Gameday Preview from Lucas Oil Stadium

If this had been the world as we once knew it, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin would have already landed Thursday night in Baton Rouge, La., after grabbing a flight from West Palm Beach, Fla., and the site of the NFL's annual league meeting. Here's what Taylor is doing instead.

Safety Jessie Bates III and right end Sam Hubbard, the 2018 draft picks who have become centerpieces for the future of the Bengals defense, applaud the additions they had an idea were coming.

Like Dre Kirkpatrick's career in stripes, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor's phone call that ended it on Tuesday morning was rooted in mutual respect.

Starting cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, whose long and lean intensity helped fuel the Bengals best defenses of the previous decade, became the third first-rounder to leave the Bengals in less than two weeks Tuesday when they released him as head coach Zac Taylor continues to flip the roster.