Bengals Training Camp: It's time for pads
CINCINNATI — It's time to put on the pads. After weeks of walkthroughs, the Bengals will be in full pads for the first time in 2020 on Tuesday morning.
Players across the NFL have slowly ramped up after the virtual offseason and now Cincinnati and the rest of the league is allowed to practice in full gear.
"Put the pads on and then training camp really starts," head coach Zac Taylor said last week. "It's a good progression for us. We're going to utilize it the right way."
Practice was open to the media for the first time on Monday. Rookie quarterback Joe Burrow was impressive, as expected, but the focus shifts toward the offensive line. How will they do against established players like Geno Atkins, D.J. Reader, Carlos Dunlap and the rest of the Bengals' defensive line?
"You can feel their confidence in what we're asking them to do," said Taylor when asked about the offensive line. "Last year you're just getting reps for the first time and you're trying to rep them against a bunch of different defenses and there's a bunch of moving parts where we were interchanging guys all over the place and now you know there's still competition out there, there's no question about it, but these guys have a ton of confidence, just having a chance to review what they did last year over the course of spring and so far in training camp we've had a lot of meetings where they get a chance to watch this stuff, walkthrough tapes. So, [we're] really excited about the cohesion the group is showing right now."
Xavier Su'a-Filo and Bobby Hart took every first-team snap on Monday at right guard and right tackle, respectively.
Will Billy Price get a chance with the first team? What about Fred Johnson? Those questions should be answered over the next few days.
Padded practices will also be valuable to a young linebacking unit that needs to run, tackle and get acclimated to life in the NFL. The next few weeks are crucial for rookies like Logan Wilson, Akeem Davis-Gaither and Markus Bailey.
Teams can have a maximum of 14 padded practices. They can be under that number, but they can't exceed it.
The Bengals plan on getting close to 14, but they're going to be cautious after a virtual offseason.
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