Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Movin' On Up
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast the We'll We're Moving On Up
- 0:11Speaker 1: edition as we take an in depth look at the
- 0:13Speaker 1: Bengals draft class with one of the best analyst in football,
- 0:17Speaker 1: Greg ko Sell from NFL Films and the ESPN Matchup Show.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Did the Bengals get it right by taking Jamar Chase
- 0:24Speaker 1: fifth overall instead of Piney Sewell? Greg ko Sell says yes.
- 0:29Speaker 1: We'll discuss that and much more. Plus I'll spend a
- 0:32Speaker 1: few minutes with second round draft pick Jackson Carmen, and
- 0:35Speaker 1: then my broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins me to discuss
- 0:39Speaker 1: the Bengals Ring of Honor ballot and answer the questions
- 0:42Speaker 1: you submitted on Twitter. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented
- 0:46Speaker 1: by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and here's a
- 0:49Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
- 0:52Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
- 0:55Speaker 1: by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod
- 1:00Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since my mom. Since Mother's Day
- 1:05Speaker 1: is this weekend, I want to take a moment to
- 1:07Speaker 1: say how grateful I am to be the son of
- 1:09Speaker 1: Diane Bailey. One of the reasons I followed my childhood
- 1:12Speaker 1: dream of becoming a sports broadcaster is that my mom
- 1:15Speaker 1: is the type of person who decides that she wants
- 1:17Speaker 1: to do something and then goes for it. Although she
- 1:21Speaker 1: did not attend college, she's been successful in multiple careers,
- 1:25Speaker 1: including interior design and buying and selling antiques. When she
- 1:29Speaker 1: was younger, she dabbled in acting, and after turning seventy,
- 1:33Speaker 1: she decided to learn how to play the cello, all
- 1:36Speaker 1: while raising five extremely lucky kids. So happy Mother's Day, Mom,
- 1:41Speaker 1: and thanks. Now let's get to football. There are a
- 1:45Speaker 1: few things more worthless than instantaneous NFL draft grades. It
- 1:49Speaker 1: generally takes about three years to have a good sense
- 1:52Speaker 1: of how productive a team's draft is, and yet every year,
- 1:56Speaker 1: the first thing I do on the Sunday morning after
- 1:59Speaker 1: the draft check out every draft grade I can find.
- 2:02Speaker 1: I just can't help myself. This year, the Bengals mostly
- 2:06Speaker 1: got b pluses and bees, and often got dinged for
- 2:10Speaker 1: not taking Penney Sewell in the first round. But one
- 2:13Speaker 1: of the opinions I value most belongs to Greg ko Sell,
- 2:16Speaker 1: and he says the Bengals got it right, all right,
- 2:20Speaker 1: This is a real treat for me and the listeners
- 2:22Speaker 1: of this podcast, an opportunity to discuss the draft and
- 2:25Speaker 1: free agency with a great Greg coo Sell. You did
- 2:28Speaker 1: in depth scouting reports on six of the players that
- 2:31Speaker 1: the Bengals wound up drafting. Let's start with Jamar Chase.
- 2:35Speaker 1: You had him ranked as the number one wide receiver
- 2:37Speaker 1: in this year's draft. In your scouting report, the word
- 2:40Speaker 1: physical appears seven times. The words strong or strength appear
- 2:46Speaker 1: six times. Is that what jumped off the screen when
- 2:49Speaker 1: you study Jamar Chase? That? And competitive? That was probably
- 2:53Speaker 1: another word that you noticed on my scouting report. I
- 2:56Speaker 1: really loved watching him. I actually watched him last summer.
- 2:59Speaker 1: I did not know that he would sit out the season. Hey,
- 3:01Speaker 1: last summer, I didn't even know if there would be
- 3:03Speaker 1: a season, So but I so I watched him last summer.
- 3:07Speaker 1: I really loved his tape. And as you know, Dan,
- 3:10Speaker 1: everything I talk about comes from just pure tape study.
- 3:12Speaker 1: I don't meet the players. I don't know all their backgrounds.
- 3:15Speaker 1: I'm sitting in my office. Last year, I was home
- 3:18Speaker 1: for obvious reasons. But I sit in my office at
- 3:20Speaker 1: NFL Films, and I watched tape and I loved Chase
- 3:24Speaker 1: this game. I loved his competitiveness. I loved the way
- 3:26Speaker 1: he defeated press coverage, which he'll do have to do
- 3:29Speaker 1: in the NFL. He play a lot of boundary X,
- 3:31Speaker 1: which means he lined up on the ball, and you
- 3:34Speaker 1: get press when you're on the ball and the corner
- 3:36Speaker 1: is closer to you, so you have to be able
- 3:39Speaker 1: to win against press. He ran a ton of slants,
- 3:43Speaker 1: and keep in mind the NFL game, Now you know
- 3:46Speaker 1: there's a ton of RPOs, there's a ton of quick game,
- 3:48Speaker 1: and you run a lot of those quick inbreakers, the
- 3:51Speaker 1: three step slants or the five step glance routes they
- 3:54Speaker 1: call them. And he could take it to the house.
- 3:57Speaker 1: He was very competitive run after cat as you saw
- 4:01Speaker 1: in my notes that I don't sit around after I
- 4:03Speaker 1: watch a player dan and say, who does he remind
- 4:06Speaker 1: me of? It either hits me or it doesn't hit me.
- 4:09Speaker 1: And I thought there was some Steve Smith in his game,
- 4:11Speaker 1: just a competitive intensity with which he played. I thought
- 4:15Speaker 1: it was tremendous. I loved his tape and I think
- 4:18Speaker 1: that he'll be a really good player, And say what
- 4:21Speaker 1: you will, but I thought, what he did at his
- 4:23Speaker 1: Pro day speaks to his commitment because he didn't play
- 4:26Speaker 1: football this year, and he came out obviously had been
- 4:29Speaker 1: training hard and had put up phenomenal Pro day numbers.
- 4:34Speaker 1: As I think you know, there was a huge debate
- 4:36Speaker 1: among Bengals fans as to whether they were team Sewel
- 4:40Speaker 1: or team Chase. Should the Bengets go for the offensive
- 4:43Speaker 1: lineman and round one or for the wide receiver in
- 4:45Speaker 1: round one? Did you have strong feelings? I did? To me,
- 4:49Speaker 1: Chase is truly special, and I think that you needed
- 4:54Speaker 1: him more that you could get an offensive lineman later
- 4:58Speaker 1: as they did. We'll discuss Jackson and Carmen shortly. But
- 5:02Speaker 1: I like Sue a lot. There's nothing not to like
- 5:04Speaker 1: about Tony Sewell. I just think when you have a
- 5:07Speaker 1: chance to get a player who is a true game breaker,
- 5:11Speaker 1: and you know the nature of the NFL now, as
- 5:15Speaker 1: you know Dan is offensively, what are you trying to
- 5:18Speaker 1: do create explosive plays? Defensively? What are you trying to
- 5:21Speaker 1: do stop explosive plays? That's the NFL game, and that's
- 5:24Speaker 1: the cliff notes version. And I just think that the
- 5:28Speaker 1: warrant receivers as good as Chase the drop off was
- 5:32Speaker 1: much bigger, whereas the drop off to me, and I
- 5:35Speaker 1: know others disagree. That's fine, you know. I like to
- 5:38Speaker 1: think reasonable people can disagree, you know. But I thought
- 5:41Speaker 1: the drop off with sewell to other tackles as you
- 5:46Speaker 1: move through the second round was not going to be
- 5:48Speaker 1: as great as the drop off for me between Chase
- 5:52Speaker 1: and the receivers that would be there in the second round.
- 5:55Speaker 1: The Bengals have two really good receivers already, and Tyler
- 5:58Speaker 1: Boyd and t Higgins beneath neither guy has great speed
- 6:02Speaker 1: and Chase does. How important is that? Well, you'd always
- 6:06Speaker 1: like to have a guy that can be a vertical
- 6:08Speaker 1: dimension and that can change the way the defense plays,
- 6:11Speaker 1: because ultimately, you know what you're trying to do. And
- 6:13Speaker 1: I think Burrow is is great at this to begin with.
- 6:16Speaker 1: This was one of the things that came out in
- 6:17Speaker 1: his interviews at the Combine when I spoke to a
- 6:19Speaker 1: lot of coaching friends of mine. Burrow is really smart
- 6:22Speaker 1: to begin with. But what you're trying to do, as
- 6:25Speaker 1: you know, is you're always trying to give the quarterback
- 6:27Speaker 1: as much information as possible before the snap of the ball.
- 6:30Speaker 1: The great ones win before the snap of the ball,
- 6:32Speaker 1: Burrow will be that guy. But now you have You know,
- 6:37Speaker 1: Higgins played a lot of X last year, but I
- 6:39Speaker 1: think Chase is truly an X. Higgins you can move
- 6:42Speaker 1: him around. We know Boyd is phenomenal in the slot.
- 6:45Speaker 1: He has been for years. So they really have a
- 6:49Speaker 1: nice trio of receivers that you know. Obviously, Chase could
- 6:54Speaker 1: also move around. You know you can. You can put
- 6:56Speaker 1: Higgins in Chase wherever you want them. So this is
- 6:59Speaker 1: now a really interesting receiving corps because Higgins is big.
- 7:04Speaker 1: Chase is not small, but he's obviously smaller than Higgins.
- 7:08Speaker 1: I'd be pretty excited if I was a Bengals fan
- 7:11Speaker 1: about this receiving corps and with Burrow coming back. We're
- 7:14Speaker 1: talking to the great Greg co Sell from NFL Films
- 7:17Speaker 1: and the NFL Matchup Show on ESPN. Let's move on
- 7:19Speaker 1: to Jackson Carmen. The Bengals traded back in the second
- 7:22Speaker 1: round and got him at number forty six. You wrote
- 7:25Speaker 1: that he can be a quality starter in the NFL.
- 7:27Speaker 1: What do you like most? Yeah, I like Carmen. You know,
- 7:30Speaker 1: it's funny. I was on a little bit of a
- 7:32Speaker 1: rampage before the draft because you always hear people say,
- 7:35Speaker 1: well he's a guard, and you heard that with Jackson Carmen.
- 7:38Speaker 1: But you know, at the end of the day, dan As,
- 7:39Speaker 1: you know, you got to line up with sixty four
- 7:41Speaker 1: offensive tackles every week. Not everybody is Joe Thomas. Not
- 7:45Speaker 1: everybody has sweet feed in the perfect length. You know,
- 7:48Speaker 1: there's just not fifty Joe Thomas's, so you gotta still
- 7:52Speaker 1: line up with tackles and Jackson Carmen. You know, actually
- 7:54Speaker 1: I believe he's from Ohio, and I think he was
- 7:56Speaker 1: a big time high school player in Ohio. You would
- 7:58Speaker 1: know that better than I. Our Field, Ohio as a
- 8:01Speaker 1: Cincinnati suburb essentially. Well, there you go. So I knew
- 8:04Speaker 1: he was from Ohio. I just don't exactly where. But
- 8:07Speaker 1: I kind of liked Carmen. I mean, you know, I
- 8:09Speaker 1: think he's physical. I think he's aggressive. People will discuss
- 8:13Speaker 1: the arm length, which is a little bit less than
- 8:16Speaker 1: what is considered ideal for an offensive tackle. I think
- 8:19Speaker 1: people like to start at thirty three inches. He was
- 8:22Speaker 1: thirty two and a half. You know, I made this
- 8:25Speaker 1: point in my notes. He kind of reminded me of
- 8:27Speaker 1: Jack Conklin coming out of Michigan State, and you know,
- 8:30Speaker 1: Conklin's a certain kind of tackle and Carmen would be
- 8:32Speaker 1: a certain kind of tackle. But I think, as I said,
- 8:36Speaker 1: with a lot more of the short passing game, the
- 8:39Speaker 1: quick throws, I believe Burrow will be the kind of
- 8:41Speaker 1: quarterback as he develops that can make an offensive line
- 8:44Speaker 1: better because of the way in which he plays. I
- 8:47Speaker 1: think Carmen is a tackle, and I think they I mean,
- 8:50Speaker 1: they drafted him to be a tackle, did they not.
