Best Draft Steals in Cincinnati Bengals’ History

The NFL Draft begins Thursday Night. Here, we look back at the best draft steals in Cincinnati Bengals history.

Value is an overused word in regards to the NFL Draft. It has almost become meaningless. No matter when a guy is drafted, if he can play, he can play. If he can’t, he can’t.

However, every team’s history is dotted with a handful of players who gave their team incredible production despite falling to the mid to late rounds. In those cases, the talk of good value is meaningful.  Here, we look back at a few of those guys for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Geno Atkins

As far as relatively recent Bengals draft steals go, they come no better than Geno Atkins. The 2010 fourth-round pick is an eight-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle with 75.5 sacks. He is still going strong too. If fourth-round picks are still with the team that drafted them after three years, that is a success. When they put together Hall of Fame careers, that is a gift and a great combo of luck and scouting.

Max Montoya

This former UCLA Bruin was a seventh-round pick in 1979. He spent the first ten years of his career with the Bengals. He went to three Pro Bowls as a Bengal. He was the starting guard on both Cincinnati Super Bowl teams.

All this earned him a spot on the Bengals 50th anniversary team in 2017. You would be hard-pressed to find a seventh-rounder with a better career.

Tim Krumrie

Krumrie is best remembered for his grotesque injury in the Bengals second Super Bowl, but he was a heck of a player. He spent his entire 11-year career at nose tackle for Cincinnati. The two time Pro Bowler was also a tenth round pick in 1983. There are only seven rounds in the draft these days. That says it all.

Joe Burrow’s success or failure will decide if Cincinnati has a good 2020 draft class, but what makes a class great is finding guys like these three.