The WR position going into 2019

[impactplaya]

one of the most debated team positions in 2018 was the WRs.
Guys like Tyler Boyd stepped up and did alot of things to impact the offense.
Green when healthy showed times of dominance and even won a game (Falcons)
then others like John Ross had people divided on opinions on him.
then others like Josh Malone really did nothing when healthy.

looking at the Rams usage of WR in 2018 Im trying to figure out whos a good fit going ahead.
the Rams had 4 WRs that hauled in 5 TDs or more....Kupp Reynolds Woods Cooks.
2 -1,000 yd WRs Cooks and Woods.

In 2018 Rams WRs ran the ball 39 times on jet sweeps etc thats a average of 2 attempts per game.

not to be overlooked the Rams WRs were really good downfield run blockers.

one of the negatives I saw out of the Bengals WRs in 2018 was their lack of 40 yd and over pass plays.
I think Boyd had the only gain over 40 plus yds.
I think even after the catch Bengals WRs struggled to seperate to get YAC.

I noticed in Lazors offense WRs ran alot of curl and hook routes.with back turned to the defense.
Lazor also did a porous job in implementing the levels concept.
McVay seemed to be in favor of that mindset with the Rams WRs.
the Rams WRs were able to catch the ball in space and get alot of YAC.

as far as the Bengals WRs go I think Green Boyd and Ross are locks.
I think guys like Tate Erickson and Malone are open for debate.
however I will say Tate of those 3 gives Taylor a bigger WR with radius he didnt have in L.A.
Erickson and Malone can be replaced. its not hard to replace 1 TDs in 2 years between those 2.

would not be surprised to see the Bengals draft a real burner in the mid rds.

[THE PISTONS]

The Rams sent a guy in motion a lot and faked WR Sweeps, etc a lot. I see Ross and Boyd being those guys.

That said, I think we need to add another WR to compete for the WR 3 spot...and we also need this depth in case of injury with Green and Ross both injury prone. This could be in free agency or 3rd Round +.

[samhain]

(02-10-2019, 03:23 PM)impactplaya Wrote: one of the  most debated team positions in 2018 was the WRs.
Guys like Tyler Boyd stepped up and did alot of things to impact the offense.
Green when healthy showed times of dominance and even won a game (Falcons)
then others like John Ross had people divided on opinions on him.
then others like Josh Malone really did nothing when healthy.

looking at the Rams usage of WR in 2018 Im trying to figure out whos a good fit going ahead.
the Rams had 4 WRs that hauled in 5 TDs or more....Kupp Reynolds Woods Cooks.
2 -1,000 yd WRs  Cooks and Woods.

In 2018 Rams WRs ran the ball 39 times on jet sweeps etc thats a average of 2 attempts per game.

not to be overlooked the Rams WRs were really good downfield run blockers.

one of the negatives I saw out of the Bengals WRs in 2018 was their lack of 40 yd and over pass plays.
I think Boyd had the only gain over 40 plus yds.
I think even after the catch Bengals WRs struggled to seperate to get YAC.

I noticed in Lazors offense WRs ran alot of curl and hook routes.with back turned to the defense.
Lazor also did a porous job in implementing the levels concept.
McVay seemed to be in favor of that mindset with the Rams WRs.
the Rams WRs were able to catch the ball in space and get alot of YAC.

as far as the Bengals WRs go I think Green Boyd and Ross are locks.
I think guys like Tate Erickson and Malone are open for debate.
however I will say Tate of those 3 gives Taylor a bigger WR with radius he didnt have in L.A.
Erickson and Malone can be replaced. its not hard to replace 1 TDs in 2 years between those 2.

would not be surprised to see the Bengals draft a real burner in the mid rds.

It's not a position that's a huge need like OG, OT, LB, or TE.  I still wouldn't be surprised to see one picked in any round after the first.  They still need some capable youth at the position, and a new, offensive-minded coach will want to stockpile weapons.  

IMO the pecking order will be Green-Boyd-Erickson-everyone else until someone like Ross or Malone proves that they can be depended on as regular contributors.  

I like what I saw from Erickson as a WR when there was nobody else left.  I think the new staff will work him in more.  He's not a 1 or 2, but I think he's fully capable of being a productive 3.

