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Bengals Booth Podcast: Finish What Ya Started · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast the Come On Baby Finish, which
0:11
Speaker 1: studed addition, as we wrap up our draft specific podcast
0:16
Speaker 1: with two conversations. First it's Director of Player Personnel Duke
0:21
Speaker 1: Tobin and then number one draft pick Dax Hill, Plus
0:26
Speaker 1: we'll also share some nuggets about the players who are
0:28
Speaker 1: expected to sign with the Bengals as undrafted free agents.
0:32
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download
0:37
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's
0:40
Speaker 1: free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes.
0:45
Speaker 1: Get it now on the App Store and Google Play.
0:48
Speaker 1: And here's a quick reminder that you can have the
0:50
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
0:54
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
0:58
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since post draft phone calls. Here's what
1:04
Speaker 1: happens for those of us covering the Bengals during the draft.
1:07
Speaker 1: Within minutes after the Bengals make a pick, a coach
1:11
Speaker 1: or two will do a news conference to discuss the player.
1:14
Speaker 1: Then reporters all gather around a phone designed for conference
1:18
Speaker 1: calls where the player answers questions. Those phone calls are
1:22
Speaker 1: awesome for a multitude of reasons. For starters, we get
1:26
Speaker 1: to hear the joy in their voice moments after that
1:29
Speaker 1: life changing phone call from Zach Taylor. For instance, here's
1:34
Speaker 1: seventh round pick Jeffrey Gunter. I've I've been dreaming. I
1:43
Speaker 1: was eight years old. I used to I used to
1:44
Speaker 1: be a I used to be five. You know what
1:46
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I would watch America's game like back to
1:48
Speaker 1: back to back on insti one Networks, and it's just
1:50
Speaker 1: like seeing my name go across that screen. It's just
1:53
Speaker 1: everything I did was worth it. You know, as the
1:56
Speaker 1: seventh round was winding down, were you getting nervous that
1:59
Speaker 1: it wasn't going to happen? Was I get nervous? I
2:02
Speaker 1: was almost sure it wasn't gonna happen, you know, But
2:05
Speaker 1: you know, I can't feign the guy, and you know,
2:07
Speaker 1: say he pulled through for me in the end, So
2:08
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you all for taking taking an off
2:10
Speaker 1: shot on me. Then there are the amusing anecdotes, like
2:15
Speaker 1: first round pick Dax Hill admitting that he was in
2:18
Speaker 1: the bathroom when the call came from the Bengals. It
2:23
Speaker 1: was crazy because I went to the restaurom. My family
2:26
Speaker 1: told me not to go to the restaurants, so I
2:27
Speaker 1: had to really I hear you get up about the bathroom.
2:30
Speaker 1: So then I just picked up the phone and then
2:32
Speaker 1: went downstairs and just told everybody that the bank was calling.
2:36
Speaker 1: So that was kind of a funny moment I had tonight.
2:39
Speaker 1: So how close read to not making out of the
2:41
Speaker 1: bathroom in time to make sure that he got the call?
2:44
Speaker 1: Oh't know. I made sure I had that car. I mean,
2:46
Speaker 1: I just had to zip and then Car. I just yeah,
2:52
Speaker 1: answered the phones. After that, I was like, yeah, it's
2:54
Speaker 1: the Bengal st everybody was excited. Finally, there are the
2:58
Speaker 1: interesting nuggets like round pick cam Taylor Britt being from
3:02
Speaker 1: the same school as his new head coach. Your head
3:06
Speaker 1: coach is a Nebraska Hall of Famer. Do you have
3:10
Speaker 1: Do you have any knowledge of Zach Taylor's career as
3:12
Speaker 1: a quarterback for the corn Oscars, I kind of do.
3:15
Speaker 1: I can say, what did he share? He was probably
3:24
Speaker 1: one of the best quarterbacks go through Nebraska. Dak wasn't lying.
3:30
Speaker 1: He still holds Nebraska's single season record for touchdown passes
3:33
Speaker 1: with twenty six back in two thousand and six when
3:37
Speaker 1: he was named the Big twelve Offensive Player of the Year. Now,
3:42
Speaker 1: let's get to this year's draft class. The Bengals chose
3:45
Speaker 1: six players. Defensive backs Das Hill, Cam Taylor Britt and
3:49
Speaker 1: Tyson Anderson, defensive lineman Zachary Carter, edge rusher Jeffrey Gunter,
3:55
Speaker 1: and offensive lineman Cordelle Volson. I spoke about the group
3:59
Speaker 1: with a guy who oversees the draft force, Incinnati director
4:02
Speaker 1: of Player Personnel, Duke Tobin. To cap, of your six
4:06
Speaker 1: draft picks or defensive backs, all three seem very versatile.
