CINCINNATI — The Bengals completed four days of practices and used Sunday to rest. The true creation of the 2026 roster starts at 10 a.m. Monday when pads go on for the first time.The offseason’s urgency was apparent throughout an active first week, with fights and trash talk littering the practice field. Much of that ends up as a viral spike in social media chatter, but it doesn’t amount to any indication of a real trend.The themes noted throughout the first four practices are aimed at cutting through the clips and reels for the meat and potatoes of what’s actually meaningful from what I’ve seen during these practices.Bengals LBs offer encouraging start to training campPaul Dehner Jr.Let’s pick up where the offseason left off.New defensive identity keeps showing upBengals center and captain Ted Karras is 33. He has played in 174 NFL games and is in his 11th training camp across three organizations.Experiencing the first week of feeling the Bengals’ new defensive line had him reminiscing about the first camp of his career.“Today felt like going against the 2016 New England defense,” Karras said after Saturday’s session concluded.Those Patriots went 14-2, led the NFL in scoring defense and won the Super Bowl. Four days spent wrestling 6-foot-5, 350-pound Dexter Lawrence would have anybody comparing it to the toughest assignment of their career.“This is about as grown-man of a team as I’ve ever been a part of,” Karras said, before shifting the focus to his Herculean daily assignment. “You saw that last period I’m just fighting to the end there. It’s just me and him in the middle. You better bring your f—ing s— going against Dexter Lawrence.”The Bengals spent the 2026 offseason purchasing a defensive identity. They’ve spent the last four days establishing it.Each day a different aspect of the new-look front stood out. On day one, the sheer size and depth of the group stood out. Lawrence leads the way, of course, but the collection of athletes, size and physical freaks transformed this group into an All-Off-The-Bus Team.“The D-line, certainly, the size difference from last year, is the most glaring thing,” Joe Burrow said. “The pocket was a little different today.”The next day, the power-speed combination of $20 million edge Boye Mafe shone as he exploded around Amarius Mims, forcing Burrow to spike the ball from the pocket and then affecting a pass that turned into an interception of Burrow by Jalen Davis.Myles Murphy and Cashius Howell then each had moments finding themselves in the quarterback’s grill, flying off the edge of the 3-4 alignment.The defensive linemen were basking in the afterglow of a Saturday practice they had just wrecked, and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher immediately made his way to them with high-fives that might as well have been a tip of the cap.Guard Dalton Risner started listing all the great defensive players he’s faced over the course of his eight NFL seasons, trying to think of the biggest and strongest.This is life in the NFL.“Don’t get me wrong, in practice you feel (Lawrence’s) strength,” Risner said. “You feel Jonathan Allen’s experience, his twitchiness. You feel TJ Slaton’s fire. You feel all these guys, but it’s nothing you haven’t felt in your career; but for a practice day in and day out, it’s certainly not the most fun.”None of it looks fun for the offense. What the Bengals put together up front isn’t unprecedented. It’s far too early to tell if it will work in the long run.However, it sure as heck hasn’t been easy for the offensive line to handle and offers a reminder of the group’s potential.“It’s a stressful August for me,” Karras said, “but at least I get to pass it off to our opponents come September.”Under-center offense not going awayThe first four days have helped dispel any inkling that expansion of the dormant under-center offense during OTAs was merely offseason tinkering.We’ve seen under-center, under-center with play action, under-center with play action and motion, and packages built off every wrinkle of that.We still don’t know how serious the implementation will be when the games get real, but we do know the concept of adding that weapon to Burrow’s arsenal has never looked more real.These allow Pitcher and Zac Taylor to tinker with new packages beyond the standard 11 personnel they have spent the majority of Burrow’s career running as much as any other team.It offers expansion of the Erick All Jr. role as he looks healthy to an exciting degree coming off double-ACL surgeries and getting hit by a truck in Greece. That’s an exciting twist on 12 personnel that’s gaining momentum. There’s also a chance to dabble in two running backs with Chase Brown’s work training as a receiver growing the idea of using him in a versatile slot subpackage.The repetition also helps a Bengals offense that, between Dylan Fairchild and Risner, hasn’t had this level of guard play in a decade be able to lean on an under-center run game capable of bringing a new level of explosiveness.All of these have seen the foundation laid in the first four practices, and the next step will be about how much each specific element evolves when camp gets more physical. Either way, Burrow sounds on board with whatever direction it goes.