But What About Jermaine?

For Bengals fans the upcoming season is littered with high expectations. Super Bowl predictions, AFC North favorites and more than a handful of pro bowl players which fans expect to take the next step into being stars of the NFL. Of course that group includes the young quarterback Andy Dalton. Dalton will have plenty of weapons on offense to spread the ball to even excluding A.J. Green. Green is the centerpiece of the offense and new additions Tyler Eifert and Giovanni Bernard have been highly touted and for good reason. Fans and media alike have shown tons of love for the Cincinnati offense and talked about every weapon and the impact they could have this year. We've heard about the potential of Sanu, and Marvin Jones and the X-factor that is Andrew Hawkins.

But what about Jermaine?

The forgotten player in the Bengals hype is tight end Jermaine Gresham. Still a young player, Gresham has shown many flashes of play making ability that is as good as any tight end in the league not named Jimmy Graham. Yes, Gresh has his moments where he may not be the most likable player on the field and he drops a pass on occasion, but lets not forget the spectacular catches he goes up to get over defenders. Not to mention he is the tailor made red zone target that Andy Dalton needs coming off the line. One thing that Gresham never gets credit for and that's the way he plays. On the field he is mean as a snake and when he gets the ball in his hands he is looking to punish defenders who try to bring him down. Ask Desmond Trufant how that feels.

A lot of Bengals fan point to the drafting of Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert as leading to the downfall of Gresham in Cincinnati. The opposite is true. The drafting of Eifert has lit a fire under Jermaine that the coaching staff says they have never seen before. Eifert will run two TE sets with Gresh which will be reminiscent of the Gronk & Hernandez show in recent years. Eifert wont push Jermaine out of Cincinnati, he will push him to be better than ever which should be a scary thought for every other team in the league, and should put a smile on the face of every Bengals fan that reads this.

Don't forget about Jermaine, Just because Dalton has a few new toys this year, doesn't mean his pro bowl tight end is going anywhere. Gresh will have a better year than Eifert, Marvin Jones and I think even better than Mohamed Sanu. He will be Dalton's main red zone target outside of A.J. Green and don't forget his one handed grabs over top of outmatched defensive backs. You'll be seeing a lot of Jermaine dunking on the goalposts this year so keep an eye on the big guy.

Who Dey.