4:11
Speaker 1: Is that more necessary now than ever? Or how much
4:14
Speaker 1: does that have to do with lu and a Rumo
4:16
Speaker 1: and his schemes. I think versatility is a hallmark of
4:20
Speaker 1: any really good player on defense. It's hard to say
4:23
Speaker 1: a guy can be a one trick pony at any position. Honestly,
4:27
Speaker 1: when you're talking about versatility, it's one of the number
4:31
Speaker 1: one traits we talk about, particularly on the defensive side
4:33
Speaker 1: of the ball, but also on the offensive side. You
4:35
Speaker 1: could talk about offensive lineman that play multiple spots and
4:39
Speaker 1: can fill in at different spots. So it's really a
4:43
Speaker 1: trait that comes with the high level player in today's
4:46
Speaker 1: football is the ability to do more than just one thing.
4:49
Speaker 1: And we were glad that the draft fell to us
4:53
Speaker 1: and gave us a chance to find those high level
4:56
Speaker 1: players in our opinion, and they're high level players because
4:58
Speaker 1: they're they're versatile. I think most people listening to this
5:02
Speaker 1: know about the quarterbacks that are in the AFC. The
5:05
Speaker 1: road to get back to the super Bowl not only
5:07
Speaker 1: includes Patrick Mahomes, but Josh Allen, Russell Wilson, Justin, Herbert,
5:12
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan. The list goes on and on and on.
5:14
Speaker 1: Did that have anything to do with the emphasis that
5:18
Speaker 1: you put on defensive backs in particular and defense in general?
5:22
Speaker 1: I think we needed help on that side of the ball.
5:25
Speaker 1: You know, we needed some young players coming on and uh,
5:28
Speaker 1: you know, each each year, your team's a little different. Um,
5:32
Speaker 1: if the players weren't up to it when our draft
5:34
Speaker 1: spot came, we wouldn't have to. We would have taken
5:37
Speaker 1: somebody else at a different position. But it just so
5:40
Speaker 1: happened that that the players that we really liked also
5:42
Speaker 1: fit some needs for us, and that and that was good.
5:46
Speaker 1: You know, the road to the super Bowl also goes
5:48
Speaker 1: through Joe Burrow and so other teams have to worry too,
5:51
Speaker 1: and uh and and uh. So, yeah, you want to
5:55
Speaker 1: be good in coverage, you want to be able to
5:57
Speaker 1: pass rush. I think when you look at the draft
6:00
Speaker 1: and what team's value in the draft, pass rush and
6:04
Speaker 1: coverage are two of the biggest things. You trade it
6:07
Speaker 1: up twice and surrendered sixth and seventh round picks in
6:11
Speaker 1: the process. How hard was that to do when you
6:13
Speaker 1: only had eight picks to begin with. It mechanically it
6:18
Speaker 1: was easy to do. From from my heart standpoint, it
6:23
Speaker 1: was very difficult to do because I hate having to
6:27
Speaker 1: give up picks. And this draft fell at a point
6:32
Speaker 1: when we thought that we had a chance of getting
6:35
Speaker 1: knocked out of the box and having to drop down
6:37
Speaker 1: a level of player at our pick. And sometimes that
6:42
Speaker 1: conspires against you, and you got to go get what
6:44
Speaker 1: you gotta go get, and we felt like we needed
6:47
Speaker 1: to go get that. But given up a pick, whether
6:50
Speaker 1: it's a seventh round pick or a sixth round pick,
6:54
Speaker 1: that's in my view, that's a chance at a real
6:57
Speaker 1: player that we're for going. And so it was very
7:00
Speaker 1: difficult for me personally to do it, even though I'm
7:04
Speaker 1: the one that wanted to do it, and so I'm conflicted.
