Are AJ/Dalton the best

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-04-2016, 05:31 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: I would say "yes" they are and here is why compared to your list

JJo played 5 years only with Bengals and has received more honors with Texans than with Bengals so just not enough impact for his 5 years compared to Dalton and Green.

Smith : solid player but again became a great player after he left Bengals, Chad was very good but AJ is better in his first 5 years in my opinion

Williams/Pickens:  Williams played just 4 years with Bengals, Picken solid but together no way they have had the impact of Dalton and Green.

I would put I would put Palmer and Steinbach up there though Steinbach left after 4 seasons.

The tough part here is you are talking about two premier positions in QB and WR, so I feel a bit harder to compare with other positions.

In the end though what Dalton and Green have done in their first 5 years in my opinion clearly puts them ahead of any other top 2 picks for the Bengals.

The question was draft picks, not best Bengals careers, so I was going off of career performance, not career as a Bengal performance. Just because a guy later plays on another team doesn't make that draft pick bad. It's still a very good draft pick.


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That said, there is no way that AJ performed better than Chad in their first 5 years. If you look just a straight up comparison of stats without taking into context the time frame it was put up during, sure, but here's the simple fact. After 5 years in the NFL, Chad had led the AFC in receiving yards *TWICE*.

Chad in his 3rd-5th years finished 4th, 6th, and 3rd in the NFL in receiving yards. AJ finished 5th, 20th, and 8th.

Sure Chad had a much worse rookie season, but that's why AJ was drafted 4th overall and Chad was drafted 36th overall. But after that? Chad became the best WR in the AFC. AJ isn't even the best WR in the AFC North. (In the AFCN alone, he's finished 1st once, 2nd twice, 3rd twice.)

Love AJ, he's going to have a great career, but people continually forget/underplay how great Chad Johnson was in his prime.

Gotta keep in mind Chad put up his numbers when there were only like 2-4 QBs a year who threw for 4,000 yards. (And against the AFCN when the Ravens and Steelers were actually good at defense.)