News-Record.com

And who exactly is "they"? Primarily NFL analysts, wonks, fantasy geeks and Cincy fans.

This would-be GM "redrafted" for the Bengals, i.e. letting us know who he would have picked based on who was available at the time of each Cincy pick. Let's just say he wasn't pleased with the Simpson pick:

Second round, 15th pick, 46 overall. Cincy picked Jerome Simpson, a wide receiver out of the Carolina School of the Beach. I would have picked ANYONE ELSE. AAAAAAAAHHHHH. As my brother-in-law said, every year the Bengals just have a head-scratcher. This is it. Hope I’m wrong. At this point, I really wanted Quentin Groves, DE/rush linebacker from Auburn. Calais Campbell from the U would have been a pick here as well. If you needed to draft a wideout, Limas Sweed or Malcolm Kelly were on the board.

Allrighty then. Moving on ...

The fantasy guys feel pretty good about Simpson. They like the fact he's going to a team that has already lost one of its top three receivers (Chris Henry) and probably will part ways with another (guy by the name of Chad Johnson). Here's the take from the Sporting News.

16. Jerome Simpson, WR, Bengals. You might have heard something about Chad Johnson being unhappy and possibly holding out of Cincy. Whatever happens, Cincy seems ready to move on without him. Simpson is part of the moving on. The Bengals also grabbed another wideout, Andre Caldwell, later in the draft, but this Coastal Carolina product has a real good shot for extensive playing time, either as a No. 3 to replace Chris Henry, or a No. 2 pressed into duty if the team remains without Johnson.

This Cincy Enquirer article is pretty much down the middle, giving the Bengals brass plenty of room to explain why they went with Simpson. But check on the headling and the graphic at the bottom. Looks like the guys on the copy desk aren't happy with the pick. Yes, readers, we writers rarely, if ever, write the headlines. If I had a dime every time I got yelled at by someone who didn't like a headline on my story that I had no role in ... but I digress.

The Enquirer also had a draft analysis that was pretty harsh on Simpson. In, part writer Mark Carnutte didn't like Simpson because the Bengals needed so much defense. That's a fair argument. But Carnutte also took issue with Cincy's decision to pick Simpson before other receivers with more name recognition.

But the Bengals ignored defense again in the second round, giving in to the temptation to add a wide receiver from a small school who played against sub-par competition and doesn't even return kicks. Still, the team crowed over Coastal Carolina wide receiver Jerome Simpson, who was a projected fifth- or sixth-round pick by Pro Football Weekly and other draft publications.

Then there was this:

NFLDraftScout.com said the pro player Simpson most resembles is T.J. Houshmandzadeh. But it took Houshmandzadeh, a seventh-round pick, until his fourth season to produce at a high level.

Okay, I think it's time for me to step in with my own opinion here. After all, this is my blog. It's my right. Call me a homer if you want, but I've got a few bones to pick with this analysis.

Is Simpson's competition an issue? Sure. But the way this was written makes it sound like I-AA guys should never be picked, just on principal. Goodbye Steve McNair, Jerry Rice and Walter Payton, I guess.

It would be nice if Simpson returned kicks, I guess. But how many NFL teams use a starting wideout - which is what the Bengals want Simpson to become - as a returner? Not many. So that seems like nitpicking.

As for the comment that most draft publications had Simpson rated as a fifth or sixth-round pick, I'd have to ask - when where those publications published? Because after Simpson's East-West performance and his numbers at the combine, his stock rose steadily. Heck the other article in the same paper mentioned that Simpson thought he'd be a late second-round or third-round pick. What do you go with - what the player's been hearing directly from NFL teams, or a magazine? I'll take the former. And that echoes what I'd been hearing as well. I thought Simpson would go in the third round based on what I'd been told. So yeah, the second round was a surprise, but certainly not a shock.

Then there's the final comment about how Simpson's been compared to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. That would seem like a good thing given T.J.'s all-pro stature. But to Carnutte this is a problem, because it took Housh four years to get to that level.

I've got some bad news then for Carnutte. That's not unusual for wideouts. Guys like Anquan Boldin, who come in and make an immediate impact at wideout as rookies are very, very rare. To use a local example, check out what Steve Smith did his first season with the Panthers.

If Carnutte's ticked because he doesn't think Simpson will immediately fill a void left by Henry and/or Johnson, I get that. But more than likiely none of the other receivers taken in the second round would be immediate NFL gamebreakers either. In this case, Carnutte should be taking the Bengals to task for not signing a veteran free agent who can step in immediately.

Hey, if Cincy got another Houshmandzadeh in Simpson in the second round, I'd call that a steal, not a reach.