PALM BEACH, Fla. _ Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, his backup wristwatch stuck on 10 o'clock, showed up for the crack-of-dawn AFC coaches media breakfast Monday 10 minutes early with a sped-up plan for the offseason.

During the first full day of the NFL's annual meetings, Taylor revealed tweaks designed to get the Bengals out of the gate faster this September.

He said he plans to play more of his regulars in the preseason games, as well as ramp up the spring with more team bonding and playbook work.

Taylor addressed the expanded preseason play time when he spoke of his belief in new defensive coordinator Al Golden and his units' ability to ball hawk at Notre Dame the past three seasons and while he was the Bengals linebackers coach from 2020-21.

"I know Al Golden has a tremendous plan having been with us, having been to college, Notre Dame was an outstanding tackling team," Taylor said. "There's a lot of things that I'm excited to watch and I'll do to make sure that we can continue to enhance that with our guys. We don't do a lot of (tackling) to the ground in training camp. That's what the preseason games are for. I see our guys playing more in the preseason this year than we have in the past."

That also means the offense, where the starters played only the preseason opener and quarterback Joe Burrow took 13 snaps. Taylor says he's hoping the added time translates to the opening weeks of the season, where they haven't won in the first two games since 2021.

He's also looking to implement a training camp intensity to the Xs and Os of the spring.

"It's more football. It's the playbook and the football IQ and the situational stuff," Taylor said. "Letting guys be involved in that and as coaches we're going to do that all season. We're going to get up in front of the room and explain it and there'll be sometimes maybe the players can get up there and join in the fun and explain it a little bit … It'll build the football IQ and the situational awareness and also get to know your teammates a little bit better. "

Taylor underscored the chemistry after last spring's locker room re-modeling put the players in different spaces instead of one big area.

"I'm excited to have everybody in the same locker room, everyone gets a chance to really know these free agents and rookies and build that bond," Taylor said. "I don't think we've had bad team cohesiveness, but I just want more of it.

"So that when we come out of the offseason program, Joe Burrow can tell you about the new rookies such and such. The rookie can tell you a lot about Orlando Brown and the journey he's been on. I think I want to go into training camp where these guys really know and understand."

But Taylor remains adamant he's not going to beat up his guys up in the spring with excessive ones vs. ones team drills.

"We do the walkthroughs good on good, but the full speed, it's just so limited to what you can do," Taylor said. "What I found is our guys come out of it feeling beat up when … you've got no protection on your shoulders and so now you're trying to get your body back for the month of July to get ready for training camp when you spent the whole offseason getting yourself in the best shape of your life and then you're kind of hitting the reset button a little bit in year one and year two the way we did it.

"I really felt great about how we've come out of the offseason in terms of the preparation. We've just got to do a great job in training camp, getting ourselves ready for the first game of season."

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STAYING POWER

Taylor took in his seventh AFC coaches media breakfast Monday and don't look now, but he's the fifth most-tenured coach in the league.

That was as quick as the eggs and bacon.

He's behind only the two AFC North T-Rexes (Steelers' Mike Tomlin in his 19^th season and the Ravens' John Harbaugh in his 18th), the Chiefs' Andy Reid (this era's Weeb Ewbank in his 13^th season in Kansas City after 14 in Philly) and the 2017 class of the Rams' Sean McVay, the 49ers' Kyle Shanahan and the Bills' Sean McDermott.

Taylor's tucked in there with his 2019 classmate and X and O buddy Matt LaFleur of the Packers. Lurking behind them as a 2020 hire is another AFC graybeard in Cleveland's Kevin Stefanski.

As Stefanski sat down to tape an interview with Sirus NFL Radio's Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan, he was shaking his head at how he's the junior coach in his division six years in. A dead ringer for Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher ("I've heard that"), Stefanski said his understanding is that hasn't happened since the league went to the current division format in 2002.

"Just me and LaFleur from that '19 group," said Taylor of his fellow McVay disciple who were together in L.A. "That's the way the NFL is."

(If you can name the other five members of the 2019 class, you get the cheese omelet. Freddie Kitchens in Cleveland, Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay, Klif Kingsbury in Arizona, Adam Gase with the Jets, Vic Fangio in Denver and Brian Flores in Miami.)

