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Bengals Booth Podcast: On My List · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The is on My List edition
0:12
Speaker 1: as we look at Pro Football Focus's recent ranking of
0:15
Speaker 1: the top rosters in the NFL with one of the
0:18
Speaker 1: guys that put that list together, Jim Wyman. But first
0:22
Speaker 1: five questions with fifth round draft pick Josh fig Newton,
0:26
Speaker 1: and I'll introduce you to an undrafted rookie who is
0:29
Speaker 1: hoping to be the Bengals starting punter, Austin macnamara. The
0:34
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
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Speaker 1: your home, business, and community to a new level, and
0:46
Speaker 1: by Kettering Health, the best care for the best fans.
0:49
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
0:53
Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
0:55
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
0:59
Speaker 1: or can by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
1:04
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since popsicles. Roughly one hundred and twenty
1:09
Speaker 1: years ago, an eleven year old kid named Frank Epperson
1:13
Speaker 1: left a cup of soda with a stirring stick in
1:16
Speaker 1: it sitting on the porch when he went indoors. The
1:19
Speaker 1: soda froze overnight like an icicle, and when young Frank
1:23
Speaker 1: discovered it the next morning, he decided to taste it,
1:26
Speaker 1: and thus the popsicle was born. I discovered a bunch
1:31
Speaker 1: of popsicles in our freezer the other day and I
1:33
Speaker 1: have been binging on them ever since. It is a
1:36
Speaker 1: great summertime snack. Oh and by the way, many years
1:41
Speaker 1: after Frank Epperson started selling his frozen icy treats, he
1:45
Speaker 1: patented his simple snack and his kids came up with
1:49
Speaker 1: the name. They called them pops Sickles. Now let's get
1:56
Speaker 1: to football. I've been getting to know the Bengals draft
1:59
Speaker 1: picks this year by asking them five questions that are
2:01
Speaker 1: a little different from the norm. This week we meet
2:05
Speaker 1: a cornerback out of TCU. Time for five questions with
2:11
Speaker 1: fifth round draft pick Josh Newton. Your nickname is Fig,
2:15
Speaker 1: as in Fig Newton. When did people start calling you Fig?
2:19
Speaker 1: And did you like it?
2:21
Speaker 2: Uh?
2:21
Speaker 3: It was I think my wrist shirt freshman year.
2:25
Speaker 4: So this is around twenty eighteen, I was like, fee
2:30
Speaker 4: had I even had a kitchen on myself. But once
2:32
Speaker 4: I caught on, I'm like, wish shit, let me just
2:34
Speaker 4: roll with it.
2:35
Speaker 3: I ain't tripping. I want a post to it.
2:37
Speaker 4: It just kind of heat me, like, you know, like
2:40
Speaker 4: kind of awkward, but I just still with it and
2:43
Speaker 4: now you know, is doing what it's supposed to do
2:44
Speaker 4: right now.
2:45
Speaker 1: But do you like the fig Newton cookie.
2:49
Speaker 3: A something before?
2:50
Speaker 4: I'm not really a fan of it, but if they
2:52
Speaker 4: pay me to eat them, my wheel for sure.
2:55
Speaker 1: All right, there we go. Endorsement deal hopefully coming down
2:58
Speaker 1: the road. Question number two. I heard you say in
3:00
Speaker 1: an interview that you are trying to find ways to
3:04
Speaker 1: turn football off. Do you think about the game NonStop?
3:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, even when I'm not trying to, it's still just
3:13
Speaker 4: Jie Popbull. Just it's been it was my life now,
3:17
Speaker 4: So I mean, honestly, it's like you just gotta roll
3:20
Speaker 4: with it because it's doing it's helping my family, it's
3:23
Speaker 4: taking care of me my family, and you know, to
3:26
Speaker 4: be able to be a provider. So it's kind of
3:28
Speaker 4: like in the sense you really don't get to turn
3:30
Speaker 4: it off. But it's just like when I have time
3:32
Speaker 4: to downtime. Is just trying to find the things to
3:35
Speaker 4: just really calm me down, just set me down.
3:38
Speaker 1: I could hear Joe Burrow saying the same thing. I mean,
3:41
Speaker 1: he just thinks all the time, how can I be
3:43
Speaker 1: the best in the world.
3:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love a guy like that is running my team,
3:49
Speaker 4: the captain and just considering throwing them is throwing the ball.
3:53
Speaker 4: So shit, hey, I let Joe be Joe. If you
3:56
Speaker 4: don't want to turn it off, Hey, don't let him
3:57
Speaker 4: turn it off. So that that right there is gonna
4:00
Speaker 4: get us to what we want to be in February.
4:02
Speaker 3: So I'm just.
4:04
Speaker 4: I'm glad I'll have a quarterback this relatively young, but
4:09
Speaker 4: he has seen a lot and he didn't done it
4:11
Speaker 4: at the highest level of you Ain and the year up.
4:13
Speaker 1: So question number three for Josh Newton. You are a
4:17
Speaker 1: great wide receiver in high school. At one point you
4:20
Speaker 1: had five straight one hundred yard games, but you only
4:23
Speaker 1: had one scholarship offer. From what I understand, Do you know.
4:26
Speaker 4: Why I don't complain about nothing. I don't question God.
4:31
Speaker 4: Look what he done for me. Now, there's one thing
4:35
Speaker 4: I don't do. Question God. Look one man now with
4:38
Speaker 4: a whole nother position, with a whole nother route, a
4:40
Speaker 4: whole nother turn, and at the end of the day,
4:42
Speaker 4: I still seen the light I was supposed to see
4:44
Speaker 4: at the end.
4:44
Speaker 1: So question number four. After starting out at Louisiana Monroe,
4:48
Speaker 1: you transferred to TCU for your final two college seasons
4:51
Speaker 1: and in your first training camp you made a speech
4:54
Speaker 1: that went viral to your teammates. I watched it on
4:57
Speaker 1: YouTube and it's awesome. I was ready to run through
5:00
Speaker 1: a wall. Do you think that had an impact on
5:03
Speaker 1: what the team did that year? Because you guys played
5:06
Speaker 1: for the national championship at the end of that year.
5:08
Speaker 4: Everybody says it, so I'm gonna believe it. So from
5:11
Speaker 4: Lego as, from the trainers to the players and.
5:14
Speaker 3: The coaches as well.
5:15
Speaker 4: So if they if this what they're saying, then it
5:20
Speaker 4: gotta be truated because it was more than just me
5:21
Speaker 4: out there playing.
5:22
Speaker 3: I just was the one to get the words.
5:24
Speaker 4: They're the ones that felt it, so obviously, like my
5:27
Speaker 4: my energy was felt that day, and definitely I feel
5:30
Speaker 4: like it's sparkan us into what we wanted to be.
5:32
Speaker 1: For sure, you talked about effort and teamwork and things
5:36
Speaker 1: like that, but You also spoke about gratitude, which resonated
5:39
Speaker 1: with me. It was obvious how much you appreciated the opportunity,
5:43
Speaker 1: the coaches, the teammates, everything about your experience.
5:47
Speaker 4: Right, because you got to think all the coach's efforts
5:50
Speaker 4: in breaking field down, watching other teams shit, even giving
5:53
Speaker 4: us a game plan, all that is for us as players.
