Welcome back folks. As Dexter Morgan infamously says, tonight’s the night. And by tonight, I mean, of course, Thursday night! THE NFL DRAFT BEGINS!!! We’re here for the final 16 picks of our mock draft first round. CHECK OUT PART 1 HERE. Enjoy!!!
Mark: With the 17th pick in the 2012 Thread Mock Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select Dre Kirkpatrick, Cornerback, Alabama.
It was very tempting to give the Bengals Janoris Jenkins with this pick (who may actually be the most talented corner available). It fits their philosophy to draft or sign extremely talented players who’s stock has taken a hit due to character red flags. Also, just the idea of the dream team of Jenkins and Pac Man Jones as your starting corners is unreal. Opposing receivers would fail drug test just from the second hand smoke coming from Jenkins and Pac Man. Children of strippers would have college funds started because of the money “raining” down from Jenkins and Pac Man. I’d want a season long edition of a Hard Knocks like show to follow them around all season if they ended up on the same team.
Anyway, the Bengals are trying to clean up their image, so they go with Kirkpatrick because of his great man-to-man coverage skill, which is something Cincy likes to do a lot, and the fact that he is a good character guy. It also helps that the Bengals are picking again in four picks (this is originally the Raiders pick, thanks a lot Hue Jackson), so the Bengals have some flexibility to go after another need here if there is a more highly rated player available and still get some help for their secondary at pick 21.
