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Bengals Booth Podcast: Can't Always Get What You Want · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The you Can't always get what
0:12
Speaker 1: you want. Addition, as A J. Schulte from Pro Football
0:17
Speaker 1: Network dot Com joins me to take an in depth
0:20
Speaker 1: look at NFL free agency, where the Bengals obviously hope
0:24
Speaker 1: to get what the need. Then after that, I'll be
0:28
Speaker 1: joined by the Bengals new running backs coach Justin Hill,
0:31
Speaker 1: who shares his excitement about joining Zach Taylor's staff at
0:34
Speaker 1: the tender age of thirty two. The Bengals Booth Podcast
0:38
Speaker 1: is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and
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Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
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Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
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Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
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Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since iconic sports photos.
1:00
Speaker 1: This week, ESPN sent out a tweet asking the following question,
1:05
Speaker 1: what's a sports photo you'll remember forever? Thousands of people
1:10
Speaker 1: responded and if I mention a few of the photos,
1:13
Speaker 1: I bet you can picture them quite vividly. Muhammad Ali
1:17
Speaker 1: with his bicep flexed, standing over a fallen sunny listing
1:22
Speaker 1: Pete Rose flying parallel to the ground on a head
1:25
Speaker 1: first slide into third base. Joe Namath shirtless and relaxing
1:30
Speaker 1: by a pool surrounded by sports writers, the epitome of
1:33
Speaker 1: cool before leading the Jets to their Super Bowl three upset.
1:38
Speaker 1: Tommy Smith and John Carlos doing their black Power salute
1:41
Speaker 1: on the victory stand at the nineteen sixty eight Olympics.
1:45
Speaker 1: Tommy Smith, by the way, later played for the Bengals.
1:49
Speaker 1: I could go on and on, but I have a
1:51
Speaker 1: better idea. Go online and search for Sports illustrateds one
1:55
Speaker 1: hundred greatest sports photos. You'll be glad you did. Now
2:00
Speaker 1: let's get to football. Earlier this week, AJ Shulty, who
2:04
Speaker 1: writes about the NFL for Pro Football Network dot Com,
2:07
Speaker 1: published a list of the top one hundred NFL free
2:10
Speaker 1: agents in order. And it's not just a one to
2:13
Speaker 1: one hundred list. AJ cranked out more than eight thousand
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Speaker 1: words in writing about each free agent in detail. He
2:20
Speaker 1: joins me on this edition of the podcast to discuss
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Speaker 1: the bengals best options in free agency and the draft. Aj,
2:29
Speaker 1: the Bengals need help on the offensive line and on
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Speaker 1: your comprehensive list of the top one hundred free agents
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Speaker 1: eleven our offensive linemen. Of those players, who should the
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Speaker 1: Bengals target and why, Well, I've seen them linked to
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Speaker 1: Joe Tuoney pretty frequently out of the Patriots, but for
2:48
Speaker 1: my money, I don't exactly know how he would fit
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Speaker 1: with Frank Pollock, who's wanting to go back to some
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Speaker 1: more wide zone schemes to want to go to the
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Speaker 1: original zone running that Zach Taylor to bring over from
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Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh. And so for my money, the big name
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Speaker 1: that I'd be going after is Taylor Moton, the tackle
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Speaker 1: from the Carolina Panthers. Excellent fit in the outside zone.
3:12
Speaker 1: He's great and pass protection, which is what they're really
3:15
Speaker 1: looking for that right tackle spot. They need to protect
3:19
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow as best they can. To me, I think
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Speaker 1: he is a great fit of obviously talent, the quickness
3:27
Speaker 1: is there to execute the scheme, and they have plenty
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Speaker 1: of cap space to go and get him if they
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Speaker 1: choose to. Let's say that Carolina tags him or extends
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Speaker 1: him and Taylor Moten is not available and some of
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Speaker 1: the other high profile guys wind up being unavailable. Are
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Speaker 1: there players near the bottom of your list or middle
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Speaker 1: of the list, or even outside of the top one hundred,
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Speaker 1: who would still be an upgrade for Cincinnati. Yeah. I
3:53
Speaker 1: think Darryl Williams is a target that I would definitely consider,
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Speaker 1: depending on his price range. He has really he really
4:01
Speaker 1: had a great resurgent year last year with Buffalo. Could
4:04
Speaker 1: play guard, he can play tackle. He would excel on
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Speaker 1: the inside zone concepts at guard. He's proven he can
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Speaker 1: play pretty well at right tackle and hold up in
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Speaker 1: pass protection. I like his i Q. I really believe
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Speaker 1: that he's in line for a nice pay day, but
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Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to be the highest paid
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Speaker 1: right tackle like Taylor Moton would come close to Moton
4:27
Speaker 1: would come close to Trent Brown's contract. Some other guys,
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Speaker 1: I think if they want to go, try and poach
4:33
Speaker 1: Matt Feiler from the Steelers to play guard or tackle
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Speaker 1: for them. He's played both with the Steelers. He would
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Speaker 1: be an upgrade at left guard. A guy that didn't
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Speaker 1: make my list because I've only seen a few high
4:47
Speaker 1: quality games, but he really came on at the end
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Speaker 1: of last season with the New York Jets is pat
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Speaker 1: elf Line at guard. He really would fit in with
4:55
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock's scheme. He's cheap, you could, considering that he
5:00
Speaker 1: was cut from the Vikings last year and really only
5:02
Speaker 1: played a few games with the Jets, but he was
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Speaker 1: really good with the Jets. I think if they're wanting
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Speaker 1: to bring in a guy at left guard who could
5:10
Speaker 1: come in right away and would fit perfectly into that
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Speaker 1: scheme without spending about breaking the bank at on offensive line,
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Speaker 1: he would be a guy I'd target as a younger option.
5:22
Speaker 1: If they want to go depth. I think Dan Feeney
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Speaker 1: from the Chargers would be a good depth piece, but
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Speaker 1: I don't think he should be your starting guard unless
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Speaker 1: something happens. And then Nick Easton from the Saints would
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Speaker 1: also be a guy I would bring in for depth.
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Speaker 1: Both pretty cheap. I'm glad you mentioned Matt Feiler because
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Speaker 1: he was not in your top one hundred, but that
5:43
Speaker 1: is a name that's come up quite a bit around here,
5:46
Speaker 1: probably because Bengals fans are used to seeing him with
5:49
Speaker 1: the Steelers. He was he close to your top one hundred, Yes, yeah,
5:53
Speaker 1: he was. He was really close. I thought he was
5:56
Speaker 1: better at right tackle than at left guard. It's so
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Speaker 1: I didn't him a little bit for that. I was
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Speaker 1: I was going to put him at one hundred at
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Speaker 1: one hundred, but I really fell in love with a
6:07
Speaker 1: guy I put at one hundred, and I just kind
6:09
Speaker 1: of had to put Dennis Gardick in there at the
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Speaker 1: number one hundred because he deserved an honorable mention at
6:14
Speaker 1: the least for how he played last year. Four Bengals
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Speaker 1: free agents made your top one hundred, beginning with cornerback
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Speaker 1: Will Jackson at number twenty one. How do you think
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Speaker 1: the NFL views Will Jackson and should the Bengals be
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Speaker 1: willing to pay him top cornerback money? Jackson the third
6:32
Speaker 1: from my When I was watching him, he stood out
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Speaker 1: to me, but not as a CV like a high
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Speaker 1: end Jalen Ramsey, a CV one, the guy that's going
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Speaker 1: to get be paid among the top corners. That wasn't
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Speaker 1: what he stood up to me. As I still think
6:49
Speaker 1: he's a very good corner one and he could be
6:52
Speaker 1: an excellent corner two for a team that can afford him.
