Here Is One Bengals All-Decade Team To Debate - Bengals.com

Running Backs

LaPlaca-Hobson: Joe Mixon, Giovani Bernard

LaPlaca: I know most would think Joe Mixon or Cedric Benson would be the best choices because of how productive they were to begin and end the decade. However, this is really a four-back race for two spots. If you look at the stats, Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill need to be included in the discussion.

Here's a quick comparison of each of those players within the decade:

Touchdowns

· Hill – 30 (29 rushing, 1 receiving)

· Bernard – 27 (19 rushing, 8 receiving)

· Mixon – 17 (17 rushing, 4 receiving)

· Benson – 14 (13 rushing, 1 receiving)

Rushing Yards

· Bernard – 3,281

· Mixon – 2,931

· Hill – 2,873

· Benson – 2,178

Receiving Yards

· Bernard – 2,512

· Mixon – 870

· Hill - 484

· Benson – 260

If you take into account both rushing and receiving, my nod would go to Bernard and Mixon for those two spots.

Hobson: There's no question Mixon needs to be on this thing. You shudder to think where they would have been the last two years without him. Remember, those were two seasons Mixon didn't have A.J. Green for all but eight games and they didn't have Dalton for eight and he still managed to not only rush for 1,000 yards back-to-back but win the Bengals' first ever AFC rushing title.

I had a hard time leaving off Benson, but you can't go with a guy that played just two years in the decade when Gio was so steady and reliable for seven seasons.

But we should really step back and recall how much Ced meant to this franchise. It's still hard to believe he never lived to see the last season of the 2010s when he was so important to the success of the decade. In 2011, he became just the third Bengal to rush for three straight 1,000-yard seasons and really took heat off the rookie Dalton with some terrific fourth quarters that killed the clock on the way to that surprise Wild Card.

And, yeah, you can't 'count 2009, but Benson and Palmer were their Offensive Players of the Year in the division sweep. He always showed up for big games and even though it was the '09 Wild Card Game, he was the star of their first game of the decade on Jan. 9, 2010 when he set a franchise play-off game rushing record with 169 yards.

Wide Receiver

LaPlaca: A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd, Mohamed Sanu

Hobson: A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd, Marvin Jones

LaPlaca: A.J. Green is the no brainer choice here. A perennial pro bowler, future Hall of Famer, team icon. After that we could go a lot of different ways to fill the other two spots.

Some of the options for the remaining spots include Marvin Jones, Tyler Boyd, Brandon LaFell and Mohamed Sanu.

Boyd has enjoyed one of the best two-year runs at the receiver position with back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons while racking up 242 catches for 2,902 yards and 15 touchdowns, none more important or memorable than the one to knock the Baltimore Ravens out of the playoffs on their last offensive snap of 2017.

Most people forget, but Sanu and Jones in three full seasons were as productive as they come. Sanu in four seasons caught 152 balls for 1,793 yards and 11 touchdowns. In his four seasons, Jones was right there with 134 receptions for 1,729 yards and 15 touchdowns. Even LaFell enjoyed a nice two-season run with 1,410 receiving yards and nine scores.

The three that make the most sense to me would be Green, Boyd and Sanu. The added threat of Sanu's passing and rushing to me give him the edge over Jones.

Hobson: Bottom line, Green is a winner. His first catch of the decade (and the first of his career) was a 41-yard TD as the clock ticked under five minutes to win the 2011 opener in Cleveland. His next-to-last catch of the decade was an absolutely necessary scrambling, diving 11-yard grab with seven seconds left on a play that began at the Tampa Bay 41 and resulted in Randy Bullock's winning 44-yard field goal at the gun on Oct. 28, 2018.

There's no question that Boyd's fourth-and-12 TD catch from 49 yards out with 49 seconds left in 2017 in Baltimore is one of the great plays in Bengals history. But in my mind when I think of Boyd's toughness and cool, I go to the next season in Atlanta and that last winning drive when he converted two fourth downs and one third on plays he needed at least six yards to set up Green's sliding winner from 13 yards out with seven seconds left.

I also love Sanu's versatility, but Jones' down-field speed was such a weapon and opened up so many avenues for Green and tight end Tyler Eifert. Jones put up his numbers in just three seasons because he missed all of 2014 with an ankle injury and in his big seasons of 2013 (10 TDs) and 2015 (65 catches), Green had two of his three double-digit TD seasons and two his three best yardage seasons.

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