04-15-2021, 06:53 PM
(04-15-2021, 01:09 AM)fredtoast Wrote: "Top speed", or "long speed" as you call it, is more important to a "deep threat" who can "take the top off the defense".
Long tall receivers often have slower 40 times but a greater top speed. Guys like Green and Chris Henry are perfect examples. Neither had elite forty yard dash times, but their "long speed" made them great deep threats.
- To your point on the 40, it's so outdated as a metric the NFL is working on eliminating it from the combine & pro days.
- I think it's perfectly fine to have different kinds of receivers, not everyone is going to have the same skill set or be good at doing the same things.
- Tee Higgins is not an explosive athlete, but he is still a great athlete. I have nothing bad to say about him as a player. He was kind of dogged a bit by pundits during the draft process last year, but I had him as my favorite WR in last years draft. I was thrilled the Bengals took him as he was my choice when day 2 opened.
- Something the Bengals do lack in Higgins and Boyd is suddenness and explosiveness. The ability to hit a slant or a screen and break free through traffic for long gains, for example. I think that, in Taylor's offense, a player like that is needed and would shine.
I had hopes the light would come on so that Ross could've been that guy and salvaged his career with the Bengals last season to get re-signed.. We saw shades of it in 2019, but he just couldn't make it happen throughout a whole season.
An explosive athlete like that at WR would open things up for Higgins, Mixon AND Boyd. Looking for big things from The offense this coming season!
