Dalton's passing weapons

The Bengals enter this season with something to prove offensively. The team ranked 17th last year in passing offense, which fits the bill of a pretty average passing team with not many weapons besides AJ Green. The Bengals were in a rhythm early in the season with Andrew Hawkins, AJ Green, and Mohamed Sanu playing well on the outside and in the slot. However, when Sanu got hurt in the ladder part of the season, the team spiraled offensively, culminating in a quarterback rating in the postseason of 44.7 for Andy Dalton. 

The Bengals made sure the receiving threats would be improved this year for Dalton in his 3rd NFL season. Green is back and could have a historic year for the Bengals. Green caught 97 balls for 1350 yards and 11 td's for the Bengals last season, but had some drops and was double covered a great deal. Green should improve even more this season and will catch at least 100 passes. Jermaine Gresham will look for a big pay day after this season and will try to improve on a Pro Bowl season where he didn't look like a Pro Bowler towards the end of the year. Gresham is a bruiser who is athletic enough to separate from linebackers and big enough to outmaneuver defensive backs. He will team up with Tyler Eifert to form a deadly duo. Look for the Bengals to run a lot of offensive sets with Green, Sanu, Gresham, and Eifert on the field. 

Sanu, Andrew Hawkins, and Marvin Jones will expand upon what they did last season. Sanu and Jones were rookies last year, and Hawkins was basically the same thing after not being much of a receiving threat his rookie year. Hawkins and Sanu can each be very tough to cover in the slot, and Jones has the athleticism to break away on deep passes. Rookies Cobi Hamilton and Gio Bernard will assist Dalton in catching passes as well. Hamilton is a physical receiver who isn't afraid to go over the middle, and Bernard has explosiveness. Alex Smith and Orson Charles could each see some time in the West Coast Offense as well. 

Overall, the Bengals are pretty set with weapons in the receiving game for training camp. There should be some great battles at wide receiver and tight end, and a couple of decent players will get cut from the team. If the Bengals can sustain passing success over the course of the season, the sky is the limit.