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Film Breakdown: What Rookie Center Connor Lew Brings to the Bengals' O-Line Room

The Bengals selected Lew in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Mike Santagata|
July 15, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Auburn’s Connor Lew goes to an interview during SEC Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
July 15, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Auburn’s Connor Lew goes to an interview during SEC Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Cincinnati Bengals

With the 128th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Connor Lew.

Lew started all three seasons for the Auburn Tigers at center and earned the job as a true freshman. In that freshman season, he was named to the freshman All-American team. He was also named to the honor roll in both his freshman and sophomore season. He has quite a bit of excitement heading into his junior season, however, he tore his ACL in the seventh game of the season. Let’s take a deeper look into Lew and see what the film says about the the Bengals rookie:

Where He Excels

  • Smart player with great eyes to stop stunts and blitzes
  • Understands angles to reach the second level
  • Uses quick independent hands in pass protection
  • Athletic ability to quickly get out of stance for back blocks and reach blocks
  • Refits hands and hops to redirect force on bull rushes

Areas of Concern

  • Lacks the strength to drive defensive linemen in the run game and can concede ground to penetrating defensive linemen
  • Can have his inside or outside shoulder pried open in pass protection
  • Allows defenders to cross his face in the run game

Overall Thoughts

Connor Lew
Dec 30, 2023; Nashville, TN, USA; Maryland Terrapins defensive lineman Christian Teague (91) rushes as Auburn Tigers offensive lineman Connor Lew (75) defends during the second half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Lew is a smart, athletic center who understands how to put himself in positions to succeed.

In the run game, Lew uses his quick first step to get himself into good body positioning. He also understands angles well and consistently is able to get up to the second level with proper leverage. This translates to back blocks and reach blocks as well. He can reach a 2i without much help although he does not have the superhuman quickness to reach a 3T without help.

He’s generally getting his hands inside and underneath the defender when striking them as well. His intelligence and experience show up as well as he is able to quickly identify slants, stunts, and blitzes. His primary issue in the run game is that he does not have the functional strength to displace defenders on his own and he does not provide much displacement as the drive portion of a double team either.

He could generate more movement if he did a better job of targeting the hip on his double teams and combination blocks but as it currently stands he’s moreso a guy who can get his hips in the hole to win advantageous body positioning. Another issue with his run blocking is that he fairly consistently allows defensive linemen to cross his face while he is trying to strain and sustain blocks. Some of this comes from giving too much room to the defender rather than closing that space. Some of this also may come back to his functional strength issue. A few of these issues are fairly similar to most centers as they are typically not the largest and strongest player along an offensive line. Until he improves a bit in some of these issues he’s probably not going to be very high on the guard depth chart though.

In pass protection, he’s smart and plays with great eyes. This allows for him to see stunts and blitzes quickly so that he can get in position to stop them. He also is able to quickly snap and set the defender when he has a head up nose or 1T that he needs to block by himself. His hand usage is excellent. The timing and accuracy of his hands is notable as he rarely misses with his hands and they generally are not getting swiped or chopped either. This is in large part because he quickly strikes defenders and uses independent hands with a varying array of strikes. He generally has a good anchor as he refits his hands underneath the defender and hops backward to raise their body positioning and rush angle while lowering himself for better leverage. Where he struggles some is protecting his edges. Defenders showed the ability to pry open his shoulders to make him no longer square in pass protection. Instead he is turned and gives up half man leverage trying to recover. Some of that comes back to functional strength and some of it also is that he is not always consistently hitting his landmarks as well. With some improvement, he could become a good pass protecting center.

Schematic Fit

Lew
Sep 27, 2025; College Station, Texas, USA; Auburn Tigers offensive lineman Connor Lew (75) sets the ball against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

In year one, Lew is likely to win the backup center role with the ability to possibly backup the guard spot as well with technical improvements to mitigate some of his issues.

Within his rookie contract, Lew could grow and become the starting center of the future. He fits very well with the pass heavy nature of this offense. He plays somewhat similarly to Ted Karras at center. Like Karras, Lew is an intelligent players that does a good job with his hands.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

Mike Santagata is an offensive line and film expert. He's written and analyzed Bengals film for the past four years. He also hosts the Always Gameday in Cincinnati podcast and is a regular guest on the Locked On Bengals podcast.

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