Breaking Down the State of the Bengals' Offensive Line Going Into Preseason Matchup With Falcons

Cincinnati has multiple position battles in the offensive line room.

Football is officially back! Even though these preseason games don't matter for the Bengals' official record, they couldn't be more important for those players that are working to earn a spot on one of the most talented rosters in the NFL. 

One of the most talked about positional battles is for the starting right tackle spot. There was a lot of discussion about Jonah Williams versus Jackson Carman leading up to training camp and especially going into the first preseason game against the Packers. 

If you're anything like me, you were excited to see who the Bengals were going to start in the game and what the snap split between the two players would be. With Williams coming off a preventative knee surgery and La'el Collins still rehabbing after his late season knee injury, Jackson had been getting the first team reps in practice. Williams was cleared for participation during training camp and had split reps with Carman leading up to the first preseason contest for the Bengals.

When it came time for the opening drive on Friday, Carman was given the start at right tackle, while Williams was in street clothes with the rest of the starting offensive linemen. 

Jackson looked solid in the first half, despite a few errors with the snap count and getting reps against first round pick Lukas Van Ness. He was impressive in the first two quarters. I gave him a 72% grade through 25 plays. However, he was called back into the game in the fourth quarter and ended up playing 11 more snaps next to undrafted free agent Jaxson Kirkland. 

Carman allowed two pressures, two quarterback hits and was called for holding over that span. When it was all said and done, his grade had fallen to 50%.

I saw a lot of good things from some depth pieces in the first preseason game of the 2023 season. In the first half, the Bengals rolled out a starting five that consisted of (left to right) D'Ante Smith, Max Scharping, Trey Hill, Cody Ford and Carman. Scharping and Hill switched spots in the second quarter. In the second half, we saw (left to right) Hakeem Adeniji, Ben Brown, Nate Gilliam, Jaxson Kirkland and D'Ante Smith.

Preseason Week 2: Players to Watch

I was impressed by what Scharping did at left guard. I saw a noticeable drop in quality from him and Hill when they were playing center opposed to guard. Overall, Scharping appeared to play a little quicker than Hill and was solid in pass protection. Ford had a steady performance at right guard and while he didn't flash, he was efficient and contributed a lot to the run game before it fizzled out in the second half. I see him as a high floor player, but I don't see much room for long-term growth.

Coming into the second half, both teams allowed their "bubble" players to get live reps which meant we got to see players like Brown, Gilliam and Kirkland work in a game situation. Gilliam was the center for the third quarter, while Brown flipped spots with him in the fourth. 

They both had impressive showings, however, I'd like to see them get more reps against higher level talent over the next couple weeks. Adeniji had a great game and was my highest graded player from this first contest. As a veteran that has seen action in some big games for this team, I'd like to see him compete against better competition as well, but in a crowded tackle room, it's hard to pull those reps from players like Carman and Smith.

I'm excited to see who the Bengals roll out this week against the Falcons. Where will they play? And when?

The Bengals have done a good job of getting their depth players to learn multiple positions. That also means they'll have to decide where they can best utilize these players' abilities. Hopefully we're able to see some of these guys battle it out and improve the depth of the Bengals' offensive line room. 

With their injury history being a big part of their postseason runs over the past few seasons, having quality depth is one of the keys to a successful season for this team.

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