Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Booth Podcast: You Got What I Need
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast, the You You Got What I Need? Edition,
- 0:14Speaker 1: As my broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins me to discuss
- 0:17Speaker 1: the Bengals biggest needs going into the draft. He'll rank
- 0:21Speaker 1: them from number five to number one. Also coming up
- 0:25Speaker 1: on this edition, we'll hear from Bengals President Mike Brown
- 0:28Speaker 1: on the great Forest Greg who passed away last week
- 0:32Speaker 1: at the age of eighty five. And in our fun
- 0:34Speaker 1: fact segment, I'll visit with a two hundred and fifteenth
- 0:38Speaker 1: pick in the nineteen eighty seven NFL Draft who became
- 0:42Speaker 1: a starter on the Bengal second Super Bowl team and
- 0:45Speaker 1: later an outstanding NFL broadcaster. All of that is straight ahead,
- 0:51Speaker 1: but first, here's a quick reminder that you can have
- 0:53Speaker 1: the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
- 0:58Speaker 1: or computer by some scribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play,
- 1:02Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since auto correction,
- 1:09Speaker 1: that useful tool commonly found on computer keyboards and smartphones
- 1:14Speaker 1: to fix spelling errors. It's almost always helpful, except when
- 1:19Speaker 1: I reach out to my friends the Mortons and call
- 1:22Speaker 1: them the morons. Now, let's get to football. Last week,
- 1:27Speaker 1: we learned of the passing of one of the greatest
- 1:30Speaker 1: figures in Bengal's history, Forrest Greg. He was a Hall
- 1:34Speaker 1: of Fame player, a nine time Pro Bowl offensive tackle
- 1:37Speaker 1: with the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, who was
- 1:40Speaker 1: named to the NFL seventy fifth Anniversary Team. Green Bay
- 1:44Speaker 1: coach Vince Lombardi once called Forrest the best player I
- 1:48Speaker 1: ever coached. He came to Cincinnati in December of nineteen
- 1:52Speaker 1: seventy nine at the age of forty six, after the
- 1:55Speaker 1: team had gone four and twelve under Homer Rice. Two
- 1:59Speaker 1: seasons later, the Bengals were twelve and four and on
- 2:02Speaker 1: their way to their first Super Bowl. Over the years,
- 2:06Speaker 1: I've talked to Bengals President Mike Brown on several occasions
- 2:09Speaker 1: about Forrest Greg. Here are a few of the questions
- 2:14Speaker 1: and answers. Today we're going to look at some of
- 2:16Speaker 1: the great coaches, head coaches, and assistant coaches in Bengals history.
- 2:19Speaker 1: With Mike Brown. Let's start with Forrest Greg. When I
- 2:23Speaker 1: say that name, what immediately comes to mind probably for
- 2:26Speaker 1: me something altogether different than for the normal fans. Forrest
- 2:31Speaker 1: and I are good friends. But we were friends when
- 2:34Speaker 1: he was here. He is still a good friend. He's retired.
- 2:38Speaker 1: He lives out in Colorado Springs, Barbara, and he The
- 2:43Speaker 1: thing about Forrest as a coach that sticks as in
- 2:47Speaker 1: my mind is how he was perceived by the players.
- 2:53Speaker 1: He had been a great player himself. He presented a
- 2:59Speaker 1: daunting presence. He was a big, powerful man, and even
- 3:04Speaker 1: the players would have thought twice about challenging him in
- 3:07Speaker 1: any way physically, including He was thought of as a
- 3:13Speaker 1: disciplinarian by the players, as a hard taskmaster, and he
- 3:20Speaker 1: was privately anything but that. He was a sweet, gentle person.
- 3:26Speaker 1: I'm very fond of him. But he did a great
- 3:29Speaker 1: job for us. He got us to the Super Bowl,
- 3:34Speaker 1: and really it's a shame that we didn't win that game,
- 3:38Speaker 1: and my heart of hearts, we were the better team
- 3:40Speaker 1: that day, but we managed to fumble the ball away
- 3:44Speaker 1: and lose. I think of Forrest a lot, and I've
- 3:49Speaker 1: tried to explain that it goes beyond just the coaching part.
- 3:54Speaker 1: I read Forest Gregg's biography recently, and he described coming
- 3:57Speaker 1: to Cincinnati to interview for the head coaching job. Took
- 4:00Speaker 1: place at your father's house and three people were there, Forrest,
- 4:03Speaker 1: your dad, and you. What do you remember about that meeting?
- 4:08Speaker 1: I hate to tell you nothing, but I remember Forrest
- 4:18Speaker 1: so very well. He is a dear friend. When he
- 4:23Speaker 1: coached here, we were social friends. Barbara, Forrest and Nancy
- 4:29Speaker 1: and I and our friend friends Jack and Lynn Schiff
- 4:34Speaker 1: would go out every Friday night and we had wonderful
- 4:38Speaker 1: times together. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was just
- 4:42Speaker 1: good fun for middle aged people, which is what we
- 4:45Speaker 1: were then. I have a fondness for for Ust that
- 4:49Speaker 1: runs deep within me. He was a very successful coach here.
- 4:54Speaker 1: He had a presence about him. The players respected him.
- 4:57Speaker 1: They jumped when he said boo, and that was good.
- 5:01Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned your friendship because he mentioned something
- 5:04Speaker 1: in his book. I have a hard time believing he said,
- 5:06Speaker 1: the two of you once went to see the movie Porkies.
- 5:10Speaker 1: Do you remember that? I do. It was a lousy
- 5:13Speaker 1: movie in my fad, Jack shiffliked, which I used reflected
- 5:20Speaker 1: on his standards. That was the kind of thing that
- 5:26Speaker 1: we used to do together, Forrest, Jack and our wives
- 5:30Speaker 1: and me. It was fun. The Bengals have had nine
- 5:33Speaker 1: head coaches prior to Zach Taylor and Forrest Gregg has
- 5:37Speaker 1: the highest career winning percentage. Time to turn our attention
- 5:41Speaker 1: to the NFL Draft. It gets under way next Thursday,
- 5:45Speaker 1: April twenty fifth, and the Bengals have eleven selections, including
- 5:50Speaker 1: number eleven overall. Here's hoping they do as well as
- 5:53Speaker 1: the Houston Texans did in two thousand and eleven when
- 5:57Speaker 1: they selected J. J. Watt with eleventh overall pick. So
- 6:02Speaker 1: what are the Bengals biggest needs? I asked my broadcast
- 6:05Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham to count them down. Lap Today, we're
- 6:09Speaker 1: really going to start building up to the draft by
- 6:12Speaker 1: looking at the Bengals biggest needs. I have asked you
- 6:15Speaker 1: to come up with your top five and we are
- 6:17Speaker 1: going to build up from the fifth biggest need to
- 6:21Speaker 1: the biggest need. So let's get started with Dave Lapham's
- 6:25Speaker 1: number five biggest need leading up to the draft. Well,
- 6:28Speaker 1: I think I was thinking outside cornerback, you know, for
- 6:33Speaker 1: you can never have enough of those, But due to
- 6:36Speaker 1: Mark Walton's problems in him being released from the team,
- 6:40Speaker 1: I think maybe the fifth need might be a running
- 6:44Speaker 1: back at some point, not early in the draft, but
- 6:46Speaker 1: addressed that running back position with maybe one or more
- 6:49Speaker 1: of their multiple six round picks that they've got, because
- 6:53Speaker 1: you know, Joe Mixon led the AFC and rushing obviously,
- 6:57Speaker 1: and you knock on wood that he stays totally healthy.
