Cincinnati Bengals make contract decision about former Alabama OT Jonah Williams
Jonah Williams will be with the Cincinnati Bengals for another season, as the franchise made a decision on his contract future.
The Bengals announced their decision to exercise the option year on Friday, as 2019 first-round picks whose fifth-year options are being picked up around the league. Williams now has a guaranteed salary of $12.604 million for the 2023 season.
Williams, a fourth-year player in 2022 out of Alabama, is the team’s starting left offensive tackle. He has played and started 26 regular-season games and 4 postseason games. Last season he appeared in a team-high 96.0 percent of offensive snaps (1306 of 1360) in regular season and playoffs.
Williams at Alabama was an Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award finalist as a junior in 2018, and he was the starting right tackle spot as a freshman and moved to left tackle as a sophomore, and earned All-America recognition. He started every game of his Alabama career.
Williams was the Bengals’ 2019 first-round pick and has been the starting left tackle for multiple seasons. He played his first NFL season in 2020, after he missed the entire rookie year because of a left shoulder injury. Williams started 10 games in 2020 before he suffered a season-ending right knee injury in Game 12 at Miami.
#Bengals kick off Day 2 of 2022 Draft by picking up the fifth-year option of Jonah Williams. pic.twitter.com/GwK0HG4zwc
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) April 29, 2022