The Cincinnati Bengals have a few surprise names on the Pro Football Focus team of the week coming out of their loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Geno Atkins isn’t one of those surprises. The star tackle put on a show against a bad Seattle line, posting four hurries, a hit and a tackle for loss.
The surprises were more interesting.
One was Sam Hubbard, who grabbed two sacks while stepping into a bigger role going into his second year.
Even better was the emergence of Trey Hopkins at center, whose quick ascension over Billy Price by the staff was reinforced by a strong showing and breakdown by PFF:
Hopkins had an impressive start to the 2019 campaign for the Bengals, allowing just one hurry from 59 pass-blocking snaps at center. He was also on the field for 16 run-blocking snaps, producing a PFF run-blocking grade of 75.2 on the day.
It’s a great sign for an offensive line that didn’t have many problems despite personnel shuffling and a hostile Seattle environment.
While it has sounded like the coaches might roll out different line looks based on opponent, it is hard to imagine Hopkins leaves the starting gig at center any time soon.
