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
8. Dan Wilkinson, DT, The Ohio State University, 1st Overall Pick 1994
7. Ricky Hunley, LB, University of Arizona, 7th Overall Pick in 1984
6. Peter Warrick, WR, Florida State University, 4th Overall Pick in 2000
5. John Copeland, DE, University of Alabama, 5th Overall Pick in 1993
4. David Klingler, QB, University of Houston, 6th Overall Pick in 1992
3. Ki-Jana Carter, RB, Penn State University, 1st Overall Pick in 1995

2. Akili Smith, QB, University of Oregon, 3rd Overall Pick in 1999


Akili Smith. Where do we begin with all that was wrong with the Akili Smith pick? Let’s just make a list from the beginning:
- Akili Smith was a Junior College transfer that only spent 2 seasons in Oregon
- Akili Smith was not the starter going into his senior year at Oregon; the starter was injured in preseason giving Akili his chance.
- The offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon at that time was Jeff Tedford. Tedford is known for developing QBs and a quick one-read offense.
- QBs that have excelled under Tedford:
-Trent Dilfer, 3300 yards, 28 TDs, 4 Ints, left college early, 6th overall pick
- Billy Volek, 2700 yards, 30 TDs, 3 Ints, holds NCAA record for lowest INT%
- Akili Smith, 3700, 32 TDs, 8 Ints, 1st round draft pick
- AJ Feeley, half season, 2000 yards, 14 TDs, injured and then replaced by Joey Harrington
- Joey Harrington, 2900 yards, 27 TDs, 6 Ints, 1st round draft pick
- Kyle Boller, 2900 yards, 28 TDs, 10 Ints, 1st round draft pick
- Aaron Rodgers, 2900 yards, 24 TDs, 8 Ints, 1st round draft pick
- Quite a collection of highly efficient college QBs that cannot sustain starting roles in the NFL.

- Akili tore through a weak Pac-10 in 1998, but posted his worst games against top Pac 10 teams UCLA and Arizona.
- Led Oregon to 8-4 record and Hula Bowl loss.
- Akili’s agent Leigh Steinberg knew how to capitalize on Akili’s physical tools and groomed him for the NFL combine.
- With Steinberg’s help, Akili put together an amazing passing display (in tshirts and without a defense) using his top level arm strength. Similar to Kyle Boller’s combine show.
- Further proving Akili’s prep for the combine, his score on the Wonderlic went from a 13 on his first attempt to a 37 on his second.
- Steinberg also used his connections in the media to have national stories written and on tv about Akili. During his college season, many were not considering Smith as a top QB.
- Akili had played some minor league baseball and entered college late; he was 24 at the time of the draft.
- In an attempt to land Ricky Williams, the Saints offered the Bengals their entire slate of 1999 draft picks, as well as, their 1st and 3rd round picks the following year for the #3 spot. The Bengals passed.
- Washington took that trade after the Bengals picked. By trading back up, the picks were used to select Champ Bailey (All-Pro), Chris Samuels (All-Pro), Desmond Clark (Receiving TE), and others.
- Not many teams were interested in Akili Smith. The Bengals probably could have taken the trade and still drafted Akili with a later pick.
- Trying to get max dollars, Steinberg held Smith out for 4 weeks of football, missing his first training camp. Training camp is when most of the schemes are installed.
- After the Bengals started the 1999 season 0-4, Smith was thrown in as the starter. He would win his first start at Cleveland, but average only 115 passing yards in 7 games.
- In 2000, Akili played in 12 games and threw for 1253 yards, 3 TDs, and 6 Ints.
- In 2001, Akili lost the starting job to Jon Kitna, but he would get to start the Jets game late in the year. He opened the game by leading the team on a scoring drive. On the second drive, he tore his hamstring on a 5 yard scramble.
- Cut 2 months after the Bengals drafted Carson Palmer.
- Was signed and cut by two teams following the Bengals, failing to find another NFL job.
- Total NFL career, 2212 yards passing, 5 TDs, 13 Ints.
- Last season, Akili tried his luck in Canada with the Calgary Stampeders.
- He began the season as a backup, but was able to play when the starter went down. In his first appearance, he finished 6/10 for 63 yards, 0 TDs and 3 Ints.
- After a few more unimpressive weeks, Smith was cut by the Stampeders, ending his career in what would have been his 9th NFL season.

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


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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
8. Dan Wilkinson, DT, The Ohio State University, 1st Overall Pick 1994
7. Ricky Hunley, LB, University of Arizona, 7th Overall Pick in 1984
6. Peter Warrick, WR, Florida State University, 4th Overall Pick in 2000
5. John Copeland, DE, University of Alabama, 5th Overall Pick in 1993
4. David Klingler, QB, University of Houston, 6th Overall Pick in 1992

