Main Takeaways from Distraction-Free Cincinnati Bengals Mock Turtle Soup Day

Another Mock Turtle Soup Day, aka the pre-camp luncheon, is in the books for the Cincinnati Bengals, and the 2026 version will hardly live in infamy.

It might barely be committed to memory.

There were no spicy trade requests, sticky contract holdouts or saucy rumors to discuss as the distraction-free offseason carried over into the annual interview sessions with director of player personnel Duke Tobin, head coach Zac Taylor and coordinators Dan Pitcher, Al Golden and Darrin Simmons.

The most notable part of the afternoon might have been what was seen and not heard as the event gave the team a chance to showcase one of its newly renovated club lounges.

Also seen but not – or barely – heard was team owner and president Mike Brown, who did not do interviews with reporters for the first time since taking over the team in 1991.

Brown, who is two weeks shy of his 91st birthday, presented the annual Excellence in Coaching Award to Anderson High School’s Evan Dreyer, but that was the extent of his involvement as the team said it is re-evaluating its cadence of making ownership and front office personnel available.

Oftentimes, it’s Brown making some of the most impactful headlines at the pre-camp luncheon.

But the amount of quotes that went viral Monday equaled the number real turtle parts in the soup.

Here are some of the top takeaways from the day:

Stiff-arming the drama

As Tobin pointed out, all of the players are under contract. But that hasn’t mattered in the past as we’ve seen players hold out or hold in as a negotiating strategy to try to kickstart negotiations on a contract extension.

Cornerbacks DJ Turner II and Dax Hill and running back Chase Brown are the most notable names on the list of extension-eligible players.

Tobin declined to discuss where negotiations stand with any of those players, but he did say he expects everyone to be on the field and participating for the first practice Wednesday.

“I think all of our guys are motivated and ready to come together as a group,” he said. “So absolutely. I don't think there's anybody that's looking to detract from that.”

Injury updates

The Bengals announced Saturday they are placing defensive tackle B.J. Hill on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list.

Tobin said Hill is recovering from offseason surgery to fix the ankle injury the defensive tackle fought through last season.

“He’s getting close,” Tobin said. “We're just going to work with him a little on the side and make sure he's ready to go. We know what B.J. is all about, so we want to be cautious and make sure he's up to it before we put him out against other players.”

Offensive lineman Connor Lew, who tore his ACL in October, cutting short his season at Auburn, is cleared to practice. But the team still will bring the fourth-round pick along slowly.

“He'll have a progression plan back into the heavy action, but we'll see how it goes in the early parts of camp. And what that progression plan is, we'll determine at a later date.”

The injury to undrafted college free agent Josh Kattus, a tight end from Kentucky, was not disclosed, but Taylor called it “nothing major.”

“I don't want to put a time stamp on how long it'll be, but I've been really impressed with him in his time here,” he said. “I know he's fought two injuries now. But that doesn't change my opinion on the things that he's done to put himself in a good position to compete for a spot on our team.”

Dax Hill staying put

There are a lot of different players in the mix to be the starting nickel corner, but 2022 first-round pick Dax Hill is not one of them.

Taylor made that clear Monday.

“Dax absolutely has grown as an outside corner,” he said. “That's where we want him to play. That's absolutely where he's going to play.

“But there's going to be times with any corner that they go inside for coverage reasons,” Taylor said. “But again, Dax has done a really good job of growing (outside), and that's where we want to leave him."

For more on the battle at nickel corner, click here.

Golden edge

Asked if he thinks the defensive players are heading into camp with a chip on their shoulder and edge to them after a disastrous 2025 season, Golden not only confirmed they do, but said he does as well.

As do the rest of the coaches.

“I hope they (have an edge),” Golden said. “I certainly do. The coaches do. I think the guys that were here do. But I also know that the guys that were here were the same guys that fought through it and got better for it.

“For example, the linebackers. A lot of criticism,” Golden continued. “But the experience they went through, the trials and tribulations, the learning on the job against good competition, that all should compound for us now. I think there’s a lot of coordinators around the league that would love to have two 100-tackle guys coming back. And I do think they have an edge about them.”

For more on the revamped defense and some surprising first-half, second-half splits from a year ago, click here.

Massaging the numbers?

A lot of discussion, as one might imagine, centered on Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, whether it be questions about his reworked contract, his self-admitted desire to be more mean as a leader or his assertion that throwing 48 touchdown passes this season to pass Andy Dalton for the franchise’s career record is “doable.”

Taylor was unaware of Burrow’s comments in the spring about the 48 touchdowns. When told what his quarterback said, Taylor poked a little fun at him.

“That sounds like a lot of checked plays on the 1-yard line, removing some of the throw tags on some of the run plays,” he joked before getting serious.

“But we'll be at our best when he's at his best, so I like that confidence from him,” Taylor continued. “I want our best players to have an edge to them and an expectation that the rest of the team can follow suit. So I'm not gonna stymie that in any way, shape or form.”

As far as being more of a mean leader, Taylor said he hasn’t seen much of a difference in Burrow’s leadership style this offseason.

“I think it's always an evolution for every player in terms of how they lead,” Taylor said. “And the biggest thing as a leader is you don't always have to talk to everybody universally the same way. It's, it's what makes each guy get to their highest level.

“The same goes for me. I'm not gonna talk to everybody the same way I'm talking to somebody else,” he added. “I think that's true leadership, is trying to find the best way to make everybody get to the highest level.”

Schedule tweak

The Bengals recently have avoided practicing three days in a row, employing a two on, one off schedule.

This year, they open training camp with four consecutive practices before their first off day on Sunday.

Taylor said that’s more semantics than structure.

Because there will not be any fans allowed at Friday’s practice, the team only will do light work to avoid the Day 3 pitfalls of the past.

“We’ve lost a ton of guys on the third day over the last couple of years, and that’s every team,” he said. “Sometimes you can do everything possible on the third day to try to limit it, and you’re still going to have some issues.

“I’m going to make one more change to it so we can avoid that,” he added. “It will be kind of a day to recover.”

Because the practice will be so light, the team will be back at it Saturday before clearing out to make room for the Chris Stapleton concert that night inside the stadium.

More moves?

Tobin didn’t rule out the idea of adding a free agent to the roster, but he didn’t make it sound as though it’s imminent.

“I'm not going to talk about any players that aren't here, but do we look at the free agent market? We look at it every day,” he said. “Every single day we’re always looking at what opportunities we have.

“We had a lot of really good opportunities come to us this year and, and what this personnel department, what the ownership did is respond and make those opportunities realities,” he continued. “Is there something coming around the plate tomorrow? No. But there might be. Who knows? We're always going to judge what we can do to be better within the restrictions we have.”

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