Notes From Training Camp 2025

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(07-25-2025, 05:27 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I haven't gone back to try to watch any games from last year, but for anyone that has, was it more that Iosivas doesn't exhibit those traits on the field, or could it be more around the playcalling for when, where, and how Iosivas is getting the ball?

I like to compare different players at a position, and in this case, it'd be slot WR.
Boyd averaged 11.7 YPR with the Bengals, so he is good to compare to.
We generally consider him a "good" slot guy.
Iosivas had a 13.3 YPR last year, so he might actually be more dynamic than a more standard/typical slot guy, and being in the slot and running those routes might be making it more difficult for him to get more open by having him on shorter routes and having more defenders around him vs being on the outside or better scheming?
For Iosivas to have a 13.3 YPR but only a long of 39 yards last year shows me he's been productive when making receptions and it's not just a few really long receptions skewing his YPR.

EDIT - Two other of the big slot receivers with the Bengals the past couple decades also were in the 11 YPR range - Housh (11.4 YPR) and Sanu (11.8 YPR). I think in general, most slot receivers are just not overly dynamic and it can impact their productivity. Julian Edelman, one of the outside great slot receivers, had 11.0 YPR. So 10-12 YPR is pretty typical for even "good" slot WRs. If Iosivas can have >12, that's pretty good.

Yoshi was the #2 WR for a good portion of the year.

That said, yards per catch are really not a huge indicator of quality of play so long as you're above the minimum threshold expected of your position. Ja'Marr Chase only had 0.1 higher than Iosivas last year at 13.4. Meanwhile Burton had 26.3 yards per catch. It's largely just a product of how you are being used.

If you want to actually compare him to a good slot guy....
Boyd had a 3.3% drop rate to Iosivas' 8.2%
Boyd had 4.6 yards after the catch per reception to Iosivas' 1.9
Boyd caught 68.1% of his targets (70.6% in the Burrow era) to Iosivas catching just 59.0%

Iosivas' one strength is he is really good inside the 10. Outside of that he's been a really bad WR who just got way too many offensive snaps. I never say that PFF is gospel, but it matches the eye test and the stat test when it says he was the 126th out of 133 WRs last year.