Our continuation of the series looking at the Bengals 10 worst draft picks when drafting from a top 10 position:

10. Greg Cook, QB, University of Cincinnati, 5th Overall Pick in 1969

9. Justin Smith, DE, University of Missouri, 4th Overall Pick in 2001

Justin Smith has been underappreciated by Bengals fans based on his draft position. But lucky for him, his draft position has caused him to be greatly over-appreciated when it comes to his paychecks. Smith was drafted 4th overall in 2001 after notching 11 sacks as a junior at Missouri. That year, Missouri went 3-8, and Justin Smith had 4 of his sacks against the always stellar offensive line of Baylor University in a 25 point Missouri win. He was selected as an All-American which is understandable given that he was bigger, stronger and faster than the linemen in the Big 12 that season. He deserved recognition as he is an NFL level talent, but he was by no means worthy of a top 4 pick by the Bengals. Defensive end is a premium position, and a defensive end has been selected within the top 5 picks in 9 of the last 13 drafts. Justin Smith just happened to come out in a crappy year for DEs with Andre Carter(7th) and Jamal Reynolds(10th) the other big names. At least he is better than those 2 nobodies. Suppose Justin stayed at Missouri for his senior year, he would have entered the draft against Julius Peppers(1st), Dwight Freeney(11th), Bryan Thomas(22nd), and Charles Grant(25th), all except Thomas are better than Smith. In that case, being compared to Peppers and Freeney probably would have dropped Smith out of the first round and cost him millions of dollars. To make matters worse, the two picks after Smith were LaDainian Tomlinson(NFL MVP, 6 Times All-Pro) and Richard Seymour(5 Times All-Pro). After a lengthy holdout, Smith finally signed for his big time first pick money, kick-started his "motor," and proceeded to make tackles all over the field except the backfield.
Had Smith been a 3rd round pick, many fans would have praised his durability and ever so talked about “motor.” Instead, being the high priced draft pick caused fans to notice his relentless non-pressuring of the QB which is the measuring stick of a top DE. Now, every time pundits talk about the “motor” of a first round draft pick, fans all across Bengal-land cringe and picture Smith’s Anheuser-Busch tattoo. Instead of throwing more money at a previous mistake, the Bengals let the 49ers take their place and pay Smith $45million for the next 6 years. Maybe the 49ers can see something the Bengals missed, but that is a lot of money for someone that cannot beat an NFL tackle one-on-one and over-pursues every time given the opportunity. DEs that can make tackles when the ball is run their way are easy to find, and while it is nice to have a DE chase every play with his “motor,” that is not why teams pay $45million. If Justin Smith plays out his entire contract in San Francisco, he will have made $72,300,000 over a 13 year NFL career…Unbelievable, Dennis Kozlowski thinks Justin Smith is ridiculously overpaid.
Smith leaving also opens up the door for a new Bengal DUI Blood Alcohol Content record holder. Smith’s blow of .152 in his 2004 DUI arrest was the team high, but somehow he was left out of the discussions of the jailbird Bengals. The arrest happened barely a year before Chris Henry started his body of work, yet Smith came out unscathed. Again, did anyone notice his Anheuser-Busch tattoo? At least Smith led the team in something.

Check in periodically as we count down to the worst Bengals draft pick in history leading up to the 2008 NFL draft.