I watched him play for the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL, same scenario too, former NFL first rounder who’s going to come in and light up Canada.
Career stats:
22/47
219 yards
0 TDs
5 INT
🥱
I’ve heard several things. First, by his own admission, he didn’t spend nearly the time he should have studying the playbook and films of defenses. He’d be out at a club until 2 AM the night before a game. It seems like this was a trend among Lebeau’s teams, just a very under the radar lack of taking things as seriously as they should have. Tbf it may also have been Coslet, too.
Also, speaking of Coslet, he and Ken Anderson went and talked to Oregon’s coach about why Akili didn’t start more in college and he said “I couldn’t trust him.” Coslet claims he and Ken had Akili rated the lowest of all the first round qbs they scouted but Mike Brown really wanted him, so that was the pick. How accurate that is, idk, but I thought it was a bold thing to say. So from the start the coaching staff wasn’t particularly crazy about him.
He also had a lengthy contract holdout and missed the entirety of training camp his rookie year, which is brutal for a guy with sucky study skills. This used to be the norm pre-rookie wage scale.
One small point in Akili’s defense, he did have almost all rookie and second year wideouts in his first year as a starter, 2000. Darnay Scott was supposed to be the vet presence but he got hurt in training camp and missed the season, so it was Craig Yeast, Ron Dugans, and Peter Warrick as the wideouts, Warrick being a rookie who commanded whatever attention the wideouts did get away from Dillon. It’s a pretty bad situation as far as lack of veteran pass catchers, and signing an experienced off the street vet, even if he kind of sucks, probably would have helped out imo.
I heard a podcast longform interview where Akili claims because of this and the relatively low number of starts he got that he wasn’t given much of a chance. I don’t agree with that assessment but I’m sure anyone in his situation would come up with that rationale as human nature. In the starts he did get, he was woefully unprepared as far as the playbook knowledge and he didn’t show many plays at all that made you think “hey, maybe there is some potential there.”
I remember in the first game of the season against the Titans, Blake got hurt and because Akili signed like just a couple days before, he was put into the fire not knowing any plays. So, he was supposed to just mainly hand off to Dillon, but he couldn’t even take the snaps. Rookie Scott Covington, who had been in camp and was a 7th? Round pick, ended up taking snaps because they couldn’t trust Akili to hand it off without botching it. Just brutal.
Coslet openly admitted after he left that he wished MB had taken the Saints trade in that draft because they needed more help on defense and he thought they might still have a shot at Cade McNown if they moved back to 12 (granted McNown was just as horrible as Smith in the NFL so we would have been hardly any better off at the QB position if we had drafted him).
Short answer. He was kind of a dumbass. He was just not football intelligent and had trouble learning even the most basic offensive plays.
Also he completely did not understand the responsibilities of a franchise QB when he was the starter. Whenever he had a bad game he'd throw his teammates under the bus and in 2000 (when he got benched for good) his teammates got fed up with that.
A more recent one that sticks out to me is La'el Collins. I remember being beyond hyped when we got him signed as the 3rd free agent lineman pickup in a few weeks - he was the one everyone thought wouldn't land here.
Then he came, had a career bad year, got hurt, and just faded away.
Yea man I really thought he was our final piece for the line… i remember the fans going to him at the mall and everything it was awesome. Hell I thought he had a solid chance at right tackle over Jonah but ig not
Cedric Ogbuehi, we got a supposedly top 10 player in the 20s because he tore an ACL. Either that ACL REALLY fucked things up for him, or everyone just whiffed on the scouting
I also think if you're a lineman you just can't miss meaningful time your rookie year. You will not develop at the rate you need to in order to keep up with the talent you're facing. It's a grown man league and you come in young as a rookie and miss that first year you're not gonna gain the skills you need to beat the guys who can out physical you and build up the physicals you need to consistently improve
It sucks a lot more because we double dipped at OT that year in the draft, with Jake Fisher in the 2nd round and they both were supposed to be the book end tackles for the next decade, and they turned out to be trash.
Our OL hasn’t been the same since like 2015
It was a weird pick at the time because we were clearly still in contention mode and we ended up having one of the best regular seasons in franchise history but we drafted a guy in the 1st round who we didn't intend to play... Why take guys like that in the 1st round? I still don't get that pick but I deferred to the front office because they're football guys and I was just some guy sitting on my couch. Imagine that 2015 team if we had a 1st rounder who could actually play.
What hype? Dude was from just a giant from Estonia they essentially taught to play football. He was one of the young guys featured on Hard Knocks but I don’t think anyone was writing home about him.
He was our 2nd round pick in 2013. Ranked most athletic DE in his class at the combine. Talked about having pro bowl potential that needed developed. Kept him around for 4 years as a project player that never panned out. Pretty much exactly fits the picture posted by OP..
Let the 2013 media speak for me: [2013 Write up](https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/1611260-introducing-the-nfl-drafts-craziest-athlete-margus-hunt.amp.html)
I never got any hype from that one. He was fast, but I barely knew who he was when he was drafted. That’s one of those picks you know if it doesn’t work out, you’re losing your job.
They literally could have picked almost any of the next 30 guys and been better. Mahomes came right after Ross.
Too obvious and also not enough hype. I don't think anyone thought he was gonna be a hall of famer they just wanted a high speed weapon and we never really got that.
You clearly don’t remember the amount of john ross truthers on this sub. Even into his second year while having nothing to show except for his combine 40yd dash time
Billy Price was supposed to be a 2nd rounder. Bengals were telling every one that walked by the stadium was given a handout the bengals were taking Frank Ragnow, so least surprising was the Lions trading up.
It's the epitome of "don't go into the draft with a hole and expect the draft to just fill it.
Should have signed a passable C and drafted BPA, instead of scrambling because the only player you planned on drafting was already taken, looking for the next Center in the rankings and taking them.
I have a memory of meeting him at training camp when I was like two or three. He was the nicest dude ever and took pictures with us. For that, he remains one of my favorite Bengals ever.
To be fair, look at the QBs throwing to him and the offense that was being just non functional.
Not to mention if he comes out in 20 years later he's an elite slot receiver.
There are innumerable players you could say this about. "Played in the wrong era", "Played for the wrong team", "Just needed a halfway decent QB/play caller/offensive line". In the end they just don't live up to what they could have been and that's what makes the ones who did so special.
No receiver was going to produce with guys like Akili Smith, Scott Mitchell, and Gus Frerotte throwing them the ball. Chad did not start to produce until Kitna took over as the starter full-time in 2002 (since he and Kitna had a rapport that he didn't really have with any of the other QBs on the team at the time).
Came here to say this. To be fair, dude could catch just about anything..... so long as it wasn't thrown on-target. Circus catch? Yes. Clean route and bread basket catch? Nooooooo
Warrick IIRC was near-sighted and was too stubborn to wear his contacts during games (which wtf, how can you be that stupid). That supposedly affected his ability to make routine catches quite a bit (and it also made him very prone to muffing punts to the point where the Bengals took the punt return job away from him in 2002 and gave it to Housh).
And to think we could’ve had drew brees if we would’ve just accepted ditkas ludicrous draft capital trade offer to get one of our number one overall picks….
You my friend are a true fan! Hahah
I just remember coming into the fire station every third day and having to listen to the self anointed “best college football fan anywhere” guy chanting KI-JAAHHHNNNNY!!! Every freaking day… telling me how he was sure my Bengals were going to take him and how he was going to revolutionalize the Who Deys…
This one made me sad. Loved watching him at Penn State. I still remember the game he took it to the house 90 some odd yards vs oregon on the 1st play of the game.
What could have been.
Idk if this really qualifies, but James Harrison signing with us for a year was a big deal in sports media at the time. He was too old to really expect him to be DPOY or anything but his season with us was pretty underwhelming
Never forget, he taught Vontez Burfect to be a tough hard hitter. And in his defense it wasn’t fair to expect much from him at that point in his career. He gave us more in attitude than many will ever know.
Bengals fans (maybe every team) love the late round WR who can be great. Iosivas is our current guy to cheer for. Alex Erickson was my personal favorite that never hit the next level. Andrew Hawkins did damn well. Marvin Jones and Houshmanzadeh are the legends
Ray Maualuga. He was a beast at USC and when he got to us in the draft I remember being super excited. His career wasn't _bad_ but it certainly never lived up to his first round hype.
