The Cincinnati Bengals apparently haven't eased into a pivotal 2026 season.
Veteran center and team captain Ted Karras gave an interesting take on the Bengals’ summer preparation while discussing the team’s newly announced captains.
“We’ve been grinding,” Karras said, per Bengals.com. “This has probably been the toughest camp Coach Taylor has run in my five years here.”
Karras added that he believes Cincinnati has a roster capable of handling that workload and said the Bengals are “doing all the right things.”
It's good news for Bengals fans coming from Karras, who joined Cincinnati in 2022 and has now been named a captain in each of his five seasons with the organization.
The demanding approach from head coach Zac Taylor comes as the Bengals try
to snap a three-year playoff drought. Cincinnati has consistently had one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses during that stretch, but slow starts have helped leave the team playing catch-up.
Taylor has seemingly emphasized urgency throughout this summer. Even after Cincinnati’s preseason-opening win over the Detroit Lions, he noted late-game situations the team needed to improve and said those moments had been a major focus during camp.
Cincinnati now gets to see whether the harder workload produces the desired result when the regular season begins.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals captain calls 2026 camp toughest Zac Taylor has run in 5 years
