Tag: Tyler Boyd

Zac Taylor sought out Tyler Boyd, Jessie Bates as leaders right after Joe Burrow’s injury

The Cincinnati Bengals have some well-known young leaders in the locker room.

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The Cincinnati Bengals have some key foundational building blocks on the field — and in the locker room — with Tyler Boyd and Jessie Bates.

This was already becoming apparent based on how Bates and Boyd have led the team this year, either setting the tone in interviews or by the effort on the field.

But it became even clearer last weekend after Joe Burrow went down with his injury. That Sunday night, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor sought them out specifically, as he told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

ZT: I thought it was important. Those are two of your guys on each side of the ball that have done things the right way this year. They’ve got the right mindset and they’ve totally bought in to what we’re doing here and they see the big picture of what we’re moving towards and they believe in it. Just challenging them to keep leading this locker room.

No wonder, right? Boyd has been the No. 1 wideout for a few years now. And from a leadership example, he was one of the first players to publicly speak out against the actions of Carlos Dunlap.

And Bates has played like the best outright safety in football this year, grading at a 91.0 at Pro Football Focus. It wasn’t too long ago he was warning of personnel changes if guys didn’t step up.

While there are rumblings of a toxic locker room culture Bengals players have denied — and Dunlap and his Seahawks head coach have hinted at the same — it’s clear the next generation of locker room leaders like Bates and Boyd are rocks to build around in good times and bad.

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Mike Tomlin happy to avoid Carlos Dunlap, calls Tyler Boyd one of NFL’s best

Cincinnati Bengals players received plenty of praise from Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

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The Cincinnati Bengals look quite a bit different to opposing teams this year.

Joe Burrow is under center. The front office remade the defense. And the team even went out and traded away Carlos Dunlap, it’s second in-season trade since 1985.

For Mike Tomlin, head coach of the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers, the new-look Bengals are quite interesting.

Tomlin, for example, sure sounds happy he won’t have to deal with Dunlap anymore, according to Chris Adamski of the Tribune-Review: “It is interesting preparing for the Bengals and not having to prepare for Carlos Dunlap. We do not miss Carlos Dunlap.”

It also sounds like Tomlin wouldn’t mind if the Bengals went ahead and traded away Tyler Boyd, too:

And what impresses Tomlin the most about Burrow? Adamski captured that too: “The most impressive thing has been his charisma, his moxie, his competitive spirit.”

It’s interesting to get a look at what a successful coach like Tomlin thinks of the Bengals.

Not that this is any traditional matchup — the Bengals have changed a lot and both teams are in intensive protocol after positive COVID-19 tests. That includes Ben Roethlisberger, who is also apparently dealing with two knee injuries.

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Watch: Joe Burrow hits Tyler Boyd as Bengals open up on Titans

Joe Burrow is doing quite well for the Bengals against Tennessee.

Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals have been showing promise while absorbing losses. The rookie QB from LSU and his team are on their way to putting it together, surprisingly, against the one-loss Tennessee Titans.

Watch as Burrow finds Tyler Boyd for a touchdown to give Cincinnati a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Burrow has proven slippery and elusive, too.

DFS Fantasy Football: Favorite Pro Plays – Week 8

WinDailySports’ CEO Jason Mezrahi checks in with his top Week 8 DFS fantasy football for FanDuel and DraftKings

Top-ranked daily fantasy sports pro Jason Mezrahi, founder and CEO of WinDailySports.com, breaks down his favorite DFS plays at various salary ranges for Week 8 of the NFL season.

Even though we have had great results in picking top DFS plays in this article every week, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Our projection model at WinDailySports.com has been firing on all cylinders to start the season so what I will do in this article is list some of our highest projected players based off raw points and our highest point per dollar plays based on DraftKings.com pricing.

Special Huddle Member Discount: If you would like to give our membership at Win Daily a try, take advantage of a FREE 2 week promotion where you will gain an all access gold pass to our DFS & SportsBetting package. Use promo code “thehuddle” at checkout for 2 weeks FREE for both our DFS & SportsBetting Packages. Sign up now.

These are some of the players Jason will be locking in his lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel for this weekend’s slate.

