The Cincinnati Bengals are rolling to begin the 2026 campaign, as they have opened the new season with a pair of big wins over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans. After a busy offseason, the Bengals have quickly proven that, if they can stay healthy, they will be one of the top Super Bowl contenders in the league.
Per usual, Cincy’s offense is full of stars, but one of the most important players on this unit is Pro Bowl left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. A Super Bowl champion from earlier in his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, Brown knows what it takes to win at the highest level in the NFL, and in an exclusive interview with Heavy on Bengals, he pulled back the curtain on the Bengals’ hot start, his true thoughts on Joe Burrow, and his new podcast, “Inside the Pocket.
Orlando Brown Jr. Makes Thoughts on Joe Burrow Extremely Clear
Brown is in his fourth season with the Bengals, and while he hasn’t earned a Pro Bowl selection since 2022, he has remained one of the top left tackles in the league during his time in town. For years, though, the problem for Cincinnati hasn’t been the offensive side of the ball; it’s been their defense. Over the offseason, the front office worked tirelessly on revamping the defense, and when looking at the team’s hot start, Brown believes that has been the primary catalyst for Cincy’s early success.
“I’ve got to go back and really talk about the urgency from the front office and ownership early on this offseason … and then going into OTAs and minicamp and training camp,” Brown admitted to Heavy on Bengals. “The urgency our defense and defensive staff approached every day with, it was one of the harder training camps that I’ve ever been a part of, one of the most competitive training camps I’ve ever been a part of. That’s a credit to our defense.”
Changes were certainly necessary for the Bengals this offseason, but they kept the majority of their coaching staff from the 2025 campaign intact, even though things didn’t go as planned for them last season. That continuity has been huge in Brown’s eyes, as he feels it’s given Cincinnati a head start on the rest of the league. “A lot of teams, I believe, have spent time, spent the first quarter of the season, finding their identity. We’ve kind of already established that.”
Of course, staying healthy is going to be crucial for Cincy, as it has been marred by injuries, particularly on offense, in previous years. The guy who makes things tick is Burrow, and that isn’t lost on Brown. While he’s played with other superstar quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes throughout his career, Brown confidently declared that Burrow is the best player at his position in the league currently.
“S***, that’s my quarterback. I’m riding with him until the wheels fall off,” Brown said. “I think he’s the best quarterback in football. His track record shows that, especially when it matters most.”
Orlando Brown Jr. Discusses His New Podcast ‘Inside the Pocket’
Brown has been busy on the field to begin the 2026 campaign, but he’s also begun a new endeavor off the field, as he recently launched his new podcast “Inside the Pocket,” which he co-hosts with The Wrightway Sports Network CEO Malik Wright. Podcasts have become increasingly popular among professional athletes, and for Brown, the decision to start up this new project was an easy one.
“For me, timing is everything,” Brown revealed. “I think the year we’re gonna have, and we’ve kind of already started to have, where Malik is at in his career as well, it just made a ton of sense. It’s an opportunity to share a unique perspective on the sport, not even just with things football-related necessarily, more so in a deeper dive into the mindset and the approach of others in the building, relationships with teammates, and just sharing a very unique and deeper perspective on football as a whole.”
With so many podcasts popping up in the sports media landscape, it can be tough to stand out sometimes, but that shouldn’t be an issue for Brown, given his standing as a star offensive lineman in the NFL. Fans will surely be tuning into the show throughout the season regardless of what he talks about, but Brown made it clear that he has a handful of big ideas lined up in the content department.
“We’ll be talking about a wide variety of different topics, from the understanding of preparation going into the week of a game, tidbits from things you might not hear from players,” Brown shared. “We’ll go into a deep dive of some of the people in our building behind the scenes. I think about people like our equipment staff, our trainers … some of our coaches and guys that aren’t necessarily ‘superstars’ to the outside world, but people that are important to what we build in our locker room.”
The first episode of “Inside the Pocket” was released last Thursday, with new episodes continuing to drop on Thursdays throughout the 2026 campaign. On the field, Brown and the Bengals will be looking to push their record to 3-0 when they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in their Week 3 action.
Exclusive: Orlando Brown Jr. Issues Bold Joe Burrow Message Amid Bengals Hot Start