Zac Taylor Excited to Get Trey Hendrickson Back, Updates Bengals Injuries Following Final Roster Cut

 Zac Taylor met with the media on Tuesday following a ton of Bengals roster moves, including a pay raise for his star edge rusher, Trey Hendrickson.

Taylor is excited to be focusing fully on football when it comes to Hendrickson and his one-year pay bump with the team.

"I think it's just great peace of mind, not only for us, but for him, to know what the situation is." Taylor noted. "We're good to go and so now he's obviously been around a lot, particularly after practice yesterday, today getting ready to go. Now, he's been in the meetings all along and he's been a guy who's really been showing up early for the meetings and had questions, and so he's been mentally preparing all along for that.

"I think now it's just okay, solidifies it that that we're ready to go. And so look forward to getting him on the practice field. I don't know if our scout team tackles know what they're in for, but it'll be good to get them out there and get them to work this week and then we can get into our Cleveland prep."

Hendrickson is joining a roster that went from 90 players to 53 over the last two days. He's eager to help create a rising tide for the defensive line ship.

"I think since, since he arrived in training camp, he's invested in the players around him, and he's got a lot of knowledge he wants to pass down. He said that to me multiple times, just about the Cam Jordans of the world and what they gave to him. And so now he's got a chance to repay the favor with some of these young guys that we have, and he wants us to have a great season, obviously.

"And so in order for that to happen, he's going to have to help Jerry [Montgomery] bring some of these guys along as well. Because we're counting on all these, all these D-linemen, the veterans, the young guys, everybody's got to play a part in this."

All in all, Cincinnati landed on its top players from training camp evals and stayed pretty healthy in the process. Safety Daijahn Anthony went on injured reserve this week with a hamstring ailment, but he's the only major injury of note so far.

Taylor updated the state of the safety room following his depth-testing injury.

"I think PJ Jules had a really good camp," Taylor said about the depth. "And so the opportunity for him to be up there and try to help us on the 53 on special teams, safety, however it shakes out, I think he's earning that opportunity. And so, Daijahn, he'll be out for the first four weeks, and we'll go from there. But I thought that was really good competition in that room, and this is the way it sorted out for us."

Cincinnati returns to practice tomorrow afternoon.