We knew there would be a punting competition.
Now when Bengals training camp opened Wednesday, we also found out how head coach Zac Taylor is going to handle finding the successor to Tyler Boyd, one of the NFL's most reliable slot receivers, from a crop of receivers quarterback Joe Burrow calls the deepest he's had here.
Wide receiver Andrei Iosivas, coming off a 15-catch rookie season, went into the slot for the first time in a practice or game in his NFL career and stayed there for every snap he took Wednesday.
"I think they're throwing us everywhere," Iosivas said. "I love it. Every receiver wants to play every position. Everyone has their strength, but everyone's dream is to have a strength everywhere."
The who's who ranges from the receiver room's most veteran player, Trenton Irwin, to third-round pick Jermaine Burton. Joining Iosivas in the mix is fellow sophomore receiver Charlie Jones, as well as tight ends Mike Gesicki and Tanner Hudson.
"I feel really good about all of our options whether it's Andrei, Chuck, Jermaine, Trenton, I feel like those guys have had a great spring and they all looked good today," Burrow said. "I feel really good about our tight end room as well. I feel like this is the deepest and most talented group that we've had since I've been here from top to bottom in a lot of different spots so I think a lot of those guys are going to have to fill that role and step up."
The 6-3, 205-pound Iosivas isn't built all that differently than the 6-2, 205-pound Boyd and he's been watching plenty of Boyd's in-his-prime video of 2021 and 2022. He has a philosophy that should play pretty well in there after another stretch of working out with running back Chase Brown in Atlanta.
"If you can break well, if you can shift your hips well, you can move anybody at any time and stop at any angle, you should be able to run any route," Iosivas said. "We do a lot of one-on-ones with the (defensive backs) and there are some slot routes in there, too. If you can move your hips and drop your weight, you should be uncoverable."
HAIRY SITUATION: Bengals defensive tackle B.J. Hill, fingered by Burrow as the man who dared him to bleach and buzz his hair, has issued a statement of plausible deniability in what looks to be some developing fun between the two.
"You can't believe everything Joe says," Hill said.
Here is what Burrow told the press:
"B.J. said that if I buzzed and bleached it, he would do it, too. So now everybody has to hold him accountable because he has to do it in the next week … I think we need the fans and the media to hold him accountable if he doesn't do it. So I'm counting on you guys."
But Hill shed the media.
"You don't have proof I said it. Who heard me say that?" Hill asked a scribe. "Where did he get that from? Why would he put my name in this? I'm innocent."
If it sounds like Hill protests too much, he was also asked if he'd do it.
"We shall see," he said mysteriously. "(Burrow looks) a little different. A little different. You have to get used to it, I guess."
But asked if he was surprised Burrow did it, Hill had no questions.
"Of course not," Hill said. "It's Joe."
But it's got Iosivas thinking about doing something with his hair.
"I didn't know who he was. 'Holy smokes.' Even in the huddle the first day in walk-through," Iosivas said. "Who the heck is that guy? Good look for sure. Brings you back to my varsity days. Maybe it will start a trend. Maybe I'll dye my hair a little bit."
Iosivas said Burrow had more fire than in the spring and said the haircut matched.
"He kind of had that killer look in his eyes after he dyed his hair. Slim Shady killer," Iosivas said, apparently in reference to a song written by the once-bleached rapper Eminem.
Wide receiver Tee Higgins also invoked the rapper while displaying some solid Ohio high school sports knowledge:
"Slim Shady. I ain't going to lie. I walked out of the building one day, he parked, he got out, I didn't really realize it. I did a double take. I said, 'Bro.' He couldn't do anything but start laughing. But it fits him, though. It doesn't look bad. It fits him. He came back to them Athens days."
ROLL CALL: Three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and right tackle Trent Brown, who went on the non-football injury list, didn't practice. Neither did cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt, recovering from getting his tonsils out.
Chase, a candidate for an extension, didn't work from scrimmage in the spring and Taylor indicated he's easing him into camp. Higgins is in the same boat and may not go Thursday after working Wednesday. Burrow, coming off wrist surgery, is also going to be managed.
