Since the season is likely a bust, unless 14 teams in the AFC go on strike with replacement players and the Bengals wrapped the corners of their mischievously evil looking mustaches, there will be times that we point to individual accolades as our storylines. It's perfectly alright to condemn the team for failing to achieve your expectations while promoting the players that are busting their tail to help themselves grow into better players for the future. After all, at this point, it's about the future.
And one of those players that figures to be the future of this team is Bengals rookie tight end Jermaine Gresham. With 40 receptions through nine games this season, Gresham is on pace to record 71 receptions, which would fall ten short of the NFL record for most receptions by a rookie tight end. In order beat Jackson's 81 receptions in 1988, Gresham will need to average six receptions per game.
| PLAYER | TEAM | YEAR | RECEPTIONS |
| Keith Jackson | Philadelphia | 1988 | 81 |
| Jeremy Shockey | New York Giants | 2002 | 74 |
| Mike Ditka | Chicago | 1961 | 56 |
| Charle Young | Philadelphia | 1973 | 55 |
| John Carlson | Seattle | 2008 | 55 |
| Jermaine Gresham | Cincinnati | 2010 | 40* |
| *NFL leader in receptions among rookie tight ends through Week 10 | |||
If you haven't yet, go vote for him for this week's nomination for rookie of the week. Or vote for someone else if you're too enraged by his game-ending fumble that he shouldn't benefit from your good graces.