We're monitoring you until you sleep. And then we're watching you sleep.

The Bengals rolled into camp Thursday which means two things. While we're still several weeks out before the regular season starts, the NFL is back, baby! That also means the camera crew of Hard Knocks previewed their role to some Bengals players.

"It's going to be really weird," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "I've only been here for maybe an hour-and-a-half. They're coming in the room with you and sticking the camera in your car window. It's definitely different. But I've talked to a couple of guys who have experienced the 'Hard Knocks' deal, and they said after a couple of days, you kind of get past it and don't even realize they're around."

Will it be a distraction?

"I think there will be some distraction to it, but it shouldn't hurt us," Bratkowski said.

"I'm melancholy, I guess," Zimmer said. "I understand the benefits and the negative things. I've been through it before. It wasn't a bad experience, but I'm superstitious. We didn't have a good year that year."