He's got a new season to try to get his career back on track, a new position coach and it'll be Lazor's first full season to get a fresh start with him. The question is whether Marvin is willing to use his talent or will he forever view him as a draft pick he didn't want?
Part of me likes the prospect of having the speed ,but another part also sees a guy kind of sulking and wanting to blame someone else for a reason for last season. Because I don't know for sure I'm going to wait and see how he develops or not. I don't have super high hopes, but I do think there's still quite a bit of real potential in him with a new season and hopefully injury free .

I haven’t read where he was sulking or blaming, so that’s a good sign he owns it. It will be interesting to watch his development next season. If our coaches are who we hope, they should be able to work with him.

For the time being, I'll give Marv the benefit of the doubt and assume that Marv genuinely thought Ross was, indeed, too injured/not ready to make an impact this year.

I don't think it's possible that he wasn't, because it's so insanely easy to design a play around a guy with great speed (I.E. hand him the ball and set up blocks for him) but I'm willing to believe Marv ignorantly believed this.

With a full off season and pre-season, barring further injuries, I have faith that Ross will have a good year next year.

I don't think he has the ability to be an elite #1 receiver, but a good speed option that could maybe find 600 to 900 yards and 5 to 8 TD seems like a reasonable expectation of him next year.

Not exactly worth a top 10 pick but...what are you gonna do?

(01-25-2018, 09:13 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I don't think it's possible that he wasn't, because it's so insanely easy to design a play around a guy with great speed (I.E. hand him the ball and set up blocks for him) but I'm willing to believe Marv ignorantly believed this.

Two things I hate about Marvin

1.  He never holds players accoiuntable if they don't put in the work.

2.  He doesn't just automatically give playing time to guys who don't pout in the work.

They gave Jerome Simpson every chance to learn the WR playbook and get out on the field so, yes, I think that John Ross absolutely gets to hit the reset button.

Personally, I'm not worried at all and think John Ross will have a strong 2nd year and be an impact player for the Bengals. I think Malone does as well.

I'm sure he'll get another shot and I'm sure he'll get hurt again and he and Eifert can rehab together again next season.

(01-25-2018, 10:06 AM)PDub80 Wrote: Personally, I'm not worried at all and think John Ross will have a strong 2nd year and be an impact player for the Bengals. I think Malone does as well.

Same here. 

Ross is an elite talent.  He was not just drafted because of his forty time.

And Malone was a steal.  He played for a college team with a very limited passing game.  He would have put up much bigger numbers with a better passing team.

Remember when so many people were calling Jackson a bust because he didn't do anything as a rookie?  It is way too early to write off Ross.

Did Ross really get much of a first chance?


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(01-25-2018, 11:08 AM)BenZoo2 Wrote: Did Ross really get much of a first chance?


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He was injured, but he was also on the active roster and saw some limited action.

(01-25-2018, 09:13 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: For the time being, I'll give Marv the benefit of the doubt and assume that Marv genuinely thought Ross was, indeed, too injured/not ready to make an impact this year.

I don't think it's possible that he wasn't, because it's so insanely easy to design a play around a guy with great speed (I.E. hand him the ball and set up blocks for him) but I'm willing to believe Marv ignorantly believed this.

With a full off season and pre-season, barring further injuries, I have faith that Ross will have a good year next year.

I don't think he has the ability to be an elite #1 receiver, but a good speed option that could maybe find 600 to 900 yards and 5 to 8 TD seems like a reasonable expectation of him next year.

Not exactly worth a top 10 pick but...what are you gonna do?

If  hes running bad routes and practice and Was hurt most the season he wouldn't have seen the field.

Seems that at least new WRs coach Bob Bicknell is excited for Ross - http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/New-coach-says-Ross-speed-can-pay-off/078f4548-0762-4125-a6d2-c124ac347069

Definitely believe he gets a fair chance this upcoming season.

But not sure he really had a 1st chance.

He was not up to full speed in training camp last year. Mixon stood out. Ross didn't.

If Ross can't stay healthy, the sky is the limit for him. Big if at this point, but I believe he'll be one of our top targets if he can stay on the field

Ross will be a beast next season. With more time in a strength and conditioning program this offseason it should help in keep him on the field.

Ross is going through his Akili Smith period, which means, if you fail to live up to hyped draft pick, this team will guarantee you your graveyard and that you will never get another paycheck in the NFL.

(01-25-2018, 11:15 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: If  hes running bad routes and practice and Was hurt most the season he wouldn't have seen the field.

Interesting comment, considering it was very well known that he is an excellent route runner prior to the draft.

I'm holding out hope that they were strengthening his shoulder to get him ready for hits in the NFL and not Marvin reacting to the draft pick he didn't want.

To me, GM's should take coach input into consideration during FA/Draft, but they should always be upgrading positions as they can and see fit. Coaches responsibility is to take what your given and make due. Honestly, coaches shouldn't be scouts in the sense that we use them as scouts, they should take what the scouts find and either agree/disagree/offer opinions. That's not to say that they can't watch college games and send research requests to the scouts if they see someone that they think is being over looked. Basically, Scouts need to Scout and Coaches need to Coach, each side needs to be able to trust the other.

(01-25-2018, 12:51 PM)Bengalitis Wrote: Ross is going through his Akili Smith period, which means, if you fail to live up to hyped draft pick, this team will guarantee  you your graveyard and that you will never get another paycheck in the NFL.

Akili Smith was an obvious bust before he was drafted. Easily the worst draft pick in franchise history, and considering all we turned down to draft the guy makes it even worse.

Sad thing is, my 9 year old self was very excited with the Akili pick. I remember watching the selection with my father and he said to me, "well look at that. You're favorite team did something right for once."

Gee, thanks dad   But I bought into the hype hook line and sinker. Anyone with eyes can look back now and see Akili was a one year wonder and a product of the system, like Tony Pike was at Cincinnati and Tim Tebow at Florida. How so many "experts" had Akili ranked as a top QB I'll never know.

(Yes, 20 years later I'm still very bitter about the pick 

(01-25-2018, 01:01 PM)Pat5775 Wrote: Akili Smith was an obvious bust before he was drafted. Easily the worst draft pick in franchise history, and considering all we turned down to draft the guy makes it even worse.

Sad thing is, my 9 year old self was very excited with the Akili pick. I remember watching the selection with my father and he said to me, "well look at that. You're favorite team did something right for once."

Gee, thanks dad   But I bought into the hype hook line and sinker. Anyone with eyes can look back now and see Akili was a one year wonder and a product of the system, like Tony Pike was at Cincinnati and Tim Tebow at Florida. How so many "experts" had Akili ranked as a top QB I'll never know.

(Yes, 20 years later I'm still very bitter about the pick 

You're not alone. I was actually a guest speaker at Grossmont College on Military History for 3 days. There was a young man that showed up day 1 with headphones on during class, day 2 he slept all through class, day 3 never showed up. Yes this was Akili Smith... 

fredtoast Wrote:Same here. 

Ross is an elite talent.  He was not just drafted because of his forty time.

And Malone was a steal.  He played for a college team with a very limited passing game.  He would have put up much bigger numbers with a better passing team.

Remember when so many people were calling Jackson a bust because he didn't do anything as a rookie?  It is way too early to write off Ross.

Yeah Malone already gives more stability to the WR position.  With Ross, it just comes down to him being healthy enough to play and using him properly.  It's scary how good his cutback ability was even after catching passes across the middle.  It's one thing for a QB to adjust to the speed of the game to hit a WR, but another for a fragile WR to adjust on the one play that may wipe him out.  We shouldn't have to baby how he is used, but its just realistic in this case.