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The Cincinnati Bengals would seem like a smart fit for a free agent like Larry Warford due to the state of the offensive line over the past few seasons.
But line coach Jim Turner doesn’t make it sound like he’s looking for more help.
Turner sat down with Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com and one of the biggest instant takeaways is he’s counting on first-round product Jonah Williams and veteran free-agent add Xavier Su’a-Filo to fix things.
On Williams he said:
“You don’t have to go far to see how character can help our team. Bringing him in here makes a difference for us that way at left tackle. He’s what you want when it comes to character. Will he be a great player? We project he’ll be a heck of a player or we wouldn’t have brought him in here in the first round. If you watch how he performs and how dedicated he is and how smart he is. All the pieces fit.”
And on Su’a-Filo:
“First of all, you watch the tape and he’s a finisher. He’s in great condition. He plays as well in the fourth quarter as he does in the first quarter. The tape tells you the kind of toughness and character you want. You spend time with him and he’s a soft-spoken guy, but you can just feel it from him. A presence. This is a guy that wants to be a great player and he wants to be a part of everything Coach Taylor is putting together.”
Turner hopes that those two, plus competition among guards like Michael Jordan and tackles like Fred Johnson, will bring out the best possible line in front of Joe Burrow next season.
All Turner can do right now with his current crop of guys is installs while working with them from a distance. But what he and the team as a whole have telegraphed all along remains the same — they’re happy with the current outlook along the offensive line.
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