Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow speaks Saturday, September 9, 2023 at Paycor Stadium after signing his record-setting contract. Burrow became the highest-paid player in NFL history on an annual basis at $55 million per year.
INDIANAPOLIS — Since the moment Joe Burrow was chosen with the first pick of the 2020 draft, the Cincinnati Bengals have arrived at the NFL Scouting Combine each season plotting a path to protecting their franchise quarterback feeling like the puzzle was not complete.
There were complete overhauls like the Ted Karras and Alex Cappa signings 10 minutes into free agency in 2022 paired with a belief in the makeup of fourth-round pick Cordell Volson.
There was the search for an open tackle job ending up with the surprise of free agency when Orlando Brown Jr. ended up plucked from the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Bengals committed last season to shore up their left tackle spot by giving Orlando Brown Jr. a hefty free-agent deal. (Denny Medley / USA Today)
No matter what, though, the Bengals have always arrived here under Zac Taylor without a clue who would be their right tackle.
In 2024, under the prevailing assumption Jonah Williams will go elsewhere in free agency, the Bengals project to start their fifth right tackle in five seasons with Burrow.
Player personnel director Duke Tobin pushed back on the verbiage of needing a long-term solution to the position.
“The term ‘long-term’ isn’t as long as it used to be considered,” he said.
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That said, the Bengals are going once more unto the breach searching for whatever version of long-term they can find. Really, anybody capable of holding it down for two years in a row would feel like a relative dream.
The problem is there’s no easy way to make that happen. There’s no way to ensure a rookie — even at pick No. 18 — could be trusted to protect Burrow from T.J. Watt. And paying for the top of the market would require coin they, quite frankly, aren’t so interested in spending at that level for a second year in a row.
Through conversations with everyone associated with the roster strategy up front, it’s clear that a combination of another capable veteran paired with a rookie tackle of the future could be the perfect plan for settling the perennially unsettled.
“We would like to have somebody man the right tackle spot for a number of years, yes,” Tobin said. “We’d like it to be a young guy that can come in and do that or a veteran that might have the opportunity to rebuild his career, something. But yes, we would like that to be manned on multiple fronts. But we’re focused with having it manned well enough to provide us a chance to win next year. That’s the No. 1 thing.”
Multiple fronts start with a free-agent class offensive line coach Frank Pollack has already watched and offered his opinions about to the personnel staff.
He wasn’t sharing those with the media as he held court Wednesday but did reiterate the traits he’s valuing in the process.
“You want someone who is tough, line one,” Pollack said. “Mentally tough, more importantly than anything else. A guy who’s smart. He’s got good length. He’s got good feet. He can bend. He can move. He accelerates his feet on contact, all that kind of stuff. He loves ball (and) it shows as far as in your interview. It shows on tape, the way he finishes and how he plays.”
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Also, the Bengals have a schematic lean to keep in mind when perusing the possibilities. Like most everything else organizationally, that starts with Burrow. It won’t be changing with new offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher.
“When you have an elite quarterback, which we have, first and foremost you solidify the pocket,” Pitcher said. “How do you solidify the pocket? You solidify it with strong, tough interior three that are smart, can pass off games, pick up pressure packages. We have that. We’ve done that. If that is step one, then you decide what do those guys do well in other phases of the offense. I believe that is the intelligent way to go about constructing our roster based on the quarterback.”
Big, strong powerful tackles follow the same theory. Brown would be one of the largest players in the league, officially listed at 6 feet 8, 345 pounds. Collins came over from Dallas with the reputation of a powerful people mover.
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A name like Mike Onwenu, of New England, would be an aggressive, more expensive option. Trent Brown, also of the Patriots, could fit the bill, among others. Notably, so would former Jets first-round pick Mekhi Becton. The hulking 6-foot-7, 360-pound Becton was viewed as a rare athletic specimen from his draft, and after four unfortunate seasons with the Jets and a spate of injuries, he’s still only 24 and hitting the open market looking to rebuild his career in a new location.
The offensive line coach for the Jets when Becton was selected? Pollack. In fact, it’s one of two times in Pollack’s career he can recall a rookie starting for him, also pointing to Duane Brown in Houston.
When the Bengals landed Collins in free agency, they professed an advantage for them because Collins had a history with Pollack in Dallas.
Could history repeat itself with Becton, a player who won’t be on the expensive side but with whom the Bengals have unique insight into personality and fit?
Mekhi Becton started 16 games for the Jets in 2023, the most in his three NFL seasons. (Winslow Townson / USA Today)
Becton could also just be a temporary placeholder for a first-round pick. One of the true strengths of this class is the number of first-round tackle options, particularly a significant number of powerful, large right tackle options.
“Probably one of the deeper offensive tackle groups I’ve seen in the early parts of the draft and early rounds and that’s good,” Tobin said.
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If one of these top tackles matches up with Cincinnati at 18, a veteran already in place doesn’t force the rookie to play immediately. If the rookie beats out the veteran, then that’s all the better and you invested in quality depth at the position, as well as a likely backup for Brown.
That’s certainly a mock-draft favorite landing spot with a thought the depth could slide one of the better tackles further down the board than you would normally see. That certainly doesn’t mean anything.
Nobody knows that better than the Bengals, who have endured a string of offensive line picks not living up to expectations. When Pitcher first arrived, Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher were deemed a succession plan to Andrew Whitworth and/or Andre Smith.
Then there was the Jackson Carman bust in the second round of 2021. Michael Jordan and D’Ante Smith. Names all too familiar.
The common thread is these players were largely viewed as not as committed as others around them and never used all the intangibles needed to get the most out of their talent. Or just didn’t jell with the group.
That’s why time and again the Bengals have had to use free agency to pay for both starters and backups. Even Max Scharping and Cody Ford were journeymen signed who beat out draft picks on the roster.
The Bengals certainly aren’t alone, but there is scar tissue there.
“There’s going to be at least a handful of guys at that position that are going to be good pros,” Pitcher said. “I also know that projecting success at that position — first of all, projecting success at any position if you have the formula, give it to me because I can give this job up and make a ton of money. Particularly at that position, the physicality that comes with lining up against — look at our division, the Cam Heywards of the world. The Myles Garretts. The T.J. Watts. Even in the SEC, they are not playing those guys.”
There are no guarantees. And 2023 with Brown was an example that the best-laid plans can shift in an instant. But there’s an obvious template available. If executed correctly, it could finally solve the right tackle issue that’s forever been among the Bengals’ offseason obstacles.
“It’s not ideal, obviously,” Pollack said of what’s transpired. “You’d love to have a guy you could plug in two or three years ago that you know is going to be there for the next 10 years. That’s part of the business, part of the league. Something you know if you sign an older guy you are hoping to find a young guy to step up and develop as well. We are looking at all those options. We’ll see where this offseason takes us.”
