Shefter: AJ Green will miss some games

[Whatever]

(11-07-2018, 01:24 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Hobson's take on whether or not to sign a vet WR:


As for the A.J. Green situation, how long is he going to be out? A week? Two weeks? A month? I don’t think they know, which makes things a lot tougher. In a season that began with the release of Brandon LaFell, is anyone surprised they’re not signing an older receiver?

Maybe I’m nuts, but if there’s one team that shouldn’t be signing a veteran receiver, isn’t it the Bengals? There’s nobody out there that can run like John Ross and Josh Malone and isn’t it time to find out if they can play or not? Do we know? They’ve got 39 NFL targets between them in two years and that’s it. The one thing I do know is if they’re not the two fastest guys on the field this Sunday, it’s by a lean. That’s the frustrating thing to me. You’ve got all this speed that can break a game open and people are burying these two kids and they have yet to turn 23 years old.

Yes, Ross has had his struggles. He’s also got the longest TD catch on the team. Yes, Malone turned one of his targets into a pick. But he’s had only four balls thrown at him this year. That’s enough to draw a walk, not a death sentence.

Nothing scares the bejeezus out of me more than a veteran receiver coming over at the beginning of the season, never mind in mid-year. They don’t know the quarterback, they don’t know the system and everybody can get ugly quickly. (By the way, how’s it going in Baltimore with John Brown, Willie Snead and Michael Crabtree, all new this year with the Ravens? It hasn’t been all bad, but not great, either. They’ve thrown the most passes in the league, have lost three straight and are 4-5).

Go back a little. The presence of Michael Westbrook nearly got second-year receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh cut. OK. Go back a lot. In his one season here, 36-year-old Terrell Owens was their best receiver. But the reality TV show was a killer while the reality was a talent like Jerome Simpson didn’t play until the end of the year and they found out they had something. You wonder if Simpson had played sooner how things might have panned out for him.

Just wondering. Here’s my thought for the day. The faster, logical answers seem to be here. At the very least, we’ll get some answers. It seems to me they’re in a can’t-win situation. Bring in a vet and they get killed for letting go a young talent like Tate, although I doubt he’s going to play much at all from scrimmage.


https://www.bengals.com/news/hobson-s-choice-stretching-for-a-run

He's a yes man, but he has a point.  A lot of us wanted LaFell gone so we can play the young guys and now a lot of us wanted us to sign or trade for a veteran so we don't have to play the young guys.