Geoff Hobson

With Bengals.com set to celebrate its 25th anniversary on April 15, the first day of the 2000 NFL Draft, it inspired us to look back at five of our most memorable drafts of the century.

2020: Zooming to a Super Nucleus

With the world locked down at the height of the pandemic, the Bengals made the first pick of the 2020s with Bengals president Mike Brown in an Indian Hill living room, director of player personnel Duke Tobin on an Anderson Township porch, and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow next to his parents on their Athens couch in an all-Ohio Zoom that ended up zooming the Bengals to the Super Bowl in less than two years.

The Bengals could have made that Burrow pick back when the world was normal. The next night, in rounds two and three, wasn't so easy.

It took them much of the day to wrestle out a decision on Clemson wide receiver Tee Higgins becoming the first target drafted in the Burrow Era with the 33rd pick at the top of the second round. A few pre-pick words from 500-catch Bengal T.J. Houshmandzadeh didn't hurt after he worked with Higgins in the leadup to the draft. Burrow has hooked up with Higgins for two 1,000-yard seasons and 34 touchdowns, not to mention a 75-yard Super Bowl lightning bolt. Nearly five years later, Higgins signed one of the richest receiver deals ever with the Bengals after a season Burrow was voted to his second Pro Bowl when he led the league in passing yards and touchdowns.

The Bengals then had to white knuckle through the second round to get Wyoming linebacker Logan Wilson at the top of the third. They thought they lost him at least twice, to Seattle at 48 and to Kansas City picking two spots ahead of the Bengals. But the Chiefs opted for Ole Miss linebacker Wilie Gay Jr., and Wilson has gone on to make huge plays in the Bengals' middle during his five seasons. His 11 interceptions lead all backers in the 2020s, and a 12th came in the last minute of an AFC Divisional to set up their first road playoff won ever.

You'd have to say they're 1-for-1 in remote drafts.

2006: The Long-Haul Draft

The Bengals began the weekend drafting their first first-round cornerback ever when they plucked South Carolina's Johnathan Joseph with the 24th pick. Despite closing in on a long-term deal with left tackle Levi Jones, they took LSU left tackle Andrew Whitworth in the second round because of his versatility. In the third and fourth rounds, the Bengals stayed on the defensive line, first with USC defensive end Frostee Rucker, and then with Michigan State nose tackle Domata Peko.

Joseph and Michigan cornerback Leon Hall, taken with the first pick in 2007, teamed to be co-MVPs of the 2009 Bengals who swept the AFC North. Whitworth, with 168 games, played the third most games by a Bengals tackle behind only Ring of Honor members Anthony Munoz and Willie Anderson while going to three Pro Bowls at left tackle. Peko, with 171, played more games on the Bengals defensive front than anybody but Ring of Honor member Tim Krumrie while anchoring four top-ten defenses.

Rucker played the first 53 of his 157 NFL games in Cincinnati, the fewest number of games played by the players picked in those first four rounds. But don't forget Virginia linebacker Ahmad Brooks, taken a couple of months later in the third round of the 2006 supplemental draft. After 145 games, Brooks was the first to retire after the 2017 season.

Then Rucker retired after 2018, but Joseph, Whitworth, and Peko made it into the 2020s. Peko and Joseph retired after 2020, making it rather fitting that the last game played by a member of that long-haul '06 Bengals draft class was the Rams' Whitworth playing against the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI after the 2021 season.

2011: Generational Re-Boot Forms A Connection

Nine years before the Bengals went QB-WR 1-2 in the draft to start a generational re-boot in the challenging confines of COVID, the Bengals went WR-QB 1 to re-make an era that began in a lockout.

Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson couldn't talk to their new offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden, because of the lockout. But Palmer had made it clear he wanted to be traded and it was thought that Johnson, the Bengals all-time leading receiver, would also be moving on.

With both still on the roster, the Bengals took Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green with the fourth pick. Then Gruden held his breath. He was crossing his fingers that the guy he thought most NFL ready among the crop of quarterbacks that they'd have a shot to get, TCU's Andy Dalton, would be there at No. 35 at the top of the second round.

It was a long wait when Jake Locker-Blaine Gabbert-Christian Ponder went 8-10-12. It turned out Gruden couldn't talk or work with his new combo until the day the lockout ended, also the day they traded Chad Johnson to New England for a fifth-round pick on July 29.

The Bengals may have had an excruciating wait for Dalton, but he and Green wasted no time turning the pundits on their heads. While Green became the first receiver in history to go to seven Pro Bowls in his first seven seasons, Dalton became the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to win nine games and go the playoffs while throwing 20 touchdown passes on the way to leading the Bengals to a club-best five straight postseasons.

2001: The Record Book Draft

Bengals president Mike Brown began the day longing for Purdue quarterback Drew Brees, who may or may not have been six feet. Brown didn't have a lot of company in his draft room, which went for Missouri defensive end Justin Smith at No. 4.

When Brees slid through the first round, his coaches braced for Brown to pick him at No. 36. But the Chargers picked off Brees at No. 32, and the Bengals went for Oregon State wide receiver Chad Johnson, still their all-time leading receiver.

In the fourth round they opted for Auburn running back Rudi Johnson. He would break Corey Dillon's club record for yards rushing in a season and then he would break his own the next year, which is still the record at 1,458.

Then, with the coaches and scouts starting to think about undrafted free agents as the seventh round wore on, offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski ducked into an outer office to chat with his old boss, Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson. At pick No. 204. the Bengals chose Johnson's running mate at Oregon State, wide receiver T. J. Houshmandzadeh. He ended up with two 1,000-yard seasons, is fifth on the Bengals' all-time receptions list with 507, and shared the 2007 NFL lead with 112, the single-season club record Ja'Marr Chase broke this season on the way to the receiving triple crown.

That pick at No. 4? After playing seven seasons in Cincy, Justin Smith ended up with the second most tackles by a Bengals defensive end and the fifth most sacks with 43.5 before going to five Pro Bowls with the 49ers.

2012: Day Traders Get Tips On Two Division Titles

The Bengals' draft room was the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and it started right away with the 17th pick, the one they got from the Raiders as part of the Carson Palmer deal swung on Deadline Day the previous October. The Bengals took Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and then traded down with New England using their own first-round pick to take Wisconsin guard Kevin Zeitler while also getting an extra third-round pick.

They used it on Clemson defensive tackle Brandon Thompson. Then in the fifth round, they used the pick they got from the Patriots in the Chad Johnson trade on another receiver, Cal's Marvin Lewis Jones. With their next pick in the fifth round, a choice picked up in a trade with the Giants for linebacker Keith Rivers, they grabbed Boise State safety George Iloka.

All those picks but Marvin Jones started in the next year's Wild Card Game for the 2013 AFC North champs, as well as third-rounder Mohammad Sanu at wide receiver and fourth-rounder Orson Charles at tight end. Two years later for the 2015 AFC North champs, Charles was gone but Jones started alongside Green at receiver in the Wild Card Game.