@rhywden Big, no, but extra moving parts. And probably a significant amount of extra weight. It'd be faster though. Extra complexity for extra speed -- and both will typically add to the cost of the printer.
The paper could go through in a straight line either way, though. In the diagram that I showed, the paper doesn't go around the drum; it just goes straight up the left side and out the top. Having it avoid bending the paper would just mean tilting the whole arrangement and straightening it out. You'd still have the drum with each color arranged around it, but the belt transfers it from the drum to the paper, so the paper doesn't really have to wrap around the drum at all.