Over the past five years, the Cincinnati Bengals have struggled mightily with building an effective offensive line. Since Zac Taylor took over the team in 2019, the franchise has started a different pair of offensive tackles each and every season including last season when the organization brought in Orlando Brown Jr. in the free agency window. Brown was an adequate offensive tackle but right tackle Jonah Williams continued on his downward trend. To put it bluntly, Cincinnati has clearly become more and more desperate to get the recipe right heading to 2024.
Cincinnati Bengals Offensive Tackle Shows Off World-Class Confidence
After Williams’ rough stretch culminated in his exile from Cincinnati at the close of his contract last season, the organization brought in former New England Patriots star Trent Brown to fill in on the right end of the offensive line. Brown has been a solid starter in the NFL and enjoyed his most productive season last year as he closed out the year with a Pro Football Focus (PFF) score of 80.2 which was good enough for 11th best in the league.
Brown has had a fairly up-and-down career that included a Pro Bowl appearance in 2019 when he was a member of the Oakland Raiders. Brown has a reputation as a talented tackle but also has some notoriety for struggling with his work ethic. Earlier this week, Bengals.com chief correspondent Geoff Hobson interviewed the massive tackle to see how he was feeling about his new season in Cincinnati. Brown spoke out as to what he believed his biggest strengths were.
“I’m a really natural pass protector. Naturally gifted and from playing basketball and other positions. Going back to when I was a rookie up to now, I’ve never been a guy that just gets beat. You can get that from my peers or the tape,” Brown said “I was just fine-tuning. Making small tweaks here and there.”
While there is no question that Brown is a reliable starting option at either tackle position, there is some major concern regarding both his age and durability at this point in his career. In four of his past five seasons, Brown has failed to log more than 700 snaps which exposes the core issue. On top of that, the 6’8″ 370-pound goliath has had a tendency to not report to camp in the best condition. For Cincinnati to maximize his worth on a meager contract worth $4 million, he’s going to have to be on the field for at least 15 games this season.
Brown is another picture-perfect patch job that should at least play well enough this year to help coach up a potential replacement. It is heavily anticipated that the organization will take an offensive tackle early in the draft and that player will likely be the long-term starter. That being said, Brown’s confidence should at least settle some of his naysayers heading into the 2024 season.
