Bengals evaluation of Stanford OT Walker Little one of most intriguing

Why the Bengals should be interested in Walker Little

Little is two years past his ACL injury. Little has had time to rehab and recover. This is obviously the case since Little was supposed to line up for Stanford in 2020.

Little’s potential as a franchise LT was not in doubt heading into the 2019 season. In a “Way-too-early” 2020 mock draft, Matt Miller of Bleacher Report had Little going second overall and even called him a “plug-and-play blindside protector.”

Even after his season-ending injury, Luke Easterling of USA Today in his “Way-too-early” projections for the 2020 draft had Little mocked at the 19th overall, the third tackle taken and nine spots behind Tristan Wirfs. Wirfs was the starting LT for the Superbowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That is an esteemed company considering what we know now about Wirfs. As far as positional versatility is concerned, just because we have not seen Little take snaps at guard does not mean he could not do it.

Although, Little considers himself a tackle. In spite of having really only played two seasons at Stanford, Little has the experience and has shown the ability to protect the passer at a high level. Little was named First-team All-Pac-12 in 2018 and the Pac-12 Co-Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2017.