Takeaways from Day 3 of Bengals training camp

Day 3 of training camp has come and gone.

After the past few days, it was nice to have a less eventful day. The first two days were mainly highlighted by A.J. green’s injury, but today was more about what the team can do in his absence.

Here are some takeaways from Day 3:

Injury updates

Cincinnati got one of their linebackers back when they activated Noah Dawkins after he passed his physical. He was one of the players signed from their tryouts earlier this offseason.

John Ross also remains on out of practice. He spent most of the day on the rehab field.

There are also rumors surfacing that Ross could miss two weeks with his hamstring issue. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said Ross is considered day-to-day.

We will have to wait and see, but at this point it is probably better to be cautious with the hopes that Ross can be 100 percent by the time the regular season rolls around.

As for A.J. Green’s ankle injury, Taylor had an interesting quote about his Pro Bowl receiver:

Perhaps Green got a second opinion from another doctor and it’s more positive. We can only hope.

Westerman gets his shot

Yesterday it was worth noting that John Jerry got to run with the first team offense for the second day in a row, but today, Westerman was able to fit in with the starting lineup.

This is far from meaning anything other than the coaches do seem to be sticking to their word of having an open competition for the position. Saying this, it’s great to see Westerman will get a fair shot at winning the left guard spot.

The last coaching staff would have just given Jerry the job and not let Westerman get much of a shot at it. Taylor is at least giving the young gun a chance to prove he’s a better option than the aging veteran.

Jerry ended up taking Westerman’s spot with the second team offensive line today. Trey Hopkins also remained at center as Billy Price remains on the NFI list.

How receivers were rotated

In the absence of Ross and A.J. Green, how the Bengals divided snaps between the rest of the receivers seems to be noteworthy (even if it still be too early to tell if they mean anything).

It seems that Cody Core and Josh Malone have an early lead on the rest of the pack. John Also noted that Boyd played pretty much exclusively in the slot during this red zone practice. That would explain why Alex Erickson didn’t receive as many looks considering that would conflict with Boyd and the two tight end sets.

Auden Tate not getting as many looks is something to keep an eye on. Coaches were hyping up the possibility of including him in some red zone packages if he was able to make the active roster, so him not getting as many looks in red zone practices causes a slight raise of the eyebrow, but again, it is still very early.

Oh, and let’s not forget about Stanley Morgan, the undrafted free agent out of Nebraska who had a good showing at camp today:

The former Cornhusker has a golden opportunity in front of him with Ross and Green sidelined. Hopefully, Morgan makes the most out of getting more reps and is able to earn his way onto the 53-man roster.

Offensive line notes

We already mentioned that Jerry was the second team left guard, but the rest of that unit has some interesting developments that gives us a slight idea about how coaches view certain players.

First of all, Michael Jordan lining up at center probably has more to do with Price being out, but it does tell us that Jordan is viewed as the third center. Given that Hopkins is probably the top backup for most positions along the offensive line, that could end up coming into play eventually.

It’s also worth noting that Kent Perkins lined up on the right side while undrafted free agent, O’Shea Dugas, lined up at left tackle. Andre Smith was signed by the team right before camp, but his absence may be more about learning the offense than anything.

Fun notes about Day 3

Most importantly: