Brown is heading into his eighth season, and what hasn’t he seen? He approves as he watches the mix of players take the floor.

“Guys who have been here. New faces. Rookies. It’s important to know the people, know their reason,” Brown says. “Why they are who they are. What motivates them. What has brought them to that point. He wants everyone to kind of tell their story, and it’s pretty much been that simple and it’s been awesome.”

Taylor indicates that before he made the camp schedule switch, he spoke with some of his players, and you can bet that locker-room trustees like Brown and quarterback Joe Burrow were in on it.

Like Burrow said on Tuesday, there have been changes to try and get the season off to a better start than the last three Septembers, but it’s ultimately on the players.

Taylor is trying to help, knowing he can have them on campus for not more than 11 hours during camp. He also took the temperature of his own coaches and spoke with some of his head coaching peers before Doug Rosfeld, chief of the coaching staff, sent the sked on its way.

It basically flip-flops the day, which used to start with a walk-through and now ends with a walk-through until the regular season looms.

“Guys need to prehab and eat lunch, eat dinner,” Taylor says. “Start the day with a quick meeting and practice. Then end the afternoon with a heavy install with corrections, and then walk-through to finish off the night.

“It breaks up the monotony of what the routine has been,” he says. “I’m trying to make sure I create the right plan for us. It’s got purpose behind it so we’ll get off right for this first game.”

And, for the first time in a few years, there won’t be a joint practice leading up to a preseason game.

“We’re just going to focus on ourselves getting right for the first Cleveland game,” Taylor says of the Sept. 7 road opener at 1 p.m.

Which comes back to the men in front of the room.

“I’m not going to say it now. I want the team to hear it first before anyone else,” Carter says. “I haven’t really thought about it. Whenever that time comes, I know I’ll be ready to tell the team my story.”

He has yet to speak to Patrick after his talk. But as the Bengals make plans for a quick start, Carter plans to hunt him down.

“I definitely have to talk to him and pick his brain,” Carter says. “I want to pick all the veterans’ brains to see their perspective.”