CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor called left tackle Jonah Williams an “ascending player” earlier this week. On Friday, the Bengals exercised the fifth-year option on Williams’ contract.
The team had until Monday to make that decision. Williams, the team’s 2019 first-round draft pick, is now signed through the 2023 season and will make a salary of $12.6 million in his fifth season next year.
“I thought he got better every week,” Taylor said of Williams on Monday, as the Bengals were still working through a tough decision on whether or not to pick up the fifth-year option. “Happy to have him.”
The Bengals’ starting left tackle has played and started 26 regular-season games and four postseason games. Last season, he logged a team-high 96.0 percent of offensive snaps (1306 of 1360) through the full season, which ended in a run to the Super Bowl.
Williams allowed eight sacks last year and had four penalties. ProFootballFocus.com graded him at a 77.1 overall, and he is the lone returning starter locked in to remain at his position on an offensive line that added three newcomers in free agency this offseason.
The 24-year-old missed his entire rookie season in 2019 because of a shoulder injury suffered during Organized Team Activities.
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