Bengals Training Camp Day 4: Ja'Marr Chase welcomes DJ Turner to the NFL
No matter who's throwing him the ball, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase refuses to be stopped. It'd be a damn shame if a rookie cornerback tried to get in his way. Whoops. The first days of camp almost always surround the battles that persist on the boundary. Receivers and cornerbacks itching to get their […]
No matter who's throwing him the ball, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase refuses to be stopped. It'd be a damn shame if a rookie cornerback tried to get in his way.
Whoops.
The first days of camp almost always surround the battles that persist on the boundary. Receivers and cornerbacks itching to get their hands on one another with no officials in sight, but no pads either. Physicality must be kept to a minimum, but it's the very thing that separates Chase from others like him.
Without Chidobe Awuzie participating in 11-on-11 work just yet, Cincinnati has paired Cam Taylor-Britt with Sidney Jones at cornerback against the ones leading up to Saturday's Back Together practice session inside Paycor Stadium. But instead of Jones, it was rookie JuanDrago "DJ" Turner getting snaps against the Bengals' No. 1 receiver.
He learned real quick how good No. 1 is.
One highlight that encapsulated Chase's strength doesn't quite encapsulate what Turner has been this week: An impressive defensive back for being brand new to all of this. The sample size has been small, but he's yet to veer off the right track.
"Through three days, [he's been] consistent," head coach Zac Taylor said prior to Saturday's practice. "He's made a lot of plays on the ball. As the install increases, more things are thrown out of an offense, so I'm sure there will be a learning curve there. But again, through three days, I think he's been impressive. And it's one thing to do with three days. It's another thing to do it three weeks. It's another thing to do it three months.
"With all these young players, it's the consistency over time that'll be critical for them"
Taylor-Britt went through these motions as a rookie as well. He didn't get a full training camp thanks to a core injury that sidelined him through the early part of October. Chase has gotten the better of him this week, but the pendulum swung back in his favor Saturday as he took a Trevor Siemian interception to the house. Rookie DJ Ivey got in his own pick against Jake Browning.
The side effect of not having a true starting quarterback, but a win is a win for one side or the other in camp.
The franchise quarterback is still out, and the timetable for his return is still unknown beyond an optimistic sense that Week 1 is very much on the table. Joe Burrow's calf strain has opened the door for both Browning and Siemian to play out a true battle for QB2 duties this Fall, and another passer is set to enter the picture here shortly.
Bengals working out 2 quarterbacks in wake of Joe Burrow’s injury
A third QB is needed for the next month.
Featured image via © Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
