Yesterday, 07:33 PM
(06-12-2025, 09:47 AM)ochocincos Wrote: I mean...look at most of the early round draft picks Bengals have made in the Taylor era...
Amarius Mims started only because of season-ending injury to Trent Brown. TB was the planned starter last year until he went down.
Jenkins was a rotational player.
Burton was basically useless and Jackson was a rotational player.
Year before that:
Murphy was a rotational player.
Battle only got 7 starts and under 50% of snaps, only becoming starter because Nick Scott was so terribad. Scott was the planned starting SS to begin the year.
Turner did get a lot of playing time but that was because Awuzie was recovering from injury and CTB got hurt. The planned starters were Awuzie and CTB outside with Hilton in the slot.
Year before that:
Dax Hill rode the bench for a year behind Bates, waiting for him to depart in FA.
Carter a minimal rotational player, playing only 38% of defensive snaps.
CTB started 9 games but again was mainly because of Awuzie injury. Planned starters that year were Awuzie and Apple outside with Hilton inside.
Year before that:
Chase - You obviously start a stud 5th overall pick.
Carman was a backup.
Ossai was a rotational player.
Year before that:
Burrow - Obviously going to start the 1st overall pick who was NFL ready.
Higgins - From what I recall, the planned starters that year were AJ Green, John Ross, and Boyd, but Ross went down in Game 2 with an injury and Higgins took over from there.
Wilson - Rotational LB his first year.
Year before that:
Jonah Williams was planned to start but started the season injured.
Sample was TE3 on the depth chart behind Eifert and Uzomah.
Pratt started the season as a rotational/backup behind Vigil and Preston Brown, filling in once Brown was waived midway through the season.
So yes, do I think Taylor is planning for all these draft picks this year to start? No.
I think he may hope they do sometime down the road, but he typically has not pushed them into starting duties as rookies unless an injury occurs.
This may be a more recent development (probably since paying Burrow) but there is a clear move towards drafting players to start. This is most noticeable with this year’s second round selection. Knight is clearly slated to start week 1. They’ve also said 3rd round pick Fairchild it’s his job to lose.
Last year they signed Trent Brown but I’d suggest he was insurance as he was signed for back-up not starter money. Mims was poised to start before he was injured during training camp. Jenkins was also expected to play a significant role but injury disrupted this.
There is also something of a discrepancy between O and D. Burrow, Chase, Higgins, Jonah, Mims all started early. Carman was supposed to. Volson actually did. There are far fewer examples on D.
Lou was sacked in part for his unwillingness to use young players. Al Golden was hired in part because of his willingness to use young players. The expectation is that Al will do a better job of giving the youngsters opportunities.
