Flashback to 2011. The NFL was in the midst of a player lockout as the league and the NFL Players Association were moving towards a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Even with the ongoing talks, the league went ahead and held the NFL Draft. The Cincinnati Bengals entered the draft with the No. 4 overall pick following a 4-12 season in 2010.
One of the big debates entering the draft was at the wide receiver position. Who would go first between Georgia’s A.J. Green and Alabama’s Julio Jones? The Bengals would select Green who went on to have a great career with the Bengals. But what if the Bengals had gone the other way?
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Pro Football Focus recently rebuilt the 2011 NFL Draft using grades and data. In this redraft, the Bengals do, in fact, go in the other direction and take Jones, who originally went No. 6 overall after a big trade involving the Atlanta Falcons.
“There was a big debate heading into the 2011 NFL Draft over whether A.J. Green or Julio Jones was the top wide receiver prospect. The Bengals ultimately picked Green, who went on to have an excellent career in Cincinnati. However, Jones ended up being the better player.
“The two-time first-team All-Pro recorded a career 94.7 PFF overall grade and was the second-most-valuable receiver across his 13 seasons, according to PFF WAR.”
Green wasn’t too far off, recording a 92.2 career grade. In this redraft, Green went with the very next pick, No. 5 overall to the Arizona Cardinals, rather than their original pick of LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson.
In the end, both Green and Jones became excellent players in the NFL and the Bengals couldn’t have gone wrong either way.
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This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals’ 2011 redraft has them shockingly ignoring A.J. Green
Reporting by Billy Riccette, Bengals Wire / Bengals Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
