How important is a TE

[DYT-Flyer]

Erick All was really impressive at Michigan and is from Fairfield, I think he is a sleeper candidate. More people would have known about him if he stayed at Michigan.

[DYT-Flyer]

To continue the conversation, I think there is a ceiling to how much a TE is worth to a team vs. a WR, QB, etc. (no duh). Still confused why anyone would choose one in the first half of the first round (Detroit, Atlanta). Same with ILB, seems like teams are super quick to part even with all-pros.

It is pretty clear you can consistently get a starter/high performer if you are smart about drafting in the 2nd/3rd round.

But I agree with what others have said here, the group of TE don't seem exciting this year.

[Bengal Dude]

(02-03-2024, 01:15 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Detroit took LaPorta in the 2nd round.

I believe he's referring to TJ Hockenson.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(02-03-2024, 03:38 AM)Bengal Dude Wrote: I believe he's referring to TJ Hockenson.

Ah you’re probably right. They did get a 2nd and a 3rd for him though, so not exactly a wasted pick.

[Brownshoe]

TE is very important in the NFL right now. The position can help mediocre to bad OL with blocking and a relief valve in the pass game. A good TE will demand the defense to cover the middle of the field much more carefully. I feel like the offense really missed a decent TE this season.

[*Synric*]

(02-03-2024, 12:56 AM)DYT-Flyer Wrote: Erick All was really impressive at Michigan and is from Fairfield, I think he is a sleeper candidate. More people would have known about him if he stayed at Michigan.

Erick All and Michigan got into a battle over All's back injury. All injured his back sometime the end of 2021 or 2022 offseason Michigan told him he could play through it in 2022 but All got a second opinion from medical professionals other than the UM doctors and had the surgery. I was told by a friend Michigan was pissed and pulled his scholarship after 2022 causing him to enter the transfer portal. 

[DYT-Flyer]

(02-03-2024, 10:28 AM)Synric Wrote: Erick All and Michigan got into a battle over All's back injury. All injured his back sometime the end of 2021 or 2022 offseason Michigan told him he could play through it in 2022 but All got a second opinion from medical professionals other than the UM doctors and had the surgery. I was told by a friend Michigan was pissed and pulled his scholarship after 2022 causing him to enter the transfer portal. 

I heard the same thing. Maybe he isn't fit for the Bengals, but he made amends with the team after the championship. Could be worth a late round draft pick.

[J24]

Most Elite TEs are just giant Wrs who are labeled TEs for Salary reasons. So, I would say it depends more on the player than the position itself. Tee does the same thing for our offense as kelce does for.the chiefs.(especially when they had Tyreek).

[Soonerpeace]

(02-03-2024, 12:20 AM)puddycat Wrote: You know what those 80's teams had besides a TE-centric offense? A running game. But that was back in the days of 2WR proset offense with a RB and FB. Those days were long gone.. or are they? The Niners have started both their playoff games in the pro-set with Kyle Juszczyk at FB. We are seeing a resurgance of the running game because it shortens the game, protects the QB, and when used with RPO provides more flexibility than a 3 WR set. 3 WRs are great if the defense doesn't have the DBs or you need to outscore the other team because of your own defense, but it relies heavily on the QB and is a hit or miss offense, as we've seen when the Bengals can't seem to sustain drives.

Nothing burger. Our offense w/ Joe healthy or available only 5 out of 17 games still finished #11 according to ESPN stats and info in touchdowns per drive. In ‘21 & ‘22 only the Bills and KC finished higher in points per play. Efficiency efficiency efficiency. It’s why Tennessee wanted Callahan. They go over what’s tangible. They get analytics out the wazzoo and scrutinized Cincy’s like mad. They don’t pay attention to message board geniuses. Their dream jobs depend on it as it’s usually career ending otherwise.

[Soonerpeace]

(02-03-2024, 12:12 PM)J24 Wrote: Most Elite TEs are just giant Wrs who are labeled TEs for Salary reasons. So, I would say it depends more on the player than the position itself. Tee does the same thing for our offense as kelce does for.the chiefs.,(especially when they had Tyreek).

It’s what Joe is most comfortable with. He likes 2 stellar wide outs. Just like at LSU. He’s just not TE wired. Moss at LSU he threw to but he was really a slot. But if Kelce was on this roster he’d be just as utilized.

