Exiting the NFL draft, the Cincinnati Bengals have high hopes that third-round pick Dylan Fairchild can come in and make some noise on the starting offensive line.
In other words, they’re hoping for a repeat of Amarius Mims last year.
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Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown agreed with this notion recently while chatting about what it’s like to keep track of prospects such as Fairchild for three-plus years.
“We’ve had a lot of success identifying some guys here recently from that program,” Brown told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com “Last year, our first-round pick, Amarius Mims, came right out of the same offensive line that Dylan was on. And Mims was an outstanding prospect for us and now it’s great having him blocking for Joe Burrow at that right tackle position. When you look at the Georgia Bulldogs program, they have a lot of talented players, especially on the offense and defensive lines.”
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It certainly helps Fairchild’s outlook that Mims came in and appeared to win a starting job last summer before a poorly-timed injury that cost him the start of the season. On the field, though, Mims flashed long-term starter upside.
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Of course, Fairchild isn’t a first-round product. But the Bengals entered the offseason with needs at both guard spots. Before the draft, they added Lucas Patrick and brought back Cody Ford, two moves that seemed to suggest a Round 1 guard, though unlikely, still could’ve been on the table.
Instead, the pressure goes on Fairchild to come in and compete with the mentioned names, plus guys like Cordell Volson. He’ll do so on a team that revamped the coaching staff and, as a whole, hopes to better develop players than it has in the past.
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This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals hope rookie can pull an Amarius Mims, steal starting job