CINCINNATI – There was a time when we were under the impression right tackle Bobby Hart would be challenged by last year’s surprise offensive line prospect Fred Johnson.
Johnson showed so well in a small sample size, being plucked off waivers from Pittsburgh then taking over for Cordy Glenn at left tackle during the last two games of the season. The undrafted free agent out of Florida seemed to find a home kicking out to tackle after spending much of his time early in his rookie season with the Steelers on the interior.
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Hart’s been below average at best as a starter the last two years, though the Bengals and offensive line coach Jim Turner have wholeheartedly lived in his corner over the course of his time holding down the spot on the outside. The idea of plopping Johnson into a competition and seeing if he could serve as an upgrade was a major theme of the offensive line questions and answers this summer.
Yet, as camp has opened, the battle has been almost nonexistent. Hart continues to be the guy.
So much for competition.
When I asked about it on Zac Taylor’s Zoom call Tuesday, the head coach played the politically correct answer.
“I think Fred is still battling for that job,” Taylor said. “And Bobby’s had the right approach so far in training camp. But again, I’m not ready to declare anybody at any spot. Fred’s still in the mix there to compete for some starting jobs on the o-line.”
Perhaps this week or in Sunday’s scrimmage we will see real run for Johnson with the first team. We just haven’t to this point.
Now, in fairness, Johnson hasn’t exactly been a wall in his reps with the second team. There have been plenty of losses coming off the edge against him. It’s hard to criticize a lack of first-team reps for a guy losing to the second team. And for all the criticisms dropped at the feet of Hart, he was actually improved last year and serviceable at times.
The only notable move we’ve seen from Johnson was when he earned some reps at guard on Monday as changes filtered down the line shuffling through different contingency plans.
It made the final piece of Taylor’s quote all the more interesting, “starting jobs” on the o-line. Plural. I suppose that’s just coachspeak for keeping all options open, but clearly suggests they are evaluating him in the mix inside as well. It would make sense considering that’s where he was projected coming out of Florida and also he will need to be versatile if he does end up a backup.
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Hey, if he’s the first tackle off the bench and an option at guard, perhaps even competing to start, those are better options than we saw this team have last season when a host of players no longer here were trying to start.
It just seems odd we have yet to really see Johnson and Hart engage in a true competition.
On tap
The Bengals move to afternoon practices this week as they get into preparing for their first two games (4:15 p.m. vs Chargers, 8:15 p.m. at Browns). They are treating it as a normal game week with Tuesday off for players, then a run of three straight days of practice from Wednesday-Friday, then an off day and Sunday night final scrimmage in the stadium. By all accounts, the Sunday scrimmage will be the final big test (think third preseason game) before the team prepares to cut the roster and forge ahead to the opener.
Taylor did say he’s looking for kind of a fourth-preseason game practice on Sept. 3, but you can only do so much when using the bench and having to play against yourself.
This week in Burrow
Well, we wrote about many of the Joe Burrow developments from the past week.
First, there was the quote: “Have you ever heard anything else about me about being nervous?”
Then there was the sequence from Thursday that made a major impact as the staff watched him respond in a huge way to one of his biggest early mistakes.
Then the Burrow hype train left the station after his outstanding scrimmage debut.
The latest was his fourth-and-six touchdown throw that closed out Monday and might have been his most impactful of all.
The bottom line is Burrow seems to win over teammates more and more with every practice. You can see that they believe he will find a way to win and isn’t afraid to take a chance in the big moment to make it happen. This might only be practice, but you don’t need to hear players talk about it to know that, you can see it. Ultimately, how this translates to Sundays will be key and I don’t think there’s much more he needs to prove during practices at this point other than improving each day. He’s ready for the show.
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Quotable
A lament heard often over the course of last season revolved around building a culture where every player was finding competition and going hard all the time during the week. There just wasn’t anywhere near enough of that. That’s why I found this to be an interesting admission from Taylor in his Zoom call on Tuesday. All these new faces acquired with his culture in mind might be turning the tide on that issue.
“The competitiveness of practice, that is a change from last season, just the energy. The offense has had good days, the defense has had good days and we’ve had not-so-good days on both sides of the ball. Just the overall competitiveness and the expectations the players have for themselves and each other I really feel is different than last year. That’s important and something we sought to improve as the season went on last year and felt like we were making those improvements. The leadership feels different from guys who were here and guys who we added and it’s been a welcome change. I’m excited to see these guys embrace the adversity that the season is going to bring.”
Twitter question of the week
Question – as a Bengals fan we are obviously biased to the hype, but is there a difference or similarity in the hype to players like Mayfield, Murray, or Mahomes in the past years?? Feels similar to Mahomes as a Bengals fan. I’ll hang up and listen.
— Micah (@MlCAH_) August 25, 2020
Thanks for the question, Micah.
Comparing hype is sort of like comparing the smell in the car of different pizzas when you drive home from picking them up. I don’t know, everybody thinks the pizza will be delicious before they taste it. I mean, it smells great. All pizza should smell great. It doesn’t really mean much when it comes to the first bite.
Yes, Kyler Murray dazzled in his preseason debut and garnered some run for it.
Baker Mayfield certainly did, especially considering it was on “Hard Knocks.”
I don’t think the true Patrick Mahomes hype started until the played the final week of his rookie season as the Chiefs rested Alex Smith for the playoffs.
