By Mike Wilkening
April 26, 2008

Keith Rivers

The Bengals' selection of WLB Keith Rivers raises two questions: Did the Bengals just get outmaneuvered by the Saints and Jaguars? Or was Rivers Cincinnati's pick all along?

It's no secret the Bengals need DL help. For weeks, USC DT Sedrick Ellis had been linked to them, and with good reason: The Bengals need a playmaking, productive defensive tackle, and Ellis fits the bill.

It had been assumed, for weeks, that Ellis would not drop past the Bengals at pick No. 9. Clearly, the Saints believed as much, swinging a trade with New England to move into the No. 7 selection and take Ellis.

As the impact of that move was just starting to sink in, the Ravens bailed out on the No. 8 spot on the board, trading the pick to Jacksonville for selections Nos. 26, 71, 89 and 125. The Jaguars' target: Florida DE Derrick Harvey — who, like Ellis, had been linked to the Bengals. 

If you like draft trades, thank the Bengals. And thank the draft rumor mill or grapevine or what have you, because these deals were clearly meant to beat Cincinnati to the punch. Now, perhaps the Bengals stoked this rumor mill with an eye on forcing teams to move ahead of them for these defensive linemen, or perhaps the Bengals' interest in a tackle or end early in this draft was overstated. But I doubt it.

The good news for Cincinnati is that Rivers could be an immediate starter in a defense that needed more speed at linebacker. With the return to health of Ahmad Brooks, the return from suspension of ILB Odell Thurman and the selection of Rivers, the Bengals won't run into the embarrassing depth and talent issues they had at the position at times a season ago.

Now, about that D-line ...