Breaking News: Bengals expect secondary student experience will help young students come together
Cincinnati: Cam Taylor Britt felt like he was playing well before his first full season as a starting cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals got disrupted by a stint on injured reserve. But he wasn’t satisfied with personal growth.
After Cincinnati’s season finale on Jan. 7 against the Browns, the 2022 second-round draft pick was already planning to get the other defensive backs together this offseason to start working on building their chemistry and improving as a group.
Bengals coaches and veteran defenders have expressed their belief that the young secondary will be better in 2024 naturally, thanks to a year of learning from struggles, but Taylor-Britt is taking it upon himself as an emerging leader to make sure the defensive backs make a big jump from this past season. He’s working to arrange a trip for them to meet up and work out together this offseason to get started early.
Once we get on the same page, that’s the biggest thing, Taylor-Britt said. I need to see what Jordan Battle sees or what Dax (Hill) sees on the back end so we are all on the same page, along with DJ (Turner). Just young guys, bringing us all together so we can be one.
Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has generally avoided starting rookies in the past, but with the departure of Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell last offseason and Chidobe Awuzie not being fully back to his pre-ACL tear level, he didn’t have that luxury.
The Bengals leaned on two rookies in safety Jordan Battle and cornerback DJ Turner, playing alongside first-year starting safety Dax Hill and Taylor-Britt, who stepped in as starters mid-2022.
The youth led to a lot of mistakes, as the staff anticipated might happen, but the communication issues never improved, and the defense as a whole suffered from them. Bengals coach Zac Taylor believes fixing communication is the biggest key to better performances in 2024.
I think it’s just continuing to make the most out of our communication process, and again, there’s youth in the secondary, those guys, and so it’s good for them to take some initiative, and we’re expecting that group to continue to grow and improve, Taylor said. And the experience they gained this year is invaluable, and that’s part of playing in this league: sometimes you’re going to take your lumps a little bit, and you’re going to learn from that and grow.
Veteran nickel cornerback Mike Hilton said after losing Bates and Bell, you could just tell there was something missing all season. Perhaps the team took for granted the value of the chemistry and experience brought by the two veteran safeties.
Cincinnati had signed Nick Scott as a free agent, hoping he could help bridge the gap with Hill playing alongside him, but by the middle of the season, Battle had replaced him. Anarumo and Hilton both said they believe the two young safeties are still capable starters.
It’s been a learning curve for them, and we expect those guys having a year together will be good, so next year we really expect them to take a jump and play a lot better, Hilton said.
Hilton explained that rookies and first-year starters tend to overthink things too much. As players get more comfortable with what they are doing, they are able to read and react quicker, but that half second they take to think, that’s all the offense needs to make a big play.
There’s also a tendency for young players to just want to do what their coaches have told them when more experienced players have learned to take that knowledge and apply it as instincts take over more. That growth often comes in the second year, Hilton said.
The game slows down, Hilton said. You’ve got a full year in whatever system you are in, and coaches are getting comfortable with what works for you and how they can put you in a position to make plays.
I personally feel that the jump from Year 1 to Year 2 is big enough to determine a lot of people’s careers because, in Year 1, you are just getting used to the speed of the game and getting used to seeing some guys you grew up watching. All that kind of plays into it, but once Year 2 comes around, it’s all about how you evolve as a player.
