Approval Poll: Bengals sign John Miller to three-year deal

The Bengals have gone outside of the organization a couple of times this year in free agency, and have acquired an offensive lineman from the Bills for the second straight year. Cordy Glenn arrived last offseason via trade, which pushed Cincinnati back in the draft and led to their selection of Billy Price.

Cincinnati signed guard John Miller on Friday to a three-year deal worth $16.5 million. A former third-round pick, Miller is now the guard with the highest draft designation in the Bengals organization. Even though the Bengals had also offered tenders to Alex Redmond and Trey Hopkins, Miller seems slated to be the Bengals’ starting right guard on opening day.

Miller has had his fare share of struggles in the NFL, but the former Louisville Cardinal should be an overall improvement on the offensive line, which says a lot about the state the line a year ago.

While the Miller signing isn’t something to grab a lot of national headlines, it’s good to see that the Bengals’ new staff wasn’t overly-satisfied with Redmond as a long-term solution. Miller is the second external free agent that the Bengals have signed after the first week of free agency, so the Bengals are off to a little bit of a faster start than usual.

Whether or not you agree that Miller is a good signing, this means a few things. First of all, the Bengals are very unlikely to go with an interior lineman early in the draft this year, since the Bengals have four returning guards in Hopkins (who plays guard and center), Redmond (if and when he signs his RFA tender), as well as 2018 seventh-round pick Rod Taylor and the enigmatic Christian Westerman.

Second, all four returning guards will be free agents at the end of the season, so this means the Bengals will probably let at least one of them walk in 2020. It also points to Miller being more of a guy suited to Zac Taylor’s new offensive system.

At the very least, Miller should turn the right guard spot into a competition. Redmond won the competition last year, but now there’s fresh, high-priced blood for him to go up against this summer.

What do you think about the Miller signing?