Amarius Mims spent Week 1 looking like exactly the kind of right tackle Dan Pitcher had been talking up.
The Bengals opened the 2026 season with a 33-27 win over the Bucs at Paycor Stadium, and Mims did his part by helping keep Rueben Bain Jr. from becoming much of a factor. The Cincinnati right tackle handled the Bucs’ first-round rookie and showed why there’s growing belief that he’s headed for something bigger than just being a solid starter.
Pitcher had already put the praise out there before the opener. Five days earlier, via CLNSCincy.com's Mike Petraglia, he said:
"I think Amarius is well on his way to being one of the best tackles in our league, and I think he has to keep on the path that he's on right now. But I love what he's shown, and I know there's a lot of really good players on our offense, and maybe that speaks to my expectations and my belief in him that his name is the first one that popped in my head. But I think he's gonna be really good."
That kind of endorsement carries weight coming from someone who has coached Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and other top-end talent. And Mims backed it up on the field.
According to initial PFF charting cited by Gridiron Grading, Mims allowed 0 pressures on 37 pass block snaps against the Bucs, with Bain being the main player lined up across from him. If that holds, it would be the best pass block grade of his career. His 84.8 PFF pass blocking grade was also the best among Cincinnati’s offensive linemen in Week 1.
Mims, a first-round pick in 2024, barely got a rookie season to himself after Trent Brown went down with an injury in Week 3. Brown was starting for the Texans in the playoffs last season, which left plenty of questions hanging over the pick. But at 6'8" and 350 pounds, Mims is starting to look like a player who can justify the investment.
And he wasn’t doing it alone. Cincinnati’s entire front handled a tough assignment against Todd Bowles’ defense.
Per Sumer Live, the Bucs blitzed on almost half of Burrow’s dropbacks, yet the Bengals still gave up just a 29.7% pressure rate. Jon Ledyard noted that Cincinnati’s offensive line decisively won the battle up front.
Jake Liscow added that, per PFF, Joe Burrow was the least-pressured quarterback in Week 1. The Bengals allowed pressure on 19% of his dropbacks, including 2 under center plays and 5 shotgun plays.
That matters because Burrow has spent a lot of his career taking hits he never should have had to absorb. The line in front of him now looks far better than the group he carried to elite offense, Super Bowl LVI and another AFC title game.
The Bengals didn’t get much of a long look at that upgraded setup last season because Burrow’s turf toe injury cut into the year. Even so, when he was healthy in 2025, he went 5-3 with a 100.7 passer rating despite a defense that didn’t do him many favors.
So maybe the rest of the league will catch on to Mims soon. Maybe it won’t. Either way, Week 1 made the point pretty clearly: Cincinnati’s right tackle is starting to look like the real thing.
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It was a rough reminder of how quickly a game can tilt when turnovers start piling up, especially against a defense ready to capitalize. Mayfield entered the season fresh off a new three-year contract worth about $165 million, a commitment that was supposed to stabilize Tampa Bay through the 2029 season, but his first outing only gave Cincinnati more reason to feel good about how that matchup unfolded. [Read more 🡒]