The news around the Cincinnati Bengals hit heavy and often on the Monday after the season ended, as is tradition.
There, the Bengals had end-of-season press conferences at the podium and in the locker room as players packed up and left Paycor Stadium for the critical offseason.
Chief among those interviews was the injured Joe Burrow taking back over as the quarterback under the spotlight. He touched on a number of big things, including his injury recovery timeline and the future of Tee Higgins with the team.
Here’s a look at the must-know Bengals news, notes and quotes for January 9.
Burrow on Higgins' future
Joe Burrow applied some public pressure on Monday, saying that he and the locker room expect Higgins back. He went as far as noting that he had discussed the future plans of the team before signing his big extension.
Burrow recovery timeline
Burrow told reporters that there’s a chance he’s throwing by spring OTAs and also talked about how his workouts have changed while doing rehab.
Brian Callahan gets another chance
Another head coach interview for Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, this time after the two he had last year.
Trey Brown to get GM interview
A top member on the scouting side of the team will again get a big chance for a general manager spot elsewhere.
Roster moves
The Bengals kept some players for the future on Monday by signing them to reserve/futures contracts.
Burrow on the offense -- Bengals.com
Fun comments from Burrow about how the offense evolved with more under-center looks: “It brought some, some different things to the offense that we were not really able to do at the beginning of the year because I physically couldn’t do it. And we were able to incorporate a little more. And then when Jake went in there, he did a great job executing the under-center stuff. He’s good at the play-actions and the nakeds (play-action rollouts). And our run game took a step. I thought it was a good couple of weeks.
Locker room look
"This 2023 team I felt like everybody laid it out on the line." – Joe Mixon
Bengals Locker Room | GEICO pic.twitter.com/YVmHKsdu1L
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 8, 2024
