Bengals Film Breakdown: Analyzing the Three Most-Likely Options For Swing Tackle Spot

Cincinnati's starting offensive line appears to be set.

Author:
Mike Santagata
Publish date:
Aug 14, 2023 8:24 AM EDT

In this story:

Resting Jonah Williams for the first preseason game all but solidifies him as the starting right tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals.

There was some talk about Jackson Carman competing for that job. He spent all of training camp preparing for the right tackle spot, but Williams took a big lead early on and will be the starter.

There's still a job available for one of three linemen in a backup role.

D’Ante Smith, Jackson Carman, and Hakeem Adeniji are the only three guys who took snaps at offensive tackle in the first preseason game. All three of them have a different level of experience, skillset, and history with the team. Let’s dive into why each could be chosen, what they showed in this first preseason game, and what needs work.

Jackson Carman

Carman was probably the favorite to win the backup offensive tackle job coming into camp. He even had a chance to start, but was fairly disappointing in Friday's preseason opener against Green Bay. Let’s look into why the team could choose Carman as the backup offensive tackle.

It starts with his power.

With the Bengals moving to a downhill gap running scheme, they could roll with Carman, who is clearly the best at using his strength to drive defenders vertically.

He’s the only one of the three competitors for this job that fits their run game well. The issue for him is he didn't fare well on passing downs and he may not a great scheme fit.

Carman seems unaware of stunts and still struggles a bit with the speed of the game. He consistently missed his hand placement in pass protection, ending up wide on some plays or would strike late and down the middle of the defender’s chest.

Overall, Friday's game showed the same Carman that we all saw in his rookie season. He struggled quite a bit in pass protection, but would flash at times with high end power in the run game. This is now year three of the Carman experiment and it seems as if it’s similar to where it started. The one thing going for him is that he had the best games of his career in the playoffs last year.

It’s important to understand that not everyone can really play both sides of the offensive line. Now that Carman is done with his competition for starting right tackle, he can try to show that he is a quality backup at left tackle.

This would be his path to making the roster with the Bengals potentially carrying La'el Collins on the PUP list to start the season.

Ideally, you want your backup offensive tackle to swing to both sides, but it’s possible the Bengals overlook that with Collins possibly making the roster at some point this season. Carman’s path to making the team is showing that he can play at left tackle this week in Atlanta.

D'Ante Smith

Smith was one of the Bengals fourth round picks in 2021. He was an undersized offensive tackle from Coastal Carolina that needed to add weight to play in the NFL. He added that weight and actually played well in his first preseason action back in 2021, but a dehydration issue that caused him to miss the second week and injuries stunted his development.

He seemed to regress last season and was not used by the Bengals despite being down three offensive linemen in the playoffs. Now, he’s back and trying to compete for the backup offensive tackle job.

Smith may win the job due to his pass protection chops and ability to play both sides of the offensive line. He wasn't perfect against the Packers, but his pass protection was possibly the best of the three competitors. The issue for him is that he doesn't fit all that well with the run game and struggled in that area on Friday night.

Quite a bit of Smith’s struggle in the run game is that he doesn’t have the play strength required to handle some of the tasks being asked of him. He struggled to sustain blocks and didn't move defenders the same way that Carman did. If he’s going to be chosen for the open backup tackle role, he'll have to be a better run blocker against the Falcons.

Hakeem Adeniji

Adeniji is well liked by the coaching staff and had the swing tackle role last season. When Williams dislocated his knee cap, Adeniji filled in briefly until Williams returned. When Collins went down at right tackle on Christmas Eve, Adeniji got the nod.

If the Bengals are looking for someone who can reliably play both sides, then he may be the one that fills this role.

If Adeniji wins this job, it would be due to the goldilocks idea. He’s perfectly in the middle of the highs and lows of Carman and Smith. He is the most athletic and the most experienced at playing these positions as well.

While Adeniji hasn't been abysmal in his time as the swing tackle, there have been a few games where he was abused by high end talent on playoff teams. That’s probably why he was the last one to get a look in the Packers game.

The coaching staff might think that they know what they have in him. If he’s going to be chosen, it’s because the staff feels most comfortable with him over Carman and Smith.

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