The Cincinnati Bengals have the feeling of a team that could want to add help at offensive tackle this offseason.
While the Bengals won’t move Jonah Williams off left tackle, both of the team’s starting tackles went down with injuries for the playoffs and right tackle La’el Collins isn’t a guarantee to be ready for Week 1.
But actually adding a right tackle might not be viable given the way the open market inflates even that side of the offensive line.
Just look at a list of underrated players who could get dramatically more money than expected in free agency from NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero – three of the seven names are right tackles.
They are Jawaan Taylor, Kaleb McGary and Mike McGlinchey:
The going rate for top RTs these days is $15 million to $19 million a year, and it won’t be a surprise if Taylor lands on the high end of that range after starting all 68 games (including the playoffs) since he joined the Jaguars as a second-round pick in the 2019 draft. Per PFF, Taylor allowed a 2.5 percent pressure rate last season (third-lowest among tackles with at least 300 pass-blocking snaps) and posted a 98.4 pass-blocking efficiency grade (fifth-best). McGary also could land in that price range, benefiting from the Falcons’ decision to decline his fifth-year option last year. Per PFF, McGary earned a 91.6 run-blocking grade last season (second among tackles) and was also effective in pass protection, allowing a 3.9 percent pressure rate. Another name to watch is McGlinchey, the No. 9 overall pick in 2018 who returned from a season-ending torn quadriceps in 2021 to start all 20 games (including playoffs) for the 49ers last season. On PFF’s charts, McGlinchey recorded a 5.1 percent pressure rate and a 96.9 pass-blocking efficiency grade last season, both career bests in a season with at least 300 pass-blocking snaps.
The Bengals actually paying up big for a right tackle would likely mean trying to get out of Collins’ contract after one season while taking other cap-saving measures such as cutting Joe Mixon.
That is, in a word, unlikely. The Bengals will want to upgrade the depth along the offensive line this summer while not spending major money on foreign names. And this reality of the market probably explains why several insiders left the scouting combine mocking right tackles to the Bengals in the first round.
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Story originally appeared on Bengals Wire