Jonah Williams lost his job as Cincinnati’s left offensive tackle when the Bengals added four-time Pro Bowler Orlando Brown Jr. via free agency in March.

The former Alabama All-American asked Cincinnati to trade him. The Bengals didn’t.

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Cincinnati started its three-day mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, with Williams on the field. He did not attend the preceding sessions of the Bengals’ offseason program, when attendance was voluntary. A player missing minicamp can be fined.

Williams didn’t sound like a disgruntled player when he reported.

“I’ll be happy to be a contributor on a team where I have so many great teammates,” Williams told Geoff Hobson, the senior writer for the Bengals’ official website. “l love everyone in the room, love the coaches, love the fans. I’m stoked.”

Williams joined Cincinnati as the 11th selection in the 2019 NFL Draft. After an injury caused him to miss his rookie season, Williams had been the Bengals’ left tackle for the past three seasons.

After Cincinnati signed Brown to a four-year, $64.092 million contract, the Bengals hoped to see if Williams could become their right tackle. Cincinnati had guaranteed Williams a $12.604 million payday for the 2023 season by picking up its fifth-year option on his contract last offseason.

“I like everything about Jonah,” Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said in March. “I’m excited to see him come in and compete at right tackle. He’s always been everything we wanted him to be about. We’ve never had issues with him. Hopefully, we can work through this, and he can come in and compete at right tackle for us. That’s what we’re counting on him to do.”

Williams worked as Alabama’s right tackle as a freshman in 2016, then played left tackle in 2017 and 2018. He’s on board with shifting sides of the line.

Williams said changing from left to right involves “re-learning everything for the other side of your body — opposite stance, post leg is your kick leg and vice versa and all that. It’s nothing that reps and practice won’t get me used to. … The last time I played right tackle was freshman year in college. There’s a lot of technique to kind of unlearn and switch to the other side. It’s my job. I love it. I’ve got a great coach, great teammates, and I’m grinding my ass off. I’m going to crush it.”

Even if Williams had attended the Bengals’ offseason program, he likely wouldn’t have been able to do more than he did at home as he rehabbed from medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction, an operation needed to attach the inside part of the kneecap to the femur.

Williams dislocated a kneecap in the second quarter of a 19-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 9. He came back to play in the second half and took every offensive snap for the rest of the season until he dislocated the kneecap again in a 24-17 victory over the Ravens on Jan. 15 in the first round of the NFL playoffs. Williams missed the Bengals’ remaining two postseason games.

After signing a three-year, $21 million contract in free agency, La’el Collins played right tackle for the Bengals in 2022 until he suffered a knee injury in the 15th game and missed the remainder of the campaign. Hakeem Adeniji went in at right tackle for Collins, and Jackson Carman stepped in at left tackle after Williams got in the postseason. All four players remain on the team.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.