It’s Time To See The Youth In Cincinnati
Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
In the wake of the Joe Burrow injury, the 2023 Cincinnati Bengals find themselves right on the cusp of the dreaded football no-man’s land. The ugly place where teams aren’t good enough to make the playoffs, but aren’t bad enough to get a high draft pick. NFL purgatory.
Although the team isn’t mathematically eliminated yet, the writing is clearly on the wall. So while a portion of the fan base focuses on the Jake Browning/AJ McCarron debate, we think it’s important to focus on what we believe should be the lead Bengals talking point. It’s time for Cincinnati to see more of their young guys.
Unlike most teams in football purgatory, Cincinnati will return to form with the return of their best player. If Joe Burrow’s recovery goes as planned, the Bengals will step right back into contender conversations the moment he returns. For this reason exploring the youth on the team and seeing what you have before the off-season is crucial. With Burrows’s extension kicking in, and the team likely to be strapped financially, they will need to draft and develop better than they have in years past.
The offensive side of the ball is where most of this focus should lie and the conversation should start with…
Chase Brown
Finally active and healthy, the rookie running back didn’t see single carry on Sunday against the Steelers. Fairness to Zac Taylor and his staff, the offensive opportunity was abysmal. The team ran just 43 plays and Joe Mixon got just eight carries.
“We just didn’t have any opportunities.” Head coach Zac Taylor said when questioned about Browns lack of involvement. “Mixon had eight carries. We need more snaps, we need to get more first downs that give us more snaps.”
That all makes sense, but maybe this is a chicken and egg situation. You can’t get the rookie running back on the field because your offense isn’t providing him the opportunity, but perhaps his ability could help shake up the run game and give the team a dynamic playmaker that could lead to more successful offense and therefore more opportunities.
If Joe Mixon was performing as one of the best backs in the league, or the team was in the playoff hunt it would make sense to slowly and methodically ease Brown in. Neither of those are the case. Whether Mixon is part of this teams future or not, the current NFL is a running back by committee league and if this team is going to compete next season having a second running back will be a huge part of that. Taylor and company sorely missed some of Samaje Pierene throughout the season in the wake of Browns injury and they need to do everything they can to see if Brown can fill that void moving forward.
Charlie Jones
Chuck Sizzle, as they call him, has been used more in the return game than as a receiver. Thus far in his rookie season, he only has one reception for six yards, which isn’t entirely unreasonable in a crowded Bengals’ WR corps. However, a simple look at his college stats shows that he is worthy of more action in the passing game.
A day 3 WR Prospect who I think could up being quite the productive NFL player:#Purdue WR Charlie Jones
5’11 175
4.43 at the NFL Combine 👀111 Recs for 1,361 12 TDs in 2022
12 Recs 153 yards 1 TD vs Joey Porter Jr 👀
Dude is a REC machine….
pic.twitter.com/BvRBzLYdbR— Jared Tokarz (@JaredNFLDraft) March 25, 2023
One of his best qualities as a receiver that he was known for coming out of college was his quickness, as his top end speed (4.43 40 yard dash at the combine) gives him an ability to beat DBs in the open field both before and after he has the ball. He was also seen as an excellent possession receiver who can battle for the catch. His quickness and smooth hands would be extremely useful in the era of Jake Browning, who has thrown mostly short passes up to this point.
Andrei Iosivas
Jones wasn’t the only quick receiver the Bengals took on Day Three of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Princeton WR Andrei Iosivas’ stock could rise with a good showing at the Senior Bowl. Iosivas has elite play speed, clocking 22.2 MPH on this touchdown💨 #ReelAnalytics pic.twitter.com/ey1T2baOrV
— Reel Analytics (@RAanalytics) January 21, 2023
Andrei Iosivas, who played Princeton for three seasons, had 16 career touchdowns in his three seasons at Purdue, including 7 in his final season. He’s performed adequately thus far in the NFL, as two of his four career receptions have been touchdowns. He was lauded for his catch radius over the middle of the field and his ability to make catches in traffic. Prior to his senior year at Princeton, his skills as an athlete helped him get named the 15th most athletic player in college football on Bruce Feldman’s annual “Freaks List”.
Much like Jones, Yoshi was one of the fastest players in the draft, as his 4.43 40 yard dash speed was identical to Jones. He also has the track and field background to show for it. At Princeton, he competed in the heptathlon and was exceptional, earning First Team All American honors. In fact, his time of 6.71 in the 60 meter dash was an NCAA Indoor Championships meet record. Getting the Princeton star in the open field with the ball could be critical in advancing the offense down the field.
Jones only saw four snaps on Sunday. Iosivas only saw 14. With Tee Higgins potentially on his way out the door now is the time to see if either of these two youngsters can give the team anything or if they need to spend part of their off season bolstering their wide receiver
No one is saying the Bengals shouldn’t try to win games, moving forward period they are stuck so firmly in the middle that trying to win is likely the only thing that makes sense. But as this season continues, we need to see what some of these players can do so we can focus on the ultimate goal which is finally bringing a title to Cincinnati.
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