5:56
Speaker 4: So it's just be like, as a player, you gotta
5:59
Speaker 4: talk to other players to try to get them to
6:00
Speaker 4: help and to understand the bigger picture of things. Yeah,
6:03
Speaker 4: it's about us, but at the end of the day,
6:05
Speaker 4: we help the coaches too, but with our differences in
6:08
Speaker 4: executing what they teaching. Because if we balling, Joe Burrow balling,
6:12
Speaker 4: we going to the Super Bowl, Zach Taylor don't go nowhere.
6:15
Speaker 4: We just keep getting extending, extending, extending. So it's like,
6:18
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, it helped me help you situation.
6:20
Speaker 4: So like once the players don't kind of take it
6:25
Speaker 4: like it's literally all about us, and it's like literally like.
6:29
Speaker 3: Just work and helping and helping out.
6:30
Speaker 4: When you think when you get when you get to
6:32
Speaker 4: think about helping out and tell yourself, if you're just
6:35
Speaker 4: helping out, you kind of like just you look at
6:37
Speaker 4: it from a different perspective and the bigger picture of things,
6:39
Speaker 4: like I'm just one piece of the puzzle, and some
6:42
Speaker 4: people get caught up in their presence and you can't
6:46
Speaker 4: let that your ego take over at the end of
6:48
Speaker 4: the day. Like I told the same team last year,
6:50
Speaker 4: like I need y'all just like y'all need me. So
6:53
Speaker 4: it's like just just understanding, like everybody is. Everybody matters
6:57
Speaker 4: bro for sure.
6:59
Speaker 1: Fifth and final question for Josh Newton. Tell me something
7:02
Speaker 1: about you that not that many people know.
7:06
Speaker 3: I like to cook. I like to cook. I like
7:08
Speaker 3: to cook.
7:09
Speaker 4: I've been growing for I said the last two years.
7:11
Speaker 4: I've grown like like I cook just whenever I feel
7:15
Speaker 4: like it.
7:15
Speaker 3: So it's just that's the one thing I like to do.
7:18
Speaker 3: For sure. I'm a big griller. If you was gonna
7:20
Speaker 3: go to.
7:20
Speaker 4: That too, any holiday, I'll slap some on the grill
7:24
Speaker 4: for sure. So I'm definitely gonna carry that.
7:27
Speaker 3: For the rest of my life for sure.
7:29
Speaker 4: And I just watching MAM's in the kitchenhen I was young,
7:32
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, just sitting there seeing her
7:34
Speaker 4: season and you know, at the end of the day,
7:37
Speaker 4: if your food is flavor, is gonna cook yourself. So
7:40
Speaker 4: you just cook for color, see what you like, see
7:43
Speaker 4: what you don't like, and you can really please yourself.
7:46
Speaker 3: And it's it teach me patience.
7:49
Speaker 4: It teaches me, you know, just just be yourself honestly too,
7:54
Speaker 4: because it's like you can't rush the meat and not
7:58
Speaker 4: gonna cook faster for you.
8:00
Speaker 3: Just wait and you.
8:01
Speaker 4: Gotta think about my story. Like I could have been
8:04
Speaker 4: asking God, bro, can you can.
8:06
Speaker 3: You hurry up? Hurry up and get me to the lead.
8:07
Speaker 4: But would if I would have got to lead unprepared
8:11
Speaker 4: or unseasoned or missed out on the flavor that it
8:13
Speaker 4: was supposed to be there, I probably won't be this
8:15
Speaker 4: real round or this real groom or this mature. So
8:18
Speaker 4: it's just like cooking is kind of like a way
8:22
Speaker 4: that I kind of like just released when you're trying
8:25
Speaker 4: to relax, Like but if they go back to question one,
8:27
Speaker 4: like that's probably if if I had one way to
8:30
Speaker 4: kind of like if you said, that'll kind of just
8:32
Speaker 4: ease me.
8:33
Speaker 3: Like cooking for sure, because it forces you to do it.
8:37
Speaker 1: Fourth of July is coming. Fake Newton is in charge
8:39
Speaker 1: of the grill.
8:41
Speaker 4: Uh chicken Uh ribs sausage and maybe something whatever whatever else.
8:49
Speaker 4: The fan won't really do it, but you know, real
8:51
Speaker 4: chicken sausage, it's more to that's kind of like.
8:53
Speaker 3: You really yeah you straight with that? Yeah for sure?
8:55
Speaker 3: Yeah you straight or that? Yeah for sure, you straight
8:58
Speaker 3: for sure. Yeah. Maybe some porchouses him like.
9:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, fourth of July is gonna be good at the
9:02
Speaker 1: Newton Household.
9:03
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, he's gonna be He's
9:06
Speaker 4: gonna be crazy.
9:07
Speaker 3: We're gonna go, We're gonna have a good time, pop forwards.
9:09
Speaker 3: We're gonna we're gonna have a little Femily time before
9:12
Speaker 3: I have to come back.
9:13
Speaker 1: In Locky in for for so this has been fun.
9:17
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time. It's great to have in Cincinnati.
9:20
Speaker 3: Glad to be here.
9:21
Speaker 1: Man.
9:21
Speaker 4: I'll be telling coach Taylor thank you every other day, Lily.
9:26
Speaker 1: It's easy to see why Josh was a team captain
9:28
Speaker 1: of TCU. Head coach Sonny Dykes called him the least
9:33
Speaker 1: entitled player I have ever coached. And here's one thing
9:36
Speaker 1: I noticed during the Bengals offseason practices. When the guys
9:40
Speaker 1: come out to stretch as a group, Josh is always
9:43
Speaker 1: a little bit off to the side away from his teammates.
9:46
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson does the same thing. When I asked Josh
9:50
Speaker 1: about it, he said he uses that time to get
9:52
Speaker 1: focused and locked in for practice. He is a very
9:56
Speaker 1: easy guy to root for. When training camp gets underway
10:00
Speaker 1: in late July, one of the key battles will be
10:02
Speaker 1: at punter. Brad Robbins was inconsistent as a sixth round
10:07
Speaker 1: draft pick last season, so the Bengals brought in training
10:10
Speaker 1: camp competition in undrafted rookie Austin McNamara out of Texas Tech.
10:15
Speaker 1: There were three highly regarded punters in this year's draft class.
10:20
Speaker 1: I was Tory Taylor, who was selected in the fourth
10:22
Speaker 1: round by the Bears, BYU's Ryan Rico who signed with
10:26
Speaker 1: Kansas City, and macnamara, who averaged nearly forty six yards
10:31
Speaker 1: of punt in his college career. He's a big guy
10:34
Speaker 1: at six ' five, and I talked to him after
10:37
Speaker 1: he arrived in Cincinnati. Austin, the Bengals have made no
10:41
Speaker 1: secret of wanting to bring in competition for Brad Robbins.
10:44
Speaker 1: How aggressively did they pursue you after the draft?
10:47
Speaker 3: Yeah?
