A very serious question is about to be discussed over this preseason, and it is whether Andrei Iosivas is the third best wide receiver on this team? Last season Iosivas had some nice moments, but he also had some serious reliability issues with some key drops over quite a few games.
You could also argue that he hasn’t really done enough with the opportunity afforded to him by coverages being far more lax with while being more concerned with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Having a more dynamic athlete
could open up the offense even more.
That is where Colbie Young, the rookie fourth round pick out of Georgia comes in. Young has a bit more to him athletically than Iosivas, and so far in training camp, he has been making some show stopping plays. Whether it is making catches at the highest point or making catches between defenders over the middle, he has done it all.
Colbie Young keeps making more highlights at Bengals training camp
The Bengals had a question mark at third wideout this offseason after a rough go from Andrei Iosivas last year. Young is here now to compete for the job when the snaps don’t go to tight end Mike Gesicki and others.
Bengals rookie Cashius Howell earning high praise as ‘real deal’
“He’s the real deal,” veteran defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said. “Everything you’ve seen on tape; you see him do it at the NFL level. He’s gonna be in the league a long time. He’s a dog.”
Howell is being afforded some extra reps as Shemar Stewart is out with a hyperextension. Easy to say he is doing the most with it. Thursday was one of his first opportunities to get some run with the starters, and he literally put Orlando Brown Jr. on his back with a power move. That isn’t exactly how pass rushers beat Brown, and it certainly isn’t how you’d expect Howell to have done it when the team took him in the second round of the draft this year.
He is showing that deep bag of pass rush tricks is not just an over used talking point for him during the draft cycle. Allen’s quote about him just adds more credibility to the idea that Cincinnati got a very good pass rusher.
Five Observations from Day 7 of Bengals Training Camp
“I’ve been really pleased with some of the stuff we’ve been able to do in the run game,” OC Dan Pitcher said. “I know that’s sometimes a hard thing to evaluate when you’re not tackling ball carriers and bringing them to the ground and really getting a sense for what’s a good run and what isn’t. We’ve had several explosive runs.”
Some really interesting things gathered by Dan Hoard. This in particular about the running game is interesting. It is tough to tell, but if it can transfer over to actual games then that is a huge thing this team has been missing for a few years now.
Bengals’ Zac Taylor reveals plan for starters in first preseason game
Speaking with reporters around Thursday’s training camp practice, Taylor said that his starters will see some action during next Thursday’s opener against the Detroit Lions in Cincinnati.
Even without the “the Bengals have had slow starts for X amount of years” talking point Taylor is prepared to send in his starters during the preseason. It isn’t inherently a bad idea by any means, but we all saw last year that just because you start 2-0 doesn’t really mean anything.
It is definitely a delicate balance that each coach and players will feel differently about. The risk could be very big, though. And when it is for the sake of some live reps in a meaningless game, it does become one that will have plenty of people looking back on it unkindly if something does happen.
How do you feel about the starters playing in Week 1 of the preseason?
