Bengals Quick Hits: Joe Burrow Improving, Ja'Marr Chase Dominates, La'el Collins Practices

CINCINNATI — The Bengals practiced for the final time on Wednesday before Friday's preseason opener against the Cardinals.

Zac Taylor announced that the established starters on the team, including Ja'Marr Chase, Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon won't play in the exhibition matchup. That mean that most of the first-teamers, excluding guys coming back from injury like Burrow, got plenty of reps during the team portion of Wednesday's practice.

Here are some of our quick takeaways from the session:

Backwards Hat Joe

Burrow looked comfortable on the sidelines, as he walked around and chatted with teammates during practice.

The 25-year-old underwent an appendectomy on July 26. He's clearly improving, but no timetable has been given on his potential return to action.

Taylor did say that he didn't need to see Burrow play in the preseason, but he wants the third-year signal-caller to get as many practice reps as possible.

"Every day has been a very encouraging day for him," Zac Taylor said before practice. "I’m not going to make a prediction. He’s not playing in the game on Friday. We’ll go day to day for him. I’m not going to make any predictions going forward."

Chasing Greatness

Chase has been consistently dominant throughout training camp.

He had a great one-handed catch along the sidelines with Eli Apple in good position on Wednesday. He followed that up my snagging a deep ball from Brandon Allen, despite it hanging in the air with Chidobe Awuzie in coverage.

Chase has looked like a superstar day in and day out. It's a complete 180 from where he was in training camp a year ago.

It's also worth noting that he's doing it with Burrow on the sidelines. How much better will Chase be with his star quarterback under center?

Ja'Marr Chase with the beautiful 1-handed grab vs. Eli Apple and crowd appreciates. #RuleTheJungle pic.twitter.com/CmEcseOjo7
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 10, 2022

"The Bodyguard" is Back

La'el Collins returned to practice on Wednesday. He only participated in individual drills, but it was a big step forward for the veteran.

"Just chip away every day," Collins said when asked about his mindset. "You don’t want to just jump out full speed. You got to take your time with it."

The Bengals want him to practice, but don't necessarily plan on him appearing in any preseason games. Wednesday was a step forward for the man that's hoping to be Burrow's bodyguard this season.

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