Nick Vigil sat in his locker, pitched forward, hands folded and his arms on his knees. His black hair was matted down to his scalp. Kevin Minter was massaging the balls of his feet. Both sported weary smiles.

The first day had wrapped, and they were feeling it.

Minter, the newly acquired middle linebacker from the Arizona Cardinals, literally was breaking in his cleats during the first organized team activity on Tuesday and Vigil, the second-year outside linebacker out of Utah State, saw his first extended action practicing alongside Minter and Vontaze Burfict.

Burfict ready to turn back the clock in 2017

“Definitely first day though – I’ll tell you that,” Minter said with a laugh. “Feet sore. But for the most part, it was cool. I feel like it’s a special place. They’re on another level with it right now. I’m just trying to catch up.”

Added Vigil: “The start of practice I kind of felt like I was a little shaky, kind of shaking cobwebs out, but then as practice went on I felt real comfortable. I knew what was going on. Last year when I was here you’re kind of unsure of yourself, you don’t know if you’re doing it right, but I know what I’m supposed to do and I can do it fast now. Just reacting quick, which is good.”

The 26-year-old Minter is replacing veteran Rey Maualuga in the middle of the Bengals’ base 4-3 defense, which means he has some quick studying to do regarding the calls. When it was time for his group to move off the field, rather than head to the side, Minter shadowed Vinny Rey by dropping behind the eighth-year veteran.

“I ain’t going to get just standing back there,” Minter said. “I gotta stand behind him. I gotta just go through the motions. Standing behind Vinny, he’s involved. He knows it like the back of his hand, so I’m staying in his ear, and ‘Taze.”

A four-year veteran, Minter expects it to come quickly though. He last played in a 4-3 in college, but he took over 1,000 defensive snaps for the Arizona Cardinals a year ago.

“For the most part I got a lot of this stuff, so I’m fine tuning because they do it a little different,” he said. “But for the most part I feel like I had a solid day. But it did feel like first day, I gotta get my wind up, get my feet right, get used to these cleats. It was solid.”

Minter, Benwikere quietly blending into Bengals defense

Considering it was the first time he was paired up next to Minter in an active defensive setting, Vigil felt the new addition was catching on as well.

“He sounded good,” Vigil said of Minter. “He understood what the offense was trying do. He’s been playing a long time and he’s seen it all. Nothing is going to surprise him, he’s just got to get down the lingo and kind of get in sync with everybody around him. He plays fast. He plays fast.”

As for Vigil, the 23-year-old is coming off a rookie year in which he appeared in all 16 games but only played 111 snaps on defense, per FootballOutsiders.com. He finished with 11 tackles and one pass defensed. Those snaps were far and away the most the Bengals young linebackers, but well short of the veteran quartet of Karlos Dansby (781), Burfict (674), Rey (592) and Maualuga (325).

But the third-round pick from a year ago wasn’t about to read too much into the fact he was run out there with Minter and Burfict at the start of the OTA.

“I think they just kind of want to see how people do in certain spots and they’re going to be moving people around all OTA,” Vigil said. “Vinny’s a proven guy and they know he can play all three spots so they’re just kind of seeing what all of us new guys can do. We lost some guys and we’ve got some younger guys so they’re going to see who can step up and make plays.”