NASHVILLE, TN – APRIL 25: Alabama tackle Jonah Williams and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft on April 25, 2019, at the Draft Main Stage on Lower Broadway in downtown Nashville, TN. (Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Cincinnati Bengals are coming off a season in which they dropped nine of their final 11 games. Now the team must deal with a loss in terms of personnel.
From five consecutive playoff appearances to three straight losing seasons. It’s been quite the fall from grace per say for the Cincinnati Bengals. In 2018, Marvin Lewis’ club got off to a 4-1 start, knocking off the playoff-bound Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens the first two weeks of the season.
But the team would falter badly the remainder of the year and a 6-10 record would put the franchise in the basement for the first time since 2010. Enter new head coach Zac Taylor, late the Los Angeles Rams’ quarterbacks coach. One of the team’s biggest issues the last few years has been an offensive line that never really recovered from losing left tackle Andrew Whitworth and right guard Kevin Zeitler to free agency back in 2017.
That first year minus those to quality performer, Cincinnati finished dead last in total offense and only one team in the league gained fewer yards on the ground. Last offseason, the club used a first-round pick on Ohio State University center Billy Price. This past April, the Bengals grabbed University of Alabama tackle Jonah Williams with the 11th overall selection. But now there’s news (via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic) that the former member of the Crimson Tide is expected to be sidelined for all of 2019.
Williams was the first offensive lineman taken in this year’s draft and was expected to make an immediate contribution. Hence, this is a big setback for Taylor and the Bengals as the look to rebound from last season’s disastrous turn of events.
The plan this offseason was to have Williams take over at left tackle with veteran Cordy Glenn – obtained via trade a year ago from the Buffalo Bills – sliding over to left guard. So what will Taylor and the team do now to overcome this adversity?