They could not have planned this any better...

They could not have planned this any better. In late September, the Bengals lost their wide receiver three, Andre Yoshivas, to injured reserve. The man who took his snaps once paid $100 just to try out for a CFL team. Sunday in Madrid, right before halftime, Joe Burrow found him for 42 yards. Evan McPherson drilled a 57-yard field goal after it, and the Bengals went into the half up 24-10. They won 34-17 for their 4th straight win and now they're 6-2. Now the timing gets interesting. On Monday, Zach Taylor said Yoshivas is doing well and left the door open for him to return this Sunday night against the Steelers. So when Yoshivas is ready to return, does he even get his job back? Because the guy who replaced him does something that this receiver room has mostly gotten from Jamar Chase and he signed through 2028. The case for him is real, and the one red flag is zero receiving touchdowns thus far. But they lost Yoshivas, found a $100 tryout guy, and came out of it with a cheaper, shiftier wide receiver three signed through 2028. So when Yoshivas is healthy, who should be the Bengals wide receiver three? Dante Myers or Andre Yoshivas? Tell me in the comments below, and I'll see you in the next one. His name is Dante Myers, number 81, and in Madrid, he was the third receiver on the field behind Chase and Tee Higgins. In the first half alone, he had a 42-yard catch, a 5-yard catch, and a 16-yard run. That's 63 yards on three touches from a player most fans couldn't have even named in August. Now, Chase had the big day, 155 yards and a 47-yard touchdown, but Myers made the play that set up the field goal that sent the Bengals into the half up 24-10. Pro Football Focus came out of that game saying he makes a case for the permanent wide receiver three role even with Yoshivas coming back and it's not one game either. On the season he has 18 catches for 222 yards, fourth on the team and 30 yards behind Mike Gusecki. His 26 targets are tied with Gusecki for fourth behind only Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins and running back Chase Brown. Per catch one Bengals receiver is at 12.3 yards and the other is at 12.2. The 12.3 is Dante Myers and the 12.2 is Jamar Chase and it's happening at the perfect time with Pittsburgh coming to Cincinnati on Sunday night with first place on the line. Speaking of the Steelers this video is brought to you by Kalshi and on Kalshi you're trading directly against other users not the house like traditional sportsbooks. So you're buying yes or no contracts on the outcome of events across sports, politics, or even the weather. For example The AFC North winter market has the Bengals at 63% right now and the Steelers at 31% and those two teams meet Sunday night. So if you're interested in trying out Kalshi, use the link in the description below as well as the pinned comment and use code DIGESTNFL to get $55 added to your account instantly when you trade your first $25. Now back to Dante Myers because to get how unlikely this is, you have to know where he came from. Myers came out of high school without a single recruiting star. He started 20 games at Presbyterian an FCS school and then dropped down to D2 at Delta State. In two seasons there, he had 1,542 receiving yards and he still went undrafted in 2023. The Falcons brought him in and cut him after rookie minicamp. Yes, the same Falcons he just helped beat by 17 in Madrid. So he made them pay a little bit, but he paid $100 to get into a Saskatchewan Roughriders open tryout in Atlanta, and it got him a contract. Then his body got in the way, a broken hand, then a separated shoulder that needed surgery, both in 2024. In 2025, it finally clicked with 1,056 receiving yards in 15 games. He capped it with 76 yards in the Grey Cup, a 25-17 win over Montreal. That's a guy who bet $100 on himself and won. By the way, if you've been watching our Bengals coverage all season long and you haven't subscribed yet, hit subscribe now because we're over 6,000 and the goal is 7,000. Now in January, the Bengals signed him to a futures deal, the kind of move most fans skip right past. In the preseason against Detroit, he touched it four times for 42 yards on three catches in a jet sweep, and he added an 11-yard punt return. Then Troy Walters called him on FaceTime to tell him he'd made the 53-man roster. By then, Chase was already telling Kay Adams that Dante's been making plays with the ones. And Myers put it in his own inspiring way, you have to be delusional about your dreams. But the journey and the long road it took to get here is not why he's on the field now. It's what he does with the ball that is. Ever since Chase got to Cincinnati, he's been the receiver that turns a short throw into a long game. In 2024, he had 787 yards after the catch, the most by any Bengal in a season since at least 1999. Higgins is a different receiver. He wins at the catch point, and he leads the team with 758 yards this year. So take the yards after the catch on every catch for each Bengals receiver and tight end this season. Gasecki gets 3.4 yards after each catch, and Higgins gets 3.6. Chase gets 4.2 this year after 5.1 a catch last season. And Myers gets 5.6, the best of any Bengals receiver or tight end with double-digit catches. The only Bengal with