3. Ki-Jana Carter, RB, Penn State University, 1st Overall Pick in 1995

A year after drafting Big Daddy Wilkinson, Mike Brown made perhaps his boldest move as owner of the Bengals, next to firing Sam Wyche and hiring Marvin Lewis. Leading up to the 1995 draft, Brown traded with the expansion Carolina Panthers to acquire the number 1 pick in the draft (Traded for the 5th and 36th picks). Brown used the pick on Ki-Jana Carter, the top player on many teams’ lists. However, there was not agreement on the top pick as other players were seen to be deserving of the top spot, Tony Bolselli, Steve McNair, and Kerry Collins to name a few. Had the Bengals not traded up, they could have had Warren Sapp at #5 and Curtis Martin at #36. The draft is always easy to pick in hindsight though, and many mistakes are made every year, just as every team passed on Curtis Martin at least once in 1995.
Ki-Jana Carter tore his ACL on his 3rd preseason carry in 1995, forever leaving his status as a bust up for debate. Was he a bad pick, or are the Bengals just unlucky as with Greg Cook and others? Ki-Jana played for one of the most talented college teams in the last 25 years at Penn State. Just on the offensive side of the ball, players that Ki-Jana played with at Penn State, QB Kerry Collins(Maxwell Award winner and top 5 draft pick), WR Bobby Engram(Belitnikoff Award winner), OG Jeff Hartings(Future All Pro), OG Marco Rivera(Future All Pro), OT Andre Johnson(1st round draft pick), FB Brian Milne(5 year NFL fullback), TE Kyle Brady(Top 10 draft pick, 13 year pro). When future NFL All Pro linemen are blocking one-year college starters, there will be major running room for any running back. Ki-Jana was a track star in high school and college, once he hit the open field it was over, but he was not known for power or breaking tackles. Ki-Jana had the holes at Penn State and the speed to make college level tacklers look silly on his way to the outrageous average of 7.8 yards per carry. He finished his final college season with 1,539 yards and 23 TDs.
Once Carter injured his knee before his NFL career actually began, his break away speed disappeared. Without breakaway speed, without being known to break tackles, and with an atrocious Bengals line in front of him, Carter struggled. Ki-Jana’s college offense might have been better than the pro offense he had with the Bengals, QB Jeff Blake, WR Carl Pickens, OG Scott Brumfield, OG Todd Kalis, OT Kevin Sargent, FB Jeff Cothran, and TE Tony McGee. Compare the Bengals to the Penn State players above, and most NFL GMs would choose Penn State. Without much help, Carter constantly took hits his body could not withstand and spent 44 of his 80 games in Cincinnati on injured reserve. After 4 seasons and 747 total yards rushing as a Bengal, Ki-Jana was cut by the team. Carter went on to play 3 more seasons in the NFL and add 400 yards to his rushing total. In all, Ki-Jana was in the NFL for 10 seasons, only seeing action in 7 of those years. His career total of 1,144 yards would not achieve a Pro-Bowl berth if completed in a single season, let alone 10 seasons.


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


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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
8. Dan Wilkinson, DT, The Ohio State University, 1st Overall Pick 1994
7. Ricky Hunley, LB, University of Arizona, 7th Overall Pick in 1984
6. Peter Warrick, WR, Florida State University, 4th Overall Pick in 2000
5. John Copeland, DE, University of Alabama, 5th Overall Pick in 1993

4. David Klingler, QB, University of Houston, 6th Overall Pick in 1992

With the 6th pick in the 1992 draft, the Bengals surprised everyone by drafting David Klingler out of Houston. Why was it a surprise? Because in the 4 seasons prior to the 1992 draft, the Bengals made the playoffs 2 times, appeared in the Super Bowl, and quarterback Boomer Esiason had 2 All-Pro seasons and an NFL MVP award. That is ALL-PRO, the best QB in the league, not just the Pro-Bowl. At the time of the pick, Esiason was 30 years old. Current franchise QB Carson Palmer has only one playoff appearance and 2 Pro-Bowls. Given Mike Brown’s track record, if the Bengals have a top ten pick next season, we can expect him to draft a QB to replace Palmer. Sound crazy? Maybe not when you consider the braintrust that made the Klingler decision were Brown and his first coaching hire, Dave Shula. Boomer started the first 12 games of Klingler’s rookie year before ending his stint with the Bengals. Boomer then moved on to the New York Jets where he started 3 seasons and made another Pro-Bowl. After that was one season in Arizona where he threw for 522 yards in a game before returning to the Bengals and leading the team to a 5-2 record in their last 7 games replacing Jeff Blake. Esiason threw for 12,250 yards after being replaced by Klinger, Klingler would start 20 games for the Bengals after his rookie year.
In college, Klingler played in the pass only run-and-shoot offense that produced ridiculous numbers for the University of Houston. The fad of the late 80s and early 90s produced outlandish numbers for a short period of time before defenses began to figure out how to stop it. In Klingler’s junior season, he replaced departing Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware in the pass crazy offense. Known for running up scores on inferior opponents, Klingler threw for 11 TDs in one game in an 84-21 win over powerhouse Eastern Washington. Houston finished 10-1 in Klingler’s junior year and Klingler would post the absurd numbers of:
GP--COM--ATT----PCT---YDS---TD--INT
11----374----643---58.2---5140---54----20
That is almost 60 passing attempts per game!!! One could maybe see why the Bengals valued Klingler based on these numbers, even though produced in a gimmick offense. However, that is not where the story ends, Klingler still had his senior season to play.
With Jack Pardee, one of the most successful run-and-shoot coaches, hired away by the Houston Oilers and now gone from the University of Houston for a second season, the scheme began to fail. College coaches realized that blitzing every down would limit the options in the run-and-shoot and greatly diminish its success. In his senior season, Klingler led Houston to a 4-7 record, but still was able to blow out inferior Louisiana Tech 73-3. His senior season stats were:
GP--COM--ATT----PCT---YDS---TD--INT
10----278----498---55.8---3388---29---17
Pretty good season, but not when you consider they were produced in a pass gimmick offense. Still, Mike Brown and Dave Shula felt the need to force out franchise QB Boomer Esiason for Klingler. Klingler could not even start 2 full seasons for the Bengals before being replaced by 1992 6th round draft pick Jeff Blake. After backing up Blake for a season, Klingler would spend 2 years as a backup in Oakland before being cut to end his career. Klingler’s NFL career amounted to 3,994 total passing yard, 16 TDs and 22 INTs. Colt Brennan with the 9th pick? Anyone?

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


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