So what now when it comes to the TE room?

[*rfaulk34*]

Jackson Carman's draft profile on NFL.com gives him a 3rd rd grade. Depending on where you look, you can find 2nd or 3rd. You can certainly fault the Bengals for drafting him or Sample too early but you can't really fault Carman for his abilities. The Bengals drafted him where they did because that's where they wanted him. There's no guarantee that a 1st or 2nd rounder lives up to where he was drafted. He was given a Prospect Grade of 6.22 which comes out to "Will eventually be an average starter". That's pretty accurate for what we've seen. 

He's 23 right now with 2 full years of NFL experience. If it takes him 2 more years to become an average or better starter, you have a 25 year old guy in a spot you don't need to worry about for a while. 

Jawaan Taylor was given a "Year 1 starter" Prospect Grade but he didn't play well enough to earn a 15M+ contract until his 4th year (25 years old) and he's still not a very good run blocker which is what you usually look for in a RT. 

With all that said, you can't really deny that he's been "disappointing" up to this point (last years playoff performance notwithstanding). Not just to fans but to the FO and coaching staff as well. There are too many receipts out there to deny that.