7:09
Speaker 1: You know, I've got a love hate relationship with myself
7:12
Speaker 1: right now. When you trade up, how specifically are you
7:17
Speaker 1: looking at the teams ahead of you and playing that
7:20
Speaker 1: all right, this team needs a guy at that spot
7:23
Speaker 1: and we have to do it. I think that plays
7:26
Speaker 1: into it. We do go through the exercise of looking
7:29
Speaker 1: at other teams needs, and we have specific needs for
7:32
Speaker 1: each team, and as they go through the draft, we
7:35
Speaker 1: cross off those needs as they satisfy them. And you
7:38
Speaker 1: never know what other teams are going to do. You
7:40
Speaker 1: never know if they have any regard for the guy
7:42
Speaker 1: that you're thinking about now or not. But you have
7:46
Speaker 1: to go through the exercise, and I think the more
7:48
Speaker 1: you go through it, maybe there's diminishing returns because you
7:50
Speaker 1: convince yourself everybody wants your guy, and maybe that's not
7:54
Speaker 1: the case. But more often than not, the guy that
7:57
Speaker 1: you're looking at is also a guy the teams ahead
8:01
Speaker 1: of you are looking at. You know, we're we're pretty
8:05
Speaker 1: there's a lot of very good graders around the NFL,
8:08
Speaker 1: and so we don't believe we sit here and have
8:13
Speaker 1: the magic bullet that nobody else has in grading these guys.
8:16
Speaker 1: So we assume that the guys we really like are
8:19
Speaker 1: high on other people's boards too. Your first round pick,
8:23
Speaker 1: Dax Hill spent three years at Michigan, three starts as
8:26
Speaker 1: a freshman, Honorable Mention All Big Ten as a sophomore,
8:29
Speaker 1: one of the best players in the conference last year.
8:32
Speaker 1: When did he start to be on your radar? Is
8:35
Speaker 1: that a guy that you've started to think highly of
8:38
Speaker 1: of the course of a couple of years. Yeah, you know,
8:41
Speaker 1: we normally focus on the draft class that's eligible for
8:44
Speaker 1: the draft. That's our initial process. We do have awareness
8:48
Speaker 1: of guys who can come out early, and a lot
8:51
Speaker 1: of times the schools will help you with that list,
8:53
Speaker 1: and you're when you're in there, But when you're talking
8:56
Speaker 1: about major programs and players who have played with him
9:00
Speaker 1: for three years, we're also college football fans like everyone else.
9:04
Speaker 1: So we don't we don't live under a rock somewhere.
9:07
Speaker 1: And who's this. He wasn't on my list of seniors.
9:10
Speaker 1: I don't think. You know, you can't watch tape without
9:13
Speaker 1: noticing people that might not be eligible for the draft. Um,
9:17
Speaker 1: but you know, yes, we had a we had a
9:20
Speaker 1: firm awareness of him throughout the process. We knew that
9:24
Speaker 1: there was a possibility he would want to leave early
9:26
Speaker 1: based on what he had done. And um, you know,
9:30
Speaker 1: I love the love the guys that produce big at
9:33
Speaker 1: big level programs, and and you know, all things equal,
9:37
Speaker 1: Why not that he's been listed as a safety, but
9:41
Speaker 1: last year the majority of his snaps came as a
9:44
Speaker 1: slot corner. What position should we call him? Is he
9:48
Speaker 1: like old school defensive halfback? We will, we will, we
9:52
Speaker 1: will see. He'll play what he earns. You know, the
9:57
Speaker 1: draft round and the draft number and everything that's all
10:00
Speaker 1: in the past. Now we just have he's gonna I
10:03
Speaker 1: don't know what number he's gonna wear, twenty So now
10:07
Speaker 1: he's number twenty three for the Cincinnati Bengals, and number
10:09
Speaker 1: twenty three will get what he earns, just like everybody
10:12
Speaker 1: else on our roster. They'll they'll grow their role at
10:15
Speaker 1: the pace that they're able to grow their role, and
10:18
Speaker 1: the coaches are, you know, it's it's nice to have
10:20
Speaker 1: a guy that can grow the role in a few
10:22
Speaker 1: different areas. And he can do that, and I look
10:25
Speaker 1: forward to seeing his progression with us. So I love
10:29
Speaker 1: draft gurus, and they love me because I buy all
10:32
Speaker 1: of it, all the magazines all of the stuff that
10:34
Speaker 1: you can download. It's good reading leading up to the draft.
