Joe Mixon has got them buzzing with his early play.

Hey Geoff!! Love your work! I follow you and My Bengals daily! I keep hearing about my man Joe Mixon has been wowing early in training camp! I just have a great feeling about this kid! I feel like if he can stay healthy he is going to be hands down our #1 back for a long time! I get that All Day Adrian Peterson feel from him! He took his number and he's from Oklahoma as well! Do you agree!? Who Dey!? Danny McCullah, Huber Heights, OH

DANNY: Thank you for reading and for checking in. Just had a discussion with Mixon about how he spent 10 days at Peterson's home in Houston before he came to camp and he talked about how he's seen him as a mentor since his freshman year in Norman. So, yeah, I see where you can get that idea. And I agree with you. Mixon is the real deal. I think you have to think about him as a 15-to-20-carry-a-game guy with three to five catches. Right away. Sept. 10. Vs. Baltimore.

Corey Dillon was drafted 20 years ago. Let's not celebrate that anniversary by repeating history, when Dillon barely played his rookie year until the 10th game even though he was clearly the best back on the team. It cost them a play-off spot. They went 7-9 in '97 and Dillon still rushed for 1,000 yards.

That said, I think they should keep Jeremy Hill. And there'll probably be plenty of buzz about trading him late in camp, but don't do it. This guy can still help them. He's a good back, very good on the goal-line and what a perfect panacea for an offensive line in transition: a stable of three starting caliber backs in Mixon, Hill, and Giovani Bernard. Perfect. Rotate them, make sure you run it 30-35 times to take heat off the young tackles, and how much room do you think that will give A.J. Green and friends?

I understand non-contact drills but what can you possibly learn about yourselves as a team, it's not tag, if you're not going to go full out what's the point? Low hit on a teammate bad, but so are bad habits formed by playing paddy cake. John Crout, Hamilton, OH

JOHN: I'll take a wild guess and assume you're talking about the Bernard-Vontaze Burfict play on Tuesday. By the end of the period when the snap occurred, social media had already labelled the play a cheap shot.

But the sense in the building from coaches and scouts as Wednesday wore on is that it wasn't a shot at Bernard's knees and Burfict didn't try to hurt him. They pointed to Burfict perfectly playing off fullback Ryan Hewitt's block, but his feet got tangled on an offensive lineman's foot and when he fell, he instinctively put out his arms and first hit Bernard on his hip.

It was a non-contact play, but there were some snaps later in the period and in the practice that were "live," instead of just 'Thudding," the ball carrier. Burfict appeared to be trying to 'thud,' Bernard until he appeared to trip. So they don't think Tez went low on purpose.

Hitting is a hard thing to moderate in this era. They are bound by a collective bargaining agreement that has pretty much turned the old training camps of two-a-days in pads into spring ball practicing in front of crowds. They're limited to how many days they wear pads. If you do too much hitting to make up for it and key guys get hurt before you ever play a real game, how have you helped yourself? Yeah, you have to hit some, but is it worth the risk?

I know Lewis gets heat when players keep on practicing after they've been in a fight. "Look at Belichick," is the rejoinder after he throws them out of practice. But I also look at the Bengals' 14-7 record in September since 2011 and figure Marvin must be doing something right in training camp.

As always, let's go back to Paul Brown for the answer: brief, crisp practices that didn't go longer than 75 minutes and hardly had any hitting. But every practice started with a simple take-em-to-the ground tackling drill. Pair up with a guy your size and each guy do it once. Even quarterbacks.