Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Moneytalk
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- 0:03Speaker 1: Hike and everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Come On, Come On, lesten
- 0:12Speaker 1: to the Money Talk edition as my broadcast partner Dave
- 0:16Speaker 1: Lapham and Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Butch Hopson joined
- 0:20Speaker 1: me to discuss the Bengals latest free agent acquisitions, the
- 0:24Speaker 1: current state of the offensive line, the brutal treatment that
- 0:28Speaker 1: Andy Dalton is getting from Chicago Bears fans, and answer
- 0:32Speaker 1: some of your ask Lap questions. The Bengals Booth Podcast
- 0:36Speaker 1: is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and
- 0:40Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
- 0:43Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet,
- 0:46Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
- 0:52Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since ted Lasso.
- 0:58Speaker 1: My wife and I started to watch the comedy series
- 1:00Speaker 1: ted Lasso on Apple TV about a week ago, and
- 1:04Speaker 1: it quickly became an all out binge. We breeze through
- 1:08Speaker 1: all ten episodes in record time and can't wait for
- 1:11Speaker 1: the next season whenever that arrives. If you're not familiar
- 1:15Speaker 1: with the character or the show, ted Lasso is an
- 1:18Speaker 1: American football coach who becomes the head coach or manager
- 1:23Speaker 1: of a Premier league soccer team. It's obviously a fish
- 1:26Speaker 1: out of water comedy, but ted Lasso is one of
- 1:29Speaker 1: the most endearing, cheerful characters on TV. He knows nothing
- 1:34Speaker 1: about soccer but plenty about coaching, and the result is
- 1:38Speaker 1: a show that's both funny and uplifting. If you don't
- 1:42Speaker 1: have Apple TV, I think it's about five bucks a month,
- 1:46Speaker 1: so you can always cancel after watching Ted Lasso if
- 1:49Speaker 1: you want to. Plus, you can decide who has the
- 1:53Speaker 1: better mustache, ted Lasso or Giovanni Bernard. Now let's get
- 1:59Speaker 1: to football. Before getting to this week's conversation with lap
- 2:02Speaker 1: Ann Butch, there was huge news in the NFL on
- 2:05Speaker 1: Friday that has a direct impact on the Bengals, as
- 2:09Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine ers made a trade with
- 2:11Speaker 1: Miami to acquire the number three pick in the NFL Draft.
- 2:16Speaker 1: In addition to giving Miami the twelfth pick in this
- 2:19Speaker 1: year's draft, San Francisco coughed up two future first round
- 2:23Speaker 1: selections and a third rounder. Let's face it, you only
- 2:28Speaker 1: give up that kind of draft capital if you're going
- 2:31Speaker 1: to move up to select a quarterback. So what does
- 2:34Speaker 1: that mean for Cincinnati. Jacksonville is going to take quarterback
- 2:38Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence number one overall. The Jets appear likely to
- 2:42Speaker 1: take quarterback Zach Wilson number two overall, meaning the forty
- 2:47Speaker 1: Niners would take Justin Fields, Trey Lance, or Mac Jones
- 2:51Speaker 1: to make it three quarterbacks in a row. Atlanta currently
- 2:55Speaker 1: has the fourth pick. No matter what the Falcons do,
- 2:58Speaker 1: Oregon offensive lineman a Sewel or LSU wide receiver Jamar
- 3:03Speaker 1: Chase would still be on the board at number five.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Maybe both of them. Then again, perhaps a team needing
- 3:09Speaker 1: a quarterback would offer the Bengals a king's ransom for
- 3:13Speaker 1: the fifth pick. In any case, knowing that at least
- 3:16Speaker 1: three of the four teams picking ahead of them in
- 3:19Speaker 1: this year's draft are expected to take quarterbacks is a
- 3:22Speaker 1: great development for Cincinnati. We'll get to the draft in
- 3:26Speaker 1: my chat with Lappin Butch, but we start with free
- 3:30Speaker 1: agency Keillan. Since last week's podcast, the Bengals have added
- 3:34Speaker 1: two more free agents. They have signed cornerback Eli Apple
- 3:38Speaker 1: to a one year deal, the tenth pickback in the
- 3:41Speaker 1: two sixteen draft out of Ohio State. He hasn't lived
- 3:44Speaker 1: up to that draft status yet, but he doesn't turn
- 3:47Speaker 1: twenty six until August. They have reportedly signed safety Ricardo Allen,
- 3:52Speaker 1: who is twenty nine. He's spent all six of his
- 3:55Speaker 1: NFL seasons in Atlanta. A four time captain, he started
- 3:59Speaker 1: on a Super Bowl team. Let's get your reactions to
- 4:02Speaker 1: those two editions, Eli Apple and Ricardo Allen. Lap. You're
- 4:06Speaker 1: up first, Well, I think both of them are are
- 4:09Speaker 1: good signings for depth. You know, you have to You
- 4:13Speaker 1: obviously got your starters, but you have to have depth,
- 4:15Speaker 1: particularly at the cornerback position. We saw that last year.
