The Bengals fell just short of their first ever Super Bowl win in their third appearance in the league’s season finale. As the final seconds ticked away, analysts’ fingers started pointing, with many of them directed at Cincinnati’s lackluster offensive line. 
In their loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the Bengals fielded Trey Hopkins at center, Jonah Williams at left tackle, Isaiah Prince at right tackle, Hakeem Adeniji at left guard, and Quinton Spain at right guard. Hopkins and Spain are free agents, no longer on the roster. Adeniji and Prince retain their roster spots, but are no longer projected to start. Williams, perhaps the only bright spot on the line last year, will return as the blindside blocker.
The Bengals worked ferociously in the offseason to address their deficiencies on offensive line. They signed three free agent offensive lineman who are all expected to come in and start right away. Ted Karras comes to Cincinnati after starting experience at center in both New England and Miami. Alex Cappa comes to town after three strong seasons as the Buccaneers’ starter at right guard. La’el Collins is ready to bookend the line with Williams after years of starting experience at right tackle in Dallas.
With Karras at center, Collins and Williams at tackle, and Cappa at right guard, that leaves one position up for grabs. The current favorite to start at left guard is 2021 second-round draft pick Jackson Carman. Carman served mainly as a backup last year for the Bengals earning six starts on the year while playing in every game. The main concern with starting Carman is the fact that he couldn’t supplant any of the lackluster starters from last year. Perhaps with a year of NFL football under his belt now, Carman will blossom into a strong starter at left guard.
The other favorite to man the last spot on the offensive line comes from Cincinnati’s most recent draft class, according to Ben Baby of ESPN. The Bengals used one draft pick this year on an offensive player, bestowing that honor upon the 23-year-old tackle out of North Dakota State, Cordell Volson. Volson served as the Bison’s right tackle in his last college years, but had experience at all four guard and tackle positions during his time in Fargo. That versatility will certainly come in handy as many college tackles tend to move to an interior lineman position if they aren’t projected to dominate as a tackle at the next level. Volson is sure to give Carman a run for his money as the Bengals look to put the finishing touch on their full offensive line renovation.
All the players mentioned above are the favorites to contribute on the offensive line this year, but the following players will attend camp with the hopes of stealing a starting job. At center, Cincinnati also rosters Trey Hill, Lamont Gaillard, and undrafted rookie Ben Brown. At guard, the Bengals’ roster lists D’Ante Smith and undrafted rookie Desmond Noel. The only tackle on the roster that wasn’t already mentioned is undrafted rookie Devin Cochran.
Wow wish the Bears would fix their line. Bengals did it in one off-season. The bears didn’t have a solid line during their last GMs entire tenure and nothing’s been done this year either
How do you know the Bengals fixed the line? Is it an upgrade? Probably, but nobody they signed is a stud. All 3 guys were pretty much let go by their previous teams. Karras was offered 5 million by NE and signed for 6 with the Bengals. Hopkins made 6 last year so there’s that. Collins couldn’t even get traded and Cappa wasn’t offered by Tampa. They’ve resigned everyone else. Burrow was sacked a lot because the Bengals were top 3 with 5 wide and empty backfield. No help will get your quarterback sacked a lot
All 3 signees were top 15 at their position per PFF. I’m not sure how that’s not a HUGE upgrade.
He’s a biased Browns fan. Yes, it is a big upgrade from last season.
That’s false. Quit making stuff up
Your false – quit posting
Okay – Based on 2021 PFF rankings the Bengals went from the 64th IOL at center (out of 83 total) to the 18th ranked IOL at center; The 82nd ranked IOL at RG (out of 83….) to the 15th ranked IOL at RG; Bottom 5 OT at RT to a top 10 OT at RT (and top 5 RT.)
In what universe isn’t that fixing their OL? On top of all that, Jonah Williams (their LT) had his first fully healthy off season of his career and has put on 15 pounds while keeping the same athleticism he’s always been known for.. this OL only has one iffy position and in 2021 it had three or four, depending on injury. Plus, that iffy position will be played by the same guy who played last year except last year he was an admittedly out of the shape rookie. This year he showed up slimed down and hungry! (Jackson Carmen)
So how was that not a huge upgrade? I’ll wait.
It’s an upgrade, I said it was. Hard to not upgrade. The ranking I saw has the Bengals at 16. 16 is average. That’s about what I think they’ll be. You will have 4 new starters and that will take time. Pray nobody gets hurts because Andeji is the backup. Yikes
I think worst line to even middle of the pack line – would have been more than enough difference to score 1 more TD … I think people lose sight of how close they were.
Meanwhile , good luck with you’re QB’s in Cleveland. I heard DWAT is changing his number to 24 … wonder why!
They were also so close to not even getting past the Raiders. It doesn’t work like that where you lose a game by 3 points and you sign a couple of Free agents and you think that’s makes you the winner. They played in a division that was very injured and covid ravaged. I think you even have to admit the Bengals were very opportunistic. They have the toughest schedule in the NFL this year
Well I guess you’re right. We don’t “know” it’s an upgrade… but only in the way that we don’t “know” the sun will come up tomorrow.
On a completely different note, of the three (Carman, Volson, and D’Ante Smith), I actually think Jackson Carman is the LEAST likely to start Week 1.
We’ll see.
Are you at the OTA’s? You never heard of Volson until his name was called.
Tom Brady tried to talk Alex Cappa into staying in Tampa. If he’s good enough for Brady, he can’t be too bad.
Brady retired before Free agency and never came back until after Cappa signed with the Bengals. Why would a retired player care where Cappa plays?
Actually, he came back a day or two before Cappa signed and there are articles stating that he tried to get Cappa to stay. Do a quick internet search. It’s not hard to find.
Actually it was one day after Brady came back. March 13th and 14th. Cappa probably already had the deal with the Bengals by then. Either way, I think most people would agree that the Bengals offensive line is average right now.
Average line, with exceptional QB and possibly number one receiving corp and decent running game. I’ll take that. Almost won the Super Bowl with way below average line. Salary cap won’t allow the best at every position group.
The Bengals live rent-free in your head, despite the lack of real estate space there.