The Bengals are back where they started with Jalen Rivers, and this time it feels less like a preference than a necessity.
Five months after Zac Taylor said he wanted Rivers settled at guard for his development, Cincinnati has shifted the 2025 fifth-round pick back to tackle. The move comes because the team’s swing tackle competition has not given the coaching staff much confidence, with Cody Ford, Javon Foster and Andrew Coker all in the mix and none separating himself enough to lock down the job.
Rivers has already been working at left tackle with the second team since Saturday, and after Tuesday’s practice he said the change didn’t throw him off.
“They told me after the (Detroit) game, “Hey, we’re gonna see what you can do at tackle as well,” Rivers said after Tuesday’s practice, his third in a row playing left tackle.
“I can’t say it caught me by surprise,” he said. “It’s important to work at both, and this just improves my game even more.
Improves my knowledge of the game, too. It’s helped me tremendously.”
For Rivers, the adjustment is more of a return than a reset. He said he has spent his football life bouncing around the line, and the idea of shifting spots is hardly unfamiliar.
“This is not new to me,” he said. “At Miami, I would be the starting left guard, (and) during camp in the spring I'm working left tackle the whole week. Shoot, even center.
“I've been cross training my whole life,” Rivers continued. “It's just a different ballgame because this is the first time I've been at a position for a whole year.”
His Miami background backs that up. In his final season there, Rivers played left guard and left tackle in the same game six times. He was a full-time left tackle in 2023, a full-time left guard in 2021-22 and logged limited reps at both left tackle and right tackle in 2020.
Bengals left guard Orlando Brown Jr. said the move is part of the job for some linemen, even if it is never simple.
“It’s obviously hard any time you’re asked to move sides or move positions,” Brown said. “Just in terms of his versatility and want to and passion for the game, it definitely shows on tape.”
Brown also noted that line position changes are hardly rare in the NFL, pointing to Jonathan Ogden, Laremy Tunsil and Andrew Whitworth as examples of tackles who began at guard.
“There’s many examples of that over the history of the NFL,” Brown said.
The change for Rivers is not tied to Brown’s own camp issues. Brown has had a rough stretch against Boye Mafe and other edge rushers, and he took a big hit on Joe Burrow in Thursday night’s game against Detroit. But Cincinnati’s decision on Rivers is about the backup tackle spot, which remains a clear problem.
That is why Rivers is expected to get most of the second-team left tackle snaps in Thursday’s joint practice against the Bears and again in Saturday’s preseason game.
“I feel like it's an opportunity every time. You never know,” River said.
“That's why I'm attacking each day to get better. They've put me at tackle.
Don't waste that opportunity.”
The challenge, he said, is not just learning where to line up. It is adjusting the whole body and mind to the demands of tackle after spending a full year at guard.
“Against certain stunts, as a guard, I know what I want from my tackle - to not pull too far, to get split,” Rivers said. “So as a tackle, I feel like I know what the guard would want.
“With technique, it’s just refitting your hands, playing longer, not going too fast and leaning and having to deal with more speed guys than heavy guys,” he added.
Rivers is embracing the extra value that comes with being able to handle more than one spot, but he also made it clear he would like a home eventually.
“At some point, of course you want to lock in,” he said. “At the same time, it’s good to show them, ‘What if he can the swing guard and the swing tackle?’
“But yeah, of course, eventually you want to play a permanent spot.”
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