John Ross is an absolute bust

[*ochocincos*]

(01-01-2019, 02:35 PM)BengalChris Wrote: I'm not sure how you can improperly utilize a WR. He either runs the routes assigned and catches the ball or he doesn't.

I'm more inclined to believe that in college he was going against weak DBs as he played in the Pac 12 during a time when defense was optional. Now he's in the NFL and the quality of the DBs is much higher. He gets knocked off his routes.

His catch stats are his catch stats. There's no real way to sugar coat them. He has a small catch radius when compared to AJ Green and Tyler Eifert. It's just what it is.

However, he is good at running along the back of the endzone and out running the defender there and catching TDs. So that alone will give him targets in the NFL. I'm hoping he can become a better route runner.

As others have said, maybe a new HC will get more out of him. I'm also hoping the new HC will get more out of this team all over, especially the D.

John Ross was never going to excel against press coverage or jump balls. There's also nothing he can do about his catch radius.
He was 5'11", 188 lbs, and didn't have elite leaping ability (37.0 inch vert) at the Combine.
What he has is elite agility and speed.
A player can be improperly utilized if he's, for example, a shorter, smaller WR but having to win 50-50 balls. To better utilize a guy like John Ross, you need to have a QB who can hit him in stride deep downfield (neither Dalton nor Driskell can do) and/or throw him the ball in much shorter routes to increase his touches and take advantage of his elite speed and agility after-the-catch.

Here are some stats that I think should help explain why he was being underutilized...
According to www.playerprofiler.com, here's the "catchable percentage" for Ross, Boyd, and Green:

Ross - 56.6% (30 of 53 targets)
Boyd - 80.6% (87 of 108 targets)
Green - 77.9% (60 of 77 targets)

Target accuracy when throwing to the same three players (1-4 scale, >=3.0 is considered highly accurate throws, <=2.0 considered highly errant throws):
Ross - 2.2
Boyd - 2.8
Green 2.8

Average target distance for the same three players:
Ross - 14.5 yards (16th highest in league)
Boyd - 9.9 yards (71st highest in league)
Green - 13.6 yards (25th highest in league)

Drops:
Ross - 6
Boyd - 5
Green - 6

So Ross was being thrown deep routes often and only slightly above half of his targets were deemed "catchable."
He had the same number of drops as AJ Green and only one more than Boyd.
The QBs were much more errant on their throws to Ross than they were to Boyd and Green.

Look, I get it that many people felt that 9 was too high for Ross and they expect a player selected in the Top 10 to be nearly flawless in every aspect. But the Bengals picked where they picked, two WRs were taken before Ross, and they likely didn't feel they could risk taking him later or be able to trade back and still get him (they clearly wanted him). He's not as elite of a prospect as Green was overall, but Green was the first WR taken and was considered one of the best WRs to come into the league in the past decade. What is elite for Ross is his speed and agility, and he's not being used properly to take advantage of that elite trait. He also doesn't have a QB who can throw the ball deep accurately when he is being sent on those deep routes.

I really hope this post helps people understand. If people still can't understand the problem after I've done posts like this, they never will understand.