QUARTERBACKS

AARON RODGERS, GB

$7,600 DRAFTKINGS, $8,400 FANDUEL

I’m coming off my second biggest week of the year so far, and it all started with my Quarterback write up last week which secured me a $15,000 victory on DraftKings. The stack that got me there was Kyler Murray with DeAndre Hopkins and running it back with Tyler Lockett. The stack was under owned and simply smashed.

The stack that can help get us there this week is a Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams stack either paired with a Viking receiver or running back if Dalvin Cook plays. The matchup versus the Vikings is great. They rank 25th against opposing quarterbacks and allow the 29th most passing yards per game. Rodgers will light up this Viking defense and the easy pairing with Adams makes him a great play for cash and tournaments.

JOE BURROW, CIN

$6,200 DRAFTKINGS, $7,600 FANDUEL

Joe Burrow is putting up ridiculous stats as a rookie. He has thrown for over 300+ yards in 5 out of the 7 games so far this season with his last one breaking the 400 yard mark. He has 9 passing touchdowns and also is involved in the running game with 3 rushing touchdowns on the season. The ceiling is high and the price is right on both sites. The discount combined with the upside is too much to pass up on. Tennessee has allowed the 26th most passing yards per game and has been involved in high scoring affairs almost every week which sets Burrow up nicely in your lineups in week 8.

RUNNING BACKS

DERRICK HENRY, TEN

$8,000 DRAFTKINGS, $9,500 FANDUEL

We faded Henry last week and its time to hop back on the Henry train if we can afford it in Week 8. Vegas has the Titans by 5.5 points which should lead into a positive game script for Henry and the run game. This will be a high scoring affair, with Vegas having the total at 53.5 points and I’m expecting another 2 touchdown game out of Henry in this one. The Bengals are allowing the 28th most rushing yards per game and now get to face the best running back in the game. There will be no stopping Henry in week 8 and the upside and safety is just too much to pass up on.

KAREEM HUNT, CLE

$6,900 DRAFTKINGS, $8,200 FANDUEL

Most of the Cleveland offense should now be running through Kareem Hunt with Nick Chubb and Odell Beckham Jr. injured. Hunt had 18 touches and 3 receptions and was very active in the game versus the Bengals but didn’t break out for that massive game. I truly hope some people hop off the wagon this week driving his ownership down. The Raiders rank 31st against opposing running backs and provide an exploitable matchup for Hunt. The price on DraftKings is great and he will be a lock in most of my lineups on their platform.

WIDE RECEIVERS

DAVANTE ADAMS, GB

$8,800 DRAFTKINGS, $9,100 FANDUEL

There is not much of a write up needed here other than this guy is great at football and that he is really good friends with Aaron Rodgers. He has two 44+ point DraftKings performances on the season and if I played him over DeAndre Hopkins in my main lineup last week I would have won $50,000 instead of $15,000. I am not making that same mistake this week and I will do whatever I can to squeeze him into my lineups. The Vikings rank 29th against opposing wide receivers and also allow the 29th most passing yards per game. Get him into your cash and tournament lineups where you can afford the salary.

TYLER BOYD, CIN

$6,600 DRAFTKINGS, $6,400 FANDUEL

Both Tyler Boyd and AJ Green are in a great spot in Week 8. Whichever one finds the end zone more often will end up with the better performance, but they both are receiving a ton of targets week in and week out. Boyd is coming off a 11 reception 101 yard receiving game where he dropped 30 DraftKings points. I told you I like this game as a game stack and will be attacking it from every angle. The Titans rank 28th against opposing receivers so both of these guys should be in your player pool in Week 8.

TIGHT ENDS

DARREN WALLER, LV

$5,600 DRAFTKINGS, $6,800 FANDUEL

Waller has been super consistent all year and is averaging 15 DraftKings points per game. He is the primary target for Carr and provides a safe floor at a somewhat volatile tight end position. What makes this one of the better plays on the board is the matchup itself. The Browns have struggled to cover tight ends all season and rank 28th against opposing tight ends. Vegas has this as an up pace game with the Raiders trailing which should provide late looks to Waller in the fourth quarter which is what you want in your lineups.

