WR Mike Thomas injured

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(07-29-2022, 06:57 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: WR 4 does not concern me, how much will they really play?  we will spilt our RB or TE multiple sets before a WR4, why waste $$ on a person sitting the bench, we know if we get a injury to our top 3, there will be a veteran sitting out there we can pick up then...

A lot.

WRs not named Chase/Higgins/Boyd played 508 snaps on offense for the Bengals in 2021. For comparison Tee Higgins played 710 snaps on offense and Boyd played 807 snaps. That 508 is already with the #2 TE (Sample) playing 459 snaps as well for your multiple TE set suggestion.

That's also from a season where the top 3 WRs all stayed pretty healthy.

An improvement at #4 WR to someone who is at least a competent NFL WR would be a huge upgrade for a pretty darn large number of snaps. Even if Chase/Higgins/Boyd stay healthy all year, a good quality #4 WR could easily see 500-700 snaps (with Sample needing less playing time with an improvement of OL). That's 50-60% of the Bengals offensive snaps where there will be an improvement over PS fodder to an actual NFL caliber pass catcher being on the field.