Bengals spend too much for mediocrity
It only took two days for the Bengals to find a new starting wide receiver. According to multiple reports, Laveranues Coles and the Bengals agreed on a four-year, $28 million contract. In Coles, the Bengals have acquired a similar player to Houshmandzadeh. Coles is no longer that fast, but he's a tough, smart possession receiver that can make catches all over the field.
I have doubts about how well Coles will age, though. He's a small receiver without speed that has taken a lot of pounding over the years. His production has fallen off the last two years and he's always playing through pain.
Cincinnati's inability to develop talent at wideout and running back cost them the last two days. They don't trust young wideouts Andre Caldwell and Jerome Simpson, so they picked up Coles. They drafted injury-prone busts at running back - Chris Perry and Kenny Irons - so they signed Cedric Benson, a lesser bust. Signing Benson and Coles were half-measures intended to patch roster holes, but ultimately they cost too much.
The rest of the league saw Benson as a backup, but he'll get $3.5 million-per-year from the Bengals to start. Hopefully that doesn't stop Cincinnati from drafting a replacement.
Coles should help Carson Palmer for year, maybe two, but ultimately he is the poor team's Housmandzadeh.
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I would argue Coles is a better player than Housh. Here you have a guy that has been the number 1 and has consistently in his career played against defenses that schemed for him as the best receiver they are facing. He also had average quarterbacks getting the ball to him. Housh benefited from Palmer and Chad. TJ's numbers before Palmer and Johnson were terrible.
With Coles in single coverage flanked by Johnson and Henry and Carson Palmer tossing the ball, he could have a huge year.
These are the same pundits who ritually bash the Eagles for not surrounding McNabb with talent. You have to take these things with a grain of salt as it is their job to stir up controversy. The money might be a bit exorbitant, but a place like Cincinnati is going to pay a little higher to get people to come there.
Gregg Rosenthal maybe you should be running an NFL team instead of writing the garbage that you do.
So players like Isaac Curtis, Chris Collinsworth, Eddie Brown, Darnay Scott, Carl Pickens, Chad Johnson, and TJ Houshmandzadeh were all grossly underdeveloped players with the Bengals...and Chris Perry, Kenny Irons and KiJana Carter for that matter werent injury concerns in college...I know the Bengals have their serious issues but next time do a bit more research and say something with merit before you just pile on to look good in front of your fellow peers.