CINCINNATI — The Bengals will take the next five weeks to rest their bodies, get away from football and generally refresh for the start of training camp in late July.
Thursday brought an end to the offseason workout program after the longest such session in four years. The Bengals opened it on May 6 and 17 days of workouts, meetings and practice later, they closed it on Thursday.
The most pleasing part of the six weeks for head coach Zac Taylor was not what he saw on the field, per se, but rather how his 87 players went about preparing for each opportunity together.
“I mean the calendar has been so funky over the last four years to be truthful with you on COVID played a large part in that obviously, and then just the late runs into February, two years in a row affected that,” Taylor said. “This year, we didn’t have that and so it just made more sense to give the players their time leading up to April and into early May and just getting a little more work done than we’ve done in the past.
“It is just a product of when our season ended and the work that I thought would be necessary to get some of the new players integrated and some of the young players integrated because we are a younger team now, there’s just the way it is. And so you got a lot of young guys that need that work.”
We’ll start there with the biggest takeaways and what it means for the 2024 Bengals as they look ahead to a critical training camp.
“We just met as a staff and part of my message is when they did a great job preparing themselves to get ready for these guys and getting the most out of this process we’ve had the last couple weeks,” Taylor said. “I thought the players bought in completely, got done everything that we needed to get done, continue to improve and now just keep that momentum going on their own these next five weeks and so that when we come back to training camp we’re not restarting or setting back. We can keep the momentum going that we’ve had and have a great training camp.”
After not taking part in the voluntary workouts, Chase participated in mandatory minicamp and the walkthrough installs of offense. The star receiver did not put on a helmet and did not take part in team periods, including 7-on-7 drills. Chase also did not choose to speak to the media, avoiding all talk about a potential contract extension or his thoughts on good friend Justin Jefferson’s four-year, $140 million extension with the Vikings.
“It was good to get him back in here,” Taylor said. “He’s in great shape. He had his process he went through with (trainer) Joey Boese. Again, when someone’s not been here, you don’t want to rush him into things. But he clearly has done a great job this off season. Really happy to get him back in the building. He was in all the meetings, did all the walkthroughs and all that stuff and then did a great job mentoring some of the other players as he was out there during practice. So I thought we got what we needed out of him and was appreciative of him, even though it is mandatory. I mean you see there’s still guys that aren’t always there and he showed up and did everything that we talked about him doing.”
Zac Taylor praises Ja’Marr Chase for showing up in great shape to mandatory minicamp, making a reference to others who don’t. pic.twitter.com/pHQDS5XFgb
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) June 14, 2024
Can Chase reach a new level in a reworked offense?
“I think as our roster evolves on offense, it allows us flexibility to do a lot of different things with a lot of different guys,” Taylor said. “And so I think that’s where, again, it’s hard to say that every player can get better. Let me start with that. But he’s played an extremely high level and given us everything we’d hoped he would ever give us. And so now it just comes with the flexibility of the personnel we have on offense. It changes from year to year and this year will be a change and so that can change his role, shift his role in some ways. In some ways it’ll be the same as it has been. So he and I have had good conversations about that and look forward to seeing what the season brings that way.”
Taylor acknowledged after the draft that Hill began preparing for a switch to corner essentially late last year, and has been in the cornerbacks room getting ready with cornerback coach Charles Burks.
“I hate to speak for him, but he certainly looks very comfortable playing out there at corner and I think Chuck’s done a really good job of getting him ready and helping him compete,” Taylor said. “I think that’s a really good room right now from a competition standpoint and Dax certainly has continued to make improvements over the course of the spring and put himself in a position that we feel really good about.”
While it’s certainly important for players – and coaches – to use the next month to take a deep breath, it doesn’t mean go out and be irresponsible, especially as it concerns diet and conditioning, something Zac Taylor reminded them of this week. When they come back, the renovated locker rooms will be close to being finished, something that everyone – from players, to coaches to media relations to reporters – can’t wait for.
“Again, they have to keep the momentum that they’ve already established,” Taylor said. “I’m really excited for this locker room to finish up.
“(The players) have got to continue their momentum because again, the guys have put in great work. We’ve made great strides at every position, at every unit, and conveying to younger players that haven’t experienced this time period as much where you’re on your own that you can’t fall off now that you’re on your own, you got to be a pro about it and be ready to come in and compete because the temperature’s been unbelievable.”
When they players return, the heat will almost certainly be turned on.
