A former Buffalo Bills offensive lineman is looking for a new NFL team after being cut loose by the Cincinnati Bengals .
The Bengals announced this week that they cut ties with left tackle Cody Ford , who started his career with the Bills but fizzled quickly and is now seen as one of the biggest draft busts of Brandon Beane's tenure.
The Bills took Ford in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft, a time when the team was on the upswing and about to start a streak of seven straight playoff appearances. Despite hopes that he could become an anchor of the offensive line, Ford fell out of the starting lineup and fizzled out, prompting the Bills to trade him to the Arizona Cardinals in 2022.
Ford spent the last three seasons with the Bengals, appearing in 50 games with 10 starts.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said the team parted ways with Ford well ahead of the NFL trade deadline so that he had time to find a new team. Taylor praised Ford for his contributions to the team over the last three years.
"We liked him in the draft process and then we acquired him years later and gave us three good years of football." Taylor said, via ESPN . "Now I wish him the best on the next part of his journey."
As ESPN's Ben Baby noted, Ford began slipping down the depth chart throughout training camp.
"He started training camp as a potential swing tackle option behind starters Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims ," Baby wrote. "However, Javon Foster and Jalen Rivers have taken the reps with the second-string offense recently, including in last Saturday's preseason game against the Chicago Bears ."
The Bills are expected to trim down their offensive line group in the coming days, with Nick Wojton of USA Today's Bills Wire predicting the team will keep nine —Â Dion Dawkins , Connor McGovern , Austin Corbett , O'Cyrus Torrence, Spencer Brown , Alec Anderson , Chase Lundt , Lloyd Cushenberry , and Jude Bowry
"Bowry is a fourth-round rookie that looked poised for swing tackle duties," Wojton wrote. "However, now he's injured. Corbett and Anderson will continue to battle it out for the starting left guard spot. Former draft pick Sedrick Van Pran-Granger could be a trade piece if the Bills plan to cut him."
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