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"I Suck", C. Ogbuehi


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https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2018/12/13/cincinnati-bengals-cedric-ogbuehi-accepts-bust-label-now-looks-prove-wrong-elsewhere/2304749002/

Cedric Ogbuehi accepts bust label, now looks to prove it wrong elsewhere

 

Paul Dehner Jr., Cincinnati EnquirerPublished 4:47 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2018 | Updated 7:47 a.m. ET Dec. 14, 2018

   

05012015 Cedric Ogbuehi

(Photo: Kareem Elgazzar, The Cincinnati Enquirer)

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When over the course of four seasons a first-round pick is benched twice from two different positions, beat out of a starting spot and eventually left inactive in favor of a former teammate brought in off the street in December, there’s no way around the label.

Bust.

Such is the scarlet letter stamped on Cedric Ogbuehi as he rides out the final stages of a prove-it year left unproven. Instead of thriving and making good on his potential under new offensive line coach Frank Pollack, Ogbuehi played in only two games, was active but didn’t leave the bench in two more and a healthy scratch nine times.

Bust is the word understandably thrown at the 2015 draft’s No. 21 overall selection.

“As of now that is what you should be throwing around,” Ogbuehi said. “It’s just now about proving them wrong in the future and that’s what I’m excited to do.”:blink:

He hoped to do it this year, but instead Bobby Hart won the right tackle job and Fisher held down the swing tackle backup spot behind him. That left Ogbuehi in street clothes. He only played 54 snaps on offense – all coming in Week 12 against Cleveland.

 

In that brief stint, he took over at left tackle and in 41 pass blocking sets gave up a sack, three hurries and committed a false start. Far from ideal.

When asked about Ogbuehi’s performance the next day, Captain Obvious simply stated, “we’ve got some work to do.”

 

What’s obvious to everyone in this situation is Ogbuehi’s work going forward needs to be done elsewhere.

“Sometimes a change of scenery is what’s best,” he said. “Right now, I’m just going to control what I can control. It didn’t work out. I’m happy for Bobby and seeing him play well. I think he played well this year, I truly do. Just waiting for my shot next year.”

Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackles Jake Fisher, left,

Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackles Jake Fisher, left, and Cedric Ogbuehi have been rotating with Andre Smith since Week 3. (Photo: Kareem Elgazzar)

 

There’s irony in Hart part of the reason Ogbuehi was relegated to the inactive list on gamedays. For Ogbuehi, Hart provides an example of what his future can look like.

Hart was let go by the Giants as one of the first moves by new general manager Dave Gettleman last December and stories came out about dissension among teammates, including a reported fight with defensive tackle Damon Harrison.

His stock was at rock bottom when the Bengals took a flyer on him in March. Yet, he was able to win the right tackle job and has held it down all season.

 

“We was  just talking about me coming from New York, trying to keep him and Fish in spirits," said Hart, an English major from the University of Pittsburgh, "because I know what it feels like to suck and not play,” Hart said. “When you feel like you have the talent to be playing and you are not playing I know what it feels like. But a fresh start, fresh beginning, knowing what you’ve done wrong in the past it’s like a new beginning. The things you’ve done in the past doesn’t matter when you go to a new place. You’ve got a new slate, a new chance to blossom into whatever you want to. You don’t have any other baggage.”

 

One piece of baggage Ogbuehi wants thrown out the window by his future employers is any conversation about the best position for him to play. He feels like that’s the most important takeaway from his failed experiment in Cincinnati.

“I think I’m a right tackle. Period,” said Ogbuehi, who started at right tackle in 2016, left tackle in 2017 and practiced almost solely at right tackle this season. “So, I went from right to left to right. I never got to just stay there and go through the struggling pains and find yourself. I never got that.”

Ogbuehi did get 25 starts over the course of the 2016 and ’17 seasons. He also got a chance to compete for the starting right tackle position this year. In all three scenarhe was replaced by another option.

 

Andre Smith took what would have been his roster spot only days after being picked off the waiver wire from Arizona two weeks ago.

The failure of that pick – and to a slightly lesser degree Jake Fisher in the second round in 2015 – was the fallout. The club invested in those two tackles and it opened the door for Andrew Whitworth to move on to Los Angeles. Two seasons of figuring out they weren’t the answer served as a large piece of the puzzle of what were back-to-back losing seasons.

