ESPN Ranks Our Team Weapons At #2 In The NFL!

[BFritz21]

ESPN Ranks Every Group Of WRs, TEs, and RBs, and we come in at #2 behind San Fran!

Quote:Last year, the Bengals ranked No. 1 on this list by a considerable margin. This year, they drop down to No. 2. I've made the case that the Dolphins' wideout duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle was the most productive in football last season, and A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are incredible, but if you were going to pick one duo to build your team around in 2023, could you avoid choosing Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins? The only thing that slowed Chase a year ago was a hairline fracture in his hip. The Bengals averaged 28 points per game without Chase in the lineup, which should tell you just how great the rest of their offense was.

Chase and Higgins require no introduction or explanation. Tyler Boyd continues to compete for the spot as the league's best third wideout, although he dropped from 1.7 yards per route run to 1.4 last season. That might not sound like much, but it amounts to 117 fewer receiving yards over the course of the season, and it came in a season in which Chase missed meaningful time. Boyd is still a valuable third playmaker, but in a league in which Jaxon Smith-Njigba is now a third wideout, Boyd doesn't feel as luxurious.

I think Higgins would be a #1 on just about any other team, so it doesn't surprise me that him and Chase make up probably the best receiving duo in the league.

Sad that Boyd's probably gone after this season with the addition of Jones, and you might think he's expendable, but you have to think that he'll be doing his best to put out an audition tape for every other team to see, so that gets me excited about the depth of our receiving room.

Quote:Going from Hayden Hurst to Irv Smith at tight end is a downgrade. Smith hasn't been able to stay healthy, missing 29 of 50 possible games over the past three seasons while battling knee, hand and ankle injuries. Smith hasn't produced at a TE1 level while healthy; this is a position I'm hoping the Bengals address between now and the trade deadline.

I've said that ignoring TE in the draft with so many good ones meant that maybe we just don't value the TE position enough, but I'm hoping that we find a solid tight end that becomes a cap casualty for another team so we can upgrade the position, especially because of Smith's health concerns.

If he can stay healthy and avoid injury, I think Burrow could allow him to live up to his potential as a high second-round pick.

Quote:Last season also looked like a step backward for Joe Mixon, who averaged just 3.9 yards per carry, which is the worst full-season mark of his career. Advanced metrics liked Mixon's season more than the raw numbers, though; he posted 43 rushing yards over expected and ranked 10th in Football Outsiders' version of success rate. There are questions about whether Mixon will be a cap casualty before the season-- and the Bengals lost backup Samaje Perine to free agency -- but Mixon can still be a useful back if he's on the Week 1 roster. The slight downgrades by Mixon and Boyd and the change at tight end was enough to bump Cincinnati out of the penthouse.

When Mixon runs downhill and doesn't dance, he's a damn good back. Even if he just pauses and picks his spots before he hits the hole, he's good, but dancing around in the backfield and then even once he gets going killed his production. I remember Burrow telling him "if we run the ball like that, no one can stop us."

We could still sign Dalvin cook, which would be huge, or maybe even Zeke Elliot.

With an offense as explosive as ours, we just can't have our back dancing around like Mixon does a lot, but hopefully he's over it. An improved line will also help whoever our back is.

Chase Brown could also surprise and be special!

They ranked San Fran as #1, which , yes, they have CMC and he might be the best back in the league if you factor in receiving, but I just don't see it.

They do have Kittle, who is a top TE in the league, and Samuel and Aiyuk are good, but they're no Higgins and Chase.

It's going to be a hell of a year!

WHO-DEY!

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

Disagree on Irv Smith Jr being a downgrade from Hayden Hurst if Irv can finally get healthy. We will see on that one, Irv is
really young still and he is due for a healthy season for once and Burrow just finds the open man. Irv could really benefit from
all the attention Ja'Marr and Tee will get. Would like to see us bring in another TE but for some reason Zac and our Offensive
coaches don't value TE near as much as any other team in the league. Bring back Wilcox at the very least.

Sample and Asiasi I have no faith in after Irv Smith.

Charlie Jones was a great insurance pick for when Boyd leaves, expecting him to make an immediate impact on ST's as a Punt
Returner and relief WR in case one of our WR's get banged up. Iosivas is a talent, but he is raw and it will take a year or two
before he makes an impact IMO.

Boyd falling off a touch last year makes the #2 ranking make sense I guess, but like you said Brad. Boyd playing for his next
contract could be a big deal and he could really ball out this year.

