Bengals: 4 takeaways from first depth chart of 2021 season

Cincinnati Bengals depth chart takeaways

1. Spain/Jordan starting guards

The biggest question mark, or question marks rather, heading into the season has been the two starting guard positions. Initially, it was a four-man race for the two starting positions between Carman, Michael Jordan, Quinton Spain, and Xavier Su’a-Filo but as we discussed on the last entry, D’Ante Smith has thrown his hat into the ring.

The starting guards for the Bengals’ first preseason game is Spain and Jordan with Spain manning the left guard position and Jordan handling the right guard duties. Spain returning was critical for the Bengals and he should hold down that left guard job through the rest of camp.

Jordan, on the other hand, was responsible for Joe Burrow getting injured last year so it’s a bit surprising to see him in the starting role.

Another big takeaway from the depth chart’s release is that Carman isn’t even listed as a backup. The second-round rookie out of Clemson is listed as the third-string right guard behind Spain and Su’a-Filo.

This was only the first depth chart so plenty can still change as we continue on through training camp and preseason. The guard position is the one to watch the closest and it’ll be interesting to see if anything changes there after the first preseason game on Saturday.