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Speaker 1: But for I do believe the Bengal should pay him
7:02
Speaker 1: simply because the corner market in both the draft and
7:07
Speaker 1: free agency is pretty dry. I don't want to if
7:11
Speaker 1: I say dry, that's not the right term, but it's not.
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Speaker 1: There's a drop off between Jackson the third and then
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Speaker 1: the rest of the corners, And I don't think he's
7:19
Speaker 1: going to get, you know, twenty million a year like
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Speaker 1: Jill Ramsey guy. I think ten to twelve mil per year.
7:26
Speaker 1: Anything more than that would be an overpay because Stefan
7:29
Speaker 1: Gilmour makes thirteen million year and he's not Stefan Gilmore
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Speaker 1: by any stretch, but he's still an excellent corner. I
7:36
Speaker 1: think the Bengals would be smart and investing in bringing
7:39
Speaker 1: him back. But I do think it's kind of telling
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Speaker 1: that they threw all that money at Trey Wayne's last
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Speaker 1: year and didn't extend Jackson the third early Your second
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Speaker 1: highest rated Bengals free agent was Karl Lawson checking it
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Speaker 1: at number twenty seven. What's the market like for Kyl
7:56
Speaker 1: Lawson among the NFL top pass rushers in this free
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Speaker 1: agent crop. I wouldn't be shocked if he breaks fourteen
8:02
Speaker 1: million year. He's so so talented. The injuries, the injuries
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Speaker 1: have cropped up in the past, but last year his
8:11
Speaker 1: tape was just just awesome. His quickness, his ability of
8:15
Speaker 1: string moves together. As a pass rusher, he had to
8:18
Speaker 1: be one of the best sack artists last year. In
8:20
Speaker 1: my opinion, he had one of the best sacks I
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Speaker 1: saw of any free agents last year against Jason Peters.
8:27
Speaker 1: The long arm sack was just just nuts, and he
8:29
Speaker 1: does it so well, the ability to convert speed to power.
8:33
Speaker 1: I think he played better than Dante Fowler did. And
8:37
Speaker 1: Dante Fowler got three years, forty five million from the
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Speaker 1: Falcons last year, and so I definitely think that the
8:44
Speaker 1: market is going to be steep for Lawson. I don't
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Speaker 1: think he's going to break the bank and be the
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Speaker 1: top paid edge rusher, but you fourteen fifteen million year
8:52
Speaker 1: would I would expect something in that range. And the
8:55
Speaker 1: Bengals consider franchise tagging either of those guys, but it
9:00
Speaker 1: really depends on how they want to attack the draft.
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Speaker 1: I think that is a pretty key because the edge
9:06
Speaker 1: class in the draft is deeper than the corner class,
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Speaker 1: and there's going to be better targets available at say
9:14
Speaker 1: their second round pick for edge than there would be
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Speaker 1: for a corner in my opinion, and so you have
9:21
Speaker 1: you have a tricky debate between the Bengals can bring
9:25
Speaker 1: them both back if they wanted to, and both sides
9:28
Speaker 1: wanted to. They have plenty of cap space to bring
9:30
Speaker 1: both of them back, and they can create more if
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Speaker 1: they need to. The problem is with you. If you
9:38
Speaker 1: go into the draft without William Jackson the third in
9:41
Speaker 1: your top corner is Trey Wayne's, you're almost forced to
9:44
Speaker 1: consider a corner higher than what they deserve. For like,
9:48
Speaker 1: there's a good shot that there's not a single defensive
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Speaker 1: player taken in the top ten this year and that
9:54
Speaker 1: and I mean, is it likely going to happen? Probably not,
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Speaker 1: But the fact that it even could and it's happened
10:00
Speaker 1: in several mock drafts you'd read, is kind of telling
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Speaker 1: on the overall talent level. And I think that if
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Speaker 1: they don't bring back Jackson the third, they would create
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Speaker 1: a hole in the defense that they really can't replace
10:14
Speaker 1: in the draft. Carl Lawson is still a very good player,
10:18
Speaker 1: but they're in the second round. You can get another
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Speaker 1: edge rusher better, It's better than a corner you could
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Speaker 1: get at that spot. You're not going to get a
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Speaker 1: corner one in your second rounds. It's very unlikely to happen,
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Speaker 1: and so I think bringing Jackson the third back makes
10:35
Speaker 1: more sense. But of course, if both sides want to
10:37
Speaker 1: bring both back, they can A. J. Shulte is our guest.
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Speaker 1: You can follow him on Twitter at aj draft Scout.
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Speaker 1: The third Bengal on your top one hundred free agency
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Speaker 1: list was Mackenzie Alexander. He checked in at number seventy three.
10:52
Speaker 1: If they don't resign McKenzie, and it doesn't sound like
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Speaker 1: they plan to, they're probably going to need to sign
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Speaker 1: a slot corner back. How is the market in that category? Oh,
11:03
Speaker 1: the slot corner list is fantastic. I think I had
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Speaker 1: four slot corners alone in my top fifty on there,
11:11
Speaker 1: and then you had a few guys below that, like
11:13
Speaker 1: Kiwan Williams from the forty nine Ers and Cam Sutton
11:17
Speaker 1: from the Steelers. Again, if they want to poach the Steelers,
11:20
Speaker 1: there's so many talented nickel corners in both the draft
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Speaker 1: and in free agency. I mean, if they want to
11:27
Speaker 1: bring mckensey Alexander back, they can, but with how good
11:30
Speaker 1: this nickel classes, they might be able to find an upgrade.
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Speaker 1: There's there's plenty of talent, and even in the draft
11:35
Speaker 1: with guys like Elijah Molden, I think he would fit
11:39
Speaker 1: right in in the nickel spot the second maybe third
11:43
Speaker 1: round pick for the Bengals. There's there's there's plenty of
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Speaker 1: options should they pass on bringing mckenzay Alexander back. AJ
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Speaker 1: Green Major top one hundred, but just bareley at number
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Speaker 1: ninety six, And you wrote that that ranking is more
11:58
Speaker 1: of a courtesy to what he's been in his career
12:01
Speaker 1: versus what he was in twenty twenty. How much interest
12:04
Speaker 1: do you think is out there for AJ Green? And
12:07
Speaker 1: do any teams make sense in your opinion, it's it's
12:11
Speaker 1: tough with AJ Green because last year he really did
12:14
Speaker 1: not look interested further. But and I hate, I hate
12:18
Speaker 1: to say that, because Aja Green is a fantastic player,
12:21
Speaker 1: But maybe it's the injuries, it's it's maybe he just
12:26
Speaker 1: wanted out with the Bengals. He was he was done.
