The Cincinnati Bengals changed things up this preseason in an effort to avoid yet another slow start in 2025. Among those changes is coach Zac Taylor’s decision to play quarterback Joe Burrow and the rest of the team’s healthy starters in the preseason, starting with Thursday night’s road game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Burrow can expect a few series of work against the Eagles, with a bigger workload expected for Cincinnati’s second preseason game against the Washington Commanders. The starters are not expected to play during the Bengals’ preseason finale against the Indianapolis Colts.
Taylor added that tight end Mike Gesicki, defensive end Trey Hendrickson, defensive tackle BJ Hill and defensive backs Cam Taylor-Britt and Daxton Hill will not play on Thursday night. Each of those players sans Hendrickson (who is staging a hold-in) are dealing with an injury. Recently-acquired tight end Noah Fant also won’t suit up on Thursday night.
Thursday marks only the third time that Burrow played in a preseason game. He played in three snaps in 2021 (his second NFL season) and went 5-of-7 passing with a touchdown in his lone preseason game in 2024. Previous injuries and the COVD-19 pandemic (which led to no preseason games in 2020) were among the main reasons why Burrow rarely played in the preseason prior to this summer.
In the past, Cincinnati used scrimmages against other teams as a way to get its starters ready for the regular season. But the Bengals decided to forgo team scrimmages this year and will instead play their starters during the preseason.
The Bengals hoping to avoid another slow start in 2025. Cincinnati lost each of its first two games each of the last three seasons and were 0-3 last season before they got their first win. While the Bengals were able to overcome their slow start in 2022 (they ultimately advanced to the AFC title game), that wasn’t the case the past two years as Cincinnati narrowly missed the playoffs both seasons.