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Ross is a injury prone guy who can run real fast and not catch the ball.

Cody Corpse has had his chance, shown us what he's got and it ain't good enough.

Time to move on from him.

 

Three possible later round picks.

https://stripehype.com/2019/03/31/nfl-draft-three-potential-john-ross-replacements/

 

Andy Isabella, 5’9, UMass

Isabella’s name has been on the rise since the Senior Bowl. He tied for the fastest 40-yard dash (4.31) at the NFL combine last month. Isabella has a sprinting background in track and field, which can be seen in his film. The shifty and speedy receiver doesn’t offer a good catch radius but can bring explosiveness to any offense. He projects as a pure slot receiver on the next level with speed to take the top off defense. In space, he will be a handful to keep up with and tackle.

 

Emmanuel Hall, 6’2, Missouri

With a 4.39 40-yard dash, Hall is another speedy receiving threat that would be a nice compliment to Tyler Boyd & AJ Green. Unlike Isabella, he provides the frame and length needed to thrive outside and allow Boyd to operate more in the slot (602 slot snaps). He should be a late day two or early day three selection. Hall is not a finished product, but his potential could provide the boost to this offense that Ross has not. The Bengals need to find a potential replacement for Ross if they move on from him in the near future. This is an intriguing combo of size and speed that Cincinnati should consider taking a flyer on.

 

Mecole Hardman, 5’10, Georgia

The trend here is obvious, speed kills. All three receivers possess top-end speed. Hardman was a forgotten man in Athens due to a plethora of offensive talent. He is an elite athlete and explosive receiving threat with a 4.33 40-yard dash.  Shorter than Hall and taller than Isabella, Hardman can move around the formation. His muscular tone and frame leave the presumption that he would be a healthy replacement for Ross.

Also, if Ross stays in Cincinnati, bringing in any one of these three names would at the very least have him looking over his shoulder, which may be exactly what he needs.

 

Of course, Auden Tate is still around.

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We should be expanding Ross's role, not looking to replace him. He proved to be a good goal line option last year. We should make more use of him in the open field. Run him on a jet sweep once or twice a game while including a couple of fake sweeps a game to hold the defense. Put him on a side by himself and dare the defense to play bump and run or concede yards in off coverage or have to double team him. I expect Taylor to have more uses for him than Marvin had.

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5 hours ago, sparky151 said:

We should be expanding Ross's role, not looking to replace him. He proved to be a good goal line option last year. We should make more use of him in the open field. Run him on a jet sweep once or twice a game while including a couple of fake sweeps a game to hold the defense. Put him on a side by himself and dare the defense to play bump and run or concede yards in off coverage or have to double team him. I expect Taylor to have more uses for him than Marvin had.

 

I'm inclined to agree; he needs to be given an opportunity to prove he can play at this level.  Pretty obvious that we overdrafted him but it would be nice to get at least some production out of him while we can.

 

The question being, what is that role?  The one time we tried him as a runner he got lit the fuck up and fumbled, which is understandable for a guy his size.  Likewise he isn't built for ST or returns and is going to get washed out trying to play physical out of the slot.  "Daring" a defense to press him is a bet I'd take every time as a DC . That leaves you with a WR that is only kind of decent as a goal line threat.  It's hard to justify a roster spot for someone that's so much of a niche player. 

 

It sucks that we spent a top draft pick on a flashy 40 time but the reality is some mid-round  possession guy could pretty easily come in and give us more options.  What we need IMO is more of a Henry type (without the baggage obviously) that can stretch the field but also make contested catches, block, and generally be more of an all-around threat.  Ross runs a little faster but Henry was a football player.  This isn't a track team.

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5 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

Ross had more receiving touchdowns last year than TY Hilton, OBJ, Robert Woods, Keenan Allen, Julian Edelman, AJ Green, etc. 

 

He did that with modest catch and yardage numbers. So let's expand his role.

If he can’t learn or properly run routes, in particular, knowing what to do when Andy changes a play, there isn’t room to expand his role. 

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