Dallas PFF Scores

[*ochocincos*]

(12-11-2024, 10:54 AM)Whatever Wrote: Well, they decided not to resign or replace Reader, then drafted for need in a bad NT class.  Like you said, NT has a long development curve.  Jackson was never going to come in and fill that immediate need, so reaching for him was pretty bad.  We obviously needed help all over.

We'll see how he develops, but his current level of play doesn't inspire much confidence that he will be more than another Zach Carter.  

Rankins was supposed to be the Reader coverage, remember?

All joking aside, the Bengals likely were not planning for Jackson to play much at all this season.
It was going to be Hill and Rankins as the starters with Jenkins and Tufele getting into the rotation.
Carter as well until they decided to cut him for such poor performance into his 3rd season.

It also did not help that Jackson missed pretty much all of TC and preseason due to an injury and didn't get cleared to practice until beginning of Oct and didn't play until Oct 6 vs Ravens. He's behind the curve on growth, plus he's a 3rd round comp pick.
Some people have way too unrealistic expectations for these mid-round picks to contribute so much so early.

The real crime was the Bengals thinking A) Rankins was a sufficient replacement for Reader, and B) having to rely so much on inexperienced/unproven depth.