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Bengals Booth Podcast: Good Vibrations · Bengals Booth Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. Uh good, good, good good vibrations. Addition,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: as we talk to the author of a recent Bengals
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: State of the Franchise story, Adam Rank from NFL dot Com,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: he writes that the Bengals are quote a team on
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the rise, potentially heading for unprecedented levels of success. Adam
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: will explain why. He also picks the team's breakout star
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: for twenty twenty and it's not Joe Burrow or T
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Higgins or DJ reader. I will talk to the player
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: that Adams selected. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by some scribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or Podbean. It's the greatest thing since
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Father's Day. My love of sports came from my dad.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Like many fathers and sons, we bonded while talking about sports,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and his favorite teams became my favorite teams. Between the NFL, NBA,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: NHL and Major League Baseball, those teams have combined for
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: one championship. So thanks Dad for passing down a lifetime
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: of frustration. Just kidding, I think in any case, as
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the son of Larry Horde, the stepson of Jack Bailey,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: and the father of young Sam, I hope you and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: your family have a wonderful Father's Day. Now let's get
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to this week's guests. Recently, NFL dot com has been
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: posting state of the Franchise stories about every NFL team,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and the Bengals version was extremely positive. The title was
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Bengals trending up with Joe Burrow and I am going
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: to read the second paragraph here goes, It's an exciting
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: time to be a Bengals fan. This is a team
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: on the rise, potentially heading for unprecedented levels of success,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: and the Bengals are a proud franchise if they have
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: a history filled with some of the greatest innovators in
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the game and some of the best who ever played it.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: The only thing missing is a championship. I'm not going
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: to sugarcoat it and say that a title is within
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: reach this season, but the Bengals are putting together the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: building blocks to get there one day. The person who
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: wrote that is Adam Rank, and he joins me on
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: this week's podcast. Adam, your first beer is on me
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: if we ever meet. But in all seriousness, is the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: optimism you expressed mostly due to Joe Burrow. Well, I
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: gotta be honest with you. I have great editors, apparently
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: because I'm not that eloquent, so I appreciate them and
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: all the hard work that they do for that. But really,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: you know, I, you know, is somebody who was a
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: huge fan of Carson Palmer growing up and everything like that.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I really follow the Bengals for quite some time. Obviously
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I follow every team, but this is a time where
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I look at it and I don't know if it's
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: just because of Joe Burrow and his arrival, but I
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: look at what the Bengals have going on and I
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: just feel really good about it. And I, you know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: and I talk about it in a piece, and I
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: know we can de dive into it a little bit more.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: But I know it's hard to believe that, you know,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: just one player can come in and change in an
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: entire organization, but I believe that he can't. And I'm
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: just a huge believer in Joe Burrow, and I love
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: everything that he's bringing to the Bengals, and so if
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: I'm a fan of the team, I would be fired up.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And again, like I said, I don't want to say
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: that you're going to be in the playoffs or you
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: know now that you wouldn't want to be in the plaff,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: but you know they got the franchise moving in the
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: right direction for the first time what feels like a
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: while we are chatting with Adam Rank from NFL dot com.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I only have one quibble with your article. You wrote
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that the Bengals have had some great quarterbacks, but have
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: never had one who was the dude, a guy that
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: exerted confidence. I think Boomer Assiasin was actually the epitome
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of that, and that's one of the reasons why I'm
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: so excited about Joe Burrow. I think he's the first
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: guy since Boomer that has what you're talking about. You
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: know what, I hear what you're saying. I think, yeah,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I might have meant a little bit mistaken because you know,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: you think it back to the super Bowl and pad
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the forty nine ers on the ropes ropes, excuse me,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and if they would have been able to win that one, then,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: you know, I think that Boomer's career would be looked
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: at differently. So I would agree with you, and I
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: think I might have might have missed miss spoke, but
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I was thinking of more of the recent quarterbacks and
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: guys who I really loved it, guys who I thought
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: are good quart like they're great quarterbacks. Like you look
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: at him and you're like, this is a great quarterback.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: But the example that I used, and this would be
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: lost on anybody who doesn't like wrestling, but there's a
