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Many camp overreactions come from the first one or two weeks of training camp for any team.
But here’s a fun one for the Cincinnati Bengals — the secondary will be a surprise strength for the team next season.
And truthfully, it isn’t that dramatic of an overreaction. One could have presumed the secondary will be much improved in 2021 if Trae Waynes can stay healthy alongside the stellar addition of slot corner Mike Hilton. Chidobe Awuzie and Darius Phillips, if nothing else, have great upside.
But it has been something else to see it in action during training camp.
When he was on the field before a slight injury flare-up, Waynes suffocated pretty much anybody he covered. Hilton has been as-advertised, shutting down anything thrown behind or near the line of scrimmage. And Awuize has been much like Waynes, seemingly realizing some of his immense potential after a down year.
And it gets better. Unheralded, quiet free-agent signings like Ricardo Allen have flashed. He’s got the positional versatility to make somebody else a cut. Even Eli Apple has had some good reps. They joined Tony Brown, a waiver claim who continues to look like he’ll threaten for the final roster, too.
To be fair, the offense has looked horrendous. Some of that is just a bad offensive line with an offense trying to get on the same page. But some of it is the defense too.
Most of how well the secondary can play in 2021 still hinges on whether the key names can stay healthy. But we haven’t even mentioned Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell. If the secondary takes a big leap like it seems it could, it makes life easier on the rest of the unit, which could spur a big turnaround.
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