Bengals 2022 Training Camp: 5 takeaways from Day 5

The fifth day of Cincinnati Bengals training camp is in the books! What takeaways were there to be had from the team’s fifth practice? 

The Cincinnati Bengals had Sunday off but returned to practice on Monday for their fifth of the summer. The most exciting part was that Joe Burrow was present for the practice but obviously not practicing after he had his appendix removed last week.

Let’s start with Joey Franchise for our first takeaway.

Burrow present at practice

It was surprising when it was announced that Burrow was having his appendix taken out and wouldn’t be at training camp. His return time was unknown after the surgery, all that we knew was that the surgery went well and he was recovering.

Well, on Monday, Joey Brrr showed up to practice armed with a cart and watched the action from the sidelines.

It was good to see Burrow at practice and hopefully, he’ll be able to participate soon. It’s not really a necessity to have him out there but it’d definitely ease the mind of some fans if he were out there throwing to his receivers instead of Brandon Allen. It’d make the defense work harder too!

Perine “leg up” over Evans

Bengals fans want to see Chris Evans get an opportunity more than maybe anyone else on the team. The second-year running back out of Michigan entered this offseason as the potential backup behind Joe Mixon but head coach Zac Taylor continues to stick with his guy Samaje Perine.

Taylor, when speaking to the media on Monday afternoon, noted that Perine still has a “leg up” in the third-down role over Evans.

Taylor proved last year that he’s a huge Perine fan by consistently leaning on him in big moments. Fans have been hoping that Evans can pass him for the RB2 job this year but it’s clear that he’s going to have to step it up and really wow in the preseason in order to leapfrog Perine on the depth chart.

Collins update

La’el Collins was one of the biggest names the Bengals acquired this offseason but unfortunately, he’s been dealing with a back injury so we haven’t gotten to see him practice yet. Taylor spoke about Collins during his press conference on Monday and noted that the right tackle is currently “day-to-day”.

Flowers not practicing

Only one new name was added to the injury report on Monday and that was defensive back Trey Flowers. Cincinnati added Flowers midway through the 2021 regular season after Seattle waived him and he ended up being a great addition to the team.

Flowers was really good against tight ends down the stretch and caught the attention of fans for his work on Travis Kelce in both of the Bengals’ games against the Chiefs. Hopefully, Flowers is good to go and this isn’t anything serious.

Carman out, Volson in

Jackson Carman is the favorite to win the left guard and Zac Taylor has said as much early on in training camp. After the second-year offensive guard was nicked up during Monday’s practice, however, rookie fourth-pick Cordell Volson stepped in and got to take reps with the starters.

The starting unit will likely consist of Jonah Williams, Carman, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa, and La’el Collins but the unit has been dealing with some injuries. Now Carman could be added to that list but hopefully, it’s nothing serious.

Another day of practice is in the books for the Cincinnati Bengals!