One thing the Cincinnati Bengals have lacked in recent years is quality interior defensive line depth.
Poor rotational depth meant overexposure and injury or underperformance for names like BJ Hill, among others.
Part of the Bengals’ offseason plan? Attacking this somewhat quiet problem. They went big with Dexter Lawrence via trade, sure.
But they also went “small” with the addition of Jonathan Allen.
Allen has plenty of reasons for joining the Bengals. But one of those was the ability to avoid overexposure with a less-is-more approach.
“I would say anywhere between 50 to 80 percent,” Allen told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I know that’s kind of a wide range. But sometimes a defense can’t play a whole bunch in the first half and then they play more late in the game. But 800 snaps are too much.”
Allen played 811 snaps last year in Minnesota, which as Hobson noted, would’ve been the second-most by a Bengals tackle since 2012. Simply put, too much.
Now, Allen is a big part of that solution somewhere else. He’s on a depth chart that also has Lawrence, Hill, TJ Slaton, Kris Jenkins, McKinnley Jackson and even a hyped college free agent with Landon Robinson.
Not every one of those names is likely to make the final roster, but they’re the names to know. And if the Bengals are right, Lawrence’s presence and the less-is-more approach could mean borderline elite showings from the likes of Allen and Hill.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Jonathan Allen plans to help fix a big Bengals issue
Reporting by Chris Roling, Bengals Wire / Bengals Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris Roling, Bengals Wire | USA TODAY Network
