Zac Taylor opened Cincinnati Bengals training camp on Wednesday morning and reached eight camps as head coach, a mark that puts him alongside Paul Brown and Sam Wyche and behind only Marvin Lewis. It is a clean milestone, but it lands inside a camp that is already being shaped by a different question: who sets the tone now that the roster is trying to define its next layer of leadership.
The timing matters because camp is where those roles stop being abstract. Ted Karras, the fiery center and captain, enters as the first player the Bengals added after Aaron Donald threw Joe Burrow to the turf in the last minute of Super Bowl LVI, and he has been the stabilizing force in the middle of the offensive line ever since. He remains the first piece of what many around the team view as the best offensive line of the Burrow Era, which is why his presence still carries weight even as Taylor’s latest camp begins.
That same leadership theme is now showing up on defense, where there is a shot that two newcomers will be elected captains on Sept. 7: Dexter Lawrence II and Bryan Cook. Lawrence, in his first year in a Bengals jersey, spent the offseason at voluntary practices and meetings and also spent time off the field with offensive players like Joe Burrow. Al Golden said Lawrence has worked his tail off, is in great condition and is ready to go, adding that he leads by example, brings energy and is a positive person. Those are not the words teams usually use for a player they are merely introducing. They are the words coaches use when they expect someone to matter immediately.
Cook brings a different kind of proof. He played for Kansas City before joining the Bengals, carries combat ribbons from two winning Super Bowls and helped Steve Spagnuolo implement his Xs and Os. Duke Tobin said the Bengals were looking for leaders on that side of the ball after last season and that the players brought in have earned respect from current players, shown leadership characteristics and are willing to help others. He said they are willing to bring others along, and that the camaraderie this offseason has been really good.
That is the friction in this camp: the Bengals are already talking about new defensive leadership even though the vote that could put Lawrence and Cook into captain roles does not come until Sept. 7. The team is asking those players to project authority now, before the title is official, which is often how a locker room decides who really has it.
For Taylor, the number is simple and durable. Eight camps is enough to tie Paul Brown and Sam Wyche and keep him well short of Marvin Lewis, whose 16 remain the standard. For the Bengals, the more revealing number may be the date still ahead of them. If Sept. 7 brings the change they are signaling, this camp will not just be another start for Taylor. It will be the one in which the team began handing out its next set of voices.
