Slants and Screens

Zac Taylor said after Monday’s practice he’s encouraged how wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase (knee) and Tee Higgins (heel) looked, as well as edge Shemar Stewart (knee) in the session …
Stewart looked robust after missing all of camp with a hyperextended knee, and Chase and Higgins suffered nicks in the last ten days or so that weren’t supposed to keep them out of the opener.

“All three look good today, so we’ll wait to release injury reports on Wednesday,” Taylor said. “But I was encouraged by the progress all three of those guys have made.” …

Golden on Stewart: “He needed the offseason and he needed training camp and he didn’t get that. So it’s nothing we can do about that. The physical aspect, you saw him out there today, he looked good. We will monitor him (Tuesday) and see if there are any setbacks and if he continues to be able to hold the workload, then we will continue to progress him. We can’t do anything about lost time.” …

The week after last season ended, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin talked about developing a wave of defensive linemen during a game. He said the same thing the next month at the NFL scouting combine after his friend John Schneider, the general manager of the Seahawks, used a suffocating D-Line rotation to win the Super Bowl.

Now, the Bengals have a wave of D-line coaches to go with 11 players on the D-Line, although nine or 10 will probably be up for a game. But they’re all going to play, and Golden said he has added senior defensive assistant Sean Desai into the room of defensive line coach and run game coordinator Jerry Montgomery and assistant D-line coach Mike Moon.

“We had so (many) assets in that room. It is the largest in number, by far, on the defensive side,” Golden said. “We wanted to put a premium on that in terms of eyeballs and coaches.

“Those guys have done a great job. The players themselves are the ones demanding playing time. They’re playing well, they’re playing at a high level. We’re going to rotate a bunch of guys in there and make sure we’re fresh down the stretch.” …

The addition of versatile guys on the edge like Schneider’s own Boye Mafe, as well as second-round pick Cashius Howell, and the development of Cedric Johnson (just turned 24 on Sunday as he begins his third season) has Golden dropping them off the edge just enough to take the heat off Knight.

“I think obviously we have a lot more outside backer types for sure now,” Golden said. “I can’t underscore how important that is because (Howell has) come through for us in terms of his intellect, his work ethic, his ability to process, and his learning curve. So he’s done a really good job. I think Ced Johnson continues to improve. I’m really excited about Ced.

“We have a bunch of different guys that have really come through for us there as edge setters, and (it) keeps (Knight) off the ball and allows him to run and hit, and just makes us a better defense.” …