Best Draft Steals this Century (30/32): The Cincinnati Bengals select Geno Atkins, Defensive Tackle, Georgia, in the 4th round (120th overall pick) of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Reasons for picking Geno Atkins- For a player who looked as though he had hit his peak in the middle of his college career, Geno Atkins’s dominance in the NFL is an example of how raw sack numbers will not always predict how good a player will actually turn out. After a true freshman season in which he played in 11 games and recorded just 0.5 sacks, Atkins broke out in 2007 and was awarded First-team All-SEC, finishing with 7.5 sacks and leading Georgia in tackles for loss (15) despite only starting 7 of 13 games. He also helped Georgia win the Sugar Bowl that year by recording a sack on Hawaii QB Colt Brennan, after having infamously taken a picture with Brennan a few days before. Though he would only record 3 sacks over the next 2 years combined, his overall production remained the same: He started all 13 games in 2008 and 2009 and led Georgia in quarterback pressures (32 and 28, respectively) in both years, while finishing Second-team All-SEC. Atkins would then impress scouts at the Senior Bowl, recording a sack and pressure against future Pro Bowler Mike Iupati of Idaho. Despite being projected in some mock drafts to be drafted as early as Round 2, fears among teams that Atkins was undersized (He stood 6’1) and scrutiny over his lack of flashy stats led him to fall to the 4th round of the 2010 NFL Draft. There, he was selected by the Bengals, despite never having met or worked out for them during the Combine.

Competing with established defensive tackles Domata Peko and Tank Johnson, Atkins spent his first year in the NFL as a backup, finishing with 16 tackles and 3 sacks (good for second on the Bengals behind Carlos Dunlap). The next season, following the release of Tank Johnson, Atkins was named a starter alongside Peko. He immediately became a star, leading the Bengals with 7.5 sacks (tied for the most sacks in the NFL by a defensive tackle) and being named a Pro Bowl alternate as the Bengals made the playoffs as a wild-card team. In 2012, Atkins took his game to a whole new level, leading the Bengals in sacks (12.5) and forced fumbles (4) as he earned First-team All-Pro honors and was ranked by Pro Football Focus as their highest-graded defensive tackle. He also led all defensive tackles in total hits and hurries (62), which was 13 more than runner-up Ndamukong Suh. Just before the 2013 season, Atkins signed a 5-year, $55 million contract extension with the Bengals. Despite missing the last 7 games of 2013 with a torn ACL, Atkins still finished 3rd on the Bengals in sacks (6), and returned in 2014 to start all 16 games and make it back to the Pro Bowl, the start of six straight years of Pro Bowl appearances. After a 2017 season in which Atkins was ranked the second-best interior defensive lineman by PFF, he signed a 4-year, $65.3 million contract extension with the Bengals. He would become the only Bengals player to be named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.