Ross & Malone, unlikely to battle for Boyd's slot reps?

Though John Ross and Josh Malone were efficient in their limited slot usage last year, with a respective 5.28 YPPR (yards per route run, 211 yards on 40 routes) and 4.80 YPRR (197 on 41 snaps), their college usage profiles them as potential upgrades for Brandon LaFell at the ‘Z’ position.
Ross ran only 6.4 percent of his routes from the slot in 2016 (40 of 623), while 81 percent of his yardage came from outside the slot (929 of 1140 yards).
Malone ran only 5.2 percent of his routes from the slot in 2016 (41 of 786), while 80 percent of his yardage came from outside the slot (775 of 972 yards).
Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati's 2nd round pick from 2016, ran 45.4 percent of his routes from the slot in 2015 (157 of 346) at Pittsburgh and his 2.48 YPRR from the slot ranked sixth overall for qualifying wide receivers from the 2016 draft class.
The Bengals already have a volume slot receiver in Boyd, so Ross and Malone are more likely to replace Brandon LaFell and serve as insurance in the event that A.J. Green struggle with injury again in 2017.