With their second-round selection (No. 54 overall) they took Florida defensive end Carlos Dunlap who would have been a first-rounder if not for a DUI in early December which caused him to be suspended for the SEC Championship Game against eventual national champion Alabama.

Dunlap (6-6, 277) has excellent size for a DE and he gives Cincinnati some insurance due to the uncertainty surrounding Antwan Odom (coming off a ruptured Achilles tendon) and Robert Geathers (recent injury problems in his career, although he did stay healthy throughout 2009). The Bengals took DE Michael Johnson in the third round last year and he had a solid rookie season. The team also has hybrid DE/DT Jonathan Fanene who is coming off a career year, and former third-round pick Frostee Rucker. There is a good chance the latter won't be around if Odom is able to come back healthy, which is no sure thing when a player is coming off an Achilles injury.

And this is more like what we expect out of the Bengals anyway: Taking a high-ceiling guy with character concerns that slips in the draft. (Just partially joking.) Hopefully Dunlap just made one poor decision and isn't a bad guy. But just in case, the team should make sure him and 2009 second-round pick Rey Maualuga don't hang out too much.

The Bengals had two picks in the third round and with the No. 84 selection they landed Texas wide receiver Jordan Shipley. He will reunite with his former college teammate Quan Cosby and is a very similar player who is productive catches passes and as a return man on special teams. Shipley wasn't a steal at that point in the draft - that's basically where he was projected to go. But the Bengals need depth at WR (starters Chad Ochocinco and Antonio Bryant are 32 and 29, respectively) and it was a solid pick.

The pick I really loved was getting Wake Forest cornerback Brandon Ghee with the No. 96 pick, which was a compensatory selection. Ghee has good size (6-0, 192) and speed (4.45 in the 40) and was projected to be a second-round pick. For the Bengals to land him at the end of the third round was quite a steal. He was clearly the best cornerback left on the board and Cincinnati needs depth at the position. The starters are extremely solid with Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall, but the team needs a true No. 3 corner to emerge. David Jones and Morgan Trent split time last year as the top corner off the bench, but Ghee might win that job this season.

After sleeping on it, I've started to warm up to the Jermaine Gresham pick a bit. The problem I still have is the Bengals always claiming to take the best player available, when we know they almost-always draft based on need. I saw this one coming a mile away and I shouldn't have been upset when the Bengals decided to pass on Dez Bryant. I still think the Cowboys got the steal of the draft getting Bryant at pick No. 24. The guy is extremely talented and doesn't have as much baggage as some would lead you to believe. He's a bit of a diva, but that's usually the case with the top NFL wideouts. Larry Fitzgerald and Reggie Wayne are the exception to the rule. Most of the best wide receivers have some diva in them - as every Bengals fan knows from following Chad Ochocinco's career.

But I digress...

Gresham is a Bengal and the team clearly got the best tight end in the draft. It does mean something when you land the best player at a certain position in the draft, especially when it's your biggest position of need. (Again, I hate drafting based on need though. That's how teams get themselves into trouble.)

Furthermore, Gresham would have been taken higher in this draft if he wasn't coming off a season-ending injury to his right knee. He was considered by far the nation's best tight end following his excellent junior season at Oklahoma in 2008 when he racked up 66 receptions for 950 yards and 13 touchdowns (including the only two TDs the Sooners scored in the national championship game against Florida).

He also has great size at 6-5 ½, 258 pounds, catches the ball extremely well and runs well.

The downside is his blocking (not terrible, but not great) and his injury history. In addition to the right knee injury last year, he tore his left ACL in high school. Not exactly the medical history you want out of a first-round pick.

But again, I am slowly warming up to this pick because there is no question Gresham is very talented and the Bengals desperately needed a tight end. Carson Palmer is certainly happy about the decision to take Gresham.

It will be fun to see what the Bengals do tonight with their second-round selection and their two third-round picks. I absolutely love the new three-day draft format.

Then again, maybe you have never watched football before.

As if they were screaming, "Screw the ‘Best Player Available' theory" the Bengals predictably reached based on need and took Gresham due to their deficiencies at tight end.