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Until Burrow does it in a game, hype will be just that. An intangible smell.
I think the true phenomenon that Burrow became at LSU makes his hype a little more noticeable, specifically when you talk about a franchise so badly in need of this type of player. Mayfield wasn’t even starting as a rookie immediately and Murray was sort of viewed as more of a project, even as a rookie starter. Mahomes had his buffer year on the bench. In the regard, the polished nature of Burrow’s game, his unparalleled college accomplishments and spot as the Day 1 starter make the anticipation greater than those others you mentioned.
Whether he has the same hype all three enjoyed after their impressive first seasons at the helm will be another story. That’s where the true hype and momentum come from.
Degenerate corner
Always enjoy taking a look at MVP odds. The current crop has Burrow as the top Bengals representative, obviously as quite a long shot.
Here’s the top 10 and I’ll drop in a few of my favorite and least favorite long-odds bets
• Patrick Mahomes: +400
• Lamar Jackson: +600
• Russell Wilson: +600
• Tom Brady: +2000
• Deshaun Watson: +2000
• Drew Brees: +2200
• Dak Prescott: +2200
• Kyler Murray: +2500
• Aaron Rodgers: +2500
• Carson Wentz: +2500
Bengals
• Burrow: +15000
• Joe Mixon: +20000
Best longshot bets
• Matt Stafford +5000. Injury clouded a nice season last year and he will have weapons in Detroit. For those odds, I’d take my chances he throws the Lions to a top-two seed in the NFC.
• Michael Thomas +10000: I know, he’s a receiver, but if his numbers are like last year he’s in the conversation again. And at those odds, hey, why not?
Stay away
• Josh Allen +5000. Just not buying Allen hype. And I’m definitely not buying it at this value.
• Derrick Henry +4000. If I’m picking a non-QB (quarterbacks have won 12 of the last 13 MVP awards) it sure better be for better odds than this.
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Bengals post of the week
Tee Higgins pulled off maybe the most impressive catch of camp on Monday. He went up top for a deep ball from Ryan Finley, tipped it to himself then pulled it down while diving to the ground. Many Clemson fans pointed out on Twitter they have seen that a number of times, but it was the first time we’d seen it here. It was quite a “wow” moment for the rookie receiver fresh back from his hamstring injury.
Overly researched stat of the week
In talking with William Jackson III last week about his lack of interceptions and issues he experienced last year making plays on the ball, I started wondering about players to have this many starts over the last three years and only manage two picks or fewer.
I filtered the 2017-19 seasons by cornerbacks with at least 30 starts over the three-year span.
It turns out there were nine corners with two interceptions or fewer. Two of them were the Bengals’ starting corners of Jackson (2) and Dre Kirkpatrick (1).
Only Nevin Lawson (Detroit/Oakland) went that many starts without a single interception.
The other important note with Jackson was that not only did he only have one interception last year, he only logged three passes defensed. This came after notching 14 and 13 in his first two seasons.
Three.
That’s wild. How wild?
That is the fewest passes defensed by a cornerback with at least 13 starts since 2009.
Jackson mentioned the lack of opportunities in his defense during this conversation, but that doesn’t quite apply in a season where he was targeted 64 times, still in the top 50 among all corners (via PFF).
Taylor singled out the play of Jackson during the scrimmage, one in which he had a pass defensed on a deep ball for Auden Tate. They certainly need many more plays on passes from Jackson this year than the almost impossible lack of plays made last season.
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He’s banking on his first year in the same defensive system since arriving in the NFL as a reason he can finally take off. The Bengals need it, even more so with Trae Waynes out.
COVID contingencies
The Bengals made official they won’t be hosting fans at their season opener on Sept. 13. They were holding out hope to make this happen, but like the vast majority of the league, they will play in an empty stadium. As of today, only five teams are allowing some portion of fans in for their games: Kansas City, Miami, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Indianapolis.
Everybody else is in wait-and-see mode. The next decision will be for the Bengals’ Oct. 4 game against Jacksonville.
Around the division
Browns: Cleveland lost rookie second-round safety Grant Delpit to an Achilles injury. Tough break for a guy who was expected to be a major contributor in a questionable back end.
Steelers: The question Ed Bouchette tackles in Pittsburgh is how the Steelers will utilize All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Ravens: Earl Thomas got into a fight and then got cut, leaving a hole in the Baltimore secondary. Plus, baggage remains from a tumultuous tenure.
The Athletic wormhole
Because I know our draft nerds are freaking out over the lack of college football likely to be played this fall, at least know you have Dane Brugler’s Top 50 draft board to hold you close and let you know everything will be OK.
Also, great read from Ben Baldwin in this deep dive on home-field advantage. How nobody really has more of an advantage than others, whether you are playing in Seattle or a place as dead as Paul Brown Stadium has been the last few Decembers.
Dad life
Eating pizza and sipping a couple of delicious beers with it on a Friday night is a perfect way to end a week. Until your 3-year-old then wants to do somersaults with you. That is decidedly a tough combination to pull off.
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Wrapping it up
Whenever stress starts to pile up a little too high, I still throw this guy on and it legitimately calms me down every time. This has been the case for decades. Thank you, Jack Johnson. You’ve been on quite a bit the last few weeks.
(Photo of Bobby Hart and Joe Burrow. Joseph Maiorana / USA Today)