- 7:00Speaker 1: Giovanni Bernard's starting to get up there a little bit
- 7:02Speaker 1: in terms of life expectancy of a running back, and
- 7:05Speaker 1: he's had, you know, some injury history. So I'd probably
- 7:08Speaker 1: go with the running back position, maybe at number five
- 7:11Speaker 1: now based on what took place with Mark Walton and
- 7:14Speaker 1: and I really do think that Zach Taylor sent a message,
- 7:18Speaker 1: you know, and I think a very positive one to
- 7:20Speaker 1: his football team basically, you know, loose translation, you guys
- 7:25Speaker 1: that are out there doing things right and working toward uh,
- 7:28Speaker 1: you know, the common goal and it's all about us,
- 7:30Speaker 1: as his slogan can't be about an individual, you know,
- 7:34Speaker 1: in his mind, Mark Walton didn't fit that and let
- 7:36Speaker 1: him go. So I feel the same way about Vontez.
- 7:39Speaker 1: You know, I think that more football. I think I
- 7:41Speaker 1: think it ended up being more football. You know. I
- 7:45Speaker 1: think it's interesting when when you're in a situation when
- 7:49Speaker 1: a new coaching staff comes in, I think every player
- 7:52Speaker 1: and I asked Aj Green this earlier in the locker room.
- 7:55Speaker 1: You know, as great as you are, do you still
- 7:57Speaker 1: feel like I'm back at square one? Because it's a
- 8:00Speaker 1: new evaluation by new eyes. And of course you knew
- 8:02Speaker 1: AJ was going to answer like like that, Yes, I'm
- 8:05Speaker 1: you know, but he's a true professional. But sometimes when
- 8:09Speaker 1: coaches that have been around a long time with players
- 8:12Speaker 1: look at a guy on tape, they're not looking at
- 8:14Speaker 1: how he's playing. As much as they like him. There's
- 8:16Speaker 1: such a relationship there that a john just how he's playing,
- 8:20Speaker 1: and a fresh set of ice come in and they
- 8:22Speaker 1: put the tape on and what, you know, one set
- 8:25Speaker 1: of coaches thought was a good play or adequate play.
- 8:28Speaker 1: Another set of coaches might be like what And it's
- 8:31Speaker 1: because they don't know anything about the guy, nothing about
- 8:33Speaker 1: his personality. And sometimes that's hard to separate. It's very
- 8:36Speaker 1: hard to separate, particularly, you know, when you've been around
- 8:39Speaker 1: a guy for a long time and at some point
- 8:41Speaker 1: in time he has been productive for you. So that
- 8:45Speaker 1: that that's an interesting one. But I do think I
- 8:47Speaker 1: do think that the contribution to the amount of money
- 8:52Speaker 1: paid Codd Vantes birth would probably a little bit talk
- 8:56Speaker 1: about a disappointment. Mark Walton did not work out at
- 8:59Speaker 1: all obvious lead. The off field problems ultimately doomed him
- 9:03Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, but did not produce as a runner or
- 9:07Speaker 1: as a receiver. And while he contributed on special teams,
- 9:10Speaker 1: he was not this special team star that we were
- 9:13Speaker 1: led to believe that he might turn out to be.
- 9:15Speaker 1: And I wonder if some of these problems are cropped up,
- 9:18Speaker 1: might have been issues. You know, obviously he was running
- 9:21Speaker 1: with the wrong crowd. You know, you go to University
- 9:23Speaker 1: of Miami, there has to be a group of positive
- 9:27Speaker 1: influences that you can lean on. And all he was
- 9:29Speaker 1: leaning on was obviously negative influences. Be packing the gun
- 9:33Speaker 1: he's packing. I mean, come on, and and you're probably
- 9:37Speaker 1: in the same boat. Dan, I'm you know, I'm approaching
- 9:39Speaker 1: sixty seven years old. I've never been arrested. Dude was
- 9:41Speaker 1: arrested three times for three months. Come on, you know,
- 9:44Speaker 1: somebody in his life has to stay after the first
- 9:46Speaker 1: mess up? Okay, come on, Mark, you know, let's let's
- 9:49Speaker 1: straight after number two. It's like, dude, you're not getting this.
- 9:52Speaker 1: You're not figuring this out. Come on, there's going to
- 9:54Speaker 1: be an intervention here and then a trifecta. I mean,
- 9:58Speaker 1: something's wrong there, and I'm more worried about him as
- 10:02Speaker 1: a person than a football player. Really at this point,
- 10:05Speaker 1: you go three times in three months, that's a bad
- 10:08Speaker 1: that's a bad show. Do speeding tickets count where I'm concerned? No,
- 10:12Speaker 1: not speeding tick. It has it has to be, you know,
- 10:16Speaker 1: up against the car, spread him, up against the wall,
- 10:18Speaker 1: spread them. Well. You know one thing we've learned about
- 10:20Speaker 1: the Bengals in recent years. You can get running backs
- 10:23Speaker 1: late in the draft or even as undrafted free agents.