Wide receiver Dez Bryant is clearly a better prospect than Gresham. That should have been the Bengals' pick. There were other players on the board that were also ranked ahead of Gresham (such as offensive lineman Bryan Bulaga and defensive tackle Dan Williams) but Bryant was the one that we'll look back on as "the one that got away."

So, next time you hear Marvin Lewis, Mike Brown or another one of the clowns who makes decisions for the Bengals say they always take the "BPA" in the draft, try not to laugh. Or at least not cry.

And just when you thought the Chase Coffman pick last year in the third round couldn't look any worse, the Bengals take a TE in the first round the very next year. Ladies and gentlemen, your Cincinnati Bengals!

The first round of the NFL Draft is Thursday night and like music to my ears ESPN's Todd McShay is still predicting that the Bengals will take Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant with the 21^st overall pick.

In fact, McShay's last three mocks all have the draft's top WR landing in Cincinnati. Bryant does come with some baggage, but he would be a steal at that point of the draft. I was on record saying I would have been on board with the Bengals trading up to get Bryant before they landed Antonio Bryant (no relation) as a free agent. But even though the starting wide receivers are set with Chad Ochocinco and Antonio Bryant, Dez Bryant would be an extremely intriguing option as the No. 3 WR. Just a tad more explosive than Andre Caldwell to say the least.

And beyond that, it's time to start thinking about the future at the position considering Ochocinco is 32 (or "Tres Dos" as he might say) and Antonio Bryant is 29.

I am telling you right now that Dez Bryant would be a top five pick if he had been allowed to play his final season in college. And I think the NCAA came down way too hard on him. Yes, he should have been suspended for being dishonest about his relationship with Deion Sanders, but not for the entire season. Keep in mind, he did nothing wrong in the NCAA's eyes by having a relationship with Sanders, but it's the fact that he lied about knowing him and going over to his house (and other stuff) that led to the year-long suspension.

Remember when the Bengals passed on Randy Moss twice in the same draft to take Takeo Spikes (solid pick) and Brian Simmons (not so much)? Hopefully they remember that if Dez Bryant is still on the board at pick No. 21. Not that Bryant will be as good as Moss, but he's clearly the best receiver in this year's draft and it would be highway robbery for the Bengals to get him that late in the first round.

But honestly, I think someone will take him in the top 20 picks. McShay has been adamant for three weeks now that the Bengals are the team, but I will believe it when I see it. (And will then celebrate.) Somehow I think the Bengals will end up with Oklahoma's Jermaine Gresham and I do not like the idea of taking a tight end in the first round, even when your have a dreadful situation at TE like the Bengals do. Plus there are injury concerns with Gresham and I would be more weary of that than Bryant's "character issues."

(Interestingly, McShay has Gresham going to the Patriots with the very next pick. So, there is a very good chance that Gresham ends up in Cincinnati. However, if Bryant is not the pick, I hope one of the defensive players that are expected to go in the top 20 picks falls into the Bengals' lap and they take him, like perhaps DE Jason Pierre-Paul who is projected to be taken No. 14 overall by ESPN.)

In the second round, McShay has the Bengals taking Arizona TE Rob Gronkowski with the 54^th overall pick. I would not be a fan of that and I'll have more on that later.

The Bengals then get two picks in the third round and McShay predicts they will be Georgia safety Reshad Jones with the 84^th overall pick and Washington linebacker Donald Butler with the 96^th overall pick (a compensatory selection).

Interestingly, Florida tight end Aaron Hernandez - once thought to be a late-first or early-second round pick - is projected to go 95^th overall by McShay. If the Bengals could get Hernandez in the third round, I think that would be a steal. He's short for a TE at 6-2 ½ but he catches everything and would be a great value there. Course, that would mean the Bengals not taking a TE in the first two rounds and I don't know if they are willing to be patient. That is how you end up making bad picks is by reaching based on need. I think Gronkowski would be a horrible pick in the second round and I hope that doesn't happen. I would rather get Gresham in the first round (even with his injury history) than Gronkowski in the second. The latter was known to have an attitude problem in college and also had some off-the-field issues in high school. But what makes me willing to take a chance on someone like Dez Bryant and not Gronkowski? It's very simple: Bryant is a special talent and Gronkowski is not.

