09-10-2015, 08:38 AM
Pittsburgh and Indy are probably #1-2 in the league right now. I'm assuming Johnson and Gore are still quality starters.
After some of the other teams sustained early injury and lost players to FA, I think the Bengals match up with any of the other top teams in the league right now as far as skill position players go, especially if you go 7 or 8 deep. WR1/2/3/4, TE1/2, RB1/2.
There are so many different arguments that can be pulled out that it's tough to list exactly where each other team belongs from #3-10 right now. Some people will pull out raw numbers and statistics, but we all know that's extremely misleading. QB and scheme of each team can make quite the difference in a WRs stats. Is Golden Tate the 7th best receiver in the NFL? No. He's definitely good though, so the fact that Stafford threw the ball a million times and Tate had to play a big role in their offense got him the bulk yardage. Most good receivers are going to pile up stats when you put them in a bigger role.
Demaryius Thomas had a great statline last season, but if I were an NFL GM and every WR in the league was in a pool and I had to start a franchise today, I'd probably be looking at a few other guys before him at the very least. I think AB, Calvin, Dez, A.J., and Julio are all better receivers, despite not all of them having DT's numbers. Not everyone would agree with that though, so that's why these discussions are tricky. Not only do people disagree with how good the WR1 is, then we have to look at all of the other WRs, the TEs, and the RBs, and then decide well "if this team has a slightly better WR1, WR3, TE2, RB1, and RB2, how much does that weigh against the other team having a much WR2, much better TE1, and much better WR4?". There are so many variables in play, but I do get into this kind of stuff and it can be fun to debate, but there will never be a clear consensus for this.
We have some more unproven guys than other teams, but we also don't have any over the hill players that are clearly falling off like some of the other top teams. There's a lot to look at, but I do think we're solidly top 10 right now as far as talented players go at the skill positions.
After some of the other teams sustained early injury and lost players to FA, I think the Bengals match up with any of the other top teams in the league right now as far as skill position players go, especially if you go 7 or 8 deep. WR1/2/3/4, TE1/2, RB1/2.
There are so many different arguments that can be pulled out that it's tough to list exactly where each other team belongs from #3-10 right now. Some people will pull out raw numbers and statistics, but we all know that's extremely misleading. QB and scheme of each team can make quite the difference in a WRs stats. Is Golden Tate the 7th best receiver in the NFL? No. He's definitely good though, so the fact that Stafford threw the ball a million times and Tate had to play a big role in their offense got him the bulk yardage. Most good receivers are going to pile up stats when you put them in a bigger role.
Demaryius Thomas had a great statline last season, but if I were an NFL GM and every WR in the league was in a pool and I had to start a franchise today, I'd probably be looking at a few other guys before him at the very least. I think AB, Calvin, Dez, A.J., and Julio are all better receivers, despite not all of them having DT's numbers. Not everyone would agree with that though, so that's why these discussions are tricky. Not only do people disagree with how good the WR1 is, then we have to look at all of the other WRs, the TEs, and the RBs, and then decide well "if this team has a slightly better WR1, WR3, TE2, RB1, and RB2, how much does that weigh against the other team having a much WR2, much better TE1, and much better WR4?". There are so many variables in play, but I do get into this kind of stuff and it can be fun to debate, but there will never be a clear consensus for this.
We have some more unproven guys than other teams, but we also don't have any over the hill players that are clearly falling off like some of the other top teams. There's a lot to look at, but I do think we're solidly top 10 right now as far as talented players go at the skill positions.