10:47
Speaker 5: I mean Kushiamans and I had talked throughout this whole
10:49
Speaker 5: process from the Combine and prode up until to the
10:52
Speaker 5: draft and during the draft, and you know, I knew
10:55
Speaker 5: it was gonna be in a good spot regardless of
10:56
Speaker 5: what happens, you know, when I'm drafted undrafted, and so
11:00
Speaker 5: you know, Kaschhimman's obviously expressed his interest in me, and
11:02
Speaker 5: I'm glad he's interested in me and willing to kind
11:05
Speaker 5: of give me a chance and give me an offer
11:06
Speaker 5: to be able to come and and uh and can
11:08
Speaker 5: come and compete and and you know, I'm so excited
11:10
Speaker 5: for the opportunity and can't wait to look forward to
11:12
Speaker 5: what's to come.
11:13
Speaker 1: So how how extensively did he work you out or
11:16
Speaker 1: look at you before the draft?
11:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like I mentioned, we he I first met with
11:20
Speaker 5: the Combine and he was at the Combine watching and
11:22
Speaker 5: then at my pro day in Dallas as well, and
11:25
Speaker 5: so we did those two and then we also had
11:27
Speaker 5: a Zoom meeting prior to the draft as well.
11:29
Speaker 2: So uh, we talked, you know, just about different techniques.
11:32
Speaker 5: Obviously, he was a punt of himself and so it's
11:34
Speaker 5: been great to learn from him and learn what he
11:36
Speaker 5: has to offer. And we can talk back and forth
11:38
Speaker 5: about the terminology and all that stuff. So that's been
11:40
Speaker 5: great to be able to learn from him and.
11:41
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, get used to the get used
11:43
Speaker 2: to that as.
11:43
Speaker 5: A abina as a coach, and so he's been great
11:46
Speaker 5: that way, and and uh looking forward to learning.
11:48
Speaker 2: From him some more.
11:49
Speaker 1: It is unusual for an NFL Special teams coordinator to
11:52
Speaker 1: have been a former college punter. Have your coaches in
11:55
Speaker 1: the past had playing experience at that level?
11:57
Speaker 2: No, sirry, Yeah, this is my this is my first one.
11:59
Speaker 2: I mean, my dad kind of me and my dad
12:00
Speaker 2: kind of learned.
12:00
Speaker 5: Together throughout my high school career and he's still coaches
12:03
Speaker 5: the specialist back in my high school.
12:05
Speaker 2: But in college, I didn't.
12:05
Speaker 5: Have anybody really that was that was We had one
12:08
Speaker 5: guy for a little while, but not especially as coordinator
12:11
Speaker 5: that knows as punted himself and kicked and kicked himself
12:14
Speaker 5: into college or at any point. And that's why it's
12:17
Speaker 5: great to learn from Coushimmons. And I'm really excited to
12:18
Speaker 5: get started.
12:19
Speaker 1: Great with chatting with Austin McNamara. You had quite a
12:22
Speaker 1: college career a Texas Tech. You've got the tenth best
12:25
Speaker 1: hunting average in NCAA history. For anybody with one hundred
12:28
Speaker 1: and fifty punts or more, what do you consider to
12:31
Speaker 1: be your biggest strengths biggy strength.
12:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, So my bigges strength, I feel like is my
12:34
Speaker 2: directional punting. So I work on that a lot. We
12:36
Speaker 2: did that Texas Tech. I've done it since high school.
12:39
Speaker 2: And so I thought my dressial punning in my ma
12:40
Speaker 2: hain time.
12:41
Speaker 5: Since I'm a taller guy, I mean, we get through
12:42
Speaker 5: a little bit better than most that are shorter, and
12:45
Speaker 5: so kind of use that.
12:46
Speaker 3: To my advantage.
12:47
Speaker 5: She does my strengths and and really just try and
12:50
Speaker 5: you know, be consistent as I can.
12:51
Speaker 2: And I thought my consistency is getting better and better.
12:53
Speaker 5: And and you know, I have a lot of experience
12:56
Speaker 5: playing different wind conditions, being Loveac which is really windy,
12:58
Speaker 5: and and you know I've on the assets that kind
13:00
Speaker 5: of added my tool walks over the year.
13:01
Speaker 2: So but those are part of my mainstraints.
13:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned hang time. You were fourth in the
13:05
Speaker 1: country last year according to Pro Football Focus. How much
13:08
Speaker 1: was that emphasized that Texas terribly Yeah.
13:10
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, coach Perry, my socialscordinator, I mean,
13:13
Speaker 5: we really wanted to make that emphasis as well. As
13:15
Speaker 5: directional punting, and so I worked on those a ton
13:17
Speaker 5: and put those two together, you know, trying to limit
13:20
Speaker 5: return as the best we can put the ball, make
13:22
Speaker 5: the returner have to.
13:22
Speaker 2: Move around a little bit and pin them in the.
13:25
Speaker 5: Worst place possible so we can get the ball back
13:27
Speaker 5: and and uh, you know, defense go out there and
13:29
Speaker 5: make a stop. So you know, really trying to that's
13:31
Speaker 5: that's been my game. That's what I've been trying to
13:33
Speaker 5: emulate it and I will continue to do that.
13:35
Speaker 1: You're six ' five, You've got offensive lineman sized hands
13:39
Speaker 1: according to the Combine. How did you become a punter? Yeah?
13:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, I uh, you know, I grew up playing soccer,
13:44
Speaker 5: gri up playing basketball as well in high school, and
13:46
Speaker 5: so football kind of came my freshman year of high school.
13:49
Speaker 5: I started kicking and full time, and I really really
13:51
Speaker 5: enjoyed it. Like I said, I mentioned I played soccer.
13:53
Speaker 5: A lot of soccer players end up kicking or at
13:54
Speaker 5: least try it, and and so you know, obviously I'd
13:56
Speaker 5: love to do it, and you know, it was awesome,
13:58
Speaker 5: and and you had a great pre season, great experience
14:00
Speaker 5: by football. I'm in general, and I want to keep
14:02
Speaker 5: doing it and then ended up I can maybe do
14:04
Speaker 5: some college, so I kept soon in and obviously end
14:07
Speaker 5: up to tax SEC and nowt here. So I'm really
14:08
Speaker 5: excited and obviously kicking punts my passion.
14:11
Speaker 2: You know, it's give me, excuse me, a challenge I love.
14:13
Speaker 5: I love the challenge of it and being able to
14:15
Speaker 5: miss it a ball, I know why, I kind of
14:16
Speaker 5: get it back and kind of face it.
14:18
Speaker 2: And it's obviously great hand and good ball as well,
14:19
Speaker 2: so it goes hand in hand.
14:21
Speaker 1: I think an NFL roster should say punter slash holder,
14:24
Speaker 1: because it's half of the job, it really is. Did
14:27
Speaker 1: you hold throughout your career at Texas Tech?
14:29
Speaker 5: I didn't, sir, Yeah, I held for about three and
14:31
Speaker 5: a half, almost four seasons.
14:33
Speaker 3: I hold.
14:33
Speaker 5: My freshman year at Kittson High School, I fiegals kickoffs
14:35
Speaker 5: and I outs uponted, So my freshan year I learned
14:37
Speaker 5: how to hold. But then my sophomore year I kind
14:40
Speaker 5: of accept that I was able to jump into that
14:42
Speaker 5: role a little bit more and build a hold, and.