12:28
Speaker 1: There's could be any sort of explanation, but last year
12:32
Speaker 1: there was a pretty clear drop off from his play
12:35
Speaker 1: to his past. With all the talent at receiver in
12:39
Speaker 1: this free agency class, and then you look into the
12:42
Speaker 1: draft and there's bazillion wide receivers in this draft, it's
12:46
Speaker 1: going to be tough for him to command a high market.
12:49
Speaker 1: I could see a team like maybe like Green Bay
12:54
Speaker 1: if they choose not to bring back Alan Lazzar. He's
12:57
Speaker 1: a he's an exclusive rights free agent, but they're so
13:00
Speaker 1: strapped on cap. Who knows, Kansas City. Maybe they lose
13:04
Speaker 1: a couple of receivers in free agency as well. But
13:07
Speaker 1: he's gonna be really cheap. It's gonna be a cheap
13:09
Speaker 1: one year deal with the contenting team, maybe Baltimore, and
13:14
Speaker 1: like that's the best shot he's gonna get it. He's
13:17
Speaker 1: not going to get a high market, not this offseason.
13:20
Speaker 1: Last year a different story, but after the way the
13:23
Speaker 1: twenty twenty went for him, I wouldn't be too sure.
13:26
Speaker 1: Aj Shlty writes about the draft and free agency for
13:29
Speaker 1: Pro Football Network dot Com. Another Bengals wide receiver did
13:33
Speaker 1: not make your list of the top one hundred free agents,
13:37
Speaker 1: John Ross, which is pretty telling for the ninth pick
13:40
Speaker 1: in the twenty seventeen draft. What do you think of
13:43
Speaker 1: his future in the NFL at this point? It's tough
13:46
Speaker 1: with John Ross because it's always been more flash than
13:51
Speaker 1: substance with him, and then you look at the injuries.
13:55
Speaker 1: He only played I think three games last year for
13:58
Speaker 1: the Bengals. He's not played a full season in the NFL,
14:03
Speaker 1: so the market isn't gonna be supers. What's lucrative for him,
14:09
Speaker 1: and especially when you look in this draft class where
14:11
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of speed guys, your teams are gonna go.
14:15
Speaker 1: I think I would rather spend a fourth round pick
14:16
Speaker 1: on this guy out of Houston or whoever, than you know,
14:20
Speaker 1: spend eight million on John Ross. Yeah he could, he'll
14:24
Speaker 1: He'll get a shot because we've seen deep threats get
14:28
Speaker 1: revitalized careers later on, like Breshad Perriman really revitalized his career.
14:34
Speaker 1: Nelson Agalore has really turned. He really had a great
14:37
Speaker 1: twenty twenty with the Raiders last year. And so if
14:40
Speaker 1: he goes maybe he goes to like the Rams. There's
14:43
Speaker 1: been plenty of connection between John Ross in the La
14:47
Speaker 1: Rams because that's what they need. They're going to look
14:49
Speaker 1: for that guy who can stretch the defense vertically, and
14:52
Speaker 1: that's what John Ross can do. That's what he was
14:54
Speaker 1: drafted to do. He's proven he can and with Matt Stafford,
14:58
Speaker 1: he could have a pretty revitalized career. But he's just
15:03
Speaker 1: not going to get a super super big deal. It's
15:06
Speaker 1: going to be a cheap when your deal kind of
15:09
Speaker 1: say hey, if you can make it, we'll make you
15:11
Speaker 1: a little more money. But if you're not, then we
15:14
Speaker 1: could just you know, dump you in the streets. You
15:16
Speaker 1: know you're no, I'm passing on you. Well, let's stick
15:20
Speaker 1: with wide receiver because assuming aj Green and John Ross leave,
15:23
Speaker 1: and I think that that's a good assumption on the
15:26
Speaker 1: part of Bengals followers, Cincinnati is probably in the market
15:30
Speaker 1: for a free agent wide receiver. I would think a
15:33
Speaker 1: deep threat to go with Tyler Boyd and te Higgins
15:35
Speaker 1: makes sense. Who fits that description? And do you see
15:39
Speaker 1: any good fits, particularly among kind of the moderately priced guys,
15:43
Speaker 1: since I think the Bengals are more likely to spend
15:46
Speaker 1: their big bucks on offensive line or possibly even defensive line. Yeah,
15:51
Speaker 1: I think there's a couple guys. I mentioned Brashot Fairman earlier.
15:57
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be cheaper. He'll probably be
16:02
Speaker 1: He probably get him for two years, maybe eight million
16:04
Speaker 1: year is two year, sixteen million mil deal. He was
16:08
Speaker 1: fifteen point nine average targeted air yards last year, which
16:12
Speaker 1: was fifth in the league. Was fifth in yards perception
16:15
Speaker 1: last year. And I was playing for Adam Gaze. I
16:18
Speaker 1: was playing with Sam to Arnold and Joe Flacco and
16:21
Speaker 1: guys like that at quarterback. So he's proven he could
16:24
Speaker 1: be an effective deep threat. I don't think he would
16:26
Speaker 1: be super expensive. Like I said, two years sixteen mil
16:30
Speaker 1: is what i've seen him at. I think that's a
16:32
Speaker 1: pretty good price range for him. If they want to
16:34
Speaker 1: go even cheaper and they want to say, hey, you
16:37
Speaker 1: know what, he might be a little too high profile
16:39
Speaker 1: or he's going to get a deal that's more comfortable
16:42
Speaker 1: than I would expect. Kendrick Bourne is a speech ster
16:46
Speaker 1: from the forty nine ers that I would expect to
16:49
Speaker 1: be a pretty hot commodity because he's not really used.
16:53
Speaker 1: I don't want to say correctly, because Kyle Shanahan's an
16:56
Speaker 1: offensive genius, but with the way their quarterback situation isn't
16:59
Speaker 1: the way the offense is designed, Kendrick Bourne's speed deep
17:03
Speaker 1: isn't often utilized right right, They're not Jimmy g is
17:08
Speaker 1: not going to be the quarterback to stretch to challenge
17:11
Speaker 1: defenses vertically, even though Kendrick Bourne can do that, and
17:15
Speaker 1: so I think if you're wanting a guy who can
17:17
Speaker 1: challenge vertically, he's good after the catch, which is something
17:21
Speaker 1: that Zach Taylor will want at receiver as well. Kendrick
17:24
Speaker 1: Bourne makes a lot of sense. I think He'll only
17:26
Speaker 1: be twenty six years old too, so he's still younger.
17:30
Speaker 1: And then another vet that'll be cheap. Kenny Stills right
17:34
Speaker 1: has bounced around. He really had kind of trouble sticking
17:37
Speaker 1: with the Houston Texans because they had just such a
17:40
Speaker 1: talented receiver corps last year with the Shawn Watson. But
17:44
Speaker 1: he's going to be cheap. He's a proven an effective
17:47
Speaker 1: deep threat. If that's the way they're going. Kenny Stills,
17:51
Speaker 1: Kendrick Bourne, Breshad Perriman would be my top three prime targets.
17:57
Speaker 1: Let's go with a similar concept for pass rights. Because
18:00
Speaker 1: the Bengals were last in the NFL and sacks last year.
18:03
Speaker 1: Their best passed rusher, Carl Lawson, is a free agent.
