Andy Dalton says new Bengals receiver John Ross is 'the fastest guy in the NFL'

And the Bengals quarterback is excited about getting a weapon with speed

One of the biggest problems for the Bengals last year was a lack of weapons past A.J. Green. After losing Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu in free agency and watching Tyler Eifert deal with injury, Andy Dalton was too dependent on Green and it showed.

Needless to say, the Bengals quarterback is pretty excited about Cincinnati using a top-10 pick on a burner like John Ross, who Dalton called "the fastest guy in the NFL."

"We've got the fastest guy in the NFL," Dalton said. "Obviously that's a good thing to have.

"Teams will have to know where he is because of that speed. It may level out some of these safeties who are tilting toward A.J. [Green]. Now when you've got a guy who can run like he can, you've got a big threat going deep."

The wide receiver class in the 2017 NFL Draft wasn't heavily heralded, but three guys ended up going in the top 10 anyway. And all three guys should have a huge impact with their respective teams. 

Corey Davis could immediately become the No. 1 option for Marcus Mariota with the Titans. Mike Williams is a perfect fit for Philip Rivers because of his jump ball ability and size in the red zone and could pile up touchdowns for the Chargers. (Bonus: they already signed him!)

And Ross goes really well with Green, as Dalton noted when speaking to Katherine Terrell of ESPN. If defenses spend a ton of effort trying to push coverage toward Green, who is one of the four or five best wideouts in the entire league, the Bengals can send Ross screaming up the other sideline.

Ross is more than just pure speed, though. He's also an impressive route runner and a guy who can do some damage in the red zone as well. 

Combine him with Green, the running back trio of Jeremy Hill, Giovani Bernard and rookie Joe Mixon, Eifert at tight end and Brandon LaFell and Tyler Boyd providing more depth/talent at wide receiver and there are no excuses for Dalton this year when it comes to weapons. Assuming all of those guys are healthy -- Eifert is a question mark and Ross is dealing with some injuries even coming into the NFL -- the Bengals did a really nice job reloading on offense and if the offensive line can protect Dalton, this could be a sneaky dangerous unit.