The Bengals got through Thursday’s practice in decent shape, but the injury report still picked up a new wrinkle: DJ Turner II showed up with a hamstring issue.
For Cincinnati, the good news is that the biggest recovering names kept moving in the right direction. Ja’Marr Chase, who is dealing with a knee injury, and Tee Higgins, who is working back from a foot injury, were full participants again. Shemar Stewart was limited, and Turner joined him on that list.
Zac Taylor had already addressed several of the team’s health updates on Wednesday, including the progress of the receivers and Dax Hill. On the receivers, Taylor said, "Yes, they'll continue to do more and more every day.
But I like to pace they are on. Shemar will keep working towards that," Taylor said on Wednesday about the receivers before discussing Dax Hill.
"Yeah. So I won't make any predictions on how it's going to end up this week for him.
But I think he's feeling a lot better every single day. Monday felt good, and we'll just progress them this week and see where it ends up.
Taylor also pointed to the continuity on the roster as a reason Cincinnati has been able to spend more time on situational football than it might in a season with more turnover. That familiarity, he said, gives the staff room to push the group in different directions depending on what the game calls for.
"Those are things that sometimes you just have to show other teams doing it because it just hasn't happened to you yet," Taylor noted. "I think our guys can handle the amount we put on them because most of them have been here a long time; there's other guys we're trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible. But I just think we've played games a lot of different ways over the years, and we can be who we need to be to win that game.
"And (Dan) Pitcher said that in the springtime, really, is when he first said it, and I feel good about that. I feel some of our best years were exactly that.
If you go game by game, on how it looked for us, we were able to evolve to get an attack mindset for the defense we're playing against. But we also sometimes, if a team's trying to dictate, we're comfortable living in a world where we can do a lot of different things to affect you."
Cincinnati has one more practice left this week on Friday before turning its focus fully to the Buccaneers game.
In Other News...
Cashius Howell Is Suddenly At Center Of Bengals Defensive Hype
Cashius Howell has quickly become one of the most talked-about names around the Bengals defense, and it is easy to see why. Cincinnati used the draft to reshape its front, dealing away its first-round pick to the Giants for Dexter Lawrence before spending its second-round selection on the Texas A&M edge rusher, who arrived with plenty of momentum after being named the 2025 SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous All-American.
The early buzz has only gotten louder since then, with CBS Sports analyst John Breech going so far as to project Howell as the 2026 Defensive Rookie of the Year and the Bengals as a playoff team. For a defense looking for impact players who can change the conversation, Howell is already being treated like much more than a mid-round addition, even if the real answer about how fast he can tilt games in Cincinnati still has to play out. [Read more 🡒]
Ja'Marr Chase Sent Bengals Fans An Encouraging Message Before Sunday
Ja'Marr Chases return to full participation in practice comes with a little extra reassurance for Bengals fans who watched him deal with a minor knee hyperextension last month. Entering the 2026 season, the star receiver said he feels fully healthy again, and he struck a confident tone about both his body and the energy around the team as preparations move toward opening weekend.
The timing of the schedule is one thing Chase clearly did not hide his opinion on, since he said he would rather not be dealing with 1 p.m. starts. But the bigger takeaway for Cincinnati is simpler: its top pass-catching threat sounds ready to go, and after a brief scare in the summer, that is the sort of update that matters most this time of year. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Defense Faces An Early Test It Might Not Be Ready For
The Bengals linebacker room has become a quiet hinge point for a defense trying to settle in, and rookie Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter are at the center of it. Both were asked to grow up fast last season, and as Cincinnati turns its attention to Tampa Bay, their next assignment is a tricky one: keeping pace in coverage against the Buccaneers backfield, where Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell can stress linebackers in different ways.
There has been some encouraging progress, at least from the coaching staffs view. Linebackers coach Mike Hodges has pointed to Knights improved play recognition and greater consistency, signs the Bengals need if they are going to get more dependable play from the middle of the defense. Still, this matchup offers an early reminder that development is one thing and surviving a demanding test is another, especially against a group built to force linebackers to think and react on the move. [Read more 🡒]