At Cincinnati Bengals training camp on Friday, La’el Collins lined up at right tackle next to right guard Alex Cappa.
It wasn’t a padded practice, which meant Friday wasn't a physical step forward for Collins. But he went through some half-speed reps on the line during 11-on-11 drills for the offense against the defense.
“It feels great,” Collins said. “When we cut the tape up today, this is what we want the offense to look like. It’s exciting to go with the rest of the guys.”
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Collins started training camp on the non-football injured list with a back injury. He has slowly been ramping up his football activities on the field. On Friday, as the Bengals offensive linemen went through a mental set of pass rush reps against the defense in 11 on 11 drills, Collins participated.
“When you really put the pads on, that’s what you’ve got to break in,” Collins said. “Looking forward to that. Some rust. I’ve got to continue to knock some of that rust off and get rolling. Moving in the right direction.”
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said Collins was progressing every day, but Taylor didn’t say whether Collins would practice next week against the Los Angeles Rams.
“It was good to see him back in there,” Taylor said. “Now we get a couple of days leading into practices next week. Feeling really good about where he’s at.”
Bengals rookie cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt will miss the rest of training camp after having surgery on his core.
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“These are the first initial days here where he’s back on his feet,” Taylor said. “You probably saw him at practice. He’ll travel to the game with us (Sunday) and be involved with the team as a young rookie who we’re counting on playing for us. We’ll just continue to take it week-to-week with him.”
Backup offensive tackle Isaiah Prince is week-to-week with a biceps injury. Cornerback Tre Flowers didn’t practice on Sunday, but Taylor said Flowers would play a bit this weekend against the New York Giants. Linebacker Markus Bailey is day-to-day with a hamstring injury.
The Bengals worked on red-zone situations in 7-on-7 drills, which included a touchdown catch by tight end Hayden Hurst.
“Hayden has a really good catch radius,” Taylor said. “He has got good burst. He has got a good understanding and feel for some of these concepts in the red zone. He’s a really good weapon for us on the field.”
*The Bengals simulated a two-minute drill, and Joe Burrow set up a game-winning field goal.