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: difference between a guy like the Rocks and a guy
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: like Roman Graine. So both are very good, but the
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Rock is another level. And I have Joe Burrows that
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: kind of player that is on another level. I think
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: that going to LSU and doing everything that he did
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: that really helped him, you know. And if you're at
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: quarterback after there and thinking about going back to college,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: if you can use college the way Joe Burrow did,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: because I believe that he walks into the building right
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: now ready to go, and I will agree with you,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: he is the best quarterback. He's got the best demeanor,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the best swagger, the best confidence of any quarterback since
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Boomer size. If I apologize to Boomer, a fellow leftie,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: might I might have missed the boat on that one.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Apology accepted on Boomer's behalf. We're talking to Adam Rank
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: from NFL dot com aside from Joe Burrow. What did
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: you think of the Bengals draft? Oh? I loved it.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I you know what, I really love the idea of
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: having a young quarterback and saying, you know, we should
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: do we should surround him with some really good players.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It's the opposite approach of what the Packers did, where
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers were like, hey, we've got a great quarterback,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: let's draft his replacement for three years down the road.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: So I love when they drafted t Higgins. You know,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: you know, you're thinking about it. You're just kind of like, Okay,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: what are they gonna do here? They're gonna go defense,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: they could address the secondary, and they brought in Kei Higgins,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: who to me was a first round talent and a
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: who was not a surprise because there was a lot
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: of good receivers in the draft, but it was, you know,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a shock that he was still
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: available day two and the Bengals took him and I'm like,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you know what, this is what I like. This is
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: what I like to see. They're committed to going out
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: there and winning and giving. And you know, you look
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: at the receiver room as it is right now, there's
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: some pretty good guys in there. You know, a J Green,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: assuming he comes back and is healthy and ready to go,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and Tyler Boyd has put together back to back thousand
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: yard seasons. We like all it, and take John Ross
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: when he's available, But then you bring in a guy
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: like te Higgins and I'm like, this is it. They're
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: gonna go out there and they're going to give it
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: a go, and this is what I think the Bengals
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: need to do. So I'm getting fired up just talking
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: about it, and we are getting fired up listening to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: you talking about it. Adam Rank wrote the Bengal State
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: of the Franchise story on NFL dot Com this past Wednesday.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: It's a great read. I highly recommend going back and
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: checking it out if you didn't read it already. Among
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: other things, you've got some great analogies in there, including
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: one where you compared Zach Taylor to TV chef Gordon Ramsey.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Explain why, well, I think that you know, it's one
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of those things that you notice in television that when
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: there's a successful TV formula where you're having a like
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Gordon Ramsey goes out and does rest for Kitchen Nightmares,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: and he goes out there, and then every other networks like,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: we need our own version, and sometimes they work out,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: sometimes they don't. And you know, last year, Jack Taylor,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: to my conjecture, was hired because of his association with
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Sean mcveay and that was a selling point and I
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: don't disagree with it, but okay, he was kind of inexperience,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: but okay, so let's see how this goes. And after
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: one season, I don't think we got a good read
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: on what Zack Taylor is all about. I don't think
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: it was any fault of his own. There was a
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: lot of things that were going wrong, and I wouldn't
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: pin it on him, but we want to know, like,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: what is his deal going to be? Like is he
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: going to be the guy who steps up? And you're like, yes,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: this is a great spinoff. This is better than what
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Robert Irvine did with his life. I think his was
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Kitchen Nightmare, And so you want him, You want Zack
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to take a step up and I again, and I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: put this at the end of the piece. It's like,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: I'm willing to say last year never happened. I would
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: not pulled last year against him anything like that. They've
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: now put together a pretty good deal. There's still some
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: issues on the offensive line and things like that, but
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I think now that they've given him a pretty good
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: a pretty good template to work with, and now it's
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: it's up to him to take a step forward. He
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: even admitted I was reading an article on Don Bengel
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: dot com where he was like, we need dudes who
