Duke Tobin, Zac Taylor Set Stage For 2026 Bengals Training Camp

It's Mock Turtle Soup Day for the Cincinnati Bengals as head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin spoke with the media.

Cincinnati is getting ready to kick off training camp on Wednesday with 90 names pushing together, trying to make the final roster. It's arguably the most anticipated season in Bengals history after Cincinnati spent big on defense to try and match an elite offense.

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Cincinnati Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin, right, observes minicamp, Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at Kettering Health Practice Fields in downtown Cincinnati. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Cincinnati restructured Joe Burrow's contract this offseason to get to its current level of $16.47 million in salary cap space (16th in NFL). There are other deals that can happen over the next month as Cincinnati keeps cementing its present and future.

Tobin noted extension-eligible stars like DJ Turner II and Dax Hill have shown all indications they will practice throughout training camp.

"When you draft guys like that that come in and find roles and elevate their game and elevate the people around them. Those are guys you want to be around," Tobin said about guys like Turner and Hill. "And I'm not going to make any predictions about future contracts. We have everyone signed up right now, which is really good. It's a good feeling. I think everyone is locked in on the season, and and we'll see what the future holds. But right now, our focus is winning and winning now."

"I'm not going to give any potential contract details or anything like that. Everyone's under contract, and we want the good players to stay here long term. That's always the way we've been.”

He also noted B.J. Hill is starting camp on the Physically Unable to Perform List but "getting very close" to a full return. It's a status mostly produced out of precaution as Hill works through an offseason ankle procedure. Tight end Erick All is all systems go after missing the 2025 season entirely and he will be onboarded into a full practice workload in the early days.

Taylor can't wait to get rolling into his eighth NFL training camp as Bengals head coach.

The now-veteran leader has plenty to be excited about with his new team.

"It's exciting to me. That's why I'm in this business. That's why I wanted to play quarterback as a kid. I wanted people to to love me, hate me. It's all part of it. You want to feel something, and in this profession, in this industry, you feel something. I promise you," Taylor said about the building pressure of this season. "You don't need that motivation, but I love walking out of a tunnel and people cheering for your team or booing your team. That's what keeps me going.

"I can't imagine doing anything different. So this year I've got a high level of excitement that I feel like I've always had to get back out there and get in that environment. It's too boring in the summer. Soccer appears to be great, but I'm ready to go watch football and play football and coach football."

Cincinnati has multiple publicly open training camp practices over the next month, and just about everyone is healthy entering the sessions. Hill and Josh Kattus are the only notable injuries Cincinnati has at the start of camp.

Football season officially gets rolling in the Queen City very soon.

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