Cincinnati Bengals Training Cap Day 7 Recap: No Ja'Marr Chase or Dexter Lawrence but Lots of Rookie Cashius Howell

Most of the team reps through the first six practices were scripted, but Thursday’s Cincinnati Bengals practice ended with the most extensive set of unscripted plays yet.

“Unscripted” doesn’t mean quarterback Joe Burrow is drawing up plays on the fly, nor does it mean anything the offense is running is something new.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor detailed the difference during his new conference this morning ahead of the practice.

“Now the players don't get a chance to preview the script, so they don't know exactly what's coming,” he said. “We've put it all in. We've talked about it all. But now you just get a call sheet, and it can get called off this call sheet. Part of it, there's gonna be some mental mistakes because we're still early in camp. But it's really good now to see how guys think in the huddle. Now they've got 12 seconds to break the huddle and process what my task is.”

What Taylor was talking about manifested itself when the offense took a delay of game penalty during the unscripted period.

“So a third-down pressure period, we're trying to recognize the front structure, manipulate it a little bit, figure out who's coming, get it blocked, and sometimes that takes time,” Pitcher said. “Now thankfully we got the five (yards) right back on the next play by drawing them in the neutral zone, but you know we gotta operate quickly in those spots.”

An officiating crew was on hand to call the practice, and several flags were thrown for pass interference and defensive holding in addition to the delay of game penalty.

It’s a chance not only for the officiating crew to shake off some rust, but every year they sit down with the team and go over the rule changes and points of emphasis the league wants them to focus on in the upcoming season.

Thursday’s crew was headed by Land Clark.

In two weeks, a different crew will be on hand to officiate the joint practice and preseason game against the Chicago Bears.

Bengals fans will not be pleased to learn that it will be Ron Torbert’s crew.

Another aspect of the unscripted period is that the offense has a chance to wear down the defense. Unlike typical periods where it’s just four or five scripted plays, the offense can drive the ball for as long as it can keep getting first downs.

Thursday, the offense went three and out but was gifted a new set of downs.

On the fifth play of the period, the Bengals finally moved the chains, but again it was merely a courtesy. In live action, Boye Mafe would have sacked Burrow. But after Mafe ran past him, Burrow hit Andrei Iosvias for a first down.

Another three and out followed to end the practice.

“You get a chance to move the ball a little bit and hopefully try to wear down the defense,” Taylor said. “It's not a four-play, five-play stint and then they know they're off the field. And vice versa. The defense tries to knock the offense out in three plays and start the drive over.

“There's a new set of challenges that comes with the unscripted move the ball stuff that we'll dabble with today, but we’ll really get into a lot more on Sunday.”

Sunday’s practice is open to club level ticket holders only.

Quote of the Day

“There’s a lot to like. He’s diligent. He cares. He’s got real juice. He can separate, and he catches the ball well.”

Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher had a lot of good things to say about 26-year-old rookie wide receiver Dohnte Meyers, who spent the last two seasons in the Canadian Football League, where he helped the Saskatchewan Roughriders win the 2025 Grey Cup.

Meyers’ surest path to making the 53-man roster would be to beat out Charlie Jones and Ke’Shawn Williams for the returner job.

Last year in the CFL, Meyers averaged 9.4 yards per punt return and 29.0 yards per kickoff return.

Play of the Day

Given his first meaningful chance to run with the first-team defense, rookie defensive end Cashius Howell had two plays where he beat left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. to get to Burrow for what would have been a sack.

One featured the explosive speed and bend that made him a second-round pick. The other showed off his strength as he got up under Brown and powered through him.

Roll Call

In addition to B.J. Hill (Physically Unable to Perform list) and Shemar Stewart (knee), the players not practicing were wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (vet day), defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (vet day), tight end Erick All Jr. (maintenance day) and quarterback Sean Clifford (excused absence).

Cornerback Dax Hill was limited to mostly individual drills for the second practice in a row. Hill was in for the first three plays of 11-on-11 but appeared to feel something after the third play – when he had coverage on an incompletion to Tee Higgins – ending his day.

3 Up

Cashius Howell

The rookie second-round pick continues to get pressure, and today he was rewarded with his most reps yet running with the 1s.

“Cashius has been running a lot with the 2s right now,” Taylor foreshadowed before practice. “He hasn’t gone against Orlando and Amarius (Mims) as much as he’s gone some of the other guys. So I think once he starts to see some other players and the challenges you face when you face different styles of tackles, that’ll help improve his game.”

Dohnte Meyers

The CFL convert continues to cash in on his opportunities, making plays whenever given an opportunity.

He’s going to be one of the most interesting players to watch next Thursday when the Bengals open the preseason against the Detroit Lions.

DJ Ivey

Already having a solid start to camp, his usage – and production – has increased with Hill barely participating in team drills the last two practices. Ivey drew a lot of assignments on Higgins today and forced multiple incompletions.

3 Down

Andre Iosivas

Players always talk about the importance of moving your focus to the next play after a mistake, but what if there is no next play? That was the case for Iosivas on Thursday and he dropped what would have been a first down in the final period of practice, a move-the-ball drill.

After the ball hit the ground, the whistles blew and practice.

Andrei Iosivas beat DJ Turner multiple times today and had some nice plays. He also had multiple drops. An up and down day for Yoshi. pic.twitter.com/BcowLKyfsL
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) August 6, 2026

Tee Higgins

With Chase resting, Higgins got a lot of targets but didn’t convert a lot of them into catches.

Burrow’s first three passes in the first 11-on-11 drill went to Higgins, resulting in a pair of short receptions. On the next set of downs, Burrow threw to him on two of the three plays.

One was a long-developing reception that would have been a sack by Myles Murphy. The other was an incompletion on a deep ball with Tacario Davis and Jordan Battle in coverage.

The fans

Nobody parking in the lots around the practice fields was heading to the afternoon Reds game, but ACE parking decided to fleece the fans by jacking up the cost of parking from the usual $5 to $17.

The Reds drew a modest 17,617 fans for their game against the A’s. Few, if any, were parking west of Central Avenue where Bengals fans park for camp.

Up Next

The Bengals will hold a night practice inside Paycor Stadium on Friday before getting another off day Saturday.

They’ll also be off Monday and Wednesday next week, which means there are just three practices remaining before the preseason opener Thursday against the Detroit Lions.

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