<em>Can Alex Erickson build on his success as a kick returner to become a playmaker in the Bengals offense next season? If so Geno Atkins Jersey , how good can he be going forward?</em>In a down year for the Cincinnati Bengals, one surprising bright spot was the emergence of wide receiver/kick returner Alex Erickson. Erickson was recently named as the second team kick returner onthe Pro Football Focus All-Pro Team.Erickson started the year fighting for a roster spot with the Bengals as an undrafted free agent. After securing a spot on the 53 man roster, Erickson was awarded return duties. Making the most of his opportunities, he finishedthe year ranked first in total return yards. In addition to returns, Erickson also saw limited work as a receiver, catching 6 passes for 71 yards.Article continues below ...While Erickson didn’t necessarily shine as a receiver, his kick return abilities proved that he is capable of providing a boost to the Bengals offense. After finding success as a rookie, the questions that need answering are: How can the Bengals leverage Erickson to get the most out of his talents, and how good can he be after that happens?More from Stripe HypeNFL Free Agency: Options The Bengals Should Explore22h agoBengals’ Lewis Should Take Page From Sam Wyche’s Book1 d agoBengals’ Jeremy Hill Under Fire For 20171 d agoBengals’ Stats That Sum Up The 2016 Season1 d agoFour Bengals Land On Pro Football Focus All-Pro Teams3d agoCollege ExperienceErickson did the same thing in the NFL as he did in College: he walked on. Erickson initially joined the Badgers scout team after playing quarterback in high school. After working his way onto the team he played three years at the University of Wisconsin and got the majority of his playing time in 2014 and 2015 as a wide receiver. Playing primarily in the slot, Erickson caught 55 passes in 2014 and 77 passes in 2015 with three touchdowns each season. Erickson also returned 24 punts and two kicks for a total of 213 yards and a 7.3 yard average on punt returns.ComparisonsWhen looking at players with a similar skill set as Erickson, there is reason to be optimistic. Many of the more electrifying kick return specialists in the past–with dimensions close to Erickson’s 6-0 195 poundframe–haveprogressed to become valuable members of their team’s receiving corps. In addition, when looking at their first year in the league, they put up numbers comparable to Erickson’s (71 receiving yards, 57 returns for 1,005 yards with a 7.0 yard punt return average and 27.9yard kick return average).Here are some of the notable wide receivers/kick returners from the past decade that Bengals fans would love to see Erickson blossom into:What the Future HoldsWes Welker 5-9 190 lb.During his playing days, Welker was one of the best slot receivers in the game. Before he shined with the Patriots and Broncos, Welker started out returningkicks for the Chargers and Dolphins. In his rookie season, he didn’t catch a pass but did return 100 kicks and punts for 1,777 yards with an average of 10.8 yards per punt return and 23.2 yards per kick return. Welker ended up as a two-time first team all pro and a five-time pro bowl selection.The way the Patriots and Broncos used Welker has been a model for how to utilize slot receivers. Marvin Lewis and the Bengals staff could use Erickson in this role in the futureJosh Cribbs 6-1 192 lb.During his rookie season, Cribbs caught one pass for seven yards and returned 46 kicks for 1,099 yards with an average of 5.0 yards per punt return and 24.3 yards per kick return. Cribbs finished his careerwith a first team all-pro honor and three Pro Bowl appearances.Devin Hester 5-11 185 lb.Starting his career with the Chicago Bears as a cornerback,Hester tallied 1,128 return yards. He had an average of 12.8 yards per punt return, 26.4 yards per kick return and no receptions in his rookie season. He ended up earning three first team all pro honors and 4 pro bowl selections.OutlookLooking at the statistics of notable returners Womens Andy Dalton Jersey , Erickson is about on par with them in their first season. Does this mean that Erickson, an undrafted free agent that played sparingly at wide receiver is destined for greatness? Of course not, but does it mean that if he keeps making the most of his opportunities he can become an explosive asset to the Bengals offense in the future? Absolutely.Next: Bengals Free Agent Acquisitions?If Erickson has a positive off-season, look for him to keep making plays in the kick return game. He’ll also get more opportunities as a slot receiver in four and five wide sets. The season didn’t have many bright spots for the Bengals, but Erickson was one. Hopefully, he can build onthat success going forward.This article originally appeared on What should we expect from third-year receiver, John Ross? Does it seem like the team is responding to the new coach and