- 10:26Speaker 1: Rex Burkhead was a late pick turned out to be
- 10:28Speaker 1: a great NFL player. Trey Carson I think would have
- 10:31Speaker 1: worked out okay as a third running back had he
- 10:33Speaker 1: stayed with the Bengals long term. So, whether they use
- 10:36Speaker 1: one of those sixth round picks or potentially earlier or
- 10:40Speaker 1: obviously they're going to bring in undrafted free agents of
- 10:42Speaker 1: that position, they're certainly going to add to that position
- 10:46Speaker 1: group a sixth round pick that I can think of
- 10:48Speaker 1: that scored a touchdown the Super Bowl. Rex Burkhead, Cincinnati Bengals,
- 10:52Speaker 1: not bad. I agree with you. You're gonna be able
- 10:55Speaker 1: to find somebody that that's going to be able to
- 10:58Speaker 1: make a contribution. From football for sure, no doubt. All right,
- 11:01Speaker 1: so number five position of need running back? How about
- 11:06Speaker 1: the number four position of need, probably defensive tackle. You know,
- 11:10Speaker 1: I'm thinking with Ryan Glasgow with the injury, you just
- 11:13Speaker 1: never know. He seems like he's coming back tremendously. I
- 11:17Speaker 1: mean he's and I'm gonna say he is, He's gonna
- 11:21Speaker 1: come back one hundred percent or maybe even better. That's
- 11:23Speaker 1: just the kind of guy he is. I mean, he's
- 11:25Speaker 1: he's got a tremendous work ethic. He's blue collar, lunch pail,
- 11:28Speaker 1: all those cliches. I mean he basically he turned himself
- 11:32Speaker 1: down to like right around two hundred and eighty pounds
- 11:34Speaker 1: to put less stress on his knee as he's rehabbing.
- 11:37Speaker 1: And I mean he does everything right. He's a smart guy,
- 11:40Speaker 1: he's a he's a tough football player. But you know,
- 11:44Speaker 1: you know, Billings has been erratic, has been up and down,
- 11:47Speaker 1: his play has been spotty. He's a fourth round pick
- 11:51Speaker 1: coming in, you know, Glasgow nut, you know, a first
- 11:54Speaker 1: or second round pick, or first day or second day
- 11:57Speaker 1: pick either. So I mean those guys have panned out.
- 11:59Speaker 1: But to me, I guess I'd probably wouldn't wouldn't bother
- 12:04Speaker 1: me if they drafted another interior defensive lineman, more of
- 12:07Speaker 1: the run stuffer, you know, mentality to go along with
- 12:10Speaker 1: the geno Atkins of the world. Can you find a
- 12:13Speaker 1: mammoth guy at that spot, because I guess they've Josh
- 12:18Speaker 1: Tupo kind of fits that description, but they haven't had
- 12:22Speaker 1: that immovable, immovable object type of guy in the middle right,
- 12:26Speaker 1: And that's what you're thinking. And you know, Josh is
- 12:29Speaker 1: one of those kind of guys. He's he's he's hard
- 12:30Speaker 1: to knock off the ball, He's got really good balance.
- 12:33Speaker 1: You know, he's a he's a big man obviously. Um,
- 12:36Speaker 1: but somebody of that ilk for sure, I could see them, um,
- 12:39Speaker 1: you know, as there's their fourth need maybe going in
- 12:42Speaker 1: that area. All right, running back, defensive tackle, what's next?
- 12:47Speaker 1: You know, I'm thinking you may have to think about
- 12:49Speaker 1: a tight end. You know, Um, obviously you have the
- 12:54Speaker 1: tight end you lose Tyler Croft, uh to the to
- 12:57Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills, Tyler or Effort. You know, it's like, man,
- 13:02Speaker 1: is this the year where it's finally gonna football? Gods
- 13:06Speaker 1: are gonna leave alone and he can stay healthy because
- 13:09Speaker 1: you know we talked earlier in the in the day
- 13:11Speaker 1: with him about this um. This offense potentially that is
- 13:15Speaker 1: being assembled is going to be very tight end friendly,
- 13:18Speaker 1: and having a weapon like him, you make your offense
- 13:21Speaker 1: tight end friendly because he's he's basically you know, I
- 13:26Speaker 1: think tight ends of loose interpretation of what he gives you.
- 13:30Speaker 1: He can he can play in the slide, he can
- 13:31Speaker 1: play in the widest receiver in the formation. He runs
- 13:34Speaker 1: routes like a wide receiver. The dude is a big
- 13:37Speaker 1: wide out, is what he is. He can run the
- 13:39Speaker 1: route tree as well as a lot of wide receivers
- 13:42Speaker 1: in the National Football League. Plus he could win healthy.
- 13:45Speaker 1: He can still you know, block at the end of
- 13:46Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. So I mean, you know, I
- 13:49Speaker 1: think you're always uh, you know, looking for an insurance
- 13:53Speaker 1: policy there shrek. Obviously, you know he got hurt down
- 13:56Speaker 1: the stretch. C J. Zama got his got his deal done.
- 14:00Speaker 1: But you know, it would not surprise me if they
- 14:03Speaker 1: go for a tight end somewhere in the middle of
- 14:07Speaker 1: the late rounds of the drafts as a need. At
- 14:09Speaker 1: that point, I think they've got to the Other thing
- 14:12Speaker 1: about Eifford is not only is it impossible to know
- 14:15Speaker 1: how many games he's going to play because of his
- 14:16Speaker 1: injury history. But it's only a one year deal, so
- 14:19Speaker 1: who knows what's going to happen. What if he stays
- 14:21Speaker 1: healthy and has a thousand yards in fifteen touchdowns exactly?
- 14:26Speaker 1: You know, it's it's a show me year. And he
- 14:29Speaker 1: has shown me a year last year and obviously had
- 14:31Speaker 1: the tragic injury. It's another show me year. And if
- 14:33Speaker 1: it goes the other way and he shows the league,
- 14:36Speaker 1: it don't be a hot commodity, no question about it. Now,
- 14:39Speaker 1: they'll always with his injury history, they'll always be like,
- 14:42Speaker 1: oh jeeves, do we commit those kind of dollars? And
- 14:45Speaker 1: you know, is the one year of health a blip?
- 14:48Speaker 1: Isn't an operation? Is? You know, this is the history,
- 14:51Speaker 1: this is the trend. Is this the anomaly? So teams
- 14:55Speaker 1: have to make that kind of a decision. But yeah,
- 14:57Speaker 1: I mean, man, if he puts it together, though it
- 15:00Speaker 1: has a huge year, Bengals are in good shape. They're
- 15:03Speaker 1: in high cotton because that that position group. I still
- 15:07Speaker 1: feel like when the New England Patriots had there are
- 15:09Speaker 1: two tight ends. Working with with gronk uh in the murderer,
- 15:15Speaker 1: God Rest his soul. I don't know where he's resting,
- 15:18Speaker 1: and probably in Hell, but at any rate, Hernand is
- 15:21Speaker 1: in Gronk. That that was incredible. I mean that that
- 15:25Speaker 1: was a very very difficult package to deal with. And
- 15:29Speaker 1: I think, you know, sometimes contrarian thinking and approach can
- 15:33Speaker 1: be the way to go. Everybody's spreading out now and
- 15:35Speaker 1: doing all those But if you have two tight ends
- 15:37Speaker 1: on the football field that are adequate enough blockers, but
- 15:40Speaker 1: you can put anywhere in your formation and throw it.
