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Just a couple of years ago, Trey Hopkins was arguably the bright spot of Bengals’ offensive line. An undrafted free agent from 2014, he worked his way up the depth chart and moved over to center to give Cincinnati some consistency.
Then he suffered an ACL injury in Week 17 of last year, the players around him improved (or were updated), and now he finds himself as the unit’s weakest point.
Hopkins is currently the lowest graded center, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s one of the worst at pass blocking and has allowed three sacks.
Oh yikes.
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) November 1, 2021
Trey Hopkins is currently PFF's worst (31st) graded center at 42.0
He's tied for the lead in sacks allowed (3) and is 25th in Pass Block Efficiency (97.4%)
Because he's playing tonight...
Billy Price is 28th overall, has surrendered 1 sack with a 97.5% PBE
Before the injury, he was pretty solid:
He was 19th in grade last year with just one sack allowed and a PBE of 98.9%
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) November 1, 2021
That’s why he’s still in the lineup despite struggling mightily for two months of football. Hopefully he just needs to fully recover from the knee injury and will eventually get back to being an average center (which would be a big step up from his current status).
But the Bengals might not be able to afford to put him out there until he recovers. With the team hoping to make the playoffs and keep Joe Burrow upright, it might be time to limit Hopkins’ snaps until he shows he’s fully back in practice.
We talk about the Hopkins and the line and their ability to deal with Myles Garrett and the pass rush of the Cleveland Browns in our preview with Sports Illustrated’s Pete Smith below:
You can also listen on iTunes or using the player below:
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