10:37
Speaker 1: I know that doesn't mean anything internally to you guys,
10:40
Speaker 1: but I want to look at offensive lineman Cordell Wolson
10:43
Speaker 1: because you took him in the fourth round. These gurus
10:46
Speaker 1: typically had a later grade than that, and they cited
10:49
Speaker 1: his athleticism. He's got the size and strength, maybe not
10:52
Speaker 1: the footspeed or whatever. Why did you feel he was
10:56
Speaker 1: worthy of the spot where you chose him. Well, I
10:58
Speaker 1: guess we disagreed. You know, we think he does have
11:03
Speaker 1: the movement to play in the schematics that we want
11:06
Speaker 1: him to play in, and we think he's got versatility
11:09
Speaker 1: to play tackle and guard. We think, really his true
11:14
Speaker 1: upside might be inside and uh and that'll be up
11:17
Speaker 1: to Frank to determine that the more he gets to
11:20
Speaker 1: work with him and see where he fits best. But
11:23
Speaker 1: he's a big, tough, strong, smart, productive at a school
11:30
Speaker 1: that is a productive school. It might not be the
11:33
Speaker 1: biggest level, but those kids are being coached as well
11:39
Speaker 1: as any any players in the country. He's got four
11:43
Speaker 1: national championship rings. It'd be nice. It'd be nice if
11:46
Speaker 1: he got a Super Bowl ring as well. When Frank
11:49
Speaker 1: Pollock spoke about him after the selection. He really emphasized
11:53
Speaker 1: the intangibles, the toughness, the blank in his neck, they
11:56
Speaker 1: expression that de Frank likes to use. How important is
12:01
Speaker 1: that thought process from Frank and do you share it?
12:06
Speaker 1: I do? I think that unit has to play as one.
12:09
Speaker 1: And when you get guys that are all bought in
12:12
Speaker 1: and have similar temperaments, similar mentalities, similar love for the game,
12:17
Speaker 1: I think they can gel and play well together. That
12:20
Speaker 1: group is never just five individuals playing. And if you
12:24
Speaker 1: get a little better at this spot, you're a little better.
12:26
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean that just because you have a different trait
12:29
Speaker 1: at a spot that the unit is going to play
12:31
Speaker 1: as well together. And so we're trying to find guys
12:34
Speaker 1: that all have the same temperament, the same love, desire
12:38
Speaker 1: and passion for the game and love the grind. I
12:42
Speaker 1: mean those guys, that's that's all they have, you know.
12:45
Speaker 1: I mean you could ask Lap That's that's what they have.
12:48
Speaker 1: They have the passion and the love of the grind.
12:50
Speaker 1: That's they don't get to score touchdowns, and you know
12:53
Speaker 1: they're normally not the ones doing the advertisements and all
12:56
Speaker 1: that stuff, except for Lap, who who's figured out a
12:59
Speaker 1: path way. But but you know, they're they're the guys
13:03
Speaker 1: that are there for the love of the game. If
13:05
Speaker 1: they're playing because of what the game gives them, that
13:08
Speaker 1: is not the position for you, because there's a lot
13:10
Speaker 1: of work that goes into it. You obviously have a
13:13
Speaker 1: Super Bowl roster. Did that make it easier for you
13:17
Speaker 1: to only wind up with six picks? Um? Again, I
13:22
Speaker 1: would rather have eight. I'd rather have ten, um. But yeah,
13:26
Speaker 1: you know, we didn't feel like we had a bunch
13:29
Speaker 1: of an immediate starter needs right now, so we had
13:33
Speaker 1: some freedom to pick guys that can come on at
13:35
Speaker 1: their own pace. Um, if they earned starting roles, they
13:38
Speaker 1: earned starting roles. We're not going to rule that out
13:41
Speaker 1: by any stretch. But um, they're they're guys that we believe,
13:46
Speaker 1: you know, can supply us good snaps in the present
13:49
Speaker 1: and grow their role in the future. And so it's
13:53
Speaker 1: nice to have a team that that you don't have
13:55
Speaker 1: to plug and play rookies. Based on their social media posts,
14:00
Speaker 1: You've got at least thirteen undrafted free agents that intend
14:04
Speaker 1: to sign with the Bengals. It doesn't become official here
14:06
Speaker 1: until they've had a physical and been in town and
14:09
Speaker 1: actually physically signed the contract. But how important is that
14:13
Speaker 1: group considering the limited number of draft picks. It's hugely important,
14:18
Speaker 1: and it's something that we put a lot of focus
14:20
Speaker 1: on throughout the entire draft process, but certainly throughout April,
14:25
Speaker 1: we're trying to identify guys that we like that may
14:28
Speaker 1: go through the draft, try to build a relationship with them,
14:31
Speaker 1: get them comfortable with our coaching staff, our city, our team,
14:36
Speaker 1: try to give them an idea of what their role
14:40
Speaker 1: would be if they end up here. So when you
14:42
Speaker 1: do get to call them and start talking to them
14:45
Speaker 1: about coming to Cincinnati, you know, when it's finally time
14:49
Speaker 1: to do that, they have that in the back of
14:51
Speaker 1: their mind. They know exactly who's going to coach them,
14:55
Speaker 1: what the role is going to be, and what my
14:57
Speaker 1: opportunity to make the team is. And those guys, you know,
15:01
Speaker 1: a lot of times, you know, will make the back
15:04
Speaker 1: end of your roster, your fifty second, fifty third, fifty
15:07
Speaker 1: first player, and then they'll also populate your sixteen man
15:12
Speaker 1: practice squad and have to be ready to come up
15:15
Speaker 1: and play at a moment's notice. So with the rosters
15:18
Speaker 1: expanding like they have, those guys are really important. Between
15:22
Speaker 1: the three offensive lineman you signed in free agency and
15:25
Speaker 1: tight end Hayden Hurst and injured players coming back like
15:29
Speaker 1: Joseph Osai and this year's draft class. How much better
15:33
Speaker 1: is your roster. Well, we'd like to think it's better.