- 15:43Speaker 1: And her name was they had running the ball. I mean,
- 15:45Speaker 1: the dude was running the ball and everything. I mean,
- 15:46Speaker 1: it was ridiculous. And if you've got athletic tight ends
- 15:49Speaker 1: like these guys could be, that could be very very
- 15:52Speaker 1: interesting for the Bengals. Running back, defensive tackle, and tight end.
- 15:58Speaker 1: We are up to the bengals number two positional need
- 16:02Speaker 1: going into the draft. Yeah, I mean, i'd have to
- 16:05Speaker 1: say offensive line. I'd have to say offensive line and linebacker,
- 16:08Speaker 1: or you know, kind of one and one A. So
- 16:10Speaker 1: they're two and one. But you know, let's talk about
- 16:12Speaker 1: the offensive line. I think at this at this point, um,
- 16:16Speaker 1: you know, and I do think they're gonna have to
- 16:18Speaker 1: address it in the draft. Do I think they addressed
- 16:21Speaker 1: it at number eleven. I really don't because when I
- 16:23Speaker 1: look at the top guys, every guy has a hole
- 16:27Speaker 1: in his play. There's not a Munios, there's not a Baselli,
- 16:30Speaker 1: there's not a like you know, Orlando PACER's not like,
- 16:32Speaker 1: oh my gosh, man, they wouldn't make it to eleven anyway.
- 16:36Speaker 1: But I think I think when they get to eleven,
- 16:40Speaker 1: there'll be other options on the board besides those tackles
- 16:44Speaker 1: that they'll have rated higher on their board, because I
- 16:47Speaker 1: think you're gonna be able to get a quality tackle
- 16:50Speaker 1: um early two, which you know they're in the early
- 16:54Speaker 1: stages and even into the third round, so I think
- 16:58Speaker 1: they're gonna I think they're gonna wait and not not
- 17:01Speaker 1: necessarily go there at that point. So tackle specifically, not
- 17:07Speaker 1: just O line in general, but tackle specifically is the
- 17:11Speaker 1: number two neat I'd say old line, you know, in general,
- 17:14Speaker 1: highlighted by by the tackle. But I mean there are
- 17:17Speaker 1: some good guards in this draft. You know, Chris Linstrom
- 17:20Speaker 1: from Boston College. I think I think it's a pretty
- 17:22Speaker 1: pretty darn good guard. Jonah Williams can play center or
- 17:26Speaker 1: guard out of Alabama, and he's like a Clint bowling.
- 17:29Speaker 1: You could get not just a game, you could get
- 17:31Speaker 1: four games out of him if you'd kick him out
- 17:33Speaker 1: to tackle. I think he'd be a heck of a center.
- 17:35Speaker 1: I think he should be a really good guard, you know.
- 17:37Speaker 1: I think he hears you a lot of position versatility. Um.
- 17:40Speaker 1: I think Chris Linstrom from Boston College is another guard that's,
- 17:43Speaker 1: you know, pretty good quality. I'd say he's a late
- 17:45Speaker 1: one early too. No, none of these guys are worth
- 17:48Speaker 1: in eleven in my estimation, but there are a lot
- 17:50Speaker 1: of guys that are you know, first round, late first,
- 17:53Speaker 1: early second. You know, all through the second into the
- 17:55Speaker 1: early third, there's there's a myriad of lineman that they
- 17:59Speaker 1: can go to. I really think, like we talked about before, Dan,
- 18:02Speaker 1: this draft fits a lot of a lot of teams
- 18:04Speaker 1: needs because a lot of teams have needs like the Bengals,
- 18:06Speaker 1: but the Bengals have front seven, defensive needs and offensive
- 18:10Speaker 1: line needs. In this draft is really deep at those
- 18:13Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're omega stars at every one of
- 18:16Speaker 1: the positions, but you know, well passed the first round,
- 18:19Speaker 1: you're gonna get a damn good football player to address
- 18:21Speaker 1: those areas where they do have needs and therefore, linebacker
- 18:26Speaker 1: is the number one need. I think linebacker. You know,
- 18:28Speaker 1: if there's a position on the team that I think
- 18:30Speaker 1: they're going to double down on in the draft, I
- 18:33Speaker 1: think it's going to be linebacker. And like we talked
- 18:35Speaker 1: about before, you know, the two devons and all of
- 18:40Speaker 1: this for the eleventh pick of the draft could be
- 18:43Speaker 1: trump by. In my mind, if there's an edge rusher,
- 18:46Speaker 1: you take them. If there's an edge rusher that you
- 18:48Speaker 1: have rated higher, and it might be one of these linebackers.
- 18:51Speaker 1: You know, some of these they're quote you know, they're
- 18:54Speaker 1: they're rush guys, but they're in the draft. They're like
- 18:57Speaker 1: linebackers instead of defensive ends. But I'm talking about an
- 19:00Speaker 1: edge rush guy because Dan, in this era of throwing
- 19:03Speaker 1: the football, you know, there are two ways to two
- 19:07Speaker 1: ways to help prevent it. You're gonna have to hurry
- 19:11Speaker 1: the quarterback up, make him hurry his reads and hope
- 19:14Speaker 1: he makes a mistake. The way to do that is
- 19:16Speaker 1: by a good pass rush. And then to compound that,
- 19:19Speaker 1: if you have really good options up front, you have
- 19:21Speaker 1: multiple weapons. They start doubling people. There's less guys that
- 19:25Speaker 1: they're going to send out in routes. So your coverage
- 19:27Speaker 1: percentages jump up. So it starts, in my estimation, it
- 19:31Speaker 1: always starts with a good edge rush or a good
- 19:33Speaker 1: rush in general upfront, because if you have to keep,
- 19:36Speaker 1: you know, if you can't get away with ever leaving
- 19:39Speaker 1: five in, you have to go six, sometimes seven and
- 19:41Speaker 1: max protect. I mean you've you've lightened the burden in
- 19:45Speaker 1: the back end immensely, and so's it starts there. I mean,
- 19:49Speaker 1: if you can get a cover corner, great, but if
- 19:52Speaker 1: you can get an edge rusher, that is a difference maker.
