Who ends up the "3rd WR" at the end of the season ?

[BURROWorBUST]

(05-16-2020, 02:34 PM)phil413 Wrote: With the depth and overall talent, they could go a number of ways regarding snaps.  Part of it will be who has more chemistry with Burrow in Ross vs Higgins.  

Tate will likely be a situational guy, that term should be a positive though.  He will get his time as a fade option near the GL and slot guy with the roster lacking a lengthy field stretching TE.  We can't blame all of his low catch ratio on our QB play on line play though.

Ross still has field stretching speed that you can move around the field.  With his experience and ability to push the coverage back, we have a QB that threads an accurate deep ball and will carve them up short even if they hardly throw to Ross deep.  

Both takes above have different roles for Higgins, they could go either way.  They think enough of him to take him at 33 when other quality was going to be there later.  That shows you that not only is he a future complement to Boyd but he is THE guy of the future.  I could see CD's scenario, though it's a different staff they may move him all around like they did AJ as a rookie.

The "3rd spot" is not as much of a race as the offense and depth as a whole is.  They're bulit to run even more 3 and 4 wide sets, for sure less 2 TE sets.  They're going to rotate guys in and out to extend AJ physically, keep Boyd fresh with all the wear he takes over the middle and use the other 3 and some of Erickson.  I think the snap counts of the 3 we are talking about, but the first two especially will be close.  It also shows they're able to absorb a big injury and not miss much, that says a lot for a team coming off of 2-14

Excellent take. 

I'm not throwing John Ross under the bus. He obviously has talent. His inability to stay healthy remains an issue, but he's getting a new QB to go with a new coaching staff that gave him a new chance least season that he took some advantage of before the injury. I hope Zac and Burrow can breathe new life into his career  It would be great to have 4 or 5 great WRs for Burrow to choose from.

I also have high hopes for Tee Higgins. Having AJ, Boyd, Ross, and Higgins on the field at the same time would be impossible for opposing defenses to cover. Throw Mixon into that mix, and things get even better for us, and worse for opposing Ds. 27 points a game is not out of the question.

If only our Oline can block. That's the biggest question that will ultimately decide ow competitive we can be this season.