6 young players who give the Cincinnati Bengals hope

Jonah Williams, LT (23)

It’s not always rainbows and smiles with Jonah Williams but this year has been promising for the third-year tackle out of Alabama.

The Bengals spent the No. 11 pick on Williams in the 2019 NFL Draft and his first two years weren’t promising. Williams missed his entire rookie season due to injury and only appeared in six games in 2020, also due to injury.

This year, however, Williams has stayed healthy and the Bengals’ o-line has benefitted as a result. After nine games, Williams is sitting with a PFF grade of 72.2, which shows how solid he’s been for the Bengals this year.

With one year remaining on his rookie deal, the Bengals should be looking into locking Williams up to an extension. His first two years didn’t go great but he’s more than made up for it this year and as we’ve learned, left tackle is one of the most important positions in the entire NFL. Letting him walk in free agency next year would be foolish.

While the selection of Williams didn’t look good in 2019 and 2020, he showed that if he can remain healthy, he can be the left tackle this team was expecting him to be when they took him 11th overall. The best news is that he turns 24 on Nov. 17, so there’s still a long window for Williams to be a dominant left tackle.