[Essex Johnson]

(02-03-2024, 08:21 AM)Brownshoe Wrote: TE is very important in the NFL right now. The position can help mediocre to bad OL with blocking and a relief valve in the pass game. A good TE will demand the defense to cover the middle of the field much more carefully. I feel like the offense really missed a decent TE this season.

We have the blocking TE, Sample is very good but does lack in the passing game for sure, i just think it is hard to put how much a TE is going to contribute with the WR core we have had and the lack of attention ZT and Burrow seem to have in the position. As for this year Burrow being out is also hard to see how the season went, I do know that last season the one bright spot was Hudson (he logged less than 1/4 of the snaps and if you project Hudson stats out playing near 1/2 of snaps at TE, he would have ended with 70 plus receptions and 700 plus yards. I hope we retain him especially as it seems a bit of a thin draft for TEs the rounds we are probably looking.

[Soonerpeace]

(02-03-2024, 12:32 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I don't get why you keep falling back on the "message board geniuses" take. Posters understand there are paid professionals running organizations and we are just fans. By your reasoning, we shouldn't offer opinions on a message board and that includes you because it's safe to assume almost none of us work in an NFL front office.

My comment was the front office at the Titans doesn’t pay attention to message board geniuses that don’t get it. 95% of this board ( I’m in this group) are clueless about this team or any other. Oh sure a vast majority can figure out our run game sucks but only 5% know why. My post was about our offense and its efficiency. Its solid. That and the culture of this whole organization caught the Titans attention. Culture in the recent hires has risen to the forefront. Watching the NFL insiders they said the Bill Parcells taskmaster style isn’t wanted. The combativeness of Vrabel with the front office and ownership made them want what Cincy & Detroit have. There’s no secrets in the NFL.

The whole mantra the offensive staff took their sleeping bags to the offices and hatched a new offense for Jake is just so wrong. After the Pittsburg game they realized he couldn’t handle both the protection calls and be focused on the play like Joe. They just ended up giving him more protection and simplified his life. They took the parts of the offense he liked and implemented it. Jake didn’t change the plays . The head phones shut off at 15 seconds. They gave Jake a play and if he saw this defense go to this.

The bottom line is Burrow is the smartest QB and most accurate QB in the league. Mahomes is not as good as Joe in those things. Joe is not as athletic or impromptu as Patrick. But this offense needs a run game and a more dynamic TE than it needs new offensive coaches or scheme.

[TecmoBengals]

(02-03-2024, 01:13 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: My comment was the front office at the Titans doesn’t pay attention to message board geniuses that don’t get it.

Agreed, professionals running a team aren't spending their time seeing what fans think.

[*bfine32*]

(02-03-2024, 12:23 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: It’s what Joe is most comfortable with. He likes 2 stellar wide outs. Just like at LSU. He’s just not TE wired. Moss at LSU he threw to but he was really a slot. But if Kelce was on this roster he’d be just as utilized.

As I mentioned in the OP: This is a retort often heard, yet Uzomah, Hurst, and Tanner all had career years w/ JB and Cincy

[JoeyB2023]

(01-30-2024, 04:20 PM)schroomytunes Wrote: I think it does get addressed this offseason, but with major holes coming up in FA I think it gets addressed in the draft. I could see this scenario coming up for us:

1) Tanner Hudson- resigned

2) Cade Stover (OSU)-3rd rd or Ben Sinnott (KSU)- 4th rd both fit what we are looking for in a TE, just depends on what rd they want to address certain other needs. (RT, S, DL)

3) Drew Sample -resigned, blocking back.

- I think they will look to add secondary and IOL help in FA, as they will be depth pieces. The draft will always be for skilled players.

I mean honestly this would be best case. We have burrow. We don’t have dalton. Hudson a draft pick and sample in this offense get it done no problem.

[JoeyB2023]

(01-31-2024, 12:13 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: I’d say it already gets kind of dicey at 18.