15:37
Speaker 1: I mean, if you stay the same, you're getting worse
15:39
Speaker 1: and we could not afford to not improve our team.
15:45
Speaker 1: If that's the case, you're not going to make it
15:47
Speaker 1: back to where you want to go. You always have
15:49
Speaker 1: to get it better. And so that was a focus
15:52
Speaker 1: in free agency, that was a focus in the draft.
15:55
Speaker 1: And we think we're there. We think we've got guys
15:57
Speaker 1: that can improve our team. We think existing players that
16:01
Speaker 1: got the taste of success last year will improve their
16:04
Speaker 1: games even and the new players that came in will
16:07
Speaker 1: elevate the rest of the unit. Final question, I appreciate
16:11
Speaker 1: your time. This is the Monday after the draft. It
16:14
Speaker 1: also happens to be the first day that the veteran
16:16
Speaker 1: players are back in the building. It has come along
16:20
Speaker 1: really quickly since that Super Bowl. What is the excitement
16:24
Speaker 1: level like in this building to get rolling again. Well,
16:27
Speaker 1: it's definitely exciting to see the guys back in the building.
16:30
Speaker 1: I walked in this morning, fully anticipating to go down
16:32
Speaker 1: and get a sauna in and get a workout in,
16:36
Speaker 1: and the first thing I saw was all the players
16:38
Speaker 1: down there, and I guess I'd forgot they were coming.
16:40
Speaker 1: And that's so I got to I guess I gotta
16:42
Speaker 1: put that off until this afternoon. So I was a
16:45
Speaker 1: little irritated at first, and I realized that, damn, it
16:49
Speaker 1: is good to see the guys, and so yeah, it's
16:52
Speaker 1: it's fun to get them back. It'll be really fun
16:54
Speaker 1: to see our rookies come in, you know, in a
16:57
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, and see them in our helmets and
17:00
Speaker 1: moving around on our field. That that's always an exciting
17:02
Speaker 1: time for scouts. It was really fun to interact with
17:06
Speaker 1: the guys that you drafted over the course of the weekend.
17:08
Speaker 1: Some great personalities. We look forward to getting to know
17:10
Speaker 1: them better. And again I appreciate your time, you bet Dan,
17:12
Speaker 1: thank you. In that conversation with Duke, I mentioned that
17:16
Speaker 1: at least thirteen undrafted free agents have tweeted out their
17:19
Speaker 1: plans to sign with the Bengals. Now that number is
17:23
Speaker 1: up to seventeen. And here are a few of the
17:25
Speaker 1: names that I find most intriguing. Let's start with Ben Brown,
17:30
Speaker 1: an interior offensive lineman from Ole Miss. The Athletics draft
17:34
Speaker 1: guru Dane Brugler rated Brown is the seventh best center
17:38
Speaker 1: in this year's draft and gave him a fourth or
17:41
Speaker 1: fifth round grade. He had a torn biceps last year,
17:45
Speaker 1: which probably explains why he wasn't drafted, but Ben started
17:49
Speaker 1: forty games at ole Miss, thirty at guard and ten
17:52
Speaker 1: at center. Another interior offensive line worth noting is Desmond Noel,
17:58
Speaker 1: who played his college football at Florida Atlantic. But he's
18:01
Speaker 1: a local kid out of Colrane High School. I like
18:04
Speaker 1: his Twitter handle, I go hard sixty five. There's a
18:08
Speaker 1: local college player in the group in Miami University wide
18:12
Speaker 1: receiver Jack Sorensen, who had a huge year for the
18:15
Speaker 1: RedHawks last season with seventy six catches for one thousand,
18:19
Speaker 1: four hundred six yards and ten touchdowns. Sorensen had one
18:23
Speaker 1: hundred plus receiving yards in six consecutive games. On the
18:27
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, keep an eye on Colorado
18:30
Speaker 1: linebacker Carson Wells, who got a seventh round grade from Brugler.