The Bengals also have a pair of picks in the fourth round and ESPN projects they will be Arizona DT Earl Mitchell (No. 120 overall) and Cal cornerback Syd'Quan Thompson (No. 131 - another compensatory pick).

Personally, I can't wait for the draft and it's going to be interesting to see what happens. And yes, I love the new format. I know opinions have been mixed and I know a lot of people who frankly don't like the new three-day set-up at all. However, I think it will grow on everyone and it will be a smash hit.

The good news about Volquez (other than the fact that he's obviously doing everything in his power to come back quickly - I kid, I kid) is that he can serve the suspension while on the disabled list. It's a completely ridiculous rule that MLB has in place (if you are "suspended" you should have to miss games that you might actually play in) but it benefits the Reds in this case so I'm cool with it. Volquez will lose 50 games worth of pay, which means he will have to find a cheaper way to find HGH next time. (Again, just joking. I think.)

As for the Reds' current skid, hopefully they can get things turned around against the Dodgers beginning tonight. I'm not ready to panic, because the pitching is the best it's been in my lifetime. Well, on the nights Aaron Harang is not on the hill. I had hopes that Harang would have a solid year this season - a comeback year of sorts - but it's certainly not started well. The big, goofy righty is 0-2 with an ERA of 7.88 and a WHIP of 1.44. In other words, I have the least-amount of confidence in him of any Reds' starter, including 22-year-old rookie Mike Leake who has been very solid thus far (0-0, 2.63).

Without question, the biggest concern about the 2010 Reds is offensive production and it's not going to get much better anytime soon. At least Jay Bruce is showing signs of life. He hit his first two home runs of the season in the finale against Pittsburgh on Sunday and was hitting into a lot of bad luck before that with several line drives right at defenders. If Bruce comes around, the offense might be passable because you know Joey Votto is going to hit. Also, Brandon Phillips usually starts slow and then heats up. Scott Rolen is not a great hitter - especially at this stage of his career - but he's way better than Edwin Encarnacion ever was. Everyone knew Rolen would be a huge defensive upgrade over Encarnacion, but he also has him trumped as a hitter. The problem with Rolen is that he's very brittle and you never know how many games you're going to get out of him.

Orlando Cabrera is a solid hitting shortstop (not so much defensively) and left fielder Jonny Gomes' bat will never hurt you in the lineup.

That leaves center where Drew Stubbs is becoming a black hole in the lineup. He just doesn't look ready to hit Major League pitching and his minor league numbers were never that good to begin with. And due to the unfortunate fact that manager Dusty Baker believes that the CF must bat leadoff - no matter how miniscule his OPS is - that is a big problem for the Reds.

So, am I still feeling good about my prediction that the Reds are going to have their first winning season in 10 years? No, not exactly. However, I'm not even close to giving up on this season. It's only April and we're only 13 games into a 162-game season. The Reds can't let too many more games get away from them this month, but I still think they have a solid overall team this year and will keep things interesting all summer.

However, even a Stubbs skeptic like me can see this: Stubbs is on the verge of locking down the starting CF job all to himself. Manager Dusty Baker will likely continue using some type of platoon early in the season, but the smart money is on Stubbs to win the job outright before long.

* Bronson Arroyo - What a huge performance he had in the final game of the Cardinals series and it's a shame he didn't get the win. But the bottom line is that he pitched extremely well and the Reds were able to pick up their first victory of the season. Arroyo was the team's best starting pitcher last year and he picked up right where he left off. And it was a day game! (Usually Arroyo pitches better at night.) I was even encouraged with what I saw from Aaron Harang and Johnny Cueto in their starts. If Homer Bailey pitches anywhere close to as well as he did at the end of 2009, and if rookie Mike Leake holds his own in the No. 5 spot in the rotation (he makes his debut against the Cubs on Sunday) then the Reds are going to have a hell of a starting staff this year.

