01-22-2020, 03:49 AM
Cody Core has been a hot button issue for plenty of Bengals fans Bobby Hart Jersey , but will he be able to hold onto his roster spot in the new Zac Taylor era?" />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesCincy Jungle homepageHorizontal - WhiteCincy Junglea Cincinnati Bengals communityFollow Cincy Jungle online:Follow Cincy Jungle on TwitterFollow Cincy Jungle on FacebookFollow Cincy Jungle on InstagramLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchCincy Jungle main menuFanpostsFanshotsSectionsLibraryBengalsOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections #BITESIZEFilm RoomRoster Transactions and ContractsOrange & Black InsiderSalary Cap And CBACody Core will have to prove himself to new coaching staffNew,33commentsCody Core has been a hot button issue for plenty of Bengals fans, but will he be able to hold onto his roster spot in the new Zac Taylor era?EDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Cody Core will have to prove himself to new coaching staffTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Wesley Hitt/Getty ImagesIt isn’t easy being a player on the bubble of a 53-man NFL roster. Your job security is nonexistent, and the idea that your NFL dream could be over at almost any instant during the season looms large. Worst of all, fans constantly look at you with the largest magnifying glass when their training camp darling doesn’t make the team. This is the life that Cody Core has lived for the last three seasons with the Bengals. His spot has never been guaranteed, and now with Zac Taylor as the new head coach, that hill may be a slightly higher climb.Cody CoreHeight: 6’3”Weight: 205Age: 25College: MississippiHometown: Auburn, ALExperience: Entering his fourth seasonCap StatusCore is entering his fourth and final season of his rookie contract. He is set to have a $720,000 base salary, according to Sportrac. Core will have a $751,983 cap hit in 2019, and will be an unrestricted free agent following the season.BackgroundCore had a solid career at Ole Miss. Most of his receiving stats came during his final two seasons when he caught 78 passes for 1,202 receiving and 10 touchdowns. He also had 20 tackles on special teams during his time in Oxford.The Bengals took a shot on Core in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, and his rookie year he caught 17 passes for 200 yards, which is still a career high for yards for him. In 2017, he didn’t record a single catch. Last season was highlighted by his first receiving touchdown of his career along with another 13 receptions for 130 yards.Special teams is where Core makes his mark though. He has seven special team tackles since joining the Bengals, and he has been a staple at the gunner position.2019 OutlookIf Core makes the team it won’t be due to his offensive talent, so you shouldn’t expect a sudden outburst in offensive statistics from him even with Green’s injury opening up more snaps for the depth receivers.Hopefully Cheap Ryan Glasgow Jersey , Core will be able to make a mark on special teams, but keep your expectations low on him making an impact on the box score. That isn’t the most important thing for a player in Core’s position, though.Roster OddsAside from an unlikely contract extension, Darrin Simmons returning as Cincinnati’s special teams coordinator was the best news Core could’ve gotten this offseason. With Simmons remaining in the fold, Core should at least have the advantage on young players trying to make the roster via special teams.Auden Tate returns as well for his second year and figures to battle Core for one of the last receiving spots. Last season Core edged out Tate based on special teams contributions, but coaches have talked about loving Tate in the red zone, and assistant special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs talked about him not needing blazing speed to contribute on special teams. That may end up working against Core come September.You could make the argument that even Josh Malone could be thrown in the competition for the final two receiving spots with Tate, Core and their undrafted free agents (Stanley Morgan Jr. and Damion Willis), who shouldn’t be considered out of the running either by any means. Morgan and Willis are actually having good camps, so it’s getting harder to see Core holding on to his roster sport. Ultimately, Core’s spot may depend entirely on how well the bottom of the receiver depth chart performs in training camp and the preseason, as well as how Tate looks on special teams. Green’s injury does make it pretty likely that the Bengals will keep seven receivers on their 53-man roster, which is nothing but good news for Core. The class of 2016 is still holding on strong, and Core has survived three offseasons with the rest of the class. Let’s not count him out just yet. Roster odds: 60% Joe Mixon has already shown he can produce at a high level. Part two of our Emulating McVay series showcases how the Bengals can generate that production much easier." