CINCINNATI — Sitting down in the East Club Lounge at Paycor Stadium, one chair was left open inside a small circle of writers. That chair represented the merciful end of ranking, prognostication and player Instagram workout season.
One at a time, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin, president Mike Brown, head coach Zac Taylor, along with coordinators Dan Pitcher, Lou Anarumo and Darrin Simmons took turns rotating through for 10-to-15 minutes at a time.
With each new voice, speculation gave way to facts.
The Bengals are in negotiations with Ja’Marr Chase on a lucrative extension. Evan McPherson, too. Joe Burrow is fully cleared for practice. Starters will play in the preseason. First-round pick Amarius Mims might be the starter on opening day.
The comments came fast and furious, producing more real news than the last three months combined.
Here were the most notable quotes heard and why they stood out above the rest during the 90-minute car wash.
Bengals are making their push to extend Chase – with one caveat
Brown on trying to extend Chase after paying Burrow: “Well, we’re going to try hard. If you were listing our guys, one-two, you just did it, and he knows that. We know it, but it has to get done. We have both this year and next year where we have rights to Ja’Marr, so maybe it’ll take longer than we wish. I wish it were done, but I understand why it isn’t, and it’s part of the NFL of today.”
Tobin on paying top dollar on WRs, specifically for Chase: “We’ll see if something can get done. We hope it can. I don’t view people as receivers. I view them as individuals, and I think there’s a lot of pros to having a Ja’Marr Chase. I don’t call him, ‘Receiver.’ I call him Ja’Marr Chase. And Ja’Marr Chase is a rare football player. So if it was just wide receiver, I wouldn’t spend a nickel on it. But it’s Ja’Marr Chase and so we’ll see what we can get done.”
Why it stood out: This marked the first time the Bengals openly talked about pushing to get a deal done with Chase. Yes, he’s extension-eligible, so it was always assumed they’d talk, but this was aggressive verbiage. Brown openly calling him the second-best player on the team and Tobin pointing out how rare Chase is not just by receiver standards weren’t soft compliments. This was a hard push suggesting they view him in the same light as Justin Jefferson. That means the time will be here soon to pay him like Jefferson.
With every praising statement, however, there was the recognition the timing is wide open in this case. Neither side has a deadline to do the deal before the season starts. He’s under contract through 2025 on the fifth-year option and at some point they’ll pay him a large amount, that was made clear. Would they like it to be soon? Yes. But there wasn’t any talk suggesting it will happen this fall. My money on Chase’s money continues to be that the deal will happen this time next year.
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An Evan McPherson extension feels inevitable
Brown on extending McPherson: “We’re talking to Evan. We’ll see how it goes … I’m hopeful that we can get there with Evan. He’s a clutch player. He’s played well for us when it matters.”
Tobin: “Yeah, I think that’s a possibility that it could come together. It could come together as we’re talking here, it could come together next week, it could come together never. Is that a big enough window? Between 10 seconds from now and 10 years from now.”
Why it stood out: Tobin joked the extension could be signed while at the media luncheon (this actually happened with Tyler Boyd five years ago), but the joke cut the tension of the obvious tone. McPherson is eligible and the kicker market is quite well-defined, including several recent deals. This was talked about like a no-brainer, which it should be. Perhaps, the bigger question will be whether I can get this story posted before it is announced.
There will be no veteran cornerback help coming
Tobin on potentially adding a veteran to the young CB room: “Are we going to sign a veteran? No, probably not. I like what we’ve got there. We’ve got young guys that can run and cover who have a lot of upside to them. We’ve got some new guys working in there and it will be exciting to see how they do. Do I feel like we have an immediate need for a veteran to make our team? No.”
Why it stood out: This felt like a more than legitimate question considering there’s still no proven starter opposite Cam Taylor-Britt. DJ Turner enjoyed a half-good, half-not-so-good rookie season while Dax Hill is learning a new position. The spot looks ripe for a veteran (and there are quite a few available). Typically, Tobin will point out he’s always looking to upgrade his team with additions, but not this time. There are no veteran corners in the plans. They are rolling with the current group barring injuries.