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: have a little bit of an edge, a little bit
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: of a swagger, and even some of the teams with
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis had that defensively. I would like to see
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: that on the offensive side, and I think Joe Burrow
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: could do it. And it's up to Zach Taylor right
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: now to kind of harness that. I'm embarrassed to admit
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: that I watched that Robert Irvine show once. Not my
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: proudest moment. We're visiting with Adam Rank. You can follow.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I like Robert Irvin, but yeah, that was a misstep,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: terrible show. I don't know enough about him other than
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that show, but that show was awful. You can follow
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Adam Rank on Twitter at Adam Rank. You pick second
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: year tight end Drew Sample to be the Bengals breakout
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: star this year. Why Drew Well? I believe that it's
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: a position that could flourish for the Bengals when you
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: bring in a lot of guys who stretched the field
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: and can get after it. Obviously, we just talked about
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the receivers a moment ago. I do believe that a
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: guy like Drew can make a step forward this year
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: with a young quarterback who's going to target is tight
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: ends underneath. If if the lanes are opened up for him,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I think he can make kind of a step forward.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: And I know a lot of people were upset last
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: year because it only seems weird when you draft the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: tight end in the second round and a lot of
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: people are you know, I'm a Bears fan, so they
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: grafted Cole Commit this year and I'm like, oh, this
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: is kind of a tough one to sell. But I
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: do believe, and I watched him at Washington. I think
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: he's he's a good player. I think that's a he's
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: a good blocker. That was his calling card. So Number
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: one he's going to help out of the running game.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: You know, we're looking for Joe Mixon to breakout, like
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: really breakout this season, and he's going to help in
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the running game, but he can also be one of
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: those pass catchers and they need somebody to step up
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: down to Tyler e. Birts down in Jacksonville, So you
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: know he's going to be one of those guys. I
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: don't think he's going to go out there and be
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the second coming of Robert Kronkowski, but I think he's
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: going to go out there and sneakily to put together
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: a number of touchdowns. And I know if you're a
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: fantasy player, you'll be upset because you're starting Tyler Boyd
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: or Tee Higgins and they're gonna be like, oh, touchdown,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: who wasn't too and gonna be Drew Sample and you're
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: gonna be great. Nobody has them on their roster, but whatever.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: But for Bengal fans, I think they will enjoy him
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: taking that leap forward this year. All right, Adam, you've
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: been doing the state of the franchise stories on every
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: team in the AFC North. Where do you think about
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the division as a whole? I have a good division.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a lot tougher this year. Obviously,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: with the Steelers getting back Ben Roethlisberger, that's gonna be
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: huge for them. They had a top five defense last year.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: They're eight nights with absolutely dreadful play at the quarterback position. Now,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: if Ben Roethlisberger can return and he doesn't have to
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: be the guy who's throwing for forty five hundred yards,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: but if he can be a little bit productive, just
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: better than Mason Rudolph level, I think that's a very
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: good team. The Ravens obviously, not only are a good team,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: they got better with Kalis Campbell and the Browns. You know,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: it's unfortunate that they got Kevin Stefanski because I'm sure
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: you guys all enjoyed Freddie Kitchens and what he did.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I wanted a lifetime contract for Freddie Kitchens. Oh my gosh,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: like bring them back him another year. You get rid
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: of them so quickly. Yeah, that's that's the unfortunate thing.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: So I think for the Bengals that they'll be improvement.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: And it's going to be hard to really register because
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: these those other three teams in the division are so good.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: But I think they're going to come out and I
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: think this division is going to be one of the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: best in football, that's your question. But I think the
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Bengals are going to be good. But it's like, oh,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: if you were in another division, you would have an
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: opportunity to maybe make a little bit of a rhyme.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: But I think being in the AFC North is going
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: to be tough. It is challenging, but that's the way
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: it is. You are predicting a victory for the Bengals
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: in Week one against the Chargers, and it was an
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: excellent read. You did a great job of the state
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: of the franchise story. And I don't only say that
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: because it was optimistic. In general, it was very well done,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: a fun read as well, and I enjoyed it very much.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. Let's do this again sometime and I look
