The Cincinnati Bengals sit on a bye week six games into the season, which is a good time to step back and really take a look at how things have gone so far for individual players.
Rest assured the coaching staff is doing that too, especially with the trade deadline looming at the end of the month.
So far, there have been some surprises when it comes to player performances — good and bad. When gathering stock reports, keep in mind we won’t hit players like Joe Burrow too much for attempting to grit through an injury. Yes, the numbers are bad, but things wouldn’t have been much better with a backup in the games.
Here’s a look at a stock report for the bye week.
Stock up: CB Cam Taylor-Britt
Say hello to the new long-term answer at boundary cornerback. Taylor-Britt is learning on the fly as a starter and with Chidobe Awuzie hurt, has effectively been the No. 1. He hasn’t been perfect, as expected, but chasing DK Metcalf all over the field and winning the bully matchup is a pretty good sign of things to come.
Stock Down: TE Irv Smith Jr.
It turns out just plugging and playing anyone at tight end isn’t all that easy. We can talk a lot about how the offense doesn’t involve the position much right now, but one has to wonder if that would be different if Smith was producing. He’s appearing in four games, catching just six passes.
Stock Up: CB DJ Turner
Again, the future is bright in the secondary. With Awuzie hurt, second-rounder DJ Turner got a ton of looks, including 60-plus snaps against Seattle. Like CTB, he hasn’t been perfect, but the flashes have been there. He’s even applied nice pressure and made some nice Leon Hall-esque open-field tackles preventing big gains.
Stock Down: G Cordell Volson
The debate about Volson won’t end, with some saying he was an older draftee so the ceiling wasn’t that high and others saying he should’ve taken a bigger jump. Either way, he’s struggling in his second year despite the Orlando Brown Jr. upgrade next to him, creating an obvious weak point on the line.
Stock Up: OT Jonah Williams
Don’t look now, but Williams is shutting up doubters with probably the best start to his career. This, after a position change for the first time as a pro coming off knee surgery. So much so, the Bengals front office should be considering how to extend him right about now.
Stock Down: RBs
Blame the coaches for the usage or something else, but Trayveon Williams, rookie Chase Brown and Chris Evans have been invisible behind Joe Mixon. It’s to the point we’ve already written about it being worth considering the team trades with Denver to get Samaje Perine back.
Stock Up: DE Trey Hendrickson
Minus a few drives against Seattle, Trey Hendrickson has been getting all of zero help from other pass-rushers on the team while ripping off one of the best starts to his career that ranks him alongside elites like T.J. Watt. All while sitting on the injury report with a back issue again, no less.
Stock Down: WR Tee Higgins
Tee Higgins was off to a brutal start even before the rib fracture, with much of his 14 catches for 149 yards and two scores coming in a single game. There’s something admirable in his playing through an injury in an attempt to help the team against the Seahawks before the bye. But so far, it’s hard to blame fans who feel a little Jessie Bates-styled deja vu (they even share the same agent) as Higgins plays for what is undoubtedly going to be a top-of-the-market contract next summer. There are a lot of things that go into this, chief among them Joe Burrow’s injury that disrupted summer reps and timing, but the offense shouldn’t largely look better when Trenton Irwin is on the field. If nothing else, everyone knows Higgins easily has the ability to get back to form soon.
