Can the Bengals compete in the AFCN

[*jason*]

(04-06-2019, 12:41 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: It is the same talent that they have had for the last three straight losing seasons, just three years older now.

Also keep in mind that we as fans tend to overrate the players on our team. (Everyone does it for their team, it's not Bengals-fan exclusive. There were some crazy Patriots fans saying Julian Edelman > AJ Green relatively recently.)

They haven't drafted a single Pro Bowler in the last 5 years. The only Pro Bowler they have drafted in the last 7 years was Tyler Eifert, who has started 5 games in the last 3 years. Then you tack on their FA approach and it's not a recipe for success.

While they do have some talent, I would point out that it's nowhere near as much as we like to think. A lot of that talent has gotten older/left, and simply not been replaced with equal levels of talent.

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EDIT: It's not an end-all-be-all metric of talent, obviously, but the Bengals only have 6 Pro Bowlers on their entire roster by my count...

Andy Dalton
AJ Green
Geno Atkins
Carlos Dunlap
Kevin Huber (yes, he got in once)
Tyler Eifert (and proceeded to get hurt there too)

The only player on that list under the age of 30 is Tyler Eifert (2019 will be his age 29 season), and as stated previously, he's made 5 starts the last 3 years.

They only have a single 1st Team All-Pro on their entire roster, and that's Geno Atkins and he turned 31 a couple days ago.

I get that. That's discounting the fact that Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd are studs though. So it's not like they've been completely whiffing. We don't know who emerges this year either... Maybe nobody does. I also realize that the new staff may completely suck, but I'm willing to wait for them to actually do that before I write us off for this year.