Improvement from developing young players

[Luvnit2]

(03-24-2022, 09:10 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Whenever a team makes a big leap forward like the Bengals did last year there are often young players having "breakout" seasons.  Here is a look at how some of our first and second year players performed in '21.  

By far the biggest splash was rookie Ja'marr Chase. No need to discuss his "potential'.  He is already here.

Next biggest breakout was probably second year LB Logan Wilson.  He doubled his snaps played on defense (343 to 707) but tripled his tackles (33 to 100).  Had 4 picks in the regular season and stole us a victory in the playoffs with an interception against the Titans with just 28 seconds left.  Markus Bailey went from 44 defensive snaps in '20 to 256 in '21.  Looked like he could be a solid player, but we are absolutely loaded with talented young LBs.  Second year man Akeem Davis-Prather was playing 25 snaps per game before he was injured and the other starter is 3rd year Germain Pratt.

On the O-line Jackson Carman and Hakeem Adeniji combined to play 1020 snaps, but neither was very impressive.  Carman was a rookie second round pick.  The odds of him making a huge improvement are much better than Adeniji who was a 6th round pick and already had a full season of NFL experience.  Fourth round rookie D'Ante Smith saw very limited action, but he was considered a "project" pick.  I like his potential.  Sixth round rookie Trey Hill played 211 snaps on offense.  Nothing impressive, but again, you can't judge a player by his rookie season.

On the D-line rookie 4th round pick Cam Sample played 310 snaps last year with 5 QB hits and 1.5 sacks.  Could play a bigger role next year.  At 274 he could slide down to tackle in nickel package.  Right now we don't really have a back up 3T.  Second year DE Wyatt Ray only played 70 defensive snaps his rookie season with the Titans, but increased to 219 with the Bengals in '21. At just 250 Ray is more "edge rusher" than DE.  Second year DE Khalid Kareem did not see any increase in playing time over his rookie season.

Rookie RB Chris Evans only played 95 offensive snaps.  No history of being highly productive or healthy in college, but has some shake to him.  Hopefully he can stay healthy with the limited workload of a third down back.

You missed this guy named McPherson who as a rookie maybe our best year from a kicker ever. Like Chase, immediate major impact player at low contract price. But I agree, we had some guy make huge jumps so hopefully we will see more of the same in 2022 as coaches develop players.