Training camp ahead of the 59th season of Cincinnati Bengals football is finally here.
The Bengals kicked off training camp July 23 on the Kettering Health Practice Fields, across the street from Paycor Stadium. The bleachers were packed and autograph-seekers were out in force, and preparation continued for a much-anticipated 2025-26 season in which the Bengals will be expected to snap a two-season playoff drought and return to the ranks of Super Bowl contenders.
Here’s what we observed and learned from the first day of 2025 training camp:
Joe Burrow: The Bengals defense won the day
In his post-practice news conference, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow didn’t seem very pleased with how Day One went from an offensive perspective. “Poorly” was how Burrow described the unit’s overall play on Wednesday.
“Usually how it goes for the first day,” Burrow said. “We just, we got a lot to clean up.”
Burrow’s frustration appeared to have been a product of a prepared and effective defense. Other players in the locker room corroborated that.
Multiple players noted the energy and preparedness on the defensive side of the ball. Receiver Andrei Iosivas playfully and reluctantly conceded that the defense probably out-performed the offense when the two units lined up head-to-head.
“Everyone’s locked in (on defense). They’re communicating a lot,” Iosivas said. “We’re motioning (and) they’re talking… They seem to be talking and trying to get on the same page.”
Iosivas indicated that no one’s going to complain if it looks like the Bengals are improving defensively. Sure, the players want to compete and one-up each other, but any success in camp is ultimately a team success. And getting Burrow, a Pro Bowler and one of the NFL’s elite at his position, slightly annoyed about the day probably means the defense did some things well.
First-year defensive coordinator Al Golden was hired in the offseason to improve a defense that many point to as a primary reason the Bengals missed the playoffs in 2024-25.
Burrow was complimentary, saying the defense was sharp.
“We’ll take it,” linebacker Logan Wilson said, “but tomorrow’s a new day.”
Noteworthy plays, players
The opening training camp session didn’t offer many fireworks or any deep balls, which is typical of the early days of camp under head coach Zac Taylor. Also, most of the fans in attendance didn’t get a chance to really lock in on the 11-on-11 and seven-on-seven play as most of that action was on the easternmost of the two practice fields. The bleachers where most of the fans are situated are on the west side of Kettering Health Practice Fields.
Some highlights: Purdue product and wide receiver Charlie Jones had an athletic catch, fighting through a couple defenders to make the grab. The seemed to produce the loudest reaction from the offensive players as they observed. During a seven-on-seven session, Cam Taylor-Britt prevented Tee Higgins from coming down with a catch. The defense let anyone within earshot know they were pleased that one (although Higgins came back with a catch on the next play). Late in the morning, Oren Burks nearly picked Burrow off. He broke up the pass but couldn’t haul the ball in.
Those moments stood out but again, it wasn’t a day of show-stopping plays. The fact that the defense seemed to have more highlights might speak to Burrow’s frustrations, though.
What was also notable was who was touching the ball, and how often. During Monday’s media luncheon, offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said Chase Brown would be a focal point on offense in 2025. Brown was certainly involved enough on Day One to support that assertion.
Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase got their touches, of course. It won’t be long before you start seeing clips of them executing explosive plays.
Semaje Perine seemed to be scampering down the sidelines all morning, too. He appeared to serve as an effective release valve for the quarterbacks, grabbing balls out in the flat and making positive plays. That was a familiar sight, and at times it almost felt like he never left Cincinnati to join the Denver Broncos (2023) and later the Kansas City Chiefs (2024).
All told, it’s way too early to draw any significant conclusions about the 2025 Bengals. The defense won Day One. If they string a couple good days together, then we’ll have a trend on our hands. Until then, let’s give it a few more days before we make sweeping conclusions.
Morning training camp gets positive reviews on Day One
The Bengals are switching up a few things during this training camp, and it’s all in the name of finding a different formula for early-season success. Bear in mind that’s been hard for this team to come by.
One of the alterations is that starters are expected to play more in the preseason games but we won’t see what that looks like until Aug. 7 at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia.
Another change is that practices are being staged in the morning as opposed to years past when it was in the afternoon, and usually in the punishing, muggy late-July and August heat.
The morning training camp session seemed to be well-received, if only for Day One. It was plenty warm under a cloudless Cincinnati sky, but the heat of the day was still hours away. The morning sessions have other benefits, Burrow explained.
“Just nutrition timing,” Burrow said. “It’s gonna be better in the weight-room… Now we can go in and get a lift and work hard in there too. When, you know, if we were lifting before practice (in the past), you don’t want to go in there and burn yourself out before you go out and work on your craft. So I think the timing of it is just going to be better overall.”
An appreciation of Bengals training camp, and the fans that attend
Modern NFL training camps look a lot different than they did just a few years ago. In most markets, long gone are the days of fans getting daily, up-close access to their favorite players. Nine-figure-earning players housed in college dorm rooms? That’s rare nowadays. The trend across the league seems to be tilting toward limited, controlled camp access for fans at team-operated facilities.
The Bengals have 11 practices open to fans (eight are open to the general public), including one under the lights at Paycor Stadium on Aug. 2. Some teams offer more in terms of training camp access, but what the Bengals do serves its fan base well.
This was the training camp scene on Wednesday: A graffitied, schreeching freight train crawled past on a nearby bridge. A few fans observed practice from the Cincinnati side of the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. Meanwhile, cars rolled by on city streets and the nearby interstate highways. The players were perfecting their craft in the midst of all and this.
The environment was blue-collar and gritty in the best ways. It was the perfect setting to mold a team that reflects the passionate, workmanlike spirit of the city, and the fans were right there in the mix.
The Bengals just seem to “get it” when it comes to training camp and involving fans and season-ticket holders. Asked what he enjoys most about training camp, Taylor didn’t need to be specifically prompted on spectators in order to mention them as one his his personal highlights.
“Just the energy. The whole fans being at practice,” Taylor said. “There comes a point when I’m ready to get the fans out of there and just focus on our stuff. You don’t need to be reminded about why we do it. We do it to win the Super Bowl. First and foremost, for ourselves because we put in a lot of work and we want to experience that. But when you get to see the fans face-to-face and see the joy a kid has when he’s at practice and he sees a player walk by, it’s an excellent reminder of all the things you’re really doing this for.
“You’re doing it for our community, you’re doing this for our fan base. You’re doing it for an organization that we believe in and we love in. The impact it has on the daily lives of everyone in this community. When the Bengals win or lose. We understand that. We believe in it and we are right there side by side with them. That’s the part of training camp.
“You feel the energy from the fan base. Because once the season goes, we isolate ourselves pretty well. You feel it on game day, but during the week we’re in the building at practice or by ourselves. So, training camp is a good time to really get face-to-face with the fans and feel their energy.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bengals NFL training camp observations: The defense won Day One
Reporting by Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