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/18-nfl-overall-draft-picks

Agree honestly picks 11-20 are imo perfect trade back spots. Teams try n justify who would belong in that range once all the top 10 separated talent is nabbed up. I hate this spot for the bengals. They can’t draft crap unless it’s a can’t screw up pick like chase or burrow but u can’t even be in the top 10 to feel comfortable with the bone headed Ross pick. Where the bengals sit worries me. I expect the bengals to have a solid draft but blow the first round. Or blow it on any offense lineman they chose. Prove me wrong. Be smart don’t outsmart your selves. Just take one of the bama tackles and move on. Sign madubuike and draft the top wide receiver in the second round like they typically hit on and be done with it.
Revisit reader after draft if he’s still there which I’m sure he will be with the injury.
Imo u gotta bring back boyd too. Let tee walk. He was sand to the beach. Don’t double down now and throw all our money at him. Chase and burrow are our must not tee.

[Soonerpeace]

(02-03-2024, 01:42 PM)bfine32 Wrote: As I mentioned in the OP: This is a retort often heard, yet Uzomah, Hurst, and Tanner all had career years w/ JB and Cincy

The discussion should be centric on the player not whether the offense uses the TE. Agreed?

[Soonerpeace]

(02-03-2024, 01:58 PM)JoeyB2023 Wrote: Agree honestly picks 11-20 are imo perfect trade back spots. Teams try n justify who would belong in that range once all the top 10 separated talent is nabbed up. I hate this spot for the bengals. They can’t draft crap unless it’s a can’t screw up pick like chase or burrow but u can’t even be in the top 10 to feel comfortable with the bone headed Ross pick. Where the bengals sit worries me. I expect the bengals to have a solid draft but blow the first round. Or blow it on any offense lineman they chose. Prove me wrong. Be smart don’t outsmart your selves. Just take one of the bama tackles and move on. Sign madubuike and draft the top wide receiver in the second round like they typically hit on and be done with it.
Revisit reader after draft if he’s still there which I’m sure he will be with the injury.
Imo u gotta bring back boyd too. Let tee walk. He was sand to the beach. Don’t double down now and throw all our money at him. Chase and burrow are our must not tee.

After FA we can seriously address our first pick. I’d expect they re-sign Reader but pick up a medium priced FA DT. I expect they go with RT in the first round as I read it may be a record number of tackles taken in the first round. In round 2 I think it’s a TE or RB based on who is there. I’d expect if a running back he will be more a third down type or short yardage type.

[puddycat]

(02-03-2024, 12:15 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Nothing burger. Our offense w/ Joe healthy or available only 5 out of 17 games still finished #11 according to ESPN stats and info in touchdowns per drive...

And yet the Bengals had 4 games where they scored 11 points or less.  Those games are filled with three and outs where a few ball control 1st downs would really help out the defense and get a few FGs on the board.

[Soonerpeace]

(02-03-2024, 02:47 PM)puddycat Wrote: And yet the Bengals had 4 games where they scored 11 points or less.  Those games are filled with three and outs where a few ball control 1st downs would really help out the defense and get a few FGs on the board.

I’ll play. The first loss the offense was drastically limited with Joe 65%. So that game is totally irrelevant. The other loss to the Steelers was Jake’s first career start in 5 years lol. The staff didn’t change the offense and made Jake handle the OL protections and the next game he didn’t and you see the results. They added more protection and had Drew Sample more involved. Tennessee … Joe was closer to being heathy so that 3 points was valid. I’ll play some more. The 34 points on a full strength SF defense was the second best all year. The 24 points on the Bills was bettered by only 3 teams in the regular season. The 17 points by the Jake led Bengals vs KC was more than half the teams they played.

Points/Game 21.5 (#16
Yards/Game 318.9 (#23
Points/Play 0.349 #15
Yards/Play 5.2 (#18
3D Conversion % 37.61% (#19
4D Conversion % 45.00% (#25
RZ scoring % (TD) 59.62% (#10
TD’s a game 2.4 (#14
Rushing Statistics
CIN Offense Value (rank
Rush Play % 36.55% (#31)
Yards/Rush 4.0 (#22)
Rushes/Game 22.5 (#30)
Rush Yards/Game 89.8 #32
Rush TDs/Game 0.7 (#19
Passing Statistics
CIN Offense Value (rank)
Pass Play % 63.45% (#2)
Completion % 68.29% (#2)
Yards/Pass 6.3 (#20)
Passes/Game 36.2 (#8)
Pass Yards/Game 229.1 (#16)
Int Thrown % 2.28% (#18)
QB Sacked % 7.52%
#23