double-digit catches ahead of him is running back Chase Brown at 5.9, and running backs catch most of theirs with nobody in front of them. Put his whole season on one label, and the yards after the catch are the line that jumps out to you. Now granted, he's only caught 18 passes, so it's a small sample size, but it fits what Burrow saw in August. Burrow called him quick and shifty and said he understands what they're trying to do and that shows on the field. So that's why they've started handing him the ball like the 16 yard run in Madrid and he's up to 26 rushing yards as a receiver. Now compare that to the man he replaced. Last season, Yoshavas had 103 yards after the catch on 33 catches, which was averaging 3.1 a catch. And Yoshavas wins on the outside, but that's the same job Higgins already does. So he was never the guy that makes the first defender miss. So when a defense rolls its coverage over Jamar Chase and Higgins, then the quick throw to Myers is the one that can still turn into a big play. Which brings us back to Andre Yoshavas. He went on IR on September 26th with a torn ligament in his left thumb after three catches for 19 yards this season. And the surgery came with a 4-6 week timeline. The next day, the Bengals lost 30-27 in Pittsburgh. They lost to Jacksonville a week later, and they haven't lost since. That's 4-2 without him, with 43 points against Tennessee and 35 in Baltimore along the way. Last season, he was the third receiver behind Chase and Higgins with 435 yards, so this was his spot to lose. And Myers didn't grab the job right away either. In week 5 against Miami, he played 19 of 65 snaps, 29% of the offense. Four weeks later, he made the play that set up the last score in the first half in Madrid. On October 30th, Yoshavas was reported on track for week 10, and week 10 is this Sunday against the Steelers. Taylor's update on Monday was the next step, but it wasn't a promise, the team is still evaluating him. So the real question isn't necessarily whether Yoshivas plays on Sunday, It's where he's going to line up if he does. And the money on the contract makes this call easier. Yoshifas was a sixth round pick in 2023, number 206 overall, and his rookie deal ends after this season. He carries a $3.72 million cap hit this year, and then he's set to be an unrestricted free agent. Myers costs $897,000 this year, about a quarter of that, and he's signed through 2028. His cap hit rises to over a million dollars in 2027 and 1.1 million in 2028. And when that deal runs out, he'd be a restricted free agent, so the Bengals still control what happens next. And that matters so much because what the top of this wide receiver room costs. In 2027, Chase and Higgins count $63.45 million against the cap between just them two. In 2028, that number climbs up to $74.95 million. With that much tied up in two receivers, the third one has to be cheap and Myers is going to be about a million dollars a year. They also spent a fourth round pick on Colby Young in April and Myers is already playing ahead of him, although his sample size is pretty small as well. So if Yoshivas wants a wide receiver three job and a raise next spring, it's looking like he might have to find him somewhere else. But all of this gets its first real test on Sunday night, 820 Eastern in Cincinnati. The Steelers are also six and two. And they've won four straight as well. They sit on top of the division right now because they won the first meeting in Pittsburgh. And their defense has allowed 16 points in its last two games combined. Now, against a defense like that, the big plays typically come after the catch, not over the top. And that's exactly where Myers lives and thrives. A win makes the Bengals 7-2, alone in first place in the division with the season series split. However, a loss leaves them a game back with Pittsburgh holding the sweep. For Yoshavas to play in it, the Bengals have to activate him off the injured reserve, and that means clearing a spot on the 53-man roster. And whoever loses that spot, the bigger tell is who's on the field when Burrow needs a third receiver. So my personal take on it is that Myers stays at the wide receiver three spot even when Yoshavas returns and is healthy. And I don't think it's necessarily close. I think you look at the impact that these two have on the field and maybe the numbers don't show it yet, but I like the upside of Dante Myers a lot more now. And I think the numbers kind of back up my claim here because he's getting 5.6 yak a catch, which is the best of any wide receiver or tight end on the team in double digit receptions. And besides Chase, he's really the only one who turns a short throw into a big play. And he has that shifty, quick nature. I think he can make big plays. And Joshua Palmer would slot in at the wide receiver four spot and good insurance in case, you know, Chase or Higgins, God forbid, get hurt. And then he matters in the rotation again. However, I don't know if the front office and the coaching staff is going to see it this way because he's been in this offense since 2023 and Burrow knows him and trust really counts as you get down the wire in December in the season. So I think if Joshua Palmer is active on Sunday and Myers is still getting those third down snaps, then it's pretty much settled, at least for now.