Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver John Ross had a disappointing rookie season last year and looked to bounce back. How does he handle the critics?
The Cincinnati Bengals took wide receiver John Ross with the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. After struggling with shoulder injuries and missing out on offseason camps, Ross failed to catch a single pass last season and fumbled on the one handoff he received. After a productive offseason in 2018, Ross sets out to prove that he can be the receiver Cincinnati selected in the top ten picks.
Ross has worked hard this offseason to improve his game working out mostly with former Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. It’s not the first time Ross had worked with Houshmandzadeh as they worked out together when Ross was going into college as well. T.J. has made it a point this offseason to build his confidence up and get his head back into the game instead of question his every move.
It seems that being healthy and working out with Houshmandzadeh has been good so far as coaches and players raved about what they saw from Ross at OTAs. Ross was unable to participate in OTAs last season so this is his first time going through the camps. He left mandatory minicamp last week to resume working out with Houshmandzadeh until the team resides for training camp on July 26.
With his shoulder being repaired and coming into camps fully healthy, there are no more excuses for the young receiver. He must conquer the mental side of football now and drown out the noise of the media and fans that want to bring him down. Ross interviewed on SiriusXM NFL Radio talking about how he felt hearing all of the negative comments about himself in the media.
#Bengals WR @WatchJRoss: It hurt me a lot because sometimes people don't understand what a player goes thru. Nobody wants to be hurt or plans to be hurt. When people question the things that you desire when they don't understand can be tough.
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) June 19, 2018
(On his critics after 2017 season) pic.twitter.com/1j5Zw3aENK
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It’s not as if Ross wanted to be injured or not to contribute last season. Injuries happen, and now it’s time to prove all of the fans that wrote him off after one season of being hurt. Ross even mentioned how he didn’t feel that head coach Marvin Lewis was a villain for the comments he made to the press about Ross last season. I expect big things from Ross in 2018, and if he can overcome the mental side of football, we could see a powerful receiver duo in Cincinnati.