OTA chatter

[stripesincarolina]

100 days until week 1 folks! Countdown is on!

Really, really quiet OTAs this year. Saw some nice headlines on defense but overall this team continues to fly under the radar.

[Bengals1]

Really, really quiet OTAs this year. Saw some nice headlines on defense but overall this team continues to fly under the radar.

I think the fans are waiting on the Burrow extension. It's the elephant in the room this off-season.

Don't get me wrong, I fully expect they'll get a deal done. It's just that that's what everyone in Bengaldom is focusing on until he puts his John Hancock on a new contract. It's a much bigger factor than how well some 6th rounder runs his routes or how long he's holding his blocks, etc...

When the Burrow deal is done then people will start focusing on the other aspects of the off-season like how healthy so-and-so is or how well some rookie is looking running routes...

[stripesincarolina]

3 day minicamp starts tomorrow and then I think we see the Burrow announcement at the end of July. Mikey will use it to create the pre-pre-season buzz.

[stripesincarolina]

Looks like Jonah is officially all in. Good to see. More bodies, better competition.

"As I'm coming back from my knee, I'm working with a lot of different moves in a lot of stressful situations," Williams said. "I'm incorporating my rehab into football drills working out of the right tackle stance.

"(The biggest adjustment) is re-learning everything for the other side of your body. Opposite stance. Post leg is your kick leg and vice versa and all that. It's nothing that reps and practice won't get me used to. … The last time I played right tackle was freshman year in college. There's a lot of technique to kind of unlearn and switch to the other side. It's my job. I love it. I've got a great coach, great teammates, and I'm grinding my ass off. I'm going to crush it."

[Bengals1]

"As I'm coming back from my knee, I'm working with a lot of different moves in a lot of stressful situations," Williams said. "I'm incorporating my rehab into football drills working out of the right tackle stance.

"(The biggest adjustment) is re-learning everything for the other side of your body. Opposite stance. Post leg is your kick leg and vice versa and all that. It's nothing that reps and practice won't get me used to. … The last time I played right tackle was freshman year in college. There's a lot of technique to kind of unlearn and switch to the other side. It's my job. I love it. I've got a great coach, great teammates, and I'm grinding my ass off. I'm going to crush it."

That's quite a 180 from his previous posture. Here's hoping it's genuine and he throws himself at the RT position. Finding a reliable, solid RT is going to be one of the biggest question marks during camp.

[4256 Hits]

Jonah Williams reveals reason for trade request from Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Jonah Williams reported to the team this week for mandatory sessions and met with the media for the first time since the now-infamous trade request.

Asked about that, Williams revealed that the trade request his reps put in with the team wasn’t strictly because he would move to right tackle after Orlando Brown Jr.’s arrival.


More important to Williams and his reps was the fact he had to find out about the news on his phone and it was difficult to get ahold of the Bengals front office.

“That’s all I wanted was communication and conversation and it never happened…I’ve started 37 games,” Williams said, according to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “If it were communicated, it would be hard to hear, but I’d understand.”

Williams clarified that while he understands the front office didn’t need to reach out and inform him, it still didn’t help matters. Regardless, he plans to show up under contract and play his best for this contending team no matter what.

Near the draft, rumors circulated that the Bengals had trade talks concerning Williams, but instead opted to keep him as an option at right tackle. Barring something shocking, he’ll be in the mix there next season for the final year of his rookie contract.

[Bengals1]

More important to Williams and his reps was the fact he had to find out about the news on his phone and it was difficult to get ahold of the Bengals front office.

Sometimes you can't take the Brown out of the Bengals...

[stripesincarolina]

More important to Williams and his reps was the fact he had to find out about the news on his phone and it was difficult to get ahold of the Bengals front office.

Sometimes you can't take the Brown out of the Bengals...

I'll file this under "better, but nowhere near perfect" in regards to Katie and company. I mean really, if you want him to move to RT and want him in the building, treat the guy with a bit of respect and at least let Duke and Zac take him to dinner or something. Definitely resulted in a self-inflicted news cycle.

[Bengals1]

More important to Williams and his reps was the fact he had to find out about the news on his phone and it was difficult to get ahold of the Bengals front office.

Sometimes you can't take the Brown out of the Bengals...

I'll file this under "better, but nowhere near perfect" in regards to Katie and company. I mean really, if you want him to move to RT and want him in the building, treat the guy with a bit of respect and at least let Duke and Zac take him to dinner or something. Definitely resulted in a self-inflicted news cycle.

Exactly.

[stripesincarolina]

Looking ahead to the season and injury depth in the secondary, I was hoping not to see this:

"It sounds like the expectation for cornerback Chidobe Awuzie coming off his Halloween ACL is that he'll be able to play the Sunday after Labor Day in the Sept. 10 opener in Cleveland." (Dotcom article)

Rookies will need to be at full speed in CLE, and probably Weeks 2,3&4 if you are giving a cushion to Awuzie's return.