La'El Collins opt out

[*ochocincos*]

(02-22-2023, 09:49 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Some of you are nothing if not hilarious with your takes. The people bashing Volson are the same people who said over and over again that Carman was a wasted pick and would never see anything but the bench, and now we're talking about him winning the LT position. So go ahead and post all the PFF garbage, and go on and comment on how horrible Volson is. About 2/3rds of the way through the season, Ted Karras and Alex Cappa said they fully expect Volson to become a top 5 guard in the NFL. I think I'll go with their opinion of how he plays and how he's improving.....

On edit: I don't remember the link where I read Cappa and Karras' prediction of him being a top 5 guard, but here is another statement from him. Like I said, I'll go with Karras' assessment,

https://www.bengals.com/news/cordell-volson-emerging-as-future-anchor-on-o-line

Volson's criticism by many (including myself) came from the fact he didn't show good athleticism leading up to the draft, and scouting reports from many sources reflected the same. People weren't happy with the selection back in the Spring because we thought the Bengals wanted to have this wide zone blocking scheme and needed uber-athletic guys at all OL spots. Volson was (and is) not that.

Also, quite a lot of sources during the draft projected Volson as probably a backup in the NFL, not a starter.
They didn't feel he had a high enough ceiling and/or couldn't get his deficiencies improved.
And what we saw in 2022 was a guy who started off horrible but worked his way to maybe decent by season's end. He's not "good" by any means yet.

Maybe Volson gets there eventually, but I think it's fine if people want to point out there's room for improvement. There's room for improvement at both OT positions too.
I'm fine with keeping Volson at LG as I see the OT positions as higher priority given Williams is in the final year of his contract and Collins' injury is significant.