Margus Hunt may be early favorite to start: Wallace Gilberry being used at Tackle

The Bengals were among the NFL's best when it came to sacking quarterbacks in recent years. 139 times over the past three seasons have the Bengals sacked opposing QBs.

Even though Mike Zimmer is gone, Paul Guenther will keep likely his various schemes intact. During OTAs, they've been using a variety of looks with Margus Hunt and Wallace Gilberry, both of whom will be relied on to offset the loss of Michael Johnson.

As Coley Harvey notes, Gilbery and Hunt have rotated at left defensive end, while Gilberry has also moved to defensive tackle on passing downs.

Second-year lineman Margus Hunt likely would take his spot on the left side. Wallace Gilberry could rotate with Hunt at left end, with rookie Will Clarke potentially doing the same with Dunlap on the right side.

In nickel situations, Gilberry has fit on the interior of the line often in practices, just as he did at times last season. In truth, though, multiple ends could rotate into playing on the interior.

Hunt and Clarke most specifically have backgrounds playing there.

This probably means Hunt is the early favorite to start at left DE, but only because Gilberry will be more useful coming off the bench to play both DE and DT. Hunt is still learning how to play the DE position, so hew probably won't be asked to play DT much, though he did occasionally as a rookie.

Gilberry has six years of NFL experience, so putting more on his plate would be ideal. Though Hunt would be a starter on paper, both players will probably be getting 30+ snaps per game this year. Gilberry has registered 16 sacks and 34 QB hurries over the pat two seasons, per Pro Football Focus.

Hunt didn't get a sack as a rookie, but did notch 11 QB hurries. He'll be counted on to do a lot more in Year 2.