06-09-2015, 10:39 PM
(06-09-2015, 08:42 PM)djs7685 Wrote: Gresham has been a fine TE in his tenure here. Everyone wants their 1st round picks to all be perennial All-Pros, but in reality that just doesn't happen. Gresh could have been a LOT worse.
In another thread on here, Fred brought up the great point that while our coaches didn't have an issue using our TEs (some claim they ignore the TEs in our system, but they don't), the TEs would often run short routes and not really go deep often. I did a bit of research and found some numbers that heavily back that theory.
Did Gresham fumble too much recently? Compared to his peers, he absolutely did, I believe he has fumbled more in the last 2 years than any other TE or he's at least close to #1. Did he decide to lay off his routes occasionally and not finish them? Sure, but I think people noticed it more because they watch the Bengals closer than other teams.
His drop "issue" is waaay overblown amongst Bengals fans, and it's odd that the fans of the team the guy is on would be the ones to flat out make stuff up about him in a negative way. I can understand the criticism that makes sense, but there's really no need to blatantly lie about things to make a guy seem worse than he is.
Gresham has had very solid production for being in a system where the TE didn't get sent to intermediate or deep routes very often. He's had his issues, and there's definitely room to criticize the guy, but he's nowhere near as mediocre or worse of a player as many in Jungle Noise will lead you to believe.
I agree with this for the most part. He's not terrible. Nothing special either, imo. Just an average TE. In fact, he's kind of the Andy Dalton of TE's.
It's funny that a lot of the same folks who hate Andy vigorously defend Gresh, and vice versa.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
