Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow approached the podium following Day 1 of training camp in a particularly good mood.
Burrow, 29, just completed the first practice of his seventh camp with the Bengals.
All of the Bengals’ starters – minus B.J. Hill who is currently injured – participated in practice. This is different than years past when some of Cincinnati's star players didn’t report for training camp or came but sat on the sidelines and watched.
Trey Hendrickson didn’t report for camp in 2025. Ja’Marr Chase reported for training camp in 2024 but didn’t participate in practice because he didn’t have a new deal yet. And in 2023, it was Burrow who was the one on the other end of the negotiating table with the Bengals ahead of the season.
The last few seasons have been littered with contract distractions for the Bengals, and for the first time in a while, Burrow gets to see what his team will look like from Day 1.
And that excites Burrow.
“We know that we have all the pieces that we need,” he said on July 29.
Burrow says his foot “feels great” and will continue to protect it with custom equipment for the rest of his career out of precaution.
He wants his workload to resemble what Bengals head coach Zac Taylor designed for him ahead of the 2025 season. He played in two of Cincinnati’s preseason games last August. Taylor and Burrow have yet to share which games the starters will play in this year.
Burrow’s game snaps could be different this year due to the Bengals hosting a joint practice with the Chicago Bears on Aug. 22.
“The more times you can have game-speed reps, the more acclimated you'll be come Week 1,” Burrow said. “So, I'm always pushing for it and willing to do it. We'll see what we decide. I thought last year was good.”
The Bengals’ first padded practice will be on Aug. 3 after the first day off on Aug. 1. Taylor breaks training camp up into blocks, with the first being the longest. Cincinnati will practice four straight days before a break, and when the players return next week practice will get ramped up.
Burrow said the first week of training camp is important for getting back to the basics. He wanted to see clean execution during practice and was pleased with the fact that Cincinnati’s starting offense didn’t have any false starts.
“You’re back to Day 1 install stuff, so there shouldn't be a ton of mistakes," Burrow said. "There'll always be a couple of procedural errors here and there. But we didn't have any false starts today. We also had a couple motion errors, one by me, and a couple others by receivers. So, we’ve got to clean that up. But overall, a productive day.”
Burrow’s main focus will be finding a balance between pushing himself to get ready for the season and not putting himself in harm’s way. As Taylor said on July 27, the Bengals need Burrow at his best to get to where they want to go this season.
And a big part of that will be his health for the next six months.
“We just have to make sure that we're pushing each other each every day to grow, and improve, and get better and get to where we want to get to,” Burrow said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Joe Burrow: Bengals ‘have all the pieces that we need’ to contend
