Core looking great!

[*ochocincos*]

(05-31-2017, 02:56 PM)Whatever Wrote: We're not sure where Erickson's potential tops out at.  We do know that he was a lot more productive in college than Core.  We can also reasonably assume the coaches had him focused more on his return duties than the base offense last year.

It is not reasonable to think another rookie can come in and lead the conference in kick return yardage, no.  Erickson was the exception, not the rule.

Depth is great, but Erickson had more touches last year than Boyd.  Your return man is also basically a starter.  You don't hurt your starting lineup for depth guys.

Finally, if Im a coach in a contract year coming off a 6 win season, who do I keep?  Do I keep the guy that will help me win games this year or the guy that might help me in a year or two?

Fair enough. It was presumptive on my part that Erickson was capped out as a WR already.

And you're right, statistically Erickson was more productive in terms of yardage than Core, but they were in different situations in college. Erickson was the top option at Wisconsin whereas Core was playing second fiddle to Treadwell and was much more of a deep threat. Core's YPC is much greater than Erickson's, and he also had almost double the TDs that Erickson had.

Maybe Erickson was the exception and is that much better at returner than the other options on the roster. But just like Erickson in the preseason last year, I want to see if anyone can at least come close to or be better than the incumbent.


Clearly, I think the Bengals didn't feel very strong about their stable of WRs (including those from last year's PS) since they re-signed LaFell and then went out and drafted one in the 1st and another in the 4th. I can only imagine the purpose of keeping 7 this year is to retain all of Malone, Erickson, and Core, then cut LaFell next year and go back down to six if the WRs show improvement.
I'm just having a hard time seeing what other position can sacrifice going light, and I personally feel Erickson is more expendable than Core, so we clearly differ our opinions on that. With the questions at OL, it's hard to think they'd go light there.  Could they go light at DL given their lack of pass rush behind Dunlap and Atkins? I would be surprised. I can't see how they go light at LB unless they risk Evans to the PS.
Maybe the Bengals decide to give Hewitt the boot in favor of 7 WRs given his continued lack of usage over the past couple of years.