The Bengals are carrying more heat into training camp than they have in years, and national attention is starting to match the noise around Joe Burrow and company.
SI senior writer Albert Breer took a broad look at the biggest camp storylines around the league, but Cincinnati stood out because of the pressure that comes with a roster makeover on defense and the expectations that now follow it. Breer pointed to the additions of Bryan Cook, Boye Mafe and Dexter Lawrence II as part of a clear shift in how the Bengals are operating this offseason.
"And, finally, speaking of pressure, there’ll be some on the Bengals" Breer said. "Cincinnati switched up its standard operating procedure this offseason, trading the 10th pick for Dexter Lawrence II to punctuate a defensive makeover that started with the signings of Chiefs safety Bryan Cook and Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe in March. Joe Burrow, once the rising star, will turn 30 in December.
"He and Tee Higgins are headed into Year 7 as NFL players, with Ja’Marr Chase going into Year 6. It has now been four years since Burrow’s Bengals crashed Super Bowl LVI, and three since they last made the playoffs.
If you listened close enough to Burrow this offseason, you heard the attendant urgency in his voice. He knows chances at a championship aren’t endless.
So he’s swinging big"
Burrow has made that urgency pretty plain himself. He embraced the pressure when speaking with Cincinnati media and tied this team’s moment to what he felt at LSU.
“Put pressure on the guys-I love it,” Burrow recently told Cincinnati media. “I thrive in it.
We’ll find out who else does. I know that we have the kind of people that want to be in that spot.
I want everybody talking about the Bengals. I want everybody talking about what I’m saying in my press conferences.
You go back and watch what I’ve said before, 2019 season at LSU, I feel very similarly about this team. I’m so excited to get started.”
Breer isn’t just reading the temperature around Cincinnati - he’s openly betting on the ceiling. He said he can imagine Burrow playing at the level of the league’s best quarterback and the Bengals ending up in the Super Bowl, with a rematch against the Rams not out of the question.
"Count me among those who can see a world in which Burrow is the best quarterback in football this year and the Bengals are in the Super Bowl," Breer said, "perhaps against those same Rams they faced in that same stadium on that same stage they climbed on in February 2022. That’s not a prediction yet. But it’s a possibility, and possibilities are what camp’s about."
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Higgins has put together plenty of scoring production over the last two seasons, including a strong finish last year, which is why the idea has some traction. The suggested phrase would play off the trailers wordplay and give announcers another easy hook, though the real question is whether it catches on the way Tony Romos Chase is on the case! did for Chase. [Read more 🡒]
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This Bengals Rookie Could Change More Than Fans Realize At Camp
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The bigger question is how much room there really is for another target to carve out a meaningful role. Andrei Iosivas has been working to hold his place in the rotation, while Mike Gesickis presence gives Joe Burrow yet another option in the middle of the field. If Young can translate his camp work into steady production, Cincinnati may end up with a deeper receiving group than many expected when camp opened. [Read more 🡒]