Cincinnati Bengals Practice Report Day 7: Heat Takes Its Toll As Multiple Players Leave Field

CINCINNATI – The longest, hottest, and most humid practice of Cincinnati Bengals training camp so far certainly claimed its share of casualties.

The first person to ride off the field on a cart was first-round pick Amarius Mims, but the offensive tackle laughed off his exit after practice, telling reporters he’s fine.

“I’m good,” Mims said. “I ain’t gonna speak too much on it, but I’ll be back out there tomorrow. The heat is the heat. I’m fine.”

Surprise Bengals Player Scores First Joe Burrow Interception of Camp

Third-round pick Jermaine Burton also left practice with a knee injury that isn’t believed to be serious.

Fifth-round cornerback Josh Newton came off the field but didn’t leave practice. Director of rehab Nick Cosgray was working on helping him hydrate behind the south end zone.

Yeah, it was a hot one pic.twitter.com/qJQthOVXBB

— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) August 1, 2024

The time and temperature sign affixed to Paycor Stadium showed 96 degrees as practice ended.

“We are going to find some ways to create some juice at the end of practice on a hot day, when it’s a long day and create some energy there,” head coach Zac Taylor said before practice.

“Maybe a little bit more of that than we have done in the past. I’m not going to say it’s too much because these guys got to be ready for these games and things like that, but some things to liven it up a little bit.”

MORE: Simulate the NFL Season With PFN’s Playoff Predictor

What the Bengals did at the end of practice was their annual scoring competition between the offense and defense.

The offense gets seven points for a touchdown, while the defense gets seven points for a stop. If the offense kicks a field goal, it gets three points, and the defense gets four points.

First one to 18 wins.

Neither squad got to 18, so it ended in a tie and both units ran sprints -– well, one sprint -– at the end of the hot practice.

Injury Report

What might be the most serious issue was not heat-related as defensive lineman Cam Sample suffered a lower-leg injury and fell hard to the ground, clutching what appeared to be his calf area. Players dropped to a knee around him, and the trainers wasted no time bringing the cart out for him.

Sample was riding through the locker room on a knee scooter shortly after practice.

Cornerback Mike Hilton stayed down after a play where he was defending Trenton Irwin. But after walking off gingerly and sitting out the rest of the drill, Hilton finished practice.

Defensive ends Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard missed practice again, and Taylor said not to expect them to return this week while offering an updated timeline on them before practice.

The only other player who didn’t participate and isn’t on one of the injury lists was defensive tackle Jay Tufele, who missed his second consecutive practice for undisclosed reasons.

Quarterback Report

Joe Burrow’s first pass in 11-on-11 was a deep ball to Tee Higgins, but he struggled some after that, including an interception in 7-on-7, his first of camp.

.@JoeyB with a dime to @teehiggins5

Training Camp | @KetteringHealth pic.twitter.com/Ef3Z3iM7TR

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) August 1, 2024

“The first half practice didn’t exactly go our way,” Burrow said. “I wasn’t great. Our team wasn’t great. And then it was nice to kind of bounce back the second half of practice and have a couple good drives there. We’ve got to start faster. But it was nice to bounce back like that.”

The bounce-back included a touchdown to pass to Andrei Iosivas in the scoring competition.

After practice, Burrow talked about not having wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase available for the seventh consecutive practice. And he said the route that Iosivas ran on the touchdown to beat cornerback Dax Hill was a Chase route.

“(Iosivas) was backside 1-on-1. Really good route,” Burrow said. “That’s a route that Ja’Marr, we’ve run that route a lot since LSU. That’s a really good route. A great route for Yoshi being a big body, fast guy. He did a great job right there.”

FREE: Subscribe to PFN’s NFL Newsletter

Burrow started 4-for-7 in the team period but finished 8-of-11.

In the competitive scoring game, he was 7-of-10, with two of the incompletions coming on drops — one by running back Chase Brown on a screen and the other by Trenton Irwin on what would have been a big gainer up the seam.

The other incompletion was an intentional throw out of the back of the end zone when he couldn’t find anyone open.

Stock Rising

One week after recording the first interception in camp, rookie seventh-round pick Daijahn Anthony became the first player to pick off Burrow when he jumped a pass intended for tight end Mike Gesicki on an out route in 7-on-7.

Iosivas could be included in this section seemingly every day, but especially today after his touchdown grab in the competitive drill followed by Burrow’s predictive praise after practice: “Andrei’s gonna have a big year.”

Stock Falling

After Mims left practice, Jackson Carman took over right tackle and promptly committed a false start that drew the ire of Burrow and offensive line coach Frank Pollack, who ordered him out of the drill, replacing him with Cody Ford.

It was a tough day for Dax Hill, who not only gave up the touchdown pass to Iosivas but also got beat pretty bad in an early 1-on-1 drill by Charlie Jones and undrafted college free agent Tre Mosley.