The Bengals are parting ways with veteran offensive lineman Cody Ford as they head into the final week of the 2026 preseason.
“The Bengals are releasing OL Cody Ford, who has played in 50 of 51 regular-season games with the team over three years in Cincinnati,” Mike Garafolo posted on X.
Ford had been part of Cincinnati’s search for a dependable swing tackle behind Amarius Mims and Orlando Brown Jr., but that job will go to someone else now. Since arriving in 2023, he bounced around the line for the Bengals and rarely settled in at a level the team could count on.
His usage tells the story. Ford made 10 starts for Cincinnati, including five at left tackle, two at left guard, one at right tackle, and two as a tackle-eligible third tight end. His most memorable moment with the Bengals came in Week 16 of the 2025 season against Arizona, when Joe Burrow hit him for a 21-yard completion in Cincinnati’s win.
Before joining the Bengals, Ford was a second-round pick by Buffalo in 2019. He spent his first three NFL seasons with the Bills, then played for Arizona in 2022. In all, he has 42 career NFL starts.
The move comes after Zac Taylor addressed the backup tackle competition following a rough showing from that group in Saturday’s preseason win over Chicago.
“Consistency," Taylor said about what he wants to see from that spot. "Just trust that the backup tackle is going to go in and win the game, and we want to keep playing the way that we play.
You’ve just got to be able to trust through the game. And so, I think there’s probably a competition there.”
“We just need to continue to practice, and I think just as many situations as we can put ourselves in, get our players comfortable with that," Taylor said. "But we’ve gotten good work at this point.
Now, we’re going to do some three-day stretches. We’re getting some good work this week, leading into Philly, and then three days leading into a bye, so we’re really looking at nine practices there.
Ten practices, really, to get to Tampa Bay. So, that’s the way I think of it.
We’ve got 10 real practices to get ourselves ready to go, and that’s really where our focus department turns to."
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