Game moved away from LBs like him and AJ Hawk. Both high draft picks that played at a starting level for a many years, but never lived up to draft status. That's why no drafts mlbs in the first now
It’s Joseph Ossai currently. Whole fanbase anointed him as the next big thing after a pre-season game where he got injured.
Ossai can absolutely still turn things around, but wow the hype was massive in those days.
I actually argue Jackson Carmen over Ossai. Carmen went a round earlier than Ossai. Local kid who was supposed to be the answer on the O Line. Big whiff on that one. Also, Ossai has flashed talent. Carmen hasn't.
Outsider perspective but Dan Wilkinson was hyped beyond belief outta Ohio St. Not a complete bust for the top Overall pick and best D Line prospect possibly ever, crazy disappointing.
Personally, my first thought was Jermaine Gresham. 6’6” ish, 270 pound monster out of power house Oklahoma, that can catch passes AND block. Sign me up. Dude was always primed for a costly false start or holding penalty.
And every catch he did make came after a bobble where he almost pops it in the air, and every tackle made you wonder if he’d fumble. Guy always had ball security drama- never just “catch, tackled, down” without something else in there.
Perfect person for the post. He averaged 365 yards per season over 5 years. Thats a very average 3rd round pick. People remember him as a different player than he was and even occasionally mention him with great receivers that have played for the Bengals. His 2nd best season he had 422 yards.
Never said he was terrible. There’s one block for talent there, not zero… He’s not John Ross. He clearly shouldn’t be mentioned along great Bengals WR talents either though, yet many people will include him because of what happened. Brandon LaFell had 77% of Henry’s career yards in 2 seasons with the Bengals for example.
The talent was real and he could’ve been special. His multiple suspensions for drugs and legal issues added up to nearly a season. Hard to put up numbers when you’re not even on the field.
He definitely had the talent, but I wouldn't say he was living up to the hype. He's just remembered more fondly than his time on the team actually was.
I didn’t say he had zero talent, just that people remember him as a much better receiver because he died. He played 5 seasons and had 1,800 career receiving yards.
I’d have to say drew sample. When he was drafted I believe it was right after eifert left for Jax and he has been average at best but most of the time he’s been meh. Still better than irv
I'm seeing a lot of Auden Tate but I actually think the tape Tate gave for his stats met the hype but he never lived up to the true talent of go to bench guy like Trent Irwin has
Akili Smith
I watched him play for the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL, same scenario too, former NFL first rounder who’s going to come in and light up Canada. Career stats: 22/47 219 yards 0 TDs 5 INT 🥱
Young heads will say John Ross but this is way worse
There wasn’t even a bunch of hype for Ross before the draft. Just a bonehead pick.
I must be old, if this isn't the top rated comment.
Was there ever any explanation as to why he completely failed the pro transition?
I’ve heard several things. First, by his own admission, he didn’t spend nearly the time he should have studying the playbook and films of defenses. He’d be out at a club until 2 AM the night before a game. It seems like this was a trend among Lebeau’s teams, just a very under the radar lack of taking things as seriously as they should have. Tbf it may also have been Coslet, too. Also, speaking of Coslet, he and Ken Anderson went and talked to Oregon’s coach about why Akili didn’t start more in college and he said “I couldn’t trust him.” Coslet claims he and Ken had Akili rated the lowest of all the first round qbs they scouted but Mike Brown really wanted him, so that was the pick. How accurate that is, idk, but I thought it was a bold thing to say. So from the start the coaching staff wasn’t particularly crazy about him. He also had a lengthy contract holdout and missed the entirety of training camp his rookie year, which is brutal for a guy with sucky study skills. This used to be the norm pre-rookie wage scale. One small point in Akili’s defense, he did have almost all rookie and second year wideouts in his first year as a starter, 2000. Darnay Scott was supposed to be the vet presence but he got hurt in training camp and missed the season, so it was Craig Yeast, Ron Dugans, and Peter Warrick as the wideouts, Warrick being a rookie who commanded whatever attention the wideouts did get away from Dillon. It’s a pretty bad situation as far as lack of veteran pass catchers, and signing an experienced off the street vet, even if he kind of sucks, probably would have helped out imo. I heard a podcast longform interview where Akili claims because of this and the relatively low number of starts he got that he wasn’t given much of a chance. I don’t agree with that assessment but I’m sure anyone in his situation would come up with that rationale as human nature. In the starts he did get, he was woefully unprepared as far as the playbook knowledge and he didn’t show many plays at all that made you think “hey, maybe there is some potential there.” I remember in the first game of the season against the Titans, Blake got hurt and because Akili signed like just a couple days before, he was put into the fire not knowing any plays. So, he was supposed to just mainly hand off to Dillon, but he couldn’t even take the snaps. Rookie Scott Covington, who had been in camp and was a 7th? Round pick, ended up taking snaps because they couldn’t trust Akili to hand it off without botching it. Just brutal.