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: forward to you buying me that there. I'll buy Adam
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: sever role if the Bengals reach the heights that he
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: thinks are possible under Joe Burrow. And just so we
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: have our TV cooking shows straight. Gordon Ramsey did Hell's
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares Robert Irvine did restaurant impossible. Before
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: we get to our next conversation, here's a quick reminder
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: that you can take your Bengals pride to the next
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: level in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan package
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: from Prime Sport. As we heard in my conversation with
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Adam Rank, his pick for the Bengals breakout star in
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty, his tight end Drew Sample, the Bengals second
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: round draft pick last year out of the University of Washington.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Drew had five catches for thirty yards last year before
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: missing the final seven games of his rookie season with
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: an ankle injury. Now that Tyler Eifford has gone to
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville as a free agent, Drew as likely to play
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: a much larger role in twenty twenty. And I caught
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: up with a twenty four year old tight end this week, Drew.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I saw some footage of you on the local news
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: recently working out at his Cincinnati are A fitness facility.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Did you stay here in the off season? Uh? Yeah,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I took after after the season, I went home for
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: a little bit. I think it was about two weeks
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and then we were back here and then we had
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: a few trips. Uh went to Pebble Beach for my
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: dad's fiftieth birthday. But we've been back since basically the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: fault before all the coronavirus stuff hit. We were back
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of March and the February, I believe,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: and we've been We've been here ever since, so it's
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: been nice to kind of have a home base now
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: as a golf lover. How was Pebble Beach? It was amazing,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: it was It was definitely an awesome experience, and we
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: played pretty much all the major courses down there, and
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: we ended with Pebble and it was It was tough.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: It was tough for us, obviously, but it was as
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: gorgeous as advertised, and it was it was awesome. Worth
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: turning fifty for your daddent got I got one birdie,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So I was tapping with that. There you go, Drew,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: and that the TV story that I referenced. You were
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: working out with Sam Hubbard. Have you guys been pushing
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: each other in the off season. Yeah, definitely, we've been
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: working out a black Feet performance. It's kind of it's
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: up in Blue Ash And Sam was the one that
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: introduced me to Pat who's our trainer. I think last
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: offseason for kind of a after a pah stuff, and
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: I really like everything that he's been about, and it's
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: it's been nice to go to work out with someone
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: like Sam who, like you said, we can really push
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: each other. I think we compliment each other well, like
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: in workouts and stuff, and then obviously on the field
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: going into show a lot of practice and stuff. I
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: think it's a it's a nice competition. It's a good
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: little rivalry. We are talking to Bengals tight end Drew
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: sample For many of us, Drew the one bright spot
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: during the coronavirus shutdown has been spending more time with
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: our families. Your first child was born last August, you
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: have another one on the way. How has this time
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: been for you and your wife? It's been amazing, Like
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: you know, obviously ups and downs being quarantined, but I think,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you know, both of us just tried to make the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: best of it. I mean, we were able to have
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: spend so much time with Olivia, and you know, she's grown.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: She's at the age where she's grown so much. Even
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: though the past like two weeks, you know, she just
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: started crawling about a month ago and now, you know,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Nastal standing up. Like, there's just so many different things
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: that you know, probably without the coronavirus, I would have
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: probably missed or at least not been there to see
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: you know, her first time crawling, her first time standing
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: and things like that. So, you know, definitely just finding
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: the positive things. And as a dad, you know, I
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: was really happy I was able to put him that
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: time and spend time with you know, my wife obviously
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and Olivia. So it's I think it's been good. Obviously
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff going on in the world,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: but I think, you know, you just gotta take pausits
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: from it, and it was definitely one of them. It's
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: definitely a good silver lining. Let's go back to last year.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: You suffered suffered a high ankle sprain and missed the
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: final seven games of the season. How bad was it
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: and how are you doing now? Um, you know, obviously
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: this was an ideal, you know, getting rolled up on
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: trying to rehab back again of the season, but it
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: just wasn't just wasn't progressing, and so um it was actually,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: you know, I was I would say I was fully
