02-20-2022, 11:20 AM
I'd hate to see Tyler go. He's been one of the few bright spots on a lot of bad teams here. As for the money, he's earned it as much as anyone.
IMO Boyd is one of a few tough decisions that they need to make at some point. They clearly have 2 top end receivers. Yes, one could get injured and you love to have Boyd in that scenario. However, when you take a cumulative look at the roster we have one really, really loaded position group at wr and one horribly deficient one at OL.
Are you better off having one super-strong group at the potential expense of another? I understand that they have some cap to burn, but is it enough to really invest heavily up front? I'm not so sure. 10 mil gets a pretty good veteran interior linemen.
The other factor here is the history of drafting and development between these two position groups. I have less than zero faith in the Bengals to develop interior offensive linemen. They aren't exactly world beaters at finding tackles, either. Even more so without high picks. I do, however think they can find receivers that work. They have a quarterback that's good enough to make decent receivers look good, and a top 2 that can deflect enough from anyone down the roster to give them opportunities to succeed. Chase and Tee get enough attention to make any 3rd's job a lot less stressful. You're not going to be asking a 3rd receiver to come in here and carry the offense.
If we're honest, receivers are a dime a dozen in the NFL right now. They come out of college much more ready to contribute immediately. The modern rules vs dbs also heavily favor them as opposed to in the past. Linemen are harder to find and develop than ever, particularly for teams running a wide zone.
I guess what I'm saying is, I'm good with him being here, but I'd also understand if they saw fit to re-allocate resources elsewhere. He and Uzomah are a big part of the team's leadership, but they are also both fairly costly as 4th or 5th offensive options. Boyd got his deal when he was the number 2 to AJ, so by default became the number 1 in his absence. He's most certainly not that anymore due to no fault of his own. There are other leaders here now, to say the least. I don't know if their contributions are with 1 mil and 7-8 mil when other areas are in need of major help. Team leaders and locker room guys are great to have, but they aren't worth that kind of coin at the expense of other needs when they aren't the best players on the team anymore.
IMO Boyd is one of a few tough decisions that they need to make at some point. They clearly have 2 top end receivers. Yes, one could get injured and you love to have Boyd in that scenario. However, when you take a cumulative look at the roster we have one really, really loaded position group at wr and one horribly deficient one at OL.
Are you better off having one super-strong group at the potential expense of another? I understand that they have some cap to burn, but is it enough to really invest heavily up front? I'm not so sure. 10 mil gets a pretty good veteran interior linemen.
The other factor here is the history of drafting and development between these two position groups. I have less than zero faith in the Bengals to develop interior offensive linemen. They aren't exactly world beaters at finding tackles, either. Even more so without high picks. I do, however think they can find receivers that work. They have a quarterback that's good enough to make decent receivers look good, and a top 2 that can deflect enough from anyone down the roster to give them opportunities to succeed. Chase and Tee get enough attention to make any 3rd's job a lot less stressful. You're not going to be asking a 3rd receiver to come in here and carry the offense.
If we're honest, receivers are a dime a dozen in the NFL right now. They come out of college much more ready to contribute immediately. The modern rules vs dbs also heavily favor them as opposed to in the past. Linemen are harder to find and develop than ever, particularly for teams running a wide zone.
I guess what I'm saying is, I'm good with him being here, but I'd also understand if they saw fit to re-allocate resources elsewhere. He and Uzomah are a big part of the team's leadership, but they are also both fairly costly as 4th or 5th offensive options. Boyd got his deal when he was the number 2 to AJ, so by default became the number 1 in his absence. He's most certainly not that anymore due to no fault of his own. There are other leaders here now, to say the least. I don't know if their contributions are with 1 mil and 7-8 mil when other areas are in need of major help. Team leaders and locker room guys are great to have, but they aren't worth that kind of coin at the expense of other needs when they aren't the best players on the team anymore.