[BFritz21]

(06-26-2023, 02:07 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Disagree on Irv Smith Jr being a downgrade from Hayden Hurst if Irv can finally get healthy. We will see on that one, Irv is
really young still and he is due for a healthy season for once and Burrow just finds the open man. Irv could really benefit from
all the attention Ja'Marr and Tee will get. Would like to see us bring in another TE but for some reason Zac and our Offensive
coaches don't value TE near as much as any other team in the league. Bring back Wilcox at the very least.

So do I and I actually think he's a big upgrade talent-wise, but he hasn't been able to stay on the field, so that won't do us much good if he's injured.

It's hard for me to figure out why Zac and crew don't value tight ends as much, especially in this division. I get it that the traditional sense of the tight end has become devalued, but there were so many receiving tight ends in the draft and good offenses around the league find a way to use one. A big body in the middle of the field and up the seams just seems so hard to stop with defenses having to worry about Higgins and Chase on the outside.

Like I said, hopefully there's a cap casualty or a surprise cut that we can get.

(06-26-2023, 02:07 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Sample and Asiasi I have no faith in after Irv Smith.

Neither do I.........

(06-26-2023, 02:07 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Charlie Jones was a great insurance pick for when Boyd leaves, expecting him to make an immediate impact on ST's as a Punt
Returner and relief WR in case one of our WR's get banged up. Iosivas is a talent, but he is raw and it will take a year or two
before he makes an impact IMO.

I think Jones could really surprise a lot of us and I think was a hell of a pick by this staff. So underrated. 

(06-26-2023, 02:07 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Boyd falling off a touch last year makes the #2 ranking make sense I guess, but like you said Brad. Boyd playing for his next 
contract could be a big deal and he could really ball out this year.

I'm hoping it makes him work even harder in practice to make sure he gets looks in games because that will make other players elevate their games as well.

[Soonerpeace]

There are few factors inhibiting our Super Bowl run this year. Of course key injuries and the only question mark or I’ll say unknown is two new safeties. But the upside is the OL being much improved, an influx of what appears to be speed and athleticism from our rookies. In addition more depth and hopefully an improved pass rush. I must say if Irv Smith can produce big plays good luck defending this offense.

[BFritz21]

(06-26-2023, 03:19 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: There are few factors inhibiting our Super Bowl run this year. Of course key injuries and the only question mark or I’ll say unknown is two new safeties. But the upside is the OL being much improved, an influx of what appears to be speed and athleticism from our rookies. In addition more depth and hopefully an improved pass rush. I must say if Irv Smith can produce big plays good luck defending this offense.

We lost some solid pieces at safety in Bell and Bates but I trust our young guys Scott and Hill, especially with our defensive line looking like we have some solid pass rush rotations, especially at end, because the easiest way to make a DBs life easier is to get pressure on the quarterback.

[*Go Cards*]

(06-26-2023, 02:07 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Disagree on Irv Smith Jr being a downgrade from Hayden Hurst if Irv can finally get healthy. We will see on that one, Irv is
really young still and he is due for a healthy season for once and Burrow just finds the open man. Irv could really benefit from
all the attention Ja'Marr and Tee will get. Would like to see us bring in another TE but for some reason Zac and our Offensive
coaches don't value TE near as much as any other team in the league. Bring back Wilcox at the very least.

Sample and Asiasi I have no faith in after Irv Smith.

Charlie Jones was a great insurance pick for when Boyd leaves, expecting him to make an immediate impact on ST's as a Punt
Returner and relief WR in case one of our WR's get banged up. Iosivas is a talent, but he is raw and it will take a year or two
before he makes an impact IMO.

Boyd falling off a touch last year makes the #2 ranking make sense I guess, but like you said Brad. Boyd playing for his next
contract could be a big deal and he could really ball out this year.

Agree with most everything said except think Iosivas will be an impact sometime this season. Doubt he will get a lot thrown his way, unless God forbid there is an injury though. 

Think Bengals struck gold with both 6th round picks personally

[Soonerpeace]

(06-26-2023, 02:07 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Disagree on Irv Smith Jr being a downgrade from Hayden Hurst if Irv can finally get healthy. We will see on that one, Irv is
really young still and he is due for a healthy season for once and Burrow just finds the open man. Irv could really benefit from
all the attention Ja'Marr and Tee will get. Would like to see us bring in another TE but for some reason Zac and our Offensive
coaches don't value TE near as much as any other team in the league Bring back Wilcox at the very least.

Sample and Asiasi I have no faith in after Irv Smith.

