Overview
- On Friday Brown told Sitdown 513 he loves Cincinnati, expects to “retire a Bengal,” and pushed back on talk of regression by saying he was left one-on-one more than any other NFL tackle.
- Pro Football Focus graded Brown 60.3 overall for 2025, gave him a 62.0 pass grade, and charged him with 46 pressures, nine sacks and 10 quarterback hits, placing him in the lower tier of qualifying left tackles.
- Bengals.com and other reporting show Brown faced the most pass-blocking reps and one-on-one snaps last season, logging 733 pass-blocking snaps, a workload his camp says makes mistakes more visible.
- Brown negotiated his own two-year, $32 million extension in March that keeps him under contract through 2028, and the Bengals have returned the same five starters on the offensive line with Joe Burrow calling continuity an early-season advantage.
- Analysts still rank Cincinnati’s line near the bottom in pass-protection metrics, so the 2026 regular season will serve as the on-field verdict on whether scheme and continuity can improve pressure rates and better protect Burrow.