* Aroldis Chapman - I know the Reds want to leave him down in AAA until June so they can avoid "Super 2" status. However, what if he is dominant in the minors? Do they really leave him down there almost two months? The team has already proven they are not afraid to make a bold move when it comes to their pitching staff (Leake making the rotation before ever pitching an inning in the minors was about as bold as they come). Therefore, if Chapman proves he is definitely ready, there is a chance we'll see him in Cincinnati before June. Not sure who he would bump out, but one of the starting pitchers is bound to get injured at some point. Or maybe someone is so ineffective that Chapman would take their job. Either way, the kid is going to be with the big club at some point before the All-Star break.

* Jay Bruce - He has to start hitting for this team to be successful. Even if Bruce does hit well this season, this team is going to struggle to score runs. Without him hitting, they stand no chance. It's only been three games, so I am not down on Bruce. I think he's extremely gifted and once (if) he learns better plate discipline he is going to be a tough out. Right now, he is very young and swings at too many bad pitches. He doesn't need to hit for a high average for the Reds to be successful, but he does need to hit 30-plus home runs (which he was on pace for last year before his wrist injury).

* The Cubs - I could be way off here, but the Cubs are headed for a very bad year. They have wasted a ton of money on players that haven't even come close to living up to expectations (Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, Carlos Zambrano and the departed Milton Bradley). I don't expect the Cubs to finish in the cellar - the Pirates still have the lease on that - but I don't think the Cubs will be in the running for the NL Central championship or a wildcard birth. The Reds will find out first hand what the Cubs are all about when they begin a three-game series tonight.

Check, check, check and check.

The biggest splash by far was the signing of WR Antonio Bryant in March, but the final piece of the four-part offseason was the inking of Bobbie Williams and the Bengals got that done on Monday. This allows the team to keep their starting offensive line in tact, although 2009 first-round draft pick Andre Smith is expected to supplant the tandem of Dennis Roland and Anthony Collins at right tackle.

The return of Williams, 33, is big for several reasons. First and foremost, he is rock solid at right guard and has shown no signs of slowing down. The Bengals signed him to a two-year deal and I think he has two good years left in him.

And the rest of the line is extremely young and needs his leadership.

Left tackle Andrew Whitworth is 28, left guard Nate Livings is 28, center Kyle Cook is 26 and Smith is 23. The latter is fortunate that he will have someone like Williams lining up next to him to help him with the line calls and the other pre-snap mental adjustments.

Now we can just brace ourselves for the draft and hope the Bengals push the right buttons. It's a deep draft and they're in a very good position with six picks in the first four rounds, thanks to the third-and-fourth-round compensatory picks that they picked up recently.

If the Bengals want to be successful on April 22-24, they need to stick with the "best player available" strategy, at least in the early part of the draft. See who falls in your lap at pick No. 21 and pull the trigger. There is always someone that slips way further than they should (Randy Moss, anyone?) and maybe it will be Dez Bryant this year. Probably not, but we can dream. The point is the Bengals need to be ready for someone they think will go in the top 10 picks, or top 15 picks, to fall right in their lap. It happens every year. There are also a host of defensive players that the Bengals could land in the first round.

In the second round, I bet they will go tight end, but I hope it's someone that actually deserves the spot. Florida's Aaron Hernandez is undersized for a TE at 6-foot-3, but he catches everything and could be a good value there.

Rookie Mike Leake has won the No. 5 spot in the Cincinnati Reds' rotation despite never having thrown a pitch in the minor leagues.

Leake was the Reds' first-round pick in the 2009 draft (No. 8 overall) and did not sign until close to the deadline. Therefore, he didn't get his feet wet in the minors last year, although he did pitch in the Arizona Fall League.

Leake was extremely impressive this spring and beat out rookie Travis Wood for the final spot in the rotation. Wood will begin the season at AAA Louisville.

How rare is it for a pitcher to go straight from college to the Big Leagues? Extremely. It hasn't happened since 1994 - Darren Dreifort with the Dodgers - and the last one before that was Jim Abbott in 1989 with the Angels.