There was still hope entering this season that a new line coach could be the change Ogbuehi needed. He wasn’t as far as aggressively snatching the open position, of course.

Ogbuehi doesn’t blame Pollack. The opposite, actually. He praised the new line coach for what he’s done to help him and others up front.

“I think it was good for me,” he said. “I truly do. I think he’s a great coach. I think he taught me great stuff. I think Frank’s a great coach, I truly do.”

The next step for Ogbuehi once this season ends will involve seeing what team will be willing to give him a chance to prove he can make good on the potential the Bengals saw in him four years ago.

 
 

The market won’t be buzzing about his presence. Just as it wasn’t for Hart.

“At that point, you just got to take a look at yourself in the mirror because you may be feeling like you could do it,” Hart said. “That’s how I was feeling, feeling like you are the best or things like that but you need to take a step back and re-assess what is going on. That is something I definitely had to do to take into context what could I have done better? Did I rub people the wrong way doing those things where I felt I wasn’t doing anything wrong but may have rubbed people the wrong way? Or did I do everything to prepare to be the best football player? Did I make use of all my opportunities? It’s just self-evaluation. Sometimes God feels like that’s what you need to spring you forward before the snap. You just have to trust the process, put your faith in God and ride it out.”

The riding out will continue for three more weeks. Then a much-anticipated fresh start will emerge along with hope to leave the “bust” label in Cincinnati.

“I feel comfortable, they made a choice,” Ogbuehi said of playing time this year. “And I think Bobby has played great this year, so I’ve been supporting him. Next year I’ll have my chance. It’s all about the next chance. He got a second chance here and made the most of it. I’ll do the same next year.”

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, High School Harry said:

 ...We was just talking about me coming from New York, trying to keep him and Fish in spirits," said Hart, an English major from the University of Pittsburgh,...”

 

Even when speaking he gets a “false start”...

 

 

😇

 

 

 

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33 minutes ago, BengalFanInTO said:

I stopped reading the article as soon as he said Bobby Hart played well this year. Ogbuehi lost any shred of credibility he had left at that point.

 

 

Hey compared to Ogbuehi he's awesome.  Only not so much when compared to real NFL OT's.  Probably means no effort will be made to upgrade, which is no surprise.

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He knows he's a bust and that he considers RT his best position. He thinks he'll get a fresh start next yr and things will turn around for him. Good luck with that. It's awfully rare to see a 1st rd pick bust as badly as he has with no injury reasons...although Jon Ross may be on the same path

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1 hour ago, Sea Ray said:

 

He knows he's a bust and that he considers RT his best position. He thinks he'll get a fresh start next yr and things will turn around for him. Good luck with that. It's awfully rare to see a 1st rd pick bust as badly as he has with no injury reasons...although Jon Ross may be on the same path

Exactly. He has no excuse for his play. He isn't even close to being a good backup.  That is the chance you take with any first rounder.  $9.35 mil with $8.7mil guaranteed can change the desire of a guy like this.  That is why you see so many 2nd and 3rd rounders play their asses off.  They are not getting half that money and not anywhere close to the guarantees.  They are playing for their second contract unlike Ced. 

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You'd hope the scouts & coaches identify a first-rounder that would be playing ball in a rec league if there were no NFL, someone that is in it for more than the money. Hall of Fame aspirations are a lot of what sets them apart from the later rounds.

 

Or you have the smallest scouting department in the league by far, coaches you can't fire, and you draft a guy in the first round because he runs fast in shorts or pours ketchup elegantly.

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20 hours ago, Sea Ray said:

 

He knows he's a bust and that he considers RT his best position. He thinks he'll get a fresh start next yr and things will turn around for him. Good luck with that. It's awfully rare to see a 1st rd pick bust as badly as he has with no injury reasons...although Jon Ross may be on the same path

Wasn't he injured when we picked him and didn't he sit out the 1st half of his rookie season?

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17 hours ago, T-Dub said:

You'd hope the scouts & coaches identify a first-rounder that would be playing ball in a rec league if there were no NFL, someone that is in it for more than the money. Hall of Fame aspirations are a lot of what sets them apart from the later rounds.

 

Or you have the smallest scouting department in the league by far, coaches you can't fire, and you draft a guy in the first round because he runs fast in shorts or pours ketchup elegantly.

 

Some ketchup enthusiasts might call this porn.

 

 

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