Sample, after missing the last seven games of his rookie year and playing in just one game for at least 30 percent of the snaps, has blown it up. Working with Joe Burrow, that rookie quarterback, he has shown nice yards after catch ability and he's going after linebackers in the run game.
Sample, the second-round pick in Taylor's first draft, had been heralded as the nation's best blocking tight end at Washington and that's why they took him. Now, everyone knows about his work ethic after he famously turned his Cincinnati garage into a gym this spring with workout partner and camp foe Sam Hubbard, the Bengals right end. Burrow, Hubbard's good college friend, later joined the fray in the summer.
"From year one to year two, there's typically a pretty big transition," says Casey, who went from solely a special teams player to an offensive regular for those run-crazed Texans teams that ended up denting the Bengals' top ten defense in two straight Wild Card Games.
Casey remembers Sample's first month. His first NFL snap in the din of Seattle came against an overall No. 1 pick in Jadeveon Clowney. In the game after that was the dangerous 49ers front. A few weeks later it was Calais Campbell, one of the sack kings.
But Casey believes Sample is "an upper echelon blocker," and those are winnable matchups. The first two weeks of camp have been more than encouraging.
"So far he's more explosive. He's more confident. He's more aggressive," Casey said. "That's what we saw when he drafted him."
Casey says the standard in his room is higher than last year, given that Taylor's system has been snuggled in place for a year. That has meant much to Sample, still 258 pounds but this year a sleeker and smarter 258.
"I feel more comfortable in the offense and so the goal is always to push the standard. I have a really high standard for myself," Sample said. "We have a really high standard for out room. We want to be the best and be the best in the run game and the pass game. Our room and Coach Casey, he's pushing us every day to really push ourselves in that aspect of the game."
He made a nice play the other day in 11-on-11. He beat a backer, made a seamless catch over the middle and burst for double-digit yards. He thinks he could have made that play last year if he got the ball.
"Just more opportunities this year," Sample said. "Maybe I wouldn't have read the defense the same way as I did last year because I just have that better feel for the offense. It's hard to say, but I think I can. I think I can make plays in the pass game. This year it's about doing it. That was just one example where I just did my job and he found me and we were able to make a big play out of it."