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: healthy probably you know, a month a month or so
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: after the season. Um, So I was kind of able
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: to come into this offseason pretty much fully healthy. So
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: give me, gave me a full offseason plus this you know,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: obviously had a lot of extra time with the coronavirus,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: and so I feel really good, you know, uh, rehabbed
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: as much as I can, you know, strengthening that type
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: of thing. And so you know, I felt like I've
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: had a really good off season and I'm definitely sadder
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: for this season coming up. We're catching up with du sample.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: The coaches said, you were really coming on at the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: point where you got injured. How did you feel you
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: were doing at that point. I think that's fair. I
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: think I was starting to really adjust to it. Obviously,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: it's you know, a big jump, um, you know, from
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: college to NFL, and so you know, I was definitely
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: getting more comfortable just seeing things games starting to kind
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: of slow down a little bit. Um. So, obviously I
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: was pretty bob not being able to play the rest
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: of the year, but you know, I just try to
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: take everything learned last year and put it into this
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: offseason and put it in this season. Um. So you know,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: whenever we get going, I'm really excited to go out there.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: And show what I could do. Discussing that college to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the NFL jump that you reference, was there anything specific
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: that was a real eye opener for you? I mean
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: I kind of knew and you know, you you know
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: that that obviously everyone there's no there's no bad players.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Everyone was at the top of their level. Um and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: you know, in the first ten or so games, I
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: mean every week, you know, you play against really good
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: players that you've either grown up watching or you or
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: you've heard of, or you know, just just people that
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: have been in the league for a long time. And um,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: so you just know, there's no there's no weeks off.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Every game is a battle. Every plays a battle, and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that's what's fun about it. You get to compete against
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: the best of the best. And I think that's you
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: know that with the speed of the game, I mean,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: like just because everyone's so good. I think those are
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: just the main things. And you know, once you kind
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: of there's so much information without learning a new offense,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: everything that goes into it's you know, it's hard to
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: just play free. And so um, I felt like I
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: was starting to do that, you know, towards the end
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and there so I'm excited for I'm excited to get
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: things to go on this year. Have you tweeked anything
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: about your off season prep based on that experience? No?
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I mean I think this is an interesting year because
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: everyone says, you know, the best off season is you know,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: or the hardest off season I should say is after
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: you're a year, because you rookie year, you know, you
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: commea and train everything, and then this is this year
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: has been kind of an interesting challenge because obviously it's
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: longer than normal. We didn't go at protas and so um.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: You know, I've been working with Sam and Pat and
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I think we've we've been able to navigate it really well.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: So I feel like I haven't had a true, you know,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: normal off season by NFL standards yet. But this year
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: has been great just because we really stepped back and
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: looked at the details of everything and a lot of
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: a lot of us a lot of time into the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: things that you know, maybe might get overlooked by some people.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: So I feel really really happy with the work we
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: put in this off season and I'm excited for the season.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: We're talking to tight Endrew Sample. A key member of
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the group is gone. Is Tyler Eifford left as a
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: free agent, it's likely to mean more snaps for you.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Does that affect your mindset going into next season? Um,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: you know, obviously, losing a good player like that, you know,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: someone that has been here a long time and did
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of good things for us is tough. But um,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: you know, I think we got a lot of good
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: guys in the room, and you know, I'm excited to
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: help contribute in any way can I Obviously I want
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: to come in and I want to play as much
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: as I can. I want to help this offense. Um.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: So you know, it's obviously hard. He's been here so long,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: he's done a lot of things. Um, you know for
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the organization and being able to watch him work for
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: a year was fun. But now I'm definitely excited just
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: to kind of take that jump and for our room
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: to try and take that next step. Drew, have you
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: enjoyed Team Zoom meetings and do you think they've been productive? Yeah?
