Will this be the year that the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive line isn't a liability in the playoffs? The franchise went to work in ensuring that they'd upgraded the position even more than they had a year ago by signing Orlando Brown Jr.
That means the only position that's iffy on the o-line is at right tackle, which will be manned by Jonah Williams more than likely. Williams will compete with Jackson Carman, La'el Collins, and Cody Ford for the starting gig but with his salary at over $12 million this year, it's hard to imagine Williams riding the bench.
Let's go through each position on the offensive line and look at what the depth might look like.
Left Tackle
Starter: Orlando Brown Jr.
This is a no-brainer. The Bengals didn't dish out $64 million to Brown for him not to be their starting left tackle. While Brown had a shaky start to the 2022 season as the left tackle of the Kansas City Chiefs, he finished the season on a high note. Most will look at his high number of pressures allowed but the Bengals and Chiefs run different offenses. He'll be set up to succeed in Cincinnati.
Backups: Jackson Carman, D'Ante Smith, Devin Cochran
If Carman ends up winning the right tackle job then he obviously won't be in the left tackle equation but we're going to operate under the assumption that he doesn't win that gig. He looked okay at left tackle in the playoffs but it was a small sample size.
Smith was a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft and we haven't seen much of him to this point. He might end up being a cap casualty in all honesty. Cochran is a long-shot to make the roster after joining Cincinnati as an undrafted free agent a year ago.