Heading into his fifth season as Bengals offensive line coach, Frank Pollack says this is his best group as he preps for Sunday’s opener (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12) against the Patriots at Paycor Stadium.
“On paper,” he said. “We have to go out and prove it.”
He cites the addition of right tackle Trent Brown in free agency and the first and last draft picks of this spring, first-round right tackle Amarius Mims and seventh-round backup center Matt Lee.
“Our depth got better. The room improved from the bottom up,” Pollack said this week. “We brought in TB, a high-level veteran. We drafted two really good young rookies. We got better from the top down and the bottom up.”
“It doesn’t mean crap if we don’t go out there and do it at a high level and we’ve got guys that understand that in the room,” Pollack said. “All that matters is where we are at the end of the year.”
TEED UP: On a day wide receiver Tee Higgins talked about playing every game for the first time since his rookie year in 2020, he surfaced on the injury report as limited with a hamstring issue. That’s the injury that contributed to him missing four games and much of a fifth last season, but he was all smiles after Thursday’s practice and held court for several minutes with various waves of media.
“I feel amazing,” said Higgins, who had a terrific preseason and looks poised for a monster year on his $23 million franchise tag.
If you want to know why Higgins signed the tag so he could get into training camp on time, just listen to what he said Thursday about why he came back into last season’s loss in Kansas City after he re-aggravated his hamstring injury on the first drive of a game they needed to stay alive in Week 17.
“I want to get to the Super Bowl. Who doesn’t want to play football?” Higgins asked. “I sat for those two quarters, and it was eating me alive.”
Higgins spent the offseason working on his body and diet. He spent some time in Florida and back home in Tennessee concentrating on staying healthy for all 17 games.
“I definitely want to do that, 1,000%. I feel this is the year,” Higgins said. “I did different types of stretch routines that I learned this offseason. Certain foods I’m trying not to eat. Not much to it. I just bounced around different places and picked up new things I can integrate into my routine before and after practice and before and after games.”
He still likes his chips and the fast food is now occasional and not as frequent.
Both he and his running mate, Ja’Marr Chase, were listed as limited Thursday as Chase rounds his way into shape after getting back into practice this week amid the negotiations for his contract extension.
