Chad Johnson was a member on the Cincinnati Bengals the last time the team had two 1,000-yard receivers. Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh both accomplished the feat in 2007. The Bengals all-time leading receiver believes the team currently possesses the talent to do it again.
The retired receiver thinks his former team could have one of the best wide receiving corps in the NFL.
“They might be top three as a whole. They just have to go out there, put it together and prove that they are. They are very saucy,” Johnson said to The Enquirer. “(Tyler) Boyd, (Tee) Higgins and (Ja’Marr) Chase, yeah. To me, it looks good. Listen, on paper, it looks good. With Chase, all you have to do is go out there and execute. It sounds simple, it’s not. But with those guys I just named, it’s possible.”
Boyd, Higgins and Chase are slated to be Cincinnati’s starting receivers in Zac Taylor’s 11-personnel-heavy offense (three wide receives, one tight end and one running back). Like Johnson, the current batch of Bengals receivers aren’t lacking in confidence and they’ve often backed up their words individually on the field.
Boyd’s eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving in two of the last three seasons, Higgins’ 67 catches in 2020 tied former WR Cris Collinsworth for most receptions by a Bengals rookie and Chase boldly stated on draft night that he’s in pursuit of multiple records.
“Sky is the limit,” Higgins said. “I think we are going to have a lot of success.”
Joe Burrow’s overall health coming off a significant left knee injury will greatly affect the production from Cincinnati’s starting receivers, but the quarterback is bullish on a Week 1 return. He’s currently on pace to achieve his goal.
Burrow displayed in his rookie season he likes to spread the ball around in the Bengals’ pass-happy offense. Burrow’s 264 completions were the most ever by an NFL quarterback through their first 10 games. His 404 passing attempts were the second most ever by a QB in their first 10 contests. Boyd, Higgins and A.J. Green, who left for the Arizona Cardinals in free agency, had over 100 targets apiece.
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