Did We get Lucky?

[*ochocincos*]

(07-11-2022, 03:49 PM)J24 Wrote: With  Burrow tearing his ACL his rookie season?

I was watching the herd and they were talking about Andrew Lucks career and how it ended.  The very first  couple of seasons he lead a team that had  no business being in the playoffs to conference championship. As a result the Colts wouldd never be able to draft that top star to go along with Luck until  his last season in the NFL.

That got me thinking if Burrow  doesn't  get hurt we probably win more games to end the Season and it gets us out of the   Chase sweepstakes. If we do not have  Chase do we make the playoffs or Superbowl? Probably. not right? Also does our future look as bright without Chase?

Hypothetically, let's assume that with a healthy Burrow in 2020 the Bengals would have picked in the 15-20 range of the draft.
If the Bengals would have taken a WR, it likely would have been either Bateman or Toney.
OL could have also been in play, with either Leatherwood or Darrisaw being the pick.
DL or DB could have also been in play.

There were definitely some games that Chase was a big reason they won in 2021. I don't think Bateman, Toney, or a defensive player would have necessarily contributed as much in 2021 as Chase did.
About the only thing I think may have come close is having one of the OL. One could have slotted in at RG.
And if an OL would have been taken in Rd 1, we probably wouldn't have seen Carman selected.
Instead, maybe it would have been Terrace Marshall. He didn't do much with CAR last year, but they had Darnold at QB (downgrade from Burrow) and he was behind Moore, Anderson, and McCaffrey in targets. He may have put up somewhere in the 500-800 range if he were a Bengal.