"You'll see Ja'Marr limited today not doing much, Tee tomorrow not doing much. We've got a plan for Burrow," Taylor said. "A guy coming off an injury who is great, healthy, but I'm trying to be proactive early in camp. Those guys will each have their time where they're minimized and other guys get the opportunity."
Taylor is also looking to play it smart with Brown, a 10-year vet. At 31, he's a month younger than the team's oldest player, 31-year-old center Ted Karras.
"He had some tightness and so just trying to be smart, especially with some of these veteran guys," Taylor said. "Give him a chance to be with the trainer. Who knows how many days? It could be a couple of days and then see where he's at."
Third-year safety Tycen Anderson, who was having a Pro Bowl year on special teams last season before he tore his ACL, worked in limited fashion.
"We're going to stick with a plan that makes sure I can be ready week one," Anderson said.
Sixth-round pick Tanner McLachlan, a tight end from Arizona who missed the spring with a soft tissue injury, practiced.
BIG WILLIE: Because of personal issues, Trent Brown didn't work much in the spring and that gave first-round pick Amarius Mims enough time with the first group that has everyone impressed.
So is the Bengals greatest right tackle ever, Ring of Honor member and Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist Willie Anderson. Anderson, who has been stranded here via Delta since attending Saturday's Jungle Jam, took up residence on the sidelines Wednesday.
Early in practice, Bengals president Mike Brown spotted Anderson and drove his golf cart up to him to shake his hand while saying, "Let me ask you Willie, what do you think of Mims?"
"Feet," Anderson said.
"That's right," Brown said. "Feet."
"Basketball feet," Anderson said.
But they both agreed the test has yet to come.
"Great feet," said Anderson, moving his hands. "Can he block guys who move like this?"
But count No. 71 in the Ring as a fan of the current No. 71.
PLAYER OF THE DAY: CB DJ Turner
Turner is one of those sophomores Zac Taylor is looking to take the big leap, and he responded Wednesday with Taylor-Britt out. He had a busy practice punctuated by a two-snap series he broke on Higgins' in-cut and got a hand on Burrow's throw coming from behind. Then on the next snap, Turner nearly got both hands on Burrow's deep fade to Trenton Irwin down the sideline.
Turner, a second-rounder, has no problem competing with converted safety Dax Hill for the cornerback spot opposite Taylor-Britt.
"That's the league. It doesn't impact me, doesn't impact him. We need everybody," said Turner, who admitted he feels like it's night and day between last year's first practice and what transpired Wednesday.
"A big thing in your second year is you have time to get away, take a deep breath," Turner said. "Last year there was no time with the pre-draft process, the combine, then the spring camps, then training camp, then the season."
Turner knows the deal. The biggest jump in an NFL career is supposed to come in year two.
"I think Myles (Murphy) is a guy I'm really excited to watch work," said Taylor of the pass rusher who was their first-round pick last year.
"DJ Turner, Andrei Iosivas, Charlie Jones. Many more guys in that mix. Really excited to watch those guys go out here in training camp, second year now. We obviously have high expectations for those guys."
PLAY OF THE DAY: S Daijahn Anthony
Anthony, a seventh-rounder out of Mississippi, came up with a pick-six off a deflected Jake Browning pass. But then, he had an impressive spring, where he showed he might be able to help safeties coach Jordan Kovacs as well as cornerbacks coach Charles Burks in the slot.
Kovacs thought Anthony showed off his instincts on the pick:
"He was playing in the post. He wasn't just in the middle of the field skating. He's feeling the quarterback, feeling the routes around him and he just made a play on the ball."
QUOTE OF THE DAY I
41-year-old Zac Taylor on Burrow's haircut and if he ever did something crazy with his hair when he was younger:
"I've had the same haircut for 41 years. If Joe likes it, I feel good about it."
QUOTE OF THE DAY II
Vet WR Tee Higgins on rookie WR Jermaine Burton:
Guys don't realize he's a problem. I see it. Not a lot of guys do right now, but I see it. I know what he's going to be and I look forward to it."