18:35
Speaker 1: Not only was he a four year starter for the Buffalos,
18:38
Speaker 1: but he was his High school's valedictorian. And finally, the
18:41
Speaker 1: Bengals signed the highest rated long snapper in this year's draft,
18:46
Speaker 1: cal Adamitas out of pitt who was the only long
18:49
Speaker 1: snapper invited to the Senior Bowl this year. He'll compete
18:53
Speaker 1: in training camp with Clark Harris, who turns thirty eight
18:56
Speaker 1: in July. The Bengals did not sign any undrefted punters. Instead,
19:02
Speaker 1: they reached a deal on Monday with fourteen year veteran
19:04
Speaker 1: Kevin Huber, who will compete in training camp with Drew
19:07
Speaker 1: Chrisman out of LaSalle High School and Ohio State. The
19:11
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
19:15
Speaker 1: to play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals
19:19
Speaker 1: awarded a weekly winner during the course of the year
19:21
Speaker 1: with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all
19:26
Speaker 1: up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store
19:29
Speaker 1: and Google Play. Before I play my one on one
19:33
Speaker 1: interview with Dax Hill, let me tell you about his
19:36
Speaker 1: schedule leading up to it. Dax got drafted on Thursday
19:40
Speaker 1: night after eleven PM and finished up his media obligations
19:44
Speaker 1: around midnight at four thirty in the morning. He was
19:48
Speaker 1: on his way to the airport to catch a six
19:50
Speaker 1: am flight to Cincinnati, and I sat down and talked
19:53
Speaker 1: to him in the Bengals locker room that afternoon. Tax Congratulations,
19:59
Speaker 1: you were one of the top recruits in the country
20:01
Speaker 1: coming out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and you got to choose
20:04
Speaker 1: then in the NFL Draft, You're waiting for somebody to
20:07
Speaker 1: choose you. How nerve wracking? Was that very very nerve wracking? Um,
20:14
Speaker 1: Like you said, you don't really get to choose, so
20:16
Speaker 1: they choose me. So I was really just waiting for
20:18
Speaker 1: someone to choose me, and that kind of took a while,
20:21
Speaker 1: you know, to wear the back end of the you know,
20:23
Speaker 1: the first round. So all in all, I'm kind of,
20:26
Speaker 1: you know, excited, you know, for the opportunity and glad
20:28
Speaker 1: that you know, the Cincinnati Bengals, you know, pick me up.
20:32
Speaker 1: We often hear players talking about how they see an
20:35
Speaker 1: area code pop up on their phone, and that's kind
20:37
Speaker 1: of when they have the first indication of who's calling.
20:41
Speaker 1: Did that happen with you? I saw the city pop
20:43
Speaker 1: ups I think it said Cleveland, Ohio something like that,
20:46
Speaker 1: so I already knew it was Cincinnati Fisher. So the
20:50
Speaker 1: Bengals are obviously coming off a trip to the Super Bowl,
20:53
Speaker 1: and I'm sure, like any avid football player or fan,
20:56
Speaker 1: you were following that during the postseason and into their
20:59
Speaker 1: game against the Rams. Did you start to learn things
21:02
Speaker 1: about the Bengals Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, etc. I mean,
21:07
Speaker 1: I know they are a cohesive team. Um, you know,
21:10
Speaker 1: they're kind of bringing back the culture, you know from
21:12
Speaker 1: years ago. I'm really just changing it the entire you know. Um,
21:16
Speaker 1: I look at the team, so I felt like I
21:18
Speaker 1: didn't really know too much about them until you know,
21:20
Speaker 1: the back end of the season. But um no, they're
21:23
Speaker 1: close group. I've heard a lot of good, good things,
21:25
Speaker 1: you know since I've been here. Um, close, close knit
21:28
Speaker 1: the team. So looking forward to, you know, to working
21:30
Speaker 1: with those guys. I think at the NFL Scout income
21:33
Speaker 1: Buying teams are allowed to meet with forty five guys
21:36
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, for eighteen minutes apiece. So it's
21:38
Speaker 1: a bit of a whirlwind. I'm sure you met with
21:40
Speaker 1: a lot of teams, But in that meeting, did you
21:44
Speaker 1: form any impressions about the Bengals? Um? I knew they
21:48
Speaker 1: were you know, high on me. Um. I knew I
21:51
Speaker 1: had a great relationship with the coach, you know, leaning
21:53
Speaker 1: up to you know, the combine and then some area scouts,
21:56
Speaker 1: So definitely knew going into it that I was confident
22:00
Speaker 1: they believed in what I could do. So it wasn't
22:02
Speaker 1: really too too low about that that conversation. So definitely
22:07
Speaker 1: a good, good experience. This franchise over the past few
22:10
Speaker 1: years has put a heavy emphasis on guys that love
22:14
Speaker 1: the grind. Is that a description of you? Oh? Yeah,
22:17
Speaker 1: I mean I definitely enjoy the grind at Michigan. I
22:19
Speaker 1: feel like they've had me very prepared, you know, for
22:22
Speaker 1: a grind of an NFL you know type of schedule.
