In a disappointing Week 1 loss to the New England Patriots, the Cincinnati Bengals did have a nice surprise. Even though the rest of the offense appeared unable to generate much continuity, the offensive line looked like pass protection was greatly improved over last season. The most improved player to start the season on both sides of the ball might be left guard Cordell Volson after the third-year guard scored a Pro Football Focus grade of 79.0, good enough to rank as the 12th best guard in football during Week 1. Even though Volson was a shining star during Week 1, there was a weakness on the offensive line.
Cincinnati Bengals Biggest Weakness on Offense During Week 1
While there was a marked improvement from both Volson and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. during the first week of the season, the right side of the offensive line did not enjoy similar success. Notably, recent free agent acquisition and former Patriot Trent Brown was a disaster on the right side of the line of scrimmage as he gave up four pressures and a sack in just his first game as a Bengal. Notably amongst those was a play where the 380-pound Brown was simply overpowered by the Patriots defender before applying pressure to quarterback Joe Burrow.
Anyone who has watched Trent Brown seriously over the last couple of years expected him to be bad. Bengals fans were in my mentions about how much of an upgrade he is.
Goofy. pic.twitter.com/ns38NSwLJ3
— Christian Williams (@CWilliamsNFL) September 10, 2024
Luckily for Cincinnati, their long-term plan may be working out sooner than expected. On top of signing Brown to a bargain contract for 2024, Cincinnati also selected Amarius Mims out of the University of Georgia wth the 18th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Mims looked outstanding and was making great improvement during the preseason before he suffered a pectoral strain that caused him to miss the end of the preseason as well as last week against New England. Head Coach Zac Taylor had already announced that Brown would be the Week 1 starter but if Mims were healthy, he could have possibly made the switch during the game.
After missing Week 1 against New England, Mims finally looks like he might be approaching a healthy status after he participated in sled drills during practice on Wednesday. Given the nature of sled drills, it is hard to believe that a pectoral sprain could be causing him any more discomfort. After the practice, Mims has been updated to questionable on the injury report and the rookie has a distinct possibility of being cleared for Sunday against Kansas City. A video of the drills is shown below.
Amarius Mims is doing sled drills. Progress for the #Bengals first round pick🏈 pic.twitter.com/PzkqXMZnZS
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) September 11, 2024
One of the reasons that Mims was drafted so high was the enormous potential he has as a pass blocker: the combination of size at 6’8″ and 340 pounds combined with his athleticism would make him a fearsome matchup on the edge once he perfects his technique. If Brown continues to play like he did last week against New England, it is likely that the team will make the switch permanently and at least get Mims some reps.
Even with his tremendous athleticism, going against professional pass rushers will still be a learning curve as Mims can’t rely solely on his superior size anymore. That being said, expectations shouldn’t be too high on the rookie but at the very least, he’ll be a tremendous improvement over Brown after his sloppy performance against New England.
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