CINCINNATI — Back Together Saturday meant back to the future for Bengals head coach Zac Taylor.
With the calf strain to Joe Burrow knocking the quarterback out of camp for “several weeks” per Taylor, Reid Sinnett and Drew Plitt worked out for a camp vacancy.
It’s just another bit of adversity and changing on the fly that Taylor has to deal with, just like in 2020 with the pandemic, 2021 coming off an ACL and last year coming off appendicitis.
“It doesn’t hurt. Obviously, we’d rather (Burrow) be here at practice all the time and us continuing to make that progress on offense. We’ve been through this before. I don’t think anyone hesitates to move on,” Taylor said. “When he comes back, he’ll be back to help us.
“In the meantime, you make the best of the situation for those two quarterbacks that are competing. It would have been their only time to work with the ones, otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity. Those are some positive things to make of the situation. And that’s where we are at now.”
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Sinnett was the choice over the former Loveland High School and Ball State star quarterback. The decision is expected to be made official on Sunday.
Beats out Drew Plitt who had a perfect 158.3 rating in 2022 preseason opener vs. Cardinals 6/6, 78 yards and 1 TD. https://t.co/WJeRBKX5LN
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) July 29, 2023
With Burrow going down Thursday, the team needed to bring in quarterbacks to work out, and on Saturday they brought in Plitt and Reid Sinnett, both of whom have played most recently in the XFL.
The Bengals signed him as an undrafted free agent on July 27, 2022 after coming into the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2022. In the team’s preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals, Plitt completed all six of his pass attempts for 76 yards and one touchdown to register a perfect passer rating of 158.3. Plitt was waived by the Bengals on August 23.
Plitt returned this spring to work out with the team in offseason practices and tryouts. He would be a viable option as someone who has been in the QB room. He played this spring and summer with the Arlington Renegades of the XFL.
Sinnett played college ball at the University of San Diego before signing on as an undrafted free agent with Tampa Bay in April 2020. He also appeared on the rosters of the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles before eventually landing with the San Antonio Bramahs last November before suffering a broken foot.
The 26-year-old has never thrown a pass in an NFL game.
“I think there’s a good chance. We’ll work some guys out and add a guy to the mix,” Taylor said after Friday’s practice. “We’ll see what the timing is on that but it’ll be good to get another arm in there because that’s a lot of throws for these two guys.”
Taylor said Burrow sustained a calf strain and would be out for several weeks, presumably missing all three preseason games against Green Bay, Atlanta and Washington.
“It’s a calf strain, it’ll take several weeks and that’s the information we got right now,” Taylor said. “Joe always takes it in stride and he’s the same guy every day.”
Asked if there was more to the timetable, Taylor would only say, “several weeks is several weeks.”
“There’s a lot of there’s a lot of bad scenarios out there,” Taylor said. “Our theme in the quarterback room is better for something to happen the first two days of camp than in the first two days of the regular season and so that’s kind of been the motto the last couple years apparently.”
Taylor gave a strong indication that Burrow would be ready for the regular season without preseason action.
“Joe got more days this July that he’s ever had in the NFL,” Taylor said. “And so I feel really good about the progress we made during those July practices with Joe and when he’s able to get back, we’ll be able to get to work in we need.”
Taking up the slack were Jake Browning and Trevor Siemian, with Browning taking first-team reps and Siemian filling in behind Browning. Taylor said that it’s too early to say which quarterback would have an edge on formally serving as Burrow’s back-up, preferring instead to work day-by-day and eventually giving each quarterback a chance with the first-team offense several days in a row.
On Saturday, Browning and Siemian swapped roles, with Siemian working with the ones.
The star of “Back Together” Saturday practice inside Paycor was a rookie corner named DJ. No, not Turner but instead the seventh-round pick DJ Ivey out of the University of Miami. He had two interceptions and two other pass breakups in making his mark before an estimated 25,000 fans in the stadium.
Rookie DB DJ Ivey (2INT, 2 PBUs) had a great day at Bengals Back Together Saturday "So far, so good" pic.twitter.com/mtaGgEVBFV
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) July 29, 2023
The other DJ did have a terrific breakup of a Siemian pass for Andrei Iosivas on the outside.
The first day of practice without Burrow had Browning and Siemian splitting reps, with Browning completing a nice 40-yard pass down the right sideline to Ja’Marr Chase, replicating the 60-yard bomb that Burrow fired to Chase on Thursday.
DJ Turner II had a nice breakup of a Siemian pass for Andrei Iosivas. Between Turner, Ivey, Allan George, Sidney Jones IV and Cam Taylor-Britt, it appears the Bengals are in prime position not to rush Chido Awuzie back before he’s a full go, in practice or games.
“It’s been encouraging, certainly, to see him do the individual stuff,” Taylor said of Awuzie in individual drills. “I’m not putting any sort of timeline on him. We will continue to ease through this process.”
Cam Taylor-Britt is learning a lot from Ja'Marr Chase in Bengals practice "We remember plays like back of our hand" pic.twitter.com/xQF3O8HYFd
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) July 29, 2023
Turner has been making plays on the ball the first four days, something Bengals scouts saw from his tape at Michigan.
“Through three days, consistent, he’s made a lot of plays on the ball,” Taylor said. “Again, as the install increases, more things are thrown at them on offense. I’m sure there will be a learning curve there. But again, through three days I think he has been impressive. It’s one thing to do it three days, it’s another thing to do it three weeks, it’s another thing to do it three months. With all these young players it’s the consistency over time that will be critical for them.”
Turner’s 4.26 40-time stood out on its own but throw in the mechanics and footwork, and the Bengals have seen the full package of potential already.
“We had a high opinion of him. Thought he could fit us in several different ways,” Taylor said. “I think (DB coach) Chuck Burks has done a great job since he’s been here of continuing to fine tune the mechanics of how we want to play corner here. I think that has meshed really well and we have great veteran players in the room as well that are always lending support. I think we have a player who is willing to do what it take and have a lot of people around him that are willing to try to get the most out of him.”
That’s not to say the offense didn’t have its moments Saturday, like Ja’Marr Chase’s catch over Turner or Kwamie Lassiter’s over-the-shoulder grab from Jake Browning or the several catches Tee Higgins made in 11-on-11s and another TD in the red zone from tight end Tanner Hudson.
Ja'Marr Chase rips one away from DJ Turner II and hears cheers from Bengals fans. pic.twitter.com/MDvNU6bfvt
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) July 29, 2023
“Overall, just our team is in such a good place right now,” Taylor said. “And, it’s minimizing mistakes learning from previous day’s mistakes. Again, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the leadership of this team. The youth on this team. It’s very, very early in camp so I’m careful to heap that praise on them. But I’m proud of the way that they come through these first three days and we still got a long ways to go.”
Evan McPherson famously ended the 2022 Back Together Saturday with a 65-yard field goal inside Paycor. Saturday, he tried to better it with a 67-yarder from the right hash. It was about eight yards shy and caught by Mike Hilton in the end zone. McPherson was 4-for-6 Saturday, with his two misses being wide left from 50 and short from 67.
