Bengals training camp: Monday practice recap

After their first day off of camp, the Bengals returned to the practice fields and were joined by their franchise quarterback... sort of.

Joe Burrow made his public return to Paul Brown Stadium with a patch on his left arm, the aftermath of his appendectomy from last Wednesday. Burrow viewed practice from a cart, much like president and owner Mike Brown usually does.

Head coach Zac Taylor didn’t say when Burrow would return, only that it would be up to Burrow himself. Taylor did say that the first padded practice will be tomorrow.

Whether or not defensive back Tre Flowers will suit up for that remains to be seen. Flowers did not practice Monday.

Akeem Davis-Gaither did practice, and ended up with the latest turnover caused by the first-team defense.

Davis-Gaither was one of many linebackers lost to injury last season. He only played in nine games before injuring his foot and underwent season-ending surgery. Now that he’s back and fully healthy, his skillset in coverage paired with a healthy Flowers should enhance the Bengals’ third down defense.

As expected, Alex Cappa is now being integrated into more team drills as the starting right guard. La’el Collins is deemed “day-to-day” by Taylor, so D’Ante Smith is still taking right tackle reps in his place.

Cordell Volson and Hakeem Adeniji have been given the majority of reps while Cappa was limited to individual drills, but with Cappa back, Volson is staying at left guard. He needed to fill in there today after Jackson Carman had his practice cut short for unknown reasons.

After practice, Carman clarified that he was fine.

Joesph Ossai also appears to be just fine, as he, like Cappa, took part in team drills for the first time. This picture from Bengals’ play-by-play man Dan Hoard has him coming off the right edge of the defensive line.

Like Davis-Gaither boosts the back seven, Ossai boosts the front four with his explosiveness. And giving him reps on third down should also benefit Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard from playing too many snaps over the course of long games.

Practice ended on another high note for the defense as college free agent Delonte Hood intercepted local quarterback signee Drew Plitt.

Hood was one of many undrafted free agents signed by Cincinnati this offseason, and he didn’t exactly stand out in May coming from Peru State. But as evidenced by this play, the ball skills are definitely there to go with top of the line speed. He should have an interesting preseason.

That’s all for today. Like Taylor said, the pads come on tomorrow. We’ll have you covered.