- 4:19Speaker 1: There were some injuries. The Bengals dealt with that at
- 4:22Speaker 1: that position as well. Trey Waynees never took a snap,
- 4:25Speaker 1: and all I hope is that we never seen number
- 4:28Speaker 1: thirty eight Lashawn Simon again. Man, every time that kid
- 4:33Speaker 1: took the field, the ball was a magnet. It was
- 4:35Speaker 1: going right there. I mean, every coach just zeroed in
- 4:37Speaker 1: on him. So I hope the exit meeting with he
- 4:39Speaker 1: and Zach Taylor was Hey, Lashawn, thanks for everything, but
- 4:42Speaker 1: we're not bringing your back. You know. I mean I
- 4:44Speaker 1: think that you know, Eli Apple would be a huge
- 4:47Speaker 1: upgrade from what they had on the football field, you know,
- 4:51Speaker 1: at the conclusion of the season for Sharre in terms
- 4:53Speaker 1: of depth, So and Ricardo Allen, smallish type guy, you know,
- 4:57Speaker 1: not a not a very big guy, but they say
- 5:00Speaker 1: one of those kind of guys that absolutely loves football.
- 5:04Speaker 1: Football is important to him. Football is the biggest thing
- 5:07Speaker 1: in his in his life, you know. And I don't
- 5:10Speaker 1: think you can have enough of those kind of guys.
- 5:11Speaker 1: And you know the other free agents that they sign,
- 5:14Speaker 1: like Hendrickson. When you hear that guy, football is super
- 5:17Speaker 1: important to the guy. And so I think that Ricardo Allen,
- 5:22Speaker 1: Eli Apple, they'll be on that text chain of the
- 5:26Speaker 1: secondary with von Bell, Jesse Bates, all those guys that
- 5:29Speaker 1: are going to be getting ahead of the game. You
- 5:31Speaker 1: know in my mind that they possibly can because they're
- 5:34Speaker 1: coming from different systems. So there's only so many coverages
- 5:39Speaker 1: in so many ways you can play the coverage, but
- 5:40Speaker 1: there's a lot of different nomenclature. So the thing that
- 5:43Speaker 1: they have to get used to is the language. So
- 5:45Speaker 1: if Jesse Bates and Von Bell can get them up
- 5:49Speaker 1: to speed more quickly, the Killer Bees can get the
- 5:52Speaker 1: language out to all those guys. Whatever you call this,
- 5:56Speaker 1: it's now called that and they can you know, get
- 5:59Speaker 1: get a jump starting those kind of things. I think
- 6:02Speaker 1: I think that would help the back end to measurably.
- 6:05Speaker 1: How about you. But you know, I mean I'm with
- 6:07Speaker 1: lap I like him both. The you know, the Eli
- 6:09Speaker 1: Apple signing kind of conjures up cornerbacks past uh pac Man, Jones,
- 6:16Speaker 1: Terrence Newman, guys who had they were on stops before
- 6:18Speaker 1: where things had soured on them and they revived their careers.
- 6:22Speaker 1: You know, maybe and Apples a lot younger than that,
- 6:25Speaker 1: but you know, he's had a you know, he's struggled.
- 6:28Speaker 1: But I think, you know, great, great chance for him
- 6:31Speaker 1: here to turn things around. I don't think Darius Phillips
- 6:33Speaker 1: should get all uh should get too upset. I think
- 6:36Speaker 1: he's a guy that you know, I think they're probably
- 6:38Speaker 1: looking at him this before, you know, they aren't looking
- 6:40Speaker 1: for Apple, I think, to come in and take over
- 6:43Speaker 1: for Phillips. I think they you know, maybe see some
- 6:45Speaker 1: competition there. I think Phillips is clearly the guy, in
- 6:48Speaker 1: my mind, would be the first guy off the bench.