[THE PISTONS]

(02-10-2019, 03:35 PM)samhain Wrote: It's not a position that's a huge need like OG, OT, LB, or TE.  I still wouldn't be surprised to see one picked in any round after the first.  They still need some capable youth at the position, and a new, offensive-minded coach will want to stockpile weapons.  

IMO the pecking order will be Green-Boyd-Erickson-everyone else until someone like Ross or Malone proves that they can be depended on as regular contributors.  

I like what I saw from Erickson as a WR when there was nobody else left.  I think the new staff will work him in more.  He's not a 1 or 2, but I think he's fully capable of being a productive 3.

Outside of Green and Boyd, our WR's graded out absolutely horrible on PFF.

IF we don't make an addition, and Ross doesn't develop...we're an injury to Green or Boyd away from a lost season again.

Plus, with Green being 30, we're going to start needing to look to find his replacement at some point soon anyways.

[BengalChris]

The offense was limited by a really poor pass blocking line. People point to Dalton's quick release (time of release after the ball is snapped), but I believe that is more a function of necessity rather than because guys are getting open that quickly.

I do expect we'll be picking at least one WR in the draft.

Ross, if he doesn't improve on his route running, could find himself on another team before the end of training camp.

[McC]

(02-10-2019, 03:35 PM)samhain Wrote: It's not a position that's a huge need like OG, OT, LB, or TE.  I still wouldn't be surprised to see one picked in any round after the first.  They still need some capable youth at the position, and a new, offensive-minded coach will want to stockpile weapons.  

IMO the pecking order will be Green-Boyd-Erickson-everyone else until someone like Ross or Malone proves that they can be depended on as regular contributors.  

I like what I saw from Erickson as a WR when there was nobody else left.  I think the new staff will work him in more.  He's not a 1 or 2, but I think he's fully capable of being a productive 3.

Erickson can get you 6-10 yards on a jet sweep too.  And he catches everything.  Methinks Zac will find him very useful.

[THE PISTONS]

(02-10-2019, 03:39 PM)BengalChris Wrote: The offense was limited by a really poor pass blocking line. People point to Dalton's quick release (time of release after the ball is snapped), but I believe that is more a function of necessity rather than because guys are getting open that quickly.

I do expect we'll be picking at least one WR in the draft.

Ross, if he doesn't improve on his route running, could find himself on another team before the end of training camp.

We seem to pick a WR or two late in every draft...and generally none of them contribute at any appreciable level.

[BengalChris]

(02-10-2019, 03:43 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: We seem to pick a WR or two late in every draft...and generally none of them contribute at any appreciable level.

I know. But we see WRs picked in those rounds by other teams who do contribute. We need to do a better scouting job on them.

[Bengalitis]

Sometimes you have to sacrifice something to move forward, I'd be willing to sacrifice Ross for a starting LB trade. If we can't beat them with the offense, we'll beat them with our defense, no biggie.

[Whodey614]

Won't say much about Ross. I think he'll finally be put in the position by the new coaches to succeed and if he fails, he's a bust plain and simple. He showed flashes last season and was productive in the end zone though so here's to hoping he has a huge leap in the 3rd year like Boyd did.

Erickson was useless on the outside but pretty solid in the slot. Took Lazor pretty much until the last game to get him looks there and he had decent gains vs the Steelers. It's not far out of the realm to think he can be our Cooper Kupp. Probably needs to get bigger, though.

Malone definitely had a disappointing season but part of me still believes he was kept out by Marvin for most of the season for the bad play vs Carolina. I think he has the ability to be a solid backup like Josh Reynolds was to the Rams when Kupp went down.

Tate showed little to nothing and Core slowly improved with the drops as he got more snaps but we can probably upgrade in the draft. Someone like KeeSean Johnson would be a good get in the 3rd or 4th round.

[THE PISTONS]

(02-10-2019, 03:46 PM)BengalChris Wrote: I know. But we see WRs picked in those rounds by other teams who do contribute. We need to do a better scouting job on them.

The offensive line being a bottom 5 line doesn't help the WR's produce either.

[SunsetBengal]

(02-10-2019, 03:39 PM)BengalChris Wrote: The offense was limited by a really poor pass blocking line. People point to Dalton's quick release (time of release after the ball is snapped), but I believe that is more a function of necessity rather than because guys are getting open that quickly.