22:25
Speaker 1: So definitely feel prepared for NFL grinder. We're visiting the
22:29
Speaker 1: Bengals first round draft pick Tax Hill. So in the
22:32
Speaker 1: run up to the draft, when I'm reading the various
22:34
Speaker 1: draft gurus and looking at all these magazines and so forth,
22:37
Speaker 1: You're typically listed as a safety, but I feel like
22:40
Speaker 1: we shouldn't call you a safety because you played a
22:43
Speaker 1: ton of slot corner. You did play safety, but it
22:46
Speaker 1: almost should be defensive back. Uh yeah, I feel like
22:51
Speaker 1: I am a defensive back. You really can't put a
22:53
Speaker 1: label on it until you know I'm out on the
22:55
Speaker 1: field and you know, in a certain defense. So I
22:58
Speaker 1: really don't want to limit myself. I feel like I
23:00
Speaker 1: can do a lot a lot of different things. So yes,
23:03
Speaker 1: I'll classify myself as a dB. And that's the way
23:06
Speaker 1: you wanted going forward, right. You don't want to just
23:09
Speaker 1: be a center field or safety, a slot corner. You
23:13
Speaker 1: like being a Swiss army knife. Correct, Yes, And I
23:16
Speaker 1: feel like that's kind of like, you know, the day
23:18
Speaker 1: and age now, guys are playing multiple positions, you know,
23:21
Speaker 1: another way to get out on the field. So I
23:22
Speaker 1: consider myself, you know, as a swift swift army knife
23:26
Speaker 1: and able to play different positions. You had sacks, you
23:30
Speaker 1: had interceptions obviously, tackles for loss. Is there something on
23:35
Speaker 1: the football field that you get the biggest charge out of?
23:39
Speaker 1: I mean, I enjoy it all. There's something I really
23:42
Speaker 1: don't like on you know, playing you know, playing a
23:45
Speaker 1: game of football, so religios being out there and making
23:48
Speaker 1: plays with my teammates is the biggest thing for me.
23:51
Speaker 1: You have an older brother that we're familiar with because
23:53
Speaker 1: he's been in the AFC North Justice running back for
23:56
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens. I'll pick up a point of a
23:59
Speaker 1: point of pride gets it in your family now to
24:01
Speaker 1: have multiple players that have advanced to the NFL. UM,
24:05
Speaker 1: it's really just a testament to to our parents, Um
24:08
Speaker 1: how we kind of raised raising a tight knit of family,
24:11
Speaker 1: and UM, I feel like that's just a testament of
24:15
Speaker 1: you know, since I've been a kid until now, they've
24:17
Speaker 1: always been in my corner and supportive and so uh so, yeah,
24:20
Speaker 1: that that game is very highly anticipated, you know, you
24:24
Speaker 1: know coming up, so definitely that will be an exciting
24:27
Speaker 1: game for you know, for the family to watch. He
24:29
Speaker 1: was one of many guys that was hurt last year. Correct,
24:32
Speaker 1: Yes he was. How difficult was that whole thing for
24:35
Speaker 1: him and for his entire team? I mean he's a strong,
24:39
Speaker 1: you know, strong willed person. So I feel like he
24:41
Speaker 1: didn't get too high or low. He knew everything happened
24:44
Speaker 1: for a reason. So I talked to talk to him
24:47
Speaker 1: about that and didn't feel any type of way. Um,
24:50
Speaker 1: he knew that next year he would prove himself, you know,
24:54
Speaker 1: to be even better. So uh he went, he went
24:58
Speaker 1: through recovery, would really well and yeah, so he's good now.
