Pick no.1 a C
Oh dear....
Oh my ...
Oh my ....
Drops mic ....
I see that you find my choice a little shocking.
Here is a little historical support for picking a center in the first round of the draft:
I chose Blair Bush because I remember him. The Bengals had another center named Bob Johnson who may have been even better. Feel free to look him up if you think it is necessary.
1978, Round #1, Pick #16, The Cincinnati Bengals pick Blair Walter Bush, 6'3", 268 pounds.
(In 1978 he must have been one of the heaviest men on the field)
Played for Cincinnati 1978-1982
Played for Seattle 1983-1988,
Played for Green Bay 1988-1991
Played for Los Angeles Rams 1992-1994
Career stats:
Played for 17 seasons
Started in 161 games
Played in a total of 246 games
Played in 10 playoff games
Clearly a pretty good player and unusually successful, as seen by his 17 season career.
Apparently availability wasn't a problem!
What the Centers job consists of:
The Center the most important guy on the offensive line, and the second most important offensive player on the field, behind the QB.
The Centers job includes:
1) Putting the skill players in position to make plays.
2) He insures the runners have holes and the QB has time to throw the ball.
This is starting to sound like the offensive equivalent of some middle linebackers!
3) He passes (snaps) the ball to the QB (or other assigned ball receiver) from between his legs at the start of each play.
I imagine he also needs to be a pretty good pass and run blocker.
If there is an exceptional Center available in the first round, I feel we should get him.
We have three first round draft picks. Surely one of those would be soon enough to get a center. We could even trade one back for another 1st round pick and one, or two, or even three later round draft picks and should still be able to get a center.
I hope you can see the logic in my wanting a Center selected in the first round and the ease with which we could get him!