Some ugly hits on Joe Burrow have led to expected discussion around the Cincinnati Bengals this preseason.
One of the more obvious is Orlando Brown.
Brown, the big-money free agent who joined the Bengals in 2023, has been in the crosshairs here and there for his occasional notable losses or certain grades over the years. Not that the Bengals care: They gave Brown a two-year extension worth $32 million this offseason to keep him around longer.
But eager fans who went without football too long closely watched the Bengals’ preseason opener and saw Brown give up a sack of Burrow to Eric O’Neill, an undrafted free agent.
Not good.
Some, like Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic, have noted Brown’s spotty struggles in camp, too.
“Yet, we’ve seen rough moments for Brown getting beat around the edge during training camp by backups Cashius Howell and Cedric Johnson, among others,” Dehner wrote. “Those moments planted a seed, but the benefit of the doubt is undeniably given to the 30-year-old four-time Pro Bowler.”
Given struggles against backups, rookies and another team’s undrafted free agent, questions about Brown are only fair.
Whether there’s something bigger at play with Brown feels unlikely though. The Bengals are working more under-center than usual. There’s a ramp-up period for everyone and bad reps will still happen. How much some of these hiccups are on Brown or someone else, such as Burrow not stepping up into pockets, for example, is hard to say. It’s also well-known that Brown tends to struggle with speed rushers.
The reality? The state of offensive tackle play around the NFL is so poor that the Bengals still have one of the better tackle situations in the entire league. They’re counting on Brown to steady himself and get right and will work to help him with it, if needed. But he’s a part of them finally returning the first starting five linemen for the first time in the Burrow era for good reason.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Should the Bengals worry about an Orlando Brown problem?