Bengals Training Camp Preview: OT
Players:
75. Orlando Brown
77. Trent Brown
71. Amarius Mims
79. Jackson Carman
70. D’Ante Smith
76. Devin Cochran
74. Eric Miller
The OT position is one that has been closely watched by Bengals fans for the past several years, given the issues that they have had there. This year, the team is hoping that they finally have things figured out, both short and long term.
Orlando Brown will continue as the team’s starting LT. His name value, at this point, may be higher than the actual value that he brings with his play. However, even if not one of the game’s true elites at the position, he is a reliable, consistent starter. His size is a big plus in the run game, while in most matchups, he can win leverage battles as a pass blocker.
At RT, the Bengals plan to have Trent Brown starting. The two Browns form one of the biggest OT tandems we have seen around the league in quite some time. Health has been an issue for him throughout his career, and this will again be the thing to watch. If he can stay healthy, he should be expected to perform at a pretty high level on the right side.
Rookie 1st round pick Amarius Mims is in a good position, as things stand now. The high upside rookie will have the luxury of sitting behind the two veterans while he can fine tune his game. Trent Brown is only on a 1 year deal, so the hope is that Mims will be ready to take over next year. As for this season, there is a good chance that he will be first off the bench if an injury to one of the starting OT’s occurs.
After the top three, training camp battles will decide the other spots. As the veteran, Jackson Carman might be the favourite, but he certainly does not have a spot locked down. He has looked solid in moments at LT, but poor in every other position. He will need to show some improvements, or he might run out of chances this offseason.
D’Ante Smith, draft position aside, is in a similar position as Carman. It has been quite some time since we have seen anything positive from him. The battle is wide open, but he is someone that might also be out of chances if he doesn’t show some improvement.
Devin Cochran is an interesting one to watch this offseason. The 2022 UDFA spent all of that season on the practice squad, and all of last season on IR. He is very much an unknown at this point. But from his college days, we know he has size, strength, and some relative athleticism to work with. I’m curious to see how far along he is in his development. Because there is certainly a path to a roster spot for him, if he has taken enough steps forward.
Eric Miller rounds out the group as a rookie UDFA. He enters the offseason at the bottom, but I thought his tape was pretty decent. I touch on it a little in my UDFA article. Like with Cochran, a good performance in the offseason could earn him a roster spot.
Cody Ford is also worth mentioning briefly in this article. I’ll touch on him more in the next one, which will look at the iOL. He is classified as a G, but it is possible he factors into what they do at OT, as well.
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