14:44
Speaker 2: I held for the last three or four seasons at
14:45
Speaker 2: Texas Tech. So ready for it.
14:47
Speaker 5: Yeah.
14:48
Speaker 1: Chatting with Austin McNamara, you had an eighty seven yard
14:51
Speaker 1: punt at Texas Tech against West Virginia. I've seen the
14:55
Speaker 1: footage online. So your team's at your own thirteen yard line,
14:58
Speaker 1: you're standing in the end zone. You punted it to
15:01
Speaker 1: the other end zone. Explain the feeling of that punt.
15:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was It was a crazy feeling.
15:08
Speaker 3: You know.
15:08
Speaker 5: I got hit right after I punted it, so I
15:10
Speaker 5: didn't get to see the ball flight.
15:13
Speaker 3: You know, Usually you.
15:14
Speaker 5: Look up and see how where it's going right away,
15:16
Speaker 5: but I was on the ground for a couple of seconds,
15:17
Speaker 5: looked up and it was still going to there. I
15:18
Speaker 5: could hear the crowd kind of like cheering. It's usually
15:20
Speaker 5: either the cheering. It's either really bad or really good.
15:22
Speaker 5: So I didn't know which one at the beginning. And
15:24
Speaker 5: and you know, obviously I worked obviously, don't do that
15:27
Speaker 5: every time, I wish, you know, but I uh, it
15:30
Speaker 5: was abously. It's one of those confidence musters for sure,
15:32
Speaker 5: And you know, I know I have it in me
15:33
Speaker 5: and and obviously my consistency is my strength and that's
15:36
Speaker 5: what I'm going for.
15:36
Speaker 2: But it's for good to hit a good punt, you know,
15:38
Speaker 2: big punt every once in a while.
15:39
Speaker 1: So good what has Darren told you about the competition?
15:43
Speaker 1: Here is it? You and Brad best Man Wins.
15:47
Speaker 5: We talked about it a little bit, you know, we
15:49
Speaker 5: we've been going back and forth.
15:50
Speaker 2: You know, I haven't mad bradea.
15:51
Speaker 5: I'm I was excited to meet him and learned from
15:53
Speaker 5: him and work with him and stuff through over the
15:55
Speaker 5: next few months.
15:55
Speaker 2: And and you know, for me, it's just competition with
15:58
Speaker 2: me and with me and me.
15:59
Speaker 5: You know, I'm just be against myself and enough if
16:02
Speaker 5: I you know, put the work in now and you know,
16:04
Speaker 5: do my best ever single day mile that all worked
16:06
Speaker 5: out one way or the other.
16:07
Speaker 2: So I'm really just.
16:08
Speaker 5: Kind of having that mindset going into this, going this
16:10
Speaker 5: whole thing, and oly happens.
16:12
Speaker 1: So great chatting with you.
16:13
Speaker 2: Welcome to Sincinnat, sir, Thank you so much for sid it.
16:16
Speaker 1: McNamara was named the Big Twelve Special Teams Player of
16:20
Speaker 1: the Year last season. He was the first Red Raider
16:23
Speaker 1: to win a major conference award since twenty fourteen, when
16:28
Speaker 1: some guy named Patrick Mahomes was tabbed the Big Twelve
16:32
Speaker 1: Freshman Offensive Player of the Year. The Bengals Booth Podcast
16:36
Speaker 1: is brought to you by pay Corps. Proud to be
16:38
Speaker 1: the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future
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Speaker 1: proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and
16:46
Speaker 1: community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the
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Speaker 1: best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the
16:54
Speaker 1: official healthcare provider of the Bengals. We know that the
16:57
Speaker 1: Bengals have a talented roster, but how does it stack
17:01
Speaker 1: up against other NFL teams. Pro Football Focus recently had
17:06
Speaker 1: two of its analysts, Jim Wyman and Dalton Wasserman, rank
17:10
Speaker 1: all thirty two NFL rosters from first to worst. Jim
17:15
Speaker 1: did the write ups about the AFC teams, and I
17:18
Speaker 1: talked to him about the list. Jim, let's start with
17:23
Speaker 1: the methodology that you guys used for ranking all thirty
17:26
Speaker 1: two NFL rosters. Was it strictly data driven with PFF
17:30
Speaker 1: grades or was there some opinion and guesswork involved.
17:34
Speaker 6: PFF grades was definitely kind of the primary focus on this.
17:38
Speaker 6: I mean, we do want to kind of emphasize our
17:41
Speaker 6: bread and butter more or less, but there was definitely
17:43
Speaker 6: some opinion thrown in there because we're also trying to
17:46
Speaker 6: project a little bit. As far as these rankings are concerned,
17:49
Speaker 6: they are purely on paper based, so coaching did not
17:53
Speaker 6: factor at all into this unless we were going into
17:55
Speaker 6: the over under. Otherwise it would just be a true
17:58
Speaker 6: power ranking and not just a on roster ranking, so
18:01
Speaker 6: to speak.
18:03
Speaker 1: All Right, your number one rank roster in the NFL
18:05
Speaker 1: belongs to the San Francisco forty nine ers. I don't
18:08
Speaker 1: think anybody would be shocked by that. But eight of
18:11
Speaker 1: your top twelve rosters belonged to AFC teams, and you
18:15
Speaker 1: were responsible for the AFC ride ups. Is it fair
18:18
Speaker 1: to say the road to the super Bowl in the
18:20
Speaker 1: AFC is a gauntlet?
18:22
Speaker 6: It absolutely is. It might even be trickier than last year,
18:26
Speaker 6: especially since two Kansas City the defending champs. I think
18:29
Speaker 6: on paper, got better team that won the super Bowl,
18:33
Speaker 6: even if Rashid Rice doesn't miss a single game from
18:36
Speaker 6: suspension this season. He added Marquis Brown, or Hollywood as
18:39
Speaker 6: people like to call him, Xavier Worthy. I know a
18:43
Speaker 6: lot of people are concerned that he's just a speed
18:44
Speaker 6: demon coming to the draft, but he's so much more
18:46
Speaker 6: than that. I know people may be a little scared
18:48
Speaker 6: off after John Roston pan out, but Ross also had
18:52
Speaker 6: some injury concerns coming out that Worthy just doesn't have.
18:55
Speaker 6: And then you've got the Baltimore Ravens who just added
18:58
Speaker 6: Derrick Henry to a backfield include Lamar Jackson, and so
19:01
Speaker 6: that's gonna be something tricky to overcome for most teams.
19:05
Speaker 6: And then the Texans, there's surrounding your young cordock of talent.