18:06
Speaker 1: Let's say they extend Carl or franchise Tag Carl, and
18:11
Speaker 1: as a result, don't have huge bucks left for an
18:14
Speaker 1: edge rusher. Who are some of the better guys that
18:18
Speaker 1: might come in a more moderate price. There's a few
18:21
Speaker 1: guys that I think are a higher price option, and
18:24
Speaker 1: then you've got some cheaper options. The higher the higher,
18:27
Speaker 1: but still moderate. Ryan Carrigan would be a phenomenal veteran ad.
18:33
Speaker 1: He might want to go play for a contender because
18:35
Speaker 1: he's been stuck on Washington for how you know, who
18:38
Speaker 1: knows how long. But he's still a very effective pass rusher.
18:41
Speaker 1: Even though he played the smallest snap counts he's ever
18:45
Speaker 1: played in his career this past year because they got
18:48
Speaker 1: Chase Young, he was still phenomenal. He was getting after
18:51
Speaker 1: the quarterback, putting up tons of pressures in sacks, so
18:55
Speaker 1: I think he would be worth it. Trey Hendrickson from
18:57
Speaker 1: the Saints. I don't think it's going took command a
19:01
Speaker 1: super high deal despite the fact that he put up
19:04
Speaker 1: like thirteen and a half sacks. I believe it is
19:06
Speaker 1: what he's officially listed at because some of those sacks
19:09
Speaker 1: were a little inflated. It might be there's some coverage
19:11
Speaker 1: or some cleanup sacks in there, but he's still a
19:15
Speaker 1: pretty good pass rusher. He could be a good number
19:18
Speaker 1: two to your Carlsson on number one, and he's not
19:21
Speaker 1: going to break the bank. The Saints can't afford him
19:24
Speaker 1: because they can't afford anybody right now, and then the
19:28
Speaker 1: last of the moderate price. I put him highly on
19:31
Speaker 1: my list because he played phenomenal last year, but I
19:34
Speaker 1: don't know how valuable he'll be Romeo Aquara from the Lions.
19:40
Speaker 1: He was just outstanding last year as a pass rusher.
19:43
Speaker 1: His sacks, the sacks he put up or just very
19:46
Speaker 1: high quality. He put up a good amount of pressures.
19:49
Speaker 1: But he's only had the one good year of film,
19:52
Speaker 1: and teams, after seeing how guys like Dante Fowler and
19:56
Speaker 1: some other free agents have panned out across the league,
19:59
Speaker 1: teams were probably going to be a little wary of
20:02
Speaker 1: throwing big money at guys who have only been producing
20:05
Speaker 1: for one year. But if you can, if if that
20:09
Speaker 1: one year is he had that breakthrough, right, Oh likely
20:12
Speaker 1: he knows he's figured it out, it's right, which he
20:15
Speaker 1: looks like he did. Right. These these sacks weren't jokes.
20:18
Speaker 1: They weren't fluky sacks. They were really high quality sacks.
20:22
Speaker 1: And so if you're saying, hey, you know what, two
20:24
Speaker 1: years twenty million, right, there's a there's a cheap We
20:28
Speaker 1: give you some flexibility there if we can, if we
20:32
Speaker 1: if you don't pan out, we could still move on.
20:34
Speaker 1: If not, you know, we still have you at a
20:37
Speaker 1: pretty decent price for two years, and then we can
20:39
Speaker 1: look at an extension later on. He's still young and
20:42
Speaker 1: last year's tape was really really good, and I don't
20:45
Speaker 1: think he's going to break the bank, and so which
20:48
Speaker 1: is good if they extend or tag Lawson because that's
20:50
Speaker 1: a significant capital. Let's turn to the draft with Aj
20:53
Speaker 1: Shulty from Pro Football Network dot Com. For months, Bengals
20:58
Speaker 1: fans have been lasting at Drepanay's Sewell, but more recently
21:02
Speaker 1: there's kind of a counter argument that has emerged that
21:05
Speaker 1: the Bengal should sign a tackle and free agency and
21:08
Speaker 1: then draft one of the top wide receivers, particularly if
21:12
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase is available to reunite him with Joe Burrow.
21:16
Speaker 1: Where do you stand depends on how they attack free agency.
21:20
Speaker 1: I don't like to get into projecting the draft until
21:25
Speaker 1: I see how free agency goes. Because if they sit
21:28
Speaker 1: there and they go out and they signed Taylor Moton
21:31
Speaker 1: or they signed some of these guys in free agency
21:33
Speaker 1: to really boost the offensive line and then they get
21:37
Speaker 1: an effective deep threat with one of the guys we mentioned,
21:40
Speaker 1: they open up a lot of flexibility in the draft.
21:44
Speaker 1: Right they don't have to take one guy or the other.
21:47
Speaker 1: They don't have to take Jamar Chase, they don't have
21:50
Speaker 1: to take Sewell, and so I think it's really just
21:54
Speaker 1: dependent on how they attack free agency. To me, I
21:59
Speaker 1: would still take Penay Suell at five. If he's there,
22:03
Speaker 1: you gotta worry about Atlanta and maybe Miami. We'll see
22:06
Speaker 1: how that goes. But if he's there, to me, Suwell
22:11
Speaker 1: is the clear no brainer for me. Wide receivers in
22:16
Speaker 1: the top five are tricky evaluation because there's so many
22:21
Speaker 1: good wide receivers in the league that you can get
22:24
Speaker 1: later on, and it's almost these days it's almost more
22:27
Speaker 1: about if you're not that dominant like Julio Jones, Calvin Johnson,
22:33
Speaker 1: just that super freak megatron kind of athlete, then taking
22:37
Speaker 1: your top five when I can get a guy with
22:39
Speaker 1: a similar skill set, say at thirty seven or thirty eight,
22:45
Speaker 1: versus a very good tackle who's very young, his best
22:49
Speaker 1: football is still ahead of him. It's tough, especially when
22:54
Speaker 1: you get into positional value and how they handle stuff
22:57
Speaker 1: like that. I don't know if Jamar Chase will be
23:00
Speaker 1: my pit because I think he's got a very similar
23:03
Speaker 1: skill set to t Higgins. But obviously what r Mar
23:07
Speaker 1: Chase did with Joe Burrow in college was just fantastic.
23:12
Speaker 1: They were just dynamic duo. Nobody could stop those two
23:16
Speaker 1: so I don't think you could go wrong with either one,
23:19
Speaker 1: depending on how you handle free agency. Just my personal
23:23
Speaker 1: belief is I would go with Sewell, figure out the
23:26
Speaker 1: best five offensive line combination and go from there. If
23:29
Speaker 1: you could put Sewell at left tackle and you sign
23:33
Speaker 1: Taylor Moton at your right tackle that you have a
23:36
Speaker 1: flexibility to hit him or Jonah Williams inside a guard two,
23:41
Speaker 1: that's just such a huge boost to your offensive line,
23:44
Speaker 1: and to me, that's the most critical position. Teams are
23:48
Speaker 1: going to start to take notice of teams like the
23:50
Speaker 1: Saints and the Patriots and the Buccaneers and how they've
23:53
Speaker 1: built up the offensive line so long that Super Bowl
23:57
Speaker 1: sticks out, everybody remembers how the Chief's offensive line look
24:01
Speaker 1: and they're gonna go I don't want it to look
24:04
Speaker 1: like that every game, So I'm going to build up
24:06
Speaker 1: my offensive line. When you've got a guy like Joe Burrow,
24:10
Speaker 1: you saw how many hits he took last year, you
24:12
Speaker 1: have to protect him. Should Florida tight end Kyle Pitts
24:17
Speaker 1: even be in the discussion at number five, I absolutely
24:21
Speaker 1: I think he should. Kyle Pitts is my number three
24:24
Speaker 1: overall player in the draft. I love Kyle Pitts. I
24:28
Speaker 1: think if there's a scenario where you say the Dolphins
24:35
Speaker 1: at three, take Jamar Ches, He's a wide receiver one.
