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Cincinnati Bengals Film Breakdown: What First Round Pick Amarius Mims Brings to Offensive Line

The Bengals took Mims with the No. 18 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Mike Santagata

Jan 10, 2022; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Amarius Mims (65) against
Jan 10, 2022; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Amarius Mims (65) against / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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The Cincinnati Bengals took Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims with the No. 18 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Mims was a five-star recruit in his high school class and the number one recruit from the state of Georgia. His lack of playing time has been discussed at length (eight starts in his collegiate career), but what has not been talked about enough is his abilities as a player. So let’s dive into his talent and what he brings to the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive line room.

The first thing you will notice with Mims is his size. He’s in the 90th percentile or better among offensive tackles for height, weight, wingspan, arm length, and hand size. A majority of college players with his size simply win because they are bigger and stronger than the defensive lineman in front of them. However, there is more to Mims than simply size. He didn't do much testing at the combine or his pro day, so most of this will just come from the eye test, but he moves very well, especially in pass protection. That’s astounding with a player his size (6-8, 340 pounds) and just eight starts in college.

Feet In Pass Protection

Most offensive linemen feel at home run blocking. That’s more intuitive as you’re moving forward rather than backward and you are pushing players to displace them. There’s nuance in the footwork and technique of run blocking but the simple matter of moving forward, running, and hitting defenders typically comes naturally to offensive linemen. Mims is different because he looks to feel more comfortable moving backward. His footwork in pass protection is very nice and that’s typically something that comes with experience and practice. Despite limited experience, he shows excellent fundamentals in pass protection.

Every pass rush starts as a race to the quarterback. If the offensive tackle cannot get out to the defender effectively, the defense will win every rep. This makes the get off for both players one of the most important traits that you can possess. Can the defender get off the ball so fast that they win advantageous leverage against the offensive tackle? Can the offensive tackle get to their spot before the defender? More importantly, can the offensive tackle keep a good base, stay balanced, and be under control when they are setting to their spot? Mims has the get off you’re looking for in high end offensive tackles and he does it with sound technique. He rarely breaks his posture, narrows his base, or crosses his feet to set out against even the most explosive defenders.

Every single clip in this compilation shows Mims beating the defense to the spot. One way to look for that is to see who gets their second step in the ground first. Mims is doing that on every play. In the first clip, he gets two kicks into the ground before the defensive lineman even moves! The reason that this is more amazing with Mims is that he’s doing this at 340 pounds. He moves like one of the more undersized offensive linemen. It’s going to be difficult for defensive linemen at any level to threaten his outside with the combination of explosion and length that Mims possesses. He’s doing it while staying technically sound as well. The base is always solid and he’s under control and balanced in his set. It never looks like he is rushing to get to his spot or struggling to get there either.

He does have a tendency to overset from time to time. This is pretty common for tackles who are explosive out of their stance and able to get consistently beat rushers to their spot.

Pass rushers who effectively use stutters, hesitations, and other set ups for an inside move can give him some issue at the moment. Mims wants to beat the pass rusher to their spot, but that can cause issue because he is so focused on that, he misses the defender’s pass rush intention. The good news when it comes to these types of losses is that it does not appear to be some type of physical limitation. He can mirror inside very effectively.

Same issue with the overset on this rep, but he does a great job of staying balanced and recovering inside. He drops his inside or “post” foot and quickly recovers on the play. You can see some of the high-end balance and flexibility on this rep and to be able to do this at 340 pounds is pretty remarkable.

(Note: Mims wore No. 77 for the game against Tennessee).

It's the same idea on this play where the defender feels the overset and responds with an inside counter. Mims then can recover by dropping his post foot and working inside. There is good hip flexibility to do this while engaged with a defender and that flexibility should give him a nice ability to recover in the NFL.

At the NFL level, offensive tackles are not going to win every rep with perfect technique. That makes the ability to recover imperative. Mims has the ability to recover well throughout a rep because of his strength, flexibility and footwork.

Processing Against Stunts

Another area of Mims’s game that stood out when watching is his discipline and processing against stunts, twists, and blitzes. Most lineman usually need experience to become quality processers, but it seemed to come naturally to Mims.

From his very first start, he was consistently level with his guard and in a position to pick up every stunt or twist thrown his way. Ohio State wanted to attack him with these because the communication, discipline, and processing required to pass these stunts is not something that a player making their first career start possesses.

Mims passed every test thrown his way with flying colors. You can see the smooth footwork and balance to redirect on these clips. It wasn't just the Ohio State game either. His entire collegiate career is littered with tape of him effectively handling stunts with different teammates against a myriad of opponents.

This stunt is one of the most difficult to pick up for the offensive line as it’s coming to the man side of half slide protection from empty. That means that it’s the guard and tackle against the stunt all on their own. There is no help whatsoever from anyone else on this play. The two Georgia offensive linemen make it look easy. This is also a rep that can be marked down as translatable to the Cincinnati Bengals because of Joe Burrow’s affinity for empty formations.

