A look at the Bengals' first day in pads at training camp Monday at the Kettering Health Practice Fields.
Player of the Day
CB Dax Hill
DJ Turner II looked over at the locker of his running mate at cornerback and said this:
"I've said it over the years. Nobody can do what he does."
Someone asked Hill after he put his ample versatility on display Monday if that's the best pass rush he's played behind in his five years here, and was rewarded with Hill's raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. As advertised," Hill said. "That's a rhetorical question right there."
There you have it. It's a rush-and-coverage league and Hill is enjoying the rush part of it as the formidable Bengals offense begins to unveil its Pandora's Box of motions and formations.
"I feel like we can play a lot faster, be more confident and play faster knowing the ball has to come out. Simple as that," Hill said. "Sometimes they window dress things (with their motions) to get their best guys open. You never know. You can't get too comfortable, or expect anything from the offense. You really have to be in front of everything."
Hill went one-on-one with one of the NFL's best wide receivers when he took on Tee Higgins in the red zone and denied quarterback Joe Burrow the back shoulder and Higgins' one-armed bid.
"He gave me a double move. Good coverage," Hill said. "I feel like Joe had to put it back shoulder."
Then he muscled with tight end Mike Gesicki on a ball over the middle that appeared to be an easy catch. Until Hill kept playing until the whistle, knocking the ball free before Gesicki could put it away.
"Try to get it out as soon as possible," Hill said.
Then Hill showed why he's one of the most physical cornerbacks in the game on a toss to the perimeter where he beat the block of the always physical tight end Erick All Jr. That opened up the tackle for safety Jordan Battle, one of the few times running back Chase Brown didn't pop some yards on a day they effectively ran the ball.
"I'm so used to playing the run, I try to avoid contact at all cost. So I've figured out different ways not to get touched," Hill said. "Be more elusive and savvy as opposed to putting my head in there and getting knocked out. I just kind of avoid them up top and dip my shoulder. They're running to the corner every time. They don't think we can tackle, but being ready for it."
All is extremely impressed with the low leverage Hill gets and the pop he brings. "He got me," All admitted. "Lower man wins.
"He plays the run real well. That's why he's one of the best out here."
Play of the Day
WR Colbie Young
Six summers after Tee Higgins learned at the hands of A.J. Green, Bengals rookie wide receiver Colbie Young carried Higgins' helmet and shoulder pads into the locker room after Monday's training camp practice.
As if to underscore his underdog's appreciation of where he is, Young went the extra yard when he got to Higgins' locker and reached up to put the pads in the top compartment.
You have to understand. Just six years ago was his senior year at Binghamton High School in Upstate New York. That was 2020, and there was no senior season because of COVID, which is how he ended up at Lackawanna Junior College before stints at Miami and Georgia.
"I think I'm one of the luckiest receivers to get drafted," Young told the media after his break-out day. "I've got two Hall of Famers in front of me who I get to learn from. I'm not rushed into a system where I've got to perform right now. But when my number is called, I've got to be ready to perform."
On Monday, he showed why they drafted him in the fourth round, leaping over vet cornerback Josh Newton to make a classic contested Green-Higgins catch on backup quarterback Joe Flacco's deep out before they spilled out of bounds.
"It's about the eyes," said Young, who has picked up polish. "If my eyes are some place else … just focus on the catch and then get your feet down. There's a lot going into it. Trusting where you are. Trusting the quarterback is going to be were you want to be, and securing the catch."
The 6-4, 218-pound Young has the basketball feel of Green and Higgins, but he's also got a good knack for football and what it takes, which rookie receivers coming after Higgins, Ja'Marr Chase, and Andrei Iosivas didn't always have. Young gets it and goes to Flacco after every play.
"(Nineteen) years in the league? I'm coming back to him after every route to see what he sees and what I don't see just to make sure," Young said." Without him throwing the ball, there is no catch. Him being able to trust me, put it out there to a rookie, is just everything, honestly."
Thanks to the college game, rookie receivers are so much ahead of the game compared to, say, ten years ago. A big X receiver like Young would be eased into the slot after barely playing it in college. But on Monday's big play, he was the X lined up in the slot, got a man read when wide receiver Mitch Tinsley went in motion, "and I knew I had to go get it … I feel comfortable moving in there and getting the coverage I want."
Young needs to take advantage of his snaps on a team with Higgins, Chase, and Iosivas, and he did when he followed it up in the red zone. He slanted in front of the man drafted the round ahead of him, cornerback Tacario Davis, and grabbed Flacco's ball for the touchdown.
(By the way, Davis, another long 6-4, is having a good camp, and had a nice give-and-get with Young on Monday. On one snap, he used his range in the middle of the field to stretch and bat away Flacco's bid for Young over the middle.)
Quote of the Day
"The life I've chosen … Yes. Don Corleone. I'm familiar."
Dax Hill on the line from The Godfather as he explained the up-and-down life of a cornerback.
"You have to have a next-play mentality," Hill said. "They're going to make plays, too, and there's nothing you can do about it except go to the next one."
That's what All did after Hill got him on the running play. Practicing in pads for the first time in nearly two years, All said he felt "completely fine," after he took a couple of shots to the knee, one from Hill and one when he had to get around a tackle to make a block.
All came back to clear a path for running back Samaje Perine's four-yard touchdown run in the red zone. He got a good block on defensive end Boye Mafe, which hasn't been easy in a camp Mafe has been very god. With All one of head coach Zac Taylor's secret weapons as a formidable two-way player, that block may have eased a lot of minds on a day the defense was busy.
