The Bengals have pared their roster to 53, and while it won't be their final move this week, Tuesday marked the end of the smoothest offseason in head coach Zac Taylor’s seven years on the job and offers a fresh jolt of confidence leading up to the Sept. 7 opener in Cleveland.

Remember that team no one wanted to see in the playoffs last year?

With NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson back on the practice field Wednesday, that team that won its final five games last season while leading the NFL in offense is back to its lethal self.

In his sixth season, MVP candidate Joe Burrow certainly heads into an opener coming off his best and most complete training camp. No COVID (2020). No rehab (2021 and 2024). No appendectomy (2022). No calf strain (2023).

"It's not something you think about as you're going through it until you're asked about it," Taylor told a Media Zoom Tuesday as he took a break from roster building.

"It was great. It was when your starting quarterback is out there every day, and you get to continue to evolve as an offense. This thing is working better than maybe we thought it was going to work, or this is something we thought we were going to invest in that we're not going to spend too much time on. He has done a great job leading the offense. He has looked really sharp. He's allowed us to really see where our offense is out 12 days before a game."

Not only that, Burrow's top two wide receivers are healthy. Not only that, they're paid for the next few years and are the two richest in the game for 2025. Only No. 5 Jermaine Burton is day-to-day for the moment.

"Any time you can have all your weapons available, we like to think that we can put pressure on teams," Taylor said. "We've got tremendous players. Any time they can be healthy, walk on the field together and continue to put that stress on the other team, it gives us a lot of confidence as a team."

Confidence?

Hendrickson, with the second-most forced fumbles in the league since he became a Bengal in 2021, has brought his own special brand of havoc back after hammering out his contract Monday. But he's been here all month attending meetings, working with the defensive line and getting himself worked on by his trusted body man, Bengals head strength and conditioning coach Joey Boese.

"Putting the pads on and hitting someone's different, but I can promise you, he's in shape," Taylor said. "He's been in the meetings all along. He's been a guy showing up early for the meetings. Had questions. He's been mentally preparing all along for that. This just solidifies that.

"That we're ready to go. I look forward to getting him on the practice field. I don't know if our scout team tackles yet know what they're in for."

They may be as surprised as some of the outsiders viewing the Bengals' initial cuts.

First off, they kept six defensive tackles, two of them undrafted rookies, Notre Dame's Howard Cross III and Arkansas' Eric Gregory. Taylor, it seems, is thinking back to last year's September crunch when both draft picks at tackle, Kris Jenkins Jr., and McKinnley Jackson, were hurt. This year, 30-year-old B.J. Hill (foot) just started practicing.

"It was important to keep depth there. As you remember early last season. We went through that depth pretty quickly," Taylor said. "I think if there's a spot to go heavy, sometimes it's in those areas. And so that helped us in our decision there."

They kept only eight offensive linemen, something they never do, so there's a sense another shoe could drop after waiving injured guard Cordell Volson. Director of player personnel Duke Tobin has all hands on deck monitoring the waiver wire.

"We're just always going to look to better our team any way we can and feel good about where it fell for us right now," Taylor said. "I know Duke and those guys are actively working and always evaluating and seeing any way we can improve our roster."

After vet right guard Lucas Patrick got dinged in the second preseason game, fifth-rounder Jalen Rivers has taken over after moving from tackle. Taylor said he thinks his right guard is on the roster.

"I feel good about the progress those guys have made and our confidence in all those guys that have been in there competing, so we'll just see how it all shakes out," Taylor said.

So if they claim a ninth offensive lineman, does the open spot come from the D-line room or the tight end room? It sounds like Taylor would have a hard time cutting tight ends Tanner Hudson or Cam Grandy, the guys who played so well behind the Big Three of Mike Gesicki, Noah Fant and Drew Sample.

"They both earned a spot. They both have value on our team, and we feel like we can utilize those guys in different ways," Taylor said. "I thought both those guys had really good camps for us, good preseason games and earned the opportunity to go on the 53, so excited to have both those guys."

Maybe not so much of a surprise as those roster spots is undrafted rookie William Wagner unseating three-year incumbent Cal Adomitis.

"Really hard decision. Both those guys, I thought, performed their best all training camp," Taylor said. "And that's what I told Cal. This wasn't a matter of somebody losing the competition. It was, we got the best out of both those guys. Ultimately, we decided to go with Will, but I thought Cal had a really strong camp as well. There's a chance he ends up somewhere else, I'm sure."

Also not a surprise with backup safety Daijahn Anthony going on injured reserve-return, small-school PJ Jules (Southern Illinois) gets a shot if the Bengals don't go safety hunting on the wire.

"PJ Jules had a really good camp, so the opportunity for him to be up there and try to help us on the 53 on special teams, safety, however that shakes out, I think he has earned that opportunity," Taylor said. "I thought that was really good competition in that room and this is the way it sorted out for us."