The Bengals have signed first-round draft pick Billy Price, according to a team announcement. Per the terms of his slot as the No. 21 overall pick, Price will earn $11.7MM over the course of his four-year deal. And, as a first-round pick, the Bengals will have the option to tack a fifth year on to his deal down the line.
Price suffered a torn pectoral muscle while doing the bench press at the draft combine in February. Fortunately, he rebounded quickly from the injury and put himself squarely back into the first round conversation. The Bengals believe that he will be back to full health this summer, which should allow him to be the team’s starting center in 2018.
Last year, Pro Football Focus’ collegiate arm gave Price an 83.2 overall grade for his work at Ohio State, positioning him as the fifth-best center in college football. Clearly, Price transitioned well to the new position after spending his first two years at left guard and his third year at right guard.
As shown on Roster Resource, the Bengals project to start Cordy Glenn, Clint Boling, Price, Trey Hopkins, and Jake Fisher on the offensive line. The Bengals are hoping for significant improvement from last year when their O-Line was ranked near the bottom of the league by virtually every measure.
As of this writing, the Bengals have just two players left to sign in their 2018 draft class in third-round picks Sam Hubbard (DE, Ohio State) and Malik Jefferson (LB, Texas).
Hopkins is likely the 3rd choice for RG. Redmond and Westerman both showed well when finally given a shot late last year and are both younger. Hopkins has an uphill shot to even make the roster. If they can improve to even the middle of the pack the offense will be much MUCH better.
You beat me to it. There’s no reason to think Hopkins is the front runner.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed to see Ragnow go, right before our pick…