Fourth-year wide receiver Tyler Boyd is certainly happy with his new contract extension with the Cincinnati Bengals that ties him to the team for the next five years, make no mistake. But he’s also hoping that Bengals owner Mike Brown isn’t quite done handing out contract extensions to wide receivers this offseason.
Up next is ninth-year veteran A.J. Green, who for the first time in his career last season did not make the Pro Bowl, though likely only due to the fact that he missed most of the year with a toe injury that put him on injured reserve after he tried to come back from it, reinjuring himself. He caught 46 passes for 496 yards and six touchdowns despite missing seven games and parts of others.
It’s the second time in three years that he has missed six or more games, though he played all of the 2017 season in between. Set to turn 31 years old at the end of the month, the Bengals front office doesn’t appear to have any concerns about his future health or a dropoff in play.
“The only thing I’ve ever seen of A.J. is his tremendous ability, and I haven’t seen that fall off”, said Duke Tobin, the team’s director of player personnel. “The guys that have the high-level skill set normally tend to last longer. They tend to heal quicker, and their careers tend to go a little longer because they are so physically gifted. He takes such good care of himself and it means so much to him, I’m not anticipating a dropoff”.
Neither is Boyd, who wants to play as much of his career as possible with Green as the man on the other side. “A.J.’s not going anywhere”, he said yesterday after receiving his own extension. “Just walking through this door man, that’s the only guy I wanted to watch and learn from”.
In eight seasons, Green, the former fourth-overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, has produced 602 catches for 8907 yards with 63 touchdowns. He has never had a 100-catch season, though he had 97 and 98. He has six 1000-yard seasons, with a seventh reaching 964 in a year in which he played only 10 games. He has three double-digit-touchdown seasons and has scored eight or more times in four years.
Since he came into the league, only three players have recorded more receiving yards, and only four have produced more touchdowns. He also has the fifth-most receptions in that span. So no wonder Boyd wants to keep him across from him as long as possible.
“I give it about a year or two and we should be talked about as the top duos”, he told the team’s website about the Bengals’ combo at wide receiver. “I feel like he’s the best receiver in the game. The only reason he’s not in that top two or three category is because he hasn’t been healthy throughout the years”.
