Bengals' latest top 30 visit shows they're working towards solving one of their biggest scouting problems
A surefire first round pick is visiting the Cincinnati Bengals Tuesday afternoon.Per Bleacher Report's Jordan Schultz, the Bengals are using a top 30 visit on former Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu. Fautanu, who measured in at 6-4 and 317 pounds with 34.5" arms last month at the NFL Scouting Combine, is one of several offensive line […]
A surefire first round pick is visiting the Cincinnati Bengals Tuesday afternoon.
Per Bleacher Report's Jordan Schultz, the Bengals are using a top 30 visit on former Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu.
Fautanu, who measured in at 6-4 and 317 pounds with 34.5" arms last month at the NFL Scouting Combine, is one of several offensive line prospects expected to hear his name called during the first round of the NFL Draft. He's ranked 20th overall on the Consensus Big Board after playing four years at Washington, with 2,037 of his 2,155 career offensive snaps taken at left tackle.
The Bengals have met with most of the other top offensive tackles in this class, and this is the first reported meeting between Fautanu and the Bengals.
As a career left tackle, Fautanu's fit with the Bengals is an interesting topic. He's taken 100 snaps at left guard and just two at right tackle during his time in the Pacific Northwest. Those two positions are where the Bengals need help the most along the line.
Fautanu could come in and immediately challenge either left guard Cordell Volson or right tackle Trent Brown for their respective starting gigs. If he were to beat out the former, the question would then become the long-term plan after this season when Brown's contract expires. Would he move to a new position after just one year, or would he stay inside and leave the team longing for an answer at right tackle again?
Cincinnati's projected vision for Fautanu aside, he's got advanced technical skills, workable length, and natural athleticism to play all over the line. His Relative Athletic Score of 9.45 is backed up by his explosion, speed, and flexibility testing data all registering above the 95th percentile relative to his density, per James Cobern's data.
That kind of athlete has been missing on the Bengals' o-line for quite some time. The Bengals showing interest in him is a positive towards remedying that problem.
Bengals 2024 NFL Draft prospect meeting tracker: Scouting combine, pro days, and top-30 visits
Tracking every player that has met with the Bengals during the pre-draft cycle.
