Bengals Five on Film: Jonah Williams passes first test at right tackle
While the Cincinnati Bengals' starting defense got its feet wet for the first time Friday night against the Atlanta Falcons, right tackle Jonah Williams was the only starter on offense to receive reps in the team's second preseason matchup. They wanted to make sure his first live reps at right tackle didn't come in the […]
While the Cincinnati Bengals' starting defense got its feet wet for the first time Friday night against the Atlanta Falcons, right tackle Jonah Williams was the only starter on offense to receive reps in the team's second preseason matchup. They wanted to make sure his first live reps at right tackle didn't come in the regular season.
Mission accomplished.
In playing 11 snaps with the second-string offense, Williams got his first real taste of a new position with both knees fully healthy. He also very much looked the part of what the Bengals expect him to be in 2023. Let's go through five plays that stood out the most.
His first snap in pass protection kicked off a theme for the night. Williams flashed with his outside hand, baiting the edge to chop it down before dropping it and utilizing a punch with his inside hand. Williams has always had an understanding of using independent hands from left tackle, but this is a new technique from him.
The footwork looks solid as well, very clean when entering and executing the 45 degree pass set.
A lot of the Bengals' run game is going to have the offensive line getting vertical and displacing defensive linemen through combo blocks. Going from left to right tackle means the angle of which those down blocks happen is switched, but the concept remains the same.
Williams does a good job here blocking the 2i defensive tackle into the A gap with right guard Trey Hill before moving up and locating the linebacker in the second level. Hill unfortunately can't maintain the inside leverage Williams helped him get, but the right tackle did his job here fully.
An injection in power running means more lineman pulling in space. Williams has the athleticism to move in space, but more importantly, he can gauge what angle he needs to take to clear out the second level defender accordingly. He engaged the linebacker with the intent of driving him out for running back Chris Evans to cut back inside, but the known weakness for Williams popped up.
Upon engaging the linebacker's chest, Williams was a tad bit late and his lack of ideal arm length showed by getting disengaged quickly. A win here doesn't have to be Williams driving the linebacker into the dirt, but he needs to sustain the block longer than that.
Here's a vertical set from Williams after he times the snap almost too well (if it's not flagged for a false start, it ain't a false start). After three kick slides, Williams prepares his post foot to anchor down and does so successfully, getting both hands inside the edge rusher's chest as well.
Williams won this rep on an island, but Hill opted to help him out with his gap empty. The quick nature of the play allowed Hill to look for work like this, because helping Williams on the edge gave a late looping rusher a free lane on quarterback Trevor Siemian.
Finally, we get Williams in a true one-on-one to end the drive. He starts in a 45 degree set and opens his hips upon engaging the edge with another punch that leads with the outside hand but is actually a ploy. Williams pulls back the outside hand with perfect timing and starts riding the edge around the arc before anchoring down.
Williams settles very quickly despite having to adjust the pace of his kick slides and having to stop the transfer of speed to power. An A+ rep from him to close things out.
The film looked solid for Williams, which matches his own evaluation right after the game.
"It was good. I thought it went well. I got some live game reps, got some jitters out," Williams said to Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson. "The joint practice was fast. But game speed just feels a little different. In the stadium, feeling the pressure of a game. It was good to get my first right tackle snaps out of the way."
Williams shouldn't get any reps in the preseason finale against the Washington Commanders on what's infamously known as a subpar field, and he doesn't need them. His first real taste at the position showed there's enough to start the season with a semblance of confidence.
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Featured image via © Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