- 8:52Speaker 1: He's going to compete for a starting guard spot as
- 8:55Speaker 1: a rookie, but Riley Reef only signed a one year deal,
- 8:58Speaker 1: so the expectations maybe he plays a year at guard
- 9:01Speaker 1: and then kicks out to tackle. Well, I'll tell you what.
- 9:03Speaker 1: The thing, one thing that really stood out watching this
- 9:05Speaker 1: kid was a very tenacious playing personality, very competitive, a
- 9:09Speaker 1: little nasty, which you know that always as you know,
- 9:12Speaker 1: plays well on the offensive line room. So I spoke
- 9:16Speaker 1: to former Bengals offensive line coach Paul Alexander, who some time, yeah,
- 9:20Speaker 1: he worked with Jackson Carmen to get ready for the draft,
- 9:23Speaker 1: and he told me something you'll find interesting. He said
- 9:25Speaker 1: that thirty two and a half inch measurement was incorrect.
- 9:29Speaker 1: He measured Jackson Carmen, and he said there was another
- 9:32Speaker 1: measurement done independently of him after that thirty two and
- 9:37Speaker 1: a half that was published that says that Jackson Carmen's
- 9:40Speaker 1: arms are actually thirty three and a quarter. So I wonder,
- 9:43Speaker 1: based on your film study, if he looked like a
- 9:45Speaker 1: guy who has better reach than maybe that widely publicized
- 9:50Speaker 1: thirty two and a half length would indicate. Yeah, I'm
- 9:54Speaker 1: not an offensive line guru. I'll be totally honest with you.
- 9:57Speaker 1: I mean and Paul, I know Paul Alexander, he's see phenomenal.
- 10:01Speaker 1: I don't know what that difference means, Dan, I really don't.
- 10:04Speaker 1: A lot of studies have been done. I know Joe
- 10:07Speaker 1: Banner has done studies. I'm sure all teams do studies
- 10:10Speaker 1: of over the years of if arm length is truly
- 10:13Speaker 1: a factor. I don't. I haven't done those studies. I
- 10:16Speaker 1: don't have that kind of time, you know, to do that.
- 10:18Speaker 1: I don't work for a team. But so I don't
- 10:20Speaker 1: know what the difference ultimately would be between thirty two
- 10:23Speaker 1: and a half and thirty three and a quarter in
- 10:25Speaker 1: terms of your evaluation of the player. You know what
- 10:29Speaker 1: his traits are on tape. I don't think change and
- 10:33Speaker 1: I really like the player on tape, so you know,
- 10:36Speaker 1: I think he's a really good run blocker. He's physical,
- 10:39Speaker 1: he's competitive. I thought some of his weaknesses did occur
- 10:43Speaker 1: in pass protection, and there will definitely be some as
- 10:46Speaker 1: you know, that will say, oh, he's a guard for sure,
- 10:48Speaker 1: not even don't even put him a tackle, And who
- 10:50Speaker 1: knows how that'll play out. You know, maybe he starts
- 10:52Speaker 1: at guard and he has a phenomenal year and they
- 10:55Speaker 1: feel like he's a guard. You know, it could work
- 10:56Speaker 1: out that way. Let's move on to the next two
- 10:59Speaker 1: picks in the third round. Joseph Osai from Texas in
- 11:02Speaker 1: the fourth round, Bengals first fourth round Pickcam sample from Tulane.
- 11:06Speaker 1: A couple of defensive lineman slash edge rushers. With both players,
- 11:11Speaker 1: you raved about the intensity that you saw on every snap. Yeah,
- 11:16Speaker 1: Joseph Asai was kind of nuts. I mean, he played
- 11:19Speaker 1: so freaking hard. I think he's got some work to
- 11:23Speaker 1: do to develop as a pass rusher. Don't forget, as
- 11:26Speaker 1: you probably know, the year prior at Texas, he was
- 11:30Speaker 1: a stacked backer. He was an off the ball player,
- 11:33Speaker 1: and he got moved in this past year to basically
- 11:36Speaker 1: being an on the ball outside linebacker. So you know,
- 11:40Speaker 1: I think he's got some work to do when you
- 11:42Speaker 1: talk about his ability to rush the quarterback. But if
- 11:47Speaker 1: you want to talk about a guy that plays like
- 11:50Speaker 1: his pants are on fire, I mean this guy. The
- 11:52Speaker 1: first thing you notice is how many plays he makes
- 11:54Speaker 1: just running around, and I mean unbelievable. But he's got
- 11:59Speaker 1: heavy hand ends. I think that's a good start. He's
- 12:03Speaker 1: got a strong body. I just think he needs work.
- 12:07Speaker 1: When you talk about the skill set that's necessary to
- 12:11Speaker 1: rush the quarterback, I think he needs work in the
- 12:14Speaker 1: technique of that because he doesn't have a lot of
- 12:16Speaker 1: experience doing it. You know, every once in a while
- 12:19Speaker 1: you'd see a flash where he showed some good hand usage,
- 12:23Speaker 1: where he showed some mend and ability to corner. But
- 12:27Speaker 1: those are things that need development. But you just love
- 12:30Speaker 1: his playing personality, his relentless competitiveness snap after snap. I
- 12:35Speaker 1: mean a few defensive players I looked at. I probably
- 12:38Speaker 1: looked at overall, not just defensive players, probably two hundred
- 12:40Speaker 1: and twenty five guys this year. You know, I'm a
- 12:42Speaker 1: one man scouting service, Dan, so you know I did
- 12:45Speaker 1: about two hundred and twenty five guys. So, but his
- 12:49Speaker 1: his level of intensity just you know, you love watching
- 12:52Speaker 1: the kid play football. I mean, you love to have
- 12:54Speaker 1: those guys because you can teach technique, you can teach
- 12:58Speaker 1: certain things. You it's very, very hard to teach guys
- 13:01Speaker 1: that don't play hard all the time to play hard
- 13:03Speaker 1: all the time. And did you see similar things in
- 13:06Speaker 1: Camp Sample? I loved Cam Sample by the way I mean,
- 13:09Speaker 1: And to be honest with you, he was a guy
- 13:12Speaker 1: I knew nothing about. Touline had two guys. They had
- 13:15Speaker 1: Cam Sample and Patrick Johnson. And Patrick Johnson got drafted late.
- 13:19Speaker 1: I liked him a lot too. I thought he was
- 13:20Speaker 1: better than already got drafted by the Eagles. But but
- 13:23Speaker 1: Cam Sample, I really liked his statement. He grew on
- 13:26Speaker 1: me because Cam Sample is not an explosive, oh my
- 13:30Speaker 1: god kind of player, another guy super competitive as a
- 13:35Speaker 1: pass rusher, just were lentless speed, velocity, not bendy necessarily
- 13:41Speaker 1: you know, or flexible. You know who reminded me of Unfortunately,
- 13:44Speaker 1: he weighs fifteen twenty pounds less so and that's a factor.
- 13:49Speaker 1: He really reminded me and made me think of Cameron
- 13:52Speaker 1: Jordan of the Saints. I mean, I thought he was
- 13:53Speaker 1: a very similar player stylistically, neither one or not. Guys
- 13:58Speaker 1: who wouldn't necessarily with their first movie. They wint more
- 14:01Speaker 1: with their secondary move they wint with hand placement, They
- 14:04Speaker 1: wouldn't with a feel for leverage and timing and paller.
- 14:08Speaker 1: I really liked camp Sample's game. I mean, to me,
- 14:11Speaker 1: if he was fifteen pounds heavier, he could have been
- 14:13Speaker 1: a top forty pick, you know. And and by the way,
- 14:16Speaker 1: his athletic testing numbers were really really good. All right,
- 14:19Speaker 1: let's wrap up with two more offensive lineman. After selecting
- 14:22Speaker 1: Jackson Carmen, they came back to the old line and
- 14:24Speaker 1: drafted Deante Smith to tackle a lot of ECU and
- 14:27Speaker 1: Trey Hill, a center from Georgia. How about your thoughts
- 14:30Speaker 1: on those two guys and their potential to develop. Yeah,
- 14:33Speaker 1: I think Smith is one of those guys. He's a
- 14:35Speaker 1: potential guy because he's he's long, He's got a lean
- 14:39Speaker 1: athletic frame. He does have long arms, if that matters
- 14:43Speaker 1: to me. He's a player you draft based on his
- 14:46Speaker 1: athletic and movement traits with the idea of what you
- 14:49Speaker 1: hope he can become with coaching and experience. I think
- 14:52Speaker 1: his balance was not very good. I think his body
- 14:55Speaker 1: control was not very good. You know, I think overall,
- 14:58Speaker 1: his his fundamental nique needs work. So you draft a guy.
- 15:03Speaker 1: He's got very good traits. The issue will be his
- 15:06Speaker 1: his weight from when I ready played under three hundred.
- 15:09Speaker 1: I guess he got the three oh five on his
- 15:11Speaker 1: pro day. Whether he can play at that time will tell. Obviously,
- 15:15Speaker 1: being in an NFL weight room now will be different.
- 15:19Speaker 1: But you know, there were positive signs in his game,
- 15:21Speaker 1: but I think there were also a lot of things where,
- 15:23Speaker 1: if you're an online coaches say hey, we need to
- 15:26Speaker 1: work on that. And then Trey Hill. You know, Trey Hills,
- 15:29Speaker 1: the Georgia kid, obviously played a high level of college football.
- 15:33Speaker 1: I kind of like Trey Hill. You know. Again, centers
- 15:35Speaker 1: are hard, and I'll be the first to admit they're
- 15:38Speaker 1: even They're hard for me to evaluate. But he also
- 15:43Speaker 1: you could see him at guard too. I guess do
- 15:44Speaker 1: they see him at center. I think they see him
- 15:47Speaker 1: at center, but he'll obviously, you know, cross train at
- 15:51Speaker 1: the guard end center spots. Yeah, I mean he played
- 15:53Speaker 1: a strong man's game, Dan, you know, power strength. I
- 15:56Speaker 1: mean there were someone on one blocks in which he
- 15:58Speaker 1: took d tackles to the g and we're talking to
- 16:00Speaker 1: the SEC. I think he's got some movement ability too.
- 16:04Speaker 1: You know again, centers are very hard for me to
- 16:07Speaker 1: understand as to where do they get drafted. You know,
- 16:10Speaker 1: that's one of those positions unless you're just exceptionally special.
- 16:14Speaker 1: I don't know how that works how teams see centers,
- 16:19Speaker 1: but I think another guy. You know, they drafted a
- 16:21Speaker 1: lot of guys that really play hard, and I'm sure
- 16:26Speaker 1: that was a particular thing within the organization that hey,
- 16:30Speaker 1: we want guys with a really really outstanding playing personalities
- 16:34Speaker 1: and relentless competitiveness, and you know, you've always feel you
- 16:38Speaker 1: can teach those guys some technique things, but you really,
- 16:42Speaker 1: you know, playing like that's in a guy's DNA usually,
- 16:45Speaker 1: and the Hill's another guy just like that. We're talking
- 16:48Speaker 1: to Greg Cosell. I've only got you for a couple
- 16:50Speaker 1: more minutes, so let's hit free agency real quickly. The
- 16:53Speaker 1: Bengals were big spenders for the second year in a row.
