Even though it’s technically the offseason, those associated with the Cincinnati Bengals are remaining very busy. The front office is busy finalizing their next head coach, while also showing a number of assistants the door as a new regime is taking shape.
It’s also busy for quite a few Bengals players as well. Even though they aren’t strapping up the pads, guys like Tyler Boyd are getting honored with award nominations and making public appearances.
We were lucky to be able to catch up with Boyd shortly after the conclusion of his breakout 2018 campaign. In our chat, Boyd opened up about a number of subjects, ranging from the departure of Marvin Lewis to his odd relationship with the Steelers as a Pittsburgh native and Bengals player.
We kicked off our conversation talking about coaches. After reminiscing on Marvin Lewis, we focused on how the Bengals are bringing in a new slate of coaches, including a head coach who will be an offensive-thinker.
Boyd liked the idea.
“To have an offensive guru coming in, that’s definitely exciting to offensive players. To whoever comes in, I just hope they have a great plan for everything that we do, the overall game—the offense, defense, special teams. We have to be great on the field if we want to get to the postseason.” Boyd said.
I also asked Boyd about the huge leap he made from last year to 2018 and he pinpointed the progress back to the season-finale against the Ravens in 2018.
“Going back to my second year, when I got hurt—it’s the same injury I’m dealing with now—it’s pretty much a ‘next-man-up league’, you know? So, once I was ready and healthy to come back and play, they already had the ball rolling with the guys that we had,” Boyd said.
As he was nursing that knee issue, Boyd wallowed down the depth chart behind Brandon LaFell and Alex Erickson, at times. It wasn’t until he was back healthy late in 2017 when the recently-fired Bill Lazor popped him back into the versatile slot role and he started to become the guy who made big plays on the regular this past season.
“I couldn’t be upset with that, I had to just work and do everything I could to get another opportunity. I finished strong the last three games, once I got put back into my original role and what I was doing my rookie year,” Boyd continued.
“Then I started making big plays and plays that were crucial—the play that really made it for me was the Ravens game, the last game of the year. And, ever since then, I’ve had the mindset to continue to keep that focus and continue to work out the next day and just try to critique myself in ways where I was weak at. I think I came in very strong and came in better area of my game and all I needed was for them to give me that opportunity and take full advantage of it.”
We also touched on his “river dance” celebration and the sad fact that the Bengals haven’t beaten the Steelers in the six tries since he arrived in Cincinnati, as well as his being in a contract year and what lies ahead on that front.
Download the audio of the interview below from ART19, or via iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play. You can also watch it in the above-embedded YouTube video.
Tyler Boyd joined us courtesy of VIZIO home entertainment products. He was recently nominated for their “Top Value Performers”, so go vote for him here and enter yourself in a contest to win a great home entertainment package!
Our thanks to Mr. Boyd and VIZIO!
If you’re unable to join us live for here at Cincy Jungle or YouTube every episode, all Orange and Black Insider content is available here on CJ, as well as on our SoundCloud, Stitcher, through the Google Play Music app and YouTube channels, ART19 as well as on iTunes! You can tweet us @BengalsOBI or get in touch with us via email at theobinsider@gmail.com. Thanks for listening and go subscribe to our channels!