4 impending free agents the Bengals should re-sign in 2024
- Reader might be inching toward 30 but the Bengals should keep him around
- Williams is a different player at RT
- Sample is a sneaky-good blocker
- Irwin is the next man up when a WR goes down
Jonah Williams
Considering how terrible of a year he had in 2022 and that he was requesting a trade before the 2023 season began, it feels weird coming back a few months later and being like "Yeah, we need to keep this guy," but here I am. Who would've known that being moved to Right Tackle might end up being what saved his career?
On a year where the offensive line has been a roller coaster-- holding up well against strong 49ers and Bills' pass rush units but getting utterly dominated against an injured Texans' line-- Williams, oddly enough, has been the only consistently good player on that line after being (arguably) the weakest part of it just last season. He looks more comfortable on the right side of the O-line and it simply seems to be where he is best at.
Saw people asking, so I had to deliver!
— Parker Blake (@ParkerBlake60) November 1, 2023
Here's a fun little cutup of Jonah Williams vs #97. pic.twitter.com/dHAJ5c1kba
While PFF should not be used as the sole metric to judge how good a player is (for example, Cam Taylor-Britt's grade comes out to just 63.0), it can be used as a part of determining such, especially for offensive linemen, since the average person isn't watching the game with their eyes on them the entire time. The point being, PFF agrees with this assessment, as Williams grades the highest out of every one of Cincy's offensive line, sporting a solid 67.2 grade.
Again, there is some hesitancy to re-sign the Alabama product, as Spotrac also has his market value is estimated at around $15 million as well, however, if that can be talked down or is not as high as what his agent is actually looking for, they should keep him at that right tackle position.