Preparing for 2024

Plus: Watch The Top Plays Of The 2023 Season [View In Browser]( [Bengals Blitz]( [Zac Taylor]( ZAC TAYLOR PREPS FOR '24: 'YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY YEAR' Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has already switched gears into the offseason as he delves into reviewing his team while re-assuming his role as chauffeur for his four children. Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson caught Taylor on the horn one dinnertime in between drop-offs for basketball practice as he reflected on 2023 and 2024. Geoff Hobson: Do you think this year made you a better coach? Zac Taylor: I do. You learn through all these experiences you're in. Every year is a little unique and we certainly faced some adversity like all teams do, and I certainly feel that I'll be an improved head coach going forward and I'm excited to help the team improve as well. Geoff Hobson: How do you think you grew? Did you grow as both a coach and as a play-caller? Zac Taylor: That part is hard to answer. I certainly feel like we played a lot of really good teams this year that posed those challenges and you had to make sure you communicated really well as a staff to put our team in a good position and have a chance to win the game. I know that we worked really hard at it, and we always put our best plan forward. And I think there are a lot of things that we can take to really help our offense next year. [READ MORE]( [Top Headlines]( [Jordan Battle]( BENGALS ROOKIES HAVE A CLASSY SEASON The Bengals have just completed a season with one of their busiest Bengals rookie classes ever. Not as prolific as 2020, their greatest draft of all time. But steady and encouraging. If you view it as many do, that the first three rounds should yield starters, the rest rotational and special teams players, and that three impact players out of a class make it an excellent draft, these guys are on their way. Jordan Battle, the unquestioned Bengals rookie of the year. He began the season as a core special teamer and the quarterback of the punt team as the personal protector and after a 12-tackle game in Baltimore, he started the last seven games. He made PFF's all-rookie team and is the website's 11th highest-graded rookie, just behind Texans pass rusher Will Anderson, the third pick in the draft. PFF has him for 15 run stops, 12th among safeties, but the only who did it with fewer than 270 snaps. He played a total of 525 scrimmage plays with 219 of them on running plays. As the season went, his coverage grades began to catch up with his run prowess. [READ MORE]( [Trey Hendrickson]( PFWA NAMES HENDRICKSON AS BENGALS' MVP FOR 2023 The Cincinnati Chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America named DE Trey Hendrickson as the Bengals' Most Valuable Player for the 2023 season. Hendrickson, who recently was named to his third career Pro Bowl, won the award with the majority of the vote from the local chapter. He becomes the first defensive lineman to be named the Bengals' MVP since DT Geno Atkins in 2017. WR Ja'Marr Chase was a finalist for this season's honor. "Trey Hendrickson proved his immense value to the Bengals defense as one of the most reliable and dominant pass rushers in the NFL," said chapter vice president Mike Petraglia. "He recorded a career high in sacks despite often being the target of double teams and scheming to account for his explosiveness off the edge." A seventh-year player out of Florida Atlantic University, Hendrickson finished the 2023 campaign tied for second in the NFL in sacks with a career-high 17.5, which also marked the second most in a season in team history behind DE Coy Bacon's 22.0 in 1976. He lined up for 742 defensive snaps, the most in his career, and added three passes defensed as well as three forced fumbles. [READ MORE]( [Social Spotlight]( [Social Spotlight]( [WATCH BEST OF MIC'D UP]( TOP PLAYS OF THE 2023 SEASON [Top Plays]( [WATCH NOW]( BENGALS BOOTH PODCAST: I Go Back It's the "I Go Back" edition of the Bengals Booth Podcast as broadcaster Dan Hoard and Bengals.com editor Geoff Hobson take a comprehensive look back at the 2023 season. But first, Dan visits with a player who finished a challenging season on positive note – defensive end Joseph Ossai. [LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE NOW]( [Join the eaitlist]( [Warm Weather Gear]( [Schedule]( | [Tickets]( | [Shop]( | [Watch]( ©2024 Cincinnati Bengals 1 Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati OH 45202 US [bengals.com]( | 513.621.8383 | bengals@bengals.nfl.net [Manage My Preferences Add]( your email contact list/address book to ensure delivery of future emails from the Cincinnati Bengals.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. You are receiving this email because your email address was used for a ticket purchase or you opted-in to receive emails. If you no longer wish to receive emails from the Cincinnati Bengals then you may [unsubscribe](. [Facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [youtube logo]( [tiktok logo](bengals)