- 6:50Speaker 1: You're playing behind the other three and Uh Alan I
- 6:54Speaker 1: think is uh, you know there's a guy that's you
- 6:56Speaker 1: can't you can't miss there, uh, six year veterans respected,
- 7:02Speaker 1: you know, like Black said, small guy but feisty, you know,
- 7:06Speaker 1: between him and Hilton, I guess they're they're not very tall,
- 7:09Speaker 1: but they should bring a lot of fire, you know.
- 7:11Speaker 1: And I guess the Alan signing it may preclude to
- 7:14Speaker 1: bring it back Sean Williams. It lose a lot of
- 7:16Speaker 1: experience with Sean, you know, on teams and everything, so
- 7:20Speaker 1: you know, hopefully Alan Alan can help fill that too.
- 7:24Speaker 1: You do get younger if it's Ricardo Allen in for
- 7:26Speaker 1: Sean Williams, since Allen is still in his twenties. You know,
- 7:30Speaker 1: my thought on these two signings is free agency is
- 7:33Speaker 1: not just a matter of trying to add really good players.
- 7:37Speaker 1: You know, that's clearly something you're trying to do, but
- 7:40Speaker 1: it's also trying to replace bad players with competent players.
- 7:46Speaker 1: And his lap mentioned Lashawn Sims really struggled last year.
- 7:49Speaker 1: He started ten games, so he played a lot. His
- 7:53Speaker 1: Pro Football focus numbers were in the forties. You can't
- 7:57Speaker 1: have that. You've got to have your bottom line guys
- 8:00Speaker 1: closer to the sixties. And that's what you know, an
- 8:03Speaker 1: Eli Apple can give you as a depth piece or
- 8:07Speaker 1: Ricardo Allen can give you as a depth piece. And
- 8:09Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned Darius Phillips Butch because he has,
- 8:13Speaker 1: you know, tweeted some cryptic things indicating he's not happy
- 8:17Speaker 1: about all of these additions they've made to the secondary.
- 8:20Speaker 1: And in a sense I get it. Is Pro Football
- 8:23Speaker 1: Focus rating last year was actually better than Will Jackson's.
- 8:27Speaker 1: He was twenty second of the guys that had enough snaps.
- 8:30Speaker 1: Will Jackson was twenty sixth. But like you said, these
- 8:35Speaker 1: guys are going to play. Darius Phillips, assuming he's healthy,
- 8:38Speaker 1: is going to get a ton of snaps. Cornerbacks are
- 8:42Speaker 1: little guys tackling big guys and guys that are sprinting
- 8:46Speaker 1: up and down the field every play, so they always
- 8:49Speaker 1: get hurt. It's impossible for a corner to be out
- 8:52Speaker 1: there one hundred percent of the time. You need depth,
- 8:56Speaker 1: and they have definitely upgraded their depth. Well, I think
- 9:00Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know, Will Jackson and Darius Phillips in
- 9:04Speaker 1: a comparison there, and I think the biggest thing with
- 9:07Speaker 1: both of those guys is inconsistency. You know, they both
- 9:10Speaker 1: they both will have lapses, you know, and Will's making
- 9:13Speaker 1: a fortune now and Darius Phillips is a lot more manageable.
- 9:17Speaker 1: And but you mentioned special teams, you know, and Darius
- 9:20Speaker 1: Phillips obviously has a big role there. But that's where
- 9:23Speaker 1: I think the Bengals got hit the most in this
- 9:27Speaker 1: free agency period is special teams. You know, they're able
- 9:30Speaker 1: to resign Clark, Harris, Kevin Huber, but glex Ericson goes
- 9:35Speaker 1: to Houston, Sethan Carter goes to Miami. A couple of
- 9:38Speaker 1: guys that big time for Darren Simmons. What's the common
- 9:40Speaker 1: denominator there? The new England Patriot factor, head coach of
- 9:44Speaker 1: the Dolphins, Patriot general manager of Houston, now Patriot organization.
- 9:49Speaker 1: You know, the way they do their special teams under
- 9:52Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, there's a lot of similarity. There's a common denominator.
- 9:56Speaker 1: The special team's coach was the mentor at one time
- 10:00Speaker 1: for Darren Simmons, or they run the same type of system,
- 10:02Speaker 1: all that sort of thing. That's where I think they
- 10:05Speaker 1: get hurt a little bit. You know, Randy Bullock moves on.
