Bengals Coach Zac Taylor's Risk-vs-Reward Decision in Preseason Comes Up Aces with Remarkable Initial Injury Report

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals have had some thin injury reports heading into their season openers but nothing like what they released today.

Does the first injury report of the season actually exist if no one is on it?

Head coach Zac Taylor said he didn’t expect anyone to be limited today during his pre-practice news conference.

But to not have a single name on the report is remarkable.

This is not a glitch pic.twitter.com/PdZJAa3ZGn
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) September 3, 2025

This is actually the second year in a row that all 53 players on the active roster participated in the first Wednesday practice of the year.

But in 2024, there still were four names on the injury report.

Quarterback Joe Burrow was a full participant with a wrist injury, while wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (rest), defensive tackle Kris Jenkins (thumb) and right tackle Amarius Mims (pectoral) were limited.

In 2023, three names appeared on the list even though they were full participants – wide receiver Tyler Boyd (toe), offensive lineman D’Ante Smith (shoulder) and Burrow (calf). Defensive end Joseph Ossai did not practice due to an ankle injury.

The last time Burrow wasn’t on the initial injury report was 2022.

After practice, Burrow was asked if he knew on Day 1 of training camp that he would feel the way he does today, would he take it?

“Every day of the week,” Burrow said. “I think I'm in a good spot. I think I've been consistent with my routine, keeping my body right. So I’ve just got to maintain that throughout the whole year. This is just the start.”

What makes the clean sheet on the injury report even more impressive is that Taylor elected to play the starters in the preseason more than he ever has.

It’s a risk-vs-reward decision that hit the jackpot.

“The more reps you get, the better you're gonna be, just like with anything in this world,” Burrow said. “I'm always gonna push for more reps. I know I can get better with the more reps that I get.

“Obviously you want to be careful with that in the preseason and not put too much risk in meaningless games, but I get better quickly with limited reps,” he added. “So the more reps I get, the better I'm gonna be.”

Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said it wasn’t just the number of reps, but the variety and quality of them that he thinks will help a healthy team hit the starting line at full speed.

“It's not just about playing as much as we did. The flow of those drives is important as well,” he said. “Converting on fourth down. Converting on third down. The experience we had was realistic.

“One drive saw Joe getting sacked in that minus-10 area against the Commanders and then having to come out for another series and go score,” Brown said. “All of that is so important in terms of building confidence. It gets calloused in the mind and body for Sundays.”

In 2022, the Bengals were coming off the Super Bowl run and went light in OTAs and didn’t play the starters in the preseason.

The first injury report of the season reflected that with only three players listed, each of which were tight ends. Drew Sample (knee) went full, Wilcox was limited (ankle) and Devin Asiasi (knee) did not practice.

And 2021 was a fairly clean sheet as well

Cornerback Trae Waynes (hamstring) didn’t practice, while center Trey Hill (hip) and Wilcox (concussion) were full participants.

But Taylor’s tenure didn’t always start so smoothly.

In 2020, five players missed the first Wednesday practice of the year:

Defensive tackle Geno Atkins (shoulder), defensive tackle Mike Daniels (groin), defensive end Carlos Dunlap (non-injury related), cornerback LeShaun Sims (personal) and safety Shawn Williams (calf).

The first practice of Taylor’s tenure in 2019 featured A.J. Green’s ankle injury that derailed his season.

The first injury report of Taylor’s head coaching career featured eight players, with tackle Cordy Glenn (concussion) and running back Trayveon Williams (foot) joining Green as non-participants.

Week 1 of 2025 feels vastly different from Week 1 of 2019 for many reasons.

"I'm excited about where our team's at," Taylor said. "I think we got all the work done we need to get done.

“(Let’s) put together three great days of practice, clean it up on Saturday and get ready to go,” he said. “It's a really focused team right now. There's an urgency that's ramped up, and I'm excited as I see that and anticipate, feeling it in practice and get these guys ready to go, get themselves ready to go, coaches ready to go. So it's upon us now, and we're excited about it. You can see urgency."