is happy they won’t be on this year’s version of "Hard Knocks"? And, why are the Bengals always overlooked by the national media?" />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteCincy Junglea Cincinnati Bengals communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpFanpostsFanshotsSectionsLibraryBengalsOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections #BITESIZEFilm RoomRoster Transactions and ContractsOrange & Black InsiderSalary Cap And CBAFiled under:MailbagAnalysisVideosBengals mailbag: Knocking out stereotypes and getting it from RossNew,9commentsWhat should we expect from third-year receiver, John Ross? Does it seem like the team is responding to the new coach and is happy they won’t be on this year’s version of “Hard Knocks”? And, why are the Bengals always overlooked by the national media?EDTShareTweetShareShareBengals mailbag: Knocking out stereotypes and getting it from RossA major part of The Orange and Black Insider Bengals podcast here on Cincy Jungle is a listener question segment. It’s received so much traction lately that we have now opted to have a standalone episode for the listeners!We kicked off our inaugural episode late last week and the engagement was awesome! There were other questions we couldn’t get to on the air, though, so we’re grabbing those in this mailbag post. During the live Q & A portion, we answered questions ranging from doubts on Lou Anarumo as a first-time defensive coordinator in the NFL, as well as our favorite rookies, and even a discussion on Andy Dalton being the catalyst for some fans potentially jumping on the Browns bandwagon. Have a listen at the audio below, or check out the video above!*****We received this in the live Q & A comment section from reader/listener “let14inhofnow”:There hasn’t been a ton of news regarding Ross dominating practices, but the biggest takeaway seems to be his positive mindset. And, for many professional football players, that’s a huge deal. The answer to this question also centers around what one’s definition of “a breakout year” is in their mind. I think most would take a bridging of Ross’ team co-lead of seven touchdowns in 2018 with more consistency in receptions, yards and even as a decoy to open things up for others. If we want to use the 2018 Rams’ offense as the barometer, they had three receivers set to have at least 80 catches and 1,000 yards, had Cooper Kupp not go down with a knee injury in Week 8. Still Womens A.J. Green Jersey , there are reasons to not immediately expect Ross to be on that pace in year one of the Zac Taylor era. Aside from some likely growing pains in the new system, the Bengals have a plethora of weapons at Andy Dalton’s disposal. And, you can’t blame him for it, but not only No. 14 likes to hone in on A.J. Green for the bulk of his pass attempts, but he also seeks out Tyler Eifert in the red zone. Where I expect him to improve the most, and is the area in which he needs to show the most improvement, would be in catch percentage. This is something that is both the fault of scheme and Ross’ own drops, but his receiving of only 35% of passes thrown his way the past two seasons is a back-breaker. This should improve because of two aforementioned facets: his own comfortability with the new staff and in Taylor’s new scheme. We should expect more jet sweeps, as well as screens and routes to utilize his immense speed on easy yards-after-the-catch opportunities. Basically, the things the team should have been doing with him from the minute they called his name with the 2017 No. 9 pick. The other issue to note is Ross’ inability to stay fully healthy (an issue that plagued Dalton last year as well), so that could ding his 2019 numbers. But, if you’re forcing my hand right now, I’ll go with roughly 55 catches, 700 receiving yards and another year of seven combined rushing/receiving touchdowns. *****This email was a good one from Thomas:Thanks for the kind words—we appreciate your readership and listenership. “Hard Knocks” is interesting because the common perception is that the players relish the spotlight of the cameras, but the coaches’ hesitate to commit to the program because of the potential leaking of team schemes and the like. But, as Thomas notes (and in a way I haven’t thought about previously), it also gives some enigmatic assistant coaches a platform to promote themselves, so to speak. Hue Jackson was one of the more popular figures in the Bengals’ 2012 foray on the documentary and it may have helped him parlay that popularity into a Browns head coaching job. It’s hard to say exactly the mindset of the players when it comes to doing the program. For instance, a guy like Chad Ochocinco loved being in the limelight, while the media-adverse Geno Atkins is relieved that he probably won’t have to appear on it again in his NFL career. With Taylor touting the “It’s About Us” team motto this year, as