It was a tough year, but thankfully, it sounds like changes are coming.
Cincinnati Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin took a lot of questions from Kelsey Conway of The Cincinnati Enquirer earlier this week. From extensions for stars to Jermaine Burton, Tobin and Conway covered a wide range of topics.
One topic discussed was the future of the guard position in Cincinnati. After bad years from both starting guards, many fans want the team to find replacements or competition for both Alex Cappa and Cordell Volson.
When speaking to Conway, Tobin said the Bengals will add to the guard position this offseason.
“The way that we play, it requires a firm pocket and we’ve hired a new offensive line coach (Scott Peters). We believe in him,” Tobin said. “He’s really an impressive guy when you get to know him. We’re hopeful that there can be some improvements made technique-wise with him.
“We’re going to add to the position. For sure there will be competition at those positions, we have to evaluate who will come back and who will not come back. It’s a spot that we’re focused on.
Tobin believes in Peters, but he did not shy away from adding new talent to the competition this spring.
“We’re going to continue working with guys that we have on the roster, and we are going to try to evaluate how to get better with guys that aren’t currently on the roster, and whether that’s young guys from the draft, whether that’s free agents, we’ll look at all options, but we’re going to add to that group. We’re definitely going to add to that group.”
Keeping Joe Burrow upright has been a struggle for his entire career. The Bengals finally have their bookend offensive tackles in Amarius Mims and Orlando Brown Jr., while Ted Karras mans the middle at an elite level.
This offseason is all about the guard position, and Tobin seems to recognize that.