24:38
Speaker 1: They need a receiver big time for Tuva. They go
24:41
Speaker 1: out and they're like, look, this is a guy we
24:42
Speaker 1: want him. So they take him at three, and then
24:45
Speaker 1: the Falcons pass on a quarterback. They say, hey, you
24:49
Speaker 1: know what, We're gonna stick with Matt Ryan for another year.
24:52
Speaker 1: We need to build up the trenches because that's something
24:55
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith wants and Terry Fontaneau at GM that's something
24:59
Speaker 1: they're both big believers in. So they take Piney Seul.
25:02
Speaker 1: You're the Bengals there at five, and you're going, well,
25:05
Speaker 1: my top two guys are gone, Jamar Jason Pinney Seul
25:09
Speaker 1: are both off the board. I'm not a huge believer
25:13
Speaker 1: in Restauranse later. I've seen him put that high to
25:17
Speaker 1: five even mock there. But Kyle Pitts just what you
25:21
Speaker 1: could do with him. He should be a wide receiver.
25:25
Speaker 1: He should be listed as a wide receiver because he's
25:27
Speaker 1: he plays outside. He's not your traditional tight end. He's
25:31
Speaker 1: an absolute freakish monster, and if you can get creative
25:35
Speaker 1: with him, I mean imagine, imagine Joe Burrow with te
25:40
Speaker 1: Higgins outside. You've got Tyler Boyd in the slot, and
25:43
Speaker 1: then Kyle Pitts. We're sitting there at your in line
25:47
Speaker 1: other your tight end spot. Who are you gonna cover? Right?
25:50
Speaker 1: You gotta double cover somebody, and he would bring such
25:54
Speaker 1: a versatile, mismatched weapon. You just you've got to worry
25:57
Speaker 1: about positional value with tight ends. But he's not a
26:00
Speaker 1: traditional tight end in that sense, so I wouldn't really
26:04
Speaker 1: worry about it. I mean, you can line him up
26:06
Speaker 1: an ex receiver Florida did that. He can play that
26:09
Speaker 1: role with a plum. So if people are dismissing Kyle Pits,
26:13
Speaker 1: oh he's a tight end, I'm not going to take
26:15
Speaker 1: a tight end pick number five, right. If there's a
26:18
Speaker 1: quarterback there and they can get in, Cincinnati can trade
26:21
Speaker 1: down and still take Kyle Pitts. That's fantastic. You see,
26:25
Speaker 1: If if Carolina wants to move up from eight to
26:28
Speaker 1: five and you sit there at pick eight, you get
26:30
Speaker 1: Kyle Pitts, you know you won the first round. You
26:32
Speaker 1: got a guy, You got a fantastic weapon for Joe Burrow.
26:36
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the idea of trading a
26:38
Speaker 1: few spots down if you could, and getting an extra
26:41
Speaker 1: second round pick. If that scenario is on the table,
26:45
Speaker 1: I think that would be ideal for Cincinnati, although I
26:48
Speaker 1: still think if pinay Sewell is there at number five,
26:51
Speaker 1: it's impossible to turn down. Yeah. Yeah, he's so good.
26:56
Speaker 1: There are so many people overthinking pinay Sewell. He was
27:01
Speaker 1: nineteen years old and he's out here just bullying at
27:05
Speaker 1: future NFL guys into the dirt. He's so good, so talented,
27:09
Speaker 1: don't overthink him. His issues are very correctable, and Frank
27:13
Speaker 1: Pollock is a phenomenal offensive line coach, and Seuel would
27:17
Speaker 1: just fit right in. Just Boom sticking there at left tackle.
27:20
Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about it. Don't have to
27:22
Speaker 1: worry about it. It's been a while since Bengals fans
27:26
Speaker 1: could say, don't have to worry about it about the
27:27
Speaker 1: state of the offensive line. We'd love to get back
27:30
Speaker 1: to that point sometime soon. And a couple more questions
27:33
Speaker 1: for aj Shulty from Pro Football Network dot com. What
27:37
Speaker 1: were your expectations for Joe Burrow going into his rookie
27:40
Speaker 1: year and how did he measure up? You know, I
27:43
Speaker 1: didn't have expectations I mainly just wanted to see how
27:47
Speaker 1: he translated outside of LSU, right, I think that was
27:50
Speaker 1: the biggest question everybody had was, Okay, he had pretty
27:55
Speaker 1: much everything at LSU. How could he do with a
27:59
Speaker 1: new offense, a new offensive line, a new set of weapons,
28:03
Speaker 1: and how can he adjust NFL speed? That's what everybody
28:06
Speaker 1: really wanted to see in that. To me, he looks
28:11
Speaker 1: really good as a rookie if he The unfortunate thing
28:15
Speaker 1: is he was he did get hurt, which how much
28:19
Speaker 1: you know the offensive line, he took just so many hits.
28:21
Speaker 1: He was just bruising, battered. But the aggressiveness that he
28:27
Speaker 1: displayed as a thrower downfield, he's willing to test targets
28:31
Speaker 1: that a lot of rookies are super gunshine, like, I'm
28:36
Speaker 1: gonna just take the check down because I don't know
28:37
Speaker 1: if I can hit that weapon. Joe Burrow was like, look,
28:40
Speaker 1: he's open, I'm gonna throw it to him. If it
28:42
Speaker 1: doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. And that's that's
28:45
Speaker 1: the way you've got to be these days with some
28:48
Speaker 1: of these young quarterbacks. You want to see that because
28:50
Speaker 1: it's easier to coach a guy down from aggressiveness than
28:54
Speaker 1: it is to coach up in aggressiveness, and I think
28:57
Speaker 1: his aggressive throw percentage was like top three, top five
29:02
Speaker 1: in the league, which is phenomenal for a rookie. The
29:06
Speaker 1: downfield stuff was struggle. I think the deepest pass was
29:10
Speaker 1: like forty five yards or the deepest completion was somewhere
29:14
Speaker 1: around there. But I think as his chemistry improves with
29:17
Speaker 1: these guys with a new with a whole hopefully full
29:21
Speaker 1: offseason working and then he's staying healthy, everybody else can
29:25
Speaker 1: stay healthy and they build around him, I think that's
29:27
Speaker 1: going to improve. But the escapability, the moxie, the poise
29:32
Speaker 1: he plays with, He's a plenty talented thrower. When you
29:36
Speaker 1: watch him, you just can't help but go. This guy
29:38
Speaker 1: is fun. He's so fun, Like I love watching Joe
29:43
Speaker 1: Burrow in college, and then when I watched him in
29:45
Speaker 1: the pros, I was like, this guy's it and this
29:48
Speaker 1: guy has everything you want. The mentality he plays, with
29:53
Speaker 1: his ability as a leader, everything really stood out, even
29:56
Speaker 1: as a rookie, which is so rare to me. I
30:00
Speaker 1: still think he's funny. People are going to say, oh,
30:02
Speaker 1: they should have taken Justin Herbert. I don't think Herbert
30:05
Speaker 1: would have been Herbert on the Bengals, because Herbert did
30:08
Speaker 1: have quite a bit with the charters, Pet Hamilton, a
30:11
Speaker 1: quarterback coach, Keenan Allen at wide receiver. You here, there's
30:17
Speaker 1: always that question of, oh, well they should have taken
30:19
Speaker 1: this guy. I think they got it right. Still with
30:21
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. Yeah, nobody isn't in Cincinnati is complaining about
30:25
Speaker 1: that pick. Trust me. You published your list of the
30:28
Speaker 1: top one hundred free agents in order earlier this week
30:30
Speaker 1: on Pro Football Network dot Com. I thought it was great.
