Dylan Fairchild's goal is clear... get on the field and DON'T COME OFF!

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran discusses an attainable goal for Cincinnati Bengals offensive guard Dylan Fairchild.

Transcript

00:00The Bengals are putting a lot of pressure on one of their earliest draft picks, and this goal for

00:03the season needs to reflect that pressure. So in this video, I'll explain why the Bengals need him

00:07to succeed right away. Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here,

00:15and we are wrapping up our Bengals rookie goal series, where I give one goal to each of the

00:19Bengals first three draft picks for them to accomplish as rookies. Now, for a quick recap,

00:23the goal that I gave out to first round pick Shamar Stewart was to have a pass rush win rate

00:26of at least 10% this season. And for second round pick Demetrius Knight Jr., my goal for him was to

00:31limit his missed tackles to 12 or fewer this season. So now that we get to third round pick

00:35Dylan Fairchild, my goal for him is going to be a lot simpler compared to the first two. And honestly,

00:40I don't think it needs to be any more complicated than this. Dylan Fairchild's goal is to start all

00:4517 games this regular season. This goal is entirely based around the pressure that is already on

00:50Fairchild as a 22-year-old rookie, because the Bengals didn't surprise me when they released

00:55Alex Kappa prior to free agency. What did surprise me was their lack of aggression to replace him

01:00in free agency. The only addition they made to that position group before the draft was free agent

01:05Lucas Patrick, who signed a slightly more expensive version of a veteran minimum deal relative to his

01:10experience as a 32-year-old player. Frankly, the lack of seriousness the Bengals have showcased at the

01:15guard spot this offseason is very disturbing. It's not surprising considering it's always been a

01:19position that's been devalued in their eyes. But nonetheless, for having an offense as capable

01:23as this offense, led by Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and Tee Higgins, you would have expected at least

01:27more attention to be placed on the guard spot. And maybe in their eyes, they did pay enough attention

01:32to it, because the way that they've talked about Fairchild since drafting them indicated that they

01:35see him as an incredible value pick, even for being a third-round pick. A lot of people expected

01:40the Bengals to draft a guard probably with that second-round pick, because that seemed to be where the

01:44value matched the talent of this draft class at that position. And had the Bengals waited to draft a

01:48guard until day three, maybe in the fourth round, you would have expected them to address the

01:52position again in free agency following the draft. This is what made the third round an interesting

01:56inflection point for the Bengals at that position, because you would still like third-round picks to

02:00become immediate starters on a team that definitely needs them like the Bengals, but when you're drafted

02:05that late and outside of the first 60-50 picks, the expectations of you being a quality starter right

02:09out of the gate are a lot lower. But as soon as Fairchild was drafted, he was discussed as being the

02:14favorite to start at left guard for this team. So if he doesn't win that battle in training camp,

02:18that's already a big red flag. But it's not like he could just go into the season,

02:21become the starter, and then everything is just, you know, all bets are off. He's got to maintain

02:24that spot throughout the entirety of the year, outside of unexpected injuries, because no one

02:29can predict that, no one can fault Dylan Fairchild for running into those. But outside of those

02:32circumstances, it would be a concerning look for him to come in, win the starting battle,

02:37but then struggle in his rookie season to the point where they have to look at alternative options.

02:41It would be concerning not only just for him, but for the coaching staff and the personnel department

02:45who made this decision in the first place. When you're talking about this year specifically,

02:48they need Fairchild to be a consistent quality contributor more than probably any of the other

02:54five draft picks that they made. Because if they moved on from a troubling guard tandem in

02:57Cordova and Alex Capa, and they found that their biggest investment in replacing one of those guys

03:02isn't working out immediately, that's not a good sign. And so long as Fairchild doesn't prove to be

03:06one of the very worst players at his position, he's probably going to last in this spot for the

03:11entirety of the 17-week schedule. Because it is best for players in this position who need a lot of

03:15on-field development to actually get that on-field development in games. And the only way that that

03:19doesn't happen is if something unexpectedly goes horribly wrong. So for Dylan Fairchild, it's very

03:24simple. Get on the field, stay on the field. We'll see what the results are at the end of the season.

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