Tag: Drew Sample

Sam Hubbard, Drew Sample back to work at local Cincinnati gym

Cincinnati Bengals players Sam Hubbard and Drew Sample are back getting after it.

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The NFL decided coaches like Zac Taylor can be back at Paul Brown Stadium.

Cincinnati Bengals players though…not so much.

But that won’t stop some players from getting creative and putting gym work in as pre-training camp prep.

According to WLWT’s Brandon Saho, Sam Hubbard and Drew Sample are back to work at Black Sheep Performance in Blue Ash.

Here’s Hubbard:

“It’s a peace of mind thing. I know no matter what, Pat and the guys at Black Sheep Performance are going to be able to find a way to get the work in we need to, to get ready for the season. I really enjoy it and think it’s the best way for me to develop my game, although we do need that time together in the facility where we are working out together and putting in defenses. But we are doing everything possible to get ready for the season and I’m excited.”

Still no word on whether training camp will start as normal this summer. But the NFL recently nixed the idea players would be allowed back at team facilities before July.

That leaves players to their own devices physically outside of the all-virtual meetings with coaches. Sample and Hubbard are just one of what is surely many groups of players spread out all over the place putting in work.

Sample, by the way, was recently tagged as a potential Bengals breakout star.

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Drew Sample, breakout Bengals star? One analyst thinks so

Can Drew Sample be a breakout star for the Cincinnati Bengals?

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Drew Sample isn’t often the first name that comes to mind when projecting potential breakout stars for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020.

Such a classification could go to a new arrival like D.J. Reader. Maybe a second-year upstart like Germaine Pratt. Heck, a guy named Joe Burrow.

But Sample did pop up on the breakout radar for NFL.com’s Adam Rank:

“The thing about Sample is that he’s a great blocker, and the Bengals certainly need guys who can block. Catching the ball wasn’t a huge part of his game in college (46 career grabs at Washington). But where have we heard that before? It sounds like the kind of thing they said about George Kittle when he came out of Iowa. I’m not going to put those lofty expectations on Sample, though. If he can develop into a Jack Doyle-type for the Bengals, that would be a win.”

It’s an interesting idea, if nothing else. Coaches liked what they saw in spots from Sample last year, though he’ll have to prove he belongs higher on the depth chart than C.J. Uzomah next season.

Sample wasn’t the most popular pick by a new Bengals coaching staff in the second-round of the 2019 draft because of his lack of production in the passing game. Given the selection of Tee Higgins in the second round this year and the makeup of a Zac Taylor offense, there’s a chance tight ends don’t even play a big role.

But…Sample has the ability to alter these ideas quickly if he realizes some potential and forces himself into some playing time. A rookie quarterback figures to target tight ends plenty if they’re on the field, so Sample isn’t a bad darkhorse breakout candidate.

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Drew Sample under more pressure after Bengals lose Tyler Eifert

Can the second-round pick step up?

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The Cincinnati Bengals losing Tyler Eifert in free agency to the Jacksonville Jaguars wasn’t exactly shocking.

Eifert finally stayed on the field for all 16 games in 2019 but didn’t play in even half of the offense’s snaps.

Part of that falls to protecting Eifert, though most of it centers on how new head coach Zac Taylor deployed his weapons, per Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic:

“The problem is the Bengals ran 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers) most of the time. Coaches really liked what C.J. Uzomah brought and think the arrow is pointing up on Drew Sample after his rookie season was chopped in half by injury.”

C.J. Uzomah has been a fun, proven target for the Bengals going on the better part of two seasons.

But the real revelation with the seemingly inevitable loss of Eifert is the pressure placed on Drew Sample.

Sample was an ill-received pick (publicly) by the new coaching staff in the second round last year. After spending most of his career blocking and not catching passes, he got in nine games as a rookie and caught just five passes before going on injured reserve in early December.

On paper, throwing more at Sample sounds good given how the Bengals want to use him. But the lack of proven production in the passing game is as concerning as it was when he was drafted.

The Bengals were never going to pay Eifert $15.5 million over two years. But barring something else, it’s now a learn-on-the-fly scenario for Sample and the team as a rookie quarterback gets under center.

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Bengals 2019 draft class takes another big hit with Drew Sample going to IR

The Bengals lost another member of their rookie class.

The 2019 draft class for the Cincinnati Bengals keeps looking worse and worse in the immediate returns area.

Drew Sample is the latest setback. The second-round rookie suffered a sprained ankle in mid-November and hasn’t hit the field since. Saturday, the team shifted him to injured reserve and called up Trayvon Henderson off the practice squad to compensate for losing Brandon Wilson.

So ends Drew Sample’s rookie year: Six targets, five catches, 30 yards.

Sample was a controversial pick at the time as spending a borderline top-50 pick on a blocking tight end isn’t something teams normally do sheerly based on value.

But this goes beyond Sample. The bad luck for this draft class started over the summer when first-round pick Jonah Williams went down for the year.

It hasn’t been much better from there. Third-round linebacker Germaine Pratt has struggled. Fourth-round pick Renell Wren doesn’t see the field often. The other fourth-rounder, Ryan Finley, a guy they traded up to get, lasted just three games. And yet another, Michael Jordan, got yanked from the starting lineup. Four late-round picks haven’t done anything.

This wouldn’t be a problem on a good team — teams that don’t need help from rookie classes right away can withstand these sorts of problems. But this is even more problematic for a Bengals team in rebuild mode. These rookies continue to largely miss critical developmental snaps, essentially shifting their rookie seasons to next year.

Unfortunately, Sample shifting to IR is just the latest move in a continued trend.

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Drew Sample injury is the latest hit to Bengals’ 2019 draft class

An injury to Drew Sample is another hit to the 2019 Bengals draft class.

When it comes to the 2019 NFL draft class, the Cincinnati Bengals just can’t win.

That matches the results in the win-loss column, at least. The latest setback for the unlucky class arrived over the weekend in the form of an injury to second-round pick Drew Sample.

The team says it’s an ankle sprain and his immediate availability is in doubt. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, though, reported Sample could end up on injured reserve.

In other words, right as the Bengals switch to long-term evaluation mode with Ryan Finley under center, Sample goes down and could miss the rest of the season.

Sample was a controversial pick with such a high-value slotting, which is only magnified more due to the issues along the offensive line and at linebacker. He was hardly employed in Zac Taylor’s offense before the injury too, playing just 109 snaps (17.58 percent).

Sample is hardly the first problem for the rookie class. The Bengals started the season without first-round tackle Jonah Williams, who suffered an injury over the summer and might not make it back at all this year.

Third-round linebacker Germaine Pratt has mightily struggled when on the field. Of the three fourth-round picks, Renell Wren isn’t playing often. Michael Jordan lost his starting job and Finley, barring a dramatic change, was drafted largely to be a backup.

A rough start for this draft class wouldn’t seem so bad if the last few classes haven’t struggled so much. But with the Sample injury, it’s yet another Bengals rookie missing out on critical developmental snaps at the best time for them.

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