Five Reasons Not to Panic About the Bengals Offensive Line
5- Christian Westerman’s Time May be Now
Boling’s departure leaves a huge void in the left side of the offensive line As of right now, the starting left guard for will either be former Giant John Jerry, who sat out all of last year, or PFF darling Christian Westerman.
With Clint Boling retiring, all eyes turn to Christian Westerman.
— PFF CIN Bengals (@PFF_Bengals) July 15, 2019
In the 2018 preseason, Westerman was the #Bengals highest-graded offensive lineman, earning an impressive 90.5 pass-blocking grade, allowing 0 pressures in 97 pass-blocking snaps https://t.co/eBkMAl93TD
Either Westerman will lock down the left guard position and prove that he deserved to be in the starting lineup from the very beginning, or a lot of people are going to owe Marvin Lewis and his staff an apology. The former Arizona State Sun Devil has now been presented with a chance to finally get solid playing time and silence the doubters. If anyone on the team should have a chip on their shoulder, it is Westerman. That could work to Cincinnati’s advantage.
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Overall, the offensive line personnel may have only marginally improved, or perhaps even stayed the same from last year with the addition of Miller and the losses of Boling and first round pick Jonah Williams. Still, even if it was the exact same personnel from last season, they will be healthier and should be better in a system that asks less of them individually.