Bengals Player Profile: Cody Ford trying for one more year backing up Cincinnati’s key offensive linemen
Cody Ford has had a key role for the Cincinnati Bengals since joining the team back in 2023. Ford appears safe, for now, to complete a fourth year backing up the offensive tackles.
We’re 30 days away from the Cincinnati Bengals’ preseason finale against the Philadelphia Eagles. Each and every player on the Bengals’ 90-man roster will have a profile page leading up to the end of the preseason. Check out previous player profiles here.
The next player in the series has been a key role player for the last three years in Cincinnati.
Cody Ford Player Profile
Age: 29
Year: 8th
Position: Offensive tackle
College: Oklahoma
Jersey Number: 61
Cody Ford was originally selected No. 38 overall in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. Prior to the NFL, Ford spent four years at Oklahoma (2015-18) and played three years, missing most of 2016 due to a season-ending injury. 12 of his 21 games played came at left guard coincided with Orlando Brown Jr. next to him at left tackle for the Sooners.
Buffalo had Ford on its roster for three years before trading him to the Arizona Cardinals prior to the 2022 season. He finished out his rookie contract in the desert and signed with the Bengals in 2023. He appeared in all 17 games, mostly acting as an extra blocker in jumbo packages. Cincinnati brought him back for 2024 and ended up starting him at LT for five weeks while Brown was out with injury. He was then moved to LG before going back to LT in the final weeks of the year.
The Bengals re-signed Ford again last year, this time to a two-year deal, and he saw the field significantly less as the offensive line experienced great health for most of the season. He did record his first-career reception on a trick play against his former team in the club’s Week 17 victory over the Cards.
Contract details
Ford took a pay cut this offseason and is set to play on a one-year, $1,300,000 deal. He was originally scheduled to earn $2,900,000 in cash this season, and will now make less than half of that. When adding on his signing bonus proration of $500,000 from the two-year deal he signed last year, Ford’s salary cap hit for the season is $1,800,000.
Roster outlook
It appears Ford is safe, for now, as Cincy’s backup swing tackle. The Bengals did not properly address the position in the offseason, only drafting interior o-linemen in center Connor Lew, and guard Brian Parker II.
The only names Ford has to worry about are practice squad holdovers Andrew Coker and Javon Foster, and rookie undrafted tackles Christian Jones and Corey Robinson II. It would take an upset for Ford to be supplanted by any of those guys.
Perhaps an external addition can shake things up, but I expect Ford to be on the team with his lower cap hit.
Roster odds: 90%