- 19:56Speaker 1: I think, I think that trumps everything, even though it
- 19:58Speaker 1: might not be a clearing need based on how Carl
- 20:01Speaker 1: Lawson comes back and say, you know, if if if
- 20:04Speaker 1: you don't find a guy that drops to number eleven,
- 20:06Speaker 1: you do have Karl Lawson coming back from his torn
- 20:08Speaker 1: acl exactly exactly. But here's four defensive linemen. I think
- 20:13Speaker 1: Nick Boss long gone. I think Montes sweat out of
- 20:17Speaker 1: Mississippi State. I mean, the dude six six two forty
- 20:20Speaker 1: plus and ran a four four. I'd be surprised if
- 20:23Speaker 1: he's there. But Jared Allen, excuse me, Josh Allen, Jared
- 20:30Speaker 1: anlands a quarterback. Josh Allen sixty four two sixty five
- 20:35Speaker 1: four sixty five forty and he was a fifty fifty
- 20:38Speaker 1: rush guy at Kentucky. I mean they had him, you know,
- 20:41Speaker 1: playing true linebacker, seventeen sacks in the SEC. That's production, man.
- 20:47Speaker 1: I mean, if that guy's there, I'd really think about that.
- 20:50Speaker 1: At eleven, I'd really be there. Won't be there, yeah,
- 20:53Speaker 1: and then rush on Gary out of Michigan. That'd be
- 20:56Speaker 1: my fourth guy. And he might be because watching early
- 21:00Speaker 1: tape on him, it's like whoa. But last year somebody
- 21:05Speaker 1: got in his ear and he was playing to survive,
- 21:08Speaker 1: survive in advance to the draft, and I you know,
- 21:11Speaker 1: to me, the fact that he didn't get hurt, he's
- 21:14Speaker 1: fortunate because that's how you do get hurt. But he
- 21:17Speaker 1: was just getting through it. It looked like to me
- 21:18Speaker 1: he didn't even look a lot of times like the
- 21:20Speaker 1: same guy. But this dude man sixty four plus two
- 21:24Speaker 1: eighty seven four sixty nine. I mean that's that's a
- 21:28Speaker 1: freakazoid athletically. So if he's there at eleven, you got
- 21:33Speaker 1: to think about that. If Devin White's there at eleven, boom,
- 21:37Speaker 1: I'm on him as well. Now, Devin Bush, the other
- 21:40Speaker 1: Devin He's the one that as I'm looking at him
- 21:43Speaker 1: and talk to people around the league about him, there's
- 21:47Speaker 1: a fifty fifty split a lot of some some people
- 21:49Speaker 1: are like, man, he's just so small, and he is small.
- 21:53Speaker 1: I mean it's five eleven, two undred thirty pounds, and
- 21:57Speaker 1: you know, Devin and White runs faster at six arty,
- 22:01Speaker 1: but he's still plenty fast at four six five. And
- 22:05Speaker 1: all I can say is, I played against Sam Mills
- 22:08Speaker 1: in the USFL. I don't care that that that played
- 22:13Speaker 1: against him just left an everlasting imprint in my mind.
- 22:17Speaker 1: And it ain't the size of the dog in the fight,
- 22:19Speaker 1: the size of the fighting the dog. That dude, he
- 22:22Speaker 1: knew what his limitations were. He knew that he didn't
- 22:24Speaker 1: want to let you engulf him. And that's what people
- 22:27Speaker 1: are gonna say, Devin Bush is going to get engulfed
- 22:30Speaker 1: by these big guys in the NFL. You don't think
- 22:32Speaker 1: that was his concern in the big ten. He knows
- 22:35Speaker 1: what his limitations are. He doesn't put himself in a
- 22:38Speaker 1: position to be taken advantage of like that. You have
- 22:41Speaker 1: to catch him to engulf him, you know. And I
- 22:44Speaker 1: mean these guys know, they've always had the quote deficiency
- 22:48Speaker 1: and they still competed at a high level. I have
- 22:50Speaker 1: faith that he's going to compete it still at a
- 22:52Speaker 1: high level. That's why I'm leaning toward even though he
- 22:55Speaker 1: is undersized going there. But the way all these teams are,
- 22:59Speaker 1: I mean, it's nickel now anyway, and you want a
- 23:03Speaker 1: smaller lineman, a linebacker that can cover. That might be
- 23:06Speaker 1: a smaller linebacker. It's not going to be a big
- 23:07Speaker 1: dude anyway. I mean now it's hybrid safety slash linebacker.
- 23:12Speaker 1: You know, oh boy, that's a that's like a big safety,
- 23:15Speaker 1: that's not a linebacker. But the league is evolved into
- 23:18Speaker 1: that that's what this guy is. So you know, maybe
- 23:22Speaker 1: he's not quote your typical man that's a big that's
- 23:25Speaker 1: a that's a starting inside linebacker in the National Football
- 23:28Speaker 1: League in this era. He's a he's a really he
- 23:32Speaker 1: can play outside backer when he's a good nickel backer.
- 23:35Speaker 1: I mean, he's one of the two backers that you
- 23:36Speaker 1: could throw out there and play nick You get a
- 23:38Speaker 1: lot of snaps out of the guy. So I think
- 23:40Speaker 1: that there's value, you know, still there at number eleven
- 23:43Speaker 1: um because they end I've chased a lot of small
- 23:46Speaker 1: linebackers trying to engulf him. Got to catch him first
- 23:49Speaker 1: in when I watched Michigan games the last couple of years.
- 23:51Speaker 1: He jumps off the screen big time. The dude. The
- 23:54Speaker 1: thing about Sam Mills, and this kid has it too.
- 23:58Speaker 1: Even though you know you think, okay, I might engulf you.
- 24:02Speaker 1: They have such explosive hip snap. I mean they get
- 24:05Speaker 1: under your pads because the leverage. I mean, you don't
- 24:08Speaker 1: have to come off the ball on your knees to
- 24:10Speaker 1: get under their pads. They're under your pads and they're
- 24:12Speaker 1: just ill said man, oh, I mean they're exploding on you.
- 24:15Speaker 1: It's like, man, that was a little dynamite cap that
- 24:17Speaker 1: just went off. It's unbelievable. It's like you have a
- 24:20Speaker 1: surge from a guy like that. They know what they're doing.
- 24:23Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's obviously been one of the best
- 24:26Speaker 1: football players on a great defense until they played Ohio State. Um,
- 24:30Speaker 1: you know that that the NCAA has had. I mean,
- 24:33Speaker 1: he's and he was one of the kingpins. So to me,
- 24:37Speaker 1: I mean, you compete at that level and you still,
- 24:39Speaker 1: you know, a high high level. I really I really
- 24:42Speaker 1: liked the guy. It's it's gonna be very interesting, you know,
- 24:45Speaker 1: offensive lineman. As I'm looking at some of the offensive lineman,
- 24:48Speaker 1: there's a bunch of guys there. There are a bunch
- 24:50Speaker 1: of guys. Um, This Andre Dilly kid from Washington State's
- 24:54Speaker 1: a little bit of intrigue. Titus Howard, this kid from
- 24:56Speaker 1: Alabama State, six four over, three hundred pound Alabama State. Though,
- 25:02Speaker 1: I mean he's he has not played an NFL schedule
- 25:05Speaker 1: against NFL caliber talent. He's played that division schedule, which
- 25:10Speaker 1: is what no more than twelve games against lesser, lesser talent.
