The situation between offensive tackle Jonah Williams and the Cincinnati Bengals now has a little more context to it thanks to a new report.
According to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Bengals didn’t reach out to Williams before signing Orlando Brown Jr. in free agency with the intention of the new arrival taking his spot on the line:
The Bengals didn’t communicate with Jonah before they were planning to sign Orlando Brown. He was blindsided. The team didn’t tell him ahead of time they were thinking of moving him to RT, a source close to the situation tells me.
This is a good example of the NFL being a harsh business despite it making plenty of sense. Teams aren’t obligated to inform a player they are making an addition at their position.
And specifically in this situation, the Bengals didn’t even consider Brown, thinking he was out of their price range. It was actually Brown’s camp that reached out to the Bengals first and a deal came together fast.
The Bengals intend for Williams to make the shift to right tackle and compete to start there on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract that makes him north of a $12 million cap hit next season.
While head coach Zac Taylor has stressed his desire to have Williams at right tackle in 2023, reports have said the trade market for him has heated up.