30:33
Speaker 1: I mean, we all know the guys near the top
30:35
Speaker 1: of the list, but as you get you know, beyond thirty,
30:38
Speaker 1: beyond fifty, beyond seventy, so a lot of great information
30:42
Speaker 1: on those guys. It was really helpful for me, and
30:44
Speaker 1: I highly encourage fans to check it out. What else
30:48
Speaker 1: do you have coming up that we can look forward
30:50
Speaker 1: to at Pro Football Network dot Com? Well, we at
30:53
Speaker 1: Pro Football Network. We're obviously we're still fine tuning our
30:57
Speaker 1: mock draft simulator. I highly encourage everybody who's interested in
31:01
Speaker 1: the draft to use that. We are getting ready to
31:03
Speaker 1: release our top three hundred consensus board my rankings. Tony
31:08
Speaker 1: Pauline's rankings and a few of my other co workers.
31:12
Speaker 1: We're compiling our top three hundreds and making our consensus
31:16
Speaker 1: board out of that. Right now, I'm currently working on
31:20
Speaker 1: a piece comparing restaurant later and Christian Darisol is the
31:25
Speaker 1: offensive tackle number two in the draft, because I think
31:27
Speaker 1: that's the competition between those two is closer than it
31:31
Speaker 1: is between Sewell and everybody else. I'm always trying to
31:35
Speaker 1: make new content, explort of opportunities. I'm trying to get
31:38
Speaker 1: some equipment to get into podcasting because I just love
31:43
Speaker 1: talking sports stuff like this is what I live for.
31:47
Speaker 1: This is my favorite thing to do. So I'm very
31:49
Speaker 1: glad and very grateful that you invited me on. Well
31:53
Speaker 1: now I don't feel guilty for taking thirty minutes of
31:55
Speaker 1: your time, so AG, I really appreciate it. Again, love
31:58
Speaker 1: the guide to the top one hundred free agents that
32:00
Speaker 1: you put out earlier this week, and maybe we will
32:03
Speaker 1: invite you back on closer to the draft. Oh, I
32:06
Speaker 1: would absolutely love to thank you. Thank you. That is
32:10
Speaker 1: AJ Shulty again. You can follow him on Twitter at
32:14
Speaker 1: aj Draft Scout. This week, Tony Pauline from Pro Football
32:19
Speaker 1: Network dot Com a previous guest on this podcast updated
32:23
Speaker 1: his list of more than nine hundred draft prospects. His
32:26
Speaker 1: top four in order are Trevor Lawrence, Jamar Chase, Pinney Sewell,
32:32
Speaker 1: and Kyle Pitts. Fortunately for the Bengals, there will almost
32:36
Speaker 1: certainly be at least a couple of quarterbacks taken in
32:38
Speaker 1: the top four, meaning one of those names I just
32:41
Speaker 1: mentioned will be available when the Bengals are on the clock.
32:45
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer.
32:49
Speaker 1: It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor.
32:53
Speaker 1: The return of offensive line coach Frank Pollock was the
32:56
Speaker 1: most highly publicized change on the Bengals coaching staff and
32:59
Speaker 1: the season, but there were other moves, including the addition
33:03
Speaker 1: of running backs coach Justin Hill. He spent the last
33:07
Speaker 1: six years at Tulsa, where, among other things, Hill helped
33:10
Speaker 1: two running backs top one thousand yards in the same season.
33:14
Speaker 1: Back in two sixteen, I spoke to Justin about his
33:18
Speaker 1: new gig this week, Justin, you are an NFL coach
33:23
Speaker 1: at the age of thirty two. How did this opportunity
33:26
Speaker 1: come about to be a member of Zach Taylor's staff.
33:29
Speaker 1: That's a good question. You know, I mean, obviously my
33:34
Speaker 1: commission with James Casey, going back to playing together a rice.
33:39
Speaker 1: I think when I came into as a freshman, I
33:42
Speaker 1: was eighteen and he was like thirty two already. But
33:46
Speaker 1: we played together obviously for a couple of years there,
33:48
Speaker 1: and then he went on to play for the Texans
33:50
Speaker 1: and all that, and both of us getting into coaching
33:53
Speaker 1: after we graduated, and when he was done playing, we
33:56
Speaker 1: just kind of stayed in contact, and you know, I
34:00
Speaker 1: guess the opportunity came up for him to bring my
34:03
Speaker 1: name up, and you know, Zach reached out and the
34:09
Speaker 1: interview process went well, and you know, obviously I'm very
34:14
Speaker 1: excited to be here, be a part of this organization,
34:17
Speaker 1: extremely lucky, extremely blessed um. But yeah, I mean just
34:22
Speaker 1: kind of kind of how things work, and I'm excited
34:25
Speaker 1: about him. James Casey, of course, is the Bengals tight
34:28
Speaker 1: ends coach, and the guys at that position absolutely love him.
34:32
Speaker 1: What did James tell you about being a member of
34:35
Speaker 1: the Bengals organization? Uh, I mean, obviously just told me
34:39
Speaker 1: what an incredible opportunity it is to coach in the NFL,
34:43
Speaker 1: and then also just being a part of the organization itself,
34:46
Speaker 1: and just a group of people that we get to
34:48
Speaker 1: work with every day. You know, starting with Zach and
34:51
Speaker 1: the rest of the guys on the office and staff
34:53
Speaker 1: were just a good group of people that you know,
34:56
Speaker 1: going from from college to the NFL, obviously there's gonna
35:00
Speaker 1: be some transition, but uh and some learning curves for me,
35:04
Speaker 1: just like there was James. But the biggest thing is
35:09
Speaker 1: just the quality of people and their character. And you know,
35:14
Speaker 1: knowing that I can I can lean on Zach, and
35:16
Speaker 1: I can lean on Brian and Frank and obviously their
35:19
Speaker 1: haespreatise and their experience, but and then James as well.
