“He’s in a room with nothing but first-rounders, so everybody thinks the same,” Kirkpatrick said. “If the door’s open, you need to take it. That’s all I can tell him. I know what I’m going to do.”
Asked if he was going to shut the door, Kirkpatrick said “The door’s already shut.”
Kirkpatrick saw a marked increase in playing time last year, appearing in all 16 games and earning the start in the regular-season finale and Wild Card loss when Terence Newman was sick with the flu.
Dennard, the team’s first round pick in 2014, appeared in 14 games but mostly was relegated to special teams.
With Newman signing as a free agent in Minnesota, the starting left cornerback job will be the key position battle to watch in training camp and the preseason.
“They told me it was my job at the end of the season, but at the end of the day nothing is promised to you,” Kirkpatrick said. “I still have to go out there and compete. I want to compete. I don’t ever want the easy road. Every day is a new challenge.”
Hill on the hill: Surrounded by reporters in the locker room Monday afternoon, Bengals running back Jeremy Hill talked more about baseball than football as he prepared to throw a ceremonial first pitch at the Reds game that evening.
“There’s not really any nerves,” Hill said. “I just have to go out there and be loose and have fun and enjoy the experience. Hopefully I don’t throw it in the crowd. It’s about accuracy. That’s the most important thing. I don’t care about how fast I’m throwing it. Just hit the mitt.”
Hill played mostly outfield from Little League through high school and called himself “a decent player who got the job done” until he started seeing more than fastballs.
“Once I started seeing all those sliders and curveballs, I was like, ‘OK, it’s time to stick to football,’” he said.
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