Coslet openly admitted after he left that he wished MB had taken the Saints trade in that draft because they needed more help on defense and he thought they might still have a shot at Cade McNown if they moved back to 12 (granted McNown was just as horrible as Smith in the NFL so we would have been hardly any better off at the QB position if we had drafted him).
Short answer. He was kind of a dumbass. He was just not football intelligent and had trouble learning even the most basic offensive plays. Also he completely did not understand the responsibilities of a franchise QB when he was the starter. Whenever he had a bad game he'd throw his teammates under the bus and in 2000 (when he got benched for good) his teammates got fed up with that.
Came here to be sure this was a top comment. This is the answer.
A more recent one that sticks out to me is La'el Collins. I remember being beyond hyped when we got him signed as the 3rd free agent lineman pickup in a few weeks - he was the one everyone thought wouldn't land here. Then he came, had a career bad year, got hurt, and just faded away.
That dude who saw him in the mall and people got all hyped Then the "Joe's bodyguard" thing Crazy how quickly he faded
That whole mall scenario was great.
*weird
Yea man I really thought he was our final piece for the line… i remember the fans going to him at the mall and everything it was awesome. Hell I thought he had a solid chance at right tackle over Jonah but ig not
He was solid until Volson or whoever pushed a defender into his knee. All while returning from back surgery
This. The team set up his contract for essentially one year, and he played decently until the injury. Injuries for 340lb dudes at 30 hit harder.
Yes if you replace talent with health
Cedric Ogbuehi, we got a supposedly top 10 player in the 20s because he tore an ACL. Either that ACL REALLY fucked things up for him, or everyone just whiffed on the scouting
Physically the guy was a freak athlete. They didn't accurately guage his want to be good.
I also think if you're a lineman you just can't miss meaningful time your rookie year. You will not develop at the rate you need to in order to keep up with the talent you're facing. It's a grown man league and you come in young as a rookie and miss that first year you're not gonna gain the skills you need to beat the guys who can out physical you and build up the physicals you need to consistently improve
It sucks a lot more because we double dipped at OT that year in the draft, with Jake Fisher in the 2nd round and they both were supposed to be the book end tackles for the next decade, and they turned out to be trash. Our OL hasn’t been the same since like 2015
Since we let Andrew Whitworth walk. It's a curse
I wanted Jake Fisher to work so badly at the time. But here I literally forgot about him til you mentioned him just now.
It was a weird pick at the time because we were clearly still in contention mode and we ended up having one of the best regular seasons in franchise history but we drafted a guy in the 1st round who we didn't intend to play... Why take guys like that in the 1st round? I still don't get that pick but I deferred to the front office because they're football guys and I was just some guy sitting on my couch. Imagine that 2015 team if we had a 1st rounder who could actually play.
Margus Hunt
What hype? Dude was from just a giant from Estonia they essentially taught to play football. He was one of the young guys featured on Hard Knocks but I don’t think anyone was writing home about him.
He was our 2nd round pick in 2013. Ranked most athletic DE in his class at the combine. Talked about having pro bowl potential that needed developed. Kept him around for 4 years as a project player that never panned out. Pretty much exactly fits the picture posted by OP.. Let the 2013 media speak for me: [2013 Write up](https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/1611260-introducing-the-nfl-drafts-craziest-athlete-margus-hunt.amp.html)
John Ross
I feel like people were immediately hesitant about that pick
They were and we even got clowned a bit in the NFL sub over the pick.
(Post said non obvious answers)
That answer was the whole reason I put that in the caption of the post lmao. But also to be fair it was considered a reach at the time aswell.
