We all know Ted Karras isn’t going to be around forever, and the Bengals have already started looking for the next man up in the middle of their offensive line.
Matt Lee is gone. Seth McLaughlin is gone. So Cincinnati went back to the draft and, in classic Bengals fashion, took a swing on a center who had first-round buzz before a season-ending injury.
That player is Connor Lew.
The appeal starts with the anchor. On one snap, the defensive tackle comes in aiming for the guard, then tries to work back toward the center. Lew shuts that down immediately and stops the rush in its tracks.
That kind of stability shows up again and again. Lew keeps a strong base even while he’s moving in pass protection, and his feet are a big part of why.
In one sequence, the defender tries to go right, then left, but Lew stays square and keeps himself in front of the play. In another, as the quarterback scrambles one way, Lew drives the defensive tackle the other way and buries him.
He also flashes the kind of movement you don’t always expect from a center. On one rep, he gets out with a nice kick step to handle the 2i after delivering a sharp snap. The defender tries to cross his face back inside and does get there, which costs Lew some ground, but he recovers and cuts the rush off before it can become a problem.
Lew’s run blocking has some real juice too. Soloing a head-up defensive tackle is a tough ask, especially on a zone block, because the defender can attack either gap and keep fighting through pressure. In one clip, Lew takes the 0-tech to the left, and when the back cuts behind him into the gap on Lew’s right, Lew shows the strength to hang on and keep the lane open.
There’s also the work he does climbing and blocking in space. On a down block against a linebacker standing up in the B gap, Lew has to start from a tough spot.
He throws a perfect strike between his legs on the snap, then has to move laterally two gaps over to reach a defender who is presumably faster and quicker. He gets there without giving up ground, and that’s the kind of play that helps explain why Cincinnati is betting on him.
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The bigger issue is whether the money and the fit would line up well enough to justify it. Spotrac has the market in a range that would be hard to ignore, yet the Bengals are also working with limited cap room going forward, and a deal of that size would force them to answer a simple question: would this really make the offense better, or just make it more crowded? [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Just Got Encouraging News On A Key Defensive Starter
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The bigger takeaway for Cincinnati is that Hill still appears on track to be part of the roster, even if he is not on the field right away. His temporary absence also creates a little extra room for other defensive tackles to make their case as camp opens, which is exactly the kind of depth battle the Bengals will be watching closely while they wait for one of their key interior defenders to get back to work. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Free Agent Sees Something Fans Have Been Desperate For
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Mafe has already noticed the early stages of the transition under defensive coordinator Al Golden, saying the group is working through the kind of learning curve that often comes with a new system. He even drew a parallel to what he experienced in Seattle under Mike Macdonald, a reminder that defensive change can take time before it starts to look natural. For a Bengals team that has invested heavily in the front seven and the back end, the real question is how quickly all that new talent can turn into something more dependable. [Read more 🡒]