BY GEOFF HOBSON
MOBILE, Ala. _ The Bengals are looking for the next Darnay Scott here this week at the Senior Bowl and not because they are worried their speed receiver won't recover from his broken leg.
Jim Lippincott, the club's director of pro/college personnel, does plan to get a 40-yard dash time out of the rehabbing Scott before April's NFL Draft so the Bengals know with what they're dealing.
But even if Scott is all the way back running a 4.3-second 40, they are still top heavy with big possession receivers and small, speedy types. And then there's playmaker Peter Warrick and the fact they are courting offensive coordinators who like three-receiver sets.
"He can pretty much play anywhere," said Bengals receivers coach Steve Mooshagian of Warrick. "But he's best in the slot and doing some things inside. If you have three legitimate guys, it changes the way you can attack people."
So the idea is to find another size-speed guy who like Scott in 1994 would be there in the second round, although if Michigan's David Terrell or North Carolina State's Koren Robinson is sitting there at No. 4. . .
"I'm sure you'd have to think about Terrell," Lippincott said. "He's this year's Randy Moss."
But they picked Warrick No. 4 last year and what if
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Texas left tackle Leonard Davis is looming?
Could they may find the wideout in the second round, like '94 when Scott was the 30th pick?
This year's Scott? Lippincott says it's Oregon State's Chad Johnson, a 6-3, 187-pounder playing for the North this week who, "is just like Darnay was. Darnay filled out, and this kid's a little thin, but he can get down the field."
Mooshagian and Lippincott like Grambling's Scotty Anderson on the South squad, but there's some debate if the 6-2, 179-pounder is a second-round guy or a third-round guy. There will be a lot of that in the next three months.
"Last year, Sylvester Morris improved his stock with how he played in these games and what he did in his workouts," Mooshagian said. "Right now, about a dozen guys could project to the first three rounds and that list can grow."
For instance, Johnson had just one year of experience at Oregon State after coming from junior college, so the question that would have to be answered in the coming months if he could learn a high-grade offense.
The most polished guys here this week appear to be Miami's Reggie Wayne (6-0, 195) of the South and Kansas State's Quincy Morgan of the North (6-1, 204).
"I love everything about Morgan," Lippincott said. "I like his routes, his hands, he's flexible, he's big enough and he's got good speed."
Mooshagian says Wayne is big enough, "but I don't know if he's fast enough. That's the kind of stuff you have to find out in workouts."