- 16:56Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson, Larry Ogan, Joebi chitabay A Wooze, Mike Hilton,
- 17:01Speaker 1: Eli Apple, Riley Reef, What are your thoughts and some
- 17:05Speaker 1: of the guys that the Bengals added. There's a couple
- 17:07Speaker 1: of names there, but I love I always loved Mike Hilton.
- 17:10Speaker 1: Loved Mike Hiltons, you know, at his best, a terrific
- 17:14Speaker 1: slot corner, and that's what he is. He's a slot corner,
- 17:18Speaker 1: arguably the best blitzing slot corner in the NFL. But
- 17:21Speaker 1: smaller guy, but tough, competitive, physical, will play the run,
- 17:25Speaker 1: willing to mix it up. Like I said, a great blitzer.
- 17:29Speaker 1: To me. When I saw they signed Mike Hilton, I
- 17:31Speaker 1: thought that was, you know, one of those under the
- 17:33Speaker 1: radar guys. No one's gonna say, wow, Mike Hilton's an
- 17:35Speaker 1: All Pro or Hall of Famer, but I just think
- 17:38Speaker 1: another guy. It just seems to me, and you know,
- 17:40Speaker 1: you're closer to the organization than I am, but it
- 17:43Speaker 1: seems to me they're really trying to build with guys
- 17:47Speaker 1: who were super competitive, you know. I mean it goes
- 17:50Speaker 1: back to their draft choice. We talked about that, Jamar Chase,
- 17:52Speaker 1: you know, great example would pick one. That they're trying
- 17:55Speaker 1: to get guys who just have relentless competitiveness and energy
- 17:59Speaker 1: and intensity and you know, it's it's really good to
- 18:02Speaker 1: have those guys. I mean, I think Hendrickson is another
- 18:04Speaker 1: great example of that. I know, he had ten plus sacks.
- 18:08Speaker 1: No one would sit here and say, boy, that guy
- 18:10Speaker 1: has unbelievable athletic and physical traits. I mean, they're obviously
- 18:14Speaker 1: above average, but I think when all said and done,
- 18:16Speaker 1: you're dealing with a guy that is super intense, super competitive,
- 18:21Speaker 1: gets a lot of secondary sacks because he, you know,
- 18:24Speaker 1: just doesn't give up. I mean, they seem to be
- 18:27Speaker 1: developing a type here. Is that something that you know,
- 18:29Speaker 1: you've talked with people about that has that been a
- 18:32Speaker 1: defining mandate within the organization, no question about it, particularly
- 18:37Speaker 1: with this year's draft. You know, last year, every player
- 18:40Speaker 1: they drafted except for one, was the captain of his
- 18:42Speaker 1: college teams. Like last year was the character year, and
- 18:46Speaker 1: this year it seems like it's the effort, motor intensity year.
- 18:51Speaker 1: I mean that's you know, you looks every draft pick
- 18:55Speaker 1: going to hit. Of course not not. That just doesn't happen,
- 18:58Speaker 1: and we can't sit here and say which ones will
- 18:59Speaker 1: or won't. But the point is is a lot of
- 19:03Speaker 1: people truly believe that playing with the intensity of a
- 19:06Speaker 1: guy like Chase or Joseph Asai or Hendrickson or Mike Hilton.
- 19:11Speaker 1: You know, talking about the free agents that that can't
- 19:14Speaker 1: be taught, that that's in your DNA, and they really
- 19:17Speaker 1: have focused on that. And again, there's many reasons why
- 19:21Speaker 1: teams win in lose. I mean, obviously, if Joe Burrow
- 19:24Speaker 1: is back healthy and becomes a great, great player. Hey,
- 19:26Speaker 1: the quarterback in this league. We know he drives a
- 19:29Speaker 1: lot of things. But you know, they're building a team
- 19:32Speaker 1: here of high intensity players and I just think it's
- 19:36Speaker 1: a general principle that's a good thing. If I had
- 19:40Speaker 1: twenty hours with you instead of twenty minutes, I would
- 19:43Speaker 1: use them all. But you've been very generous with your
- 19:46Speaker 1: time and you've got a lot of things on your plate,
- 19:48Speaker 1: so I'll let you go. Thank you so much for
- 19:49Speaker 1: doing this. I know my audience loves it. Dan, I
- 19:52Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Thanks for asking me. It's an awesome
- 19:56Speaker 1: day when you get to talk football with Greg ko Sell.
- 19:59Speaker 1: Greg was enough to send me his written scouting reports
- 20:02Speaker 1: on the six Bengals draft picks he studied this year,
- 20:04Speaker 1: including Jackson Carmen. He wrote that the Bengal second round
- 20:08Speaker 1: draft pick is quote competitive and intense with a little
- 20:12Speaker 1: bit of a nasty streak. Jackson helped lead the Clemson
- 20:15Speaker 1: Tigers to a thirty nine and three record during his career,
- 20:19Speaker 1: three appearances in the College Football Playoff and a national
- 20:23Speaker 1: championship as a freshman. For the last two years, he
- 20:26Speaker 1: started every game at left tackle, protecting the blindside of
- 20:29Speaker 1: the number one pick in this year's draft, Trevor Lawrence,
- 20:33Speaker 1: and now he's coming home. I talked to the former
- 20:36Speaker 1: Fairfield High school standout this week. So you were the
- 20:39Speaker 1: Bengal second round draft pick this year. Your Clemson teammate
- 20:43Speaker 1: and friend T Higgins was the Bengal second round draft
- 20:46Speaker 1: pick last year. And when T was drafted, he surprised
- 20:50Speaker 1: some of us by saying that the Bengals were his
- 20:52Speaker 1: dream team. We didn't realize that about him, but he's
- 20:55Speaker 1: a Bengals fan and has been for years because Aj
- 20:58Speaker 1: Green was his football hero. In your case, was this
- 21:02Speaker 1: also the dream scenario for you to get the opportunity
- 21:05Speaker 1: to play professionally so close to home, Yes, sir, just
- 21:08Speaker 1: to be able to be close to my family and
- 21:10Speaker 1: to be able to be a part of such a
- 21:12Speaker 1: rich tradition of officsive alignment and to be in such
- 21:14Speaker 1: a saying unique city in the country. I thought, this
- 21:17Speaker 1: is definitely a best case scenarios. I'm super excited to
- 21:20Speaker 1: be home. And how about the members of your family,
- 21:24Speaker 1: They're beyond excited. Words can't explain you know what I mean.
- 21:27Speaker 1: So you have a tie, a good tie to one
- 21:30Speaker 1: of the greatest offensive lineman ever to play for the Bengals,
- 21:32Speaker 1: Willie Anderson. You worked extensively with Willie in the run
- 21:36Speaker 1: up to the draft. What are some of the most
- 21:38Speaker 1: important things you've learned from him and just share a
- 21:41Speaker 1: little bit about that relationship. Yeah, Willie's been an awesome
- 21:44Speaker 1: mentor to me, and we first met at the Nike
- 21:46Speaker 1: opening in Beaverton, Oregon when he was coaching there. And
- 21:49Speaker 1: just being able to see someone who's been through it
- 21:51Speaker 1: all at the highest level and being able to learn
- 21:53Speaker 1: from him and pick apart things from his brains has
- 21:56Speaker 1: been ultimate blessing. To have someone like that in your corner,
- 21:59Speaker 1: It really is truly awesome. So I've been able to
- 22:02Speaker 1: learn things from just like mentality and professionalism and more
- 22:05Speaker 1: so like philosophical things, and also just like technique and
- 22:09Speaker 1: work and you know what, I'm saying different things that
- 22:11Speaker 1: go in tie In's office, ave line place. So it's
- 22:13Speaker 1: been really good to be able to work with coach Willie.
- 22:15Speaker 1: Did you have a strong feeling that the Bengals might
- 22:20Speaker 1: draft you? I definitely knew it was a possibility, you
- 22:24Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, from hearing a lot of different
- 22:25Speaker 1: teams and also knowing that the Bengals were projected to
- 22:29Speaker 1: be needing offensive lineman. It was definitely something that was discussed.
- 22:32Speaker 1: They made a trade in the second round, going down
- 22:34Speaker 1: from thirty eight to forty six. Did that influence you're
- 22:38Speaker 1: thinking at all? I definitely didn't know, Like I mean, like,
- 22:42Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and say like, oh, I
- 22:43Speaker 1: knew everything was gonna be perfect, but like, it was
- 22:45Speaker 1: definitely interesting to see, you know what I'm saying, what
- 22:48Speaker 1: was going on behind the scenes, and just to think
- 22:50Speaker 1: about it. But I'm glad how everything turned out. As
- 22:53Speaker 1: I mentioned, you blocked for Trevor Lawrence in college. Now
- 22:56Speaker 1: you're going to a block for Joe Burrow in the NFL.
- 22:59Speaker 1: You face Joe in the National Championship Game a couple
- 23:02Speaker 1: of years ago. Unfortunately for you, he played out of
- 23:05Speaker 1: his mind and uls you won that game, But what
- 23:08Speaker 1: were your observations of Joe in the run up to
- 23:10Speaker 1: that game and during that game and your feelings about
- 23:13Speaker 1: him now? And one of my favorite things about watching
- 23:16Speaker 1: the players being able to see how intelligent they are
- 23:19Speaker 1: and how they really just like have a feel for
- 23:21Speaker 1: the game. And when I watched Joe, just knowing just
- 23:23Speaker 1: how smart he is really just stands out, and the
- 23:26Speaker 1: decisions he's able to make and the speed and accuracy
- 23:28Speaker 1: that he plays with was really remarkable, and that's something
- 23:31Speaker 1: that obviously showed up in our game. So it's been
- 23:33Speaker 1: really cool to be able to watch his journey and
- 23:34Speaker 1: even more amazing to see how it sall came around
- 23:37Speaker 1: full circle. So I'm excited you are expected to come
- 23:40Speaker 1: in and compete for a starting spot at guard, immediately
- 23:43Speaker 1: making that transition from tackle to guard. I know you
- 23:47Speaker 1: played some guard in high school, but what are some
- 23:49Speaker 1: of the challenges associated with moving from tackle to guard?
- 23:53Speaker 1: Mostly predominantly just being more so in a three point
- 23:56Speaker 1: stands compared to a two point stands because in college
- 23:59Speaker 1: about nine my snaps with from a two point stands,
- 24:01Speaker 1: So just getting more comfortable taking snaps, taking passess out
- 24:04Speaker 1: of the three point stands and being more comfortable to that,
- 24:07Speaker 1: and also spitching over to the right side and getting
- 24:08Speaker 1: more used to as well. But I think it's gonna
- 24:10Speaker 1: be a great transition on the site of her challenge.
- 24:12Speaker 1: What will you do between now and training camp to
- 24:15Speaker 1: further prepare yourself for the NFL. I'll definitely be training
- 24:18Speaker 1: every day. I'll be working with my coaches, you know
- 24:20Speaker 1: what I'm saying here at the Bengals, and also being
- 24:23Speaker 1: able to train with guys like Coach Willie and Coach
- 24:25Speaker 1: Paul and also do many weather of all really help
- 24:28Speaker 1: prepare me for the next level. Coach Paul former Bengals
- 24:32Speaker 1: offensive line coach Paul Alexander. He told me you worked
- 24:34Speaker 1: with him about ten times last year and leading up
- 24:38Speaker 1: to the draft. Did you learn anything particularly valuable from Paul?
