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The Cincinnati Bengals have some key foundational building blocks on the field — and in the locker room — with Tyler Boyd and Jessie Bates.
This was already becoming apparent based on how Bates and Boyd have led the team this year, either setting the tone in interviews or by the effort on the field.
But it became even clearer last weekend after Joe Burrow went down with his injury. That Sunday night, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor sought them out specifically, as he told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
ZT: I thought it was important. Those are two of your guys on each side of the ball that have done things the right way this year. They’ve got the right mindset and they’ve totally bought in to what we’re doing here and they see the big picture of what we’re moving towards and they believe in it. Just challenging them to keep leading this locker room.
No wonder, right? Boyd has been the No. 1 wideout for a few years now. And from a leadership example, he was one of the first players to publicly speak out against the actions of Carlos Dunlap.
And Bates has played like the best outright safety in football this year, grading at a 91.0 at Pro Football Focus. It wasn’t too long ago he was warning of personnel changes if guys didn’t step up.
While there are rumblings of a toxic locker room culture Bengals players have denied — and Dunlap and his Seahawks head coach have hinted at the same — it’s clear the next generation of locker room leaders like Bates and Boyd are rocks to build around in good times and bad.
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