The Athletic names the biggest concern for the Bengals in 2022
The Athletic recently detailed offseason concerns for each NFL team and the concern they listed for the Cincinnati Bengals has to do with depth. Specifically, they noted that Cincinnati doesn't have much wide receiver depth beyond their three starters — Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd. From The Athletic: The Bengals’ starting receivers are […]
The Athletic recently detailed offseason concerns for each NFL team and the concern they listed for the Cincinnati Bengals has to do with depth.
Specifically, they noted that Cincinnati doesn't have much wide receiver depth beyond their three starters — Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd.
The Bengals’ starting receivers are arguably the best in the NFL, but if injuries happened with any of Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins, there is not much experienced, reliable depth. Mike Thomas played sporadically as the fourth receiver the past two seasons and remains on the team, but the front office will be keeping an eye on the waiver wire or any potential trades that could be made as the season draws closer. If a significant injury happened in camp with any of the starting receivers, it would turn up the aggressiveness for an offense otherwise fully stocked to be among the best in the NFL.
The Bengals' starting trio of Chase, Higgins, and Boyd might be the best in the NFL. But The Athletic is correct that Cincinnati doesn't have a ton of depth behind them.
For now, the Bengals could add a veteran wide receiver for depth. Julio Jones probably isn't going to sign with Cincinnati, so they'd likely be looking at someone who is cut by another team during training camp. Maybe a Darius Slayton type.
Cincinnati's best bet if something happens to one of their top wide receivers would be to target Odell Beckham Jr.
OBJ is recovering from a torn ACL and he likely won't be ready to go until November or December. If one of the Bengals' top wide receivers goes downs early in the season, they could turn to OBJ — who would probably love to play with his fellow former LSU standouts in Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase.
Even if the Bengals have to wait on OBJ, they should be fine with a veteran stepping in until Beckham is ready to contribute.
I'm betting that OBJ waits until later in the season to sign with a team. There's no need for him to rush to sign a contract now. He can wait and see what needs certain teams have. If the Bengals want to sign him, I'd say the odds would be pretty high that he'd head to Cincy.
Featured image via Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
