happyrid

happyrid - Montez Sweat - 72

This. I also think it'll make life easier for the OL. A lot of defenses last year were sneaking Safeties into the box and blitzing a lot more than normal (especially after AJ went down). If Boyd or LaFell beat them 1-on-1 (probably for a shorter gain) they'd live with it. But they also knew that stacking the box would clog lanes in the run game and make life difficult for the OL in pass blocking. It wasn't a fool proof strategy. I think Dalton and LaFell were excellent against the Eagles for example when they used this exact strategy. We got rid of the ball quickly and our WRs won their fair share of individual matchups. But better defenses with better corners made life difficult on our offense.

Injuries are a concern with Ross. Could say the same exact thing about Jon Allen, Malik Hooker, Marcus Lattimore, Reuben Foster, etc. Most of these top guys have been banged up. And the ones who haven't been injured aren't immune from future injuries either.

One thing that stands out to me after hearing James Urban (Bengals WR coach) talk about Ross at the press conference and then watching some of his videos again is how dangerous he is on short passes, especially 3rd down. Urban said what makes him special is not just how fast he can run, but how fast he can stop and change direction. CBs get back on their heels because they know he can run by them and then he hits the brakes on those comeback routes and he creates a ton of separation for easy completions. You watch that USC video posted above and the multiple easy conversions on 3rd and 4 against Adoree Jackson are just as impressive as the play where he breaks his ankles and beats him deep.

He was definitely a consensus 1st round pick before the combine. Here are some examples: Tony Pauline: Mock Draft from Matt Miller in December with Ross going #14 overall and #2 receiver: This article from December mentions him as a first-rounder: There's a bunch more. He was talked about as a 1st rounder all season. He scored 18 freaking TDs last season for a team that made the College Football Playoff. This talk like he emerged out of nowhere at the "underwear Olympics" has always been crazy.

Looks good, though I think they'll end up keeping a 7th LB (Flowers) over a 10th DL (Williams). The LBs are more valuable on special teams and we've tended to get pretty beat up at LB so the extra depth is needed. I wouldn't be surprised to see Little get cut in favor of somebody cut by another team. He's just a guy and we could really use a more experienced/talented backup WR. If there are any trades to be made, I think it would be a WR coming in and a DL going out.

Interesting that the Bengals got 808 in exchange for 800 in their trade down. Damn near a perfect match on the trade value chart.