35:24
Speaker 1: So I think just being able to lean on those
35:26
Speaker 1: guys and help me with this transition. But just like
35:29
Speaker 1: I said, the quality of guys and being around an
35:32
Speaker 1: organization that cares about family and spending time with families
35:35
Speaker 1: extremely important. We're chatting with Justin Hill, the Bengals do
35:38
Speaker 1: runnings back running backs coach. You've been an assistant coach
35:41
Speaker 1: at Tulsa for the last six years. Was your ultimate
35:44
Speaker 1: goal to eventually coach at the NFL level if you could? Yeah, eventually.
35:49
Speaker 1: I didn't think that it would happen this soon. But yeah,
35:53
Speaker 1: that's something I've always thought about. You know, you talk
35:56
Speaker 1: about coaching in the NFL, you're talking about coaching at
36:00
Speaker 1: the highest level. I mean, I'm one of thirty two
36:02
Speaker 1: right now. That's what James always says, and so obviously
36:06
Speaker 1: I was extremely excited to take this opportunity. But I
36:10
Speaker 1: think this is always a goal I had, just didn't
36:12
Speaker 1: put a didn't put a date on it, like I
36:14
Speaker 1: want to be an NFL coach by the time thirty
36:17
Speaker 1: two or whatever it is. But honestly, the opportunity presented itself,
36:20
Speaker 1: and like I said, I'm extremely excited about it. One
36:24
Speaker 1: of thirty two. I say the exact same thing about
36:26
Speaker 1: being an NFL broadcaster. Trust me, just in your college
36:30
Speaker 1: playing career, it's really unusual. You are a highly successful
36:34
Speaker 1: high school running back in the Dallas area. You went
36:37
Speaker 1: to Rice, you led the team in rushing as a freshman,
36:40
Speaker 1: and then as a sophomore, you moved to linebacker out
36:43
Speaker 1: of necessity, I sue, Yeah, we had some injuries. I
36:47
Speaker 1: think both star linebackers had a knee injuries in the
36:50
Speaker 1: same game. So that propped me over to the other
36:53
Speaker 1: side of the ball. I had experienced. I played a
36:55
Speaker 1: little bit of defense in high school, and I was
36:57
Speaker 1: recruited to play linebacker at some other places, but that's
37:02
Speaker 1: just how things worked out. And I bounced back and
37:05
Speaker 1: forth a little bit my sophomore year, and then by
37:07
Speaker 1: my junior year, I was for a time linebacker, but
37:10
Speaker 1: my heart's always been on offensive side of the ball.
37:13
Speaker 1: Did playing linebacker at the college level give you an
37:16
Speaker 1: understanding of defense that helps you as a running backs coach? Yeah, yeah,
37:22
Speaker 1: I think it did. If I knew what I know now,
37:25
Speaker 1: I think obviously I would have been a whole lot
37:28
Speaker 1: more successful. But yeah, I think it. I think it
37:31
Speaker 1: helped me understand the game a little bit more. Obviously
37:33
Speaker 1: not as much as it has the past six years
37:36
Speaker 1: working at University of Tulsa, but but yeah, I think
37:40
Speaker 1: I think it. Things obviously moved moved fast. I think
37:46
Speaker 1: having a little bit of awareness of what's going on
37:47
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, you know, kind of
37:49
Speaker 1: slow things down for me, helped to transition a little bit.
37:53
Speaker 1: But I think it was. It was definitely a learning experience.
37:56
Speaker 1: I say that you earned your undergraduate degree at Rice
38:00
Speaker 1: and earned the masters at Iowa State. Did you always
38:03
Speaker 1: put as much emphasis on academics as you did on football. Yeah,
38:08
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it wasn't so much of me.
38:11
Speaker 1: I think I was just kind of driven that way
38:13
Speaker 1: by my parents. My mom, you know, was big on education.
38:16
Speaker 1: So when we were looking at what college to attend,
38:19
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing she wanted me to do
38:21
Speaker 1: is just make sure I got a good degree, and
38:23
Speaker 1: that was the most important thing I Obviously I went
38:25
Speaker 1: into two coaching and came to GA at Iowah State,
38:31
Speaker 1: and you know, obviously being a part of a college
38:35
Speaker 1: athletic program was party to number one. And then obviously
38:39
Speaker 1: finishing up my master's agreed that was a big part
38:41
Speaker 1: of that too. So um, you know, I think they
38:43
Speaker 1: just kind of go hand in hand together. Bengals have
38:46
Speaker 1: one of the NFL's top running backs in Joe Mixon.
38:49
Speaker 1: When you were at Tulsa and he was playing about
38:52
Speaker 1: two hours away at Oklahoma, did you see a lot
38:55
Speaker 1: of Joe Mixon coverage and begin to form an impression
38:58
Speaker 1: about his game? I think, Uh, I mean, I think
39:01
Speaker 1: you're gonna watch two clips of him play, or you know,
39:05
Speaker 1: watching the entire game to know that the guys he's special.
39:08
Speaker 1: He's playing at a completely different level than everybody else
39:10
Speaker 1: that's on the field. Um. So yeah, obviously you know
39:14
Speaker 1: him being two hours away in normal or I don't
39:16
Speaker 1: half whatever it was. Obviously knew exactly who it was.
39:19
Speaker 1: I knew a lot of battle, knew that he was
39:21
Speaker 1: extremely talented. Um, And obviously I'm extremely excited to be
39:26
Speaker 1: able to work with him. You'll be working with a
39:28
Speaker 1: great veteran as well in Giovanni Bernard. How do you
39:31
Speaker 1: approach coaching a guy that's only a few years younger
39:33
Speaker 1: than you are. Yeah, yeah, I mean Geo, I think
39:38
Speaker 1: is I'm really excited about working with him as well
39:41
Speaker 1: in the entire room. Um, but I think you know,
39:45
Speaker 1: when I talked to all those guys, when I reached
39:47
Speaker 1: out to all of them once, I once I except
39:49
Speaker 1: with the job. The first thing I wanted them to
39:52
Speaker 1: know is just I'm gonna do everything I can to
39:56
Speaker 1: help you get better. You know. Um, I'm gonna do
39:58
Speaker 1: everything I can. Obviously I don't know all the ends
40:01
Speaker 1: and ounce right now, the offense, and that's part of
40:04
Speaker 1: this transition, but I'm learning it. I'm gonna learn it,
40:07
Speaker 1: you know, front and back, and I'm gonna do everything
40:09
Speaker 1: I can in my power to help those guys get better,
40:11
Speaker 1: and I think, at the end of the day, that's
40:13
Speaker 1: what I'm here to do. You played running back, you're
40:16
Speaker 1: coaching running backs. Who are some of your all time
40:19
Speaker 1: favorite running backs. It's a long list. There's a long list.
