Is Collinsworth underrated as a Bengals great?

[Shake n Blake]

(04-22-2021, 08:51 PM)JaggedJimmyJay Wrote: I believe that players must be assessed relative to their own eras of play, so I don't tend to place a ton of emphasis on direct statistical comparisons. I also avoid Pro Bowls just because of poor Ken Riley and his zero.

Still, Collinsworth was productive relative to his own era and he deserves to be lauded accordingly. I recently compiled an all-time Bengals 53-man roster, and I had him as the #6 WR out of 6 (behind Curtis, Johnson, Green, Pickens, and Houshmandzadeh). I don't think he is quite on the level of Isaac just because of the weird statistics of the '70s. Curtis was one of the greatest deep threats of all time in the eyes of some, and I think there's validity to the argument. He doesn't have the touchdown production to compete with Pickens or the possession capacity to compete with T.J. (though that's a very difficult comparison to gauge, but T.J.'s three 90+ catch seasons are hard to ignore).

Basically, Collinsworth was awesome. I have him ahead of very good players like Eddie Brown and Darnay Scott. Tyler Boyd is doing good work to threaten his position though.

Wide receiver is probably the Bengals' greatest historical position group if not offensive line (somehow as weird as that seems today).

I give CC some credit for being a key cog on some of our greatest teams, so for that reason I have him edging out Pick. Considering eras, I have CC ahead of Housh...who I loved. I'd just say he had a better sustained stretch of seasons than Housh did, and with less throwing going on. More of a big play guy as well.

So my list would look like:

1. Chad
2. AJ
3. Curtis
4. CC
5. Pick
6. Housh
7. Eddie Brown (super tough choice between he, Pick and Housh)
8. Darnay

Respect everyone's opinion though. It's a toss up between the 5 guys after Chad and AJ, IMO.