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Ben Child, ESPN Workers Author
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals huge receiver Tyler Boyd believes he was the lacking issue that stored the crew from making back-to-back Tremendous Bowl appearances.
In his first day of offseason exercises, the veteran huge receiver met with reporters for the primary time because the AFC championship loss to Kansas Metropolis, the place he suffered a deep thigh bruise early within the second quarter of the 23-20 loss. Boyd mentioned he would have completed the sport if he was not less than 80% wholesome.
He mentioned what bothered him essentially the most was the sensation that he let the crew down.
“Nonetheless to today, I really feel like if I’d have performed the entire sport, I used to be the important thing issue,” Boyd mentioned. “We’d’ve gained the sport.”
On the time of the harm, Boyd had two catches for 40 yards. He appeared to undergo the harm following a 24-yard completion. On the finish of a giant acquire, Boyd’s left leg was caught beneath Kansas Metropolis security Justin Reid as Reid made the sort out. When Boyd stood up following the play, he instantly favored his left leg.
Boyd mentioned he tried varied illnesses akin to numbing cream and ibuprofen to get again on the sphere however was not in a position to play within the second half. He added that he did not need to get again on the sphere and be out of rhythm with quarterback Joe Burrow.
“I simply felt like we had sufficient depth for guys like [Trenton Irwin] and different guys to come back in and play at a quicker tempo than what I felt like I might do,” Boyd mentioned on Tuesday. “I want I used to be in a position to do it, however issues occur.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor, the crew’s offensive playcaller, mentioned that dropping Boyd offered a key problem given how a lot Kansas Metropolis was double-teaming the crew’s exterior receivers, Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase.
All through his profession, Boyd’s potential to combat via accidents has been nicely documented. In Week 16 of the 2019 season, Boyd staggered to the road of scrimmage regardless of coping with a severe cramp, a transfer that allowed Cincinnati to attain a tying landing on the finish of regulation. Final yr, Boyd missed Week 15 due to a dislocated finger the place a bone got here via the pores and skin. He returned for the remainder of the crew’s video games, together with all the postseason.
“Soccer is ache,” Boyd mentioned on Dec. 15. “You are going to get hit. You are going to get up sore the following morning anyhow.”
Boyd is one a number of gamers who has remained on the roster because the 2019 season, when the Bengals had the worst report within the NFL. If the crew decides to chop Boyd, the Bengals acquire roughly $8.9 in wage cap area whereas incurring simply $1.4 million in lifeless cash, based on Roster Administration System. Nevertheless, Boyd has not acquired any indication that he won’t play the ultimate yr of his present contract with the crew that drafted him in 2016.
“They love me within the entrance [office],” Boyd mentioned. “They respect me. I am going about issues the fitting method. I are available in with an important perspective each day. I do not complain as a lot. I am going on the market and do my job. It is a love, household factor.”
Taylor echoed that sentiment after Boyd’s first apply, which featured very gentle drills because the Bengals strategy the top of Section 2 of offseason exercises. The fifth-year coach mentioned Boyd has encapsulated the first tenets of the crew’s tradition, from day by day consistency to being open and sincere when requested for his ideas on the crew.
“He is been about what we need to be about, each step of the best way,” Taylor mentioned. “When this employees got here in right here in 2019 he is a type of guys that via thick and skinny is all the time, ‘No matter you want from me coach.'”
The crew that was the worst within the NFL throughout Taylor’s first yr with Boyd has now performed for championships in back-to-back seasons. Cincinnati bolstered the offensive line this offseason, including former Kansas Metropolis left sort out Orlando Brown Jr. in March throughout free company.
“I find it irresistible as a result of we have now a pleasant little rivalry with the Chiefs,” Boyd mentioned. “Simply seeing him come over, you recognize, it is like, ‘We one-upped y’all,’ however on the finish of the day, he is an important participant regardless of the place he would have went.”
Boyd and the Bengals will likely be seeking to get again to the AFC title sport for one more crack at enjoying for a Tremendous Bowl, a sport the Bengals misplaced on the finish of the 2021 marketing campaign.
Boyd enters this season ranked fifth in receptions in franchise historical past (446) and ninth in complete receiving yards (5,333). However numbers and cash will not be the best precedence as Boyd approaches what may very well be his closing yr with the membership.
“I simply need to win, and that is the largest evolution of coming right here and beginning right here and being the place I’m,” Boyd mentioned. “We’re a successful franchise now and we’re going to proceed to win. We’re getting higher.”