Bengals: Five pessimistic predictions for Cincinnati’s 2020 season
By Alex Austin
The offensive line shows little or no improvement
The Bengals had a terrible offensive line in 2019 and the front office didn’t make any big changes. With expectations continuing to be very low, Cincinnati could have a long year upfront. The only addition to the line was Xavier Su’a-Filo, who is better than many of the Bengals returning cast, but still is not great.
The other change coming to the line is a former first-round draft pick who suffered an injury that cost him his rookie year. Jonah Williams is locked into the left tackle position and is being expected to be a huge improvement over what the Bengals had last year.
A rookie needs all the help they can get in order to acclimate to the speed and strength of the NFL, and Williams will have one year injured and then an abbreviated warm up to the 2020 season. Without preseason games, the first time Williams really sees NFL action will be in week 1 of the regular season.
Cincinnati has had issues recently with rookies getting injured and then struggling to step into big roles. With several misses in recent drafts trying to address a failing offensive line, the Bengals have not inspired a lot of confidence that they can fix the situation in the trenches. If this group struggles, the whole offense will feel the ramifications.