Bengals offensive line ranked near the bottom of the NFL
CINCINNATI — The Bengals' offensive line is arguably their weakest position group heading into the 2020 season.
They're young, inexperienced and unproven. There are question marks all over the depth chart, but the coaching staff has high hopes for the players on the roster.
Pro Football Focus ranked the offensive lines for all 32 NFL teams. Cincinnati was 31st, only ahead of Miami.
Analyst Steve Palazzolo took a closer look at the Bengals' line. Like the coaching staff, he believes that 2019 first-round pick Jonah Williams should have a positive impact in the trenches, but that doesn't mean PFF feels good about the rest of the line.
"Williams was a polished college player who finished with the nation’s third-best overall grade (89.2) in 2018," Palazzolo wrote. "Even in his first year of action, he should bring some stability to a position that has had issues since the departure of Andrew Whitworth after the 2016 season. The rest of the line has plenty of question marks, including right tackle Bobby Hart, who did take a step forward in pass protection last season but has still been well below average in his four seasons as a starter (109th out of 151 qualifiers on true pass sets). Hart has also ranked as a bottom-10 run-blocker in each of his last two seasons. At left guard, both Michael Jordan and Billy Price graded in the 40s and ranked among the bottom six guards last season, and they’ll both be in the mix to start again. Xavier Su’a-Filo joins the three-way competition after posting his highest grade since 2016, a 60.1 mark that came on only 307 snaps. Jordan, Price and Su’a-Filo will battle for the two starting guard spots in what looks like one of the worst situations in the league unless two of the three improve quite a bit."
Trey Hopkins is the one proven commodity on the offensive line. He started all 16 games at center last season and signed a three-year, $20.4 million contract extension in December.
Hopkins earned a career-high 62.4 PFF grade in 2019, which was 24th best among all centers.
The Bengals are hoping their young offensive line can come together not only to keep Joe Burrow upright, but also open consistent running lanes for Joe Mixon.
Unfortunately, not many outside of the organization think that's a realistic possibility heading into the 2020 season.
The Bengals' first training camp practice is scheduled for July 28.
