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It’s a sign of the times for the Cincinnati Bengals — new offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. was recently ranked as one of the top players at his position.
Now it’s a similar story with guard Alex Cappa, who checks in as the 18th overall guard in the NFL in rankings compiled by Pro Football Focus’ Gordon McGuinness:
A big part of the Bengals’ ongoing offensive line rebuild, Cappa produced a career-high 71.4 PFF pass-blocking grade in 2022. At 28 years old, he’s probably not vaulting himself into the upper echelon of guards in the NFL at this stage of his career but is a more-than-capable starter.
Before anyone scoffs at that 18th ranking being something worth highlighting, it wasn’t too long ago Bengals guards managed to rank outside the 40th slot, if not worse.
In fact, we could make the argument that Cappa was the best lineman for the Bengals last year outright. That he’s returning and should play at a similar level is a good thing considering Brown at left tackle, Cordell Volson blossoming at left guard, Ted Karras at center and Jonah Williams at right tackle.