ESPN's Bengals Training Camp Preview

[BFritz21]

(07-26-2022, 09:34 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Mad or not, Bates won't be able to half ass it this season or he will find himself on the bench, which is not where he needs to be if he's trying to garner interest from other teams. Hopefully he's smart enough to realize he needs to ball out this year regardless of his long plan.

The one thing this offense needs to improve on is Red Zone production, and I think with the 3 new additions, once we get inside the 20 they will feed Mixon.

My only fear is he half-asses the regular season and then thinks “oh, I can just turn it on in the playoffs again and still have interest from other teams.” That might sound stupid and could backfire but then we all know that pro athletes overvalue themselves, especially with asshole agents telling them that they’re gods and will get huge paydays.

Let’s hope Bates comes out and plays at an All-Pro level in the regular season.

(07-26-2022, 01:16 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: He’s at Kansas, Fred.

Fred knows more than ESPN

:thumbsup:

(07-26-2022, 01:36 PM)ochocincos Wrote: As of right now, it sounds like the only way for either Lassiter or Pooka Williams to make the roster is to beat out Wilson and Trent Taylor for PR duties.

Coming from a college that’s not a football powerhouse, they might like his potential to develop into a productive player with more upside than one of those two.

ESPN sees it, so it’s a possibility.

(07-26-2022, 01:46 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Kansas was no offensive powerhouse, no doubt.
But it's EXTREMELY rare for a WR to perform poorly in college only to blossom in the NFL.
Andrew Hawkins is one example though who eventually did.

At Toledo (MAC) 2004-2007, he had a total of just 634 yards and 4 TDs across 36 games.
His best season was 283-3.

It took him until 2011 to really land on an NFL roster, putting up 263-0 with CIN in 2011.
His best season in CIN was 533-4 in 2012, and then he signed his next contract with CLE where he put up one season above 350 yards, which was 824-2.

He wasn’t exactly given the most opportunities but he did make some nice plays when given the chance.