Cincinnati Bengals 5 Most Interesting Battles Heading Into Training Camp

With the Cincinnati Bengals building a Super Bowl-caliber roster, there have not been many battles for starting jobs in the last few years. And not much is going to change when they open training camp on Wednesday. But the ripple effect from building a roster that is both talented and deep is spirited competition for reserve roles and spots on the back end of the roster.

Let’s take a look at what should be some of the more entertaining battles for the Bengals this summer.

Cincinnati Bengals’ Most Interesting Positional Battles Heading Into Training Camp

Right Tackle

The Bengals are no strangers to opening training camp with several questions about their offensive line, but this year is different. The favorite to win the job is someone who requested a trade a few months ago in Jonah Williams.

Option B is a player who entered each of the last two training camps as the favorite to win a starting job and failed both times, with Jackson Carman being demoted as far as third-string a year ago. And Option C (or LC) is La’el Collins, who started the first 15 games at RT last year before tearing his ACL on Dec. 24 and has made 86 starts in his seven-year career.

The expectation is that this will be a two-man battle between Williams and Carman, with Collins likely to be added to the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list prior to next Wednesday’s first practice. But it could be more of a case of Williams vs. Williams, as the 2019 first-round pick is making the transition from left tackle after the team signed Orlando Brown Jr. in free agency.

“I’m going to make it (a smooth) one, whether it is or isn’t,” Williams said last month when he showed up at the team’s mandatory minicamp after sitting out the voluntary portion of the offseason.

“I’ll have all of training camp to get acclimated,” he added. “Whether it’s smooth or not doesn’t matter because I’m going to do it.”

Williams spent the offseason rehabbing after his own knee surgery following a dislocated kneecap in the Wild Card win against the Ravens, an injury that re-opened the Carman conversation. The 2021 second-round pick played arguably the best game of his career while starting for Williams at LT in the Divisional Round victory at Buffalo. Carman also showed up for the offseason looking much leaner and eager to fight for a starting job.

Reps are going to be key as Williams tries to get comfortable on the right side, and that may cost Carman a chance to see many snaps with the 1s. Williams hasn’t played right tackle since his freshman year at Alabama.

“I’m going to compete,” Williams said. “I’m going to come play. That’s what I do. I’m fired up to do it. Let’s go.”

Third-Down Running Back

The Bengals had every intention of re-signing Samaje Perine in free agency, both as a reward for his production the last two years and as a way to leverage their ultimatum for Joe Mixon to take a pay cut. But Perine turned down continuing as Mixon’s running mate for a chance at a bigger role in Denver, even though the salary offer was the same.

Perine rushed for nearly 400 yards while setting career highs in receptions (38), receiving yards (287), and touchdown catches (four). But more than that production, the Bengals will miss what he did as a pass blocker, with Pro Football Focus ranking him eighth among qualifying running backs.

Mixon has been a liability in pass pro and has seen his third-down snaps dwindle as a result. Chris Evans and Trayveon Williams have almost no experience with it, given their limited snaps. Williams, however, performed well when asked to — most notably in the win at Tennessee.

Nevertheless, rookie fifth-round pick Chase Brown could be the favorite. Brown did it quite a bit at Illinois last year, with his 106 pass-blocking snaps ranking 12th in the nation, per PFF. His pass-blocking grade of 65.1 also comes in at a respectable 32nd among 199 qualifying backs.

Brown also had his most productive season as a receiver last fall, catching 27 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns, furthering his case for third-down snaps.

Early in camp, I expect to see Williams get the bulk of the opportunities, but it’s going to be interesting watching Brown grow into that role.

Fourth WR

With Cincinnati owning the best trio of wide receivers in the league, it may not seem that important who fills the No. 4 slot. But Ja’Marr Chase (five), Tee Higgins (one), and Tyler Boyd (one) all missed games last year. Even with all three on the field in Week 16 at New England, it was Trenton Irwin who Joe Burrow went to in the end zone three times, resulting in a pair of touchdowns.

Irwin is the incumbent, but when Boyd exited the AFC Championship Game in Kansas City, the drop-off was steep. That no doubt played a role in the decision to spend a fourth-round pick on Charlie Jones, who had 110 catches for 1,361 yards and 12 touchdowns last year at Purdue after transferring from the offensive wasteland at Iowa.

The Bengals went to their go-to draft move two rounds later, doubling up at a position of need and drafting Andrei Iosivas out of Princeton. Going from the Ivy League to the NFL is a lot to ask, and Iosivas might be destined for a spot on the practice squad. But he showed off his raw skills in non-competitive spots in OTAs, and it should be fun watching both Iosivas and Jones running routes and building a rapport with Burrow in camp.

Or maybe one of the undrafted college free agents (Malachi Carter, Shedrick Jackson, or Mac Hippenhammer) or 2022 UDFA Kwamie Lassiter II can force their way into the conversation.

Fourth Cornerback

The last time a Bengals CB started every game in a season was 2018, when William Jackson did it. Before that, it was Adam Jones in 2016. And before that, Leon Hall in 2010. So you see where this is going.

You can’t overstate the importance of the role, which is a big reason why the Bengals used a second-round pick on the position for the second year in a row, tapping DJ Turner out of Michigan after selecting Cam Taylor-Britt in 2022.

When it comes to training camp, CB4 could be spending a lot of time as a starter, depending on where Chidobe Awuzie is in his recovery. Awuzie tore his ACL on Oct. 31 and is expected to be ready for the start of the season. Yet, he said in April he wasn’t going to try to force anything just to say he was back in time for Day 1 of camp.

In free agency, the Bengals signed Sidney Jones IV, a seven-year vet with 27 career starts.  Allan George, meanwhile, has been a pleasant surprise, making the 53 last year as an undrafted rookie out of Vanderbilt. The Bengals also drafted DJ Ivey in the seventh round.

Given that list of candidates, CB4 could be the most competitive position battle of the summer.

Punter

Maybe “interesting” is the wrong label for a punter battle, but it certainly holds importance. Drue Chrisman’s low line-drive punt down the middle of the field in the closing seconds of the AFC Championship Game is still fresh in a lot of minds.

While Chrisman is the incumbent, rookie Brad Robbins is the favorite to win the job after the Bengals used a sixth-round pick to make him the first punter they’ve drafted in 14 years.

“I feel really good about Brad,” special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said on draft night. “He brings something different that we haven’t had here in a bit. He’s a hang-time guy. He loves to get the ball up and does a really good job of getting hang time. He led college football the last two years in hang time.”

But we’ve seen this before. In 2017, Cincinnati selected kicker Jake Elliott in the fifth round to supplant Randy Bullock. But Bullock outperformed Elliott in training camp and the preseason and held on to his job, and Elliott has been kicking for the Eagles ever since.

Chrisman has a big leg, and there’s a reason the Bengals have been grooming him to replace Kevin Huber, with that move taking place midway through last season. With the jitters of his first season behind him, Chrisman is ready to fight for his job.