Paul Oliver held his Pro Day on Wednesday to audition for the Supplemental Draft. The cornerback ran didn’t blow anyone away with his 4.5 range 40-yard time but he does possess good ball skills and footwork. He’s in the draft because he’s no longer eligible to play in college academically.

He’s a bit under 6 feet and 195 lbs. Last season, he had 57 tackles and 3 interceptions. He also shut down Calvin Johnson in Georgia’s win over Georgia Tech.

It would probably be a little too late for Oliver to contribute much this season but if they Bengals could get him for a third rounder, maybe a fourth rounder, it might not be a bad deal. The Bengals will have three or four compesatory picks in next year’s draft and they’ve shown that they will use the supplemental draft with their pick of Ahmad Brooks last year.

With Hall and Joseph, the Bengals have talent but Deltha O’Neal may not be around much longer. They also have a few guys that will be free agents so Oliver could create some depth and maybe help out in some nickel and dime packages.

We’ll have to wait and see if the Bengals bring him in for a workout. I’m hoping they at least give him a look. If they can get him for what they decide he’s worth giving up, he should be able to help out. Maybe not much this year, but in the future.

The Bengals have signed TE Bobby Blizzard to a one-year deal. He will be listed as a first-year player.

Blizzard had been playing for the NFL Europa Cologne Centurions. He is 6′4, 255 lbs and led his team in receptions (38), receiving yards (494) and touchdowns (6).

He was originally signed by the Steelers in ‘04 as a college free agent out of North Carolina. He has also spent time on the practice squads for the Ravens and Cardinals.

The last few years have been really nice heading into the new season. Bengals fans actually have some hope that they can contend and put a team out on the field that has the chance to win every week. This year should be the same. With that offense, you can’t help but be excited. Palmer is able to participate all throughout camp and he’s already had a season to test the knee (And a decent season it was). There is still room for improvement though. Palmer’s completion percentage was down but I think we’ll see that go back up this year. They need to get TJ and Chad to play well each week. There were too many weeks last year where one would play well and the other one was barely noticed. It would be great if Chris Henry was out there every week because he’s a great third wide receiver for these guys but we all know that he won’t be there at least the first eight weeks. It’s too bad, he is a great talent and fun to watch, especially in the red zone. I just hope he can turn his life around and stay out of trouble. I doubt he’s got many more second chances with this team.

It will be nice to have Rudy, a healthy Perry and now Irons to throw into the mix. The Bengals should be able to count on these guys for the tough yards. Chad should be Chad and TJ showed last year that he’s ready to move up to that next level. (I had TJ on my fantasy football team last year and he was an absolute steal for where I drafted him)

The biggest issues on offense are who’s going to play third fiddle at WR while Henry is suspended, will Reggie Kelly be enough at TE, and who is going to replace Steinbach?
    - That third WR spot might take awhile to be decided. Tab Perry should be healthy and he’s another fairly tall WR to put out there. 
    - I’m not sure if Reggie Kelly will be enough. The Bengals need him to step up and take some coverage away from the big two but maybe Chad and TJ can just play even better this year.
    - We might see a few changes on the offensive line but there are a few guys that can play so at least there’s a little depth.

We all know the offense can play so the defense should decide how this season goes (scary thought!). I’m hoping Odell Thurman comes back. They won’t tolerate any more trouble from him but if he can keep the bad news out and play like he did as a rookie, I won’t be the only happy fan. Leon Hall is a nice addition and Marvin White should see some action. Hopefully Ahmad Brooks will improve and everyone hopes David Pollack will be healthy and contributing. There are some questions about Edgarton Hartwells’ knees but if he’s healthy, he could be a very nice addition to the team. I was very happy to see Justin Smith come back. He’s a familiar face that knows the system and he goes out and plays hard every game.

So the defense has talent and if everyone does their job, this could be a really good year. They just can’t give up the yards and points they did last year. Carson and the gang can only score so many and even then, it’s sometimes not enough (San Diego game last year anyone?). All in all, I have hope yet again. And even though the last few years around .500 is much better
than they were a few years before, I think everyone expects more. If this is another disappointing year, changes may need to be made. I’d hate to have to get new coaches in and go through some transitioning so let’s hope this year is successful.

I’m just starting out on this site so I wanted to talk about the draft. It’s a little late but I wanted to share my opinion of what went down.I’ve seen good reports and I’ve seen bad reports on the Bengals most recent draft picks. I’ve seen alot of B’s and C’s given out. Overall, I think they did pretty well. Here’s a little rundown on what I think of their picks:

Leon Hall: I’ve seen almost all of Michigan’s games and Leon Hall was who I hoped would fall to the Bengals. When he was there and I saw the selection come through, I was elated. This guy can be a very good corner in the NFL and although I’m sure the team would like to bring him along slowly, he’s going to play (and have to play) much sooner than later. Also, Hall seems like a good character guy which is something the Bengals desperately needed after all of the drama from last year. I look for Hall to contribute quite a bit this year but he’ll only get better as time goes on.

Kenny Irons: I’ll admit, I was a bit surprised by this pick. I was hoping David Harris would be there but when he went right before the Bengals pick, I wasn’t sure who they would go for. I saw the pick and thought to myself “Huh…oh…hey…wait a minute…what?”. But the more I think about it, it was really a decent pick. I love Chris Perry but he keeps getting hurt. Rudy can really pound away at the defense but he’s going to need some breaks and this guy could be a nice change to throw in there.

Marvin White: I’ll admit I didn’t know much about him but
every time I read something about him, I get more excited about watching him play. He’s a hard hitter who will hopefully have a similar effect that Bob Sanders had for the Colts. The Bengals pass D gave up way too much last year but with Hall for coverage and White laying people out, things should be looking up. Heck, they can’t get worse can they? Let’s hope not.

Jeff Rowe: Here’s another pick that I immediately questioned. I still don’t know much about him so I’ll trust that the Bengals knew what they were doing. They do need a backup QB but there were several other quarterbacks that I would have chosen before him. With the speed that the Bengals have, they need a QB that can throw the long ball and that is apparently Rowe’s weakness.

Matt Toeaina: Seems like the guy has some talent. Hopefully they’ll put a little more weight on him. They probably could have gotten something else here but a little insurance never hurts.

Dan Santucci: Big guy and he played at Notre Dame so he’s gone up against good competition. With Steinbach gone, someone is going to have to step up. And if Stacy Andrews leaves, the depth chart is going to look slim.

Chinedum Ndukwe: From what I read, he looks like another hard hitter. Tackles well which would be a nice thing for a Bengals defender but he’s not the fastest guy out there. I’ll take the tackling though. Decent coverage skills and maybe he can help out on special teams. I do like that the Bengals are trying to get a tougher look.

So not a bad draft. A few holes got filled and they got some depth at a few other positions. I was disappointed (like everyone else) that they didn’t grab a TE. And a lot of people wanted to see a LB picked but you have to remember that Ahmad Brooks was technically a pick from this year’s draft. And he’s already got one year under his belt.