5 Key Players Bengals May Have To Get Rid Of This Off Season

[*ochocincos*]

(02-07-2023, 03:48 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I think the most limited resource on this offense is targets and we saw that with Boyd. With Chase already absorbing more than a third of the WR targets there will inevitably be less than a player's "fair portion" of targets to go around. 

Boyd only had 82 targets (a consequence of being the 3rd or 4th option on many plays) but he led all Bengals Wide Receivers with a catch percentage of 70.7%, he was second among Bengals Wide Receivers in first downs per reception of 0.707 and first downs per target at 0.5 behind only Irwin and his 15 receptions (small sample size). And he wasn't that far behind Higgins in yards per reception with 13.1 to Higgins 13.9 (both higher than Chase's 12.0). 

It would be unfair, I feel, to penalize Boyd because he happens to have two of the best receivers in the NFL ahead of him. He still performs his job magnificently and I don't think you'd be able to improve the slot receiver role with ~$10M AAV in free agency. 

With that said, I do concede that on strictly a yards and touchdowns basis, Boyd may be the least "overperforming" of the contracts mentioned in the original post.

Yea I should have clarified that it's not that I think he's not as good as his contract says he should be, it's that he's underutilized in the offense for as much as he gets paid.
It's hard to justify paying someone like the #2 option in the passing game but actually be #3 in the pecking order.