- 25:15Speaker 1: But can you project his talent to be successful in
- 25:19Speaker 1: the league. Heck yeah. Chris Lindstrom from Boston College as
- 25:22Speaker 1: a guard, Greg Little in Mississippi, you know at the
- 25:25Speaker 1: tackle position. H Dalton Risner out of Kansas State, you
- 25:29Speaker 1: know at the tackle position. I think there are these
- 25:32Speaker 1: are all you know, like late one, early two kind
- 25:35Speaker 1: of guys, Um, Caleb McGarry out of Washington, Isaiah Prince,
- 25:41Speaker 1: Ohio State. I mean, these are you know, early second
- 25:44Speaker 1: round guys or second and third round guys. There are
- 25:47Speaker 1: There are a ton of offensive linemen. That's why I think,
- 25:50Speaker 1: you know, when I look at it, unless unless the
- 25:52Speaker 1: best in the draft has slid to eleven, and that
- 25:56Speaker 1: number one offensive tackle is better than the second. I'mback,
- 26:00Speaker 1: or the the third or fourth rush guy or whatever. However,
- 26:03Speaker 1: have your board in. Every team in the league now
- 26:06Speaker 1: is in process of in the process of you know,
- 26:08Speaker 1: stacking their board m by position group and then the
- 26:13Speaker 1: top ten, top twenty, top fifty players. Nobody's done with
- 26:17Speaker 1: that equation yet, so that's when you start, you know,
- 26:20Speaker 1: mixing and matching a little bit. Your top five positional
- 26:23Speaker 1: needs did not include quarterback. Yeah, I mean to me,
- 26:28Speaker 1: and it's always that's why it didn't didn't include an
- 26:30Speaker 1: edge rush guy. But i's that with one of those
- 26:33Speaker 1: one of those guys is there at eleven. See yeah,
- 26:37Speaker 1: I'm sprinting to the podium. If if Haskins slides to eleven,
- 26:44Speaker 1: interesting room. Interesting room at that point. If you know
- 26:49Speaker 1: somebody that they the Bengals had as a first round
- 26:51Speaker 1: grade slides to you know, their position in the second round.
- 26:56Speaker 1: You have to discuss them all the time. But um,
- 26:59Speaker 1: you know, I'm not I would not be stunned if
- 27:03Speaker 1: they take a quarterback, you know, anywhere in the draft.
- 27:06Speaker 1: If there's a slide, but I'm not sure that there
- 27:10Speaker 1: will be, it'd be interesting to see. Thanks Lap. Next
- 27:14Speaker 1: week an annual edition of this podcast that gets downloaded
- 27:18Speaker 1: as many times as the Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro and
- 27:24Speaker 1: this is the Daily. How's that for an imitation? We'll
- 27:28Speaker 1: get laps prediction for the Bengals number one pick next week.
- 27:33Speaker 1: Now time for a fun facts interview and my guest
- 27:36Speaker 1: was an eighth round draft pick in nineteen eighty seven.
- 27:40Speaker 1: One year later, the nineteen eighty eight Super Bowl Bengals
- 27:43Speaker 1: featured one of the finest secondaries in team history, a
- 27:47Speaker 1: quartet that earned a memorable nickname, the Swat Team. Tat
- 27:52Speaker 1: for some fun facts with a guy who has picked
- 27:54Speaker 1: fortieth on the list of the top fifty retired players
- 27:57Speaker 1: in Bengals history, Former safety Solomon Wilcot's an eighth round
- 28:01Speaker 1: draft pick out of Colorado back in nineteen eighty seven.
- 28:04Speaker 1: Is it true you did not even have a phone
- 28:07Speaker 1: on draft day? That's very true. You do your homework.
- 28:11Speaker 1: I had two roommates my senior year in college who
- 28:14Speaker 1: refused to pay the phone bill, and so I said, well,
- 28:18Speaker 1: I could go ahead and pay it, but then they're
- 28:20Speaker 1: gonna use it and run it up every month, and
- 28:22Speaker 1: I'm gonna be stuck with a bill. So what I
- 28:25Speaker 1: did is I went ahead and allowed them to disconnect
- 28:27Speaker 1: it because the other two wouldn't pay, and I would
- 28:29Speaker 1: use the phone of my friend who lived across the
- 28:32Speaker 1: hall from me. And so when we were going through
- 28:35Speaker 1: the whole draft process, they says, we want your draft
- 28:38Speaker 1: day phone number. I knew I was going to be
- 28:39Speaker 1: at my apartment in Boulder, Colorado, but I had to
- 28:42Speaker 1: give cam Jones's phone number. This the last guy that
- 28:46Speaker 1: you want to give out his number to control something
- 28:50Speaker 1: that's so important in your life. But yeah, I gave
- 28:53Speaker 1: him that number, and I just remember him yelling across
- 28:56Speaker 1: the hall. He said, Moon, that's what he called me. Moon.
- 29:00Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals are on the phone. And I had to
- 29:02Speaker 1: had to run over to his apartment and there was
- 29:05Speaker 1: dick Lebou on the phone. It was one of the
- 29:07Speaker 1: best phone calls I ever received, and it wasn't even
- 29:09Speaker 1: on my phone. We're doing Friend Facts with Solomon Wilcox.
- 29:13Speaker 1: You mentioned dick Lebou. You once said he unlocked the
- 29:16Speaker 1: mysteries of football in what way? In ways that help
- 29:21Speaker 1: you to understand what offenses are trying to do to
- 29:24Speaker 1: you and what you needed to do to stop him,
- 29:27Speaker 1: or it is something as simple as this. Offenses, they're
- 29:30Speaker 1: the ones who are on a clock. That quarterback doesn't
- 29:32Speaker 1: get to hold onto the ball forever. He's got to
- 29:34Speaker 1: get rid of it, and his receiver has to get
- 29:36Speaker 1: to the designated point at the time when the quarterback
- 29:39Speaker 1: expects him to get there, and if he's not there,
- 29:41Speaker 1: it's an incomplete and if you get there first, you
- 29:43Speaker 1: get to catch it. It's an interception that the timing
- 29:46Speaker 1: of the offense, everything is predicated on timing. And as
- 29:49Speaker 1: a defensive back, your job is just a disrupt timing.