- 24:42Speaker 1: I think Paul's just like Coach Willie, a legend in
- 24:45Speaker 1: his own right, and being able to learn all types
- 24:47Speaker 1: of things from him as far as is off the
- 24:49Speaker 1: feeling in on the field, but on the field specifically,
- 24:52Speaker 1: I think he's just really great technique coach. It really
- 24:54Speaker 1: helps He's a great teacher. It really helps people understand
- 24:57Speaker 1: what I'm saying what exactly they're supposed to be doing
- 24:59Speaker 1: so different things in past protection and as far as
- 25:02Speaker 1: is like footwork and hand placement, I think he's done
- 25:05Speaker 1: a great job. The roster has really turned over in
- 25:08Speaker 1: the last couple of years, and there's really an impressive
- 25:11Speaker 1: young core now on this Cincinnati roster, yourself included. Do
- 25:15Speaker 1: you feel like you're kind of getting in on the
- 25:17Speaker 1: ground floor of something special? Definitely, definitely. I think there's
- 25:21Speaker 1: definitely something special clicking up here in Cincinnati and just
- 25:23Speaker 1: being able to see just all the different way you
- 25:25Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, levels of talent, whether that we're
- 25:27Speaker 1: bringing in from all positions, and also just I think
- 25:29Speaker 1: it's a really bright future for us. I know you
- 25:32Speaker 1: had back surgery in January. What did you have done
- 25:35Speaker 1: and how are you doing? I played the last five
- 25:37Speaker 1: games with twenty twenty season with a herniated disc in
- 25:39Speaker 1: my back and I had surgery in January and since
- 25:42Speaker 1: then I've done full rehab of rebilitation and training how
- 25:46Speaker 1: to pro day and honestly, I feel great. I'm far
- 25:48Speaker 1: ahead of where most people are after a surgery like that,
- 25:52Speaker 1: and honestly, I'm just super excited to be able to
- 25:55Speaker 1: get the work. Last question, Gen, you haven't signed your
- 25:57Speaker 1: contract yet, so you do not have, you know, that
- 26:01Speaker 1: nice signing bonus that I'm sure you're looking forward to.
- 26:03Speaker 1: But do you have anything in mind for your first
- 26:06Speaker 1: big purchase as a professional athlete. I think for my
- 26:10Speaker 1: first purchase, Man, probably probably just some skylines. To be
- 26:14Speaker 1: honest with you, Man, skyl has been my favorites about
- 26:17Speaker 1: the Blue Kids, be able to go back there. You
- 26:19Speaker 1: get a couple of season Cooney, some sky fires where
- 26:21Speaker 1: I'm looking forward too. It's a good answer. You don't
- 26:24Speaker 1: even have to wait for the signing bonus. If you're
- 26:27Speaker 1: watching this skyline, you know the call. The Bengals Booth
- 26:31Speaker 1: podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer. It's light and
- 26:34Speaker 1: refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. On Thursday, the
- 26:38Speaker 1: Bengals announced the seventeen former players who will make up
- 26:41Speaker 1: this year's Ring of Honor ballot. Two players will be
- 26:44Speaker 1: voted in by season ticket members and Sweet owners and
- 26:47Speaker 1: will be added to Hall of Famers Paul Brown and
- 26:49Speaker 1: Anthony Muno's to make up this year's inaugural class. I'm
- 26:53Speaker 1: proud to say that one of the seventeen Bengals Grates
- 26:56Speaker 1: on the Ring of Honor ballot is my broadcast partner
- 26:59Speaker 1: day lap them, Congratulations, my friend and joining former teammates
- 27:04Speaker 1: Ken Anderson and Ken Riley and more recent stars like
- 27:07Speaker 1: Chad Johnson and Willie Anderson on the Ring of Honor ballot.
- 27:11Speaker 1: Can you describe what it means to be on that
- 27:12Speaker 1: initial ballot? Humbling is the biggest word. You know. I
- 27:17Speaker 1: think about all those players and the first thing I
- 27:22Speaker 1: thought about when I saw the list is took me
- 27:26Speaker 1: right back to nineteen eighty one. You know, when we
- 27:29Speaker 1: had such good success. We had a lot of good
- 27:31Speaker 1: players that really jelled and played well together. You know
- 27:35Speaker 1: that year eighty one and eighty two we had as
- 27:38Speaker 1: many wins as any team in the National Football League.
- 27:40Speaker 1: You know, we won nineteen games regular season games in
- 27:44Speaker 1: those two years with strike shorten. The year was seven
- 27:46Speaker 1: and two in nineteen eighty two after a twelve and
- 27:49Speaker 1: fourth season, and you know, it made the Super Bowl
- 27:52Speaker 1: run in that nineteen eighty one season, and I mean,
- 27:56Speaker 1: all the memories of those guys, you know, it's just
- 28:00Speaker 1: it just brought back full circle, like tremendous memories. And
- 28:04Speaker 1: to be on a list with those guys was just
- 28:07Speaker 1: humbling to say the least, There's no question about it.
- 28:11Speaker 1: And you know, I just the other thing that it
- 28:13Speaker 1: did was is I looked at all the guys on
- 28:15Speaker 1: the list. It just made me realize how fortunate I
- 28:19Speaker 1: am to have played with or covered all of them,
- 28:23Speaker 1: you know, seeing them all play, it's it really has
- 28:26Speaker 1: been a pure joy in that regard to a football junkie,
- 28:29Speaker 1: you know, to be able to have lived the dream
- 28:32Speaker 1: that she had as a kid to play in the league,
- 28:35Speaker 1: and then to play, you know, a lengthy time and
- 28:39Speaker 1: be on a Super Bowl team, and then getting into
- 28:42Speaker 1: the broadcast side of it and still be associated with
- 28:44Speaker 1: the game and see all these great players, and you know,
- 28:47Speaker 1: having broadcast a Super Bowl that the team played in.
- 28:50Speaker 1: I mean, those are like all all the things that
- 28:54Speaker 1: come flooding back to me when I start looking at
- 28:56Speaker 1: the list of all these players, not only the seventeen
- 29:00Speaker 1: on the ballot, but when the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary,
- 29:04Speaker 1: when all the guys started coming back and you know,
- 29:06Speaker 1: have reunion time with all these guys, and it's like, man,
- 29:10Speaker 1: it just it brought you back to you know, quite
- 29:13Speaker 1: a while ago. Man, it brought you back to your youth.
- 29:15Speaker 1: There's no question about it was a lot of fun.
- 29:17Speaker 1: So as a season ticket holder, I'm going to have
- 29:20Speaker 1: to recuse myself because I would go lap them, lap
- 29:22Speaker 1: them with my two picks as your friend and broadcast partners.
- 29:26Speaker 1: So we are going to put Sam Horde in charge
- 29:29Speaker 1: of the Horde family ballot, and he is leaning toward
- 29:33Speaker 1: Ken and Ken Anderson and Riley, and that makes total sense.
- 29:37Speaker 1: I mean, they're obviously guys that are on the fringe
- 29:42Speaker 1: of and should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- 29:45Speaker 1: And the two candidates that are in with Paul Brown
- 29:48Speaker 1: and Anthony Munos are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
- 29:50Speaker 1: the two guys that are on the start the ring
- 29:52Speaker 1: of Honor, so that more than worthy, to say the least.
- 29:58Speaker 1: And two, you know, the Si hilarities. They played different
- 30:01Speaker 1: positions obviously, but so many similarities in terms of you
- 30:06Speaker 1: know them as people and not just football players. And
- 30:10Speaker 1: Kenny Riley was a quarterback himself, you know, in college,
- 30:12Speaker 1: so he had that he had such an unbelievable quiet
- 30:17Speaker 1: swagger to him. You know, he was tremendously confident, but
- 30:21Speaker 1: not the least bit cocky and Kenny Anderson the same way.
- 30:26Speaker 1: The Ken's are special people as well as being special
- 30:32Speaker 1: football players. Football I think it is just part of
- 30:35Speaker 1: what those guys are though. And you know, Paul Brown,
- 30:39Speaker 1: it would be proud of a lot of these guys
- 30:41Speaker 1: on all these lists because he was all about football
- 30:46Speaker 1: is just the beginning of your work life, your work career.
- 30:50Speaker 1: And he would always say, you know, now you have
- 30:53Speaker 1: a chance to go to your life's work. When your
- 30:54Speaker 1: football career was over, however was over, whether you were
- 30:57Speaker 1: cut by everybody, retired, or whatever the case may be,
- 31:00Speaker 1: and he would call it, you know, it was just
- 31:03Speaker 1: the beginning of your life's work and you have an
- 31:05Speaker 1: opportunity to begin your life's work in a very very
- 31:07Speaker 1: positive way. What are you going to do after that?
- 31:09Speaker 1: And so many of these guys, you know, reinvented themselves
- 31:13Speaker 1: and had a good run with their life after football.
- 31:16Speaker 1: I think Paul Brown would be very proud of that
- 31:17Speaker 1: as well, no question about it. The Bengals have not
- 31:20Speaker 1: announced yet what the plan will be going forward. Will
- 31:23Speaker 1: there be four more guys next year, will it be too,
- 31:26Speaker 1: will it be a player every year going forward? We
- 31:29Speaker 1: don't know that yet, but I do know that at
- 31:32Speaker 1: some point lap Them sixty two is going to be
- 31:35Speaker 1: up on that wall, and that's going to be an
- 31:37Speaker 1: awesome site. You know. You think about the fact that
- 31:40Speaker 1: you know that it's it's going to be up there
- 31:42Speaker 1: for your kids to seeing your grandkids and your great grandkids,
- 31:46Speaker 1: if you're lucky enough to be around for great grandkids whatever.
- 31:48Speaker 1: That that part of it, you know, starts to starts
- 31:51Speaker 1: to bog your mind a little bit. Um, you know,
- 31:54Speaker 1: the legacy aspect of that kind of thing. Even just
- 31:59Speaker 1: to be on the ballot is just stunning, really is.
- 32:02Speaker 1: It's a it's a stunning situation. It really really makes
- 32:06Speaker 1: you shake yourself a little bit. Well, it's a well
- 32:09Speaker 1: deserved honor and I'm thrilled for you. Thank you. Let's
- 32:12Speaker 1: move on to the draft. We've had about a week
- 32:14Speaker 1: to reflect on the ten players that the Bengals selected.
- 32:17Speaker 1: You've had some great conversations about the guys they picked
- 32:20Speaker 1: on your podcast, You're in the Trenches podcast, which is awesome.
- 32:24Speaker 1: I have been binging now for a couple of weeks
- 32:26Speaker 1: and it's great. What are some of your biggest takeaways
- 32:28Speaker 1: on this a ten player group. Yeah, I think I
- 32:31Speaker 1: think the fact that, Um, they did, you know, stick
- 32:34Speaker 1: to their guns in terms of how they had their
- 32:37Speaker 1: their board rated. I mean you look at it and, um,
- 32:40Speaker 1: seven guys in the in the pits in the trenches.
- 32:42Speaker 1: You know, it's, uh, that's that's kind of amazing. One
- 32:45Speaker 1: wide receiver for down lineman as such, three offensive lineman,
- 32:51Speaker 1: place kicker, and the running back. So in the nineteen
- 32:54Speaker 1: or the twenty twenty draft, they went three linebackers, you
- 32:57Speaker 1: know in that draft. So their board, they stayed true
- 33:00Speaker 1: to their board. And people might say, oh, you know, well,
- 33:03Speaker 1: how come they didn't draft the quarterback a cornerback? I
- 33:06Speaker 1: should say, why wasn't a cornerback drafted? I'm sure they
- 33:08Speaker 1: had every intention of maybe draft in one, but when
- 33:11Speaker 1: it got to that point, you know, the board, you're
- 33:16Speaker 1: not usually that far off, You're not fifteen picks off
- 33:19Speaker 1: in terms of guys. So you know it's the guy
- 33:23Speaker 1: goes and you pick another. And they're heavily criticized for
- 33:27Speaker 1: taking the place kicker in the fifth round. Well, you know,
- 33:30Speaker 1: when they made the trade and got the additional two
- 33:32Speaker 1: fourth round picks, it made it easier to do that.
- 33:35Speaker 1: Darren Simmons knew he had to maybe pick around higher.
- 33:37Speaker 1: He said that. So if there was one draftable kicker
- 33:41Speaker 1: in the draft and everybody had him pegged to the
- 33:43Speaker 1: sixth rounder, go ahead and get him in the fifth.
- 33:47Speaker 1: Is there a mindset and make sure you get them
- 33:49Speaker 1: and a guy that's going to put points in the
- 33:50Speaker 1: board for you and all that sort of thing. And always,
- 33:53Speaker 1: because Dan, we've been around each other for the draft
- 33:56Speaker 1: many years now, how many times have we heard the
- 33:58Speaker 1: team say we had him as a fourth round guy,
- 34:01Speaker 1: We get him in the fifth. We had him as
- 34:02Speaker 1: a fifth round guy, get him in the sixth. Who knows?
- 34:04Speaker 1: Maybe they had Hill and the kicker in the same
- 34:08Speaker 1: type of value and they got both because he'll makes
- 34:11Speaker 1: it to the sixth round, right, you know, the center
- 34:12Speaker 1: guard that could have been the case or could have
- 34:14Speaker 1: been the kicker, and somebody else that they got whenever
- 34:17Speaker 1: in the draft. So everybody's board is different. But all
- 34:22Speaker 1: you can do is trust the way you were value it.
- 34:25Speaker 1: You put a lot of time and spend a lot
- 34:27Speaker 1: of resources in doing that, So why not live by
- 34:30Speaker 1: your board? And that's what they've done. I asked somebody
- 34:33Speaker 1: from the front office the following question, how many times
- 34:36Speaker 1: when you were on the clock, or actually, how many
- 34:40Speaker 1: times when you were almost on the clock did somebody
- 34:43Speaker 1: get picked one or two spots ahead of you that
- 34:47Speaker 1: you were that was going to be your guy? And
- 34:49Speaker 1: he said that happened a couple of times. I mean,
- 34:51Speaker 1: that's the way it goes. And then you instantaneously move
- 34:54Speaker 1: on to the next guy in the list exactly. And
- 34:56Speaker 1: that's why when they traded down, they said, you know,
- 35:00Speaker 1: here's guys that we feel comfortable with. They started to go,
- 35:02Speaker 1: I'm sure you know a lot of those guys that
- 35:04Speaker 1: they were in that range, but they you never trade
- 35:08Speaker 1: down more spots than you feel you have a comfort
- 35:11Speaker 1: level of players, not just at one position, I mean,
- 35:14Speaker 1: but as a community on that draft board, all the
- 35:17Speaker 1: position groups you have to have if you're going to
- 35:19Speaker 1: trade down, you know, five spots, you have to have
- 35:23Speaker 1: five players because they could all go. I mean, look
- 35:25Speaker 1: at the run that happened on edge rushers at the
- 35:27Speaker 1: end of the first round, four out of five picks.
- 35:29Speaker 1: Look at the run an offensive lineman. When they traded down,
- 35:32Speaker 1: you know, people are like, oh, they're all the offensive
- 35:34Speaker 1: line prospects are going. They felt good about the one
- 35:37Speaker 1: that they got, felt like he might be there, they
- 35:40Speaker 1: would feel good about him, and probably another one or two,
- 35:43Speaker 1: and whichever one was there, I'm good with that, plus
- 35:46Speaker 1: the fact that I can double down in the fourth round,
- 35:49Speaker 1: you know, with my offensive or defensive line. And it
- 35:51Speaker 1: worked out for him. It worked out exactly the way
- 35:53Speaker 1: they had hoped. Yeah, had Jackson Carmen been selected in
- 35:57Speaker 1: that interim period between thirty eight and forty six, Sam
- 36:00Speaker 1: cos maybe was still on the board. Dylan Raidens was
- 36:03Speaker 1: still on the board, so there was still some highly
- 36:05Speaker 1: rated offensive linemen that they could have pivoted to if
- 36:08Speaker 1: they lost the guy they really wanted. You're right, and
- 36:11Speaker 1: you know, with Tevin Jenkins, I like him. I think
- 36:13Speaker 1: he's a good football player. I think he's gonna have
- 36:14Speaker 1: a good career. I think he's nasty. I think he's physical,
- 36:17Speaker 1: but athletically, I think that Jackson Carmen is a better athlete.
- 36:23Speaker 1: I think I think Jenkins started to slide a little
- 36:26Speaker 1: bit based on maybe that not slide. I mean a
- 36:29Speaker 1: lot of people had him. I didn't think he'd be either.
- 36:31Speaker 1: I thought he'd be a first round pick, and for
- 36:33Speaker 1: him to have been there, it was like wow, you
- 36:35Speaker 1: know so, but a lot of these linemen that I
- 36:39Speaker 1: talked to people around the league about that I can
- 36:41Speaker 1: trust with respect offensive line evaluation. They were like, is
- 36:45Speaker 1: so and so going to be there at thirty eight?
- 36:48Speaker 1: Cross your fingers and hope? So how about this guy?
- 36:50Speaker 1: How about that guy? So they were all in that
- 36:52Speaker 1: category and there was a handful. So they felt comfortable
- 36:57Speaker 1: enough to move back spots where they felt like there
- 36:59Speaker 1: was going to be one their form and then pick
- 37:01Speaker 1: up the two fourths, I mean, getting two of those
- 37:03Speaker 1: fourth round picks when they liked they had three of
- 37:06Speaker 1: four prospects, and they got three of them in that
- 37:09Speaker 1: fourth round. They had four prospects identified that they'd really
- 37:12Speaker 1: like to have left the draft with and they walk
- 37:15Speaker 1: out with three. That's pretty darnstrong. Do you know who
- 37:18Speaker 1: the fourth was? Do you? I don't. I don't either.
- 37:23Speaker 1: You've got an impish grins. I don't know if you're
- 37:24Speaker 1: telling me the truth. In any case, I pointed the
- 37:28Speaker 1: LAP signal into the nighttime sky above Paul Brown Stadium
- 37:31Speaker 1: this week, and that means we've got asked lap questions
- 37:33Speaker 1: that were submitted via Twitter. Let's start with this question
- 37:36Speaker 1: from Dale, who's the starting offensive line in Week one? Yeah,
- 37:40Speaker 1: that's a great question, you know. I think obviously they
- 37:43Speaker 1: say that they're gonna put Jackson Carmen in there at
- 37:47Speaker 1: the right guard position. They've slotted him for that. Trey
- 37:50Speaker 1: Hopkins is how how good is that acl going to
- 37:54Speaker 1: be in week one? Will he be able to line
- 37:56Speaker 1: up and play right away in the first week if
- 37:59Speaker 1: he's healthy. I think he does so at the right
- 38:03Speaker 1: offensive tackle position. Riley Reef is going to be penciled
- 38:06Speaker 1: in there, Jonah Williams at left tackle, and I think
- 38:10Speaker 1: that either a Chemo Dentagy or Xavier suea Filo are
- 38:14Speaker 1: my two possibilities at the at the left guard position
- 38:17Speaker 1: over Clintin Spain. I think Quintin he's he's in the mix.
- 38:21Speaker 1: He's in the mix as well. You know. Sue Philo
- 38:24Speaker 1: is an interesting guy. Watch him and it's it's like
- 38:29Speaker 1: he's very smart. Uh, he's he's It's it's weird. I
- 38:33Speaker 1: could see him getting released or I could or I
- 38:35Speaker 1: could see him being the guy because physically I watch
- 38:38Speaker 1: him and it's like he looks like he's in pain,
- 38:40Speaker 1: you know, with his movement and that that's a concern.
- 38:43Speaker 1: Um So, yeah, I mean Quentin Spain's in that mix.
- 38:46Speaker 1: I think that left guard position is you know, is
- 38:49Speaker 1: going to be the interesting one to watch because it's
- 38:51Speaker 1: going to be a battle Royale. As Michael Jordan, a
- 38:53Speaker 1: chemodenagy Uh Sue Philo might be in the mix there,
- 38:57Speaker 1: Quentin Spain might be in the mix there. UM know
- 39:00Speaker 1: that that one, that one could be I think the
- 39:03Speaker 1: most interesting of all the spots. I do hope that
- 39:06Speaker 1: that Frank Pollock works with Jonah Williams on keeping the
- 39:10Speaker 1: width of the pocket. Jonah is a is a fantastic
- 39:13Speaker 1: athlete and he can widen the pocket. He has a
- 39:16Speaker 1: habit of taking his set a little bit too vertical
- 39:19Speaker 1: and turning and given a soft edge and shrinking the
- 39:22Speaker 1: width of the pocket. So if he can somehow work
- 39:25Speaker 1: with him on widening the tackles responsibilities to keep the
- 39:29Speaker 1: pocket wide, the center and guards responsibilities to keep the
- 39:31Speaker 1: pocket deep. So if that's that's what Jonah really needs
- 39:36Speaker 1: to work on, and it's gonna I think it's gonna
- 39:39Speaker 1: be a battle royal. Though you look at the guys
- 39:41Speaker 1: that they drafted there, they're going to be thrown into
- 39:43Speaker 1: mix and compete. Um Identagy I think is going to
- 39:46Speaker 1: be in the in the competition, Billy Preisle being in
- 39:51Speaker 1: the interior. I mean, it's it's uh. They They've got
- 39:54Speaker 1: plenty of bodies. It's not like they're short of bodies.
- 39:56Speaker 1: Fred Johnson is still out there on the edge competing,
- 39:59Speaker 1: and he's he's played some guard. The thing is too,
- 40:02Speaker 1: that the position versatility aspect of it. So many guys
- 40:06Speaker 1: can play more than one position, So it could be
- 40:09Speaker 1: that the spots that they line up initially to start
- 40:12Speaker 1: training camp, they don't end up at to start the
- 40:15Speaker 1: start the regular season. I think Frank Pollock is the
- 40:18Speaker 1: kind of guy I'm putting my five best out there.
- 40:21Speaker 1: It's going to be open season guys, open competition. But yeah,
- 40:25Speaker 1: I think Sue Philo, I think is going to be
- 40:28Speaker 1: a huge X factor. Like I said, I could see
- 40:30Speaker 1: him maybe getting snaps or maybe not even making the
- 40:33Speaker 1: team and everything in between. It's he's going to be
- 40:35Speaker 1: an interesting guy to watch. The next question comes from
- 40:39Speaker 1: Steve Oh. What position might the Bengal still targeting free agency?