40:24
Speaker 1: I'll start right now with. You know, obviously the guys
40:27
Speaker 1: that I coached the past six years at Tulsa. They
40:31
Speaker 1: had a great group every single year, but also just
40:34
Speaker 1: some hot character guys that I enjoyed coming to work
40:37
Speaker 1: with every single day. As far as the NFL grades,
40:40
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I'm not gonna see it and
40:43
Speaker 1: say specifically which ones, but you know, just you say
40:48
Speaker 1: favorite NFL running backs, a favorite running backs in general,
40:50
Speaker 1: I'm just lean on. I'm biased the guys that I
40:53
Speaker 1: got to coach the past six years. Those guys are
40:55
Speaker 1: special to me obviously on the field, but off the
40:57
Speaker 1: field as well because that great men. It could be
40:58
Speaker 1: great fathers one thing. And uh and then, like I said,
41:01
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to working with this group of
41:04
Speaker 1: guys that we got here in Cincinnati. We're talking to
41:07
Speaker 1: Bengals running backs coach Justin Hill. The draft is a
41:09
Speaker 1: couple of months away. The Bengals typically have their position
41:13
Speaker 1: coaches help look at the college prospects. Is that something
41:16
Speaker 1: that you look forward to doing? Yeah? Yeah, I you know,
41:21
Speaker 1: it's been interested in this past week or two being
41:24
Speaker 1: in the office evaluating the college guys right now. And
41:29
Speaker 1: a lot of them aren't familiar with because I watched
41:32
Speaker 1: them offensively as we prepare for our opponents defensively. Um,
41:36
Speaker 1: and so a lot of the guys aren't familiar with
41:38
Speaker 1: and some of them not and so UM, it's it's
41:43
Speaker 1: been pretty pretty interesting, you know, carrying over a lot
41:46
Speaker 1: of the evaluation that we did recruiting, you know, uh,
41:51
Speaker 1: and then obviously having the scouts. I mean as a
41:55
Speaker 1: college coach, I mean you all, you're the scouting and
41:57
Speaker 1: you're you're evaluating. You're finding out everything you can and
42:00
Speaker 1: from the high school coach to parents and and every
42:03
Speaker 1: every other person that comes to contact with the guy's life.
42:06
Speaker 1: Obviously being in the NFL, now that process is keep
42:10
Speaker 1: started by the scounsel do a great job. So uh,
42:13
Speaker 1: it's been it's been pretty interesting to just you know,
42:15
Speaker 1: click on a guy and find out a ton of information,
42:17
Speaker 1: you know, with the with the snap of the finger. Um.
42:21
Speaker 1: But I'm excited about and I think there's gonna be
42:24
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some grown pains with that as well.
42:27
Speaker 1: You know, there's something I was talking is asking about
42:29
Speaker 1: this week. You know, I can, I can point out
42:30
Speaker 1: a running back that I liked, But does that make
42:32
Speaker 1: him a first round draft pick? Does that make him
42:35
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer? Is he gonna be? Um? You know? Uh?
42:39
Speaker 1: Is he gonna be a Hall of Famer one day?
42:40
Speaker 1: I don't know what that looks like, Yett for say, obviously,
42:43
Speaker 1: I think everybody can can recognize talent, but how does
42:45
Speaker 1: that translate into the NFL? That's going to be part
42:49
Speaker 1: of this learning process. Will you miss recruiting or are
42:53
Speaker 1: you happy that's no longer part of the job description? Recruiting?
42:58
Speaker 1: Is it is what you're making? You know, I think
43:01
Speaker 1: there was you know, the toughest part about recruiting, honestly,
43:05
Speaker 1: it's just being away from my wife and my daughter.
43:09
Speaker 1: But the rest of it. I mean, like I said,
43:11
Speaker 1: this past week, I've been in the office. I've been
43:13
Speaker 1: evaluating film, just like I was and when I was
43:16
Speaker 1: working at Tulsa. You know, obviously being on the road
43:21
Speaker 1: gets long, but at the same time, you get out
43:23
Speaker 1: on the road and you form great relationships with college coaches.
43:26
Speaker 1: I mean, that's how me and James stayed in contact. Obviously,
43:30
Speaker 1: we played each other when he was a coach, against
43:32
Speaker 1: each other when he was at Houston, but we also
43:35
Speaker 1: met up on the road. We had a lot of
43:36
Speaker 1: the same recruiting areas, so a lot of that networking
43:39
Speaker 1: with other coaches and then continuing to build relationships with
43:42
Speaker 1: high school coaches and I former high school coaches. You
43:46
Speaker 1: know that part of it. Yeah, I'll miss that for sure.
43:49
Speaker 1: One final question for the Bengals new running backs coach
43:51
Speaker 1: Justin Hill. In your final year this past season at Tulsa,
43:55
Speaker 1: you had a great team. You made it to the
43:57
Speaker 1: American Athletic Conference Championship Game and eighty in Cincinnati at
44:01
Speaker 1: Nepperd Stadium, losing to the Bearcats on a field goal
44:04
Speaker 1: at the gun by Cole Smith. What's it been like
44:07
Speaker 1: to compete against Luke Fickle as he's built up the
44:10
Speaker 1: University of Cincinnati into a obviously an outstanding team in
44:14
Speaker 1: that league. Yeah, I mean, Coach Figer and those guys
44:17
Speaker 1: do a great job all three phases. Obviously, you know
44:21
Speaker 1: they've got extremely talented players offensively, their defense, Um give
44:27
Speaker 1: you fish just because of how you have unique they've been.
44:30
Speaker 1: But and then a special teams as well. I was
44:32
Speaker 1: involved to kickoff return in the past couple of years,
44:35
Speaker 1: and so I think obviously their physical their discipline, um,
44:41
Speaker 1: and and honestly, it's it's been fun to watch, you know,
44:45
Speaker 1: I say fun, but you know, we played Cincinnati in
44:48
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, and then watching them transform to what they've
44:51
Speaker 1: been in the past couple of years. Uh, and then
44:53
Speaker 1: watching you obviously we cheered for each other when they
44:56
Speaker 1: get to play a Power five school in the New
44:59
Speaker 1: Year's again, that's a big deal for everybody in the conference.
45:02
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it's it's been Obviously, their program
45:05
Speaker 1: is at a different place than when it was when
45:08
Speaker 1: we first got to Tulsa, and I think that's that's
45:10
Speaker 1: a big credit to him and everybody he's got in
45:13
Speaker 1: on this staff. And then also the type of gas
45:16
Speaker 1: that they've been able to recruit. They extremely talented everywhere
45:19
Speaker 1: on the field. I mean they've got the lineman, they've
45:22
Speaker 1: got running bas. I feel like they got running bas
45:24
Speaker 1: every single year. And then obviously the quarterbacks a special
45:27
Speaker 1: players as well. So, Uh, it's been it's been fun.
45:30
Speaker 1: To watch him play and then obviously not a no
45:32
Speaker 1: against them and having a coach against them, that part
45:34
Speaker 1: hadn't been the best, but it's really encouraging to see
45:38
Speaker 1: and I think obviously the programs going in a great direction.
45:42
Speaker 1: I'm sure the last few weeks have been a whirlwind
45:45
Speaker 1: for you. I really appreciate you carving out some time
45:47
Speaker 1: for us today. Welcome to Cincinnati, and congratulations on this opportunity.
45:51
Speaker 1: All right, thank you, I appreciate it. Excited thanks to A. J.
45:55
Speaker 1: Shulte and Justin Hill. And that's going to do it
45:58
Speaker 1: for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, as brought
46:00
Speaker 1: to you by Bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game. If
46:04
Speaker 1: you haven't done so already, please subscribe, and if you
46:06
Speaker 1: have a minute, give it a rating or share a
46:08
Speaker 1: comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm
46:13
Speaker 1: Dan Horde, and thank you for listening to The Bengals
46:15
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.