Another hot, humid practice in the Midwest, and I got to see a prime contender in Cincinnati. Here are my five takeaways from a steamy afternoon with the Bengals …
• Joe Burrow looked healthy, with the caveat that this was a heavy special teams day. He went through team drills early. Then, when the Bengals went into the kicking game, he and the other quarterbacks went to the second practice field and threw. I don’t know if he’s quite back to where he was before he got hurt. But given the lack of precedent for the wrist injury he suffered, and all he’s been through, and the camp he’s having, my feeling is he’s trending in a really good direction.
• Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon were staples here from the time Zac Taylor was hired and Burrow was drafted, and replacing them is, obviously, high up on the list of priorities. With the former, the absence of Ja’Marr Chase from the practice field has created a silver lining in the reps it’s opened up for the younger receivers. Andrei Iosivas, a top-notch athlete, is better prepared in his second year to deal with the NFL’s physical defensive backs, and is winning more consistently in contested situations. Fellow sophomore Charlie Jones came back stronger and has looked like he’d be really good in the slot as an outlet for Burrow. Rookie Jermaine Burton is talented and explosive. And if they aren’t quite ready, Trenton Irwin is old reliable. Meanwhile, the team’s excited about the Zack Moss—Chase Brown platoon they’ll run out there in what should be a pretty physical run game. Both can play on all three downs. While we’re here, how Chase’s contract situation plays out could be impacted by what happens with CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk.
• A nice surprise has been Amarius Mims’s readiness for the NFL. He only started eight games in college, but the Bengals’ scouts told the coaches before the draft that they believed that was mitigated by the work he got in practice at Georgia—both because of the way Kirby Smart’s teams work on the practice field, and because of who he had to block. That looks prescient now, as he’s been a brick wall at right tackle in camp while new signing Trent Brown has worked his way back on the field. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mims is starting at the position on opening day.
• On the other line of scrimmage, the defensive tackle rotation, with D.J. Reader gone, is still being figured out. Veteran addition Sheldon Rankins has had an outstanding summer, and the Bengals are optimistic he can stay healthy and be disruptive on the inside, and B.J. Hill’s going to be in the mix as well. How second-rounder Kris Jenkins Jr. and third-rounder McKinnley Jackson factor in is still to be determined—but thus far the former has been better than expected on run downs, and the latter looks like part of the equation in replacing the Reader. Third-year man Zach Carter is another name to watch.
• The secondary might be the biggest swing factor in Cincinnati’s season. Communication has gotten a lot better on the back end with Vonn Bell returning from Carolina, and Geno Stone joining him at safety—the Bengals fell off in that area after losing Bell and Jessie Bates III before last season. And having vets back there will be important with some moving parts at corner. You can pencil Cam Taylor-Britt in at one outside spot, and Mike Hilton in at slot corner, but the other outside spot is open, with D.J. Turner, Dax Hill and Josh Newton (a fifth-rounder who’s progressing fast) fighting for snaps.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bengals Camp Takeaways: New Names Getting a Shot On Offense.
