Hard Knocks 2013

It will be interesting to see how Hard Knocks portrays Rex Burkhead, Tyler Eifert, Dane Sanzenbacher, Ryan Whalen, Andy Dalton and now a predominately WHITE Offensive Line. When they were the subject of the series several years ago the team was very dark with a few white guys (Brian Leonard and a couple of Safety's). The show has been a great chance to display the true talents of kids who deserve a shot, the best example of that would be Danny Woodhead who used his time on Hard Knocks to parlay an opportunity with the Patriots. I truly hope that Rex will follow in his footsteps!

I suspect that the treatment of white skill players/white players in general, will be the same as it has ever been on Hard Knocks. That is, they are "gritty", "hard working", "high motor" "overachievers" who should be happy just to be in camp with the glorious, chiseled "real athletes". Even Woodhead, who you mentioned, was shown in that light, in addition to being portrayed a virtual midget.

I totally agree FootballDad, but Woodhead then went on to be a breakthrough player with the Pats when he was given an opportunity. Again, I am NO fan of the Bengals, but do believe that they have gradually become a little more "diverse" with a few key white guys. Marvin Lewis is morphing into a Tony Dungy type coach who realizes that there are a LOT of skilled over looked white players who can help you WIN and keep your job!

But even with the Patriots, Woodhead was criminally underused. I'm hoping that all of the talk out of San Diego is true and he will have a true breakout year. As for the Bungles, Burkhead could be the player they have been waiting for, if given the chance. He's one of the best RB's to come out of college in years, black or white. I just don't have enough faith that the system will give him more than a Brian Leonard role.

Eifert, being a TE and high draft choice is a lock to make the team. Sanzenbacher and Whalen are outstanding, but I fear we'll be reading their names in the annual "White Purge" thread that we have every year.

Marvin Lewis, OC Jay Gruden, and owner Mike Brown are all hard-core Casteans. While I like their draft this year, it's hard to see Burkhead doing more than taking over the "Brian Leonard role" at best, barring injury. But Eifert's talent will be hard to keep down for long when he'll clearly outshine the way overhyped former first round draft pick Gresham (who like so many disappointing black TEs supposedly has "great athleticism" but is somehow unable to translate that into commensurate production), and Margus Hunt should be given the chance to start next year if Michael Johnson tests the free agent market as currently seems likely.

The Bengals were on Hard Knocks a few years ago and it was comical at times how undisciplined and lazy many of the players were. Lewis would yell and yell, but little changed.

BTW, Burkhead has the most all-around talent in this year's rookie running back class. The few picked to be possible feature backs are small (Bernard), fat and lazy and injury prone (Lacy), or just not great runners (Montee Ball and Leveon Bell). It's a very weak group yet Rex still was drafted only to be a back-up/special teamer.

I remember watching Hard knocks when they covered the Bengals several years back and Brian Leonard scored on a nice 4 yard td run. On the bench a black player commented to Leonard he was surprised he scored. Leonard replied back " hey white boys can cut ". Its so nice to know there are no black racists in the NFL out there. The double standard is disgusting.