Roy Cummings of Tampa Bay Online writes that Antonio Bryant was a bit of a free lance route runner, leading to an unknown number of Josh Freeman's interceptions.
Precision was another issue. It turns out that Bryant is a bit of a free lancer when it comes to running his routes and that penchant for being off just a tad resulted in a handful of picks for Freeman last year.
However, National Football Post's Matt Bowan thinks that Antonio Bryant is just a better receiver than Terrell Owens because Bryant forces defenses to game plan against him, and thus Owens was passed up.
Cincinnati’s thinking is that Bryant — not Owens — is the WR who will force a defense to play both sides of the field and play with an honest safety between the hashes. And give QB Carson Palmer two viable weapons in the drop-back passing game.
James Walker thinks signing Antonio Bryant helps, but "tight end and offensive guard are still big needs." Otherwise, he thinks that the offense is now more balanced. I'm just curious as to how many people thought the same thing last year when the team acquired Laveranues Coles. But I agree with Walker's assessment.
Dave Lapham reacts to the signing of Antonio Bryant.
Note: One observation is that the Bengals were looking in the $3-4 million range for Terrell Owens.
The Bengals think that Bryant is a little bit Chris Henry, a little bit T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
After signing Bryant, it opens the door for the Bengals to draft guard Mike Iupati or safety Taylor Mays.
Joe Reedy documents much of how the deal went down with the Bengals. Reedy also goes on to suggest that Bryant was "the right choice for the Bengals now."
Who Dey Fans think the Bengals have upgraded the position, but would still like the Bengals to make a play on Terrell Owens.
Speaking of Owens, the Bengals took the wide receiver to Jeff Ruby's steakhouse. Owens ordered the seabass and Marvin Lewis ordered the steak.