{"id":954589,"date":"2026-07-24T23:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/954589\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T23:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:03:16","slug":"the-conversation-orlando-brown-jr-welcomes-you-to-bengals-training-camp-togetherness-is-whats-going-to-set-us-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/954589\/","title":{"rendered":"The Conversation | Orlando Brown Jr., Welcomes You To Bengals Training Camp: \u2018Togetherness Is What\u2019s Going To Set Us Apart\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

After his offseason that ranged from a tailor-made contract extension to the Taylor Swift wedding, captain and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr.<\/a>, welcomes you to Bengals training camp. It opens this weekend when rookies report and then turns to the field in Wednesday morning’s first practice.<\/p>\n

When he sat down with Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson last week at Paycor Stadium on the brink of his fourth season with the club, Brown offered a Who Dey brew of optimism stirred from a vat of team chemistry sprinkled with key offseason additions.<\/p>\n

“We weren’t as close as we are now,” Brown says. “And talent aside, to me, the togetherness is what’s going to set us apart from any other team that I’ve been on since I’ve been here.”<\/p>\n

Brown also expounds on how Joe Burrow<\/a> expanded his leadership, why he guarantees his offensive line is going to build on being the best group up front in the Zac Taylor<\/a> Era, and if he ever allows himself to envision a Super Bowl parade in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

The Conversation<\/p>\n

GH: OK, we’ll get this right out of the way. What was it like being at the Wedding of the Year between Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift earlier this month?<\/p>\n

OB: It was awesome. To be part of that with one of my good friends and old teammates, it was nice to support them. I really enjoyed it. He’s a tremendous guy. It was really special to be a part of that and celebrate with them.<\/p>\n

GH: From the news reports, it sounded like there were a ton of celebrities. What was the most amazing thing you saw?<\/p>\n

OB: That’s a good question. Seeing some of the Hollywood people there, that was like, wow. I think seeing (Bengals tight end) Mike Gesicki<\/a>, that surprised the hell out of me. That threw me off. That was my big thing.<\/p>\n

GH: You won a Super Bowl ring with Kelce in Kansas City, which is probably a big bond.<\/p>\n

OB: Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, anytime you cross that part of the fence line, it’s a different type of relationship you build with the guys, you know what I mean? It’s just a tough feat to do, and to commit to that with a group of men and go accomplish that, I think it is its own separate bond for sure.<\/p>\n

GH: So that gets me right to the next topic. Can this team do what that team did?<\/p>\n

OB: Yeah. I feel like over the past few years, I think for us, it’s been about building our locker room culture and really establishing who we are in terms of our locker room. Our identity and each guy’s role, and the importance of embracing that role, and mastering it and making the most of it. To me, we’ve got all the pieces to get the job done.<\/p>\n

I think it’s about, for one, putting the work in here, starting on the 29th when we hit the field as a team, and just continuing to build every day. Understanding the importance of resiliency, being able to lay it all on the line for one another, and real commitment to the task at hand day-to-day.<\/p>\n

GH: How is this team different from the one you first played on in 2023 right after winning the Super Bowl with Kansas City?<\/p>\n

OB: To me, just togetherness. I can’t really speak on ’21 and ’22 (Bengals), but I think just being player-led is so important, and we’ve got guys that are really committed. Especially starting with our leaders. We’ve got a lot of togetherness in here, man. A lot of guys that really genuinely love each other, spend a lot of time off the field together, both sides of the ball. I think that was an element that was missing when I got here, for whatever reason.<\/p>\n

But speaking on what we have now, it’s really special. I think the bond is what’s most important when you talk about being able to push through those close games and those dog fights.<\/p>\n

GH: Who do you think has been key in that?<\/p>\n

OB: Definitely say Number Nine (Burrow). You know he’s our engine, man. He’s been a large part of just creating that type of bond with everybody and helping put all those things together. I’ve done some things myself. Ted\u2019s (Karras)<\/a> done some things. Dexter (Lawrence II)<\/a>. Ja\u2019Marr (Chase)<\/a>. Tee (Higgins)<\/a>. And even some of these younger guys taking that initiative to make sure that happens as well.<\/p>\n

GH: Is it just off-field stuff?<\/p>\n

OB: Off the field, yeah. Nothing even in the building. I think that kind of stuff is minimal. To really be able to build that relationship, you’ve got to spend time with guys outside the building, and we’ve done that a lot this whole season.<\/p>\n

GH: It seems like Joe bent over backward to do that.<\/p>\n

OB: It’s just who he really is, and he understands what it’s going to take. He’s just maybe even taking a little bit more of an initiative to be himself even more. Let guys in even more, and let that continuity just brew.<\/p>\n

GH: He’s got a tough job as both the leader of the team and the offense, and then having a feel for the off-field stuff, too.<\/p>\n

OB: Yeah, yeah. He’s been a part of these winning teams and winning the Natty in college, and obviously all the success that he’s had. Sometimes I think when you get hurt and you have time away from the game, speaking from personal experience, and you have a chance to kind of watch it from a different perspective, your third eye matures a little bit, and you have a little bit more understanding or appreciation for the process and kind of what it takes.<\/p>\n

I think for him, not to put words in his mouth, but he loves the game. I mean, and I love the game a lot, but it’s hard to find a guy who loves the game more than Number Nine. But I think he just has a real understanding of what it takes, and he’s really made that raw commitment to it.<\/p>\n

GH: What is the most fun thing off-the-field you’ve done with Joe?<\/p>\n

OB: Gosh, I think for us, for the last day of minicamp, I threw a house party. Invited everybody, and their wives and their girlfriends. Everybody showed up. We had a blast. It was awesome. It was great because so much of that was just guys being able to hang out and not stress about a game or practice or anything like that. It was just great vibes and energy and guys talking about football and how excited they are for the season.<\/p>\n

GH: Do you think you could have done that a couple years ago with nobody showing up?<\/p>\n

OB: I imagine a lot of guys would have showed up, but to me it just speaks on our continuity and commitment to one another. Like I said, it was just great energy, and that’s so important when you talk about building a winning culture.<\/p>\n

GH: How do you think the offseason cemented that chemistry?<\/p>\n

OB: A lot because so much of it, too, is bringing in the right people, and upstairs is doing their part in bringing in the right men in here and guys with the right mindset, leadership traits, and winners. All of that is so important, and these moves that we made, even with some of these rookies. There are guys that love the game of football and also great men.<\/p>\n

GH: Any rookies you have in mind?<\/p>\n

OB: Honestly, this class has been awesome, man. But I think guys like Cashius (Howell)<\/a>, Connor Lew<\/a>, Bobo (Tacario Davis)<\/a>, those are guys that stick out to me. Landon (Robinson)<\/a>. Guys that really work hard and love the game of football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After his offseason that ranged from a tailor-made contract extension to the Taylor Swift wedding, captain and left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[17051,228,443,227,256,2296,7,1843,81,898,6,32804,6720],"class_list":["post-954589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-bengals","tag-17051","tag-bengals","tag-centerpiece","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cincinnatibengals","tag-football","tag-hobson","tag-latest-news","tag-latest-stories","tag-nfl","tag-orlando-brown","tag-the-conversation"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116977454531134157","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}