Hakeem Adeniji Is Ready To Show His Growth In New Starting Role

The Bengals new right tackle can silence a lot of critics over the next couple of months.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Dec 27, 2022 6:19 PM EST
Original:
Dec 27, 2022

In this story:

CINCINNATI — The Bengals now find themselves in a shaky right tackle situation, just like last season, one that they hope breeds similar win/loss results as it did this past January.

Hakeem Adeniji is in for La'el Collins, and the third-year offensive tackle is ready for the opportunity to show his growth. The Bengals Achilles heel of protecting Joe Burrow bit them one too many times in the final game of last season.

Although Adeniji's biggest gaffe came at right guard on the final third down of the season when Rams' star Aaron Donald overpowered him to keep Samaje Perine behind the sticks.

"Just older, more mature," Adeniji said about how he's improved since last season. "More experienced, understand more, handle situations better, just that extra year of growth, especially at such a young age."

The 25-year-old has been in the NFL fire for a lot of reps now, playing in 42 career games. This year, he's been able to keep tweaking his technique and approach while getting Wednesday starter reps that most backup linemen aren't afforded.

That decision by Zac Taylor—who had a fun time with the Andrew Whitworth chatter—and his staff should help what was the healthiest offensive line in the league stay in sync during all the tough tests remaining.

"100%, 100%. Just that easy natural transition," Adeniji said about his extra reps helping him with this starting role. "I get that work with Cap [Alex Cappa] and, you know, we kind of develop that chemistry. So there is no doubt that that's been helpful over the course of the year."

Adeniji (52.8 PFF grade this season) was shaky in the Bengals' 22-18 win this past week, posting eight pass-blocking losses that were negated by Burrow's hyper-fast play speed (2.28 seconds time to throw).

Still, Cincinnati's leader in the middle of that line has no doubts Adeniji can get the job done.

"I have all the confidence in the world." Center Ted Karras said about Adeniji stepping up. "He's played a lot of football for us already this year and done a great job, and you know we got a good unit. A good group and Frank [Pollack], Brian [Callahan], and Zac [Taylor] will get us right. We'll have a good scheme going into Monday Night Football."

Adeniji gets his first start of the year in a huge game—time will tell if he can finish better than we saw on that fateful Sunday in February.

Cincinnati and Buffalo meet on Monday Night Football at 8:15 p.m. ET. The game airs on ESPN and is available on fuboTV—start your free trial here.

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