HARRISON BRYANT, CLE

$3,200 DRAFTKINGS, $5,000 FANDUEL

Within the same game Harrison Bryant is a great value play in a high paced matchup versus the Raiders. With the Browns banged up, more targets should be heading Bryant’s way. He is involved in the red zone and is coming off a 2 touchdown game. At near minimum salary on both sites you don’t need much from Bryant. If we can get 4 catches for 40+ yards and a touchdown I will be more than fine with that output in Week 8.

DEFENSES

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

$4,500 DRAFTKINGS, $5,000 FANDUEL

Like I told you last week, I will be targeting the Jets with my opposing defenses. It’s the safest way to play it and I will continue attacking it week in week out. The Jets scored more than 0 in Week 7, but I still have them under 10 points in this matchup versus the Chiefs. On a side note one of my favorite futures bets is taking the Jets under 1.5 wins on the season.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

$3,400 DRAFTKINGS, $3,600 FANDUEL

The Saints have the pleasure of visiting the Bears after their ugly performance against the Rams on Monday night. The Bears put up 10 points to a Rams defense and throughout most of the game Nick Foles and the Bears offense truly struggled putting drives together. The Saints defense hasn’tbeen great on the season but they have forced 5 turnovers through 6 games and recorded 14 sacks so they provide a nice value in Week 8.

Jason Mezrahi has been a professional, top-ranked Daily Fantasy Player on FanDuel and DraftKings for more than eight years. He has won FanDuel’s $155,555 King of the Diamond competition and placed second in DraftKings’ Fantasy Basketball World Championship, earning him $300,000. He owns and operates WinDailySports.com, which supports the DFS and Sports Betting community with resources such as tools, projection models, expert chat, in-depth written analysis and podcasts, plus much more.

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Philadelphia Eagles vs. Cincinnati Bengals: 3 matchups to watch on defense

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Cincinnati Bengals: 3 matchups to watch on defense

The Philadelphia Eagles (0-2) host the Bengals (0-2) in a game that is now must-win for the reigning NFC East champions.    The Eagles will face a young Bengals team looking for a statement win and some of the most intriguing matchups in today’s game will take place with Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati offense have the ball.

With the kickoff, just moments away, here are three matchups to watch when the Bengals have the ball.

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Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) in action against Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox (29) during the NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

1. Avonte Maddox vs. Bengals bigger WR’s

The Bengals’ top two receivers are A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd. While Darius Slay will account for one of them on every play, the Eagles will look towards Avonte Maddox to play second fiddle against a much larger opponent. Boyd, who spends a good amount of time in the slot, is the Bengals’ leading receiver with 11 catches for 105 yards.

At 6’2, and over 200 pounds, Boyd, A.J. Green, or Tee Higgins could all give Maddox and Nickell Robey-Coleman problems.

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Sleepers and Value Plays: Wide Receivers Update

2020 Sleeper and Value Play Wide Receivers

A sleeper wide receiver is a player taken as a backup who ends up worthy of being a starter or at least far outplays the draft slot where you selected him.  Average Draft Positions (ADP) are taken from MyFantasyLeague.com  using only recent drafts.

See also:
Sleepers and Value Plays: Quarterbacks Update
Sleepers and Value Plays: Tight Ends Update
Sleepers and Value Plays: Running Backs Update

The Average Draft order shows a general picture of how your draft will unfold and where values/sleepers and bad values/busts likely exist. Any green highlight means the player is a good value that could be taken earlier. A red highlight signifies an overvalued player that is a bad value or just too high of a risk for that spot.

Average Draft order – Value plays

Sleepers and over-valued players

Best of the Rest

Robby Anderson (CAR) – Worth up to 63-941-7 while with the Jets, Anderson comes over to pair with DJ Moore in what promises to be a pass-heavy new offense under new HC Matt Rhule. He’s overlooked in drafts because he left a bad offense for what should be an innovative one.

Dede Westbrook (JAC) – Maybe Laviska Shenault is newer and shinier, but Westbrook is a speedy slot receiver with 66 catches for around 700 yards and four scores for the last two years. A more experienced Gardner Minshew should help trend up those stats if only incrementally.

