Final Thoughts (preseason game 1)

[DYT_Bengal]

Why this year is different

Its difficult to really understand how competitive the NFL game is vs. college because we don't have on-field stats related to speed, acceleration, etc. but its clear even when there is a rookie drafted in later rounds that fans become involved with, it rarely pans out.

But lets focus on what we have seen from this game and what we can take away:

Post draft criticisms:

Myles Murphy - Sample 2.0
DJ Turner - ...40 only?
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Battle - considered a good later round pick
Charlie Jones - considered a good later round pick
DJ Ivey - another secondary player? No TE? Interesting pick
Chase Brown - slow decision time, small. Good to great CFB RB
Iosivas - considered a good later round pick
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Ok, so compared to years we pick Ogbuehi, Ross, Price, etc. I didn't hear any real concerns that the two early round picks had real criticism besides being unnecessary.

Murphy comes in as a safe pick with upside - my main counterargument to the Sample pick is that he has a little bit more going for him in terms of refinement. I truly think we will see some extra plays added this season in either depth or stunting inside, 3tech on passing downs. So value is added...

DJ Turner - lets forget about the 40 time. Even from this game I saw issues with getting burned which is consistent from his time from Michigan. The upside being that he looks to make a lot of plays elsewhere. Maybe not a true outside corner on No.1 wr but could be special elsewhere. Prepare to be polarized if our safeties are targeted.

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Ivey - 7th round picks rarely make the team, less contribute. He actually showed a lot of promise - fingers crossed.
Brown - RB are very polarizing, a lot of plays in college get taken away in the NFL. It will be interesting to see what he can add to the team outside of Evans.
Battle - Big hits, I don't think we have had a true SS in a long time. He could be a really fun player.
Iosivas - fingers crossed. My gut feeling is that his princeton intellect allowed him to pick up on refinements to the wr position that are consistent with No.1 but its not clear if he has the grit to make more difficult passes mid,short field consistently.
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Oline - its better to make mistakes early on. As always, I didn't see any player get man-handled. Carmen was a former 5-star. I still think he can make all-pro plays inconsistently. Hopefully he can continue to get a better feel for the game.
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Preseason game 1:
I think its clear that a lot of the team was getting a feel for the tempo. I didn't see any big holes in the team, only improvements. Perfect? no. But, I think the big takeaway is that it seems we have a lot of players that can cover a lot of field AND are willing to learn the complexities of the game in lieu of 'exciting plays'. NFL is about making no. of plays above baseline.

Im thinking it might be a slow start to the season like last year, But I think there is a lot more 'padding' say in the later games, including the playoffs. Rookies appear to add a lot of playmaking ability at the depth position that we didn't have last year. I'm looking at Iosivas to maybe turn heads.

[*ochocincos*]

I'm really not following with the thoughts on Murphy and Turner.

Murphy has way more potential than Cam Sample. Sample is more of a DE-DT hybrid whereas Murphy is more of an ideal 4-3 DE.
If Murphy was ready to wreak havoc as a pass rusher, he'd have gone (way) earlier in the draft. He has some work to do to unlock that potential.
Bengals don't need him to be a menace right away. They have Hendrickson, Hubbard, and Ossai for this year.
Murphy was 100% a future-starter-down-the-road guy.

Is the worry that Turner is speed only?
He was a 2nd rounder, not a 1st rounder. If he was polished in all other aspects right away, he would have been a 1st rounder no doubt.
Like Murphy, I don't believe Turner was drafted to be an immediate starter.
Bengals have Awuzie and CTB starting this year most likely. Turner will ride the pine for this year unless/until an injury occurs.
Remember Leon Hall's 2nd game of his rookie season when he got absolutely torched by Braylon Edwards all game?
Hall turned out alright, but he needed some time to get his feet wet.

I think we all need to accept that with any rookie coming in, especially if picking later in the rounds and at premium positions.
If these guys were Top 10 picks, I'd have a different expectation.

[Hammerstripes]

Way too early for the judgement posts on the draft class, but I get it.

It will be interesting to see where things are at the end of the year with these guys. If Murphy and Turner are consistent contributors in the dime and on 3rd downs, I think those 2 would be considered successful picks for year 1.

[Stewy]

Shouldn't this be in the overreaction thread, where it belongs?

Hey mods?  Merge with the overreaction thread plz?  TY  kk?

[*ochocincos*]

(08-15-2023, 07:53 PM)Stewy Wrote: Shouldn't this be in the overreaction thread, where it belongs?

Hey mods?  Merge with the overreaction thread plz?  TY  kk?

I would think it's appropriate here because it's related to the drafted players.
But since this is all about now-current Bengals and not prospects, I could see it being put into JN.