“I’m very comfortable (under center),” he said. “I can do whatever is asked of me. I have, and I will. And we haven’t done it quite as much over the last several years, and we’ll see what we evolve into this year. But if that’s what’s needed, that’s what I’ll do.”Hierarchy at cornerDepth at cornerback has been one of the most concerning issues heading toward the season. Starters DJ Turner and Dax Hill were set, but the rest looked up for grabs among a handful of young, unproven or journeymen players.The hierarchy looks much more established through the first week than the wide-open battle would suggest.Hill and Turner have been joined by Jalen Davis, as expected, with the starting group (and Davis has shown well, making the most of his opportunity). The second-string group hasn’t changed. Often you’ll see rotations from day to day or even drill to drill in a true competition. Instead, DJ Ivey and Tacario Davis outside and Ja’Sir Taylor in the slot have taken nearly all the second-team reps. Josh Newton remains in the same doghouse that kept his snaps limited down the stretch last season.Inside the Bengals' wide-open cornerback battlePaul Dehner Jr.Ivey thrived as a third-down tight end stopper last year and will do that again, but the Bengals proved this week they are quite open to the idea of the 2023 seventh-rounder doing more.“I definitely feel like there is opportunity out there,” Ivey said. “Any chance I get, I’m taking the opportunity to make plays and show the coaches I’m here to be seen and I’m here to make an impact.”In December of Ivey’s rookie season, he tore an ACL, and rehab caused him to start the 2024 campaign on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He only played eight games. Last year was his first full season back, and he mostly played on special teams.Now fully healthy and removed from the ACL injury, he might never have a better chance to prove he can play outside corner than this.Rookie Tacario Davis is looking to replicate what Ivey did as a rookie three years ago. Ivey splashed as a surprising star of that camp. Davis playing well wouldn’t be a surprise considering he’s a third-round pick out of Washington, but it would go a long way in making everyone feel better about depth in the secondary.He got his hands on a pass breakup for the first time in camp on Saturday and kept a quiet humility during his first taste of progress.“To get to where I want to go and be one of the greatest, you got to keep stacking days,” Davis said. “It’s a good thing, trending in the right direction, but keep moving forward. Instead of making the PBU, make the great play and get the interception.”Off-the-radar receiversTwo receivers made a notable impression in their first week of training camp. Noah Thomas, an undrafted free agent out of Georgia, created two explosive plays last week. The first was a contested catch, picking a jump ball off Ivey’s helmet. The second was a deep ball from third-string quarterback Josh Johnson, with Thomas leaving the secondary in the dust after the catch.At 6-5, 203 pounds, the former four-star athlete who played at Texas A&M and Georgia brings a Tee Higgins-type skill set that could be of use in the back of the receiver room.Noah Thomas has made the most of his time in Bengals camp so far. (Katie Stratman / Imagn Images)The second receiver was Dohnte Meyers. The 5-11, 186-pound jitterbug made his way to the NFL via Presbyterian College, Delta State and the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.His athleticism has shown up this week and he’s added a couple of nice plays on offense. He could make the team in the return game. He has joined Charlie Jones and Ke’Shawn Williams in the punt and kickoff return groups. That spot is as wide open as any.If Meyers can pile a couple of notable returns onto this enticing skill set as a receiver, he could become the latest undersized player to find a way onto a Bengals roster through that path.Andrew Hawkins (2011) and Alex Erickson (2016) both started long NFL careers out of nowhere that way in Cincinnati’s camp. Hawkins even did so coming from the CFL, as well.