As the Cincinnati Bengals enter another week of training camp, we had another interesting day of both practice and media sessions. The highlight of Monday’s practice and media time came from tight end C.J. Uzomah who doesn’t think the Bengals should be ruled out of Super Bowl discussions.
Uzomah asked, “Why not us?” when the topic came up of the Bengals’ chances of truly contending at the highest level. He said if players in the locker room don’t believe that the Bengals can win the Super Bowl, then they shouldn’t be in the locker room.
“Pressure makes diamonds and diamonds make rings” is another gem (pun intended) from Uzomah’s presser. He truly believes in this team and what they can accomplish and that’s great to see from a guy who has been with the team through some rough seasons.
Uzomah is coming off a year in which he appeared in just two games before getting injured and missing the rest of the season. This allowed Drew Sample to show what he could do a little more but Uzomah is still rightfully a fan favorite.
C.J. Uzomah sees big things for the Cincinnati Bengals.
While Uzomah certainly stole the show on Monday, there were plenty of other things to unpack.
- Mike Hilton said he wanted to join the Bengals because of Joe Burrow
- Hilton said Jessie Bates is the best safety in the NFL
- Uzomah said the difference with Burrow this year is his arm strength
- During practice, Bates stripped the ball from Ja’Marr Chase’s hands, which led to a forced fumble
- Auden Tate had the “play of the day”
- Jackson Carman took first-team reps at right guard
- Sam Hubbard brought the heat and nearly had a sack on Burrow that led to a near-interception
- Zac Taylor said the offense should be frustrated because the defense dominated another day
Let’s jump into these a little more.
Hilton spoke with the media and had high praise for two of his new teammates. He signed with Cincinnati because of Burrow and the fact that he’ll be their long-term starter. That played a major role in why he signed with the Bengals and this is hopefully going to be a reason why the Bengals can sign premier free agents in the future.
In practice, Tate stood out and looked like typical training camp Tate, something we hadn’t seen as much until now. He’ll be a factor in the Bengals’ offense even with the stacked trio ahead of him.
Carman also was able to take reps with the ones on Monday, which is something that fans needed to see. Glenn Adams of Stripe Hype wrote that it was concerning not seeing him taking reps with the starters, especially considering his draft spot, but Carman got a chance to show what he could do with the starters.
Another day of practice is in the books for the Bengals and we’re another day closer to the start of training camp!