The Cincinnati Bengals expect this year’s first-round pick to come in and have an impact right away.
And it sure sounds like that pick could be a wideout.
While director of player personnel Duke Tobin made the rounds this week and make it clear the team will address the offensive line at some point, his direct comments about wide receivers seems to say quite a bit.
“The NFL has become a passing league,” Tobin said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Tyler Dragon. “When you bring them in you want to get use out of them right away … Especially with early-round wideouts, you expect them to come in and contribute. ”
On paper, that sounds quite a bit like LSU wideout Ja’Marr Chase, the guy the Bengals could reunite with Joe Burrow after they put up epic numbers together in 2019 while winning a title. Given the LSU concepts already in the Bengals playbook…Chase would make quite the rookie-year impact.
Of course, if the Bengals take an offensive lineman in the first round he’d be expected to have an instant impact too. But the problem there is he might have to play out of position for a year or two — and the Bengals already don’t want to do that with Jonah Williams.
Given the need, the way the Bengals talk about it and the obvious connections, a Burrow-Chase reunion would seem to make plenty of sense.