- 40:44Speaker 1: You know, you think that I was thinking at some
- 40:46Speaker 1: point they would draft a corner, you know, And I
- 40:50Speaker 1: don't know what they're how happy they are with the
- 40:52Speaker 1: college free agents that they've signed at some of these positions,
- 40:56Speaker 1: but if there's a veteran corner out there that lowers
- 41:00Speaker 1: his price tag. And June first is another big date
- 41:05Speaker 1: because you know, that's the new cap year, so everybody's
- 41:09Speaker 1: salary cap changes after June first. That's why you hear
- 41:12Speaker 1: a lot of these guys, oh well, you know, the
- 41:14Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers thing will heat up and after June first,
- 41:17Speaker 1: such and sexual heat up after June first, because it's
- 41:19Speaker 1: a whole new fiscal year as such. So if the
- 41:22Speaker 1: Bengals are really serious about somebody, you know, it'd be
- 41:25Speaker 1: good to be able to get it done before June first,
- 41:27Speaker 1: when there's more teams in the bidding process, more teams
- 41:31Speaker 1: in the party. So if they do have somebody identified,
- 41:34Speaker 1: I'd like to see them, you know, try to get
- 41:36Speaker 1: it done in a timely fashion. The other part of
- 41:39Speaker 1: it is, I do think that their biggest priority right
- 41:42Speaker 1: now Bates and Hubbard. You know, they want to make
- 41:44Speaker 1: sure that they've got money set aside to extend those guys.
- 41:47Speaker 1: They don't want them going into the last year of
- 41:49Speaker 1: their contract and then playing lights out and it's like
- 41:52Speaker 1: she's now, we can't afford them, you know, they have
- 41:55Speaker 1: a habit of extending, So in my mind, I think
- 41:58Speaker 1: the first thing they always think of is take care
- 42:00Speaker 1: of the Rome that have performed for them. So I
- 42:02Speaker 1: think priority number one will be the extension of one
- 42:06Speaker 1: or two of those guys, potentially before signing other guys
- 42:08Speaker 1: free agents. That's a great point. I think that's one
- 42:11Speaker 1: of the reasons why sometimes people look at the Bengal
- 42:13Speaker 1: salary cap situation and say, boy, they still have plenty
- 42:17Speaker 1: of money left, why aren't they spending it on somebody? Well,
- 42:19Speaker 1: they do. They just wait until training camp is just
- 42:23Speaker 1: about over and then extend their own guys to put
- 42:26Speaker 1: some of that signing bonus toward that year's cap, which
- 42:30Speaker 1: is a very smart way of doing business. As for
- 42:32Speaker 1: positions that they might still sign somebody at this year,
- 42:36Speaker 1: I think they could still use a veteran linebacker. I
- 42:38Speaker 1: think we talked in a previous podcast about the notion
- 42:40Speaker 1: of bringing Josh Binds back. Maybe that happens. Maybe I
- 42:44Speaker 1: don't know, Quan Alexander's still out there, somebody like that,
- 42:47Speaker 1: but I think they could still use a vet at
- 42:49Speaker 1: that position. Group. I agree with you, Dan, you know,
- 42:52Speaker 1: I think that I think the young linebackers have all
- 42:54Speaker 1: shown that they're capable, but they're still still green. You know,
- 42:59Speaker 1: they're still developed. And year one to year two is
- 43:02Speaker 1: a is a real big development year. There's no question
- 43:05Speaker 1: about that. I mean, in terms of I shouldn't stay development,
- 43:08Speaker 1: I should say, you know, you start to understand the game,
- 43:13Speaker 1: the game slows down, you see things you know more
- 43:16Speaker 1: differently than you did as a as a rookie player.
- 43:19Speaker 1: But still there's there's nothing better than having a veteran
- 43:25Speaker 1: presence at any position group when it hits the fan
- 43:29Speaker 1: because those guys have been there, done that, They've seen it,
- 43:32Speaker 1: they know how to attack it. You know, what do
- 43:35Speaker 1: we have to do to solve this problem that that
- 43:38Speaker 1: kind of experience on game day I think is very invaluable.
- 43:42Speaker 1: All Right, the next question I'm going to combine to
- 43:44Speaker 1: Rob asked, are you expecting a winning record this season?
- 43:48Speaker 1: Roar Sports Media asks what's a reasonable number of wins
- 43:51Speaker 1: to expect if the Bengals stay reasonably healthy. You know,
- 43:55Speaker 1: you look at the division. Everybody's shooting the horn for
- 44:00Speaker 1: Cleveland as a Super Bowl contender, and uh, you know,
- 44:03Speaker 1: Barry has done a tremendous job up there. There's no question.
- 44:06Speaker 1: He's he's really got himself a coach that he feels
- 44:09Speaker 1: comfortable with, and I think has done a pretty darn
- 44:11Speaker 1: good job in the draft and free agency the last
- 44:14Speaker 1: couple of years. So that that organization, you know, had
- 44:18Speaker 1: high picks for such a long period of time, was
- 44:20Speaker 1: a matter of time before you start to hit on
- 44:22Speaker 1: some of them. And I think they started to do that,
- 44:25Speaker 1: and they've They've got the right mix of talent and coaching,
- 44:28Speaker 1: I think, to bring themselves to another level. So I
- 44:33Speaker 1: think with good reason, they're highly regarded. And we know
- 44:37Speaker 1: what Baltimore is like in Pittsburgh with Ben you know,
- 44:40Speaker 1: I mean Pittsburgh's Pittsburgh. They've never had a losing season
- 44:44Speaker 1: with Mike Tomlin as the head coach. Never, So division's tough.
- 44:48Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you go two and four in
- 44:52Speaker 1: the division, you may have played some pretty good football,
- 44:55Speaker 1: and you know, your two games under five hundred just
- 44:57Speaker 1: from the division alone. So I mean, if they if
- 45:00Speaker 1: they create to the five hundred mark, I mean, if
- 45:02Speaker 1: they are if they're an eight and eight football team,
- 45:05Speaker 1: yeah that's right, eight and nine, yeah, yeah, So if
- 45:09Speaker 1: they if they creep toward that, that type of scenario. Um,
- 45:14Speaker 1: you know, I could see, I could see some some
- 45:18Speaker 1: reason to have optimism, particularly if they're in every game
- 45:23Speaker 1: you know, they avoid getting torched. You know, you should
- 45:27Speaker 1: be beyond the point of having somebody put up over
- 45:31Speaker 1: five hundred yards on you and forty points and you know,
- 45:35Speaker 1: not being able to get anything done offensively and not
- 45:38Speaker 1: score a touchdown. You know, those games, those days should
- 45:41Speaker 1: be long gone. So um, you know you can you
- 45:45Speaker 1: can see that they'll there should be vast improvement and
- 45:49Speaker 1: it should dictate in the record. I mean, you know,
- 45:51Speaker 1: eight wins is doubling their win total from last year.
- 45:53Speaker 1: They went from two to four, go four to eight,
- 45:56Speaker 1: and then you know, pretty soon you're climbing that ladder
- 45:58Speaker 1: of success. But the division's tough. I mean, it's it's
- 46:03Speaker 1: as tough a division as there is in football. So
- 46:05Speaker 1: it's it's no easy task too. If they could go
- 46:09Speaker 1: five hundred in the division, three and three in the division,
- 46:12Speaker 1: that would be a great sign. That would be a
- 46:14Speaker 1: great sign that they're, you know, they're starting to get
- 46:17Speaker 1: what they need to get because that AFC North can
- 46:20Speaker 1: be a battle on a week to week basis. Yeah,
- 46:22Speaker 1: you nailed it all three of those teams made the
- 46:24Speaker 1: playoffs last year, so it's very hard to come away
- 46:27Speaker 1: with a great record within your own division. In the
- 46:29Speaker 1: AFC North, based on opponents record last year, the Bengals
- 46:33Speaker 1: have the sixth toughest schedule in the NFL, and the
- 46:36Speaker 1: AFC North is a big part of that. Their opponents
- 46:39Speaker 1: this coming year went one forty four and one twenty
- 46:42Speaker 1: eight last year. And in addition to the AFC North,
- 46:45Speaker 1: you throw in one of the Super Bowl teams, Kansas City,
- 46:48Speaker 1: you throw in the team that hosted the NFC Championship game,
- 46:51Speaker 1: Green Bay. That's eight games. That's nearly half year schedule.
- 46:54Speaker 1: So I do think a winning record or a game
- 46:57Speaker 1: under five hundred now that it's a seventeen game schedule
- 47:00Speaker 1: would be a good target for this next season. And
- 47:04Speaker 1: then the following year is when you try to get
- 47:06Speaker 1: hope to be back into playoff contention. All right, next
- 47:09Speaker 1: question from Greg, who's the Bengals' biggest steal in this
- 47:13Speaker 1: year's draft? You know, that's that one's going to be
- 47:16Speaker 1: interesting because until you get these guys here and start,
- 47:20Speaker 1: you know, working them out and seeing what they really are.
- 47:23Speaker 1: But I've got I've got a feeling about this wired
- 47:27Speaker 1: Huber guy, you know, I mean I think that this
- 47:30Speaker 1: kid is I think he's got he's got something to him.
- 47:34Speaker 1: Thirty four tackles to lost, twenty twenty quarterback sacks and
- 47:40Speaker 1: they let him, you know, go up and down the
- 47:42Speaker 1: line of scrimmage an attack on his own. I mean,
- 47:45Speaker 1: if they get fifteen snaps a game as an edge
- 47:50Speaker 1: rush in some way, shape or form from this guy,
- 47:52Speaker 1: and special teams snaps as well, that's great value for
- 47:56Speaker 1: a seventh round pick, you know. So, I mean I
- 47:59Speaker 1: think when I look at but I think, boy, potentially
- 48:02Speaker 1: there's a guy that could that could really give them
- 48:06Speaker 1: a lot more than most seventh round picks would be
- 48:08Speaker 1: given their football team. I also look at Trey Hill
- 48:12Speaker 1: and I think, all right, he may not if Trey
- 48:18Speaker 1: Hopkins is not available at the center position. What if
- 48:21Speaker 1: this kid shows that he's capable, or if he shows
- 48:25Speaker 1: that he can compete a guard, he may be another
- 48:26Speaker 1: candidate to play left guard. Like I think he's as
- 48:30Speaker 1: a sixth round guy, I think there's some some vast
- 48:33Speaker 1: potential there. I think Deante Smith is more of a
- 48:36Speaker 1: developmental guy, you know. I think other guys, you know,
- 48:40Speaker 1: like Sample and Shelvin. I mean, they've got they've already
- 48:43Speaker 1: got roles identified for those guys. I think, and some
- 48:46Speaker 1: of these other guys are like, don't don't exactly know,
- 48:50Speaker 1: you know, what they're going to be able to give us,
- 48:51Speaker 1: But if they can give us these kind of things, wow,
- 48:54Speaker 1: that would be pretty exciting. I'm gonna say, Joseph Osi,
- 48:58Speaker 1: now he's a third round draft picks. It's hard to
- 49:00Speaker 1: really look at a guy taking that high as a
- 49:02Speaker 1: steel but just based on where he was generally rated
- 49:05Speaker 1: in comparison to where the Bengals got him. The Athletics
- 49:09Speaker 1: consensus board where they took like fifty big boards and
- 49:12Speaker 1: then came up with a number had him as forty
- 49:15Speaker 1: two overall. That would be the tenth pick in the
- 49:17Speaker 1: second round. The Bengals got him with a fifth pick
- 49:19Speaker 1: of the third round, so that's basically an entire round
- 49:22Speaker 1: after where he was rated, right, And I think, I mean,
- 49:25Speaker 1: I think they have big plans for him, and I
- 49:26Speaker 1: think he's going to live up to those plans. Sometimes guys,
- 49:29Speaker 1: for whatever reason, runs on positions are made, you know,
- 49:33Speaker 1: like and the run was made before your value came up,
- 49:37Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden another run's not made
- 49:40Speaker 1: until Wow, you should have gone sooner, but you didn't
- 49:43Speaker 1: go when that first run happened, and you were one
- 49:45Speaker 1: of the first guys left. But other positions right, and
- 49:48Speaker 1: then you your position came up again. And that's how
- 49:51Speaker 1: guys end up sliding around. And it's not it's not.
- 49:54Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with their ability and their talents.
- 49:57Speaker 1: It's just you know, mathematics, nature of the board, the
- 50:00Speaker 1: nature of needs, the nature of what teams are, how
- 50:03Speaker 1: they've stacked their boards or whatever. But yeah, I mean
- 50:06Speaker 1: this this guy, he's got the fastest ten yard time
- 50:09Speaker 1: in the draft, you know from the edge guys. That's
- 50:11Speaker 1: that's some explosiveness right there. And I do think he's
- 50:15Speaker 1: he's slightly stiff in his hips a little bit, you know,
- 50:18Speaker 1: but I think, man, he's and he's a guy like
- 50:22Speaker 1: has been talked about. You've mentioned it more than one
- 50:24Speaker 1: s Dan Effort, you know, play with your hair and
- 50:27Speaker 1: fire man. He's one of those guys. And he's he
- 50:30Speaker 1: might be nubro Uno in terms of those guys. And
- 50:34Speaker 1: that's that's another reason I like, uh, you know, I
- 50:36Speaker 1: like this this kid why Hubert in the seventh round,
- 50:39Speaker 1: He's he's like that. You know, they they give him
- 50:42Speaker 1: a comp of Hendrickson the same type of dimensions body
- 50:45Speaker 1: type wise in the way they play and um, there's
- 50:49Speaker 1: nothing wrong with effort, guys. And in football in general
- 50:53Speaker 1: and particularly THEFC North, you have to run the ball
- 50:56Speaker 1: and have some sort of a running games monica so
- 51:00Speaker 1: you can throw it, and then defensively you have to
- 51:02Speaker 1: stop the run to have the right to rush the passer.
- 51:05Speaker 1: They only had seventeen sacks. Why because they were sieve
- 51:09Speaker 1: and the run. You know, you have to stop the
- 51:11Speaker 1: run and and generate the right to rush the passion.
- 51:15Speaker 1: And they should have a lot more weapons on the
- 51:17Speaker 1: edge to be able to rush the pastor this year.
- 51:19Speaker 1: The next two questions are similar. Jordan asks, what's the
- 51:22Speaker 1: difference between Frank Pollock and Jim Turner's techniques and teaching style?
- 51:26Speaker 1: MT asks our offensive line positions the easiest to coach up,
- 51:31Speaker 1: not that it's easy, but where coaching can make a
- 51:34Speaker 1: world of difference. Yeah, I think I think coaching can
- 51:37Speaker 1: make a world of difference in the offensive line, and
- 51:39Speaker 1: I think implementation of techniques are big and I think
- 51:43Speaker 1: that Frank Pollock, having played nine years in the league
- 51:46Speaker 1: understands that everybody type is different. Some guys are high waisted,
- 51:50Speaker 1: short arms. Some guys are, you know, long arms and
- 51:53Speaker 1: not much of an upper body but have long legs.
- 51:56Speaker 1: Some guys don't have any length of their legs. But
- 51:58Speaker 1: you know, it's it's and it's everything in between. And
- 52:01Speaker 1: you know, the magic number is thirty three in terms
- 52:04Speaker 1: of arm length to play tackle. While there are tackles
- 52:07Speaker 1: they're in the Hall of Fame that don't have thirty
- 52:09Speaker 1: inch arm length, and some of them, your arms didn't
- 52:13Speaker 1: make any difference because you had to put your fists
- 52:15Speaker 1: in your chest and you couldn't use your hands or
- 52:17Speaker 1: your arms, so it didn't matter how long your arms
- 52:18Speaker 1: were back then. But now that you're able to extend
- 52:21Speaker 1: your hands and you know, attack people that way, arm
- 52:25Speaker 1: length is a big deal. But a lot of these
- 52:27Speaker 1: guys overcome short arms with unbelievable feet because they're in
- 52:32Speaker 1: a phone booth because their arms are shorter, so they're
- 52:34Speaker 1: going to be guys are going to get into them
- 52:36Speaker 1: as such. And now you're you're in a war in
- 52:39Speaker 1: a phone booth and you're battling, and who's got feet
- 52:42Speaker 1: to stay balanced, Who's who's on the ground who's not
- 52:44Speaker 1: on the ground, So you're a lot of these guys
- 52:48Speaker 1: get to this level and have overcome their short arms
- 52:50Speaker 1: because of their excellent feet. Sometimes it's vice verse. The
- 52:53Speaker 1: guy didn't have great feet, looks like his feet are
- 52:55Speaker 1: in concrete. You've got thirty five inch arms, so he
- 52:58Speaker 1: can recover with his arms and then his feet come.
- 53:01Speaker 1: The guys with the short arms were covered with their
- 53:03Speaker 1: feet and then their arms come. It's so you make
- 53:05Speaker 1: up for your deficiencies. And and I think Frank pollits
- 53:10Speaker 1: techniques and his implementation of them, his understand He has
- 53:14Speaker 1: an acute understanding of not everybody's the same because he
- 53:18Speaker 1: played nine years in the league and he saw different
- 53:20Speaker 1: kinds of body parts and types and all that. So
- 53:23Speaker 1: it's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna suggest this this work
- 53:27Speaker 1: for this guy who's built similar to you. So I'm
- 53:31Speaker 1: not going to make you do a technique just because
- 53:33Speaker 1: I think this is the way it's got to be done.
- 53:36Speaker 1: You know, I'm going to mollify, modify, adjust what i'm
- 53:40Speaker 1: doing to work with your body. And I think that's
- 53:43Speaker 1: where Frank has a very good understanding, and I think
- 53:47Speaker 1: that's where the players are going to respond to him
- 53:49Speaker 1: big time with that. What was your wingspan coming out
- 53:52Speaker 1: of Syracuse in the seventy four NFL draft. That's a
- 53:54Speaker 1: good question. They didn't, they didn't do that stuff. It
- 53:57Speaker 1: was it's it's it's so when I think back, I mean,
- 54:02Speaker 1: my gosh, man, the Senior Bowl was there were there
- 54:07Speaker 1: were owners, there, there were head coaches, there, there are gms, there,
- 54:11Speaker 1: there are line When we did one on one pass rush,
- 54:14Speaker 1: it was like I'm looking at it's who's who the
- 54:16Speaker 1: NFL it was because there was you know, there was nothing,
- 54:20Speaker 1: there was no it there were no cell phones, there
- 54:22Speaker 1: wasn't there wasn't anything. It was it was crazy and
- 54:25Speaker 1: uh yeah, they I never really remember getting my wingspan
- 54:30Speaker 1: measured as such. It's a good question. You look like
- 54:33Speaker 1: about a thirty three and three quarter got of me.
- 54:37Speaker 1: Next question comes from Adam. How improved should the defensive
- 54:40Speaker 1: line be this year? You know, when you look at it,
- 54:44Speaker 1: it should be you know, you've you've added you've added
- 54:47Speaker 1: much more talent. You know, let's face it. The guys
- 54:51Speaker 1: that they were rolling in there at the end of
- 54:53Speaker 1: the season, they literally got off the street and there
- 54:56Speaker 1: are effort guys. I'm not saying that they weren't, you know,
- 54:58Speaker 1: just punching o'clock and just getting through. They were given
- 55:01Speaker 1: everything they've got, but you know, they just they just
- 55:04Speaker 1: weren't uh NFL starting caliber players in some cases that
- 55:09Speaker 1: they were thrown out there and they got they got
- 55:11Speaker 1: taken advantage of in some cases as well. So you
- 55:15Speaker 1: look at the depth and what they what they've done
- 55:17Speaker 1: and uh and created creating that depth, they should be
- 55:21Speaker 1: much better defensively. I mean, DJ Reader, hopefully we'll have
- 55:24Speaker 1: a full season. Um Ogland. Joeby is going to be
- 55:29Speaker 1: a factor. Obviously, Trey Hendrickson's going to be a factor,
- 55:33Speaker 1: There's no question about that. And then what they did
- 55:36Speaker 1: in the draft, you know, getting four guys, there's there's
- 55:38Speaker 1: seven players right there. How many of they're gonna keep?
- 55:41Speaker 1: Are they going to keep nine? We're gonna keep ten? Um.
- 55:46Speaker 1: You know, you've got you other guys that uh you
- 55:49Speaker 1: know that were injured during the course of the season,
- 55:52Speaker 1: that that didn't didn't finish, uh finished the year. UM Wren,
- 55:58Speaker 1: you know, Wren has got some evential Wren he went
- 56:01Speaker 1: down early with a tell attendon issue. I mean that
- 56:05Speaker 1: that's those type of injuries or severe. Obviously, Daniels is
- 56:10Speaker 1: still out there and they brought him back to Cincinnati
- 56:14Speaker 1: and uh and got him, you know, taking care of
- 56:17Speaker 1: So there's some depth there. Gino's still out there. You
- 56:20Speaker 1: look at the list, he's kind of down in terms
- 56:23Speaker 1: of the veterans that are still out there in free agency,
- 56:25Speaker 1: and a lot of that is he probably still wants
- 56:27Speaker 1: too much money, so you know, there's there's things that
- 56:31Speaker 1: it can be tweaked, but there's no doubt in my
- 56:33Speaker 1: mind that I think on a snap by snap basis,
- 56:37Speaker 1: they'll be putting a much better product out there as
- 56:39Speaker 1: a whole from a defensive line perspective than they did
- 56:42Speaker 1: last year. I mean, DJ Reader and Larry Ogan Jobi
- 56:46Speaker 1: is such a huge upgrade over what they wound up
- 56:49Speaker 1: having to play a defensive tackle for most of the year,
- 56:52Speaker 1: and God love Gino for trying. I have so much
- 56:54Speaker 1: admiration for him for gutting it out with that bad
- 56:56Speaker 1: shoulder injury, but unfortunately, playing one armed, he was completely
- 57:00Speaker 1: ineffective and it was hard to watch. It was I mean,
- 57:03Speaker 1: they they they struggled, and you know, you look at
- 57:06Speaker 1: uh Um, you look at guys like Xavier Williams and
- 57:11Speaker 1: Christian Covington, and they gave everything, everything they had, but
- 57:15Speaker 1: you know it just wasn't just wasn't quite quite enough.
- 57:19Speaker 1: You know. Freedom. However, you're taking mullin doon. There you go. Freedom.
- 57:26Speaker 1: Uh but you know Tupa, you know, with with him
- 57:29Speaker 1: coming back after opting out last year, that that's another
- 57:32Speaker 1: big body guy. Why body guy that they could have
- 57:35Speaker 1: used last year a big time. Uh. They they've got
- 57:37Speaker 1: some space eaters. There's there's absolutely no question about it.
- 57:41Speaker 1: And I'm very interested in seeing Tyler Shelvin um how
- 57:45Speaker 1: that guy will impact it. I think I think he's
- 57:49Speaker 1: gonna he's gonna give them a lot of quality snaps.
