Worst OL in the NFL?

[ArmyBengal]

Me personally, it would be hard to pass up the reported 3 first round picks and potentially more in a trade down.
The amount of talent in that first round was really stellar and I can't help but think scouting should have known that.

Hard to say who I would have taken but Herbert would have been the QB, Jefferson would have been another and a guy like Wirfs.
Then instead of Tee, you pick from Johnathan Taylor, Winfield Jr. Trevon Diggs, or Jaylon Johnson?

I don't think the Bengals are forward thinking enough to make something like that happen.

[HoosierCat]

1 minute ago, ArmyBengal said:

Me personally, it would be hard to pass up the reported 3 first round picks and potentially more in a trade down.
The amount of talent in that first round was really stellar and I can't help but think scouting should have known that.

I remember being on the trade down, take Herbert bandwagon that year.

[gregcook69]

11 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

It's the missed opportunities of recent years that utterly frustrate me.

If you're a long-time Bengals fan, you're used to a team that is usually not very good. Look back over the years from 1968 to 2010 -- a 42-season period -- and you will find a team that had more than two winning seasons in a row just once: 1975-77. Hell, outside of that "streak" they only managed two straight winning seasons ONCE, 1972-73. 

From 1978 to 2004 they had five, count 'em, five winning seasons. Sure, they made it to the Super Bowl twice, but outside of those two years they were usually mediocre at best and awful at worst.

But you know what? Things actually did change around 2010. Rag on Marvin Lewis and Andy Dalton all you want but the team had a (still) record five straight winning seasons (four straight by double digits) from 2011-2015. And yeah, they lost five straight wild cards, but at least they were fun to watch during the season.

It all fell apart after 2015, but with Burrow's arrival things changed again. The team had four straight winning seasons coming into this year. Looks like they won't tie the record, but that's not really the point. It's more than the last 14 years have been the most successful decade-and-a-half in the team's history, by far.

If they just sucked liked they used to, it would be a lot easier to laugh. What's happening now is just a criminal waste of money and talent.

I told my wife that they needed to win the 2022 SB because they may NEVER get back just like the Saints so far.

[AMPHAR]

19 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

That's cool.  However, who else were they taking?  What other player posed serious consideration for the #1 overall?
They had a need at QB, were sitting at #1, and staring at a guy that threw 50 TD's in a season, won the National Championship and the Heisman.
Those types of guys aren't always sitting there for the taking just because you have a need.
The only thing they needed to make sure of is, was he a fit for what they wanted on the team and it has been noted that was determined early on in the process leading up to the draft.  This wasn't a situation where we look back and see it was obvious, it was obvious from the jump.

There would have been outrage had they taken Chase Young for example and passed on Burrow.

Have no idea, but Manning over Leaf seems obvious today.  Wonder why? 

On draft day the Bengals were tied to the Dolphins.   The Bengals took their path and have had more success than that franchise.    For that they deserve a lot of credit, period.

Nobody prior to the drafting of Burrow or even after drafting of Burrow was screaming "automatic success" for the Cincinnati Bengals.    Most as I recall nationally were rooting for it to fail and still do.

Its weird because fans/media that follow the NFL always fail to recognize the difficulty of the NFL. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ArmyBengal]

44 minutes ago, AMPHAR said:

Have no idea, but Manning over Leaf seems obvious today.  Wonder why? 

Well, Manning obviously won in the league and Leaf was a bust, but there a few things to consider.
One is looking at those two QB's coming out of college.  Manning was the better QB stat wise.
So scouts looking at production could see from that standpoint, it wasn't even close.
Manning played at an SEC school and was a winning QB through his career going 39-6.
Leaf played at Washington State and went 24-21.

However, there also wasn't another QB the Bengals had to consider in the same way teams were considering Manning and Leaf.  Again, what other player were the Bengals taking when they knew they were taking QB?

Not trying to be funny, I simply don't think the pick was a challenge.
All good though and think we can agree that regardless of ease of pick, we are happy that Burrow is our QB1.

 

[AMPHAR]

I don't recall very many IF anyone projecting the Bengals becoming an AFC contender IF they drafted Joe Burrow or once they did draft Joe Burrow.   I remember a lot of doubts and national media trying to persuade him to refuse to play for Bengals.    

We know the results today, thus the pick was "easy".   Now there will be goal post moving to degrade the success the Bengals have had with him.  Fine.

In fact there weren't whole lot of people projecting success even if they paired Burrow with Chase.  

[ArmyBengal]

Agree no one was projecting success if the Bengals drafted him, but that’s not the point. The point I am making is the Bengals were in need of a QB and happened to be sitting #1 with a thought to be “franchise” QB staring at them. That doesn’t always happen. Couple that with no other QB thought to be “worthy” and no other non QB considered by all accounts, it was easy.

The media didn’t want him coming to Cincinnati because most of them hate Cincinnati and know QB’s come here and die. However the coaches and everyone else have said it was Burrow from the start. Easy.

Again, there was simply no other player even remotely brought up by anyone in the front office. It was either going to be Burrow or they were about to pull off a huge smoke screen.

[Zakariya55]

On 10/20/2025 at 7:28 AM, AMPHAR said:

I'd give it more time as far as determining judgement on O-line.  The pressure metrics over that last 8 quarters have dropped significantly.   But vs. Pittsburgh the ball was out most of the time on time or in the dirt.   Flacco isn't playing hero ball. But at some point he'll be forced too as teams will adjust to him in the Bengals offense.   I think going under center and making attempts at running had a big effect, then of course Chase breaking some of his longest runs was a huge benefit. 

 

 

recent games show some improved cohesion and fewer pressures on Flacco.

[ArmyBengal]

Truth be told, O-line is not a concern as long as Risner is brought back.

Brown, Fairchild, Karras, Risner and Mims were a top 10 O-line for the season. Depth? Sure, but not before defensive needs are hit, hit and hit again.

[gregcook69]

21 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

Truth be told, O-line is not a concern as long as Risner is brought back.

Brown, Fairchild, Karras, Risner and Mims were a top 10 O-line for the season. Depth? Sure, but not before defensive needs are hit, hit and hit again.

INDEED!  OL went from the bottom 3 to tied at #9!

It DOES show that the franchise IS capable of fixing things and the ‘experience’ of the young defense started some cohesion as they averaged giving up only 17+ points a game in the last 8 games.

Give Golden a chance and see what plays out next year!