Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis has really shown media covering the 2013 NFL Draft that he knows how to draft, by choosing wisely again with the 53rd pick overall. First of all, he chose TE Tyler Eifert, then today he selected RB Giovani Bernard and now the latest addition to the Bengals and their first draft addition to the defense, defensive end Margus Hunt, fresh out of SMU.
Estonia native Hunt is an enormous athlete, who is surprisingly quick off the snap, given his height. His extra long strides give him an edge over opposing lineman and his height gives him a distinct advantage of blocking out the light and of course the view of the quarterback even when he is not able to reach him.
With a vertical leap of 34.4″ and his freakish strength (38 reps of the bench) added with his excellent speed he will definitely be a threat to any line next season and will be a great addition to the already quarterback hungry defensive line team of Michael Johnson and Geno Atkins. Over the course of his college career, Hunt has amassed some 112 tackle and 16.5 sacks on his way to earning first team All-Conference USA honors.
Hunt has a few weaknesses that the Bengals will need to work on in the offseason. He often has problems changing directions after his initial jump from the line due to his size and because of this mobile quarterbacks and faster running backs will not have have as much of an issue breaking away from him as they would with some of the smaller defensive ends.
Nonetheless, an excellent pick by the Bengals once again. It seems that if there were a prize for ‘Best Draft’ the Bengals would be near the top.
