Answering Dan Hoard’s 5 questions entering Bengals Training Camp 2026

Bengals Training Camp is a week away from getting underway on the Kettering Health Practice Fields behind Paycor Stadium. Storylines abound, and there are many questions going into camp and about the Bengals’ 2026 season.

For the second straight season, the Voice of the Bengals, Dan Hoard, released an episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast where he asked five identical questions to seven Bengals beat writers as we get ready for the grind of Training Camp.

Richard Skinner (retired Local12 columnist), James Rapien (host of First Word on The Crown, host of Enter the Jungle on Cincinnati Bengals Talk, publisher/writer for All Bengals at Sports Illustrated), Mike Petraglia (columnist for CLNS Media), Jay Morrison (writer for All Bengals and Sports Illustrated), Paul Dehner Jr. (columnist for The Athletic, host of The Growler Podcast), Kelsey Conway (writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer), and Ben Baby (writer for ESPN.com) all joined Dan Hoard on the latest Bengals Booth Podcast episode to share their answers to Dan’s five questions. After all seven members of the beat shared their answers, Dan shared his own.

Now, I’m giving you my answers to Dan’s questions. You can listen to this full episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast below.

1. What is your biggest question going into Training Camp?

I actually have three big storylines going into Bengals Training Camp this year. First, how good is the Bengals’ interior offensive line? Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims are rock solid at the tackles, but what about the inside of the Bengals’ offensive line?

Can Dylan Fairchild build on a solid rookie season? Will Ted Karras still be that rock-solid guy at center in his age-33 season? Is Dalton Risner the long-term answer at right guard? It’s going to be fascinating to see these three go up against a completely remade Bengals’ interior defensive line, with the likes of Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, B.J. Hill, and the second wave of T.J. Slaton, Kris Jenkins Jr., and McKinnley Jackson.

Iron sharpens iron, and that will hopefully be the case for the Bengals’ interior offensive line and the Bengals’ defensive line in Training Camp.

Second, who is this team’s WR3? Is Andrei Ioisvas going to break out like we kept hearing that he could in each of the last two seasons? What’s Colbie Young’s role going to be? Depth is thin behind Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Sure, there are some fun pieces in Charlie Jones and Mitchell Tinsley. But who steps up behind Chase and Higgins is a major question.

Third, are the Bengals’ edge rushers going to be a difference-maker on this team? If they are, even after Trey Hendrickson left in free agency this offseason, that would be a major accomplishment. But with Boye Mafe, Myles Murphy, Shemar Stewart, and Cassius Howell in the fold, there is an infusion of talent at a position that’s a huge value and difference-maker in the NFL.

Is Stewart going to rewrite an early narrative on his career? Is Mafe entering...