The Cincinnati Bengals are through the Family DEY portion of training camp, meaning only a handful of open practices remain.
Those Bengals still don’t suit up for a preseason game for a while but will start to get in gear with actual game prep here soon. Beforehand, let’s take a look at some of the biggest takeaways so far.
Open Season at LG
The new Bengals staff is giving everyone a shot at Clint Boling’s old job.
Christian Westerman saw some early first-team reps at the spot. New arrival John Jerry did, too. More recently, even Trey Hopkins got in on the action.
Who wins is almost impossible to say. Westerman has been passed over repeatedly, Jerry is new and Hopkins has impeccable value as a backup at all three interior spots — the Bengals might not make a final decision until late in the process.
SLOW With Injuries
This new staff isn’t taking many chances with injuries.
One chance — letting A.J. Green get involved deep on his first day back in a non-padded practice — came back to bite them.
That’s why they brought alone Billy Price slowly and aren’t taking any chances with John Ross at all. Ross’ ailment seems as minor as it gets, so it speaks to the caution they are taking.
False Starts Are an Emphasis
False starts and the mental side of the game are some of the most consistent themes fans will hear from coaches in interviews right now.
These aren’t too unexpected in training camp, of course. They’re working in multiple quarterbacks with different cadences and shuffling the offensive line repeatedly. Mistakes are going to happen.
But those mistakes can’t keep happening. These errors were issues last year with guys like Bobby Hart, who still have starting spots. If they translate to the first preseason game, the team has a problem on its hands.
Germaine Pratt is Ready
The rookie linebacker made the best play of the day on Family DEY.
Even better, Pratt has quietly been handling the playcalls already for the second-team defense, which is a big responsibility for a rookie. He’s also getting looks in nickel and subpackages.
While it hasn’t been the loudest point of camp so far, Pratt could end up playing a massive role in 2019.
Lou Anarumo is a Hit
Bengals players can’t get enough of new defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.
Count Jessie Bates among those.
“I talk to Lou a lot,” Bates said, per Bengals.com. “He’s got a high ceiling for me and I have a high ceiling for myself and I appreciate him just trying to push me. He’s coached a lot of good safeties. He knows my ability, my potential. He wants me to be best me I can be and I’m excited for that.”
Anarumo’s demeanor and approach have won over players and onlookers. That’s saying a lot coming out of a season where the team had to fire a coordinator midseason because he lost the unit.
Questions at RB
At Family DEY, Giovani Bernard was curiously sidelined while rookie Trayveon Williams got some work.
That has driven plenty of fan speculation and perhaps understandably so with Bernard on the last year of his deal.
A new coaching staff wanting to see what a rookie can do in their system isn’t anything new, though, and perhaps the cautious staff is simply taking it easy on Bernard, a talent they could have tapped for a big role this year.
It’s hard to say right now, which makes running back one of the more interesting spots to watch.
