Bengals players got their first exposure to Zac Taylor, as the team got together for spring workouts. With their arrival also came a new team slogan for 2019, but everybody is wondering what they are going to do in the NFL Draft later this month.
The Cincinnati Bengals gathered for workouts this week and it was all smiles under the new regime. Some very familiar faces from previous years were not in the building this spring, and a new staff is attempting to liven up things from a preceding regime accused of letting things go stale.
Coming with the onset of the Zac Taylor era in Cincinnati was a new team slogan: “It’s about us”. With the unveiling of the 2019 credo, there were some initial fan eye-rolls, as some other hokey sayings were a staple of the Marvin Lewis era. After all, the hardened cynics who celebrated the departure of Lewis wanted to see a one-eighty from a new coach 25 years Lewis’ junior.
We’re not so sure that Taylor needs to scrap everything Lewis was about the previous 16 seasons, though. After all, the man did lead the Bengals to seven playoff appearances and four division titles.
Yes, Taylor needs to be more offensive-minded, innovative and not so gun-shy about playing talented youngsters. And, yes, he will need to inject energy and life into this locker room after Lewis’ many failures in the biggest games.
However, Lewis did endear himself to the players over the years and these mottos became rallying cries for the ensuing seasons. He harped on the phrases often, mostly for accountability purposes, as was obvious in the team’s two stints on HBO’s “Hard Knocks”.
Look, there might have been some chuckles by the players in the unveiling of this slogan, but, like it or not, it’s part of the “buying in” process. And, as a fan, this slogan obviously isn’t for or “about” you, it’s about the guys in the building. Heck, one could even look at it as a call for the players and coaches to ignore the ancillary noise about the Bengals being a mediocre-at-best team this year.
For now, even the most tested veterans on the team seem to like Taylor’s inaugural message and other coaching practices he exuded this past week. He’ll buy even more folks over if he nails the draft in a couple of weeks—regardless of the annual motto.
All on The Orange and Black Insider this week:
- We unveil the pick for the Bengals at No. 11 overall in the SB Nation contributor network mock draft.
- Alex Redmond and Tony McRae officially signed their RFA tenders. What does that mean for them and their respective position groups?
- In talking about sleeper picks on both offense, as well as defense recently, what are some thoughts on Memphis running back, Darrell Henderson?
- Could the Bengals be exploring a scenario with D.K. Metcalf as their first round pick this year?
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