CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Bengals rookie safety Daijahn Anthony didn’t waste any time making an impression Wednesday in the first practice of training camp.
On his third snap in the first session of 11-on-11 work, the seventh-round pick from Mississippi snared Jake Browning’s pass intended for Shedrick Jackson.
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The play, one of the highlights of Day 1, earned Anthony plenty of cheers from his new teammates — and an undisclosed prize.
“I think there’s something the DBs talked about,” Anthony said coyly. “I don’t know exactly, but we’ll see when we get into meetings in a couple hours.”
Whatever it is, nothing is more rewarding than making an instant impact, which is something Anthony has done along his improbable journey from a no-star recruit out of Richmond, Va., to the NFL.
"Love you" -Daijahn
"Love you, too, bro" -ZacTHE CALL to @daijahn5 | @IEL_LLC pic.twitter.com/5NiVBFZwc5
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals)
Anthony was a little surprised to see a couple of media members approach him in the cramped, auxiliary locker room at Paycor Stadium as renovations to the main locker room continued.
First, he tried to downplay the interception, crediting defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo for putting him in the right spot. Anthony, a former cornerback, eventually admitted it was a pretty cool moment — for now.
“It’s exciting to catch one, but at the end of the day, there’s still more work to be done,” he said. “I’m just really looking forward to catching a pick in the first game of the season. It starts in practice, but I can’t wait for the first game.”
After graduating from Henrico High School, Anthony attended Division II Shepherd College, where he redshirted his first year and started five games the following season. After the 2020 season was canceled, Anthony transferred to Liberty University as a preferred walk-on.
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Anthony started only four games at Liberty before transferring to Ole Miss in 2023. There, he won the starting job, earned his degree, and played in the East-West Shrine Game before the Bengals called his name in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Anthony has been climbing competition levels for seven years, but to get ready for his biggest leap in the NFL, he went back to his roots. After minicamp ended in June, Anthony went home to Richmond and focused on football conditioning by working out with high school players.
“One of [the] trainers is the strength coach there, so he got it all together,” Anthony said. “I had a whole high school receiver group, and they did releases five yards down the field. So I had to do a release and then run full speed back into another release. And they had motions where they put three on one side and two on one side. I’d motion to the other side and release down, motion back to this side and release down.”
Training camp practices are longer and more intense than OTAs and minicamp work the Bengals do, but Anthony said the work with the high school players helped the transition.
“It was kind of easy for me,” he said. “My legs got a little heavy throughout 7-on-7, but the coaches did really good rotating us. It was a good feeling being out there with my bros.”
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One Bengals player who wasn’t too excited about Anthony’s interception was cornerback Allan George, whose interception of Browning came only a few plays after the rookie’s, costing him the super-secret prize.
When George was questioned about the reward, Davis offered an emphatic “Ssshhh” from a couple of lockers away.
“It’s just competition,” George said with a smile. “We’re super competitive in our room already. Everybody is just trying to make plays. I am mad that I didn’t get the first one, though.
“But I was happy for Daijahn. I was screaming on the field. I went to block the intended receiver for him.”
After the players showered and changed after practice, they headed into meetings to watch the practice film.
Anthony knew he would hear even more cheers from his teammates in the defensive backs room than he did out on the field, but he said his interception wasn’t a play he was looking forward to rewatching.
“I really don’t want to see the good plays,” he said. “I want to see the bad plays so I know what I need to get better on. It’s just the first day out here. We’re really just focused on getting to the Super Bowl, so we need to fix the bad stuff as soon as possible.”
