Cincinnati Bengals first-round rookie Amarius Mims was forced into action this year after a season-ending injury to Trent Brown.
It has been a trial by fire for the rookie, with perhaps the biggest test coming during Sunday’s win over Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns.
Mims passed the test about as well as anyone could ask.
While the Browns sacked Joe Burrow three times, Garrett didn’t get one of them. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t disruptive, of course. But there was just one sack to Mims’ side all game — and as ESPN’s Ben Baby pointed out, it came on a play that nearly went six seconds and involved tight end Mike Gesicki releasing from a block to go run a route:
https://twitter.com/Ben_Baby/status/1848364045738410454
According to The 33rd Team, Mims allowed the fifth-lowest pressure rate (3.6 percent) of all rookie offensive linemen in Week 7.
No, Mims hasn’t been perfect and yes, there will be future mistakes. But this play is why the Bengals drafted him despite some attendance concerns on his resume and he was likely on track to steal the starting job over the summer before a pec injury.
