The Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receiving trio of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd made another strong case in 2022 as to why they might be the best receiving trio in the NFL.
After Chase and Higgins both finished with over 1,000 yards each, while Boyd didn’t trail far behind with 762 receiving yards, those efforts helped lead the Bengals back to yet another AFC Championship game. Even while Chase missed four games due to a hip injury, that’s where Higgins and Boyd both shined, especially Higgins, in Chase’s absence.
Don’t overlook the impact of backup receiver Trenton Irwin as well. After earning a role on the 53-man roster midway through the year, Irwin stepped up and delivered with four touchdowns of his own to go with nine regular season games played.
Although statistics and even analytics can only focus on so much of a player’s caliber, the latest ESPN Analytics rankings for the 2022 season, per FiveThirtyEight, revealed its own rankings and measurements of where wide receivers ranked. The rankings are based on their ability to make catches, get wide open and gain yards after catch, along with an overall combined grade from those categories.
Only Higgins landed in the top-ten among all wide receivers for the overall rankings as the seventh-best rated receiver while Boyd and Chase landed a few spots behind him tied at 15th each.
Although the rankings aren’t intended to rank the best overall receiver or tight end from best to worst, the metrics are focused on where a receiver is able to produce results based on those respective categories.
Should those results be indicative of how the Bengals’ receivers played this year?
On top of the fact Chase missed multiple games while Boyd and Higgins missed snaps due to their own respective injuries throughout the season, do those metrics and ratings capture the full picture and impact each receiver brought to the table? Possibly, but there should be other factors at play, like how well players did against certain defenses like Cover 2, and how much of a role their respective quarterbacks play in.
While the Bengals might enter with the best QB-WR tandem of Joe Burrow and Chase, and the best receiving duo with Chase and Higgins, the Bengals could have to make tough decisions if they want to keep the big three together.
Boyd has been a key veteran presence on and off the field for the Bengals, but in order to pay those other three, the Bengals might have to consider whether releasing him is worth saving $10.2 in cap space or not. He enters the final year of his contract and is nearing the age of 30 and the Bengals are focusing on the long-term future.
The Strictly Stripes crew looks at what those respective analytics and rankings mean relative to the Bengals’ wide receivers and their outlook for 2023. They also discuss the pros and cons of keeping or releasing Boyd ahead of the 2023 season.
This podcast features Mohammad Ahmad, Andrew Gillis and Michael Niziolek.
Music: Starfields by Hallman
Music Link: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/nQ9ldbVF7D/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices