In a long-anticipated move, the New York Giants cut offensive guard Kevin Zeitler on Wednesday — possibly paving the way for his return to the Cincinnati Bengals.
We raised the idea of bringing back Zeitler to the Bengals last week, primarily because letting him go alongside Andrew Whitworth a few years ago was a catastrophic mistake the team still hasn’t fixed.
Now Zeitler hits an open market with plenty of quality offensive linemen and only so many teams that can actually spend big money. The Bengals happen to be one of those teams and it’s clear the biggest priority this offseason is fixing the offensive line in front of Joe Burrow, who continues to rehab his way back from a season-ending injury.
Of course, any reunion talk would hinge on Zeitler actually being open to the idea after he was a first-round pick by the Bengals and the team seemed to make little effort to keep him once his contract expired.
Still, Zeitler has been a quality player for years and is still just 31, so he’d be an immediate upgrade at right guard. If his contract is affordable enough, the Bengals could hypothetically upgrade right and left guard before taking a tackle like Penei Sewell in the draft.
That’s a whole lot of ifs, but a reunion with Zeitler would be an admission of a mistake and a likely way to really start getting back on track.
