Notes From Training Camp 2025

[*ochocincos*]

(07-27-2025, 11:33 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: If the people behind you are even worse (Charlie Jones, Jermaine Burton) then they have no other choice than to force the ball to you.

I will counter the "good is yards and TDs" (which they are, but not to the extent that you can ignore all the other factors surrounding the yards and TDs that can tell you that they weren't good) with the 2019 Bengals.....

AJ Green missed the whole year.
John Ross missed half the year.
Tyler Boyd was the #1 WR. 

That left Auden Tate and Alex Erickson at #2 and #3 on the depth chart for most of the season in Zac Taylor's first season here. Zac Taylor coming here is important because Dalton tied his career high in pass attempts in 2019, but did it in 3 less games (he averaged 40.6 pass attempts per game). So typical Zac they were slinging the ball.

So our 4th and 5th WRs were pushed into 2nd and 3rd WR duties in an extremely pass heavy offense... the result? 575 yards in 647 offensive snaps for Tate and 529 yards in 615 offensive snaps for Erickson. They did it with terrible efficiency. And that's from 32-year-old Andy Dalton with Tyler Boyd as the #1 rather than 28-year-old Joe Burrow with Ja'Marr Chase as the #1.

I don't think anyone is going to argue that Tate and Erickson were good WRs. They were bad WRs who were put in a situation where they got a lot of playing time in a pass heavy offense.

I get what you are saying, but I don't feel Iosivas is in the same consideration as Auden Tate/Alex Erickson in 2019.
In 2024, the Bengals did not have their #1 WR miss the entire year nor their #2 WR miss even half the year.
Chase played the entire year.
Higgins played 12 games.
Gesicki (the team's real 3rd option) played the entire year.

So Iosivas was only ever 3rd on the pecking order at best.

Look, I'm not trying to sit here and say Iosivas is worthy of being starting 2nd option in an offense.
I'm not even saying great in the slot role.
What I am saying is I think he's ok (not good) and his skill set may be better used outside rather than as a slot receiver. I thought they mainly just put him inside because he happened to be the 3rd best option they had and they needed a slot to replace Boyd, so he got selected for that.
All I was getting at with the lower YPR for slot receivers is how they are used typically leads to fewer yards compared to their outside WR counterparts, especially if they are 3rd/4th in the pecking order.

I'm willing to give Iosivas this 3rd season (typically when guys usually show they can hack it or not) before looking to replace him on the roster.