Pro bowl Roster Release

[CJD]

(12-22-2022, 04:53 AM)Nepa Wrote: This is an interesting take. If the Pro Bowl selections reflect accuracy of who is legitimately stars in the league-- game changers and future hall of famers -- then the Bengals poor showing in this area would mean the Bengals, being one of the top teams in the league,  have a roster of solid to really good players at nearly every position, and depth and good coaching.  If so, that would bode well for future success, as one could replace much of roster, if necessary economically, and keep the success going.

I'm not sure the Pro Bowl selections are accurate for the Bengals. But reading national commentators list who were snubs and not seeing any list Bengals players (while some mentioned the Eagles had 2 snubs and should have had 10 on the pro bowl, and Chiefs should have had 8 rather than 7), then maybe the Bengals are a team with really good players, but just not many at the top 3 to 5 in their position. 

Yea, and it may also be a media bias against the Bengals. We've been bad to mediocre for a very long time, so the idea of us getting consistent praise by the national media isn't likely, in regards to the talk of snubs. I think DJ Reader absolutely deserves a pro bowl and, honestly, I'd call him an all pro this year. There's nothing quite like playing without a player to really understand how valuable they are and, when it comes to stopping the run, Reader is either the best or top 2 in the entire NFL at his position.

But looking across the defense, I think Hubbard is an amazing run stopper at DE, but that never gets the attention of the national media. Hendrickson is a sack artist but he has not matched his production from last year, so I could see people not considering him an elite player either. Hill and the backups all play really well, but none of them are stars.

At LB, I think Pratt is having a breakout year but he doesn't play on third down much. Wilson was catching some national media attention last year when he was leading the league in interceptions from a linebacker, but that has tailed off a bit this year with just the 1 INT so far. He is starting to get some recognition again with his back to back 15+ tackle games, but that's still a developing thing and he is right at #20 for tackles in the NFL.

Awuzie has been phenomenal but is injured and doesn't put up gaudy INT numbers. Eli Apple is universally scorned, but is actually a pretty good player, especially since he's been our de facto #1 CB since Awuzie went down. CTB is a rookie and he has struggled at times, but he has made plays when he needed to (like the last few drives against Cleveland) and is starting to look like a trustworthy cornerback.

Hilton is an elite nickelback, but nickelbacks so rarely get recognized by national media because many still consider them "sub package players" despite nickel being the base defense for a lot of teams nowadays.

Bell and Bates have the INT numbers, but they don't get all that much media attention, at least not compared to guys like Minkah Fitzpatrick or Derwin James.

But, perhaps more importantly, our back ups have come in and played well enough to continue winning. I already mentioned CTB, but in addition Tupou, Tufele, Ossai, ADG, Dax, and Flowers have all come in on critical downs and made some clutch plays when called upon.

You could go down the offensive depth chart and do the same thing. Our Oline has no "elite" blockers, but it's 5 guys who know their assignments, handle blitzers and rarely make catastrophic mistakes (when not playing against DPOY candidates, at least  ). Perine played a key role as a back up, as have Irwin, Taylor, Morgan (for blocking mostly), Wilcox and even Chris Evans had a few big plays. And that's not even mentioning Higgins and Boyd, who are not super stars (yet) but always seem to make a play when we need them to. Other than Burrow and Chase, I don't think there's a single "star" on the offense but there are playmakers at every layer of the depth chart and almost no shit starters like we had along the Oline last year.

It's a really good place to be, in my opinion.