Mohamed Sanu (NE) – He is 30 years old and didn’t add much in his first season with the Patriots. But managed 838 yards in his last year with the Falcons and was hampered by an ankle injury last year that required off-season surgery. The Pats need a receiver to step up and Sanu will be a starter. He’s worth keeping an eye on at the least.

James Washington (PIT) – Second-rounder from 2018 was an after-thought as a rookie when Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster dominated. Rose to 44-735-3 last year playing with “not Roethlisberger”. He’s just one of three or four receivers, but it is far too early to write him off.

Michael Pittman (IND) – The 6-4, 223-pounder from USC is expected to win the No. 2 job across from T.Y. Hilton. The Colts upgraded with Philip Rivers and face one of the easiest passing schedules in the NFL.

 

Sleepers and Value Plays: Wide Receivers

2020 Sleeper and Value Play Wide Receivers

A sleeper wide receiver is a player taken as a backup who ends up worthy of being a starter or at least far outplays the draft slot where you selected him.  Average Draft Positions (ADP) are taken from MyFantasyLeague.com  using only recent drafts.

The Average Draft order shows a general picture of how your draft will unfold and where values/sleepers and bad values/busts likely exist. Any green highlight means the player is a good value that could be taken earlier. A red highlight signifies an overvalued player that is a bad value or just too high of a risk for that spot.

Average Draft order – Value plays

Sleepers and over-valued players

Best of the Rest

Dede Westbrook (JAC) – Maybe Laviska Shenault is newer and shinier, but Westbrook is a speedy slot receiver with 66 catches for around 700 yards and four scores for the last two years. A more experienced Gardner Minshew should help trend up those stats if only incrementally.

Mohamed Sanu (NE) – He is 30 years old and didn’t add much in his first season with the Patriots. But managed 838 yards in his last year with the Falcons and was hampered by an ankle injury last year that required off-season surgery. The Pats need a receiver to step up and Sanu will be a starter. He’s worth keeping an eye on at the least.

James Washington (PIT) – Second-rounder from 2018 was an after-thought as a rookie when Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster dominated. Rose to 44-735-3 last year playing with “not Roethlisberger”. He’s just one of three or four receivers, but it is far too early to write him off.

 

Joe Burrow to A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd becomes reality beginning today in camp

Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow will get to throw with A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd and others to start camp.

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Joe Burrow will finally throw passes to top wideouts A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd on Tuesday.

Tuesday is the first day Burrow will get to work with veterans as training camp officially gets underway with on-field activities.

Burrow had already worked out with John Ross some while prepping for the draft. He also recently revealed — after buying a house in the Cincinnati area — that he’s already had some workouts with Tee Higgins. Or written another way, the “9 to 85” connection is back and already a work in progress.

But one could argue the connections with Green and Boyd are even more important. Green missed all of last season but is the sort of top-10 talent (when healthy) capable of dramatically boosting the development of a rookie passer. And Boyd has been that critical No. 1 wideout in Green’s absence capable of doing something similar for Burrow.

Expect to see plenty about Burrow slinging the ball to Green, Boyd and the rest of his weapons very, very soon. It starts Tuesday.

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The NFL’s 11 best slot receivers

With the three-receiver set the new default in the NFL, slot receivers are more important than ever. Here are the NFL’s 11 best.

In the 2019 regular and postseason, per Pro Football Focus data, slot receivers regardless of position (receivers, running backs, and tight ends) accounted for 32% of all targets, 31.6% of all receptions, 32.3% of all receiving yardage, and 34.3% of all receiving touchdowns. In a league where the three-receiver set is by far the default formation (it happened on 69% of all snaps last season, per Sports Info Solutions), having a versatile and productive slot receiver is an absolute necessity in the modern passing game.

Moreover, there is no one kind of slot receiver in the modern NFL. It used to be that you wanted the shorter, smaller guy inside, and your bigger, more physical receivers on the outside. Then, offensive coaches started to realize that by putting bigger receivers and tight ends in the slot, you could create mismatches with slower linebackers and smaller slot cornerbacks. Teams countered this by acquiring linebackers built like safeties, eager to do more than just chase after run fits, and also by moving their best cornerbacks into the slot in certain situations.

