Zac Taylor and the rest of the Bengals coaches got creative during the virtual offseason program
The Cincinnati Bengals virtual offseason program ended for the veterans last week.
They signed out of their Zoom meetings for [hopefully] the final time. Rookies have to spend a few more days with coaches, but the foundation has been set.
Joe Burrow gets the attention and rightfully so, but the Bengals' coaching staff had to find a way to engage the other 82 players on the roster.
It wasn't just about getting the rookies up to speed. They had veterans like Trae Waynes, Vonn Bell and D.J. Reader that needed to get comfortable with their new team.
The Bengals didn't have meetings consisting of all 83 players on the roster. Instead, they broke it up into teams according to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer.
The coaches split the players into nine teams. There were seven groups of nine and two groups of 10.
They had a draft to decide which players would go where. Two veterans that were on the roster last year served as team captains. They had to take a rookie in the first round, then a defensive veteran in the second round. In some rounds they were required to take one of the Bengals' free agent additions.
This ensured that players would get to know new teammates — including rookies or veterans they hadn't met.
According to Breer, coaches gave each team a weekly video project. They did this to help with player bonding in hopes of building camaraderie.
The video projects included a team rap video and a TikTok video. Markus Bailey's team probably had the best TikTok, given his success with the app.
For the final week, teams had to come up with the best Cameo Video.
One team used the Cameo App to book Snoop Dogg. Other teams got Cedric the Entertainer and the cast of Shark Tank.
“It was pretty good,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told Breer. “I had Flavor Flav yelling at me to set the guys free—We’ve been working all offseason, please, coach Taylor, set the guys free! So it was pretty good. It was entertaining.”
It sounds like the Bengals coaches made the best of a bad situation this offseason. They're hoping it translates to success on the field this fall.
