Can Auden Tate make the Bengals roster?

[Whatever]

(07-05-2018, 10:06 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: That may be entirely true, and I hope that it is.  I feel like they keep Lafell around, not because he does anything spectacular, but because he's reliable, competent in the playbook, and has built a good repoire with Andy.  Not that Lafell's cap savings would be tremendous (4M, I think?), but if Core could rise up to take that spot, it would certainly add a bit of cash to pick up say a veteran OL or added cash for extensions of Geno and or Carlos.

I think LaFell is pretty safe.  We're going through a complete playbook change and he and AJ are the only WR's on the roster not on their rookie contract.  Unless LaFell is complete garbage in TC or the young guys take a massive leap forward, I think the rationale will be that it's better to have him and AJ each take two young players under their wing than have AJ trying to help tutor 5 guys.

I think Erickson has to win the primary returner job to stick this year, which will be tough considering how he backslid last year in the role.  Core just doesn't have the hands to go with his frame and straight line speed.  With a still suspect OL, we can't expect Andy to deliver perfect strikes into the numbers consistently to make a guy like Core productive.  That's what's going to make a guy like Tate with a huge catch radius and the ability to make plays on poorly thrown balls valuable.