Bengals 2025 Roster Breakdown: Cody Ford's accruement of trust has led to newfound opportunity

Bengals roster breakdown is back! During the 99 days leading up to Cincinnati's regular season opener against the Cleveland Browns, the player with the matching jersey number as days remaining will become the day's highlighted player.61 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, and No. 61 Cody Ford is back with […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Cincinnati Bengals guard Cody Ford (61) during a timeout against the Indianapolis Colts Thursday, August 22, 2024 at Paycor Stadium.
Cincinnati Bengals guard Cody Ford (61) during a timeout against the Indianapolis Colts Thursday, August 22, 2024 at Paycor Stadium. © Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Bengals roster breakdown is back! During the 99 days leading up to Cincinnati's regular season opener against the Cleveland Browns, the player with the matching jersey number as days remaining will become the day's highlighted player.

61 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, and No. 61 Cody Ford is back with a new contract.

Cody Ford

Age: 28
Year: 7th
Position: Guard
College: Oklahoma
Previous Teams: Buffalo Bills (2019-21), Arizona Cardinals (2022)
Jersey Number: 61

Ford enters his seventh season in the NFL and third with the Bengals after being drafted 38th overall in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Bills. He spent four years at Oklahoma and played three years, though he only made 21 starts thanks to a season-ending injury in 2016. 12 of his games games at left guard coincided with current Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. holding down the same position for the Sooners.

Buffalo rostered Ford for three full years and started him at three different positions—right tackle, right guard, and left guard—before trading him to Arizona in the weeks leading up to the 2022 regular season. The Cardinals played him in 11 games that year, starting him at LG for three of them. He signed a one-year deal with Cincinnati in 2023 to be a backup and appeared in all 17 games in that role, playing most of his snaps as an extra blocker at inline tight end.  

The Bengals re-signed Ford to another one-year deal in 2024 for the same purpose, but he ended becoming more valuable. Brown's Week 7 knee injury forced Ford to fill in at left tackle for five-straight weeks. When Brown returned in Week 13, the coaches moved Ford inside to replace Cordell Volson at LG. That experiment was put on hold when Ford had to replace Brown again for a couple games, but he returned to the position in Week 17. He then closed the year out at RT to replace an injured Amarius Mims, but then left the game due to a chest injury of his own. 

Ford's contract was extended for two years this offseason after impressing the coaches for his ability to play and start at multiple positions.

Contract Details

Ford signed a two-year, $6 million contract extension in March. He's already earned a $1 million signing bonus and a $100,000 workout bonus. He can earn a base salary of $1.5 million and up to $500,000 in per game roster bonuses, bringing his potential cash earnings to $3.1 million.

Because Ford played in 16 of 17 games last year, 5.8% of his per game roster bonuses, or $29,412, do not count against this year's salary cap. His cap hit for the 2025 season is $2,570,588.

Roster Outlook

Ford's mission entering the last two years was to provide versatile depth to Cincinnati's offensive line. Now he has the opportunity to be an opening week starter at right guard. His competition is Lucas Patrick, the only veteran addition to the o-line room this offseason via free agency. 

That tells us a lot of things about the Bengals, including how much they value Ford. They didn't offer him a raise for nothing.

Patrick appeared to receive the first snaps with the starting line early in the offseason workout program, but the battle is far from over. Training camp will be the biggest factor, and when other starters are subbed out during preseason games, it won't be surprising to see both players stay on the field well into the exhibition. The sooner a decision can be reached, the sooner the line can start truly gelling as a whole. 

My gut leans Patrick at the moment since Ford has true T-G versatility and that asset is valuable to have fresh off the bench, but he has all the clearance to beat Patrick fair and square. 

Projected role: First non-center OL off the bench

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