It’s surprising to have a player so young and inexperienced be so prepared to take on twists and stunts. He’s patient, disciplined, and intelligent when given these curveballs by the defense. Those are all traits that are typically used to describe older prospects. In pass protection, Mims looks like he's experienced and comfortable, even if he only had eight career starts.

The Run Game

What’s bizarre about Mims’s game is that he does all of the less intuitive stuff at a high level. However, the part of playing offensive line that typically comes easy to most players is what he struggles with the most. At the moment, Mims doesn't look very comfortable in the run game. This is weird because typically moving forward and hitting defenders is what comes easy, but not for Mims. It seems as if Mims has some struggle with technique and assignment in the run game.

It all starts with the technical flaws.

There are a few issues with this block. The first is that he does not have the same timing as the guard. Rather than both hitting the defender for a combined 600+ pounds of force, it ends up being a hit from the guard and then a hit from the tackle. That’s easier for a defender to take. This can get fixed some with practice. The timing is off, but so is the footwork from Mims. He needs to work to get to the front side of this block. He ends up with his hat to the backside of the defender and his body not restricting space to the front side at all. This allows the defender to then continue to work toward the ball carrier and get in the hole. Mims needs to cut off that space better by getting his hat to the front side of the defender and to drive them.

Again, he mistimes the double team with his guard. This time it’s the opposite issue of him being there too early. He can fix this timing by taking a brace step first to help time this up a little bit better. This will slow him down so that he can hit at the same time as his guard. He could have still won this block, but as the play went on, his pad level got worse. This takes away his power and gives the defender the ability to cross his face to make an attempt on the ball carrier. He needs to maintain a lower pad level and run his feet to drive this defender rather than stalling out and raising his pad level.

More on the feet and pad level with this rep. He does a great job to get in position for this block as he quickly gets his hat across and his hips in the hole. However, he needs to continue to run his feet and keep good pad level. Instead his feet die out and he raises his pad level. Now he’s sapped his power and that allows the defender to gain control of the rep.

Another technical issue that pops up with Mims is that he will put his head down at times going into blocks. This allows the defender to go backdoor on him and hurts his naturally good balance as he’s leaning over his skis.

Mims does a lot right on this play. He gets across the defender and in a position to drive them, but the defender goes backdoor on him and he has no way to recover because his head is down and he’s off balance.

This play he keeps his head up on the block, but he’s leaning heavily into the block:

We saw in pass protection that Mims has good balance so this is not an athletic or physical issue with him. Instead it’s due to his forward lean on run blocks. All of his weight is going forward on the block, which makes it very difficult to stay balanced. He needs to dial back the lean just a little bit so that he can stay attached against defenders who will try to use a move to throw him off balance.

The other half of Mims issues in the run game come from his processing and comfortability in the run game. He doesn't look like he is consistently going full speed which is not an effort concern, but rather an issue of Mims being unsure of what he is supposed to be doing.

Mims needs to go block the linebacker No. 6 on this play, but he is hesitant for whatever reason. This hesitancy allows the linebacker to fill and make the tackle. As he gets more comfortable in the run game, he will make this play faster but at the moment he’s fairly raw when it comes to run blocking and knowing his assignments.

Here his assignment moves backside and rather than working down and finding someone to block, he just looks absolutely lost. A stark difference from his processing and comfortability in the passing game.

Mims is raw in the run game, no question, but don't get that confused with him not having the ability to become a high-end run blocker. When he’s confident in his assignment and sound in his technique, you can see some of the high end flashes that he provides.

He has the core strength to torque and sustain against the defense in the video above. You can see the defender try to fight over on this play, but he’s unable to do so with Mims holding the point.

He also has the power to displace defenders as he drives the end on this play off of the screen. The defender is trying to anchor in against him, but it’s useless as Mims’s strength and power just overwhelms him. The power that he has is just silly at times.

This isn't a true run game rep, but the same idea as he’s running forward out into space on the screen play. It looks as if Mims is barely even trying and yet he comes away with a pancake on the play. It’s easy to see how Mims could become a high end run blocker with his natural strength and power.

Don’t mistake Mims current pass blocking affinity for him being soft either. He will try to finish defenders into the ground or over a pile of bodies when he gets the chance.

Mims is currently more of a pass blocker than he is a run blocker and that’s OK. In fact, for the Cincinnati Bengals, that’s preferred. This offense wants to throw the ball 65% of the time or more.

Mims has a higher floor in this offense than he would in an offense that is going to be run first. He can figure out the run game as he gains experience. At the moment the important job for the offensive line to do is to protect Burrow. Mims can do that right away with room to become one of the best pass protecting offensive tackles in the NFL.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA