more player drama

[BengalsRocker]

(10-18-2020, 03:24 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Don't take this as me agreeing with the guy you quoted, but there admittedly is more than just Toeaina (interesting dug up name, though). I'm sure there's a list like this for all teams. From just players added to the Bengals in '10-'15...

Evan Mathis was wasted for 3 years here before going on to be a 2x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro, and a SB Winner.
Clinton McDonald did nothing in a year (2 solo tackles) with the Bengals and went on to have 3 different 5.0+ sack seasons at DT and won a SB.
Dan Skuta left and got a 5 sack season with the 49ers.
Margus Hunt was terrible here but had a 5 sack season with the Colts.
Cobi Hamilton couldn't record a catch here over a couple years but put up 1 thoroughly mediocre year for the Steelers.
Cedric Ogbuehi went from pure dumpster fire with the Bengals to mediocre last year. Enough that the Seahawks offered him 1yr/$2.3m.

No statistical backing for this what-so-ever, but I still think if they had made Taylor Mays a LB from the get-go, he would have been something.

(Really only Mathis was the big miss from that list. McDonald would have been a nice player to have around, too.)
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Earlier back a big one is, you can't help but look at 2004 30-year-old Corey Dillon and wonder what his career could have been like on a better team.

I do wonder if we'll look back and think of AJ Green in the same way 10-15 years from now.

Not to cloud the water in this discussion but also Michael Johnson experiments early in his career were a waste.

Oh well. Like you said there are a lot of teams that under-utilize or miss out on talent for whatever reasons.

You could easily say that Bengals in the past took players like Reggie Nelson/Newman and harnessed wasted talent.