Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is altering his staff’s strategy to the preseason and that features giving his extra outstanding gamers a style of the motion early.
Taylor confirmed on Tuesday that starters like quarterback Joe Burrow will play “a number of” collection within the staff’s preseason opener towards the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday. He didn’t specify precisely how a lot enjoying time his starters would get, however indicated that they might have a heavier workload of their second preseason contest towards the Washington Commanders on August 18. He did observe {that a} handful of starters like tight finish Mike Gesicki won’t go well with up on Thursday as a consequence of damage.
This can be a important shift in preseason philosophy for the Bengals as they’re attempting to forestall yet one more sluggish regular-season begin by having their front-line guys prepared for Week 1. Lately, the workers has taken a cautionary strategy with stars like Burrow and huge receiver Ja’Marr Chase by limiting their involvement in these exhibitions. Whereas they’ve understandably tried to restrict the chance of extreme accidents in August, the choice to place these gamers on ice will be partially attributed to their sluggish play when the video games start to depend.
A 2-3 begin to the 2022 marketing campaign was adopted by a 1-3 begin in 2023. The staff as soon as once more dug itself right into a gap with a 1-4 begin final season, in the end leading to them lacking the playoffs regardless of profitable their final 5 video games. With a manageable schedule in 2025 that features the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars within the first two weeks, Taylor and workers wish to ensure that their stars are in a rhythm instantly.
If the choice to provide their starters extra reps within the preseason has the specified impact that Taylor and firm are on the lookout for, then it solely will increase the fantasy worth of their skill-position gamers. A fantasy supervisor with Burrow manning the helm at QB theoretically gained’t have to attend till Week 4 or 5 for him to begin heating up and will see large returns nearly instantly.
The identical goes for operating again Chase Brown, who’s coming off a breakout 2024 season the place he completed simply 10 yards shy of 1,000 yards. He’s presently the Twelfth-ranked operating again at Fantasy Execs heading into fantasy draft season and will very simply creep into the highest 10 with a powerful begin to the marketing campaign.