“It’s been 75 degrees, 77 degrees. We come back, it’s probably going to be 90 degrees,” Taylor said. “The practices are twice as long, twice as hard. You’ve got pads on, it’s a lot more intense. There’s a lot more urgency and so just doing everything you can to communicate that things will change when you come back and making sure that they put themselves in the best position possible to be able to compete.”
Zac Taylor has said time and time again this spring, he’s really liked what he’s seen from the wrist recovery of Joe Burrow. But in the end, it’s up to Burrow to provide full disclosure on how he’s feeling. The Bengals have managed his throwing as much as possible. Come July and August, how much Burrow ramps up his throwing will depend on what he tells the team about how he’s feeling.
“I’ve been happy. He’s better answering that than me,” Taylor said. “He knows how his body feels, but I’ve been really excited about what I’ve seen from him.
Taylor isn’t going to get into breaking down every offseason throw and making judgments on how he’s handled May and June. That won’t come until July and August. For now, throwing the football – and piano playing – is more about rehab than it is football activity.
“I’m not into as much as other people maybe launching the ball down the field and how hard (he’s throwing),” Taylor said. “It’s just his timing and getting through progressions is so impressive. That’s really what separates him in one way from a lot of people in this league and that continues to show up just even as we do limited work here in the off season.
“Just getting through a progression and throwing and getting that accuracy to a (receiver) who’s fourth or fifth in the progression and being on time. It is really remarkable and it’s something that he works really hard at. But it looks effortless as you sit there and watch it from behind. But it’s certainly something he takes a lot of pride in.”
Taylor expects Burrow to put himself in the best position to be ready for Week 1, a trust that Taylor believes Burrow has earned over the last four seasons.
“I mean you always see a high level of urgency from him and that’s all I can really measure players on,” Taylor said. “So what happens internally with him is up to them and what they go through and certainly guys always have their plan of how their body’s going to be best at the right time and all that. But I’ve just seen a high level of urgency from him and I think our players and our coaches feel that as well and in a lot of ways you got to match that because he drives, he drives this whole thing and so I think that was a positive thing.”
The second-year running back out of Illinois has already worked on several phases of his game to be a bigger weapon, especially in pass protection and receiving out of the backfield.
“I think he took coaching and worked on it hard and that’s exciting to see a guy that you can just make a small comment to and four months later it comes back and you can tell he’s really emphasized it,” Taylor said. “And so I think that’s everything we knew about Chase. That’s everything we thought we had with Chase. A guy that’s going to continue to grow and understand what that role entails as a running back in this league and the more downs you can put yourself on the field, the better. And he’s really worked hard to do that. It’s noticeable and that’s a real positive.”
Zac Taylor has made it clear that he loves his time in Cincinnati, and has ever since spending time in 2016 with the Bearcats. Recently, he helped his Mt. Lookout neighbors bring back 4th of July Fireworks to Ault Park. Taylor will spend some of his next four weeks with his family and enjoying the city he has come to love and appreciate.
“It’s a big part of certainly the overall community,” Taylor said. “The community I’m a part of over there in Mt. Lookout. I had a neighbor that kind of was spearheading that. And so it was not just me, I can promise you that there was a lot of people involved. And so again, it’s a big part of my 4th of July, and so I’m happy to continue to see it and I think a lot of other people in that community are, but it wasn’t just me. There was a lot of people involved in that that probably aren’t getting all the accolades that came my way.
“This community is important to me. It’s really impacted my life, my family’s life. It’s a place we’ve wanted to be since 2016 when we first experienced moving here, when I was at UC. And so obviously everybody here in this town has done so much for me that there’s very easy ways for me to give back to the community and be impactful because that’s a role that I have and it’s important. And I certainly have a podium here that can impact people. And you can do that in a lot of different ways.
“And I’ve always said this, my interactions publicly have been 100 percent positive and I’m not making that up. And even just as simple as the Reds game, I love talking to people, sitting around me and it’s always positive and always supportive and we’re always behind you and not just me, but the Bengals organization. And so I love those interactions and how quickly it can be taken from you. And so you got to enjoy it while you got it and it’s sincere for me, I think. I hope people can feel that because it’s just how we feel about it.”
Heartfelt words from Zac Taylor about what Cincinnati means to him and why he was happy to help return Fourth of July fireworks to Mt. Lookout. pic.twitter.com/DFXvEaSDYf
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) June 13, 2024
