Charlie Jones scores in the receiving game-- and on special teams
With the future of Tyler Boyd and potentially Tee Higgins as well looking uncertain in regards to still being in stripes past the 2023 season, it felt like a good time to draft potential replacements, and that's exactly what the Bengals did by selecting Charlie Jones in the fourth round and adding Andrei Iosivas in the sixth round, as well as a few UDFAs too.
Jones, though, will have the highest chance of them all to actually play during the regular season, as he is, at the moment, listed at WR4 with Iosivas as WR6 and the UDFAs (Mac Hippenhammer and Malachi Carter) rounding out the bottom of the receiving depth chart. So, unless Cincinnati gets really unlucky and sees two or all three of their big trio of receivers go down or the offense decides to get really experimental with who they have out there, the only rookie you'll likely see on the field once the regular season comes along is the former Purdue Boilermaker.
Saying he'll get a touchdown through the air isn't all that bold of a prediction, however saying he'll return a kickoff to the house (as he is listed as the kick returner on the depth chart) is pretty bold. Ignoring the new kickoff rules implemented this off-season that all but encourage players not to try and return them, the Bengals haven't had a kick return TD since November 2020 and Jones only had one in college with Iowa in 2021.
Truthfully, this is probably the least likely to come true, but I just have that gut feeling, so I'll take a shot in the dark and say Jones takes a return all the way to the house for six this season. This is about bold predictions, after all.