Notes from Voluntary Practice

[*ochocincos*]

(05-30-2025, 10:20 AM)samhain Wrote: I'm hoping that he's Clint Boling 2.0.  Doesn't have to be a superstar.  He just needs to be better than the guys out there last year.  That requires little a baseline level of NFL competency.  

Only difference here is that Boling was never meant to start in year one.  He was slotted in after Wharton went down in he preseason.  

Fairchild may or may not work out, but putting Burrow's health in the hands of a 3rd round rookie still seems pretty malpracticey.  9 is not built to take the number of hits he has over the course of his career.  The longer they go with crap interior line play, the shorter his time to win a title in Cincinnati will get.

Yep all we are asking for is solid performance from everyone on the OL, we aren't asking for top-tier.
Solid would be a huge step up from previous years.

But for anyone to basically bet on a mid-round pick being solid-or-better starter Year 1, more often than not they'll lose that bet.
It's (very) rare for mid-round picks to do great out of the gate.
Much more often they either serve as a rotational/depth piece in first 1-2 years or at least have some struggles early on in their first 1-2 years as they acclimate to the NFL.

I personally would have rather seen one more OG veteran added on a 1-year or 2-year deal to not have to bank so much on Fairchild being good out of the gate, but it is what it is at this point.