WR Mike Thomas injured

[Essex Johnson]

(07-30-2022, 10:34 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: 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.

How many snaps did the #4 WR take in a 4 WR set and what was their value in that set? that really gets at the heart of the value of a #4 WR on offense.  They have more value on majority of the team on specials, normally  when teams sign older veterans they are overpriced and don;t provide much on special teams.   

Here is micro look at last years top 6 passing yards offense that were ahead of us and amount of receptions their #4/5 WR had per game combined.  I think this show the lack of value as a WR for that 4th coming off the bench and you can argue that we have a better Core of 3 Wrs than any of these teams which means less targets for our #4 . Morgan is off to a nice early camp at WR and we know the value he brings to special teams... now in his 4th WR, hurt most of 2020 i think he can give us enough value as the #4.

Tampa Bay:  1 
San Diego:    2 
Dallas:          3 
Chiefs           2
LA                2
Vegas           2