Bengals considered 2 other o-linemen if Jonah Williams was off the board, per report

Throughout the 2019 NFL Draft, you probably noticed a theme of Bengals taking players who took part in the Senior Bowl.

Deshaun Davis, Drew Sample, Germaine Pratt, Jordan Brown, Ryan Finley and Renell Wren were all in Mobile this year as Bengals coaches and scouts got an up-close look at them before they were drafted.

The Bengals almost added a seventh in Round 1, as Boston College Eagles guard Chris Lindstrom was in the running for the 11th overall pick, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, who adds that Oklahoma Sooners lineman Cody Ford was also in the running for the pick.

Here’s how the 11th pick could have turned out had Jonah Williams not fallen to the 11th pick, according to Breer:

The Steelers then traded up to get LB Devin Bush at 10. And that put Cincinnati in position to take Alabama tackle Jonah Williams, who wasn’t expected to the Bengals at 11. Now, let’s say the Giants had taken edge rusher Josh Allen at 6. If that happened, Williams would’ve been a serious consideration for Jacksonville at 7 (though I think it probably would’ve been Iowa TE T.J. Hockenson).

Let’s say Williams goes there. Then, I’m told, the Bengals would’ve been picking between Oklahoma G Cody Ford and B.C. G Chris Lindstrom.

Long story short, Ford had a real chance to go 11th overall. He didn’t. And he slid all the way into the second round, where Buffalo traded up to get him with the 38th pick.

Several draft experts had Lindstrom ranked ahead of Ford as a prospect. though Lindstrom is strictly a guard, whereas Ford projects as a tackle or guard. Both prospects were projected to go in the 20s in a lot of mock drafts.

The Falcons taking Lindstrom with the 14th pick was viewed as one of the bigger Round 1 reaches (not named Daniel Jones), which is usually the case when a guard (not named Quenton Nelson) goes in the top 15 picks, and Ford wound up falling all the way into Round 2.

Whatever the case really was, the Bengals lucked out getting a top-10 prospect in Williams at 11, especially since he could end up playing either guard or tackle spot.