Orlando Brown Jr. has heard the criticism. He also believes some of it is missing an important part of the story.
The Cincinnati Bengals left tackle pushed back on the idea that his play regressed in 2025, pointing to how frequently the offense left him alone in pass protection.
“I was one-on-one more often last year than any other tackle in the NFL,” Brown said during an interview shared by Sitdown 513.
“When you look at that, and you break that down, and you take time and go look at whoever, any of these tackles that have had the number of games that I have had in one-on-one pass protection, I think you’d just see the reality that the system that I play in, my mistakes are going to glare a lot more than others.”
Brown added that Cincinnati’s system placed him in a more vulnerable position than other left tackles because of the number of passing snaps he handled without help.
“There isn’t a guy in the NFL that’s been in a more vulnerable position than myself at the left tackle position,” Brown said. “I’m not really worried about ‘regression.’ I’m only getting better.”
The numbers make Brown’s season difficult to defend, but his larger point still deserves consideration. A tackle asked to survive on an island repeatedly will provide more opportunities for the losses to pile up, and those losses become plays everyone remembers.
Brown Has a Point About Bengals’ Protection Plan
Pro Football Focus gave Brown a 60.3 overall grade in 2025, which ranked 66th among 89 qualifying tackles. His 62.0 pass-blocking grade ranked 64th, and PFF charged him with 46 pressures, nine sacks and 10 quarterback hits.
Those numbers are the reason Brown enters 2026 with something to prove, while also lacking context.
Bengals.com reported that no NFL tackle handled more pass-blocking snaps or more one-on-one pass-blocking snaps last season. Brown played 733 pass-blocking snaps, the most among tackles tracked by PFF.
The good news is that Brown did make strides from earlier in the season to the end of the season.
PFF charged Brown with seven sacks through Cincinnati’s first 10 games, per the previously mentioned Bengals.com article.
Over the final seven, however, he allowed two sacks and five hits. Brown called the final five games some of the best football he has played since joining Cincinnati.
The Cincinnati Bengals saw enough to make another financial commitment. Brown negotiated his own two-year, $32 million extension in March, keeping him under contract through 2028.
Bengals Still Need Brown’s Argument to Show Up on Sundays
Brown can be right about the degree of difficulty and still face pressure to improve.
NFL analyst Warren Sharp ranked Cincinnati’s offensive line No. 28 entering 2026 after the group also finished No. 28 in ESPN’s pass block win rate last season.
Sharp noted that the Bengals allowed the third-most pressure and the second-most pressure without a blitz.
Along these lines, Cincinnati faces a larger problem in the offensive line aside from Brown that can hopefully be quelled by continuity and a stronger finish from 2025.
After all, the Bengals are returning all five starters, including right tackle Amarius Mims and center Ted Karras.
Even Joe Burrow is optimistic, calling the group the best offensive line he has had with the Bengals.
Out of the 0-line group, Brown remains the player most likely to draw attention. With his significant contract and his protection of Burrow’s blind side, he anchors a position where one bad rep can overwhelm 35 good ones.
Should Cincinnati leave him alone at the same rate in 2026, his best response to the regression talk will come from keeping Burrow clean.
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