It’s all too easy to write off Cincinnati Bengals wideout John Ross.
The national perspective paints Ross as a massive bust and the local one — at best — says he’s been disappointing. But some folks aren’t writing off Ross just yet.
Including Joe Burrow.
Ross has indeed flopped vs. the expectations of being a top-10 wideout. But looking at the results from first-round wideouts lately, it’s hard to hold it against him too much. He’s also made it easier than it should be to criticize because of his attendance sheet, which included just three games as a rookie, 13 in Year 2 and eight more in Year 3.
But even then, some asterisks remain necessary. Ross didn’t exactly seem like a favorite of Marvin Lewis and his staff. There were plenty of things going on in the background, but Zac Taylor and Co. immediately let Ross play a feature role last year while he worked through his mistakes and the result was his momentarily leading the league in receiving.
And even in 2018, the Bengals deployed Ross situationally and the result was superb redzone work, highlighted by seven (quiet) touchdowns.
Which loops us to Burrow and Taylor’s offense in Year 4 for Ross.
Burrow should make Ross better. He’s got the improv skill Andy Dalton simply didn’t. When things break down and Burrow goes to freestyle, one of the league’s fastest players should benefit. Burrow’s also simply more of a vocal, infectious leader. Sounds silly but it counts.
But don’t discredit Ross’ sheer presence as a boon for the development and production of a prospect like Burrow. We’ve seen it whenever Ross is on the field — defenses have to play more honest than they typically would due to his sheer speed. That redzone work creating mismatches in short spaces is on his resume and has a defense’s respect, too.
That means better spacing and timing for the whole unit. It’s one of those little things that gets thrown around here and there in analysis but will have a tangible impact on Burrow. Even if the rookie passer isn’t gunning the ball at Ross consistently, a little more room in throwing windows to guys like A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd or a back out of the backfield lets the weapons go to work with the ball in their hands.
Maybe Ross doesn’t have a breakout statistical year. But if he’s on the field reliably, he could have a bigger impact on Burrow’s development and immediate success than he’ll probably ever get credit for doing.
It’s easy to forget about Ross, really, with Boyd, Green and new arrival Tee Higgins soaking up headlines and attention. But considering his skill set has the ability to make things easier on all three and help the new-era quarterback, maybe he shouldn’t fly so underrated right now.