So, is Leake a star in the making? The Reds certainly think so. It says a lot that they aren't worried about keeping him in the minors just so they can save money in the future (which is what many think they are doing with Aroldis Chapman). Credit goes to the team for finding the best pitcher for the staff, no matter who it is.

Leake, 22, has a lot of moxie on the mound - in addition to a variety of pitches that he can spot well - and it's going to be real interesting to see how he performs. He's going to have a lot of pressure on him, but one of the things the Reds love about the Arizona State product is his composure.

He likely won't make his debut until April 11 at home against the Cubs, therefore the Reds could technically leave him off the 25-man roster until then.

In fact, it looks like that's exactly what they plan on doing considering there are really 26 players on the roster right now including Leake.

Some of the other interesting decisions that were made on pink-slip day:

• Rookie slugger Juan Francisco made the team (at least for now) and manager Dusty Baker said he will be the backup third baseman, and can also play first base and left field. Francisco might be sent down when Leake is needed as the fifth starter, but it still speaks volumes about how the club feels about him. At AA and AAA combined last year, Francisco batted .295 with 27 home runs and 93 RBIs. If Scott Rolen goes down with an injury -- which is bound to happen eventually -- the Reds are fortunate to have Francisco waiting in the wings.

• Veteran Miguel Cairo made the team (at least for now) as the utility infielder, beating out Aaron Miles (the Reds are eating his $2.7 million contract) and Drew Sutton. The good news is that Sutton had options left and if he tears it up at Louisville, the Reds can always bring him up.

• Laynce Nix made the team as the No. 5 outfielder, beating out Wladimir Balentien. Hopefully Balentien clears waivers (he didn't have any options left) although it wouldn't be a surprise to see a team claim him.

• Rookie relief pitcher Logan Ondrusek - all 6-foot-8 of him - made the team over Jared Burton (who was optioned to Louisville). Ondrusek was a 13^th-round pick by the Reds in the 2005 draft out of McLennan (Texas) Community College and had a breakout year in the minors in 2009. He started the year at high-A Sarasota (13 appearances), was then promoted to AA Carolina (24 appearances) and finished the season in AAA Louisville (19 appearances). Combined for the year he was 4-1 with a 1.50 ERA and 19 saves (12 of which were at Louisville). In 72 innings, he gave up just 44 hits, walked 21 and struck out 47.

• Micah Owings and Mike Lincoln round out the Reds' bullpen.

2010 CINCINNATI REDS

STARTING PITCHING ROTATION

1. Aaron Harang
   
2. Bronson Arroyo
   
3. Johnny Cueto
4. Homer Bailey
5. Mike Leake

(Edinson Volquez is returning from Tommy John surgery; is expected to return in early August.)

BULLPEN (in order of importance)

• Francisco Cordero (closer)
• Arthur Rhodes (lefty)
• Nick Masset
• Danny Ray Herrera (lefty)
• Micah Owings
• Logan Ondrusek
• Mike Lincoln

LINEUP

1. Chris Dickerson/Drew Stubbs - CF
2. Orlando Cabrera - SS
3. Joey Votto - 1B
4. Brandon Phillips - 2B
5. Scott Rolen - 3B
6. Jay Bruce - RF
7. Jonny Gomes - LF
8. Ramon Hernandez - C

RESERVES

• Laynce Nix - OF
• Dickerson/Stubbs - OF
• Juan Francisco - 1B, 3B, LF
• Paul Janish - SS
• Ryan Hanigan - C
• Miguel Cairo - INF

PREDICTION: 83-79

The 23-year-old lefty was the Reds' minor league pitcher of the year in 2009 as he went a combined 13-5 with a 1.77 ERA in stints with AA Carolina and AAA Louisville. Wood, who was the Reds' second-round pick in the 2005 draft, pitched 167.2 innings with 135 strikeouts, 53 walks, 121 hits-allowed and just six home runs given up. In other words, he befuddled minor league batters last year and I was hoping he would prove he was ready for the big time this spring.

