Top 50 Cincinnati Bengals
If you want to name a team that exemplifies hard luck in the National Football League, it would have to be the Cincinnati Bengals.
Formed in 1968 as the last member of the American Football League, the Bengals joined the NFL with the official merger two years later. Cincinnati always seems to be a team that struggles, but they have appeared in three Super Bowls, losing the first two to the San Francisco 49ers and in 2020 to the Los Angeles Rams. While they have never been a champion, three Super Bowl appearances are the envy of a few teams in the NFL.
This list is up to the end of the 2023 regular season.
Note: Football lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
David Fulcher made the All-Rookie Team after the Cincinnati Bengals took him with their Third Round Pick in 1986.
Bob Trumpy was a Twelfth Round Pick from Utah, and for anyone drafted that low to have a pro career that lasted twelve seasons is nothing short of incredible.
In 1968, the University of Tennessee’s Bob Johnson was the first player drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, who was the Second Overall Pick. While you can easily say that he was not a star player, he was durable, and as it turned out, an excellent choice for their first-ever pick.
Carlos Dunlap was a massive part of the Florida Gators team that win the BCS National Championship in 2009. Dunlap was so impressive that he was the National Championship Defensive MVP. This success was parlayed into a Second Round Pick by Cincinnati, who used the Defensive End mostly in pass-rushing situations in his first three seasons before he was a permanent starter…
Domata Peko was one of the many good football players to come out of Samoa, and after playing his college ball at Michigan State, Peko was taken in the Fourth Round in 2006 by the Cincinnati Bengals.
A defensive star at North Dakota, Jim LeClair, impressed the NFL scouts enough for him to be taken in the Third Round in 1972.
Eddie Edwards was a beast at the University of Miami, where some considered him the best player on the team. The Cincinnati Bengals believed that, and they chose him with their Third Overall Pick in 1977.
Jim Breech had the honor of being a select group of Kickers to be chosen in the NFL Draft when the Oakland Raiders took him in the Eighth Round of the 1979 Draft. His tenure in Oakland was short-lived as the Raiders signed Chris Bahr, and cut Breech. The Bengals would be Breech's landing place, and as of this writing, he has…
Carl Pickens was a two-time SEC Selection at the University of Tennessee, so the Cincinnati Bengals were happy to land him with the Second Round Pick in 1992. Pickens had 555 All-Purpose Yards as a rookie, and he won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, so needless to say, his professional start was decent.
Playing his college ball at Ohio State, Pete Johnson was a Second Round Pick in 1977 by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Joe Mixon was a beast of a Running Back at the University of Oklahoma, though off-field issues likely cost him on Draft Day, where he fell to the Second Round of the 2017 Draft, landing with the Cincinnati Bengals. Mixon was decent as a rookie (628 Rushing Yards, 4 TDs), but he made his expected move to a higher echelon…
One of the most versatile Offensive Lineman in the Cincinnati Bengals history, Bruce Kozaerski played all twelve of his seasons in the National Football League with the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Eddie Brown proved to be worthy of Cincinnati’s 13thOverall Pick in 1985 when the Wide Receiver from Miami (FL) had 942 Yards with eight TDs in what would be an Offensive Rookie of the Year season.
Jeff Blake was a backup Quarterback for the New York Jets in his first two seasons in the NFL, but the sixth-place Heisman finisher saw little action. That changed when he signed with Cincinnati and would win the starting job in 1994.
A three-time All-American and College Hall of Famer at LSU, Tommy Casanova was taken in the Second Round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1972.
There are two distinct images for us with Joe Burrow in 2020. The first is the QB leading LSU to a National Championship, which he punctuated with a celebratory stogie. The second was in his parent’s humble home, where he was drafted #1 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Burrow felt like a a special player right away, and this was despite…
Dave Lapham played all ten of his NFL seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, which drafted him in the Third Round in 1974.
After an outstanding career at Auburn, Rudi Johnson was the 100thPick of the 2001 Draft, a selection that proved fruitful by the Cincinnati Bengals.