CINCINNATI -- After addressing key needs in the trenches, the secondary and at receiver, the Cincinnati Bengals got another commendable draft haul.
Here's a look some of what Bengals coach Marvin Lewis had to say about the seven players his team drafted:
Between free agency and the draft, do you feel like this offseason has been about doubling down on defense, to carry this team like we've seen in previous playoff runs?
"The NFL is such a cycle. You've got to improve, and as you improve it's about staying young -- the evolution of young players and bringing on young players all the time. That's the evolution that we have to go through all the time. In doing that, we've been able to bring in players, with the linebacker, the cornerback, the defensive tackles. Those are some guys that particularly will help moving forward in the future.
"The two wide receivers have great opportunity on offense. And then the offensive guard, [Christian] Westerman, just has tremendous upside as an interior player and development guy for our future. And [Clayton] Fejedelem, the last pick, is just a productive football player. And those kind of guys play big in the National Football League. You need those kinds of players in your core and to earn their way to the [46-man gameday roster] on Sundays."
It seems like now you are to the point you’re able to just plug in your kind of guy in the drafting process ...
"I think we've done a really good job -- as I said earlier -- of trying to stay true to the grades and not go off on a tangent."
Was there a temptation to make a move when you saw many of the wide receivers considered to be the top of this class being taken by other teams?
"You can't give in to that. We have to take the best players. I think today we did a particularly good job of that. We filled some needs. We filled some needs with really good guys -- good players that we had good grades on collectively.
"The one good thing about it [is looking back] after we finish with the board. [Director of player personnel] Duke [Tobin] puts together the board on one sheet, with Rounds 1-4 on one side and 5-7 on the other. We were through four rounds, and I think eight guys had come off the back of the board. Collectively, that's a good thing that our grades were pretty much in consensus [to across the league]. It makes you feel good about the process that we’re doing -- that we're staying true to what we believe is the value and it's fitting the value by the rest of the National Football League."
It seemed like there were a few guys you drafted who said they didn’t have much interaction with the Bengals organization before the draft. Multiple said they were surprised to be picked by you guys. How important then is the on-field and game-tape evaluation?
"It's difficult to talk to 300-plus prospects. There are some that we want to do a little bit more work on, physically or mentally. Those are generally people we spend a little more time with, whether it be on their campus or bringing them to Cincinnati for me to have an opportunity to lay eyes on.
"But others are clean prospects, and you don't need to fool with them that way. Being a fly on the wall on campus a lot of times is just as important as anything else to watch how they handle themselves and carry themselves throughout what they do. That's just an important.
"With Nick Vigil, I know [linebackers coach] Jim [Haslett] was there in Logan, Utah. We don't have to have much, other than that. He was a pretty clean prospect with everything else that way. We didn't have to do any other work on him, where in the case of Clayton, he didn’t go to the combine. He was here 10 days ago, or whatever, to take a physical and for us to get to know him and try to spend some time with him. And we were researching him through his coaches at Illinois, to get to know him better. After the area scouts recommend him, 'Here's a guy who didn't get invited to the Combine who we think can be draftable.' And if not draftable, they are part of the process that’s going on right now [college free agency]."