Zac Taylor: Signing players from playoff teams “certainly helps our culture”

[Who Dey]

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The Bengals have signed eight free agents from other teams since the new league year opened and there are common threads among the group.

Six of the players are on the defensive side of the ball and two of those players — Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander — played in the same secondary for the Vikings. On Wednesday, Bengals coach Zac Taylor noted that all six of those defensive players were on playoff teams last year and said he thinks that will help boost the team toward that point.

“When you get a guy fresh off a playoff run, that’s still very fresh in his mind of how he approached the season, how they attacked it as a team,” Taylor said, via the Associated Press. “It certainly helps our culture when you add guys that have recently been playing for a championship, and obviously that’s where we intend to be very quickly.”

Signing Waynes, Alexander, defensive tackle D.J. Reader, cornerback LeShaun Sims, linebacker Josh Bynes and safety Vonn Bell won’t get the Bengals in the playoffs all by itself, but an infusion of experienced talent should make Taylor’s team more competitive at the very least.