- 29:52Speaker 1: You don't have to cover the guy all over the
- 29:54Speaker 1: field like defensive backs believe they have to. All you
- 29:57Speaker 1: have to do is disrupt timing. You got pass rush
- 29:59Speaker 1: help you to do that. You got the quarterbacks insecurity
- 30:03Speaker 1: of getting blitz to help with that, and you get
- 30:06Speaker 1: to jam the receiver at the line of scrimmage to
- 30:08Speaker 1: help to prevent timing. So just something as simple as
- 30:11Speaker 1: that goes such a long way and unlocking a mystery
- 30:15Speaker 1: of what NFL offenses are all about and what they're
- 30:18Speaker 1: trying to do to you. We're visiting with Solomon Wilcots
- 30:21Speaker 1: David Fulcher checked in at number six on the list,
- 30:24Speaker 1: the highest rated defensive back. And one of the reasons
- 30:27Speaker 1: why he was so effective in freelancing on defense is
- 30:31Speaker 1: that you helped cover for him in the secondary. Was
- 30:35Speaker 1: that instinct on your part or was it very choreographed
- 30:39Speaker 1: when Fulture does this, I've got to do that. It
- 30:43Speaker 1: was about knowing that Dave would take chances that Dave
- 30:48Speaker 1: and he had great instincts. He had not only the
- 30:50Speaker 1: ability to make it work, he had the instincts to
- 30:54Speaker 1: be able to do it at a time when the
- 30:55Speaker 1: offense never thought he would. And I kind of had
- 30:58Speaker 1: to know. When he started creeping up to the line
- 31:00Speaker 1: of scream, I say, oh, no, he's blitzing. And he's
- 31:02Speaker 1: not supposed to blitz. He supposed to cover over here.
- 31:04Speaker 1: So someone had to cover. And and I just remember
- 31:07Speaker 1: a few mondays after we would have games and Dick Lebau,
- 31:12Speaker 1: I mean, he would give it to me. He would
- 31:14Speaker 1: just and I'm like, oh, coach, I didn't make you
- 31:17Speaker 1: didn't you didn't complain, you just took it. But I
- 31:19Speaker 1: remember one one Monday, I went in, I asked coach
- 31:23Speaker 1: Lebo said, hey, it's just something wrong. Here, am I mistaken?
- 31:27Speaker 1: David made the mistake, but then you me. He was like,
- 31:30Speaker 1: that's your job. Your job is to be wherever he's not.
- 31:33Speaker 1: And he helped me to understand that what kind of
- 31:36Speaker 1: player David was and how he used David in the defense.
- 31:39Speaker 1: Ryan Clark, who played for Dick lebo in Pittsburgh, had
- 31:43Speaker 1: to do the same kind of things. He and I
- 31:45Speaker 1: would have these conversations. He never knew what Troy Polamalo
- 31:47Speaker 1: was gonna do. Troy Polamalu in Pittsburgh playing for Dick
- 31:51Speaker 1: Lebou was the same exact player that David Volcher was
- 31:56Speaker 1: twenty years prior, playing in the same defense. And so
- 31:59Speaker 1: that's how Dick Lebou used his strong safety and his
- 32:02Speaker 1: free safety and finding that that right player, and David
- 32:05Speaker 1: was that guy now who had instincts an incredible ability
- 32:09Speaker 1: for a big man to go out and make big plays.
- 32:12Speaker 1: We're doing fun Facts with Solomon Wilcots. In training camp
- 32:14Speaker 1: before your second season, Sam White decided to mix things up.
- 32:18Speaker 1: He took black players and roomed them with white players.
- 32:21Speaker 1: He took offensive players and roomed them with defensive players.
- 32:24Speaker 1: What impact did that have? Bruce Rymer's offensive lineman was
- 32:29Speaker 1: my roommate. I would go. I would visit Eric Thomas.
- 32:33Speaker 1: I think he was with Joe Walter. Anybody know Joe
- 32:36Speaker 1: was a grumpy dude. You know, Joe didn't play. But
- 32:39Speaker 1: Eric is such a jolly guy that he could bring
- 32:42Speaker 1: out the best in a Joe Walter. But Sam, it worked.
- 32:47Speaker 1: Sam knew what he was doing. Other than that, I'm
- 32:50Speaker 1: a defensive back. We don't hang out with offensive lineman.
- 32:54Speaker 1: And there's no way that a guy from California and
- 32:57Speaker 1: Eric Thomas is going to hang out with a guy
- 32:59Speaker 1: from Texas like Walter. So that kind of forward thinking
- 33:04Speaker 1: it did help us become closer as a team. We
- 33:06Speaker 1: were able to spend time off the field with one
- 33:09Speaker 1: another and with guys that we normally would not have
- 33:12Speaker 1: spent time with. And I just remember Week two we
- 33:16Speaker 1: went out and played Philadelphia that year. That's the year
- 33:18Speaker 1: that the Eagles had a great team. Buddy Ryan's the coach.
- 33:21Speaker 1: They got big Reggie White on the defensive line, Jerome Brown,
- 33:25Speaker 1: Chris Carter, Might Quick, Randall cunning Hemmy had a great
- 33:28Speaker 1: team and we went out there and they jumped out
- 33:30Speaker 1: on us. But I just remember doing that period we
- 33:33Speaker 1: stuck together, the offensive line started taking over defense, we
- 33:37Speaker 1: started making plays. We got out of there with a win.
- 33:39Speaker 1: But I think it was on that day, Week two
- 33:42Speaker 1: and eighty eight that we really knew that we had
- 33:45Speaker 1: a chance to be a great team, and we were
- 33:47Speaker 1: close and we had one another's back no matter what happened,
- 33:51Speaker 1: and even when we went through some bumpy spots in
- 33:54Speaker 1: the season, there was never any doubt that we were
- 33:56Speaker 1: kind of a team of destiny. A couple more questions
- 33:59Speaker 1: for Solomons. That team goes to Super Bowl twenty three.
- 34:02Speaker 1: The night before the game, unfortunately, Stanley Wilson had his
- 34:05Speaker 1: cocaine relapse. You are one of the last people that
- 34:08Speaker 1: spoke to him before the team found out. Correct, Yeah,
- 34:12Speaker 1: that is true. I remember he and Eddie Brown, myself
- 34:16Speaker 1: and Eric Thomas. We were on the same floor, so
- 34:19Speaker 1: we got on the elevator together to get ready go
- 34:22Speaker 1: down to a team meeting, and Stanley at the last
- 34:25Speaker 1: minutes is as the door was closing, says, I forgot
- 34:29Speaker 1: my playbook and he shot out and the door closed
- 34:31Speaker 1: behind him as he went back to his room. We're
- 34:34Speaker 1: sitting in the meeting room that night, and they said,
- 34:37Speaker 1: as everyone here Sam ask and I remember Eddie was like, hey,
- 34:40Speaker 1: Stanley went to go get his playbook. You see old
- 34:42Speaker 1: be here in the second. So we're waiting five minutes,
- 34:45Speaker 1: ten minutes. Sam think we gotta get this meeting going.