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There will be precautions taken with Joe Burrow, but he’s fully cleared for contact and expected to play in the preseason
Taylor on a potential pitch count for Burrow in camp: “It’s more the head coach being proactive, knowing that, you know, really ideally, 30 days from now, our team is ready to go. Late August, getting ready for that first regular-season game. And so my job is these first two weeks to make sure we’re managing it to where those last two weeks we can hit the ground running … . One thing I have learned is just be proactive with managing it. You will never regret being proactive the first week, two weeks of training camp. There are plenty of reps to go around.”
Why it stood out: Taylor said Burrow would play in the preseason, a time when he currently owns three career snaps. The preseason decision over the years has been one held under a shroud of secrecy and to be determined. The fact Taylor already stated Burrow will be playing shows confidence in where the quarterback stands from a health perspective. His comments about continuing to exercise caution with his camp schedule should be great news for all those merely hoping Burrow will enjoy his first normal training camp and avoid injury.
Joe Burrow participated in offseason activities in his return from a wrist injury that upended his season last year. (Cara Owsley / USA Today)
No nervousness internally when it comes to Burrow’s injury history
Brown on concern over Burrow’s history of injuries: “I think Joe has done everything he knows how to do to be ready and able to play. That’s all we can ask. Has he been injured? There have been a couple injuries, some of them, the calf injury, hard to expect. That one was a surprise, but I’ve had that myself. I know what it feels like. You can’t operate, and so I had sympathy for him, but we have to protect him as well as we can. We’re trying, as best we know how to accumulate people who can do that. It’s been some time, some years, trying to get this right. We’re still working at it, but we think we’re getting closer with it. He’s the heart of the team. He’s got to stay healthy for us to get there. I think that’s a given.”
Tobin: “Joe does things the right way and Joe will prepare himself to get ready for the season in a really appropriate way. I don’t have any messages for Joe other than ‘Keep on truckin, baby.’”
Why it stood out: We’ve heard Burrow address his “football mortality” in dealing with injuries through his first four seasons and know how much focus he put on finding better ways to stay healthy for a full season. Over more than a decade of these functions and talking with Brown, I can say he’s always unfiltered. He might be calculated in his approach at times, but never afraid to address an uncomfortable topic. When he expresses zero concern over Burrow’s health, I believe him. They guaranteed more money than anybody in franchise history by a few hundred million, so there would be truth in expressing what he thinks about the health of his quarterback from time to time. These made for a full endorsement of Burrow’s approach and overall health.
GO DEEPER
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Trent Brown versus Amarius Mims will be a true battle from Day 1
Taylor on Mims potentially taking the job from Brown: “That’s one of the things I talked about with Trent before we even signed him. That doesn’t take off the table we may draft in the first round a tackle. All the things that bring with that. That brings out the competitor in everybody. You can imagine what his response was. ‘Fine, I’m the best there is.’ So that’s great competition. Great for everybody. We are going to need all the depth we’ve got up front. I wouldn’t even call it a problem. It’s a really good situation to have.”
Pitcher: “We are excited about Trent because, to me, he’s a known commodity that has played at a winning level in this league for a long time and Amarius has every opportunity to become that. He’ll get the chance to work in with that group.”
Why it stood out: There was no pretense about the desire for a veteran with 93 starts to automatically be penciled in as the starter over a rookie with eight starts in college. Nobody knows how Mims will look when the pads come on, but Pitcher referring to Brown as a known commodity confirms a lean toward letting Mims soak up a significant percentage of the snaps and see where his level lands. If that level ends up above Brown, the Bengals sound more than ready to start their first rookie at tackle on opening day since Anthony Muñoz.
The stadium lease negotiations are a sensitive issue and they’re only just beginning
Brown: “One thing I promised myself, and so far, I’ve adhered to this today, I’m going to talk about football, I’m going to talk about coaches. I am not going to talk about lease negotiations. This is a happy moment for me. I want to keep it that way.”
Why it stood out: This harkens back to my earlier point that Brown is rarely afraid to touch on uncomfortable topics, specifically when it comes to major orders of business like the stadium lease. He did so last year. He refrained this time and pointed out he didn’t want to ruin a “happy moment.” This negotiation will prove to be a battle, one that’s played out for Brown in the past and is playing out across the league in the present. If there were positive inroads to report, Brown would likely not hesitate to do so. Instead, there was this.
(Top photo: Sam Greene / USA Today)