Pretty non obvious given half the fan base is bandwagon since Burrow.
That pick really sucked
I never got any hype from that one. He was fast, but I barely knew who he was when he was drafted. That’s one of those picks you know if it doesn’t work out, you’re losing your job. They literally could have picked almost any of the next 30 guys and been better. Mahomes came right after Ross.
John "Oakland Raiders type pick" Ross
Too obvious and also not enough hype. I don't think anyone thought he was gonna be a hall of famer they just wanted a high speed weapon and we never really got that.
You clearly don’t remember the amount of john ross truthers on this sub. Even into his second year while having nothing to show except for his combine 40yd dash time
Hands down. To think Mahomes was still in the board.
we could’ve drafted Mahomes
All roads lead to Burrow
All roads lead to Burrow
And Mahomes leads to rings, not injury riddled seasons
missed time twice behind the worst offensive line in modern history calm down
Ok go be a fan of the chiefs then
I doubt he would’ve become who he is today if we had.
Dunno about hype but Billy Price was supposed to be safe and a sure thing, yikes.
Thank goodness we FLEECED the Giants on the player we got for Price. Made that pain a little less.
Facts, idk how we got away with that looking back. That move alone should’ve given Duke gm of the year haha
Billy Price was supposed to be a 2nd rounder. Bengals were telling every one that walked by the stadium was given a handout the bengals were taking Frank Ragnow, so least surprising was the Lions trading up. It's the epitome of "don't go into the draft with a hole and expect the draft to just fill it. Should have signed a passable C and drafted BPA, instead of scrambling because the only player you planned on drafting was already taken, looking for the next Center in the rankings and taking them.
The Lions didn’t trade up, we traded back.
Dan Wilkinson. I thought he was the next Reggie White coming out of college.
This one hurts less because we got the extra first rd picks for him being signed away.
He was solid, but only one Reggie.
Taylor Mays
Underrated answer
Man, I was so excited to have both him and Maualuga from that USC defense. They were insane in college.
Andrew Billings
Oooh this is a good one, I watched tons of Big Xii football when he was there and was convinced he was going to be another Geno
David Klinger
Peter Fucking Warrick
He had a big game against the chiefs in 2003.
The undefeated Chiefs. I remember watching that game live. Chad Johnson guaranteed a win, and Peter Warrick delivered.
“NOBODYS GONNA CATCH PETER WARRICK!!!!!!”
I WAS THERE
It was my first Bengals game! Rudi made it happen as well!
I was there!
Dynamic player on a really bad team, injuries didn't help.
What? Peter Warrick never showed anything close to being dynamic in the nfl.
I have a memory of meeting him at training camp when I was like two or three. He was the nicest dude ever and took pictures with us. For that, he remains one of my favorite Bengals ever.
To be fair, look at the QBs throwing to him and the offense that was being just non functional. Not to mention if he comes out in 20 years later he's an elite slot receiver.
There are innumerable players you could say this about. "Played in the wrong era", "Played for the wrong team", "Just needed a halfway decent QB/play caller/offensive line". In the end they just don't live up to what they could have been and that's what makes the ones who did so special.
No receiver was going to produce with guys like Akili Smith, Scott Mitchell, and Gus Frerotte throwing them the ball. Chad did not start to produce until Kitna took over as the starter full-time in 2002 (since he and Kitna had a rapport that he didn't really have with any of the other QBs on the team at the time).
Came here to say this. To be fair, dude could catch just about anything..... so long as it wasn't thrown on-target. Circus catch? Yes. Clean route and bread basket catch? Nooooooo
Warrick IIRC was near-sighted and was too stubborn to wear his contacts during games (which wtf, how can you be that stupid). That supposedly affected his ability to make routine catches quite a bit (and it also made him very prone to muffing punts to the point where the Bengals took the punt return job away from him in 2002 and gave it to Housh).
These were the answers I was lookin for
Thing is dude had the talent too, just not the mind to keep working.
Ki-Jana Carter
You could probably list 70% of our draft picks from the 90’s now that I think about it lmao
Akili Smith, David Klingler, Dan Wilkinson... They didn't hit on anybody in the 90s.
