Cincinnati Bengals: Players to watch vs. Broncos in Week 11

1. Russell Bodine

The biggest weakness of the team this season has been the offensive line, bar none. Most emblematic of that, and the poor decisions which led to the shoddy construction of this group, is the center: Russell Bodine.

Bodine was part of a line that gave up 41 sacks and was widely known as a bad unit in 2016. On that line, Bodine was one of the worst contributors. Andrew Whitworth was aging but still clearly a star left tackle playing at a high level; for the Rams this year, he’s proving to still be exactly that. At right guard, Kevin Zeitler was a young star-in-the-making. He’s taken a step down in Cleveland, but he’s still been on the high end of average by the worst estimations.

Cincinnati would kill for that level of competency now. Unfortunately, both Zeitler and Whitworth are long gone. With those two leaving in the offseason, that meant the best two players on the offensive line from the previous year were now left guard Clint Boling and Bodine. The problem with that: while Boling was at least average for multiple seasons by then, Bodine was just barely reaching passable play in 2016.

According to Pro Football Focus Edge, Bodine graded out at 70.5 for the 2016 season. Before that, he put up much worse seasons: a 52.8 grade in 2014, and a 46.1 in 2015. While Cincinnati clearly hoped 2016 was a trend, it’s proving to be a blip: so far in 2017, Bodine is putting up a career-worst 43.2 PFF grade.

This is a dismal turn of events for the Bengals. A player they hoped would prove to be their rock in the middle has been so abysmally poor at his job that his future with the team is a dire question. The answer to it will need to come soon, by the way, as Bodine is a free agent after this season.

To turn the tides back in his (and his team’s) favor, Bodine needs to start playing like the seasoned veteran Cincinnati banked on him becoming in the first place. That starts, interestingly enough, against another seasoned vet these same Bengals decided to move on from.

After he left the Bengals, Domata Peko signed on as a free agent in Denver. As their nose tackle, he’ll be the player Bodine will likely see more of than anyone. In the surprise of surprises, Peko actually has reverted to being a decent player in Denver after numerous underwhelming seasons in Cincinnati; this makes Bodine’s job even tougher.

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These Bengals desperately need to figure out who from this incompetent cluster of an offensive line is actually worth keeping around; if we go off of the year so far, Bodine has emphatically proven he’s not worth bringing back in any capacity.

He’s got half a season left to change that outlook. If he can hold off Peko and others to end the year, he may prove salvageable; if not, his career could essentially be finished before he actually even enters his prime. This weekend’s matchup is the first part of that final referendum.