Charlie Jones was a great insurance pick for when Boyd leaves, expecting him to make an immediate impact on ST's as a Punt
Returner and relief WR in case one of our WR's get banged up. Iosivas is a talent, but he is raw and it will take a year or two
before he makes an impact IMO.

Boyd falling off a touch last year makes the #2 ranking make sense I guess, but like you said Brad. Boyd playing for his next
contract could be a big deal and he could really ball out this year.

Brian used the TE a lot at Denver and Zac’s biggest influencer was his FIL at TAMU. Zac coached the TE’s. Mike Sherman loved TE’s. Burrow is the one who likes the big play to WR. Moss caught some balls (44) for the ‘19 NC LSU team but he was in the slot mostly.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-26-2023, 07:51 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Agree with most everything said except think Iosivas will be an impact sometime this season. Doubt he will get a lot thrown his way unless God forbid there is an injury though. 

Think Bengals struck gold with both 6th round picks personally

That would be cool if Iosivas has some sort of an impact. Certainly is a talented athlete with the stuff you cannot teach in speed 
and size. Have heard Tee has been helping him out a lot in his game which is awesome as they are around the same size, the way
Tee catches the ball is how Iosivas needs to try and catch the ball. Iosivas lets the ball get into his body too much.

(06-26-2023, 11:05 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Brian used the TE a lot at Denver and Zac’s biggest influencer was his FIL at TAMU. Zac coached the TE’s. Mike Sherman loved TE’s. Burrow is the one who likes the big play to WR. Moss caught some balls (44) for the ‘19 NC LSU team but he was in the slot mostly.

Makes sense that it is Burrow's call on having a lot of WR talent over TE talent. Good points on the coaches, just have been a bit
perplexed by us not drafting a TE in such a deep class and not bringing back Wilcox who played well for us last year. Saw Thaddeus
was playing in the USFL or the XFL this Offseason, don't remember which and he made a couple catches when I saw him play.

In the end I like that we just keep Burrow happy, he knows what he is doing, I will trust in that.

[*ochocincos*]

(06-26-2023, 01:42 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: ESPN Ranks Every Group Of WRs, TEs, and RBs, and we come in at #2 behind San Fran!


I think Higgins would be a #1 on just about any other team, so it doesn't surprise me that him and Chase make up probably the best receiving duo in the league.

Sad that Boyd's probably gone after this season with the addition of Jones, and you might think he's expendable, but you have to think that he'll be doing his best to put out an audition tape for every other team to see, so that gets me excited about the depth of our receiving room.


I've said that ignoring TE in the draft with so many good ones meant that maybe we just don't value the TE position enough, but I'm hoping that we find a solid tight end that becomes a cap casualty for another team so we can upgrade the position, especially because of Smith's health concerns.

If he can stay healthy and avoid injury, I think Burrow could allow him to live up to his potential as a high second-round pick.


When Mixon runs downhill and doesn't dance, he's a damn good back. Even if he just pauses and picks his spots before he hits the hole, he's good, but dancing around in the backfield and then even once he gets going killed his production. I remember Burrow telling him "if we run the ball like that, no one can stop us."

We could still sign Dalvin cook, which would be huge, or maybe even Zeke Elliot.

With an offense as explosive as ours, we just can't have our back dancing around like Mixon does a lot, but hopefully he's over it. An improved line will also help whoever our back is.

Chase Brown could also surprise and be special!

They ranked San Fran as #1, which , yes, they have CMC and he might be the best back in the league if you factor in receiving, but I just don't see it.

They do have Kittle, who is a top TE in the league, and Samuel and Aiyuk are good, but they're no Higgins and Chase.

It's going to be a hell of a year!

WHO-DEY!

To the bolded - After hearing that they were hoping Kincaid fell to them, I don't think they devalue TE. I think they ideally do want a guy who can be a receiving threat. Like you, I hope there's someone who might hit waivers at cut time that the Bengals could be interested in, but I try not to get my hopes up for things like that.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(06-27-2023, 02:09 PM)ochocincos Wrote: To the bolded - After hearing that they were hoping Kincaid fell to them, I don't think they devalue TE. I think they ideally do want a guy who can be a receiving threat. Like you, I hope there's someone who might hit waivers at cut time that the Bengals could be interested in, but I try not to get my hopes up for things like that.

I find it a little strange that they liked Kincaid and drafted Drew Sample. Talk about 2 completely different TE's....

Also, us not bringing back Wilcox and bringing back Sample confuses me. I would of done it the opposite myself.

But maybe with us not bringing Wilcox back means we are open to adding a talented TE that gets cut, who knows?