Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green compared his excitement level to the "first day of school" as he and his teammates reported Tuesday for the start of the voluntary offseason workout program.
From new head coach Zac Taylor to being back in the locker room, Green certainly has plenty of reasons to embrace an uptick in the energy level with his teammates.
But there is arguably one specific area that generates a lot of enthusiasm in the seven-time Pro Bowler. And it came after Green reviewed what Taylor accomplished in his previous stint as an assistant wide receivers coach and quarterbacks coach with the Los Angeles Rams.
"Just watching the offense, just watching some of the Rams' highlights, and their playbook made it very exciting," Green told reporters Tuesday, via the Bengals' official website. "It's my first time being with an offensive-minded coach. Just him being the head coach, being in the meeting rooms going through everything, all the offensive plans, so it was very exciting for me."
The arrival of Taylor signals an alteration to what Green had grown accustomed to in previous seasons under defensive-minded head coach Marvin Lewis, who was let go after 16 seasons.
With Taylor on the Rams' offensive staff over the past two seasons, Los Angeles boasted one of the league's top units in consecutive campaigns, made the postseason twice and advanced to Super Bowl LIII before losing to the New England Patriots.
Taylor also previously worked with a diverse set of wide receivers, which includes Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, among others. Cooks and Woods each produced 1,000-yard receiving campaigns in 2018.
In Cincinnati, Taylor has one of the NFL's dynamic wide receivers in Green, who has six 1,000-yard seasons over his eight-year career. So, it's easy to see why the Bengals' No. 1 receiver is thrilled to get to work with Taylor.
"I think he's definitely going to be hands-on and I think that's good," Green said. "He's young, looks like the offense is going to be very high flying for us. We have the talent to be real good. We just got to put everything together."
To Green's last statement, Taylor was quick to point out during his Tuesday news conference that the Bengals are in the very early stages of the installation process.
Taylor, though, believes he'll have the Bengals more than ready for the start of the regular season.
"There are a lot of things I've been comfortable with and that the players are comfortable with that we want to marry together," Taylor said. "We know we all are going to be ready on Day 1 of the season, so right know you work through some kinks of it that might be new to the players.
"But most important is that it all makes sense. Does the way we are calling something make sense, and is it easy for the players to process in the long term? So that has been our starting point."