19:09
Speaker 6: And then there's what the Texans did by adding Stefan
19:12
Speaker 6: Diggs to a group that already included Nico Collins who
19:15
Speaker 6: just had a huge year last year, Tank Dell, who
19:17
Speaker 6: looks like a steal out of the third round. That
19:20
Speaker 6: Texans receiving group is pre stacked. And then we have
19:22
Speaker 6: Cincinnati up next at number eight, which we kind of
19:26
Speaker 6: went back and forth out where to place them because
19:29
Speaker 6: I could totally see Cincinnati being a little higher, especially
19:32
Speaker 6: with Joe Burrow being back in the fold. I mean,
19:35
Speaker 6: last year they went nine to eight despite Burrow missing
19:38
Speaker 6: half the season, and even to start to start the season,
19:41
Speaker 6: he wasn't a one hundred percent because he had that
19:43
Speaker 6: leg issue that looked pretty scary in preseason with the
19:46
Speaker 6: non contact injury, and he didn't look himself the first
19:49
Speaker 6: few weeks. It wasn't until like maybe late September early
19:52
Speaker 6: October that he really got going. So Cincinnati right in
19:56
Speaker 6: the mix of it, and then right behind them is Buffalo,
19:58
Speaker 6: Miami and Cleveland, which as far as those rankings go,
20:01
Speaker 6: we were splitting hairs for the most part. You could
20:04
Speaker 6: be just rearrange those teams in any order you want
20:06
Speaker 6: and have a strong argument for them. I know Buffalo
20:09
Speaker 6: had a lot of roster cuts recently, but they were
20:11
Speaker 6: a lot deeper than they seemed. The big thing with
20:14
Speaker 6: Buffalo is replacing Stefan Diggs, who they sent to Houston
20:18
Speaker 6: for pennies on the dollar. I think if Keon Coleman,
20:23
Speaker 6: their top draft pick hands out, because he's probably the
20:27
Speaker 6: biggest wild card amongst in the NFL draft, because we
20:29
Speaker 6: have no idea. He had some separation issues in college,
20:35
Speaker 6: like there were times where like most of his catches,
20:36
Speaker 6: he's got a defender draped all over him, which sometimes
20:39
Speaker 6: that works out, like sometimes that guy becomes des Bryant,
20:42
Speaker 6: other times he becomes Nick hil Harry. So they're very
20:44
Speaker 6: hard to kind of figure out. But in his testing
20:49
Speaker 6: was inconsistent too. But I'm a little more encouraged by
20:52
Speaker 6: the fact that despite running the slow as forty amongst receivers.
20:55
Speaker 6: He was the fastest guy in the gauntlet drill, which
20:57
Speaker 6: is the actual on field stuff, which is the stuff
20:59
Speaker 6: that might translate a little better to the league. So
21:02
Speaker 6: I have confidence that Keon Coleman. We might not be
21:06
Speaker 6: the productive receiver that Stefan Diggs was, but he's if
21:09
Speaker 6: he's like show something promised by the end of season,
21:12
Speaker 6: Josh Allen's good enough that he'll he'll get his targets.
21:16
Speaker 1: Jim Wiman from Pro Football Focus is our guests. We're
21:19
Speaker 1: going to get to the Bengals in more detail in
21:21
Speaker 1: just a moment, but I've got to ask you about
21:24
Speaker 1: the most shocking team on the list. In my opinion,
21:27
Speaker 1: your number four roster in the NFL belongs to a
21:31
Speaker 1: team that went seven to ten last year, the New
21:34
Speaker 1: York Jets. We know that the return of Aaron Rodgers
21:37
Speaker 1: makes a big difference, but the fourth best roster in
21:40
Speaker 1: the NFL.
21:42
Speaker 6: Yeah, this one. We got killed for this one on
21:45
Speaker 6: social media. You're not the only one who seems dumbfounded
21:47
Speaker 6: by the rankings. Pretty much like to scroll through comments
21:50
Speaker 6: kind of get the pulse of what the fan are saying.
21:53
Speaker 6: Pretty Much every single comment has an issue with us.
21:56
Speaker 6: Placing at Jets at number four. And when we came
21:59
Speaker 6: to this discussion, I think it was first Dalton who
22:01
Speaker 6: pitched the Jets being number four, and I heard some
22:04
Speaker 6: surprise in his voice. It was like I had it
22:05
Speaker 6: at five. So I was just as high on them
22:08
Speaker 6: as he was. And the main thing is one thing
22:12
Speaker 6: I want to kind of bring to the attention is, yeah,
22:16
Speaker 6: the Jets went seven to ten, but they did this
22:19
Speaker 6: with Zach Wilson at quarterback and Tim Boyle taking meaningful snaps.
22:24
Speaker 6: Even the Patriots, with as good a defense as they had,
22:26
Speaker 6: couldn't survive their bad quarterback play. The Jets did for
22:29
Speaker 6: the most part, I mean, as much as a seven
22:31
Speaker 6: and ten team can. And not only that, they made
22:33
Speaker 6: some moves in the offseason that we really liked. At
22:37
Speaker 6: wide receiver. Last year it was basically just Garrett Wilson
22:40
Speaker 6: and a couple undrafted rookies playing some significant playing time.
22:43
Speaker 6: The Adam Mike Williams, who is He's not gonna catch
22:47
Speaker 6: a ton of passes every game, but he's consistently up
22:50
Speaker 6: there in yards per reception. I think Rogers is gonna
22:52
Speaker 6: have fun throwing to him deep downfield, even just on
22:54
Speaker 6: a one year deal, and then Malachi Corley, who they
22:58
Speaker 6: took in a third round, being the exact opposite receiver
23:01
Speaker 6: in terms of He's probably gonna be a high volume catches,
23:04
Speaker 6: probably lower depth of target, but he's dying in white
23:07
Speaker 6: with the ball in his hands. He's me pretty fun.
23:10
Speaker 6: Offensive line is kind of where I was fifty to
23:13
Speaker 6: fifty because they did add Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses
23:16
Speaker 6: at offensive tackle. Both guys have dealt with some injuries,
23:20
Speaker 6: Smith in particular, but when they've been on the field,
23:22
Speaker 6: they've been much more productive, especially considering what the Jets
23:25
Speaker 6: been thrown out there last year. And even if one
23:28
Speaker 6: of the two tackles I mentioned before falter, they drafted
23:30
Speaker 6: Olufashnu in the first round, who can step right in
23:33
Speaker 6: and he might even be the best tackle on the
23:36
Speaker 6: roster right now. We don't have him listen as a
23:37
Speaker 6: starter at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised that
23:40
Speaker 6: I'm starting from the get go. And one last thing
23:44
Speaker 6: by the Jets offense, they ranked dead last in EPA
23:47
Speaker 6: per play last season, worse than even the Patriots of
23:49
Speaker 6: the Falcons or other teams were talking about who had
23:51
Speaker 6: some struggles and they still won seven games as a results,
23:54
Speaker 6: So that goes a testament to how good defense is.
23:57
Speaker 6: Even if Aaron Rodgers isn't like and four time MVP
24:01
Speaker 6: Aaron Rodgers anymore, even if he's just you know, kind
24:04
Speaker 6: of what we saw at the end of his Packers
24:05
Speaker 6: career where he seemed like he might have been turning downward,
24:08
Speaker 6: He's this Jets team is gonna be fine and they're
24:10
Speaker 6: going to be in contention with the AFC East title
24:13
Speaker 6: as long as he's at least healthy.
