Zac Taylor Assesses Joe Burrow's 2026 Offseason Improvement Ahead of Minicamp

Zac Taylor and Joe Burrow are as dialed in as they've ever been entering their seventh NFL seasons working together as head coach and star quarterback.

The Bengals' head coach appeared on The Rich Eisen Show this past week and dove into the relationship those two have in games. The duo has found a nice chemistry feel when things get tight in the biggest moments.

"It doesn't happen quite like that for us all the time with the huddle on the last play of the game, right? So a lot of it has to happen during the game-plan phase or conversations during the season," Taylor told Eisen. "But there are certainly moments in the game where maybe I got two calls, and I'm going to give Joe both calls. Which one do you like the most? Because ultimately, he's the one who's got to go out there and execute it.

"So, two calls as a coaching staff we've decided are good for the situation, and which one does Joe like? And it's not always the last play of the game, but sometimes it's pretty critical moments, and you want that guy to feel at his best, like he's gonna go execute it, and Joe usually gives us great feedback on that."

QB 1 Happy

Jul 25, 2025; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9), left, talks with head coach Zac Taylor, right, during training camp practice. Mandatory Credit: Kareem Elgazzar-Imagn Images | Kareem Elgazzar-Imagn Images

The days of melancholy and questions about Burrow's happiness are months in the rearview mirror after a strong offseason for Cincinnati.

Alas, Eisen still hit that popular topic again.

"We get to see him every day behind the scenes, so we know who he is and what his personality is, and get to see all sides of him," Taylor said about Burrow's happiness. "So I love working with him. He's had a tremendous offseason. He's brought a lot of energy to our team over the course of this offseason. We've made some great additions, I think that have fired everybody up, including him. So we're just excited. We've been putting in the work. There's a lot of urgency amongst our team. There's a lot of excitement amongst our team in our locker room, and he's obviously a big part of that."

There is zero indication that Burrow has ever wanted to or currently wants to leave the Bengals. They've fostered a great environment for him to star in over the years, especially this offseason in what's shaping up to be the best roster Cincinnati's ever put around Burrow.

Taylor and the star are focused on the right things.

"He sits in here every week, and we have a lot of conversations, so for me that was between him and the press conference that he had that day," Taylor continued. "We knew what we were getting every day when he was in the building; we were getting his best, and he gave us a lot of confidence to go out there and win, so I didn't have too much concern about that. He's been awesome this offseason, our team has been awesome, and we're trying to get the season underway."

The two sound as in sync as ever, with the whole team getting into mandatory minicamp this Tuesday-Thursday.

Check out the full chat with Taylor below:

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