‘Don’t Be a Meathead’ – Bengals’ Directive to Rookie Guard Dylan Fairchild Is Simple as Preseason Start Looms

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals have viewed Dylan Fairchild as a starter since the day they drafted the guard out of Georgia in the third round.

Nothing has changed since, nor will it Thursday night when the team travels to Philadelphia for its preseason opener against the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said his plan is to play the starters for about a quarter Thursday night.

Typically rookies play a little longer in the preseason to help them get acclimated to the bigger, stronger, faster action they’ll be seeing on Sundays.

But from the sound of it, Fairchild is a starter first and a rookie second.

“We have a pretty clear plan on just keeping him with that (starting) group,” Taylor said. “But over the course of training camp, if we deem that we’d like a rookie to get some more time, or a second-year player that maybe requires more time, we’re open to any of that.”

On draft night, the Bengals said the starting left guard job was Fairchild’s to win.

Nothing they’ve seen in the three months since has changed their mind.

But still, sometimes expectations have to be tempered when you’re working with a rookie, especially on the offense line.

Right?

“No,” offensive line coach Scott Peters countered. “If you're gonna be in there with the ones, you better be up to par. So we better just expedite that growth and learning curve.

“Obviously you know that going in. It's brand new for him,” Peters added. “I think he's done a good job, but we're gonna keep pushing him. And he's pushing himself.”

To his credit, Fairchild isn’t trying to push too hard, too soon.

He said his No. 1 goal entering training camp was to establish consistency, and he thinks he’s done that.

He can’t tell you which of the 10 practices was his best, or his worst.

And that’s a good thing.

“The main thing I’m trying to do is being consistently consistent and just keep climbing levels every week, every day, every period, every play,” he said.

Of course an actual game, even a preseason one, is entirely different.

It’s going to be a brand new experience and one Fairchild has put a lot of thought into in terms of how to prepare and what he wants to accomplish with a handful of friends and family members in attendance for his debut.

“You think about it and kind of meditate on what you think is going to go down and your feelings and your energy level and just remain calm,” he said. “Be patient, be calm and focus on what's important, focus on the task at hand, focus on the moment right now.”

“I want us to operate at a high level as an offense,” he added. “It's more of a group thing. It's not even about me personally. I want to operate with those guys, and I want us as a unit and as a team to operate at a high level.”

As thrilling and new as it will be, there could be a sense of familiarity when Fairchild looks across the line of scrimmage.

The Philadelphia defense features seven players from the University of Georgia, six of whom Fairchild played with while winning national titles in 2021 and 2022.

But what could be a tough decision on which former teammate to do a jersey swap with after the game isn’t going to be an issue at all.

Fairchild said his mom will be getting the jersey from his first NFL game.

One of the things the Bengals liked the most about Fairchild in the pre-draft process was physicality.

It’s been on display since he arrived for OTAs, but it went up a notch last week when the Bengals put pads on for the first time.

On the second day in pads, the Bengals held one-on-one pass rush drills, and Peters said he saw progress.

“He's a big, strong kid with good length and has good movement,” he said. “The key is just being real refined in posture and getting his timing with the strikes. But it's getting better.

“For most of the guys from college, you've got to forget about what you did there. This is like two different games. It's checkers and chess,” Peters continued. “Don't go out there like a meathead and try to head bang somebody, because it won't work. He's done a really nice job getting those things corrected. There's still a ways to go.”

When it comes to learning the nuances of the position, Fairchild couldn’t ask for better instructors.

He’s flanked by a pair of experienced offensive linemen in center Ted Karras and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who have a combined 252 games, four Pro Bowls and three Super Bowl rings between them.

“The way they come to work every day, it gives me an example," he said. "I see how they operate, so I'm going to operate in the same manner. They hold everybody accountable for the level of play that we're trying to get to. I seriously love being next to them."

Learning the playbook is one part of the job for Fairchild, or any rookie.

Learning technique is another.

But there are some things that can only be learned on the fly, such as seeing different fronts and stunts and blitzes.

It’s another reason why Taylor is pivoting to playing the starters in the preseason, to help rookies like Fairchild – and Shemar Stewart, Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter on defense – get a feel for the game in terms of what the defense is presenting and what their teammates are doing to counter it.

It’s one of the things Peters will be watching most from Fairchild on Thursday.

“Dylan is a wired kid,” he said. “He really wants to be great and works hard. He's doing a good job in there as a rookie from a fundamental perspective. Now it's just a function of seeing all the looks and developing the techniques around that. But I'm real impressed with the guy.”