The Goblin has really been getting after it these days flip flopping more than a good ole' John Kerry campaign. He starts weeks ago ridiculing the notion that drafting defense on day 1 then states after the combine (and prior to the Jones/Bryant addition) that after talking to scouts that team clearly needs to go defense because of the depth in the draft on that side of the ball. Here's an idea Geoff: do a little research and reading prior to writing 5,000 words of pure drivel then following it up with another 5000 words completely contradictory to your prior article. It gets exhausting.
One of the big topics in Hobgoblin land and Bengaldom in general is the position of tight end. Now, I must admit that I've never understood the obsession. Outside of freak of nature Antonio Gates and studs like Dallas Clark and Jason Witten I don't feel the position is as influential as people like to think. Plenty of teams succeed without an elite blocking/receiving tight end combination. Hobson loves to make excuses wherever possible for inefficiency so the offenses shortcomings last year largely fell on the shoulders of our tight ends and the tragic and truly heartbreaking death of Chris Henry. Reggie Kelly and Ben Utecht were lost for the year during camp and the excuse machine was in full force. I like Kelly. He's a solid, workmanlike guy Marvin loves. But he is far from elite. Utecht has never been a difference maker and probably has more potential to be a Christian rock superstar than in the top 15 statistically for tight ends. It sucked they got hurt but it was not the reason we did not advance in the playoffs.
The platoon of Dan Coates and J.P. Foschi has been much maligned and the Goblin has targeted it as a position to draft in the coming months. He states that signing Kelly needs to be priority number one. Really? Our first priority should be to resign a 33 year old average tight end who is coming off of a missed season for a ruptured Achilles tendon? That's the sort of decision a franchise that does not compete for division championships makes. I want the best for Reggie Kelly but I can guarantee you the New England Patriots would not make that move. Year in and out the Patriots cut ties with fan favorites and stable veterans when it becomes clear that they no longer compete at a level high enough to win.
He goes on to blame the spread offense for killing the tight end position saying that now teams need a receiving tight end and a blocking tight end. If you are a purely receiving tight end, aren't you just a slow, big, and probably bad wide receiver? If a guy can't even chip down on a block then he's not a tight end. He goes on to discuss Greg Olsen of the Bears and that his signing is probably not likely because the Bears just signed another tight end to block thereby supporting the notion that Olsen can't block. He spanks Olsen around a little bit more "I’d hate to spend a second-round pick on Olsen and then find out that he can’t get in Terrell Suggs’ way." Yeah, great logic. Let's use as our example one of the best rushers in the whole damn league. A lot of offensive tackles have problems when Suggs attacks them.
This whole tight end tirade of the Hobgoblin comes just months after he featured an entire article on Aaron Hernandez-a guy who is a softer clone of Chase Coffman. In summation, Hobson is an idiot.
http://www.bengals.com/news/hobson-online/article-1/Hobsons-Choice-Line-dance/4d62d773-cb1a-4e6f-9f93-0e047449a817
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