24:16
Speaker 1: Jim Wiman from Pro Football Focus is our guest. He
24:19
Speaker 1: and Dalton Wasserman have ranked all thirty two rosters in
24:21
Speaker 1: the NFL, from San Francisco at number one to Denver
24:24
Speaker 1: at number thirty two. The Bengals, as you mentioned, check
24:28
Speaker 1: in at number eight overall, number five in the AFC,
24:31
Speaker 1: behind Kansas City at two, the Jets at four, Baltimore
24:34
Speaker 1: at five, in Houston at seven. What stood out to
24:37
Speaker 1: you is some of the biggest strengths on the Bengals roster.
24:41
Speaker 6: Immediately what stands out as the wide receivers. I know
24:44
Speaker 6: there's some issues surrounding t Higgins, whether he's going to
24:47
Speaker 6: sign an extension, whether it's gonna be back, especially considering
24:50
Speaker 6: Jamar Chase is due next year for an extension. At
24:53
Speaker 6: the moments, we've got Higgins returning because we've heard nothing
24:57
Speaker 6: to the contrary.
24:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, he'll I'll be there on the franchise tag. I
25:01
Speaker 1: don't think anybody, I mean, Tea has even said publicly
25:04
Speaker 1: he expects to play for Cincinnati this year.
25:07
Speaker 6: Yeah, and that's gonna be huge for this Bengals teams
25:09
Speaker 6: if he comes back. I mean, Jamar Chase can do
25:11
Speaker 6: a lot for an offense, but just having a guy
25:13
Speaker 6: like T Higgins there, Like, even if you want to
25:16
Speaker 6: double Jamar Chase you want, you can't do that because
25:19
Speaker 6: T Higgins is going to kill you if you do that.
25:21
Speaker 6: And I know they let go of Tyler Boyd, but
25:24
Speaker 6: I think Jermaine Burton, the guy that took him the
25:26
Speaker 6: third round, at least on the field as an upgrade
25:28
Speaker 6: over Boyd. This was a guy that we considered at
25:31
Speaker 6: PFF to be a first round talent who fell due
25:33
Speaker 6: to some character concerns. There was one incident in college
25:37
Speaker 6: I kind of raise some concerns and there's some reports
25:39
Speaker 6: of it maybe not being most levelheaded guy. But hey,
25:44
Speaker 6: if he is in a good situation in Cincinnati where
25:46
Speaker 6: he buys in. This is a dangerous player and a
25:49
Speaker 6: guy who even if t Higgins let Walk could step
25:52
Speaker 6: into that number two role opposite Chase What.
25:55
Speaker 1: Do you consider to be the most significant question marks?
25:58
Speaker 6: Probably running back at the moment and right now that
26:01
Speaker 6: so Joe Mixon took on a lot of the workload
26:04
Speaker 6: for the for the Bengals last year. The other three
26:06
Speaker 6: running backs on the roster combined last year couldn't reach
26:10
Speaker 6: three hundred snaps for the entire season, so losing mixing
26:15
Speaker 6: kind of leaves a little of a hole. They added
26:17
Speaker 6: Zach Moss last year, who I put as a team's
26:19
Speaker 6: X factor on our roster just because this last year
26:23
Speaker 6: was his first year he got a significant workload and
26:25
Speaker 6: he showed some ability to kind of be able to
26:28
Speaker 6: be that guy. We haven't really seen it yet from
26:31
Speaker 6: a long term perspective, but he played pretty well in
26:33
Speaker 6: Indianapolis last year, set career highs pretty much across the
26:36
Speaker 6: board in any category you can think of. So this
26:39
Speaker 6: is going to be his show in the backfield in
26:40
Speaker 6: Cincinnati because right now they're running with Chris Evans, who
26:44
Speaker 6: I think has mostly been used as a kick returner
26:46
Speaker 6: as well as tray Van Williams has gotten some look
26:48
Speaker 6: there as well. They drafted Chase Brown last year, who
26:51
Speaker 6: I kind of like, which I saw a little bit
26:53
Speaker 6: more of him last year, but we'll see how things
26:56
Speaker 6: shake up this year. But he's definitely like someone I
27:00
Speaker 6: think could probably be the second back behind Zach Moss
27:04
Speaker 6: and kind of maybe be more the receiving guy of
27:06
Speaker 6: the backfield. But right now, I would say the room
27:11
Speaker 6: is paper thin just given the unproven depth behind a
27:16
Speaker 6: guy who himself we've only really seen him be productive
27:20
Speaker 6: one time. So I would say running backs probably the
27:24
Speaker 6: weakest group, But in terms of rooms to be weak in,
27:28
Speaker 6: running back might be the position to choose if you
27:31
Speaker 6: had to choose one.
27:33
Speaker 1: So, Jim, one of the things you do in the
27:34
Speaker 1: article is list every team's projected starting lineup along with
27:39
Speaker 1: their PFF grades, and this caught my eye. The highest
27:43
Speaker 1: graded offensive player last year was Jamar Chase no big
27:46
Speaker 1: surprise there, but the second highest graded player was the
27:50
Speaker 1: new right tackle, Trent Brown. Between him and drafting Amrius
27:55
Speaker 1: Mims in the first round, do you see a significantly
27:58
Speaker 1: upgraded offensive line?
28:00
Speaker 5: I do.
28:00
Speaker 6: This office of the line is definitely a lot better
28:02
Speaker 6: on paper than spend in years past. I know the
28:04
Speaker 6: Bengals have thrown a lot of money at the unit
28:06
Speaker 6: the last couple of years with mixed results. Trent Brown's
28:10
Speaker 6: an interesting case because he played extremely well to start
28:15
Speaker 6: the season last year. I think against Miami, off top
28:17
Speaker 6: I head, he had a PFF grade of like ninety six,
28:20
Speaker 6: which I maybe seen like two games grades that were
28:22
Speaker 6: higher than that. I can think, oh, it's top my head,
28:25
Speaker 6: and had another game I think against Buffalo and New
28:27
Speaker 6: England actually won one where he was in the nineties
28:30
Speaker 6: as well. Trent Brown think he's going to be productive
28:33
Speaker 6: once again. I know he's getting up there in age
28:35
Speaker 6: a little bit, but a guy in his size that
28:37
Speaker 6: moves as well as he does, he's shoring up the
28:40
Speaker 6: right side can be great for him. I think at
28:42
Speaker 6: the right tackles his best spot. He played a little
28:44
Speaker 6: bit on the left side from New England and then
28:47
Speaker 6: Amarius Mims I can I think maybe Philadelphia is the
28:50
Speaker 6: only other place where I thought of where could be
28:52
Speaker 6: a potentially better spot for him to land. Cincinnati is
28:55
Speaker 6: a great spot and he doesn't need to start right away.
29:00
Speaker 6: He can kind of get seasoning kind of figure out
29:02
Speaker 6: the league a little bit and not be thrown to
29:04
Speaker 6: the fire like a guy with a similar profiles from
29:07
Speaker 6: Tyler Goeyton and Dallas might be. And yet right now
29:10
Speaker 6: he's projected to start at left tackle for the Dallas
29:12
Speaker 6: Cowboys right out the gate. Whereas Mims gets to learn,
29:15
Speaker 6: he gets to get better as a player who in
29:18
Speaker 6: his craft, and it's an opportunity that he's being given
29:21
Speaker 6: rather than being thrown to the wolves like Geyiton might be.