Now that offensive and defensive coaches have worked hard to create as many schematic and personnel ties in the slot as possible, the best slot receivers are the ones who consistently show the ideal characteristics for the position. These receivers know how to exploit defenders who don’t have a boundary to help them — they’ll create inside and outside position to move the defender where they want him to go. They understand the value and precision of the option route, and how you can hang a defender out to dry with a simple “if this/then that” equation based on coverage rules. They know how to work in concert with their outside receivers to create route combinations which create impossible math problems for defenses. And they know how to get open in quick spaces.

But don’t automatically assume that slot receivers are just taking the dink-and-dunk routes — they’re actually tasked to catch everything from quick slants to vertical stuff down the seam and up the numbers. Last season, per PFF data, the NFL average for yards per completion for outside receivers was 11.28. For slot receivers, it was 11.63. So, over time and based on the play design and the makeup of the receivers, teams could find just that many more yards by throwing to their slot targets.

The best slot receivers in the game bring unique and highly valuable traits to the game, and here are the best among them.

More Top 11 lists: Slot defenders | Outside cornerbacks | Safeties | Linebackers | Edge defenders | Interior defensive linemen | Offensive tackles | Offensive guards | Centers | Outside Receivers

Honorable Mentions

(Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports)

Had we dropped the qualifying floor to under 50% slot snaps, two guys would have easily made it — Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans, and Baltimore’s Marquise Goodwin. Evans led all slot receivers with at least 25 targets with a passer rating when targeted of 151.3, and Brown was an absolute force against defenses in the slot — especially when he was using his speed in empty formations.

San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel, who was probably the MVP of the first half of Super Bowl LIV before things started to go backward for his team, would have received a mention as well — Samuel had just 33 targets, but caught 28 of them and helped his quarterback to a 135.3 rating when he was targeted in the slot. Kansas City speed receiver Mecole Hardman had just 23 a lot targets, but he was also highly efficient with them, helping his quarterbacks to a 133.9 rating. Though Danny Amendola was the only Lions receiver to make the 50% threshold, both Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay were highly efficient when tasked to move inside. Other former slot stars like Tyreek Hill of the Chiefs and Minnesota’s Adam Thielen saw their roles change more to the outside in 2019 from previous seasons.

Of the receivers who actually qualified, Nelson Agholor of the Eagles was quietly efficient and had just two drops in the slot last season — which would go against several memes on the subject. Buffalo’s Cole Beasley just missed the cut, through he was one of several receivers on the Bills’ roster who didn’t always get the accuracy and efficiency they deserved from quarterback Josh Allen. And though Randall Cobb was productive for the Cowboys last season and should be so for the Texans in 2020, his nine drops as a slot man… well, we can only have one guy with nine slot drops on this list. More on that in a minute.

Now, on to the top 11.

Willie Snead IV | Julian Edelman | Tyler Boyd | Jared Cook | Golden Tate | Keenan Allen | Larry Fitzgerald | Allen Robinson | Cooper Kupp | Chris Godwin | Tyler Lockett 

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Tyler Boyd wants everyone to stop sleeping on Joe Mixon

Cincinnati Bengals WR Tyler Boyd wants folks to stop sleeping on RB Joe Mixon.

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Cincinnati Bengals wideout Tyler Boyd has a simple message for those who sleep on running back Joe Mixon or omit him from best-of lists this offseason:

Stop it.

Mixon has popped up all over the place in various running back rankings this offseason, usually in the top 10. Sometimes he’s not — ESPN thinks he’ll finish outside the top-10 scorers at his position in the fantasy football realm.

And sometimes rankings outright just omit Mixon, opting for others like Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook. One such set of rankings recently came out from analysts at NFL Network and Boyd was quick to hop online and offer his take:

Mixon is one of the NFL’s best, so much so Bill Belichick said he might be the best outright.

Given what Mixon has accomplished despite his surrounding circumstances such as a bad offensive line, it’s hard to disagree with Boyd here. With improved line and quarterback play, the Bengals hope it will be impossible to leave Mixon off these sorts of lists in the future.

6 Cincinnati Bengals rookies who could surprise at training camp