Cincinnati Bengals tight end Drew Sample is like Michael Myers in the Halloween franchise. Or if you're nasty, how Doomsday should've been in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — Ultimate Edition directed by Zack Snyder.
In a word [that doesn't trip violent content censorship wires]: Indefatigable.
Is this due to Sample's true greatness as an NFL player? Decidedly not. Monuments will be erected in Sample's name as a paragon of human biologic case studies on the sunk cost fallacy phenomenon.
The Bengals organization's collective hypnosis over Sample's alleged value on the gridiron and the locker room will never cease to miff me. It's like there's this grand conspiracy between the coaching staff and the decision-making powers that be to troll the fanbase every single year by keeping Sample, a 2019 second-round pick, on the roster.
And OH (that was not the state of Ohio abbreviation, folks). Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else...our man Sample is not merely on the most loaded roster of Joe Burrow's career. Sample is, without fail, every single year, atop the Bengals' depth chart as the No. 1 tight end.
Sample is an unshakeable staple as Bengals' No. 1 tight end
Here's the what the tight end group looks like on the first Bengals depth chart of the new season for your viewing pleasure. In order:
- Drew Sample
- Mike Gesicki
- Tanner Hudson
- Erick All Jr.
- Cam Grandy
- Jack Endries
- Josh Kattus
Hey, where's 2024 sixth-round pick Tanner McLachlan? Sorry. Too soon?
Common disclaimer required here to say that depth charts, especially in the preseason, are fluid. However, I challenge anyone to look back on the history of Bengals depth charts in recent years. Find one where Sample isn't at the top as the tight end, save for maybe in 2022 when he was limited to two regular-season games.
Spoiler alert: You will not find one. No matter how many pass-catching specialists come and go who have a far bigger impact on the offense (Hayden Hurst, Irv Smith Jr., et al., we salute you), Sample reigns supreme.
Sample as TE1 is the greatest running bit coming out of 1 Paycor Stadium these days. A stone-cold comedy classic. There's a Groundhog Day joke to be made here but I'll stop bombarding you with movie allusions so we don't stray too far off-topic.
Anyway, if we're being honest, Sample's TE1 status, a troll job though it may be by the organization, is a little deceptive.
How Erick All Jr. and Mike Gesicki inflate Sample's depth chart stock
Speaking of the 2024 draft (sorry for that stray, Tanner McLachlan), Erick All Jr. was a fourth-round pick in that class, which looks like a full-blown disaster class by Duke Tobin other than Amarius Mims.
All would've gone much higher if not for his need for back surgery while in college, and a knee injury so nagging that it cost him a good chunk of his rookie campaign, and all of last season.
Joe Burrow has said he expects big things from All this year. It seems like all systems are GO! for All. The CAPS LOCK and exclamatory were necessary, because All boasted about how ready to roll he is after getting hit by a truck in Greece this summer. That served as a confidence booster for him.
A lot of NFL players have to have a screw or two loose in the noggin to play this violent game. Starting to think All might have a bit of that vibe to him. But we love you, Erick. Don't change for the world.
As for Mike Gesicki, well, he's the clear actual No. 1 tight end. Alas, I've nicknamed him "Tino" (Tight End in Name Only), because Gesicki aligns as a slot receiver on the vast majority of his snaps. He can't *really* be considered a tight end.
Between the fact that All is still on the mend from multiple years of battling injuries, and the fact that Gesicki is more of a wide receiver than a tight end, Sample is atop the depth chart mostly by default.
He's getting away with it again. In his eighth season as a pro. My analogous reaction below.
Sampling another TE1 is evidently out of the question in Cincinnati
Up until last season, if you look at any data point about how much Burrow has been obliterated to smithereens in the pocket and even try to suggest that Drew Sample has made a meaningful impact as a pass protecting specialist, I'm sorry, you don't know the game of football. Sample doesn't get enough run in those dropback situations to make enough of an impression.
And if your contention is that Sample is indispensable in the running game, well, that's not terribly rooted in reality either, is it? Cincinnati hasn't ranked better than twenty-ninth in rushing yards since the start of the 2022 season. They've been schematically unimaginative, determined to let Burrow air it out as many times as possible.
Erick All Jr. has far superior athleticism and possesses as much willingness to block as Sample, if not more. When healthy, All should absolutely ascend to TE1 status. And yes, past Tanner Hudson.
Oh, and forget about prioritizing the development of a promising rookie in Jack Endries, who fell into the Bengals' laps in the seventh round of this year's draft. Training camp is Sample's time!
It legit blows my mind — I'm shaking as I type this, you can't see me, how do you know for sure? — that the Bengals don't broaden their horizons a bit more at the position. For how invisible I've already argued Sample to be, he has a negligible impact in one of the NFL's premier, pass-heavy offensive systems.
Of the 115 receptions Sample has in his career, 40 of them came in 2020. Only 42 of them have gone for first downs (36.5%). He averages a paltry 7.3 yards per catch. He has a mere five touchdowns from all those catches.
So somebody please explain it to me. Why on Earth is Drew Sample still on this Bengals roster? Never mind hogging/mogging the No. 1 spot in the tight end room in perpetuity?
For crying out loud, somebody do something. No offense intended to Sample. It's fine work if you can get it to last this long in the NFL and gut it out like he does as a thankless blocker in the trenches. I just wonder if there's ever been a replacement-level player that a pro football franchise has ever been more loyal to.
To me, Sample's depth chart placement and inability to ever be displaced out of Cincinnati stems from his draft status alone. It's an absolute pride point, galaxy-brained feather in Tobin's cap. As if Duke is saying, "Look at me. I drafted a blocking tight end in the second round, and it's working! Ha! Eat that, haters!"
Nah, Duke. It's over big man. Let Sample free. Save $2.85 million. Use the extra money to go get someone who can actually help the Bengals get over that Super Bowl hump.
I'm sorry to dress the situation down like this. But only a little sorry. Because Drew Sample seems like a first-class professional and obviously brings some value from a leadership standpoint as such a long-tenured Bengal. My main contention lies in whether he deserves to be one of the longest-tenured Bengals.
PS: BvS: DoJ — UE fans, a little treat for the three of you who are into that sort of thing.
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