BX: How will Bengals' offensive line transform?

MOBILE, Alabama – The new collection of Bengals coaches and scouts scattered across the grounds of Ladd-Peebles Stadium and gathered at restaurants inside this typically sleepy Southern town for their first public appearance since the largest overhaul of the staff under Marvin Lewis.

It doesn’t take long for those new to the organization to understand what those who’ve been around already know about the 2018 offseason. It all starts with fixing the offensive line.

“We just haven’t gotten to the level we expected,” Marvin Lewis told BX this week. “We have to get better. We have to get better with people. We have to make sure we solidify the thing. There’s no question about it.”

Looking around the league, it’s easy to see the blueprint for a Bengals return to the postseason and attempt to break the playoff win drought. Look at Minnesota. Look at the Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints. Reforming and invigorating underachieving or injured lines spurred runs to division titles, and in the case of Mike Zimmer’s Vikings, one step from the first home Super Bowl in history.

The process of figuring out that puzzle began in force with the hire of former Cowboys line coach Frank Pollack, who oversaw one of the most dominating rushing attacks in football the last three seasons with Dallas.

“He’s exciting,” Marvin Lewis said. “He’s aggressive. He’ll fit well with our guys.”

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The switch in style from one which drops back in pass protection and accepts pass rushers, versus one that more brings the action to the defense will serve as the first major skew from the old-school philosophy of now Cowboys offensive line coach Paul Alexander. The scheme is expected to simplify, add aggression and see an overall shift of focus toward the run game.

“It starts with pass protection,” Bengals owner and president Mike Brown said. “We’ve got to get that up to standard. We have to run the ball more effectively than we did over the course of the year. At the end of the year, we were (more effective). So perhaps we’re closer to putting together one of those pieces that has to be corrected. The pass protection issue is still out there and we will work to try to make that what it needs to be.”

But who will be the five players best fit to put Pollack’s ideas into pads? Where will they come from?

Here’s what we know. Center Russell Bodine is a free agent. He started all 66 possible games since being drafted in the fourth round in 2014. The Bengals know his flaws.

As much of the criticism is deserved, there are teams in this league that look at his durability and entering his prime years as a center who see an upgrade. And, more importantly, one they’d be willing to pay for. The Bengals aren’t likely to participate in a bidding war, but there’s interest in retaining him. Nobody is writing him out of Cincinnati, certainly not his head coach.

“We want to do everything in our power to get Russell back,” Lewis said. “Russell’s been, physically, mentally a tough football player for us. He was installed there as a rookie and he’s done nothing but continue to grow and get better and frankly grow into a guy you can count on to help lead the football team. I feel really good about him. So hopefully we’ll be able to get that done. I’d like to get that done. He’d like to get that done, from what he says.”

As for if there could be a change at center, the best fit on the market would seem to come from across the division. Baltimore center Ryan Jensen, 26, emerged in his first full season as a starter and could bring a nastiness the Bengals staff has always sought in their linemen and knowledge of handling the rigors of the AFC North.

If they come away from free agency without a starting center and must rely on the draft, James Daniels (Iowa) and Billy Price (Ohio State) would be top of the draft prospects. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah called Daniels one of the best center prospects he’s evaluated in five years.

Remember, Pollack saw his group ascend in Dallas by drafting All-Pro center Travis Frederick in the first round in 2013.

The spot the Bengals suddenly seem most solid is guard. A swell of organizational momentum came from the play of Alex Redmond and Christian Westerman over the last two games and a feeling they discovered the guys who should have been playing all along. The fact that they weren’t playing was part of why Pollack is now the offensive line coach.

Along with Clint Boling, the team could have three solid guards before factoring in last year’s starter at right guard, Trey Hopkins.

The most important decision to be made over the next six months falls on what to do with left tackle. Cedric Ogbuehi has shown through two years he’s – at the least – not the guy they hoped he would be as a first-round pick. At worst, he is a bust they must replace. Expect the team to decline the fifth-year option on his rookie contract in the coming months.

“Ced’s had two seasons, basically, and it’s just not been exactly where we need it to be,” Lewis said. “That’s held us back.”

This could be the focus on the No. 12 pick in the draft, though, the team hates feeling pigeonholed into a single position and won’t stray from a best-player-available method. That said, if four quarterbacks go in front of them, which is very possible, that leaves them with a rare prospect and good chance to grab who they believe to be the best future left tackle.

Orlando Brown (Oklahoma), Mike McGlinchey (Notre Dame), Connor Williams (Texas) and Brian O’Neill (Pittsburgh) are among the leading names early to watch in the first round at tackle.

Last year’s offensive line class represented one of the worst in the last few decades. This year is not that, but it’s not exactly overflowing with left tackle talent, either. Last year, New Orleans was happy to find a starter in Wisconsin’s Ryan Ramcyzk with the last pick in the first round. Replicating their success would be ideal for the Bengals. Despite criticisms of Lewis’ reluctance to play rookies in their first year, he hasn’t been afraid to plug in a first-year starter up front. They did it with Bodine (2014) and guard Kevin Zeitler (’12) this decade.

If the Bengals wanted to poke into free agency, New England’s Nate Solder will be available and is a top-10 run-blocking tackle in 2017, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s also made 95 career starts, owns two Super Bowl rings and is currently chasing a third.

As for an in-house option, could Boling make a permanent move to tackle as he did over the last two games?

“I think as the time went along I felt more comfortable out there, just naturally, but it was a solid finish to the year,” Boling told BX. “Obviously there’s a lot of different factors that are going to have to go into that, but at the end of the day wherever they feel like I can play (I’ll play). If that were the case, having an offseason would be pretty beneficial to prepare for that, but who knows what can happen. They could draft a guy. They could sign somebody. There’s no telling what we’re going to be doing right now.”

Organizational optimism still connects to Jake Fisher at right tackle, despite an up-and-down first year as a starter in 2017. A thought exists his attitude and aggression could make a nice match with Pollack, but throw in the uncertainty surrounding the irregular heartbeat issue that ended his 2017 season early and he’s far from a lock to start.

Fisher rotated with Andre Smith, who played both left and right tackle this past season. Smith is a free agent and would make for a smart utility player to keep on hand in case he is needed to plug and play again.

All of these pieces run through the hands of director of player personnel Duke Tobin, coordinator Bill Lazor, Lewis and Pollack. How they fit together will be the No. 1 storyline of this offseason for the Bengals.

The process has just begun.