That’s good news for the Bengals secondary, which returned all but Mike Hilton. Hill was the team’s top cornerback at the time of his Week 5 injury.
“Everything’s been great with Dax,” Taylor said Monday at the annual media luncheon ahead of camp. “We just want to make sure as we put the pads on, we’re progressing him the right way. Starting with individual, then some seven-on-seven, then some team stuff. Feel really good about where our guys are at.”
On Saturday, the Bengals placed tight end Erick All Jr. on the Active/PUP list and rookie center Seth McLaughlin on the Active/Non-Football Injury list.
All, a fourth-round draft pick in 2024, faced complications in his recovery from a second ACL tear suffered last November and is expected to miss this season, while McLaughlin, an undrafted college free agent addition, is still easing back from November surgery to repair a torn Achilles.
Otherwise, the Bengals open camp in pretty good shape, but Taylor said defensive tackle B.J. Hill will still be limited as a precaution because of a foot injury that popped up this offseason. He and Dax Hill are the two starters that will be easing into things, though Dax Hill is coming back from a more serious injury.
Golden has high expectations for Dax Hill this season and has been pleased with his progress since the offseason workout program when he was on the rehab field the entire time.
“He’s been out there the last two days with the rookies and injured vets, and it’s been great to just see him,” Golden said. “We might have to load manage him. I’ll leave that up to Zac (Taylor) and the trainers, but from what I’ve seen, he looks great, looks healthy, is doing everything full speed.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Bengals signed four new players Sunday, including a pair of free agent defensive tackles in 2018 Jacksonville Jaguars first-round draft pick Taven Bryan and 2020 Denver Broncos’ third-round draft pick McTelvin Agim.
However, Taylor said those moves were not related to B.J. Hill’s status. Bryan has seen action in 113 career games with 46 starts, while Agim has played 18 career games over two seasons.
“That’s been something we’ve talked about for weeks,” Taylor said. “(Sunday) was the first day of workouts when we got everybody back in here and in the building, and to keep them here for camp, we feel good about adding those two guys to the mix. We just felt like we were a little light there going into training camp. So, that that has nothing to do with B.J. although we will manage B.J., B.J. is not going to take a ton of training camp reps. Just we’ve seen all we need to see from B.J., and we got to make sure he’s ready to roll for game one.”
Quarterback Desmond Ridder, a fourth-year player out of the University of Cincinnati, was another one of the additions, along with center Andrew Raym, and the Bengals notably released Logan Woodside to make room for Ridder, who spent last season with the Raiders after two years in Atlanta.
Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher confirmed Jake Browning is still the backup to Joe Burrow, but Taylor said Ridder will compete with Payton Thorne for the third quarterback spot. Taylor recruited Ridder to UC when he was the offensive coordinator there, and Ridder set several school records before going on to become a third-round pick of the Falcons in 2022.
“We had a work out at several positions (Sunday) and felt like he could be added in the mix and give us some depth and come in here and compete,” Taylor said. “He and Payton (Thorne) will compete for those third and fourth jobs early in training camp and those roles, and then see if they add any reps from there.”
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