Orlando Brown Jr. isn’t backing off his view of the Bengals’ offensive line. In fact, he’s leaning all the way in.
Brown said on the Locked On Bengals Podcast with Jake Liscow and Joe Goodberry that he believes Cincinnati has the league’s top pass-protection group, a unit that returns all five starters for the first time in the Joe Burrow era.
“I say this confidently. I really feel like we got the best pass protection unit in the NFL,” Brown said. “There isn’t a lot of group that could come do what we do on a week-to-week basis and have the success that we’ve had, especially with the circumstances.”
That kind of confidence makes sense coming from Brown, who has seen this line work through plenty over the last three seasons. The Bengals had to navigate last year without Burrow and with two different quarterbacks in the mix, including Joe Flacco, who arrived in-season. Brown said the group handled the change smoothly, and the results backed that up.
“Our unit is so strong in pass protection, man,” Brown said.
The line also had to adjust to a shaky start on the ground. The Bengals were without much of a running game in the first five weeks, but later found a rhythm by going under center more and finding ways to run the football. That shift helped the passing game once Flacco took over and again after Burrow returned.
Brown’s point is rooted in the makeup of the group, which blends experience and upside. Brown, Ted Karras, and Dalton Risner have each played for three teams, including the Bengals, during their NFL careers. Dylan Fairchild and Amarius Mims bring the younger side of the equation, with Mims approaching Pro Bowl levels and potentially working his way into a contract extension next offseason.
The bigger picture is continuity, and Brown knows that matters. The best offensive lines in the NFL usually stay together year after year, and the source pointed to Buffalo as an example, with the same starting line over the last two seasons. That stability helped Josh Allen win MVP in 2024 and put together an even better statistical season in 2025.
Now Burrow gets that same kind of continuity in front of him. With expectations high for 2026, the Bengals quarterback could be set up for his best statistical season yet, and maybe his first MVP.
Allen and Patrick Mahomes already have at least one MVP award, and the source ties that success to continuity up front. Burrow finally has that, too, and for Cincinnati, it’s a welcome reset heading into a pivotal year.
In Other News...
Bengals May Have A Cheap Answer To A Familiar Backfield Fear
The Bengals have spent enough time worrying about backfield depth to know when a cheap insurance policy is worth exploring, and a trade idea floating around this week fits that mold. With the Chargers adding more bodies to their running back room, Cincinnati could potentially find a usable reserve without paying much more than a late-round draft pick.
For a team that wants steadiness behind Chase Brown and Samaje Perine, the appeal is obvious: a young runner who already showed he can handle a meaningful workload and chip in as a receiver, too. The question is whether the asking price stays low enough to make sense for Cincinnati, because the whole point of a move like this is avoiding a bigger problem later. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals May Finally Have Their Answer Protecting Joe Burrow
Amarius Mims arrived in Cincinnati with the kind of expectations that come with protecting Joe Burrow, and after getting thrown into the lineup early in his rookie season, he has settled in with the sort of steady progress the Bengals were hoping to see. The most encouraging part for Cincinnati is that the 2025 starting offensive line is set to return intact, giving the team continuity up front and a cleaner path for Mims to keep building on what he showed in his first year or so.
Mims has also had a helpful partner on the right side in Dalton Risner, and he has publicly credited Risner with helping his development. If that pairing keeps growing together, the Bengals could be looking at a much more stable answer on the edge than they have had in recent seasons, with Mims emerging as a breakout name to watch as the next chapter unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
One Bengals Starter Feels Especially Vulnerable With Camp Almost Here
With Bengals camp drawing near, a few projected starters are suddenly looking less secure than they did a few months ago. The conversation starts on the second level, where Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter are both under scrutiny after rocky rookie seasons, but it does not stop there. Jordan Battle also enters the summer with questions hanging over his spot after an erratic year, and the defensive front has its own pressure points with Myles Murphy trying to hold off younger competition.
The bigger issue for Cincinnati is that this is not just one position group feeling the heat. Bryan Cook and Dexter Lawrence give the safety room a different look, while Shemar Stewart and rookie Cashius Howell add more urgency on the edge. So the real camp storyline may be less about who is locked in and more about which projected starter is most vulnerable when the pads finally come on. [Read more 🡒]