Greg Auman
NFC South Reporter
For one reason or another, Joe Burrow has thrown a grand total of one preseason pass in his NFL career. That should change Saturday night as the Bengals host the Bucs in Cincinnati.
NFL teams are more and more careful to keep their star players on the sidelines in preseason and not expose them to potential injuries, but Burrow and other Bengals starters are expected to play in the first of three preseason games.
“I’m excited for it,” said Burrow, who’s now healthy after suffering a wrist injury last November that ended his 2023 season. “I’m excited to get these reps and have these reps to get better right now.”
COVID took away the NFL preseason in Burrow’s rookie year, and he’s been mostly held out, largely due to injuries, in the past three years. He played a single drive with a single pass in four years. Cincinnati has joint practices after this week with the Bears and Colts, and those sessions give teams a chance to see their players against other teams in more controlled conditions.
Burrow said playing in preseason games is different from joint practices, and in some ways for him, better.
“I’m going to have the opportunity to get hit,” he said. “Maybe I get hit, maybe I don’t. It’s a game. It’s a scrimmage, but it’s a live scrimmage. That’s the best way to prepare for Week 1, I think. We’ll see, but I think we’re going about it the right way.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he appreciates the benefits of having Burrow and other starters on the field. Taylor understands there are injury risks, but he recognizes the advantages of giving them time in a real huddle and playing against an opponent.
“I’ve targeted the first game,” Taylor said last week. “I’m not setting anything in stone right now, but I’m optimistic that’s where it’s trending right now for our team, and then we’ll make decisions after that.”
When the NFL shifted to a 17-game schedule three years ago, the preseason was shortened to three games, and the league’s scheduling model now has a week off between the final preseason game and the regular-season opener. That complicates the decision for coaches on how to balance the “rest vs. rust” aspect of how long teams have gone without playing before the opener.
Taylor is not only working to prepare his starters for their season opener at home against the Patriots on Sept. 8, he’s trying to make decisions on roster battles and who his backups will be as well. One key spot is the team’s No. 3 receiver behind stars Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins,. Cincinnati needs to replace eight-year Bengal Tyler Boyd, who followed former offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to the Titans.
That competition features multiple options, including 2024 third-round pick Jermaine Burton, who had 15 touchdowns in his last two seasons at Alabama, 2023 sixth-round pick Andrei Iosivas, who had four touchdowns as a rookie out of Princeton last year, and 28-year-old Trenton Irwin, who had a career-best 25 catches last season. Some of that battle will shake out based on production in preseason games.
“The word ‘replace’ is tough, because I’ve got so much respect for what Tyler did for so long and at such a high level,” Taylor said. “These guys are trying to fill that role. They’re big shoes. I’ve really liked what those guys are doing in there. I can list several that are making really strong impressions. The depth of that group has really stepped up.”
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A strong preseason can help the Bengals avoid the early stumbles they’ve had to overcome in recent years. Cincinnati had a 1-3 start last year before finding itself, and the Bengals started 0-2 in 2022 before reaching the AFC Championship Game. In five years as head coach, Taylor is just 6-11-1 in September.
Cincinnati finished 9-8 last year, losing Burrow for the final seven games with his injury, but that put them in fourth place in a competitive AFC North that looks to be much the same in 2024. Taylor said he isn’t sure how much he’ll play starters in the preseason, but there’s an urgency to start faster this season and to be a better team overall.
“Everything needs to improve on our football team,” he said. “We went 9-8. So everything on offense needs to improve, everything on defense needs to improve. Everything we’re doing in this camp is focused on making us a better team than last year. We don’t forget anything that maybe we did poorly or was perceived as a weakness last year. We’ve got to improve on all of it.”
Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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