Cincinnati Bengals Double Down on Swing Tackle Battle With 2 New Additions

The Cincinnati Bengals search for a swing tackle continued Tuesday with the signing of Blake Freeland and four others to round out the practice squad.

The move comes one day after the Bengals claimed former Philadelphia Eagles tackle Myles Hinton off waivers.

“I feel like we added two guys to the mix, one on the 53, one on the practice squad, that have come in here and compete,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “We want to give all those guys a chance to continue to develop our depth that way.”

Hinton joins Jalen Rivers and Javon Foster as the options on the 53-man roster, but Freeland has more game experience than those three combined.

And he’s the only one who has ever played tackle in a regular-season game, which creates a sense of unease knowing one of the four could be a snap away from having to go into a game to protect Joe Burrow.

A fourth-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2023, Freeland played in 16 games with nine starts (568 snaps at right tackle, 131 at left) as a rookie. And he appeared in nine games in 2024, mostly on special teams. Offensively, he had just 22 snaps at right tackle, one at left).

Rivers played in 16 games with seven starts (all at guard) last year as a rookie. Foster played in four games with no starts (12 snaps on special teams) in 2024. And Hinton has never appeared in a game.

Freeland, who is 6-foot-8 and 305 pounds, said he feels as though the experience can give him a leg up in the competition.

“Offensive line is a game of reps,” he said. “I think (the experience) definitely helps, but we’ll see. I’m excited to work with those guys and compete and see where it goes.”

After suffering a gruesome, season-ending broken leg in a 2025 preseason game, Freeland returned to Colts practice this summer and was battling Luke Tenuta for the team’s swing tackle job.

But he struggled in the preseason, giving up seven pressures in 102 pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus. The seven pressures were tied for the seventh most in the league.

“I think a change of scenery will be great,” Freeman said. “Just kind of a fresh start. Things were great in Indy, but clean slate, ready to roll, ready to attack.”

As excited as he is for the fresh start, it’s a little bittersweet because his wife, who is eight months pregnant with their first child, is staying at their house in Indianapolis.

Luckily for them, the baby’s due date is the Bengals bye weekend.

For now, Freeman is fourth in the pecking order with Rivers and Foster having experience in the team’s offensive scheme and Hinton holding a spot on the 53-man roster due to the waiver claim the Bengals put in Monday.

New Begals OT Myles Hinton Has Connection to Anthony Muñoz

He went from playing the Bengals on Friday and hoping to make the Eagles’ 53 to getting cut and then landing in Cincinnati with a bunch of former University of Michigan teammates.

“It's been a whirlwind,” Hinton said. “It's been awesome. Really awesome. The opportunity to come here and compete and perform is something I definitely wanted to do.”

The son of seven-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Chris Hinton, Myles was a sixth-round pick of the Eagles last year.

He missed his entire rookie season with a back injury that landed him on IR last August.

Hinton (6-6, 342) played 76 snaps in the preseason for the Eagles, all at left tackle, as he competed for the swing tackle job.

Like Freeland, Hinton feels energized by the fresh start.

“Especially in a room where I can compete for a job,” he said. “It definitely feels like I can go prove myself for a second time. So I’m really excited to do that.”

Philadelphia has a lot of experience at tackle with six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All Pro Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata as the starters, and Fred Johnson and Markel Bell as the backups.

“Maybe it’s me being delusional, but I always felt like I was right there,” Hinton said. “I was always trying to keep a good perspective on things, trying to stay positive. Personally, I thought I had a shot.”

Hinton joins a locker room with former college teammates DJ Turner II, Erick All Jr., Kris Jenkins Jr. and William Wagner.

And he has one other connection to the Bengals. His dad once swapped helmets with Pro Football Hall of Famer and Bengals Ring of Honor member Anthony Muñoz.

Muñoz said they swapped helmets after the Pro Bowl one year, but he couldn’t remember which season.

The battle for the swing tackle job behind Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims.

When does it end?

When head Taylor says it does.

“We’re still competing there,” he said. “Guys have shown reasons why they should do it. But I won’t stand here and say this is exactly how it’s going to unfold for us. I can let them compete every week for the rest of the season.

“Sometimes when you know, you know,” he continued. “‘OK, this guy has just really been consistent for us and there’s no conversation about this.’ But I think right now, let’s just keep taking it with every practice we’ve got and if guys show that they’ve gotten up to speed and can do it, I’m all for however it shakes out.”

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