Bass: Bengals and NFL Draft Class is in session. Can you make the grade?

So you want to be a student of the Bengals’ and NFL drafts? Or to test your knowledge with an NFL Draft instructor? You are in the right place.

With three weeks before the draft, you are on clock.

Before I became a sports fan coach, I covered the NFL Draft, oversaw coverage of it, attended it and even taught it. I helped create a class for Northwestern graduate students to study and cover the 2015-16 drafts that would revolutionize the annual event. I tried to make the class fun, mixing in some quiz questions.

Let’s start with one for you.

Which Bengals draft pick appeared with a dubbed-over voice in the Oscar-winning movie, "The Right Stuff"?

A) Pete Koch

B) Anthony Munoz

C) Archie Griffin

D) Ross Browner

Answer: B. Munoz

Let's answer some potential questions

I love the NFL Draft. Always have. There are all sorts of creative ways to enjoy and learn from it.

Let’s address some questions you might have.

Q: What do I need to know?

What do you want to know? You can make the experience what you want it to be. The more you know, the more all of this can make sense to you.

Q: Where do I start?

The basics. The draft is three days, Round 1 on April 25, Rounds 2-3 on April 26 and Rounds 4-7 on April 27. Draft positions are determined by records the previous season, same as when the draft began in 1936. The idea was to promote competition. Still is.

Q: Which statement about Bill Shakespeare is false?

A) He was college football’s first Heisman Trophy winner and the NFL’s first No. 1 overall draft pick, but he chose not to play in the league.

B) Pittsburgh drafted him third overall, but he chose not to play in the NFL.

C) Notre Dame’s so-called “Bard of South Bend” and “Merchant of Menace” threw a last-minute touchdown pass to beat Ohio State in what was called the greatest college game in football’s first 100 years.

D) When he died 50 years ago, he was president of the Cincinnati Rubber Manufacturing Company.

Answer: A. That was Jay Berwanger.

Q: What is the biggest change you’ve seen in recent years?

This is the age of the team fan-alyst. Today, everyone can be a draftnik. There is so much data, video and opinion out there, and you can make informed recommendations about what about your Bengals should do. So what if you are biased? Is anyone purely objective? Does anyone know your team better than you? Is your voice any less worthy? Why not post your mock draft on social media?

You are more reliable than the teams, who won’t reveal anything significant before the draft. Everything they say is a potential smokescreen to fake out other teams. Same as always. Afterward, they will say every player they draft is whom they had hoped would be available. As always.

But you’ve got this. You might love this. You never have to take a break as a Bengals fan. The games stop, but the offseason builds to free agency and crescendos with the draft. The draft remains a crapshoot, but what a crapshoot. The salary cap and draft size make every pick important. The higher ones are made for TV.

This year is the 30th anniversary of:

A) The NFL Draft shortening to seven rounds.

B) The NFL salary cap.

C) The Bengals drafting “Big Daddy” Dan Wilkinson No. 1 overall.

D) The Bengals making Doug Pelfrey the last eighth-round pick in franchise history.

Answer: D. That came in 1993.

Q: Will Cincinnati host an NFL Draft?

Can it beat out the competition? Cleveland hosted in 2021, and Pittsburgh and Baltimore are pushing for one, too. Not what you want to hear from your AFC North rivals.

Having a draft is cool. I was fortunate to witness the first experiment with this. New York had been the NFL Draft home since 1965, but Radio City Music Hall’s Easter programming was a scheduling issue. Chicago pitched an indoor-outdoor extravaganza with a fan festival.

It worked. I knew the NFL Draft was big. I saw how big.

It was fun. I enjoyed roaming the area, seeing fans dressed for the occasion, watching how some of the other attractions adapted. A sign for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra read, “HEAR CLASSICAL MUSIC’S TOP DRAFT PICKS! 🏈 25% off concert tickets this weekend.”

After two years, the road show would be such a hit that other cities wanted it. But the essence of the NFL Draft never changed for the core fans. The draft is a team’s main talent provider and paramount to success.

No wonder one of our most popular stories featured Bears icon Dick Butkus questioning Chicago’s decision to trade up two spots to draft Butkus Award-winning linebacker Leonard Floyd instead of waiting for him at 11. Nothing against Floyd, but was there a better option at No. 9?

“Maybe a quarterback,” Butkus said. “Put (Paxton Lynch) in the back, for a couple years, because if something happens to (Jay) Cutler, we’re really screwed, I think. So we get a guy like that, he gets a year or two under his belt, and there we go.”

Lynch did not fare so well, but Butkus knew football and the value of trying to find a quarterback. The Bears cut Cutler after the 2016 season. The Bears haven’t found a true franchise quarterback since Sid Luckman.

