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One of the best and most comprehensive features we offer every year is our Footballguys Preseason Updates. Every week this month, Dave Kluge, Clayton Gray, and their team of Footballguys Staffers cover every player that matters from every NFL team. It's 32-plus pages of some of the most comprehensive coverage you'll find. It's probably worth the Footballguys Premium Subscription by itself.
Updates from Week 1
Preseason Updates: Quarterbacks
With the Bengals returning all 11 offensive starters from last season, the focus early in camp has been on expanding the playbook to include more under-center plays. The push toward under-center play action aims to make the pass offense more explosive. "If you just look at the landscape of the league right now and how defenses have evolved, and if you truly are open to learning from your peers, it's not hard to make the connection," OC Dan Pitcher said. "If you are looking at, 'How are we going to be a really explosive offense?' the data would suggest you got to have a component of your offense that allows you to get under center and attack the defense." The Bengals are starting from a position of strength, having averaged 0.16 EPA per play over the past two years when Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins are all on the field, a mark that would easily lead the NFL over a full season. "We feel like this is going to help us build an offense that can win in a number of different ways and one that can win us an AFC North championship," Pitcher said. "Whether or not it wins us a training camp trophy, I don't know, but I don't really care." If this group stays healthy, the potential is there to put up huge passing numbers, and Joe Burrow has been noticeably optimistic about what he and the roster around him can do. "I'm pretty close to the Bengals franchise touchdown record. I think I'm 50 or something away, so that would be nice to break this year," Burrow said during an OTA press conference. Told that 48 would do it to pass Andy Dalton's record of 204, Burrow simply said, "Doable." Veteran Joe Flacco has taken the second-team reps behind him, giving the team a strong Plan B in the event Burrow misses time.
Preseason Updates: Running Backs
A veteran offense that knows the core plays like the back of its hand has led to more experimentation early in camp, and the center of that experimentation has been Chase Brown, who is being used all over the formation and looks primed for a career season. Brown lines up in the slot and runs a slant one play, then takes a jet sweep the next. He is running behind a fullback, motioning in and out of the backfield, and lining up in just about any spot imaginable. "We all got to prepare a little bit more, at least I do, a lot for the motions and playing F and wherever they are putting me takes a little extra study time because I haven't really done that before," Brown said. "It's cool they trust me doing that and believe in my skill set enough. It's been fun." The under-center emphasis has also produced more explosive runs from Brown. He is coming off a season with more than 1,400 scrimmage yards and a club-record 67 receptions, and he has been open about chasing James Brooks' franchise record of 1,773 scrimmage yards, set in 1986. Brown is entering the final season of his rookie deal and is in line for a big extension. Burrow tends to make his views on personnel known in subtle ways, so his recent comments are worth paying attention to. "He does everything. He's a complete back. He can protect. He trains as a receiver all offseason. When you have a guy like that, you don't have to take him off the field," Burrow said. "You can build different packages for him in different places on the field. Obviously we're going to get the ball in No. 1 (Ja'Marr Chase's) hands as many times as we can. But I think a close second is Chase Brown just because of how explosive he is and the things he can do with the ball in his hands." A long-term extension for Brown may have been complicated by three huge $20 million running back deals signed in the last week. Samaje Perine and Tahj Brooks back up Brown, with no clear handcuff should he miss time; the expectation would be a committee approach.