And it appears he has. Many figured 26-year-old lefty Matt Maloney would win the No. 5 job out of spring training and would keep the seat warm for 22-year-old Aroldis Chapman until the Cuban sensation came up in June. (Due to the way his contract is structured, the Reds likely won't rush Chapman to the Majors. Especially considering he is now dealing with a minor back strain.)

However, it appears Maloney will be in the bullpen if he makes the team and Wood will emerge as the No. 5 starter, and I like that idea a lot. Not only does Wood have a higher upside than Maloney as a starter, this would allow the Reds to get three lefties in the bullpen along with Arthur Rhodes and Danny Herrera. There is always the chance that Maloney could be optioned back to Louisville to start the season as well.

A pleasant surprise in camp has been Mike Leake who was the Reds' first-round draft pick last June (No. 8 overall). He is still in the running for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, although it's difficult to imagine the Reds not giving him some seasoning in the minors. I wasn't all that impressed when I saw Leake in the College World Series last year with Arizona State, but I only saw him pitch one game. That is the smallest of sample sizes, so I tried not to take too much away from that one outing. I'm glad I didn't because Leake, 22, appears to be the real deal. He's not going to blow batters away, but he's got a good-enough fastball (tops out at 93) and has a deep repertoire of pitches that he can spot well. He's also a crafty pitcher that does a good job of winning the mental battles against hitters.

He put up even better stats in college than Stephen Strasburg, despite playing in a much-more difficult conference. Is he has good as Strasburg? No, but Leake is certainly turning into an intriguing prospect for the Reds.

Wow, who thought we'd ever be sitting here talking about the Reds having an abundance of pitching depth. And most of the guys are young (Johnny Cueto is only 23 although he's entering his third season in the rotation). And the team should even get Edinson Volquez back in early August (although I don't expect him to be effective until the 2011 season).

If the offense comes around this year (and that's a big IF) the 2010 version of the Reds is going to be fun to follow. The starting rotation is shaping up well and I like the 'pen as well.

I thought the Bengals would get one compensatory pick, but I figured it would be a fourth-rounder. And if they got two, I presumed it would be something like a fourth and a seventh.

But a third and a fourth? That's gold, Jerry!

The Bengals now have six picks in the first four rounds: No. 21 overall, No. 54 overall (22^nd pick of the second round), No. 84 overall (21^st pick of the third round), No. 96 overall (third-round compensatory), No. 120 overall (22^nd pick of the fourth round) and No. 131 overall (fourth-round compensatory).

So, how exactly did this come about? Well, compensatory picks are based on how much a team lost via free agency the previous season versus how much it gained. The formula is based mostly on the dollar value of the contract signed, but performance is also a factor. The Bengals lost wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, offensive lineman Stacy Andrews and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick following the 2008 season. The team landed wide receiver Laveranues Coles, which pretty much cancelled out the loss of Houshmandzadeh (in terms of the compensatory pick system) even though Coles' contract wasn't quite as lucrative as Houshmandzadeh's. (Houshmandzadeh got $40 million and $15 million guaranteed over five years; Coles signed a four-year, $28 million deal with $10 million guaranteed.)

However, thanks to the Philadelphia Eagles grossly overpaying for Andrews (six years, $38.9 million with $8.72 million guaranteed ... seriously) and thanks to Fitzpatrick unexpectedly starting eight games for the Buffalo Bills, the Bengals were rewarded with some very valuable picks in the upcoming draft.

And in case you're wondering, Andrews recently re-worked his ridiculous contract or the Eagles likely would have released him.

As for those compensatory picks, the Bengals are getting the first one of the entire draft (there are no compensatory picks in the first or second rounds) and are getting the only one of the fourth round. There are just three teams getting compensatory picks in the third round (the Titans have the No. 97 overall pick and the Falcons have the No. 98), just one in the fourth round, six in the fifth and sixth rounds and then 16 in the seventh round (which are basically meaningless picks).

So, to make a long blog short, the Bengals made out like gangbusters when the league awarded compensatory picks this week.

By the way, if you're looking for a good Bengals message board, give BengalsJungle.com a try. I highly recommend it for the diehard Who Dey fan.