25:03
Speaker 1: So we're talking about three thirty in the afternoon the
25:06
Speaker 1: day after the draft. You got chosen about eleven thirty
25:10
Speaker 1: last night. So it's been a whirlwind. You get the call,
25:13
Speaker 1: you're with sixty friends and family members, You celebrate a
25:16
Speaker 1: little bit, you talk to the media, you got a
25:17
Speaker 1: few hours to sleep, you're on a plane, you're in Cincinnati,
25:20
Speaker 1: and now you're talking to a bunch of local reporters.
25:23
Speaker 1: Are you running on fumes? I am, and I'm stubbling,
25:27
Speaker 1: oh my words saying there. I can't even speak clearly today,
25:31
Speaker 1: just because it's been a lot, a lot of long hours,
25:34
Speaker 1: you know, the last day or two. But I'm definitely
25:37
Speaker 1: excited and thankful for it. You know that I'm feeling
25:40
Speaker 1: like this. He walked in the news conference room. He
25:43
Speaker 1: held up at number twenty three, Jersey, did they show
25:46
Speaker 1: you the available numbers? I know you wore thirty at Michigan,
25:49
Speaker 1: but that was unavailable because of Jesse Bates, right, Yeah,
25:52
Speaker 1: they showed me twenty six, twenty seven, twenty nine. So
25:56
Speaker 1: twenty three was my mind design effector. And just because,
26:00
Speaker 1: like I said in the press conference, Michael Jordan's kind
26:02
Speaker 1: of like the greatest of all time, So I kind
26:04
Speaker 1: of want to mimic my game, you know, you know,
26:07
Speaker 1: out in the field in that way you told us
26:10
Speaker 1: basketball was your first love. Did you play everything as
26:14
Speaker 1: a kid in Tulsa? All sports that you could? I
26:17
Speaker 1: was religious, basketball, and football, So football was kind of
26:20
Speaker 1: like fourth grade. And then eventually got in to track
26:23
Speaker 1: later on my high school career, like or early in
26:26
Speaker 1: my high school career freshman this aphomore year. So so
26:30
Speaker 1: ended up playing three sports throughout my you know, elementary
26:33
Speaker 1: all the way through high school. How'd you wind up
26:35
Speaker 1: in Michigan? Religious build great relationships, forming the great relationships
26:40
Speaker 1: with the players and the coaches there, and there was
26:42
Speaker 1: no brainer for me to you know, go there, and
26:44
Speaker 1: also you know, want to go far away from home,
26:46
Speaker 1: you know, find myself. And so that's what I did,
26:48
Speaker 1: and feel like that worked out really well for me.
26:52
Speaker 1: So right after draft weekend, players report, you get to work,
26:57
Speaker 1: you start meeting your new teammates. How eager are you
27:00
Speaker 1: to get started? Very eager. I know this is a
27:04
Speaker 1: new chapter in my life and it's gonna you know,
27:07
Speaker 1: be life changing as well. But also opener to you
27:11
Speaker 1: know the business world and how things operate. Things operate
27:15
Speaker 1: totally different, you know, from you know, collegiate level to
27:17
Speaker 1: the pro. So I really want to carry myself in
27:19
Speaker 1: a way as a pro every day. And that's what
27:21
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to, you know, meeting teammates and my
27:24
Speaker 1: new teammates and then you know, compete out in the
27:27
Speaker 1: field as well. You're a first round draft pick, it's
27:30
Speaker 1: an extraordinary accomplishment, recognition of a lot of hard work. Congratulations,
27:34
Speaker 1: Welcome to Cincinnati. Oh yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you
27:37
Speaker 1: so much. Good to be here. Later that night, Dax
27:40
Speaker 1: was treated to a celebratory dinner at Carlo and Johnny,
27:44
Speaker 1: one of Jeff Ruby's restaurants. In case you're wondering, he
27:47
Speaker 1: did not get a stake Burrow or the Moonyo's or
27:50
Speaker 1: the collins Worth. He opted for the salmon. Now that's discipline.
27:56
Speaker 1: That's going to do it. For this episode of The
27:58
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast presented by Ultimate Bengals, download Ultimate Bengals
28:03
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Speaker 1: podcast and if you have a minute, give it a
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28:22
Speaker 1: find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to
28:25
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast