Bengals Bytes (8/24): ‘Crank it up’

Youth re-energizes Bengals front
Only once before in the six previous seasons of the A.J. Green-Andy Dalton run have the Bengals cut down their final roster to three defensive linemen with less than three years experience. But Pro Bowl left end Carlos Dunlap, a whiskered 28-year-old vet in his eighth NFL season is feeling the winds of change along his front. “It looks like they can help us right away if you go by the tape of the preseason,” said Dunlap of the kids before Wednesday’s practice. “And it seem like they’re acknowledging it upstairs.”

Bengals hope to unveil key players vs. Washington
The sense is the Bengals are going to unveil some key parts for the first and only time this preseason Sunday (4:30 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 19) against coach Jay Gruden and company in Washington. Guys that have practiced but haven’t played in a game yet for precautionary reasons like cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick (hand), running back Giovani Bernard (knee), safety George Iloka (knee) and rookie wide receiver John Ross (shoulder). It is, after all, the pre-season game everyone refers to as “the dress rehearsal.”

Lewis News Conference Transcript 8/23
As we progress through the preseason and get closer to the regular season, it’s a good week to have a little bit of length and have an opportunity to go back again and coach and get prepared for Sept. 10, which is important. So, we’ll do that this week and obviously go over to Washington to play the game on Sunday

From Christian McCaffrey to Joe Mixon, what to expect from top rookie RBs
Eight running backs selected in the 2017 NFL draft continue to turn heads in practice and preseason games. NFL Nation reporters break down each rookie, including first-round choices Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey, and the impact they could have this season

Cincinnati Bengals CB Dre Kirkpatrick: 'Ready to crank it back up'
Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick hasn't been able to go full speed all summer. Kirkpatrick fractured his hand in May, and while any trace of a cast or brace is long gone, he has been told by the medical staff to be cautious. That has meant no diving for interceptions, no putting his hand up to bat down a pass and no snaps in preseason games so far.

Cincinnati Bengals turn to new leadership; NFL notebook
The passing of the torch wasn’t literal, but the veteran Bengals players who were invited to Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse downtown—a short walk from Paul Brown Stadium—the night before camp didn’t need clarification on why they were there. Marvin Lewis and his coordinators had them out for a reason. And the group, numbering more than 20 vets, knew before putting in their orders that it was as much about who wasn’t in attendance as about who was.

Bengals Walkthru: Veterans who could be cut
This might be the most popular question every year, but it's more relevant this year than ever. With this Bengals team dominated in the offseason by younger, faster and the infusion of 11 draft picks as well as return of Andrew Billings and William Jackson III, the inevitable other side of the coin means the exit of older, slower. As we start to see the roster take shape before final cutdown day of Sept. 2 – and already with Brandon Thompson being let go and landing in Cleveland – wanted to look at some of the veterans currently on the roster bubble.

AFC North Bytes

Steelers trade for Phillips
The Steelers completed what was a busy day of transactions when they traded for Washington Redskins cornerback Dashaun Phillips in exchange for center Lucas Crowley. Phillips played in five games for the Redskins in 2016, starting two, in the nickel role. He had seven tackles and a fumble recovery. He has played in 11 games, with 14 tackles, nine of them solo stops, in two seasons.

Brock Osweiler Trade Rumors: Browns Have 'Renewed' Attempts to Trade QB
The Cleveland Browns are reportedly exploring a trade for quarterback Brock Osweiler, who appears to be losing the starting battle with rookie DeShone Kizer. A league source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler about the latest Osweiler development. Browns head coach Hue Jackson named Kizer the starting quarterback for Saturday's preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Random Bytes

Most, least accurate, luckiest, aggressive, conservative, quarterbacks in NFL 2016 - 2017
It's third-and-10, and your favorite team's quarterback just threw a 3-yard pass, bringing out the punt team. Isn't that frustrating to watch? Wouldn't it be great to have a stat that measures which quarterbacks do this the most, and to what degree? This is why Air Less Expected, or ALEX for short, was created at Football Outsiders.

Samantha Ponder, ESPN’s ‘Countdown’ Host, on Pay Equality
When the NFL’s new season kicks off next month, ESPN’s flagship football pregame show will have a new look. Gone will be Chris Berman, who hosted “Sunday NFL Countdown” from 1986 through last season. In his place will be 31-year-old Samantha Ponder, a veteran of ESPN’s college-football coverage.

Carson Wentz Is Refreshed, Rebuilt and Reloaded, but WIll That Be Enough?
Eagles quarterback coach John DeFilippo had some sobering Carson Wentz news for the Philadelphia faithful when he spoke to reporters earlier in the offseason. "This year coming up, he's probably not going to play great in all 16 games," he said.