Jim Owczarski

jowczarski@enquirer.com

Paul Alexander smiled, but it was the kind of smile you have when you’re about to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth. For the first time in a long time, the longtime offensive line coach of the Cincinnati Bengals is overseeing an overhaul of his starting five, beginning with two new starting tackles and a familiar face learning a position at right guard.

But as voluntary workouts conclude on May 15 and with the first organized training activity beginning on May 23, Alexander will also be without starting left guard Clint Boling, who is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

With former starting right tackle and recently re-acquired free agent Andre Smith getting the first crack at right guard, someone will have to take most of the reps on the left side as Boling recover. He is expected to be full-go by the time training camp opens.

“Yeah, to be honest with you, we’re going to have so many new guys in there that I kind of wish Clint was in there,” Alexander said through that slight smile. “This is like a makeover.”

Alexander has options, but they are largely unproven – at least at that position.

“We don’t exactly know,” he said. “Andre’s working in there with the first group right now and I anticipate it’s going to go well for him, but we’ve got other guys that are doing well too. It’s a competitive thing and we’ll see how that goes.”

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T.J. Johnson is the most experienced potential fill-in, but he has been Russell Bodine’s backup at center for the last three seasons. Johnson did sign a two-year deal this offseason as a restricted free agent and finished last year starting at left guard in the finale against Baltimore.

“Who knows what’s going to happen,” Johnson said about how reps may shake out. “I’m going to let the cards fall where they are. I’m just going to come in and give it everything I got and we’ll see what happens.”

Second-year player Trey Hopkins, who has been on the practice squad for the most part since 2014 and appeared in one game last year, will also be in the mix inside.

Christian Westerman, a fifth-round pick out of Arizona State last year, never made the active 46 on a game day in his rookie season. The 24-year-old sees some opportunity this year and hopes the equivalent of a redshirt season he experienced in college has him ready to seize it.

“I understand that that process sucks but I also understand that I redshirted and then I ended up being a guy a couple years later getting drafted,” Westerman said. “My point here is, we’ll call it a redshirt year my first NFL year and in a couple years I’m hoping to be one of the best, top guys, top guards.”

In that year, Westerman said he learned the ins and outs of pro football, but his biggest growth was mentally with understanding NFL blocking schemes and the offense. Physically he’s cut out carbohydrates and sugars and hopes to enter the year with an additional 10 pounds of muscle than from a year ago.

Then there’s Alex Redmond, an undrafted free agent out of UCLA last year who spent the season on the practice squad. Like Westerman, he also used a year practicing, working out – and watching – to reshape himself mentally and physically and put himself in a position to open Alexander’s eyes this spring.

“You’re a professional now and it’s totally different,” Redmond said of the eye-opening experience 2016 was for him coming out of college “I need to know everything. Because if not I’m putting myself at a disadvantage, which I was before. So this year before I’m trying to make sure that’s not a thing. I’ve been in my playbook every day, every night. Just patiently waiting my time.”

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Across the board, the Bengals’ interior linemen see an opportunity – and it’s all they can ask for.

“There’s always competition,” Johnson said as he leaned forward to tie his boots. “That’s part of what is so beautiful about the whole thing is that we each compete with each other and the best guy’s gonna play.”