What promises to be the slowest-evolving training camp in the Bengals’ history took some solid steps Tuesday with rookie quarterback Joe Burrow’s verbal contract deal, the No. 85 inauguration of rookie wide receiver Tee Higgins. and the arrival of veterans for their first Covid-19 tests
Veteran running back Giovani Bernard and his wife Chloe ‘drove 15 hours straight from South Florida on Monday and arrived in Cincinnati at 9:45 pm
“It is the longest time I have been away from Cincinnati,” said Bernard as he began his seventh season in the NFL as the second-longest offensive player. “Six months. It was good to go back and drive and see him again.”
Higgins, the Clemson wide receiver who was the first pick in the second round of the April draft and the exclamation point for an offense that led to Burrow No. 1, signed a four-year contract in the Paul Brown Stadium Lounge. hidden just a few meters from the field.
“I have big shoes to fill,” Higgins said after holding up the 85th shirt that Chad Johnson told him to wear with his blessing. “It’s going to be fun.”
Burrow and the vets have not yet been to Paul Brown Stadium, but he is expected to make his entry Thursday for a physical examination followed by his signing. The Higgins deal completes contracts for the seven-man draft class led by Burrow, winner of the LSU Heisman Trophy who beat the Higgins Tigers for the national title.
Veterans undergo another Covid-19 test on Wednesday and Friday and if negative, they will enter the building for their physical exams on Sunday. At that time, the entire team embarks on a strength and conditioning regimen that places them in the field in helmets around August 10. A week later, the pads are put on.
Unable to climb the stairs to sign his contract due to the PBS pandemic guidelines, the moment Higgins had waited for since he can remember came in a low but still powerful voice. He has long talked about how much he admires his mother, Camillia Stewart, for overcoming her drug addiction. Her 14th anniversary of being clean is next month.
“I know I will give my mother what she wanted. She wants a car,” Higgins said, and the make and model don’t matter. “She just wants to choose one.”