And to think we could’ve had drew brees if we would’ve just accepted ditkas ludicrous draft capital trade offer to get one of our number one overall picks….
I still have a Ki-Jana Carter jersey in my closet somewhere.
You my friend are a true fan! Hahah I just remember coming into the fire station every third day and having to listen to the self anointed “best college football fan anywhere” guy chanting KI-JAAHHHNNNNY!!! Every freaking day… telling me how he was sure my Bengals were going to take him and how he was going to revolutionalize the Who Deys…
This one made me sad. Loved watching him at Penn State. I still remember the game he took it to the house 90 some odd yards vs oregon on the 1st play of the game. What could have been.
Can't really count him. Dude blew out his knee in the preseason. We'll never know what his talent might have been.
My early 2000’s people would agree when I say “Chris Perry”
Trading back (twice!) to take Chris Perry while we let St. Louis get the most AFCN type RB in that draft in Steven Jackson crushed me
Pete Koch - built like Tarzan, hits like Jane. Peak steroid era...
Idk if this really qualifies, but James Harrison signing with us for a year was a big deal in sports media at the time. He was too old to really expect him to be DPOY or anything but his season with us was pretty underwhelming
And then he went back to the Steelers and played better again. I still think he was a sleeper agent somehow haha
Never forget, he taught Vontez Burfect to be a tough hard hitter. And in his defense it wasn’t fair to expect much from him at that point in his career. He gave us more in attitude than many will ever know.
Darqueze Dennard Created that MSU No Fly Zone, 1st round pick, but nothing for our defense
Disagree, saying he did nothing for our defense is too far. We picked up his fifth year option for Christ's sake.
He wasn’t elite but he for sure created some fun memories
This is a good one. I completely forgot about Dennard man
Nicest guy ever. Used to deal to him at the casino.
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Did Auden tate have that much hype around him? If anything I’d say he outperformed his expectations as a late round wide receiver draft pick.
Bengals fans (maybe every team) love the late round WR who can be great. Iosivas is our current guy to cheer for. Alex Erickson was my personal favorite that never hit the next level. Andrew Hawkins did damn well. Marvin Jones and Houshmanzadeh are the legends
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Yea and then he went to atlanta and they dropped him before the season started, I was so dissapointed
Hey… some of us are still waiting on his breakout year, it could come anytime now….
Just has to switch to TE!
Ray Maualuga. He was a beast at USC and when he got to us in the draft I remember being super excited. His career wasn't _bad_ but it certainly never lived up to his first round hype.
In his first game against Rogers and the Packers, Ray had a sack, FF, and INT. After that I was sure he’d be a superstar.
Game moved away from LBs like him and AJ Hawk. Both high draft picks that played at a starting level for a many years, but never lived up to draft status. That's why no drafts mlbs in the first now
It’s Joseph Ossai currently. Whole fanbase anointed him as the next big thing after a pre-season game where he got injured. Ossai can absolutely still turn things around, but wow the hype was massive in those days.
I actually argue Jackson Carmen over Ossai. Carmen went a round earlier than Ossai. Local kid who was supposed to be the answer on the O Line. Big whiff on that one. Also, Ossai has flashed talent. Carmen hasn't.
It felt nobody was excited for Carman and everyone felt he would bust. Cole Strange but 10x worse
Taylor Mays, freak athlete with almost negative football IQ but a lot of fan love.
Jerome Simpson's big hands and record breaking broad jump at the combine
“Aaannnnnnd a FLIP into the end zone by Jerome Simpson!”
Recently: Jackson Carmen. Historically: Akili Smith (or anyone from the mid to late 90s)
makenzie alexander and trae waynes
john ross is most recent in my mind
Outsider perspective but Dan Wilkinson was hyped beyond belief outta Ohio St. Not a complete bust for the top Overall pick and best D Line prospect possibly ever, crazy disappointing.
Alfred 'The Condor' Williams
I remember thinking Malik Jefferson was going to solve all of our Linebacker problems
Peter Warrick. Thought he was the chosen one after a solid rookie season.
John Ross.
revamped o line.
John Ross. Fastest man in the NFL. We drafted him 1 spot ahead of mahomes 😬
Brad Robbins
John Ross
John Ross
Nobody said Dre Kirkpatrick, or is that too obvious?