It's really tough to have any sort of objective conversation about the passing offense, without also having to take into account the poor pass protection.  Lazor was really handcuffed in what he could call as far as play selection, simply because he had to provide for instant outlets for Andy to throw to on seemingly every snap.

[impactplaya]

Lazor had very little creativity in allowing WRs to get open after Eiferr went down
no motion or rub routes or bunch formations

[THE PISTONS]

(02-10-2019, 04:46 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It's really tough to have any sort of objective conversation about the passing offense, without also having to take into account the poor pass protection.  Lazor was really handcuffed in what he could call as far as play selection, simply because he had to provide for instant outlets for Andy to throw to on seemingly every snap.

Agreed. If you have to get the ball out in 2 seconds...it limits your routes.

I'm probably in the minority in that I don't think just changing coaches is going to make us a contender. We need several upgrades.

I posted at the time that we've been devastated in free agency over the past 3-4 years...and I don't think people fully realize this. We've had losses way in excess of Zeitler and Whitworth.

Where the Browns will have a chance of becoming good is they have a Top 5 offensive line.

[THE PISTONS]

(02-10-2019, 03:46 PM)BengalChris Wrote: I know. But we see WRs picked in those rounds by other teams who do contribute. We need to do a better scouting job on them.

I'm fairly confident that some of the guys the Bengals draft late they haven't scouted and just read about in a scouting publication that they subscribe to.

[SunsetBengal]

(02-10-2019, 07:27 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Agreed. If you have to get the ball out in 2 seconds...it limits your routes.

I'm probably in the minority in that I don't think just changing coaches is going to make us a contender. We need several upgrades.

I posted at the time that we've been devastated in free agency over the past 3-4 years...and I don't think people fully realize this. We've had losses way in excess of Zeitler and Whitworth.

Where the Browns will have a chance of becoming good is they have a Top 5 offensive line.

While I really like your plan for the LB position (other thread), I really think that the Bengals are going to have to make a medium/large splash type of signing for the OL in free agency.  Because even if they double or even triple dip on OL in the draft, there are no guarantees that the specific players they are wishing for will be there, or that they will even be ready to be starters this year.  Then there is Rod Taylor, the 7th round pick that went down on like the 1st day of camp.  If he's healthy, that will be like having an extra draft pick show up for camp.  He's a big fella, played in the SEC, and was projected to be a G/T swing type of player.

[fredtoast]

(02-10-2019, 03:46 PM)BengalChris Wrote: I know. But we see WRs picked in those rounds by other teams who do contribute. We need to do a better scouting job on them.

Finding a good player in the fifth round or later is pure luck.

Over the last 10 years there have been 143 WRs drafted in the final three rounds.  Only 14 of them have started 8 games or more in a season more than once.

And only two of the 143 have more receiving yards than Marvin Jones.

[fredtoast]

I watched Josh Malone play in college and I thought he would be a good NFL starter. He is athletic and has good hands. I felt his numbers were low in college because Tennessee had a very simplistic passing game.

But so far he has been a big disappointment.

[THE PISTONS]

(02-10-2019, 07:42 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: While I really like your plan for the LB position (other thread), I really think that the Bengals are going to have to make a medium/large splash type of signing for the OL in free agency.  Because even if they double or even triple dip on OL in the draft, there are no guarantees that the specific players they are wishing for will be there, or that they will even be ready to be starters this year.  Then there is Rod Taylor, the 7th round pick that went down on like the 1st day of camp.  If he's healthy, that will be like having an extra draft pick show up for camp.  He's a big fella, played in the SEC, and was projected to be a G/T swing type of player.

I'd be for signing a free agent offensive lineman...like JaWaun James from the Dolphins.

I just think it's a lot harder to find Tackles in free agency.

[*bengalfan74*]

We suffered from two problems last season, one giant and one not quite as big. 1. horrible pass pro 2. average at best OC
I guess really 3 including Marvin Lewis

Beyond Green and Boyd it's really hard to sat what we really have. I believe Ross and even Erickson can deliver more production with better coaching. How much better ? who knows

Malone, Core and Tate are giant question marks ? I wouldn't be opposed to a mid round insurance policy or even whoever gets cut after camp.

Pretty much any way you look at it our depth is suspect especially if we have any injuries.