38 games at Rutgers. Jones played four seasons with the Golden Bears.

The Bengals got rave reviews for their selection of Wisconsin offensive guard Kevin Zietler late in the first round. He didn't allow a quarterback sack during his entire career.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was tight end Orson Charles of Georgia.  Just two years ago, the Bengals made Jermaine Gresham their top pick.

The Bengals finished the draft by picking Dan Herron of Ohio State.  He scored 33 touchdowns as a Buckeye.

(The attached video features comments from Still, Thompson and Sanu during a news conference at Paul Brown Stadium on Saturday afternoon)