- 34:50Speaker 1: Let's start the meeting. But he sent Jim Anderson back
- 34:53Speaker 1: to go get Stanley. Next thing, you know, maybe fifteen
- 34:57Speaker 1: minutes later, Sam would tear in his eyes and you know,
- 35:01Speaker 1: sort of interrupted everyone to say, guys, Stanley couldn't make it.
- 35:04Speaker 1: And we were like, what are you talking about it.
- 35:06Speaker 1: He proceeded to tell us about the relapse that Stanley had,
- 35:10Speaker 1: and you know, that's something that has stuck with me
- 35:13Speaker 1: for about thirty years, you know, for all this time,
- 35:16Speaker 1: and you know, I'll talk I talk with Marvin about this.
- 35:18Speaker 1: I talked with a lot of other NFL coaches about
- 35:21Speaker 1: when you go to a super Bowl, this is where
- 35:25Speaker 1: character really counts. This is where all having the right
- 35:27Speaker 1: people on your team counts. And not that Stanley was
- 35:31Speaker 1: a bad person, but it's just about understanding that the
- 35:34Speaker 1: pressure of such a game and of such a moment,
- 35:38Speaker 1: it's going to reveal all things. I remember Chris Berman
- 35:41Speaker 1: and I were talking at one super Bowl. We were
- 35:44Speaker 1: providing coverage and something that happened with one player in Miami,
- 35:49Speaker 1: and I coined the phrase by saying, you know, you
- 35:52Speaker 1: can only win the game the day of kickoff, but
- 35:56Speaker 1: you can lose it between now and kickoff. In other words,
- 35:59Speaker 1: some players slip out into the night, does something silly,
- 36:03Speaker 1: and next thing you know that it serves as a
- 36:05Speaker 1: huge distraction for their team who was trying to get
- 36:08Speaker 1: ready to play the game of their lives. So that's
- 36:10Speaker 1: what I remember about it. I do remember a few
- 36:13Speaker 1: years later, going out to California, I was covering for
- 36:16Speaker 1: ESPN as a correspondent a case where Stanley Wilson was
- 36:22Speaker 1: he was gonna get three strikes in year out, so
- 36:24Speaker 1: he was gonna get life for a robbery for a
- 36:27Speaker 1: home invasion, and I watched the judge render the verdict.
- 36:31Speaker 1: I remember writing a letter to the judge of saying
- 36:34Speaker 1: Stanley never hurt anyone physically, He only hurt himself, and
- 36:39Speaker 1: I tried to prevail on the judge to not give
- 36:42Speaker 1: him life. I don't agree with the mandatory prison sentencing,
- 36:46Speaker 1: and so Stanley Wilson does not deserve to be in
- 36:49Speaker 1: jail for life for what he did. We all forgiving.
- 36:52Speaker 1: We love him, but I know what he was one
- 36:55Speaker 1: heck of a football player. I wish he would had
- 36:56Speaker 1: played that day. We needed somebody to block Ronnie Lott.
- 37:01Speaker 1: Last thing for Solomon Wilcots. You're from California. You went
- 37:05Speaker 1: to Colorado, but you settled in Cincinnati after playing for
- 37:09Speaker 1: the Bengals. What is it about this team in this
- 37:11Speaker 1: city that got under your skin? Well, it was interesting
- 37:14Speaker 1: because when I was drafted, I remember I didn't quite
- 37:16Speaker 1: know where Cincinnati was. I had never been east of
- 37:19Speaker 1: the Mississippi River, and so when I came here, I
- 37:23Speaker 1: didn't know what to expect. But you know, I started
- 37:26Speaker 1: working for an insurance firm over at Midland American Modern
- 37:30Speaker 1: Home and I worked there every year during the offseason.
- 37:32Speaker 1: I worked as an underwriter, worked as a claim adjuster,
- 37:36Speaker 1: I worked in our HR department. And then when I
- 37:39Speaker 1: was done playing, I went over to Channel five and
- 37:41Speaker 1: worked with some really good people there who were great
- 37:43Speaker 1: to me. I learned so much from them, and I
- 37:47Speaker 1: don't know that I would still be here had I
- 37:49Speaker 1: not had the opportunity to work with such good people
- 37:53Speaker 1: and have them in my life. None of us succeed
- 37:56Speaker 1: on our own. We need a community of people, and
- 38:00Speaker 1: I always wanted to be able to at least give
- 38:02Speaker 1: back to that community in some way, shape or form.
- 38:05Speaker 1: And I think that's what makes Cincinnati special. I think
- 38:08Speaker 1: it is a place that is about community. And I
- 38:11Speaker 1: think the people here can tell if you're genuine or not.
- 38:14Speaker 1: They could tell if you are a hard worker, They
- 38:16Speaker 1: could tell if you're in it for you, or if
- 38:19Speaker 1: you're in it for the big picture. If you're in
- 38:21Speaker 1: it for the big picture, it works out. If you're
- 38:23Speaker 1: in it for you don't go so well. And so
- 38:26Speaker 1: that's what I love about Cincinnati. And I tell people,
- 38:28Speaker 1: even when I go back to La, people like, you
- 38:30Speaker 1: still live in Cincinnati. How could you live there? I said,
- 38:32Speaker 1: you know what, it's a great place. We don't have traffic.
- 38:35Speaker 1: I don't have to wait in line at the post office.
- 38:38Speaker 1: I go to the coffee shop. My girl already has
- 38:41Speaker 1: my coffee made. He knows me. I just that's what
- 38:45Speaker 1: I love. That's what I like, and that's what makes
- 38:48Speaker 1: Cincinnati a special place. I love it. My thanks to
- 38:50Speaker 1: Solomon Wilcotts, and thank you for downloading this episode of
- 38:54Speaker 1: the podcast Don't Forget. We'll take an in depth, look
- 38:58Speaker 1: at the most likely targets at the top of the
- 39:00Speaker 1: Bengals draft board next week, and get Dave Lapham's first
- 39:06Speaker 1: round prediction. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe
- 39:10Speaker 1: on iTunes, stitch, your google Play, or pod Bean, and
- 39:13Speaker 1: if you have a minute, give it a rating or
- 39:15Speaker 1: leave a comment. Your feedback has been great, and five
- 39:18Speaker 1: star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm
- 39:22Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The Bengals
- 39:25Speaker 1: Booth podcast.