Team news: Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals fans may not see center Trey Hopkins or Joe Burrow dress for a preseason game. And that’s OK.

What Hopkins and Burrow have shown Zac Taylor in practice has been enough. The third-year head coach is confident he’ll have both in the starting lineup on Sept. 12 when the Bengals host the Minnesota Vikings, regardless of if they take a preseason snap or not.

The story said Burrow could see preseason action this week but that's yet to be determined. Taylor said the team will take a couple of more days to decide but they seem just fine giving Burrow more rest leading up to Sept. 12. Burrow tore his ACL and MCL back in Week 11 of the 2020 season.

Bengals QB Joe Burrow told reporters Wednesday that comfort in the pocket was part of completing his preseason recovery from ACL and MCL surgeries, according to Ben Baby of ESPN. "We're good to go now," Burrow said.

Multiple Bengals reporters had noted Burrow's timidness in the pocket earlier in camp. Reps help with chemistry so it appears Burrow is comfortable with his linemen to the point he can run the Bengals offense.

I thought it was Joe Burrow’s best day yet. Confident, scrambling at times, and making good intermediate throws for 1st downs. By my count, 10-for-15 in full team drills including a drive that ended with a short Joe Mixon TD run.

I also thought it was Ja’Marr Chase’s best practice so far with a TD in 7-on-7s.

It's good to see from the Bengals, as we've seen several reports this summer about their offense struggling. We also had a report about Chase on Monday that painted a picture of him struggling with separation and drops. So it's perhaps a turning point for the Bengals today.

A thought existed that Ja'Marr Chase could walk on to the Paul Brown Stadium practice fields and dominate from the first snap. His skill set is that unique. You see flashes of that early, but you also see somebody tentatively getting used to a new offense, new league and not playing football since January 2020. He has endured a string of drops, on short and long passes, with another coming Sunday. He has not shown as much separation as you’d hope, and the contested balls haven’t gone his way much, either.

Chase is ranked 20th among our WRs right off the bat. But as the story said, this isn't to say he won’t start picking that up with more reps over the next month, and the story isn't trying to sound an alarm. The good news is, Chase is working after practice every day and, by all accounts, taking it seriously, and his skills and history are too impressive to think he won’t find a groove once he starts playing off instincts instead of constantly having to think about what he’s doing every play, the story said. It went on to say, most of this is all part of being a rookie receiver and improving as you go. But after 10 practices, Chase is clearly still fighting the rookie learning curve.

Bengals QB Joe Burrow has been struggling to connect with receivers so far in camp, according to Jay Morrison and Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. "Throws that felt like layups last year are dropping harmlessly away from receivers or easily broken up by multiple defenders. There might be a multitude of reasons for the struggles, but this has been ugly.

Burrow also appeared to lift his left leg - the one that he had ACL and MCL surgery on - to keep it from getting hit during one play.

Morrison and Dehner speculate that Burrow may be thinking about getting hit, which is natural coming off major surgery but also a concern that could plague the second-year quarterback as he tries to get ready for the season.

Offensive continuity is more likely to improve as camp progresses, but Burrow's potential concerns with his left leg is a must-watch in the coming weeks.

Bengals WR Tyler Boyd is expected to play Sunday, according to Bengals head coach Zac Taylor.

Boyd looks to end the season on a high note. Brandon Allen looks to have his receiver trio available for the season finale.

As expected, Bengals RB Joe Mixon will not play this week.

Mixon hasn't played since Week 6 against Indy, dealing with a foot injury. While he didn't light up the fantasy scoreboard most weeks, he did average 19 carries a game. He averaged 71 rushing yards a game but most of that came from a 151-yard performance against the Jags. His second highest rushing total was 69 yards in Week 1. He averaged 3.5 catches a game as well, which came with QB Joe Burrow under center. It will be tough to trust Mixon in 2021 but with Burrow back and the volume Mixon got this season, he'll likely be a highly-desired fantasy pick once again next summer.

Bengals QB practiced in full again Friday and will be available if needed against the Houston Texans, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.

It is great to see Allen did not suffer a serous knee injury when he went down two weeks ago. Ryan Finley played well against a stout defense Week 15, and gets an easier matchup against the Texans Week 16.