Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor Open To Playing Starters in Preseason

After a sluggish 0-2 start to the season kept the Cincinnati Bengals from hosting more than one playoff game in 2022, head coach Zac Taylor will be looking for ways to avoid a repeat in 2023. And one of them might be playing his starters, including quarterback Joe Burrow, in the preseason.

Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor Open to Starters Playing in Preseason

Don’t expect it to happen in the Aug. 11 opener against the Green Bay Packers, especially with that game coming on the heels of a joint practice between the teams on Aug. 9. But Taylor said Monday at the team’s pre-camp luncheon that his starters might play in the Aug. 18 game at Atlanta or the Aug. 26 contest at Washington as he and Burrow chase history.

“This year, I’ve certainly had conversations with players about getting them a bit of playing time at some point in the preseason,” Taylor said. “I know Joe would always like to be in front of the crowd, be in the huddle, coaches removed. That is really the benefit of the preseason. Whether that’s a group getting one series, whatever it ends up being.”

Burrow didn’t play in the preseason as a rookie because there wasn’t one due to the pandemic. In 2021, he played three snaps, which consisted of two handoffs and a screen pass to Ja’Marr Chase. That was nine months removed from Burrow’s ACL tear, when everyone was in agreement there would be value in letting him get the smallest taste of live action before the season opener.

Last year, Burrow sat out the entire preseason and a few weeks of training camp after undergoing an emergency appendectomy a few days before the first camp practice. And with Burrow out, Taylor decided not to play four of the five starting offensive linemen, even though three of them — La’el Collins, Alex Cappa, and Ted Karras — were new.

“If you’re not playing the quarterback, are you going to play the linemen?” he said. “It snowballs from there.”

The reconfigured offensive line allowed 13 sacks in the first two games, while Burrow threw five interceptions in an overtime loss to the Steelers in the opener. But Taylor said his willingness to consider preseason snaps is more about 2023 than 2022.

“Every year is different,” Taylor said, noting that in 2021 all of the starters except for Burrow played in the preseason opener at Tampa Bay.

“Just getting a chance to check the box of being on the field removed from the coaches, being in a stadium with fans cheering against you or for you,” Taylor added. “There are benefits that we weigh from year to year what the team needs.”

Two starters who are expected to play regardless are safeties Dax Hill and Nick Scott, who are taking over after veterans Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell bolted in free agency. Getting Hill and Scott on the same level in terms of communication and chemistry is going to be key to the Bengals’ defense repeating as a top-10 unit again this season, and defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo isn’t willing to wait until September to start building that connection.

“I’m looking forward to these preseason games to see these guys out there,” Anarumo said. “Just get a fell. We’ve got to play football. We have a good idea coming out of the spring, but we still want to see them out there tackling people.”

As for the rest of the defensive starters, Anarumo didn’t sound as though he thinks it is as important, but he’s not ready to rule anything out at this point.

“We’ve kind of bounced back and forth a little bit over the years in what we’ve done,” he said. “However we handle it this year, I think we’re still talking about it. I think either way, we’ve come out of blocks pretty good, so I’m not worried about whatever we decide to do. We’re not a new group. The first time that we set the huddle with Logan (Wilson) and Germaine (Pratt) and DJ (Reader) and B.J. (Hill), it will be like, ‘OK, here comes a guard trying to block me. I got it, coach.'”