NFL.com - Bengals biggest offseason needs

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(01-13-2022, 11:16 AM)ochocincos Wrote: I think a lot of people wanted/expected that a Bengals OL picked in Rd 1 or Rd 2 would be able to come in and be solid-or-better much faster. Ideally immediately.

While I was a fan of the Carman selection due to his size and skill set, I knew the transition from LT to RG would take some time. It's more complicated than just switching from LT to RT. I believe he also wasn't used to the blocking scheme that Pollack runs, so that has a learning curve too.

As you said, he's improved as the year went on. He shows some things that Adeniji just will not have.
If the Bengals re-sign Spain, I see an open competition next offseason between Adeniji, Carman, and maybe even Smith (and a new rookie?) for RG.
If Spain doesn't re-sign, I could see the Bengals liking their young OGs enough to start two of them at the OG positions.

A darkhorse idea is getting an upgrade at C and moving Hopkins back to OG.
While he wasn't great as a run blocker in Lazor's scheme, he was rather good as a pass blocker.
I always thought his best position coming out of college was LG.

And that totally makes sense, especially as he was drafted in the 2nd round.

But people automatically assume that, "changing positions = project." No, there will be an adjustment period of course (as you stated), but a project is someone that played OUT of position in college or whose body needed to be modified to switch positions (IE: a WR being converted to TE, a QB being converted to TE, a TE converting to OL, etc.).

Whether Spain is resigned or not, I see Carman playing RG regardless, as he will have a proper offseason and (hopefully) will not need any surgeries.

Fingers crossed that all goes well.