Cincinnati Bengals Zero-Snap Spotlight: Christian Westerman

Continuing to analyze the Cincinnati Bengals roster with the Zero-Snap Spotlight series, looking at offensive lineman Christian Westerman.

The Zero-Snap Spotlight series keeps on as training camps around the league are almost unanimously underway. We’ve been examining the often less-discussed components of the Cincinnati Bengals roster. These players are all lesser-known because, though they’ve had time in the NFL, they don’t have a snap played in regular-season action to their credit.

So far, we’ve taken a deep dive into the following players: Andrew Billings, Marcus Hardison, David Dean, Ryan Brown, Tra Carson, Alonzo Russell, Jake Kumerow, Chris Brown, Jeff Driskel, Tony McRae and William Jackson III.

To continue, I jump back to the offensive side of the ball look at lineman Christian Westerman.

Westerman’s name is one you probably don’t know yet. He was a late-round draft pick a year ago, and with a mostly set lineup in front of him, there was little chance for him to get any field time in 2016.

Part of the way through the offseason, that appeared set to change. Despite relative cohesion in their starting unit, Cincinnati gave up 41 sacks last season. Then, their two best linemen — Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler — left for large contracts with the Rams and Browns, respectively. Those moves have left a line already needing massive improvement even more in flux.

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In relation to Westerman, the move which mattered here was Zeitler. Since Westerman is an interior lineman, having a spot open up at guard appeared to give him a prime opportunity to become a starter. Were that the plan, it would fall right in line with what Cincinnati likes to do with their players: Allow even great ones to leave once their price tags go beyond what they would like to pay, and replace them with much cheaper options they had drafted in recent seasons.

At the time of Zeitler leaving, it seemed the team’s plan would be exactly that sort of thing. The expensive guy was being allowed to leave, and one of Westerman and Alex Redmond would compete for that open right guard slot. Cincinnati went with a different angle, however. Instead of going with one of these young players, they decided to bring back an old name: Andre Smith.

From the outside, this wasn’t clearly apparent at first. Smith had been a right tackle throughout his career with Cincinnati and Minnesota. Going in, it appeared his addition was to help clean up the mess at the tackle position that had become an even bigger weakness with the departure of Whitworth. Outside of him, the two tackle spots were set to be decided by the overmatched Cedric Ogbuehi, underwhelming Jake Fisher and aged Eric Winston. While Smith has himself been a minus for a slew of years, he at least had a better track record of success than his younger counterparts and more recent than Winston’s.

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Instead, it was revealed that he would not be adding to the mess at tackle, but moving to guard for the first time in his career to take over Zeitler’s vacated position. That essentially quashed the hopes for Westerman to step in as the new starter this year (at least for now).

This could easily change, however. Should Smith mess up his opportunity or get injured, he could find himself losing the starting nod. Based on his recent performance and injury history, that cannot be ruled out. Should either reason come to fruition, Westerman will again be up against Redmond for that right guard slot, and he’d have at least as good a shot at it.

First off, Westerman was actually drafted, while Redmond was a UDFA. In addition, the pre-draft grading rated him as a clearly better option. Westerman ended his college days as an honorable mention for the All-Pac-12 team. Redmond was that in his freshman and sophomore seasons, but couldn’t keep up his play nor grades (ending that year as academically ineligible). Westerman has an advantage over Redmond in terms of both technical and physical attributes as well.

I have my doubts with that competition even really getting broached this year, though. Cincinnati (like many teams) has a bit of a problem with making proactive moves to their lineups once they are already in place, and they also have a tendency to stick with their veterans over possibly better younger options. Without injury — again, which cannot be ruled out — Smith likely has to be a complete sieve to overturn the current plan in place.

In reality, it may be 2018 where Westerman could make an impact. By then, he’ll have two full years on the team, and that extra year could be all he needs to be the next man up for the starting spot. Plus, while Smith could do a decent job, the odds are against him becoming more than a stopgap. Even if he stays healthy and returns to the form he exhibited back in his first Cincinnati stint, the likelihood of that being more than a blip is low.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Training camp edition

The Bengals could still keep him in place, but if he doesn’t have a stellar 2017, they have at least a couple options currently gaining experience in their blocking scheme. Barring some new, high-level addition yet to be made, Westerman should be the first choice on that list.