03-18-2017, 08:15 PM
(03-18-2017, 11:45 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Remember, Eifert himself was taken in the 1st round when we already had a reliable TE in place. I tried to tell everyone back then that the Bengals had drafted Gresham's replacement, but nobody wanted to hear it. Everyone was buying into Hob's BS about becoming a 2 TE team ala the Patriots. We were a 2 TE team...for 1 year. Then as soon as Gresh's contract was up, he was out and the Bengals already had their in-house replacement.
So no, it wouldn't shock me at all if they take Howard. It had already crossed my mind actually. I'm sure fans would be unhappy that we wouldn't be filling an immediate need, but in Mike's mind, he'd rather have a cheap TE than a more expensive one with injury issues. Taking Howard wouldn't really make an impact on 2017, but I don't think Mike would care.
I don't necessarily agree that taking him wouldn't make an impact in 2017. With the likelihood of Eifert missing more time and the fact that Kroft and Uzomah just aren't on his level as a player (or even close), I'd say he'd be very likely to make an impact. The thing that would keep him off the field would be being demonstrably awful at pass protecting. If he's as advertised in that department, he could very well see significant time.
