After a day off on Saturday, the Bengals were back at it for days 4 and 5 of training camp on Sunday and Monday. On the injury front, G Lucas Patrick was out after leaving a previous session. He was seen with a sleeve on his leg. Zac Taylor, prior to practice, also noted that CB Marco Wilson is week to week with an injury.
Bengals rookie 1st round pick Shemar Stewart got into his first practice on Sunday. He primarily worked with the second team, while Myles Murphy, TJ Slaton, Kris Jenkins, and Joseph Ossai made up the first team DL. Stewart was getting plenty of work in, as he continues to get up to speed. He also was getting some work on special teams.
Joe Burrow was good in the team drills. He found Andrei Iosivas for a big gain, and then Isaiah Williams, who made a nice diving catch. Williams has had a red hot start to camp.
It wasn’t all offence, however. One of the standout plays on defence was Jordan Battle breaking up a fade pass that was intended for Mike Gesicki. Battle was fired up after the play. Tycen Anderson was also able to snag an interception. It was a Jake Browning pass that got tipped by Nate Brooks.
At the end of practice, the team did some redzone work. The defence prevented a TD, and finished the day strong.
On Monday, we saw the pads come on for the first time. There was still no tackling, but the physicality did increase.
Before practice, Zac Taylor was asked about Jermaine Burton, and noted the consistency that he has seen from him. A good sign so far, for a player who needed to show a higher level of maturity.
The Bengals defence got off to a solid start in the team drills. Josh Newton took advantage of a slight bobble by Ja’Marr Chase and was able to break up the pass.
Daxton Hill got some work in the slot during 11 on 11 drills, before later moving to the outside. It seems his workload is gradually increasing, as he continues to work back from his injury last season.
After some time passed, the rain forced the team to move practice to the indoor facility.
Once inside, Stewart was one player who had a few standout plays. He knows when to get his hands up as the QB is about to let his pass go, and was able to knock down two straight Jake Browning passes. Stewart also got into the backfield for what would have been a tackle for a loss on Tahj Brooks, had there been tackling in this session.
The offence was pretty good early on, but reportedly took a step back once things moved indoors. They did some more redzone work and, like yesterday, the defence was largely able to do their job. Shaka Heyward had a nice play at the goal line to dislodge the ball from Kendric Pryor and prevent a TD. DJ Ivey also had a pass breakup on a Browning pass. Isaiah Williams’ hot start did continue, though. He was able to make one of the few plays for the offence in the redzone, catching a TD pass from Joe Burrow. Charlie Jones also made a couple of plays, though not during the redzone portion of practice.
The OT’s have been solid from what I’ve seen, but the pass rush has been able to get to the QB’s, largely due to some struggles from the interior of the offensive line. Lucas Patrick was out on Monday, but still, an area that many thought to be a major weakness is… looking like a major weakness for the Bengals.
On the special teams side of things, Evan McPherson continues to have a good camp. He did have his first miss, but according to John Breech, was 5/6 with a long of 54 yards. Breech also has McPherson at 23/24 so far in camp, and a perfect 18/18 on the outdoor field.
