Dan Pitcher Uses One Word to Describe What Bengals Need From Jermaine Burton

Bengals wide receiver Jermaine Burton wasn't at Sunday's practice. He's dealing with an "undisclosed injury" according to the team. It was his first missed practice of training camp, but his absence is notable.

Burton was in the locker room after practice, but declined to talk to reporters. Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher commented on Burton's progression throughout training camp.

"He made a lot of plays early in camp. Jermaine's best when you when you can get him in a true one-on-one matchup down the sideline," Pitcher said. "He can track the ball in the air. He's got tremendous ball skills, [he] didn't have a lot of opportunity to show that the other night. The single word I keep coming back to Jermaine is just consistency, right? You don't have a lot of opportunity the other night. How do we respond? How do how do we go about our day-to-day professional job? And that's that's we'll just continue to be the emphasis with him."

It's not the first time Pitcher has made it clear the Bengals need Burton to be consistent day in and day out.

The second year pro is hoping to bounce back after an underwhelming rookie campaign. He finished with four catches for 107 yards as a rookie. The Bengals took Burton in the third round (80th overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft.

He was a healthy inactive for multiple games as a rookie, including a November matchup against the Raiders. He didn't play against Las Vegas after being a "no call, no show" for a Saturday walkthrough.

Sunday was the first time Burton missed a training camp practice. He only had one catch for three yards in the Bengals' preseason opener against the Eagles, finishing with just two targets. He did have an explosive 32 yard punt return.

"When you're unable to practice, obviously that's frustrating," Pitcher said. "I just know he's day to day. So I don't know if he's going to be back out here tomorrow or when. But when you're not able to perform physically, that's only part of your job. So it's staying in the book. It's being engaged in meetings. It's doing all those things that we expect all of our guys to do."

Burton is clearly behind Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas in the wide receiver room. He'll battle Charlie Jones for snaps. The 24-year-old does have rare downfield ability that could help compliment the rest of the Bengals' weapons.

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