Charles Burks, the Bengals' longest tenured position coach on defense, inherited the Cincinnati corner room two weeks after they appeared in the Super Bowl, and he's spent this spring watching what he thought he would.

With the mandatory minicamp set for next week on June 10-12, Burks says, "As far as where we are now, I think this is the deepest and most versatile room that I've had since I've been here."

And, as Burks likes to say, he's pretty much seen them all take every step as a Bengal in games and practices.

"The one thing about our guys," Burks says, "is they've played a lot of ball."

They also appear to be emboldened by new coordinator Al Golden’s approach. Josh Newton calls it "secondary-friendly." It seems to fit with Burks' 30,000-foot view of the game. He doesn't look at his cornerbacks as cornerbacks, but rather simply as players who have different skills.

So Burks is comfortable as they move all of them in and out of the slot.

"We're getting ready for 21 games. A long way to go," says Golden of a season with four playoff games that includes the big one. "Safeties at corners, corners at safety. Corners at nickel. Mix and match. We have a lot of guys who are concept learners and that's because of Chuck. Chuck's a big-picture guy and that carries over to his players. They understand if they're playing the curl or playing the flat in cover two, or the middle runner, they can do all those things, which is great."

A look at the cornerbacks gives you a glimpse at how Golden is teaching the new system.

"Being able to streamline the way Coach Golden puts things in buckets, I think helps the guys," Burks says. "Tremendous teacher and motivator. The guys have really bought in. He gives it in chunks. Chunks that make sense, and it's chunks you can either think about a play or think about a concept.

"Once you think about the concept, you can actually digest more and that's what he's been challenging everyone to do. Think conceptually about what we're trying to get done. Once you understand what we're trying to get done, then there are about five or six more plays that actually work off each other."

Burks' room is in pretty good company.

In 2022, Burks' first year, Chidobe Awuzie was playing at a Pro Bowl level before tearing his ACL on Halloween. Mike Hilton showed why he was the best slot corner in the game during the win in that year's AFC Divisional in Buffalo. Eli Apple had come up with a string of postseason plays.

Burks' point is simply now he's got more guys he can bring off the bench who can do more things, and it doesn't really start with the guys you know.

Cam Taylor-Britt is confidently trying to revive his Pro Bowl trajectory that began when he came off the bench for Awuzie as a rookie and they didn't lose until the AFC title game.

Another second-rounder, DJ Turner II, feels in year three as if the speed of his NFL scouting combine sprint championship has caught up with his game.

Dax Hill, the Bengals' do-it-all first-rounder from Burks' first draft who was their best cornerback before an ACL injury cut short last season, thinks he'll be back at some point in training camp.

Yet it's the crop behind those guys that has Burks talking about depth and versatility.

Like Taylor-Britt, the fifth-rounder Newton broke in his rookie year at the start of a stretch-run winning streak because of injury, and the Bengals won five of his six starts last year.

DJ Ivey, a rangy 6-1 seventh-rounder from 2023, came back from a rookie ACL injury to contribute huge third-down plays in the five-game winning skein.

Marco Wilson, who went from getting claimed off waivers in November to containing Jerry Jeudy in December, is back. So is Jalen Davis, the last link in the room to the Super Bowl team.

"When Josh Newton had to play, we started to win games, you can never discount that," Burks says. "As a coach, you always want to look at the people you win with. Look at a guy like Marco Wilson. He played in wins. Guys who change the outcome of a game."

Wilson has played in 60 NFL games. Other than Davis, he's their only cornerback who hasn't played all their snaps for Burks.

He held the Titans' Calvin Ridley to a catch for 14 yards. Then Wilson held the Browns' Jeudy to two catches for 20 yards when Jeudy came into the matchup with more receiving yards than Ja’Marr Chase in the previous month. He gave up a 13-yard catch to CeeDee Lamb against the Cowboys, but he also defensed passes to the veteran Brandin Cooks and speedster KaVontae Turpin.

All wins.

Ivey was promoted to shadowing tight ends in the winning streak. He became more and more of a factor on third down, when he denied the Steelers' dangerous wide receiver George Pickens on a long ball in the win-or-else finale.

"DJ has a wide range of skills you love at that position," says Burks, who has been raving about Ivey since they made sure they wouldn't have to sign him in free agency with the late pick. "He's handling multiple spots, and he's a guy who has got to be able to do that. I know he can do that. He was guarding George Pickens in critical situations. He's a tight ends guy and he's a big receivers guy."

Golden knows he's got hungry guys who can cover and want to feast on man coverage. But he won't go to the well one time too many.

"You can't just play man every down. We're a man- based team. We like to play man. We'll have enough change up for them so it's not the stress every down," Golden says. "A mixture. Just give them a smoke break once in a while. Don't make it too difficult for them. That is as highest skilled as any position in football. Ther are a lot of drills the other nine of us can do, but the corners really have a different world."

Golden can sense the hunger from Newton after he held up on more than 500 snaps last year in the crucible of the stretch.

"Corner nickel, flex. Hungry, that's the word that epitomizes his performance right now," Golden says. "He's relentless. He's a great learner. He's competitive as anybody we have on the defensive side. Asking questions all the time."

While Ivey feels encouraged in an offseason he finally didn't have to deal with the draft and then rehab, Newton is banking last year's reps. Newton and Turner have combined for more than 1,800 snaps before their 25th birthday.

"Nothing is a secret in this league. Players over plays. Always. Especially when critical situations are at hand," Newton says. "Teams are going to go to their best guy they've been going to. Whether it's a rookie or how-many-year vet that's been making plays for them. Just believing in that preparation. After that, you've got to believe in yourself."

Newton certainly believes in Golden.

"He's big on showing a false picture and making the quarterback believe it's something other than what we're playing," Newton says. "I like his energy and his intensity and what he brings to the table every day. He brings positivity."

Burks can read a room, and he likes the preface to this one.

But he also knows it's early.

"They haven't started keeping score yet," he says.