AP

The Bengals knew they needed to rebuild their offensive line, so using their first-round pick on a left tackle was a clear sign of the emphasis.

Then, they lost him for the season.

When rookie Jonah Williams was lost for the season to a shoulder injury, the Bengals are moving incumbent Cordy Glenn back outside after planning to make him the left guard.

But new coach Zac Taylor said he was still upbeat (like he has a choice) about the state of their line entering his first season.

“Cordy (Glenn) can move back to left tackle which is where he’s played his whole career. We have a lot of confidence in him there,” Taylor said, via Tyler Dragon of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It’s unfortunate to lose guys in their rookie year. He had high expectations for himself. But we’ll be good.”

The Bengals now have to declare a competition for the left guard job. They signed veteran John Jerry this offseason, and will spend training camp looking at options.

“We have a lot of guys in there that can compete for those jobs,” Taylor said. “The left guard spot will be a competition in training camp and we’ll be excited to see what happens there. We have a lot of good guys in the mix who we are counting on to step up and do their job.

“[Christian] Westerman is in there, we just signed John Jerry [and] Trey Hopkins is in there as well. A lot of guys who can get in there and compete.”

It’s far from ideal, but they’re fortunate to have a fallback position as good as Glenn, even though he wasn’t at his best last season.