After equipment aficionados Adam Knollman, Sam Staley and Ryan Eckerle gave the locker room the 2026 facelift, the Bengals saw it for the first time before Tuesday's practice with new wide receivers Dohnte Meyers of the CFL and Colbie Young of Georgia in the row with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, as rookie defensive tackle Landon Robinson settled in between Cedric Johnson and T.J. Slaton Jr.

The nameplates gathered on Sept. 1 are the names of players the teams think can take them to where they want to go. Namely, a Super Bowl parade.

Center and captain Ted Karras looked at the room after Tuesday' practice and concluded, "We've got a real chance. We've got to play to it. A deep team. We've got to play to it. It's an easy team to lead. A lot of guys that want to do the right thing all the time. High energy guys, too. One of the toughest (offensive line) rooms I've ever been a part of. Comes to work every day and fights through things."

After practice, assistant general manager Trey Brown came walking through the locker room, and as a guy on the ground floor of roster construction that unofficially ended Tuesday (it's never over, but here are your 2026 Bengals for the first time), he symbolically stood next to the locker of free-agent safety Bryan Cook to review.

They went to Canada to grab Meyers, a new, exciting weapon for quarterback Joe Burrow. They went to Kansas City to hijack the best safety out there (not to mention his two Super Bowl rings), the homegrown Cook. They went to Seattle to sign Super Bowl pass rusher Boye Mafe, and they went to the All-Pro team to trade for nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II.

They had one more move left Monday when they plucked Eagles backup tackle Myles Hinton off waivers, a 2025 sixth-round pick who had good grades at Paycor Stadium then and now.

"He's talented, big and really athletic," Brown said. "It gives the coaching staff a real good opportunity to develop and work with a guy we liked coming out of the draft and a guy we liked when we saw him this preseason. A combination of that talent, athleticism, and size is somebody we wanted in the program."

Talent is the key word running through what's on paper, from the 31-year-old free agent addition in Jonathan Allen to 20-year-old backup center in Connor Lew.

"A lot of talented players with good leaders. A good mix of veteran experience and talented youth," Brown said. "We were able to get talent in all steps of the process. Free agency, the draft, the cutdowns."

The Bengals uncharacteristically have 11 players of at least 30 years old on what is probably one of their oldest initial rosters ever. But an average age of 26.3 puts them about smack in the middle of the NFL with just the right brew of sages and apprentices.

(The Philly Voice has 13 teams younger than 26.3.)

Kyle Dugger, the free-agent linebacker of a safety who has gone to the playoffs with Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin, notices the mix.

"The combination of the championship caliber experience they brought in and guys playing at a high level, like Dexter, that's a big deal," Duggar said. "You look at a guy like JA on the defense line. There's no faking that kind of experience. It's real."

Running back Samaje Perine is one of those 30-year-olds, but, more importantly, he's one of the seven players left from the 2021 Super Bowl run. His hands have decided two of the last five AFC title games, beginning the Bengals' comeback in Kansas City and two years ago ending the Bills' hopes as the Chiefs killed the clock.

"We've got all we need. We've got all we need," said Perine as he shot a glance at the room. "Last year was last year. It's an eager group. Eager to win. Eager to play better. No big personalities.  Everyone is, 'You just got to get better. We've got to get to 1-0."'

Perine says, yes, more leadership than has been here before. He looks at how Lawrence has filled up the room and the box with presence, and he's been a big admirer of how Cook runs the show since their days in K.C.

Left tackle and captain Orlando Brown Jr., agrees because he sees young guys like second-year linebackers Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. much more comfortable.

"They've got that raw confidence that we need to lead over there," Brown said. "We've spent a lot of time together off the field. Offense. Defense. Special teams. To me, that's one of the strongest  areas you need to win in this league. We're buying into that, and that's the guys we've kept around. A lot of guys are focused. Extremely motivated. Our leadership is as clear as ever."

Enough leadership to proceed with caution. Can this room go all the way? Mafe is asked, since he just did go all the way.

"You don't wake up day one knowing that's going to happen," Mafe said. "If you make a choice every day to go to work and work and then it (grows)."

Lawrence likes the vibe, likes the leadership. But he knows Sept. 1 isn't Dec. 1. They are, he says, about to get on a roller-coaster.

"I think we're confident of where we want to be and that's an important thing," Lawrence said. "You can't get lost in what you don't know is going to come. Anything can happen in a season. If you just stay consistent every day with what the coaches are teaching and understanding why you're doing things and what it's for, the roller coaster of the season won't get to you. You just have to understand the process and keep your head down."

Head coach Zac Taylor says the biggest difference between last year's roster and this one is that 11-man defensive line room. Orlando Brown agrees, but no one can remember the last time the Bengals went into a season with 11 offensive and defensive linemen each. Eleven O-Linemen? Brown thinks that might have happened when he was a rookie and the 2018 Ravens won the AFC North.

"Depth in the trenches on both sides of the ball probably means good things are going to happen," Brown said.

Knight reiterated what Taylor and defensive coordinator Al Golden have said the last couple of meetings.

"I'll quote what Coach Al said," Knight said. 'We have everything that we need.' I'll quote Coach Zac. He said, 'We have everyone we need to do exactly what we want to.' We need to handle business."

The nameplates are in place.