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteCincy Junglea Cincinnati Bengals communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpFanpostsFanshotsSectionsLibraryBengalsOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections #BITESIZEFilm RoomRoster Transactions and ContractsOrange & Black InsiderSalary Cap And CBAFiled under:AnalysisFilm RoomEmulating McVay: Making Joe Mixon’s life as easy as Todd Gurley’sNew,23commentsJoe Mixon has already shown he can produce at a high level. Part two of our Emulating McVay series showcases how the Bengals can generate that production much easier.EDTShareTweetShareShareEmulating McVay: Making Joe Mixon’s life as easy as Todd Gurley’sGetty ImagesPerson A and Person B each get into their own car and leave from the same starting point. The destination is the same for both of them and was roughly 1,200 miles away. The route that A took involved little to no traffic and was essentially a straight shot all the way through, but the speed limit rarely eclipsed 70 miles per hour. B got stuck in traffic on numerous occasions and even went through a few mountains during his route; however, he was fortunate enough to drive downhill more often and take advantage of higher speed limits. As a result Jordan Evans Jersey Limited , A and B arrived at the destination at the same exact time.A was Todd Gurley, B was Joe Mixon, and the destination was their rushing yardage at the conclusion of the 2018 NFL season.Gurley and Mixon finished fourth and third, respectively, in the NFL in rushing yards last year. Mixon’s 1,168 yards lead the AFC, while Gurley’s 1,251 yards put him behind Ezekiel Elliott and Saquon Barkley in the NFC. Both Gurley and Mixon ended up averaging 4.9 yards per carry, but a deeper dive into the numbers (via NFL.com’s NextGenStats and playerprofiler.com’s metrics) shows us a different journey for each running back. Gurley vs. Mixon Advanced StatsNAMEEFFICIENCY≥ 8 BOX DEFENDERS%AVERAGE TIME BEHIND LINE OF SCRIMMAGETRUE YARDS/ CARRYBREAKAWAY RUN%YARDS CREATED/ CARRYGAME SCRIPTATTEMPTSYARDSYARDS/ CARRYTOUCHDOWNSNAMEEFFICIENCY≥ 8 BOX DEFENDERS%AVERAGE TIME BEHIND LINE OF SCRIMMAGETRUE YARDS/ CARRYBREAKAWAY RUN%YARDS CREATED/ CARRYGAME SCRIPTATTEMPTSYARDSYARDS/ CARRYTOUCHDOWNSSome of these metrics need to be explained. These are the definitions per the respective websites.EFFICIENCY TRUE YARDS/CARRYBREAKAWAY RUN% YARDS CREATED/CARRYGAME SCRIPTBeyond the likeness they share in terms of basic efficiency metrics we’re frequently exposed to, Gurley and Mixon operated in a strikingly similar fashion with the ball in their hands. Their efficiency, average time behind the line of scrimmage, and true yards per carry all mirror each other. This means that both players covered roughly the same ground per carry, took the same amount of time reading their blocks and breaking through the line, and neither one had their explosive runs dramatically increase their yards per carry. All things being equal, Mixon proved he was capable of producing at Gurley’s level. But all things were not equal.Mixon ran into boxes with at least eight defenders 8% more of the time in comparison to Gurley. If we multiply those percentages by each player’s total carries, we find out that Gurley faced an eight-man box for about 21 of his carries, while 38 of Mixon’s carries came against them. 17 isn’t that big of a difference in terms of volume, and I was honestly surprised it wasn’t more in Gurley’s favor. Going through the film Nick Vigil Jersey , it was clear that the majority of stacked boxes Mixon faced was in the red zone, and that was the primary reason why his yards per carry in that portion of the field was a measly 2.56. When comparing their efficiency in the red zone, Gurley’s yards per carry was higher, but his touchdown rate was exactly the same.Gurley vs. Mixon Red Zone StatsNAMEYARDSATTEMPTSYARDS/ ATTEMPTTOUCHDOWNSTOUCHDOWNS/ ATTEMPTNAMEYARDSATTEMPTSYARDS/ ATTEMPTTOUCHDOWNSTOUCHDOWNS/ ATTEMPTMixon faced more unfavorable situations inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, but still ended up with the same yards per carry. How? Because he did slightly more on his own.Mixon’s breakaway run % and yards created per carry reign over Gurley’s marks in those metrics. Comparing those rates to their total carries we find that Mixon had about five more runs of 15+ yards and created roughly 80 more yards on his own. Not monumental differences, but enough to counter the differences against situations with stacked boxes. As it turns out, the differences between Gurley and Mixon’s production can be found before the play even begins.Jet motions for the winIt’s hard to watch the Rams’ rushing attack without noticing how much pre-snap movement occurs. Though I didn’t keep track, a healthy portion of Gurley’s attempts came after Los Angeles set a receiver in motion and snapped the ball right as he’s passing behind quarterback Jared Goff. This is what’s known as a jet motion, and it’s been a known staple of the Rams’ offense. Similar to play action, the offense does not need to hand the ball off to the motioning receiver beforehand to get the defense to bite on the motion itself. The threat of a handoff will always keep the defense honest to some degree, and this was extremely evident in some of Gurley’s big runs.The more you can slow down the defense, the better. Too much pre-snap movement can make your offense susceptible to false starts and potential confusion at the snap, but the Rams know how to keep it simple and make the defense react faster than they have too. Lightening the box for Mixon while putting the defense in compromising positions right before the snap is a clear path to success.Attacking the weakside doesn’t make you weakThe running game is more or less a numbers game, and the numbers associated with the defense matters more than the numbers associated with the offense. Running behind more blockers isn’t advantageous to the running back if he’s running into an area with more defenders. The defense has to account for the extra gaps created by the strongside of the formation, and this creates more opportunities for the blocking to fail. The Rams did a good job last year of making the defense account for the strongside, and then attacking the more spacious weakside of the formation.Gurley’s most common run was outside zone towards the left B-gap, right behind the legend himself, Andrew Whitworth. It was his most effective gap to run through in terms of explosive plays per ShaprFootballStats.com and it rarely mattered how the defense looked pre-snap to defend it — the Rams’ offensive line was that good at first-level blocking. When they loaded the right side and took attention away from the left side Andy Dalton Jersey , it made the play-call much more effective.Just because you can pound the ball down the center of the defense’s throat doesn’t mean you have to. The plan for MixonIn a phrase: work smarter, not harder.In just his second year, Mixon ascended his production to the top of the NFL after a disappointing rookie season and as we now know, how he collected that production is nothing short of impressive. It’s not up to Mixon to vastly improve in 2019, it’s up to design of the offense to do so.Luckily, early signs show that may be happening. Zac Taylor and his staff on offense have plenty of positive tape of Mixon to create the foundation of a rushing offense, and it only helps that Mixon and Gurley move and create so similarly on their own. Neither are necessarily elusive runners, but they’re hard to stop in the open field. Mixon might even be better at creating yards when his blocking can’t, which is why he’s an effective runner out of the shotgun.If the plan is to use Mixon more like Gurley, then the recent news regarding Jonah Williams and Cordy Glenn makes a lot of sense. With Williams at left tackle and Glenn at left guard, the Bengals’ two-best blockers (sans Clint Boling if he’s out of the picture) will be charged with paving the way for most of Mixon’s runs like Whitworth and former Rams’ left guard Rodger Saffold did for Gurley. Of course the rest of the line has to step up, but there’s only so much you can ask for.The relationship between the run and pass will be interesting to watch unfold this season in Cincinnati, and we’ll close out this series with a look at how to get Andy Dalton back and rolling like Jared Goff has been in the City of Angels.