Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green saw his 2016 season come to an early close due to a hamstring injury, but there doesn’t appear to be any lingering sign of the problem with Organized Team Activities underway.
Tuesday’s practice saw him make a catch down the sideline despite the attention of two defensive players, which is the kind of play that quarterback Andy Dalton has seen plenty of times over the course of his partnership with the wideout. Dalton, who joined Green as a 2011 arrival in Cincinnati said such catches don’t “surprise me anymore.”
What might be less expected is Dalton’s contention that Green is reaching new heights entering his seventh season.
“I would say he’s better than he’s been,” Dalton said, via the team’s website. “It’s the best shape he’s been in, probably. He’s fast, he’s big. He’s been doing it all. Even if you said he was the same, that’s really good.”
Green agreed with that assessment, saying that he “got better and did more and more stuff that catered to me” during his offseason work and feels “more fluid” than he did last year. He also feels that adding wide receiver John Ross and running back Joe Mixon in the draft has put the offense in position to get better after the first year of the Dalton/Green era to end without a playoff berth.