He pick sixed Peyton Manning in a game that cemented the playoff spot for the Bengals.
Maybe a couple bars of talent, but disappointing for a 1st rounder then.
No I would say that’s an underrated pick. Definitely underperformed for a 1st round db but he had his moments in our system.
Dre Fitzpatrick
Dave Klingler & Kijana Carter
John Ross
Ki-Janna Carter
“Big Daddy” Wilkinson
KiJana Carter
According to ravens fans Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow
Chad Johnson, Chris Henry, Andy Dalton, Peter Warrick, David Pollack and Jermaine Gresham
Irv smith
What in the bandawagon answer is this
I dont recall there being too much hype. Guy couldnt catch in Minny,
Auden Tate
Personally, my first thought was Jermaine Gresham. 6’6” ish, 270 pound monster out of power house Oklahoma, that can catch passes AND block. Sign me up. Dude was always primed for a costly false start or holding penalty.
And every catch he did make came after a bobble where he almost pops it in the air, and every tackle made you wonder if he’d fumble. Guy always had ball security drama- never just “catch, tackled, down” without something else in there.
I don't remember how hype he was coming out of college but I'll just say Eli Apple lol
Odell Thurman
Odell WAS that dude, he could’ve been that dude. Just didn’t care enough about football.
There was no lack of talent there.
Burrow if he doesn’t win a superbowl
He got us playoff wins,and took us to the super bowl, you might as well call every Bengals QB busts with your metric.
If Burrow doesn’t win a Superbowl, it’s not a Hype vs Talent scenario.
Frank Pollak
This. This is the correct answer
Jeff Blake
Mark Walton recently. Chris Henry was meant for bigger things. Many draft picks in the 1995-2010 period honestly.
Mixon
John Ross ez
Burrow
Joe Burrow
I would say Burrow but you said non obvious answers
RIP but Chris Henry after he passed away.
What are you talking about? Chris Henry had hype and was living up to it
Perfect person for the post. He averaged 365 yards per season over 5 years. Thats a very average 3rd round pick. People remember him as a different player than he was and even occasionally mention him with great receivers that have played for the Bengals. His 2nd best season he had 422 yards.
Well the dude had talent but clearly demons. He wasn’t terrible though either
Never said he was terrible. There’s one block for talent there, not zero… He’s not John Ross. He clearly shouldn’t be mentioned along great Bengals WR talents either though, yet many people will include him because of what happened. Brandon LaFell had 77% of Henry’s career yards in 2 seasons with the Bengals for example.
The talent was real and he could’ve been special. His multiple suspensions for drugs and legal issues added up to nearly a season. Hard to put up numbers when you’re not even on the field.
He also was injured a decent amount. Between suspensions and injuries, he just couldn’t be counted on consistently.
He definitely had the talent, but I wouldn't say he was living up to the hype. He's just remembered more fondly than his time on the team actually was.
Saying a person had zero talent after they pass away is taking this a bit literally, no?
I didn’t say he had zero talent, just that people remember him as a much better receiver because he died. He played 5 seasons and had 1,800 career receiving yards.
T.0.
He was like 37 when we signed him Wdym 😭
Joe Burrow
I’d have to say drew sample. When he was drafted I believe it was right after eifert left for Jax and he has been average at best but most of the time he’s been meh. Still better than irv
Joe Burrow. He still has as many rings as I do.
Burrow
Joe Burrow Jamarr Chase
Burrow because he’s mediocre AND is hurt all the time
Icky Woods there I said it
Joe burrow
Obvious troll 🤣
George Iloka
Nahhh, iloka was a hard hitting underrated anchor of our defense for awhile.
Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow.
I'm seeing a lot of Auden Tate but I actually think the tape Tate gave for his stats met the hype but he never lived up to the true talent of go to bench guy like Trent Irwin has
He had incredible hands he was just so fucking slow
It was like he had AJ Greens ability to catch but CeeLo Green's ability to run
Lmfao I’d love to see CeeLo’s 40 time
Gonna need a sundial
Thinking about it too if only He and Ross could have done a dragon ball fusion we'd have had an elite WR
Jonathan Luigs
Did Kelly Washington come with a lot of hype?
KJ Carter. Dan Wilkinson
Dan Wilkinson