Bobby Hart Excelling in One Key Area For Bengals
CINCINNATI — Bobby Hart has received plenty of criticism from analysts and fans since joining the Bengals in 2018. Most of it is fair, considering he's struggled for most of his NFL career.
Fortunately for the Bengals, he is excelling in one key area this season.
Hart is the 10th highest-graded offensive tackle (80.0) in run blocking according to Pro Football Focus.
"Out of all my players, Bobby Hart is the most underappreciated player and the most picked-on player by everybody from the media to whoever wants to talk football," Bengals offensive line coach Jim Turner said last week. "It's like every pressure we've ever had gets blamed on that kid. To me, nobody has put more time or effort into our offense, like in preparation for the season and understanding his weaknesses and in training and getting himself ready to play for the season."
Most disagreed with Turner's comments, which is understandable. Despite the flaws in his game, Hart did put the time in this offseason. He's quicker and in better shape than previous years, which has helped him become a consistent run blocker.
Plugging in Alex Redmond at right guard might've been exactly what was needed for everyone else to notice the impact Hart could have in the run game.
The Bengals rushed for a season-high 205 yards in Sunday's 33-25 win over the Jaguars. The combination of Hart and Redmond regularly opened up running lanes for Joe Mixon, who finished with 181 yards from scrimmages and a career-high three touchdowns.
“He fit in well," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said when asked about Redmond. "He had good chemistry there with Trey (Hopkins) and with Bobby (Hart) and brought a physicality there. It wasn’t perfect and he would be the first one to tell you that, but there was some things that he did a nice job of.”
On the flip side, Hart ranks 55th out of 61 qualifying offensive tackles in pass protection according to PFF. Only linemen that have been on the field for at least 50% of the snaps are included in the ranking.
If Redmond can help balance out the right side—at least until Xavier Su'a-Filo comes back, then it would be a big win for a Bengals' offensive line that has struggled to protect rookie quarterback Joe Burrow.
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