The Bengals found their current one in 2020. How they found their previous one was part of Bengals draft lore.

In 1984, the Bengals did NOT draft . . .

A) Steve Young with the No. 1 overall pick

B) Boomer Esiason in the second round

C) Ricky Hunley, Pete Koch and Brian Blados in the first round.

D) Offensive linemen Bruce Reimers in the eighth and Bruce Kozerski in the ninth.

Answer: A. Young. But they thought about it.

Q: Is the success of a draft mainly about the first round? Especially in the post-draft grades?

It can be. It also can be an illusion.

Forty years ago, the Bengals owned the No. 1 pick, thanks to a previous trade with Tampa Bay. The Bengals were positioned to take Young, a future Hall of Fame quarterback. But he wanted more money than they would offer, and he signed early with the rival USFL. Disaster?

The Bengals traded that pick to New England for two 1984 first-rounders and change. The Bengals still had their own first-rounder, giving them three overall. Patriots executive Dick Steinberg said the Bengals ended up with what “might be considered in the top 10 drafts or so of all time,” he told the Enquirer’s Peter King. “Three years from now, those top guys’ll probably be the backbone of their team.”

Hunley never signed with the Bengals and was traded to Denver. Koch was waived after one season. Blados started initially, but settled in as a reserve. Disaster?

This still is one of the best drafts in Bengals history.

Boomer fell to Round 2 and quarterbacked the Bengals to their next Super Bowl. Key reserves Stanford Jennings (third round), Barney Bussey (fifth) and Leo Barker (sixth) also were drafted that year, along with starting offensive linemen Bruce Reimers (eighth) and Bruce Kozerski (ninth). Oh, and two of the 1986 picks acquired for Hunley became two more Super Bowl starters, wide receiver Tim McGee (first round) and safety David Fulcher (third).

So was that the best draft in Bengals history? Or was the 2020 draft that brought Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins and Logan Wilson, among others? Or was another the best?

You make the call. Same with the worst. This is part of the fun. Or the agony.

In 1989, whom did the Bengals draft in the first round?

A) Eric Ball

B) Freddie Childress

C) Natu Tuatagaloa

D) Nobody

Answer: D. They traded out of the first round.

Q: Is it better to trade down or up in the draft?

Trading down in Round 1 is generally better, behavioral economists Cade Massey and Richard Thaler found in their study, “The Loser’s Curse.” The higher the pick, the less likely it would prove worth the salary-cap hit. Better to trade down for multiple picks. Better still to trade for future picks, which tend to come at a discount.

Massey says finding a franchise quarterback is so important, the risk of securing a high pick can be worth it. In 1989, the Bengals already had Esiason. Trading down for two extra picks did not prevent this 12-round draft from being a clunker. Ball and Childress were the highest picks, in Round 2. Ball primarily turned into a kick returner and reserve running back. Childress was an offensive guard who reported at 374 pounds and didn’t make the final cut.

Go figure.

How often did the Bengals draft No. 18 before this year?

A) 0

B) 1

C) 2

D) 3

Answer: C. The Bengals took OLB/DE Alfred Williams in 1991 and DB Leon Hall in 2007.

Q: What advice would you give for this year’s draft?

Watch the clock. If the Bengals don’t make a trade – and never assume that – the first round tends to take around three or four hours. The Bengals will draft 18th, much earlier than the last two years. See who goes off the board before they select.

Otherwise, it depends on what you want to get out of it. If you want this to be a party, make it a party. If you want to connect with fellow Bengals fans on social media, enjoy the village but know everyone will not agree. If you want to understand what the Bengals need, research can help. If you want to go further, consider which veteran might be challenged or cut because of a pick or the cap.

If you care about the Bengals as people, here is one tip I used as an editor after a draft pick: Google the player’s name and the terms “mother” or “father” or “parent.” You can find some good profiles and human-interest stories.

We also would look at trends. The Bengals went with defense in the first three rounds the last two years. Which is a lot more meaningful than the Bengals going with defense the two other times they held the No. 18 pick, but this can be fun and factoids can be entertaining.

So why not impress your friends with a little trivia?

How many of these statements are true?

A) The first televised NFL Draft was 1980.

B) Fifty years ago, the Bengals picked quarterback Clint Longley first overall in the supplemental draft, then traded him to Dallas, where he became a Thanksgiving Day legend.

C) Mike Reid, the Bengals’ 1970 first-round draft pick, was an All-Pro player and a Country Music Hall of Famer.

D) The Falcons tried to draft actor John Wayne in the 17th round in 1972, but the pick was disallowed.

E) All of the above.

Answer: E

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bass: How much do you really know about the NFL Draft?