Lost in the chaos of the Clint Boling retirement, as well as the Jonah Williams injury, is Trey Hopkins.
Hopkins is far from the biggest name yet he’s routinely been a critical depth piece for the Bengals in the offensive trenches.
A year ago, Hopkins helped patch the hole at center with Billy Price hurt and did so well it was fair to wonder if he should just stick there and have the first-round prospect kick out to guard.
Fast forward to this offseason, even new line coach Jim Turner made sure the Bengals hit Hopkins with a strong tender, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com: “Turner was so impressed with how Hopkins came off the bench last season to start nine games at three different positions that his first personnel recommendation was to tender him a one-year $3 million deal. Now he’s got 21 NFL starts, two at left guard.”
Hopkins is an incredible story: He joined the team via undrafted free agency in 2014 and got hurt. Since, he’s scratched and clawed his way up the depth chart to the point it’s almost surprising he isn’t starting somewhere along the line.
And that might change now.
Hopkins can play all three interior spots and suggestions in the past have made it sound like he can kick outside to left tackle in a pinch, too. Long story short, it wouldn’t be any sort of surprise to see him emerge as the best option at left guard over Christian Westerman (passed over by multiple line coaches) and John Jerry (new and has been out of football for a year).
And like last year with Hopkins at center, things might turn out much better than expected.
In fact, maybe Hopkins is the reason Zac Taylor doesn’t seem too worried after Boling’s retirement.
