Someone is tearing up the senior bowl

[Whatever]

(01-26-2019, 06:16 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Yeah, I'm going to call BS here.  How do you explain Michael Thomas with an incredible 85% catch rate?  He runs all the routes, not just the short ones.  The mere fact that John Ross is dead, freakin', last in catch rate for the entire NFL is enough evidence to show that either he wasn't trying very hard, or he isn't really that good.  Which is it?  Doesn't matter, as neither answer bodes well for a top 10 pick.

Thomas is arguably the best WR in the league, certainly top 5, has an arguably Top 5 All time QB throwing to him, and he plays in a system created and ran by an offensive genius.  Drew Brees completed over 74% of his passes.  Dalton and Driskell combined for 61%. He runs a full tree, which also means he gets his share of high % throws, too.

He's also not last in the entire league.  He's not even last on the Bengals.  Josh Malone is last on the Bengals at 20%.  Then Auden Tate with 33.3%.  Then Ross at 36.2%.  The only WR's on the Bengals that are over 50% are Boyd, Erickson(both slot guys), and AJ, a future HoF'er who was also used in the slot.

I don't think anybody is going to say Ross hasn't disappointed thus far, but so did every WR in stripes not named AJ Green that weren't primarily lined up in the slot.  I would say if the higher ups were happy with the offense, they wouldn't have cleaned house and be set to hire Taylor and Co.

I have zero issue with drafting a guy to compete with Ross(and Core, Tate, Erickson, and Malone) and let the best man win.  I mean, I don't know what people expect.  A Top 10 pick that scored 7 TD's isn't getting cut entering his 3rd year unless he majorly screws up off the field, especially when the guys behind him were worse.  I guess we can try to label him irredeemable and the coaching changes and another year of experience will do nothing to improve him, but what does that accomplish?  He needs to get better, along with probably about 45 other guys on the team.