10-02-2022, 10:34 AM
(10-02-2022, 03:09 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Drake London*
Garrett Wilson*
Chris Olave*
Kyle Pitts
Ja'Marr Chase
Jalen Waddle
DeVonta Smith*
Rashod Bateman*
Amon-Ra St Brown*
CeeDee Lamb
Justin Jefferson
Tee Higgins
Michael Pittman Jr
Darnell Mooney
Marquise Brown
Deebo Samuel
AJ Brown
DK Metcalf
Diontae Johnson
Terry McLaurin
Hunter Renfrow
DJ Moore
Calvin Ridley
Courtland Sutton
Christian Kirk*
DJ Chark
Michael Gallup
Mark Andrews
Guys in the last 5 drafts who have either had a 1k season or are currently on pace for 1k this season.
There's a lot of guys who if they came out as a 3-year NFL Pro would be the top player taken at their position. Lol.. that's a weird statement. Yes, if the money was the same then everyone would take a 3-year pro over a rookie because one has already developed and the other hasn't, but the money isn't the same. One guy is going to get $25m/yr and the other is going to get $4m/yr.
Doesn't matter where the Bengals draft, matters where the person trading the picks drafts.
THIS Tee will cost $25m/yr. There's no conceivable way they can afford Burrow, Chase, and Higgins while still putting up a semi-competent roster around them.
The only team that has multiple WRs making $20m+/yr and a QB who isn't on a rookie contract are the Buccaneers. Tom Brady is doing way below market value contract shenanigans to squeeze in potential championships at the end of his career. I doubt Burrow is going to be okay making 1/2 or less of his QB market value in order to keep Higgins.
Also.. have we given up on the idea that Burrow can lift his WRs at all? Are we suddenly believing now he needs (regardless of the cost to the rest of the roster) the best WR trio in the league or he's garbage?
When you are successful and draft some good players, you're going to have to pay them, and you can't pay everyone so eventually you're going to have to lose some guys and you need to find a way to move on and keep winning. It's the way the league works. Is Burrow going to fall apart because he doesn't have the best WR trio in the league, or will he be like Mahomes, have one amazing one, and then make do with some solid other guys? If Burrow NEEDS a top paid RB, multiple top paid WRs, and a top paid OL, then is he really the guy we think he is?
I agree with the overall point of your post, but I have to point out that the list you provided doesn't mean much unless we have the rest of the context around it. You listed 23 wide receivers since 2017. Over that same time span, through the first four rounds, there have been 110 wide receivers drafted, or about a 23.6% success rate if we consider a 1k season the definition of success. I used the first four rounds because the latest draft round of any of the receivers was the 4th round (Amon Ra St. Brown).
It is certainly possible to draft another Tee, but it shouldn't be the "expectation" which I think is what Housh was communicating. Tee is a potential upper echelon receiver in the NFL and replacing him successfully on the first try is unlikely. Possible, of course, but unlikely. Regardless, they will have to figure something out because I agree that they can't pay all of these guys and still field a competitive roster. Once Burrow signs his extension, they will need to start hitting on rookie contracts more often.
