The Bengals' top-of-the-league $300 million offseason fittingly ended Monday in their glittering renovated Western & Southern Club Lounge at the media luncheon that opens training camp. As the sun slammed off the Ohio River and splashed through the new space, so did the optimism.

With director of player personnel Duke Tobin expecting full participation and not "any issue," the first practice is set for Wednesday morning and features eight new players on a defensive overhaul that matched Paycor Stadium's offseason construction.

Without, as they like to say, any off-field drama. The only question was if the camp luncheon staple mock turtle soup would return.

It did.

"We have a group that is highly motivated, has a lot of skins on the wall, that understands what it takes to win," Tobin said. "There's cohesion in the locker room, there's a can-do attitude down there that is very positive to be around. We had a very productive off-season, and now it's just about coming together as a team."

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor reiterated what his locker room has said all spring about Tobin's roster rejuvenation, and on Wednesday it falls to his staff and the players.

"We've got what we need," Taylor said. "With everybody upstairs and ownership and personnel doing an unbelievable job, trying to provide us with the resources to go in. It's on the players and the coaches to go get it done.

"And there's a genuine excitement in the community. I'm in Cincinnati. I'm out and about. The people that I run into, whether I know them or don't, you can feel the genuine excitement for the season."

Tobin is particularly bullish about the defense and its new leadership that features two of free agency's most coveted players in safety Bryan Cook and edge rusher Boye Mafe, both Super Bowl champions, as well as one of the NFL's best defensive tackles snagged during a draft week trade in Dexter Lawrence II.

"We have guys who have skins on the wall with how they play, and you have to have that component if you want to lead an NFL football team," Tobin said. "You have to have the ability level demonstrated. You can't come in and lead an NFL football team without demonstrating that. And a lot of the guys we brought in have demonstrated that, and it's been a really good group to watch grow together.

"Our whole team, I think, fits well together. They all want what's best. They all believe in each other. They enjoy going to practice together. They enjoy being in the locker room together. They hang out outside of football. All those things are positive signs."

Preseason Plans

Taylor changed up some things in last year's preseason in an effort to get off to a fast start and was rewarded with a 2-0 jump. One thing is staying the same from last year: the morning practices. It remains to be seen if he'll stick with another change and play his starters early in the first two preseason games as opposed to not playing at all.

"We'll determine that as we get closer," said Taylor, acknowledging this year's team is more experienced and the defensive system is no longer new. "I think last year we were bringing a lot of younger guys that were going to play key roles for us. Now you're adding a lot of guys that have played in this league for a long time, and they know exactly when you say something what you mean by it, even if it's just a different word that you're using

"I think that experience allows them to get up to speed significantly quicker than when you're bringing in a rookie or second-year player to a new scheme. I think year two of the whole coaching staff working together on defense (makes it) night and day. You saw things really slow down after the bye week."

Hill Lookout

The closest thing to any drama is when they put veteran defensive tackle B.J. Hill on the physically unable to perform list. But it sounds like they're going cautious with the 31-year-old Hill's foot that he played on last year despite injury.

"I don't expect (it) to be the entire training camp," Taylor said. "He's doing as well as we had hoped, and we'll just continue to take it day-to-day with him."

Cornerback Dax Hill, who has played every position in the secondary as he heads into his fourth season and a contract year, has said he prefers playing on the outside. It sounds like he's staying there because his coaches do, too.

Defensive coordinator Al Golden can't wait to see what Hill looks like two years removed from an ACL injury.

"I think clearly when we made that move, we made great strides as a team, and I think a lot of that also has to do with his personal improvement over that time for Dax and the healing," Golden said. "He played with so much confidence down the stretch for us. And he brings a physical presence at corner. I would say he's one of the best tackling corners that there is.

"He brings length, experience … I see him starting at a a whole (different) level than he was a year ago, fighting through what he had to fight through a year ago.

