Do We Need Guards As Much As I'm Thinking?

[Sled21]

(Yesterday, 07:17 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: We made the Super Bowl and AFC Championship game and we barely missed the playoffs last year, all with horrible offensive lines.

Burrow killed it behind bad offensive lines, so I've been wanting us to sell out to protect Burrow because we can even outscore teams with a bad defense, but we can't do anything if we can't move the ball and score.

I see sites saying that we need help in the IOL, but some mock drafts have us ignoring the IOL early or all together.

Will Peters be able to coach our guards enough to be serviceable?

Will we draft a guard early?

Will we find any in free agency after cuts start happening?

Is my fear about our guard play justified?

That's because there are no guards or tackles considered first rounders in this draft. The first round will be almost all defense from all the teams that aren't looking for a QB. Guards and Tackles will be there in the 2nd and 3rd.

[Sled21]

(Yesterday, 09:13 PM)Storer50 Wrote: We need at least one guard. A Hendrickson trade would open up the option of picking 2.

Not really, because then we need yet another DE.

[ERIC1]

(Yesterday, 07:52 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: If Burrow would have had an ounce of protection on their final play in the Superbowl versus the Rams, the Bengals would be a respected team around the league and "talking head" community right now. This model of all flash and little substance simply isn't working. Build the damn team from the inside out, like it's supposed to be done..

agreed..but..I think most organizations respect Burrow, Chase Higgins , etc and many would love to have players like that in place..but..I would love to see a DL,OL and linebacker in the first 3 rounds of the draft

[ERIC1]

(Yesterday, 08:56 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: That's an interesting point that you bring up. It's very ironic that this offseason Burrow wasn't leveraging the team for better protection, but rather to keep his weapons together. Not sure if that was a smart move in the long run, but just one thing to keep an eye on.

It would be cool  to be a fly on the wall when Burrow has these conversations with the "Powers That Be" of the Bengals

[*ochocincos*]

Given all the visits Bengals have had with OL who are currently guards or tackles who are projected to move to guard, they definitely seem like they will draft one if not multiple OL who could play guard.

As of right now, the depth is Volson, Ford, Patrick, and Kirkland.
I would argue that's the worst Guard group going into the season the team has had in the Burrow era since his rookie year when they had Alex Redmond, Xavier Sua-Filo, and rookies Mike Jordan and Hakeem Adeniji.
It was so bad they got Quinton Spain midway through the season when he was cut by BUF.

Maybe I'm overly down on Ford and Patrick, but I don't see any of the guys for Guard right now I would want to be out there as a full-season starter.
Out of the group, maybe I'd prefer Patrick the most, but that might just be because he hasn't been on the Bengals before.
And I just haven't cared much for Ford nor Volson.

What I'd be looking to do is draft at least one Guard and then pick up a vet FA on the cheap after the draft based on how the draft went.
And any of the current guards would be competing for backup duties.

[*bengalfan74*]

(Yesterday, 07:20 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Yes, the Bengals definitely need Guards as much as your thinking.

X2 for me, perhaps even more!

Just think if Joe had even .5 seconds more to throw on that last play in the S.B.

[Nicomo Cosca]

the Bengals 2024 O-line was #11 most expensive

it didn't translate into performance, as they ranked:

#32 in pass block win rate
#30 in run block win rate

the Bengals scored a TD on 36% of drives when not allowing a sack

but only 9% of drives when allowing a sack

this year… pic.twitter.com/6ex9HlYtSW

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 15, 2025

[Sled21]

(1 hour ago)bengalfan74 Wrote: X2 for me, perhaps even more!

Just think if Joe had even .5 seconds more to throw on that last play in the S.B.

We can what if all day. There simply are not very many, if any, guards that are going to stop Aaron Donald on that play.

[*bengalfan74*]

(1 hour ago)Sled21 Wrote: We can what if all day. There simply are not very many, if any, guards that are going to stop Aaron Donald on that play.

Oh for sure

Just saying Joe needs better than the two worst guards in the NFL