Bengals OTAs: Right tackle battle gains more clarity
Offensive line competitions are nothing new to the Cincinnati Bengals. They've been a practical mainstay for the better part of the past five years. It's been the cost of lacking true stability year after year up front. On the surface, another situation is unfolding at right tackle for the Bengals. The Week 1 starter is […]
Offensive line competitions are nothing new to the Cincinnati Bengals. They've been a practical mainstay for the better part of the past five years. It's been the cost of lacking true stability year after year up front.
On the surface, another situation is unfolding at right tackle for the Bengals. The Week 1 starter is not even close to being decided yet. But this battle will hope to feature multiple qualified candidates instead of seeing which will be the strongest weak link.
The battle hasn't officially started yet with Jonah Williams still recovering from a dislocated knee on his terms, and La'el Collins rehabbing a torn ACL as well. These two would be considered the favorites to win said battle if they were healthy, but there are seemingly three more names to consider.
Only one name has taken meaningful reps at the spot this Spring, and that's Jackson Carman. Instead of being rotated in and out with the likes of Cody Ford and Hakeem Adeniji, Carman took all the starters reps at the position during the team's first OTA session, according to Jay Morrison of The Athletic.
"On offense it was all Jackson Carman at right tackle," Morrison said on Hear That Podcast Growlin'. "If Cody Ford is really in this mix, we didn't see it yesterday."
This isn't too surprising considering it's still June, and Carman has the most ability out of the three who are able to practice right now. Continuity still matters even during 7-on-7 reps.
Ford's name being mentioned in the conversation stems back to when the team signed him in March. The former second-round pick wanted the chance to play his natural position again and was reported to be involved in the Summer battle. Morrison did mention the absence of Williams could have had an impact on Carman getting 100% of the reps.
"Maybe that's where you start seeing a little bit of a platoon," Morrison said. "It's not training camp, so the o-line lines not even out there but when they were running on air when they were running elevens it was all Jackson Carman.
"I think right now, if anything were to go south or sideways with Jonah, it feels like that's gonna be Jackson's job to lose.
At the very least, the hierarchy seems well established at this point. Any competition will feature Williams, Carman, and Collins whenever he gets cleared. The latter may have to wait until August for that to happen, in which it would likely be a two-man race between Williams and Carman.
Featured image via Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
