Rank our WRs

[Shake n Blake]

(05-23-2016, 08:44 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: 1. Is he, though? I like AJ a bunch, but I think it might be a stretch to call him a top 5 WR right this second.
WR yard rankings...
2015: 8th
2014: 19th
2013: 5th
2012: 10th
2011: 17th

Really think that right now people who remove their orange tinted glasses would be hard pressed to honestly say AJ is a top 5 WR. Jones, Brown, Hopkins, Marshall, OBJ, Robinson, heck.. even Thomas put up more yards with some of the worst QB play in the league. That's not counting Nelson, Bryant, and Jeffery being hurt. Plus Hilton nipping at AJ's heels.

I think this is a case of AJ has been consistently very good, but he's never taken that next step forward. It's like his floor was ridiculously high coming into the league, but his ceiling was at or right near the exact same height, so there was no room for improvement. It seems other WRs who started with a lower floor are taking that step, though, and passing him. He's still a top 10 guy.

2. Kroft finished with 11/129/1 in 16 games/6 starts. Dude started two games where he had blank stat sheets. A third where his stats were 1 catch for 4 yards. I am not quite sure that's eating crow territory, Shake.


3. Agreed with you on that, though... with a SLIGHT alteration. I don't care who else fills out the depth chart, so long as it's not Brandon Tate, Greg Little, and Dane Sanzenbacher. LOL

1. AJ's two worst seasons statistically were his rookie season and a season where he missed around 5 games - if you include the one where he was used as a "decoy" vs Denver. I think we can all agree that those 2 seasons aren't representative of the type of player AJ is right now. In the other 3 seasons, his average ranking was 7.7. 

So is it really a big stretch to say he's top 5? I don't think so. Keep in mind that the Bengals aren't quite as pass happy as some of these teams that have WR's who produced more. We only had 505 pass attempts last year, for example. While teams like the Giants and Falcons routinely pass 600+ times. If Green isn't top 5, he's definitely not far from it.

Now do I believe Green has gotten 100% out of his talent? That's a different story. There are things I believe he could improve on that would get him closer to #1.

2. It seems you're counting "starts" where Kroft may have lined up initially as a 2nd TE - probably to block. Just because he "started" in those games doesn't mean he was in the game plan as a receiver. I'm looking more at the 3 starts he had when Eifert went down. In those 3 starts, he went 9-108-1.

Sure, nothing spectacular, but that would average out to 576 yards over a full season. The TD catch was a big one. I think he held it down pretty good while Eifert missed time. I wasn't just talking about Kroft there, either. I was talking about Eifert as well. Plenty of people were down about him starting last year and many wanted to bring Gresh back. I'd say we did fine without Gresh, and I'm glad Kroft got some experience.

3. Yikes. Don't remind me. At least the FO learned something from that debacle. They actually took the WR spot seriously this offseason. I was afraid they'd just draft some mid-round guys and call it a day. Fortunately they brought in a vet and used a high pick on one. We might feel the loss of MLJ, but it could be much...much worse.