Slants and Screens

On a roster with few battles, special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons says you'll get one at returner between incumbent Charlie Jones and last year's late pickup Ke’Shawn Williams …

Even though only one Bengal has more kick/punt return touchdowns than Jones' three. Bengals Ring of Honor member Lemar Parrish took five to the house, four of them on punts.

Jones, Tremain Mack, and Brandon Wilson are the only Bengals with two career kick return touchdowns, and last season Jones finished fourth in the NFL in kick return yardage even though he missed the last three games with an ankle injury.

That's when the Bengals plucked the rookie Williams off the waiver wire from the Steelers, but not before he impressed his future coaches with his career-long 37-yarder against the Bengals in the Oct. 16 win over the Steelers. In those last three games for the Bengals, Williams had 17 returns in the punt and kicking game, reeling off a 43-yard punt return and 31-yard kick return.

"I think Ke'Shawn did a good job in the limited opportunities he had last year," Simmons said. "Obviously, it's no big secret that Charlie has been productive when he's been on the field. We just need him to stay on the field longer. I think Ke'Shawn has earned every opportunity to put himself right in the thick of the competition."

Simmons says to keep an eye on the preseason games because he does. He admits it's hard to judge the return game in practice.

In 2016, undrafted rookie receiver Alex Erickson led the AFC in kickoff return average after he broke an 80-yard punt return touchdown in the preseason opener, and followed it up with a 30-yard punt return the next week before earning a shot to start in Jacksonville in preseason week three. He won a spot when he not only caught a touchdown pass, but he had returns of 39 yards on a punt and 31 on a kick and parlayed it into 110 NFL games over nine seasons.

"I think ultimately it will play out in the games," Simmons said …

How good was Evan McPherson last year when he missed just three field goals and none inside 50 yards? Simmons watched him kick 94 straight in practice during the season. Since they kick 12 field goals per week, that means from the opener until about Halloween he didn't miss.

Simmons, starting his 24^th Bengals season as the longest-tenured kicking coach in the league, says he's never been a part of a streak like that. He also chalked it up, in a major way, to McPherson's confidence working with rookie long-snapper William Wagner.

"Having a positive feel before the play starts is a good thing," Simmons said. "Maybe the year before there was maybe a minor bit of uncertainty if the ball is going to be where it needs to be when it needs to be there. I think we were able to settle that down and just let him go kick." …

Taylor inherits the best offensive line he's had in eight seasons here, and they kept it intact because of how well they played in the second half of the season.

"They finished the year really strong," Taylor said. "Sometimes nationally there's a really lazy narrative that our offensive line isn't very good because they look at it years ago and some issues we had, and that has not been the case for us. These guys have performed as well as any unit in the league, and I'm excited to see them continue to build off of that and take it to an even higher level."

It sounds like Cody Ford gets a shot to keep his job as the third tackle, as well as a swing guard. Also in the mix at third tackle are practice squad veterans Andrew Coker and Javon Foster …

Bengals president Mike Brown's front office and Tobin's scouts spearheaded the offseason overhaul, and although Brown chose not to speak to the media for the first time at a camp luncheon, Tobin left no doubt about his boss' impact on club policy as Brown's 91st birthday beckons Aug. 10.

"He takes a vacation at five or six o'clock every day. That's his only vacation," Tobin said. "He's got the most experience of anybody that walks in the building every day. He is involved, and he is very positive about our football team and what we've accomplished, and he was instrumental in getting a lot of things done."

Tobin underlined that this offseason's efforts were done with the same collective approach Brown has always fostered.

"We work collaboratively as a group. Ultimately, it's me," Tobin said of the roster decisions. "But I'm not making it happen without them."

Brown presented Anderson High School's Evan Dreyer with the Paul Brown Coaching Award, an annual event, and he recalled how his father once told a reporter long after he was in the Pro Football Hall of Fame that the best coaching job he ever had was at Massillon High School …