- 57:51Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be tougher to run on this
- 57:54Speaker 1: football team. Uh, inside between the tackles. And it was
- 57:57Speaker 1: last year, last year it was open season. This year,
- 58:00Speaker 1: I think you need a hunting license. We'll see. The
- 58:03Speaker 1: next question comes from Dustin. Do you see a scenario
- 58:07Speaker 1: in which rookie running back Chris Evans gets a lot
- 58:09Speaker 1: of plays in the slot. It seems like we are
- 58:12Speaker 1: somewhat light in depth in the wide receiver room. Yeah,
- 58:15Speaker 1: I mean, depending on what kind of uh you know, availability,
- 58:19Speaker 1: he'll be on game day. Um, will he be able
- 58:23Speaker 1: to get in the mix on special teams? Will he
- 58:25Speaker 1: be active? Will he be deactivated? Will he be a
- 58:28Speaker 1: practice squad guy? There's no telling. I mean, just because
- 58:31Speaker 1: a guy gets drafted doesn't necessarily mean oh, his role
- 58:35Speaker 1: is going to be this. You have to go out
- 58:36Speaker 1: and earn that role. But they're going to give him
- 58:38Speaker 1: every opportunity, I think, And you know, when you look
- 58:41Speaker 1: at it, they've got one of the best slot receivers
- 58:44Speaker 1: in you know, in all of football, and Tyler Boyd
- 58:46Speaker 1: there's no question about that. But you know, Alex Erickson
- 58:49Speaker 1: is gone. Alex Erikson's now at Houston Texan. You know,
- 58:52Speaker 1: Mike Thomas can can give you a little bit of both.
- 58:55Speaker 1: He can give you, you know, some some versatility there.
- 58:58Speaker 1: It's not beyond the realm, a possibility that if you
- 59:01Speaker 1: go if you have a situation where you can say, Okay,
- 59:07Speaker 1: you have a guy that you can line up as
- 59:08Speaker 1: a running back or as a slot receiver, what are
- 59:11Speaker 1: you gonna do. You're gonna play base, You're gonna play Nicol.
- 59:13Speaker 1: How you're going to match up? Nick could play with
- 59:14Speaker 1: him that way? Did it with Givanni Bernard Giravanni Bernard
- 59:17Speaker 1: a lot of times lined up as the widest receiver slot,
- 59:20Speaker 1: and you know, all indications are that, you know, they
- 59:24Speaker 1: can do the same same type of thing, you know
- 59:27Speaker 1: with Chris Evans, so versatility is key. I think he's
- 59:33Speaker 1: got that versatility. He was the best player available on
- 59:36Speaker 1: their board in their estimation, so they went with him.
- 59:39Speaker 1: So they like him enough to, you know, to make
- 59:42Speaker 1: him a Cincinnati Bengal in the sixth round. I'm sure
- 59:46Speaker 1: they have plans for him. Nate asks, other than the
- 59:49Speaker 1: oh line, what position groups are the biggest question marks? Well,
- 59:53Speaker 1: you know, going into the draft, the biggest question marks
- 59:56Speaker 1: were offensive line, defensive line, wide receiver. Nay addressed them
- 1:00:01Speaker 1: offensive line, defensive line more so than wide receiver. They
- 1:00:05Speaker 1: draft one wide receiver, and you know, free agency is
- 1:00:09Speaker 1: still being being taken care of college free agents. You know,
- 1:00:15Speaker 1: I'm not really sure that they feel like they got
- 1:00:19Speaker 1: any help there that's going to be consequential. But I
- 1:00:23Speaker 1: still think that just because you draft those you can't
- 1:00:27Speaker 1: say until you actually have them out there. You've got presents.
- 1:00:31Speaker 1: Draft Day was Christmas Eve and Santa Claus came and
- 1:00:35Speaker 1: the presents would delivered. You know, and now when they
- 1:00:37Speaker 1: go to mini camp, when they have the rookie Minicamp
- 1:00:40Speaker 1: for the first time, the coaches would be able to
- 1:00:42Speaker 1: unwrap the present, actually get their hands on guys. See,
- 1:00:45Speaker 1: guys say what I saw on tape? Is that projecting
- 1:00:49Speaker 1: to what I'm seeing right up here, up close and
- 1:00:51Speaker 1: personal with this guy? Yeah it is, or she's really
- 1:00:54Speaker 1: it's not can he do the things that we're hoping
- 1:00:56Speaker 1: he can do? Until you go through that, and then
- 1:00:59Speaker 1: that's just the step of it. Then you have to
- 1:01:01Speaker 1: put pads on and start to hit. And a lot
- 1:01:04Speaker 1: of guys look like Tarzan, you know, in shorts and
- 1:01:08Speaker 1: T shirts, and they put pads and helmets on. They
- 1:01:10Speaker 1: play like Jane. So you know, you have to go
- 1:01:12Speaker 1: through the entire evaluation process before you even start to
- 1:01:16Speaker 1: think I've addressed some of these spots. It's like when
- 1:01:20Speaker 1: these grades are given after a draft, how the hell
- 1:01:23Speaker 1: do you know? You don't know for two or three years.
- 1:01:25Speaker 1: You know, on a lot of guys. Some guys you'll
- 1:01:28Speaker 1: find out right away, but other guys need development. Other
- 1:01:31Speaker 1: guys you know just oh it didn't work out. They
- 1:01:34Speaker 1: couldn't make the transition from what they were doing in
- 1:01:36Speaker 1: college to what we were asking to do in the NFL.
- 1:01:38Speaker 1: Maybe another team they can transition easier to. So it's
- 1:01:41Speaker 1: it's that cracks me up when they do these letter grades,
- 1:01:44Speaker 1: like it's this one's cookie cutter, cut and dry it.
- 1:01:47Speaker 1: But that's what makes the draft great, that's what makes
- 1:01:49Speaker 1: the NFL great, That's what makes all the conversation great.
- 1:01:52Speaker 1: But it's double edged sword because scouts, coaches, all these
- 1:01:56Speaker 1: people like, you know, my job hangs in the balance
- 1:01:58Speaker 1: with some of this stuff, you know, and I don't.
- 1:02:01Speaker 1: I don't even know right now. I have to go
- 1:02:02Speaker 1: through my whole process. I went through the draft process.
- 1:02:05Speaker 1: Now I have to go through the process of seeing
- 1:02:08Speaker 1: what I have and developing them from that point forward.
- 1:02:11Speaker 1: And it's a it's not an overnight process where you're
- 1:02:13Speaker 1: going to get a letter gae letter grade the day
- 1:02:16Speaker 1: after the draft. The grades are completely worthless. But I
- 1:02:19Speaker 1: check out everyone. I can't help myself. I think the
- 1:02:22Speaker 1: biggest question mark now is cornerback. They've got a ton
- 1:02:25Speaker 1: of talent, but Terius Phillips is basically the only guy
- 1:02:28Speaker 1: that's played in a Bengal's uniform, So Trey Wayne's should
- 1:02:33Speaker 1: obey a woogie Eli Apple, Mike Hilton. Again, that's that's
- 1:02:37Speaker 1: a good talent base that they've built up. Now they've
- 1:02:40Speaker 1: got to introduce each each of them to each other,
- 1:02:43Speaker 1: no no doubt. I mean probably at the very beginning
- 1:02:45Speaker 1: of training camp, going have to tape with name on
- 1:02:47Speaker 1: their helmets, you know, the strip of tape to identify
- 1:02:51Speaker 1: themselves to each other. It is, it's it's a it's
- 1:02:53Speaker 1: a crazy scenario. But yeah, when you look at it,
- 1:02:56Speaker 1: raw talent, raw potential, and a lot of it is
- 1:03:00Speaker 1: proven already NFL in game, proven player. But sometimes, I mean,
- 1:03:07Speaker 1: I know I experienced that you go from one team
- 1:03:09Speaker 1: to another, even when coaches come in, it's a whole
- 1:03:13Speaker 1: new you know, whole new day. I mean, what you
- 1:03:16Speaker 1: did in the past really doesn't matter. New system, new
- 1:03:19Speaker 1: set of eyes, evaluating on all that. And then when
- 1:03:21Speaker 1: you go from one franchise to another, man it's it's
- 1:03:24Speaker 1: it's a it's a big difference. It doesn't happen just
- 1:03:27Speaker 1: with the snap of a finger. So and I fully
- 1:03:31Speaker 1: expect that it will, but not overnight. But these guys,
- 1:03:35Speaker 1: they have to learn each other's you know, strengths and weaknesses.
- 1:03:39Speaker 1: When you start to play well as an offensive line.
- 1:03:43Speaker 1: You know exactly what that guy next to you can
- 1:03:45Speaker 1: and can't do, so you don't make a call to
- 1:03:48Speaker 1: maybe put him in a situation where that's dicey if
- 1:03:51Speaker 1: we can execute that. And then if you line up
- 1:03:54Speaker 1: in a certain defensive front, lines up a certain way,
- 1:03:57Speaker 1: or they have a certain skill player in that, you know,
- 1:04:00Speaker 1: the make a call that help that situation and that
- 1:04:04Speaker 1: doesn't need help. What call do I make to help
- 1:04:06Speaker 1: the situation that needs help. All those kind of things
- 1:04:08Speaker 1: aren't just done overnight. It takes it takes some time.
- 1:04:13Speaker 1: But I think that I think that they've got they
- 1:04:16Speaker 1: have on the hoof, you know, meat on the hoof.
- 1:04:19Speaker 1: They have that they do have some talent there to
- 1:04:21Speaker 1: work with. I mean, they got a bunch of clay
- 1:04:23Speaker 1: that can be molded by talented artists. We'll see him.
- 1:04:26Speaker 1: The last ask lap question comes from Tom. Do you
- 1:04:29Speaker 1: see cam Sample as an inside or an outside guy?
- 1:04:33Speaker 1: I see him more so as an outside guy with
- 1:04:36Speaker 1: the ability to kick down inside and give pass rush inside.
- 1:04:40Speaker 1: But I see him as a as a you know,
- 1:04:42Speaker 1: but he can, I mean, he can line it. He's
- 1:04:43Speaker 1: big enough to line up inside and give you snaps.
- 1:04:46Speaker 1: But I see him as a as an edge guy
- 1:04:48Speaker 1: that can you know, set an edge in that running
- 1:04:50Speaker 1: game and pass rush as a as a defensive end.
- 1:04:54Speaker 1: But you know, also if you want to go with
- 1:04:57Speaker 1: your NASCAR package and have quicker guys that he can
- 1:05:01Speaker 1: kick down inside and pass rush at defensive tackle. But
- 1:05:04Speaker 1: I think that's part of the beauty of sample, is
- 1:05:07Speaker 1: that position versatility. He can do either for you. And
- 1:05:10Speaker 1: it's not like he can't go in there and play
- 1:05:12Speaker 1: defensive tackle defending the run as a three technique either.
- 1:05:15Speaker 1: But I think I think I'd like to see him
- 1:05:19Speaker 1: on the edge more so. He's a talented kid. Thank
- 1:05:23Speaker 1: you to everybody who's submitted ask lap questions. And Happy
- 1:05:27Speaker 1: Mother's Day to Lynn and Sarah. I appreciate that very much.
- 1:05:31Speaker 1: And Happy Mother's Day to Peg. You got a good
- 1:05:35Speaker 1: celebration plan we do. We're gonna all it's gonna be
- 1:05:39Speaker 1: just a massive get together. It's gonna be you know, grant, grandkids, cousins,
- 1:05:47Speaker 1: big family day. It'll be a lot of fun, lots
- 1:05:49Speaker 1: of food, probably too much food, No such thing, Yeah,
- 1:05:53Speaker 1: no such thing really really and maybe by the end
- 1:05:57Speaker 1: of the day, too much adult beverage. Who knows. That's
- 1:06:02Speaker 1: going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals
- 1:06:04Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, refresh
- 1:06:07Speaker 1: the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
- 1:06:10Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
- 1:06:12Speaker 1: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find
- 1:06:15Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening
- 1:06:19Speaker 1: to the Bengals Booth Podcast