well as his emphasizing character right away, it’s likely that the prevailing opinion within the Paul Brown Stadium walls is satisfaction in not being the main attraction of what can sometimes be HBO’s version of a circus. The quasi-introverted credo also points to the team looking forward to potentially taking the league by surprise this year, after so many outlets have doled out low expectations. Still, doesn’t this 2019 team and its low expectations seem like some sort of blend of those 2009 and 2012 Bengals squads? The most obvious being some of the same figureheads featured on that iteration from eight years ago.There aren’t necessarily the same characters on the roster as there were over a decade ago http://www.thebengalslockerroom.com/authentic-jessie-bates-iii-jersey , but it was a team that was coming off of an injury-plagued and miserable 2008 campaign. Those 2009 Bengals were on a mission to redemption and ended up writing a pretty nice story for themselves, albeit not a fairy tale one. At any rate, news out of OTAs has the Bengals players enamored with Taylor’s approach. And while the team may not be choosing not to be on the program, per se, they are following Taylor’s lead for the time being. *****Finally, we also received this text message from another listener:Yes, and no. Boston is obviously a major market and gets a lot of attention—rightfully so, given the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era. But, this was a team that had only two championship appearances (1963 AFL Championship and Super Bowl XX) in its first 36 years in existence. They had one other Super Bowl appearance thanks to Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells following the 1996 season, but the Pats were Lombardi-less until that fateful winter of 2001-2002. They’ve become the media’s darling after constructing the NFL’s version of The Infinity Gauntlet. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, isn’t a major media market—at least not to the level of Boston, Los Angeles, or New York. But, like it or not, it’s a sports town filled with teams that know how to win. The Penguins are a hockey dynasty, while the Pirates were baseball royalty in the Roberto Clemente-Willie Stargell days. But, the Steelers arguably rule the town with their brash style of play and their six Super Bowl victories. It isn’t just the success that endears the Steelers to the national media. Hate them if you will, but also envy them for their management style and the way they run their football operations. Like the Bengals, Pittsburgh is run by a longtime football family in the Rooney’s. And, while their team has been a bit of a circus lately with Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, their knack for tightly-run organizational management and consistently finding generational talents to shape the franchise has to be admired. Recently, we debated the notion if the Bengals’ lack of success was deliberate, or just a series of mistakes that were bred out of good intentions. While a little bit of bad luck is also to blame Giovani Bernard Jersey White , the point is that this just isn’t a discussion that is had in The Steel City. The conversation around Three Rivers is more about how to get back to winning ways, which is their annual benchmark. It also helps that the Rooney’s have done some solid P.R. work over the years. Dan Rooney was named a liaison to Ireland by former U.S. President, Barack Obama, while also spearheading “The Rooney Rule” to promote opportunities for minorities in the NFL. Meanwhile, the Brown family is painted as a family cooped up in their ivory tower, occasionally being alone on voting islands during the annual owner’s meetings. They don’t address the media often, do not honor their past greats in a way that nearly all other NFL franchises do, and largely run the team in an outdated manner. So, basically one of a few things will need to happen for the Bengals to get into the good graces of news outlets. The first and most obvious is to obtain generational talents. This doesn’t have to come with No. 1 overall picks, but they need to get their hands on players who can rise above the shortcomings of the franchise. The dominoes to fall after that would be better operational practices and increased P.R. measures. Obviously, the hope is that they’ve solved the coaching woes with Taylor and his staff. For now, Bengals fans will have to deal with being on the outside looking in, so to speak.If you’re unable to join us live for here at Cincy Jungle or YouTube every episode, all Orange and Black Insider content is available here on CJ, the Stitcher, Spotify and Google Play Music apps, our YouTube channel, as well as through Megaphone and, as always, on iTunes! You can tweet us @BengalsOBI or get in touch with us via email at theobinsider@gmail.com. Thanks for listening and go subscribe to our channels!