Slip sliding away

Oh, what could have been for Cincinnati on draft days

Dan Marino was the 27th pick of the 1983 draft. T. G. Higgins/Allsport

By B. Duane Cross, CNNSI.com

OK, so the NFL draft isn't rocket science. Scout the players. Attend the Combine. Put all the names on a board the morning of the draft. Throw a dart. And ... voila! ... the Cincinnati Bengals have selected ....

Yeah, we're picking on the Bengals because, well, there aren't exactly rocket scientists milling around One Paul Brown Stadium. Just look at their first-round draft history. "Best player on the board?" Forget about it. The Bengals list six people under "Player Personnel," including John Cooper, the team's scouting consultant. Who's he consulting? There isn't a "scout" listed. Not one.

On the other hand, Pittsburgh, generally regarded as having one of the top scouting units, lists six. You do the math.

While parity may have taken hold across the NFL -- 16 of the 32 teams are 1-1 -- someone forgot to send the memo to Cincinnati.

Tossing aside the past five drafts -- we're giving Cincy the benefit of the doubt that Akili Smith (1999), Peter Warrick (2000) and Levi Jones ('01) may someday pan out -- here is a list of notable players who could have been Bengals, regardless of who was already on the roster:

Pick o' the Litter
Players who slipped past the Bengals
Year	No.	Bengals took ...	Pos.	Bengals missed ...	Pos.	No.
1968	2	Bill Johnson	C	Larry Csonka	RB	8
1969	5	Greg Cook	QB	Roger Wehrli	DB	19
1970	7	Mike Reid	DT	Jack Reynolds	LB	22
1971	15	Vernon Holland	OL	Jack Youngblood	DE	20
1972	2	Sherman White	DE	Franco Harris	RB	13
1973	15	Isaac Curtis	WR	Joe Delamielleure	OL	26
1974	23	Bill Kollar	DT	* Jack Lambert	LB	47
1975	14	Glenn Cameron	LB	Russ Francis	TE	16
1976	11	Billy Brooks	WR	Kim Bokamper	DE	19
1977	8	Wilson Whitley	DT	A.J. Duhe	DE	13
1978	8	Ross Browner	DE	Clay Matthews	LB 12
1979	3	Jack Thompson	QB	Phil Simms	QB	7
1980	3	Anthony Munoz	OL
1981	10	David Verser	WR	Mark May	OL	20
1982	26	Glenn Collins	DE	* Andre Tippett	LB	41
1983	25	Dave Rimington	OL	Dan Marino	QB	27
1984	7	Ricky Hunley	B	Wilbur Marshall	LB	11
1985	13	Eddie Brown	WR	Jerry Rice	WR	16
1986	11	Joe Kelly	LB	Will Wolford	OL	20
1987	17	Jason Buck	DE	Mark Ingram	WR	28
1988	5	Rickey Dixon	DB	Tim Brown	WR	6
1989
1990	12	James Francis	LB	Emmitt Smith	RB	17
1991	18	Alfred Williams	LB	Ted Washington	DT	25
1992	6	David Klingler	QB	Troy Vincent	CB	7
1993	5	John Copeland	DE	Jerome Bettis	RB	10
1994	1	Dan Wilkinson	DT	Marshall Faulk	RB	2
1995	1	Ki-Jana Carter	RB	Warren Sapp	DT	12
1996	10	Willie Anderson	OL	Marvin Harrison	WR	19
1997	14	Reinard Wilson	DL	Kenny Holmes	DL	18
* -- Second-round selection. Bold denotes Pro Football Hall of Fame member. Note: Munoz, a Hall of Famer, was the best of the 1980 class. Cincinnati did not have a No. 1 pick in 1989; Bengals traded the No. 27 (WR Shawn Collins) selection to Atlanta for the Nos. 35 (RB Eric Ball), 89 (LB Kerry Owens) and 256 (CB Cornell Holloway) picks.