Cam Taylor-Britt tabbed Bengals’ most improved player

CTB on the rise.

In a recent article for Pro Football Focus, Zoltan Buday picked second-year cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt as the team’s most-improved player in 2023.

As Bengals fans know, Taylor-Britt was thrust into a major role as a rookie due to Eli Apple’s enigmatic play and the season-ending ACL tear sustained by Chidobe Awuzie.

Taylor-Britt was a point of contention in the fanbase last offseason. There were some who focused on his mistakes early in the season and others who pointed to his marked improvement over the course of his first year in the NFL.

Although he did make an impressive jump from a 56.1 PFF grade in 2022, his 2023 grade of 64.5 leaves room for growth. Still, most in the fanbase are behind Taylor-Britt as the CB1 moving forward. His acing of the eyeball test is backed by his 67.6 passer rating when targeted. That is the ninth-best among cornerbacks this season.

Moving forward, the hope is that Taylor-Britt will stay healthy and become more consistent. It is also hoped that his penchant for skill development will be passed off to his teammate, DJ Turner, who the team also hopes will make a big jump in Year 2.

Turner showed some nice flashes, but the rookie’s PFF grade of 51.5 was even lower than Taylor-Britt’s the previous season.

This will probably be another issue that will divide the fanbase over the offseason, but I expect both Taylor-Britt and Turner to impress in 2024 as the young secondary (including safeties Dax Hill and Jordan Battle) comes into its own.