The Cincinnati Bengals' offensive line has served as a collective turnstile of punishment inflicted upon Joe Burrow throughout most of his NFL career. Some of that is the pass-heavy scheme; much of it is flat-out poor play in the trenches.
Cincinnati had a pass protection breakdown in Week 2 last season that resulted in Burrow's uniquely severe, surgery-requiring turf toe injury. But once Joe Flacco took the reins from typical backup Jake Browning, the o-line jelled better than it had in recent memory.
All five starters from that blocking unit are back for 2026. They're a key part of perhaps the best roster Burrow has ever had at his disposal.
Nevertheless, an aggregation of player evaluation data still holds the Bengals' offensive line in low esteem.
Bengals place 31st in analytical offensive line rankings despite returning all five starters
ESPN's Mike Clay put ratings on all 32 NFL offensive lines based on pass and run block win rates, PFF grades, and rather arbitrary measures such as "utilization" and "pedigree." Whatever those mean.
Long story short, Cincinnati apparently has the second-worst o-line in the league ahead of only the Houston Texans.
Current 2026 NFL Offensive Line projected starters: pic.twitter.com/oGq7k4anGY
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) May 12, 2026
If so-called "pedigree" and "utilization" are major factors, Orlando Brown Jr. is the son of an NFL offensive tackle and is among the most durable players in the sport. His aggregate rating of 4.3 out of 10 is well behind the likes of, say, Dan Moore Jr. (5.3) and J.C. Latham (5.7) of the Titans.
Do casual NFL fans even know who Moore or Latham are? Brown is also lower than Raiders right tackle DJ Glaze. Seriously?
Gotta take these rankings with a grain of salt on Brown's evaluation alone. It'd be cool if more people with "models" or their own personal "data" actually showed their work. You know, like we were all taught to do in junior high math class. Maybe Clay does this somewhere. Can't tell you how uninterested I am to unearth how or why he arrived at Brown's rating.
Offensive line play has a lot to do with chemistry. What about the intangible element of time on task, and the same five guys, helmets, pads and thighs running it back?
Another bone to pick: Miami Dolphins guard Jonah Savaiinaea had one of the worst rookie seasons you'll ever see in 2025. Somehow, some way, Mike Clay is convinced that Savaiinaea (4.4 rating, drafted/traded up for in Round 2) is in the same galaxy of a player as Bengals left guard Dylan Fairchild (4.6), who was a stellar starter as a rookie at the same position.
This is both an overestimation of Savaiinaea, even if any of this model is based on future projection, and a slight toward Fairchild, a third-round pick who was vastly superior. In other news, Savaiinaea is moving to right guard this coming season.
Mike Clay might be a cool dude. You don't get to any seat at the four-letter network without some legit work. That said, he couldn't possibly be more wrong about the Bengals' offensive line.
This is probably work bookmarking and coming back to when Cincinnati has the league's No. 1 offense and Amarius Mims is cementing himself as the game's next great tackle.
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