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: For sure. I think I think Zac did a really
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: good job of just kind of keeping everyone together, all
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the all the coaches and um just really you know,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: there's you know, there's some days we have a little
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: more fun than others, but obviously overall, you know, we
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: got we got through a lot of installs. You know,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: we had um, you know, offensive offensive meeting, special teams meetings.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: It was really nice to kind of just get back
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: into things, you know, go over the play look, um,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: you know, new stuff, old stuff, just really refreshing all
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: of it and you know, be able to watch you know,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: stuff from last year and and just really look at
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: ways to get better. And I think play stay coach
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Jerry did a great job of making sure everyone was
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you know, locked in, and so I think, um, you know,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I think we just were able to make the best
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: of it, and um, I think it's definitely gonna pay
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: off come season. And as a veteran or as a
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: returning player, you are done with that this week, correct, Yeah,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: today it was our last day. So um just you
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: know they're letting us get out really focused on you know,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: getting football shaped, getting back into things and basically getting
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: ready for camp whenever, whenever that may be. We are
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: catching up with Drew sample Drew his last season wound down,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: it seemed like a strong possibility that the Bengals would
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: wind up drafting Joe Burrow, and obviously they did. Did
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: you watch him in the college football playoff games with
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: that in mind, I mean I did obviously, you know,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: obviously he was a great player, and you know, we
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: we a lot of people to talk about that. So
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: but I have definitely watched a couple of games, and
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: you know, seeing the type of player that he is,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and um, just to kind of mindset and everything that
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: he had in his zoom meets and everything is has
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: been fun to watch. So, you know, I haven't actually
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: met him out, but I'm excited to meet him. And uh,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: you know, I know he's he's putting a lot of
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: work in this offseason two, so we're we're hopefully going
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: to start building something special here. Did anything stand out
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: when you watched him in those games at the end
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: of the year. I think it's just poise and you know,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: stay calm. I mean, he made a lot of plays
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: off script plays. He made a lot of great throws.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I think, um, you know, as a quarterback, being able
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: to make the right throws, get out, you know, get
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: out of things and make plays. I think that's I
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: think that's really all you can ask a lot of
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the league. You see it with a lot
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: of the top guys just to be able to make plays,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: and I think that's something that he was able to
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: do and big reason why they had such good season.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: So you're getting ready for a year number two? Do
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: you feel like you have anything to prove in year two?
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: You know, for me, I just always feel like I
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: just want to go out and and play my game
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: and show people the type of player that I know
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I am. Um, you know, I don't think necessarily I
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: mean you always, I just think I want to play
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: for the team. You know, obviously we didn't have a
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: great season last year, and so I know all the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: guys in our room, in our offense, just on our
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: team want to, you know, show everyone that that we
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: didn't you know, put our best foot forward. And so
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I think guys are really excited to go out and
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: show show the type of players we are and show
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the type of team we are. This year, you weren't
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: able to have OTAs or mini camps, but training camp
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: at least for now, seems to be on schedule. How
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: confident are you that everything is going to proceed on
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: schedule or close to it in the fall? Um, you know,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I can't really I can't really say I really hope.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: So you know obviously, um, you know, as sports to
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: slowly started to come back, he realized when there are done,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: how big of you know, even for me, you just
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: watched another sports and everything when there's nothing, it's it's
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: it's kind of hard. So, um, you know, I know
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: we just want to get back. You know, we want
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: to play a season obviously, and you know, hopefully they
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: you know, come out with the guidelines and we'll be
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: able to follow that because I know guys, you know,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I know guys want to play it. But also you know,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: you have to be safe with everything going on, so
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: you know, I know the PA and stuff won't won't
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: agree to anything that doesn't you know, protect us as players.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: You know, every wants to flip football. So whatever that
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: looks like this year, hopefully hopefully this happened and what
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: it does, I know we're exciting about it. Sounds good
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: to me. Good to hear that your ankle is back
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: to normal. Congratulations again on that second baby on the way,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: and I appreciate your time. Look forward to seeing you
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: when that's allowed again. Awesome. Yeah, I appreciate you having
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: me on. Thank you. I thanks to Adam Rank and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Drew Sample and that's going to do it for this
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by
• 24:53
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• 24:57
  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
• 25:01
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• 25:03
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• 25:07
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• 25:11
  Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast.