“It remains to be seen,” Taylor said when asked if he expected full participation. “We always have a really good turnout from our guys, and that’s what I like. Our season’s been running long here these last couple of years. I’m sure there will be some guys who are still a little bit of the routine wherever they’re at for another couple weeks. That’s generally pretty normal.”
Several returning starters were seen in the locker room during the period open to media, including quarterback Joe Burrow, center Ted Karras, nose tackle D.J. Reader, defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who did not participate in voluntary workouts last year, linebacker Germaine Pratt, and Joe Mixon, who earlier this month was re-charged in a misdemeanor aggravated menacing case. Mixon declined interview requests.
Right tackle La’el Collins and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, who are both rehabbing from 2022 ACL tears, also were present, and all six free agent additions — Irv Smith Jr., Nick Scott, Tarell Basham, Orlando Brown Jr., Cody Ford and Sidney Jones — were in attendance as well.
Taylor said the offseason program is a good time to start building chemistry, something that was mentioned as a key component to the team’s success the past two seasons. The Bengals started two weeks later last year, following the Super Bowl run to end the 2021 season, and Taylor said the earlier start means more lifting and running for the players but more importantly the extra time together is beneficial.
“For us, the offseason program is just about refreshing our schemes, so when the guys come back for training camp, they’re ready to go compete and they’re ready to hit the ground running,” Taylor said. “At the same time, the camaraderie portion of things, we got some new players, so getting them up to speed, getting to know their teammates so again that they can help us in the maximum way that we expect those guys to help us. So those are really the two main things for us to get in here and refresh our schemes and then the team chemistry portion of things. That’s so important to us, getting a chance to spend these nine weeks together and getting to continue to know each other.”
Cincinnati ended the 2022 season with a loss to the eventual Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game, and Taylor said it’s hard not to think about what could have been done differently to win that game.
Now the focus is on competing for a championship in 2023.
The Bengals lost some key pieces to the roster in free agency with the departures of safeties Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell, tight end Hayden Hurst and running back Samaje Perine, but they have young talent ready to step in and the six newcomers will fill voids in some of those spots. Cornerback Eli Apple remains a free agent.
Cincinnati will add more pieces through the draft next week, but Taylor said he feels good about what was accomplished in free agency so far.
“I think we put ourselves in a good position to just keep adding to our team,” Taylor said. “When there’s good players there, you can take them and not always feel like you’re just plugging major holes. I think we’ve got a good group here in the building that’s under contract. And then you get a chance to go the draft and take what fits our team and allows us to go win championships. I think we’ve put ourselves in a good position that way.”
The expected status of Collins and Awuzie for the start of the season could impact the plan as well, but Taylor said he wasn’t going to put a timetable on any of the injured players. None have faced setbacks, he noted, though.
On Tuesday, the Bengals will hold a local player pre-draft workout, and another group of players selected for the organization’s “top 30″ visits are expected in the building as well. Taylor said it’s a fun time of the year getting going again with the current team and finalizing plans for the next young additions.
“There’s a really good process that’s been followed here that allows us to feel really confident going into Thursday night draft,” Taylor said. “You’re going to utilize every second leading up to that. We’re still going through that process. ... This is the fifth draft I’ve been here, it’s a really good process. Duke (Tobin)’s approach is the right one in how he gathers opinions, and how he makes the decisions and how he factors in everybody and puts us in a really good position where we feel good about the guys that we bring in here. There’s still more time, we’ve still got probably seven days of work left to get to that spot where you feel really good on Thursday.”
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