PHILADELPHIA _If there's ever a candidate to be a game captain for Bengals head coach Zac Taylor in Thursday night's preseason opener here at Lincoln Financial Field, it's new backup linebacker Oren Burks.

Taylor loves to showcase players on the road if they're playing in their hometowns or against old teams. It just so happens the last time the Eagles played, they won the Super Bowl with Burks in the starting lineup.

"Luck of the draw, I guess," Burks said this week. "It's happened to me before."

So it's business as usual for Burks, beginning his eighth season with his fourth team. Back in 2021, he played five snaps for the Packers in a 13-10 loss to the 49ers in an NFC Divisional. In the 49ers' next game, the 2022 preseason opener, Burks started for them and had a team-high eight tackles against the Packers.

Burks doesn't figure to start against the Eagles, but no doubt he'll see plenty of action with the first special teams and the second defense paired with rookie linebacker Barrett Carter.

With edge Trey Hendrickson on the trip but not playing and tackle B.J. Hill being cautious with a foot issue also not playing, Burks is the Bengals' most experienced defender against Philly. He's enjoying his new view.

"I love it here. Great room. Gelling well with the guys. We have something special going," Burks said. "I'm excited to get out there and see what we have."

LOGAN'S RUN REUNION

Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson, the de facto captain of the defense with Hendrickson and Hill on the sidelines, is playing his first game in about ten years with new defensive tackle Taven Bryan. Bryan, signed late last month, figures to get work with the backups in his first game with Wilson since their days at Natrona County High School as the only two NFL players from the Casper, Wyo., program.

Bryan came into the draft two years before Wilson and was a 2018 first-round pick of the Jaguars, his first of four teams. Wilson, replacing Sam Hubbard as the dean of the defense beginning his sixth season with

68 Bengals games, left camp with a good feeling after some spirited give-and-take with quarterback Joe Burrow’s offense.

"The offense is going to have their days, their plays. That's the nature of playing an offense as explosive as ours and that's a good thing," Wilson said this week. "The more days that we have where there are back-and-forth type practices between the offense and defense is making us better than having days where it's more lopsided. That's where you see more improvement where we're going back and forth. Which it has been."

Even though the offense scored three touchdowns on four Move-The-Ball drives in last Sunday's practice, Wilson emerged encouraged.

"We made them march the entire length of the field to score touchdowns," Wilson said. "When Joe is putting it into places only his receivers can catch it, that's the best answer to a good defense."

SLANTS AND SCREENS

With Dax Hill (ACL) easing in at nickel cornerback, that could mean veteran Jalen Davis gets the start in the slot Thursday. The club's most experienced cornerback in his fifth season, Davis still has an uphill climb to the final 53-man roster. But his outstanding camp is reminding everyone why they covet his reliability even though he played two games last year and spent the rest of the season on the practice squad …

Besides B.J. Hill, Dax Hill and Hendrickson not playing on defense, cornerbacks Cam Taylor-Britt and Marco Wilson are also out with tweaks not deemed major …

Same with tight end Mike Gesicki. He and the recently-signed tight end Noah Fant could both be up for the next outing, an ESPN Monday nighter on Aug. 18 in Washington …

That means Drew Sample probably starts, and Tanner Hudson could get some work with both Burrow and backup Jake Browning …

Two receivers working behind The Big Three of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas look to be busy in the kicking game. Charlie Jones figures to get a shot to return a punt against the Eagles, while Jermaine Burton probably gets to do both punts and kicks …

If Taylor continues to do what he did in training camp, incumbent Cal Adomitis long snaps the first part of the game and rookie William Wagner the second part …,

Brotherly Shove II: Twins Chase Brown, the Bengals running back, and Sydney Brown, the Eagles safety, meet for a second time. Sydney Brown barely played in last season's regular-season game at Paycor Stadium. Now he's vying for the starting job while Chase is set to work with the Ones for the first quarter ...