Cincinnati Bengals Practice Report Day 10: Trent Brown Returns With a Shrug

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals held their lightest and shortest practice of training camp Monday, focusing primarily on special teams with only one brief period of 11-on-11 work.

Offensive tackle Trent Brown, who was cleared to practice Sunday, made his camp debut but participated only in individual drills. Speaking with reporters after practice, he didn’t seem too bothered by the fact that he missed nine practices and is battling a first-round pick for a starting job.

“This is Year 10 for me. I’ve got a lot of reps under my belt already,” he said. “I think I kind of know how the game is played and how it needs to be played and what is expected of myself for myself and from a team standpoint. So I think I’ll be just fine.”

Defensive Safety Highlights Light Day of Bengals Practice

The 11-on-11 period had the offense starting at its own two-yard line and given a chance to move the chains twice. In a reversal from what we’ve seen for most of camp, the second-team offense performed better and gained more first downs than the starters.

Additionally, the first-team offense actually gave up points when Joseph Ossai stopped Zack Moss in the end zone for a rare practice safety.

“The only reason I was able to make that play is my guys got interior push to stop him from cutting up in there,” Ossai said. “So props to those guys. We’ve got some dudes in the middle of the line.”

After that, it was all special teams, with the punter competition taking center stage. And it was the newest member of the three-punter battle who had the best performance, with Ryan Rehkow booming kicks of 72, 61, 60, and 54 yards.

Brad Robbins and Austin McNamara had a couple of good and a couple of poor punts as part of their four reps.

Quarterback Report

Joe Burrow’s 11-on-11 period got off to a rough start and never got much better as he directed the offense without Ja’Marr Chase for the 10th practice in a row while Tee Higgins also took a rest day.

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After a Moss gain of three yards on the first play of the period, Burrow had to fire a pass into the dirt when he couldn’t find an open receiver. On third down, he had to wait a beat longer than he wanted and ended up throwing a pass over the middle for Shedrick Jackson that DJ Turner II nearly intercepted.

Turner got his hands on the ball, but it was a diving attempt and he wasn’t able to corral it as he went to the ground.

On the next drive, he was 3-for-3 with first-down throws to Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas, the latter of which was an impressive catch by the second-year receiver as he lept to outduel Turner and managed to hang on after a slight bobble.

The third drive started with the safety and ended with Myles Murphy blowing past Amarius Mims to pressure Burrow. In a live rep, it would have been a sack or, at best, a throwaway. But knowing he couldn’t be hit, Burrow extended it and eventually found tight end Tanner Hudson.

Leading the second-team offense, Jake Browning scrambled for one first down on the opening series and then connected with rookie tight end Erick All Jr. for another one before ceding back to the first-teamers.

On the second series, Browning hit rookie Jermaine Burton for a first down in addition to handing off a couple of times.

Injury Report

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor delivered the bad news during his pre-practice news conference that defensive end Cam Sample is out for the season with the Achilles injury he suffered in Thursday’s practice.

Then, the defensive line lost another member when rookie third-round pick McKinnley Jackson limped off after a run play in 11-on-11 and ended up riding off the field on a cart.

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Defensive ends Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard are still week-to-week, while defensive tackles Domenique Davis and Jay Tufele haven’t practiced in a week. Add to that the fact that Sheldon Rankins has missed three consecutive practices, and the options are going to be slim in the preseason opener.

Tight end Mike Gesicki is day-to-day with what Taylor said was “tightness.”

Wide receiver Cole Burgess, offensive tackle D’Ante Smith and linebacker Shaka Heyward also sat out again.

Stock Rising

Despite a rather lukewarm endorsement from Taylor, Turner continues to be disruptive in the secondary. And while depth charts at this time of year often have little value, the Bengals listed him as the starter ahead of Dax Hill.

Rehkow is going to be a guy to watch in the preseason opener if he’s given an opportunity to punt. The potential he’s shown with some incredibly long punts plus an ability to show he won’t shrink under the lights could give him a significant boost in the race to win the job.

Stock Falling

Robbins is still the favorite to win the punting job, but his two short efforts to start the three-way competition in today’s practice are leaving the door open for the two undrafted guys.

We’ll have to wait for further confirmation on why Jackson had to leave practice, but even if it’s not serious, it could affect his ability to play in the preseason opener, which is an important proving ground for rookies.