29:25
Speaker 1: So Jim, the highest graded Bengals player on defense wasn't
29:29
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson. It was rookie safety Jordan Battle, who probably
29:34
Speaker 1: won't start to begin this season after the Bengals picked
29:36
Speaker 1: up Geno Stone and brought back Von Bell. What do
29:39
Speaker 1: you think of the secondary after those changes at safety?
29:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, so safety, I can totally see a sort of
29:47
Speaker 6: rotation between the three of them. I think Geno Stone
29:49
Speaker 6: is the only one who's a really true free safety
29:51
Speaker 6: kind of play that deep center field role. I think
29:54
Speaker 6: Battle in Von Bell, who might be a little bit
29:56
Speaker 6: more of a rotation than as a player kind of
30:00
Speaker 6: a similar style of safety, I think Battle might get
30:03
Speaker 6: the edge there over Bell, just given battles younger and
30:08
Speaker 6: Bell isn't coming off the best season in New Orleans,
30:11
Speaker 6: but he's still like a quality player who will definitely
30:14
Speaker 6: see plenty of playing time. Daxon Hill is a guy
30:17
Speaker 6: I was hoping it would break out last year. Actually
30:18
Speaker 6: an article last summer where I tried to predict a
30:22
Speaker 6: breakout player at every single position, and I picked Dax
30:25
Speaker 6: Hill as one of the safeties. So it was really
30:29
Speaker 6: his first year as a full time player. He was
30:31
Speaker 6: pretty much red shirted his rookie year, so I'm not
30:34
Speaker 6: ready to give up on him just yet. Same goes
30:37
Speaker 6: for DJ Turner, who was a second round rookie last year,
30:42
Speaker 6: and he's another guy. Corner is a very, very tough
30:47
Speaker 6: position to transition from college to the pros, just because
30:49
Speaker 6: the quality receiver is so much different than what you're
30:51
Speaker 6: gonna face, and corners themselves is a pretty volatile position
30:55
Speaker 6: in terms of what you can expect from a year
30:57
Speaker 6: to year basis. So Dj Turner's another guy I could
31:01
Speaker 6: see potentially stepping in and playing well in his second
31:04
Speaker 6: year despite a down rookie season. Cam Taylor Brits another
31:08
Speaker 6: guy who has shown some flashes as and I think
31:11
Speaker 6: He's gonna be quality starting this league for a long time.
31:13
Speaker 6: And Mike Hilton is the number one right now despite
31:17
Speaker 6: being about thirty years old at the moment. But he
31:19
Speaker 6: is coming off one of the better seasons that he's
31:21
Speaker 6: had in his career, and he's still got plenty left
31:24
Speaker 6: in tank despite his age. So the Bengals secondary I
31:28
Speaker 6: think could surprise some people.
31:30
Speaker 1: Jim, let's talk about the AFC North. Every team has
31:34
Speaker 1: a roster that's graded in the top half of the NFL.
31:37
Speaker 1: I mentioned the Baltimore's fifth, Cincinnati's eighth, Cleveland is twelfth,
31:41
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh is sixteenth. I'm interested in the Ravens because they
31:44
Speaker 1: lost fifteen free agents, including Patrick Queen and three of
31:48
Speaker 1: their starting offensive linemen. They have added some good players,
31:52
Speaker 1: led by Derrick Henry. But is it a top five
31:55
Speaker 1: roster because they had depth or because the guys that
31:58
Speaker 1: are still there are that good.
32:01
Speaker 6: I would say it's a mix. They definitely had depth.
32:04
Speaker 6: I know losing Patrick Queen might hurt in the defense,
32:07
Speaker 6: but they still had roe qworn Smith. I think when
32:09
Speaker 6: we darraw rankings, we spent the longest time on Baltimore
32:13
Speaker 6: versus Detroit, with whom who had at number six. I
32:15
Speaker 6: think he spent, like I said, ten fifteen minutes trying
32:17
Speaker 6: to figure out between these two. My main hold up
32:21
Speaker 6: with the Ravens was losing some offensive linemen and they're
32:23
Speaker 6: going to have some unproven guys up front, and then
32:28
Speaker 6: receiver is a little lacking in depth. Say four Howers
32:31
Speaker 6: had a really nice rookie year after him, though Rashad
32:35
Speaker 6: Bateman hasn't really been with the Ravens. Hoped and I
32:39
Speaker 6: got the third list of receivers, Deontay Party, who is
32:42
Speaker 6: mainly a kick return specialist, but who occasionally will come
32:46
Speaker 6: in and make some plays. I know he had a
32:47
Speaker 6: few plays when he was with the Saints that were explosive.
32:51
Speaker 6: They also drafted Tedes Walker out of North Carolina in
32:54
Speaker 6: early in the fourth round, which I thought was a
32:55
Speaker 6: great value for them. He's a guy who can really
32:58
Speaker 6: stretch the field. And then Lamar Jackson Derek Henry might
33:02
Speaker 6: be the scariest backfield in football if you're trying to
33:04
Speaker 6: defend the run, so you're either going to get your
33:06
Speaker 6: ankles broken your whole body broken trying to tackle one
33:08
Speaker 6: of those guys.
33:09
Speaker 1: We certainly know it from seeing him at least twice
33:11
Speaker 1: a year, Cleveland checked in at number twelve. The strength
33:15
Speaker 1: is the defense, arguably the best in the NFL. Where
33:18
Speaker 1: would Cleveland be on the list if they had more
33:21
Speaker 1: of a sure thing at quarterback than Deshaun Watson.
33:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, Deshaun Watson was the real hold up about this
33:26
Speaker 6: Browns roster because the defense it might be my favorite
33:30
Speaker 6: on paper in the entire NFL, especially considering they were
33:33
Speaker 6: number one in EPA per play allowed last season by
33:36
Speaker 6: a comfortable margin, and everybody's back, including defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz,
33:42
Speaker 6: Deshaun Watson last year, he hasn't really gotten a chance
33:45
Speaker 6: to get it in a rhythm. Part about his own doing.
33:48
Speaker 6: Part of that is a freak injury that happened in
33:50
Speaker 6: the middle of the season. Play on field looks like
33:53
Speaker 6: a guy who hasn't played football regularly in the year
33:56
Speaker 6: and a half and so. But the thing with the
33:58
Speaker 6: Browns is they've still won eleven games and probably would
34:01
Speaker 6: have won most divisions while starting five different quarterbacks. So
34:06
Speaker 6: I'm not super worried about their ability to be competitive
34:10
Speaker 6: once again for the playoffs. But if Deshaun Watson is
34:13
Speaker 6: twenty twenty, Deshaun Watson This team's a favorite in the division.
34:16
Speaker 6: I think they even jump the Jets at number four,
34:19
Speaker 6: and they could be competing for their first Super Bowl
34:21
Speaker 6: if Deshaun Watson looks like he does in twenty twenty.
34:24
Speaker 1: Well as a Bengals broadcaster, let's hope that he doesn't.
