Practice was heavily populated on the opening day of OTAs for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bengals had full attendance at Tuesday’s initial OTA session, including franchise cornerstone players that ended last season on injured reserve – quarterback Joe Burrow, running back Joe Mixon, defensive tackle D.J. Reader and cornerback Trae Waynes.
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“It was exciting,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said about having full attendance. “We have had great communication with our players, I knew they were excited to get back. They all feel like we’ve got a lot of work to do.
"We can’t afford to miss some opportunities that are provided to us, so I was happy to see everybody back in the fold and it’s really exciting to be back on the grass.”
The Bengals worked out on the grass practice field in jerseys, helmets and shorts.
Burrow tossed passes to wide receivers Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, Mixon led drills with the Bengals running backs and offensive line coach Frank Pollack was coaching up the O-line.
On the defensive side, free safety Jessie Bates and the defense spent much of Tuesday’s session going through drills on the adjacent practice field.
In totality, 84 players were on the team’s practice fields.
Bates said many members of the team went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris on Monday night. One topic discussed at the steak house was all the new faces on the squad. The Bengals could have as many as 10 new starters when they open the regular season. Furthermore, more than 75% of the players on the Bengals roster joined after Taylor was hired as head coach.
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“Yeah, there's just a lot of new guys that I think are very excited to reset the standard kind of. We went out to dinner last night, and it was just funny, even the waitresses at Ruth's Chris were like, 'Who are all these new guys?' So you know, just getting us around each other. And, you know, being able to just match up a name with a face in person is very helpful, I think,” Bates said on Tuesday. “And I think that's why a lot of people came.”
Other Bengals news and notes:
Joe Mixon back in action: Mixon was at Tuesday’s OTA session. Mixon sported gold shoes and participated in all activities.
Taylor said that the starting running back is 100%.
"He is full go,” Taylor said. “He had a lot of energy today. It was good to get him back out there."
Mixon sustained a foot injury in Week 6 of last year and missed the rest of the season. Tuesday was Mixon’s first full practice since the Oct. 18, 2020 injury.
D.J. Reader injury update: The Bengals defensive tackle said his rehab is going well. Reader suffered a season-ending left quad injury in Week 5 of last season.
“Feeling good,” Reader said. “Feeling very good and confident about my knee and quad, I guess. Everything feels good.”
Reader practice on the rehab field on Tuesday. The defensive tackle declined to disclose when he’ll be cleared for full activity.
Video from OTAs
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