"It's cool to see old faces, new faces. You never take it for granted," Taylor said. "Just look at our division and the tremendous continuity. It speaks volumes of how difficult it is and how much work needs to be done."

It's a lot easier when you just signed up two of the top receivers in the league for the next four years. It's been two weeks since the Bengals locked up Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and Taylor is still basking in the glow as the national media descended.

"Not everybody has the talent we have at receiver. I think anybody in the league would be happy to have one of the receivers we have," Taylor said. "We have two of them. We don't take that for granted."

TREY UPDATE

There's been radio silence since last month's reports saying the Bengals gave permission for NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson to seek a trade. It sounds like the Bengals would like to work something out as Taylor extolled his strengths.

"Very consistent. Not just two years, four years for us and I think he's one of the premier pass rushers in this league," Taylor said. "Teams have to devote a lot of attention to him as they start their game plan each week. He's been a guy who works his tail off day in and day out 365 days a year, which I can respect and appreciate.

"We'll just continue to work through the process with Trey."

ON GUARD

After signing vet guard Lucas Patrick last week, Taylor says they'll hold off on signing any more until after the draft, where they're expected to take at least one.

They cut right guard Alex Cappa last month, and left guard Cordell Volson is in a competition to keep the job he lost at the end of last season.

"I think we've got competition there," Taylor said. "We will get to the draft and then evaluate where we're at from there."

Partrick, 32, heads into his 10^th season starting 58 games at both guards and center in the 2020s. He's played all but 11 of his 107 games in the NFC North, one of the divisions the Bengals play this season.

"He's a guy that we studied intently before the process ever started. Really felt good about how he fits in with us and so he's a guy that we're excited to bring in there and compete for the job," Taylor said. "I liked what I saw from the film and he played against a lot of guys that we have to face. A lot of those defensive lines. Familiarity with some of the schemes that we utilize because he's kind of been in that same ballpark of terminology and I just love his approach.

"Undrafted free agent from Duke. Had to earn everything … Reminds me of the type of guys that we want to bring into that room to help enhance the culture there and will fight tooth and nail to get the job done with whatever scheme we're calling."

ELEMENTS OF STYLE

Taylor and Pitcher are looking for ways to take pressure off the offensive line. Taylor, the play-caller who has a great feel for a game's ebbs and flows, wants to avoid those close fourth quarters after a season they lost seven one-score games.

"Our overall team play style has got to be better," Taylor said. "We put ourselves in position earlier in the game to be able to call the game where we need to do it. That's getting stops early in the game on defense where the offense can go put points on the board and play with the lead and have some control and that allows us to take the pressure off the defense. That allows us to run the ball more and call different play actions. Just too often we were in the second half, every possession was do or die."

When the Bengals are rolling, they're scoring early and often, and defensive fronts aren't able to rush all out on Burrow.

"I'm always looking to continue to improve and to be able to help everybody on the offense and take pressure off the offensive line. We do put a lot of pressure on those guys," Taylor said. "When you've got a quarterback that's as accurate and sees it as well as we do and the receivers we have, then oftentimes a great way to do it is get as many eligible (receivers) as you can and when you're doing that, there's only so many protections you can call. But we certainly do recognize that you've got to take the pressure off the linemen and there are some things that we can continue to do more of that we'll be able to help that."

SLANTS AND SCREENS

With Samaje Perine back in the fold via free agency and teamed up with 1,350-yard touch man Chase Brown, Taylor loves the backfield. They're looking at the draft, too, but that's for pure development.

"You've got a really good one-two punch," Taylor said. "They can both carry the ball. They can both protect, they can both catch the ball in the backfield. They both have a great relationship with Joe and what he expects and needs. And so you've got those two guys right there to start that room with and then we'll just see where it goes from there." ….

It sounds like Dax Hill has first dibs on the slot corner, the spot he was playing last year when he tore his ACL:

"I feel comfortable with Dax to be able to do a lot of different things for us." …

Taylor had no update on the situation with linebacker Germaine Pratt, the longest-tenured Bengal on defense. He reportedly requested a trade last month …