Bengals HC Zac Taylor Reveals Whether Joe Burrow, Ja'marr Chase, and Others Will Play in Their Preseason Opener Against Detroit

NFL preseason has officially arrived, and Thursday features six high-profile matchups, kicked off by the Detroit Lions visiting the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium. It's only preseason, but it's the first chance for fans to see their teams in a live setting before the regular season begins in September — and for Bengals fans, it looks like that means seeing their stars take the field. Head coach Zac Taylor revealed Tuesday that most of Cincinnati's starters will play Thursday, including quarterback Joe Burrow, wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and the team's big offseason acquisition, All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.

"It won't be a ton of time, but for our fans to come out there, they're going to see Joe, Ja'Marr, and Tee. They're going to see Dexter, Taylor said. "So they'll get a chance to enjoy some of our players there.

But how long I keep them out there remains to be seen. More news Patrick Mahomes Gets a Camp First Ahead of Chiefs Preseason Opener. More news Cardinals GM Gives Vague Answer on Michael Wilson Extension.

It's not unusual for starters to see some preseason action, but this early, teams typically prefer to sit them to avoid injury risk — and that's generally been the Bengals' approach too, until last year. Cincinnati has historically started regular seasons slowly, so Taylor opted to get his starters more preseason reps to combat that. It paid off: the Bengals won their first two games of the 2025 season, a first under Taylor.