34:28
Speaker 1: The Steelers come in at number sixteen. Here's a team
34:31
Speaker 1: that won ten games last year. With Kenny Pickett and
34:33
Speaker 1: Mason Rudolph playing quarterback, is Pittsburgh a bigger threat to
34:37
Speaker 1: contend with Russell Wilson and or Justin Fields back there.
34:42
Speaker 6: I think it's gonna be similar. I think they're going
34:44
Speaker 6: to hover around the same win total. The defense is
34:47
Speaker 6: I think they got a little bit better this year,
34:49
Speaker 6: especially with adding Patrick Queens the middle of that linebacking group.
34:52
Speaker 6: I think that was a big get for them. Defensive
34:54
Speaker 6: line is mostly the same what That's a good thing
34:57
Speaker 6: considering how good they were last year. I have some
35:01
Speaker 6: questions in the secondary, but in general, I think it's
35:03
Speaker 6: pretty solid. I'm expecting a big leap forward from Joey
35:06
Speaker 6: Porter Junior this year after I saw some flashes last year.
35:09
Speaker 6: He was really good. Their first game against Baltimore offensively
35:13
Speaker 6: is kind of where all the question marks coming to play.
35:15
Speaker 6: The offensive line is gonna be pretty much half rookies
35:18
Speaker 6: coming in, which I love that they did that in
35:20
Speaker 6: the draft because offensive line was a huge issue for
35:23
Speaker 6: them and they recognize it and so they just hammered
35:25
Speaker 6: it pretty much every pick. Imaginable wide receiver is very
35:30
Speaker 6: thin right now. After George Pickens, I think we have
35:33
Speaker 6: Van Jefferson, who rated is one of the words receivers
35:35
Speaker 6: in football according to our grading system last season, and
35:38
Speaker 6: then a rookie in Roman Wilson out of Michigan who
35:41
Speaker 6: he was productive at Michigan. I don't know if he's
35:43
Speaker 6: going to necessarily be a big play guy that's gonna
35:45
Speaker 6: scare you, but I think he's gonna be reliable possession receiver.
35:49
Speaker 6: And then as far as Pittsburgh's quarterbacks go, I wouldn't
35:52
Speaker 6: be too surprised that Justin Fields takes over sooner than later.
35:55
Speaker 6: I know a popular pick in the off season was
35:58
Speaker 6: for Justin Fields to go to Atlanta because they feel
36:00
Speaker 6: like he would fit that kind of offense to a
36:03
Speaker 6: t well. Arthur Smith got canned and became the offensive
36:05
Speaker 6: coordinator in Pittsburgh, and so now he is going to
36:08
Speaker 6: be working with Justin Fields for a little bit, and
36:09
Speaker 6: I think this might be the best possible spot firm.
36:13
Speaker 6: I do believe that Russell Wilson is going to start
36:15
Speaker 6: right out of the gate, but as far as long
36:18
Speaker 6: term prospects go, I think Justin Fields is more likely
36:21
Speaker 6: to be the guy for them going forward, even if
36:24
Speaker 6: Russell Wilson is the starter out of the gate with
36:26
Speaker 6: his more experience and more of a past history of success.
36:31
Speaker 1: Jim on your list. Here are the bottom eight rosters
36:35
Speaker 1: in the NFL, starting from dead last, Denver, the New
36:40
Speaker 1: York Giants, Carolina, New England, Arizona, Washington, the LA Charger
36:46
Speaker 1: it's a bit of a surprise, and the Tennessee Titans.
36:49
Speaker 1: The Bengals play seven of those eight teams. Three is
36:53
Speaker 1: the result of finishing in fourth place in the AFC
36:56
Speaker 1: North last year. Is beating up on those box them
37:00
Speaker 1: of the barrel rosters a big key to Cincinnati's potential
37:04
Speaker 1: success this year.
37:06
Speaker 6: I think it's truly going to help them cushion their
37:08
Speaker 6: win total a little bit. But you play who you play,
37:09
Speaker 6: so it's not really a knock against Cincinnati that they're
37:12
Speaker 6: going to be playing some lesser level teams. That being said,
37:15
Speaker 6: I think Cincinnati is very much in contention to go
37:18
Speaker 6: from worse to first this year. I actually wrote an
37:20
Speaker 6: article this past few months a couple months ago where
37:23
Speaker 6: I ranked every last place team by their chances of
37:26
Speaker 6: going from worse to first. Cincinnati came into number one,
37:29
Speaker 6: of course, them being the first team in the modern
37:31
Speaker 6: era to finish in last place with the winning record.
37:34
Speaker 6: So as long as I mean, obviously this is a
37:37
Speaker 6: big if with any NFL team, but they stay healthy,
37:40
Speaker 6: Joe Burrow is able to be at full health from
37:42
Speaker 6: last season, and no major injuries happened or any kind
37:46
Speaker 6: of massive inconsistencies that we can't foresee, they should be
37:49
Speaker 6: right in the thick of things and even in the
37:51
Speaker 6: running for an AFCA championship. So the schedule is certainly
37:54
Speaker 6: going to help them a little bit. But this team,
37:56
Speaker 6: even if it wasn't kind of a bottom feed or schedule,
37:59
Speaker 6: they still have success this season.
38:01
Speaker 1: I think, following up on what you just said, your
38:05
Speaker 1: conclusion in the article reads as follows. One of the
38:08
Speaker 1: favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, is
38:12
Speaker 1: it as simple as a healthy Burrow for the Bengals
38:15
Speaker 1: to be in.
38:15
Speaker 6: That mix, I really think it is. Jake Browning wasn't
38:19
Speaker 6: bad last year as Burrow's replacement. Actually their grades were
38:22
Speaker 6: kind of similar. I think Browning came in at sixteenth
38:25
Speaker 6: and Burrow at eighteenth in terms of qualifying quarterbacks. Even so,
38:30
Speaker 6: Joe Burrow, in my opinion, is the second best quarterback
38:32
Speaker 6: in football. I would take him over Josh Allen just
38:34
Speaker 6: because every now and then Josh Allen will go into
38:37
Speaker 6: hero and lose you a game. What that being said,
38:40
Speaker 6: Joe Burrow, I think is much more reliable, and we've
38:43
Speaker 6: seen before to his two really healthy seasons. He went
38:46
Speaker 6: to an AFC Championship game with mostly a very similar
38:50
Speaker 6: roster to what we're seeing right now, and I think
38:52
Speaker 6: there's no reason to believe that if he plays the
38:54
Speaker 6: whole season, the Bengals won't be one of the favorites
38:56
Speaker 6: in the AFC from start to finish this season.
39:00
Speaker 1: Jim, we all love lists. The list that you've put
39:03
Speaker 1: together with Dalton Wasserman was very entertaining, is great reading,
39:06
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you taking the time to discuss it
39:08
Speaker 1: with us. Thanks so much, and keep up the good work.
39:10
Speaker 6: Thanks for having me.
39:12
Speaker 1: If you would like to read the article. Just search
39:14
Speaker 1: for PFF Roster rankings and it should pop right up.
39:19
Speaker 1: It's worth noting that Jim and Dalton predict whether each
39:22
Speaker 1: team will finish over or under its projected win total
39:26
Speaker 1: in Vegas, and they have the Bengals going over ten
39:30
Speaker 1: and a half wins. That's going to do it for
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