John Ross had a pretty crazy rookie season.
Between the injuries and the constant punishment from Marvin Lewis, Ross ended up with only one carry and a fumble all season long. Obviously, fans are hoping that trend doesn’t continue for the Bengals’ ninth-overall pick from last season’s draft.
Bob Bicknell is here to assure us that last season won’t repeat itself. Bicknell himself saw Ross in 2016 when he was coaching the 49ers, and he told Geoff Hobson of the Bengals official site that his first reaction was “Oh, that kid is probably going to be the next guy. He’s a talented guy.”
Now, Bicknell has his chance to mold that player into what he saw watching the receiver play at Washington. He has worked with a similar receiver in the NFL before in DeSean Jackson, and when Bicknell coached him, Jackson ended up having a career season.
Still, Bicknell says Jackson does a lot more than just run fast.
“DeSean is one of the top ball skills guys in the league. Yeah, he’s got the great speed, but he also can do the other things and he worked hard at doing those things,” Bicknell said. “I would hope that John could look at a guy like DeSean. It would be great if he could make some of those plays because it would be good for us.”
“If the guys do that, hone in on those things that make them successful, they’ll do it. He’s got that speed, he’s got that ability. I feel like the players are looking at the great players that lead the league in what they’re doing.” They’re asking, ‘How do you do it?’”
One of the things we talked about with Ross as he came out of college is how he isn’t just a fast receiver as well. Washington didn’t just have him running streaks all game long.
In fact, he did a great job running the entire route tree. I’m sure that is something Bicknell will be very pleased with, and it will make his job even easier to get Ross playing at a high level.
Really, it seems like Ross just needs more time with Andy Dalton to get on the same page. Lewis publicly called him out for running a wrong route against the Jaguars, but considering he had only played a handful of snaps leading up to that, it is possible Ross and Dalton weren’t on the same page with what they were seeing.
Obviously, this is a correctable mistake, especially if Ross comes into camp healthy. Him having a full offseason to run routes and catch passes from Dalton and learn from Bicknell and A.J. Green will be vital for him making a jump in season two.
It seems like Bicknell is just as excited as we are to see what untapped potential we missed out on during Ross’ rookie season.
“A guy that can run, everything else we can work on,” Bicknell told Hobson. “I’m really excited to get in there and start talking to him and get working on things that can help him. Any guy that can run like that, it's fun to try and get him to do everything we can to make him successful.”