- 10:07Speaker 1: Obviously he had his problems in the clutch, but you know,
- 10:11Speaker 1: he wasn't he wasn't terrible, but but boy, the kicks
- 10:15Speaker 1: that he missed were big. I mean, you just can't
- 10:19Speaker 1: you can't have it. I thought he was a real
- 10:20Speaker 1: pro the way he handled it after the fact that
- 10:22Speaker 1: some of those kicks you just can't miss. But so
- 10:25Speaker 1: I'm wondering, I'm wondering how many of these guys that
- 10:28Speaker 1: they signed will be able to step up and take
- 10:30Speaker 1: some of these roles and special teams or guys that
- 10:33Speaker 1: they've got on the foot on the football team currently
- 10:36Speaker 1: will fill some of these roles that you know, Sethan Carter,
- 10:39Speaker 1: Alex Erickson, guys like that field. And again, there's still
- 10:43Speaker 1: the draft, there's still free agency after June first and
- 10:45Speaker 1: all that. But I thought that the team, the teams
- 10:49Speaker 1: around the league, particularly with the new England Patriot connection,
- 10:52Speaker 1: really really respect what Darren Simmons does and went and
- 10:56Speaker 1: got some of his players because they're gonna fit be
- 10:58Speaker 1: able to fit their scheme very usually. I think the draft,
- 11:02Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they got to be combing that
- 11:04Speaker 1: for a returner because there's nobody behind Phillips apparently general
- 11:08Speaker 1: we know Phillips's history is uh, he'll put the ball
- 11:10Speaker 1: on the ground. And plus you know you mentioned a
- 11:13Speaker 1: two horty if Phillips is healthy. That's a big thing.
- 11:17Speaker 1: I mean, I think you know, these guys like Darius,
- 11:18Speaker 1: but I mean it's you know, he's been, uh you
- 11:21Speaker 1: gotta go ease you on him during the week. He's
- 11:22Speaker 1: got the neat thing, and uh so you kind of
- 11:25Speaker 1: got to manage him a little bit physically, you know,
- 11:27Speaker 1: and that's why you had to go get like an
- 11:29Speaker 1: apple or somebody. You know. Believe me, if they had
- 11:32Speaker 1: thought Sean Sinons was going to start ten games when
- 11:34Speaker 1: they signed him, they probably would have would have been
- 11:36Speaker 1: guys leaping off the towers here at the stadium. But
- 11:39Speaker 1: that's you know, that's how that's how low they got.
- 11:42Speaker 1: Quickly after, after Wayne's got hurt, Phillips was whipping around.
- 11:46Speaker 1: Will Jackson had had a concussion. I mean, you know,
- 11:50Speaker 1: you know some guys had COVID, so you know, suddenly
- 11:53Speaker 1: Jalen Davis was playing his first snaps of his life.
- 11:57Speaker 1: You know, so you know, they really had to go back.
- 11:59Speaker 1: They had to, they had to beat that up. And
- 12:01Speaker 1: so you know the apple the apple thing with Phillips
- 12:05Speaker 1: is uh I think that and then he get Tony
- 12:07Speaker 1: Brown is maybe the sixth guy, which is probably about
- 12:10Speaker 1: you know, they probably feel pretty comfortable going in with that.
- 12:13Speaker 1: I think that Brandon Wilson signing is huge for the
- 12:16Speaker 1: reasons we're talking about too. You know, you can't afford
- 12:18Speaker 1: to lose Brandon Wilson, you know, one of the great
- 12:21Speaker 1: returners in the league. Uh, you know, and he was
- 12:23Speaker 1: out there all of Darren Simmons's pieces, you know, his
- 12:27Speaker 1: battery of Snapper Holder, you know Hunter, all those guys
- 12:34Speaker 1: were out there as well as his return guys, and
- 12:37Speaker 1: he lost some of them, He lost some of his
- 12:39Speaker 1: key pieces. But keeping Brandon Wilson was a big deal.
- 12:42Speaker 1: I think. Yeah, the thing with Darren, this is how
- 12:44Speaker 1: good Darren is he. You know, they avoided him losing
- 12:46Speaker 1: his second best player for the second year in a
- 12:48Speaker 1: row because Spederal and went to Miami last year. They lose,
- 12:52Speaker 1: They lose Spederal and he comes back and they finished
- 12:54Speaker 1: ninth according to the Football Outsiders. They finished finished ninth
- 12:57Speaker 1: in the special teams ranking. Atley lost his best player.
- 13:00Speaker 1: And that's why Darren is so good. He can I
- 13:03Speaker 1: had a feeling if we were the you know, if
- 13:06Speaker 1: we were the Gunners, He's still he still finished the
- 13:08Speaker 1: middle of the pack. Ain't much hit him. Pulling those
- 13:11Speaker 1: guns if we're gunners, but you know, you look at it,
- 13:14Speaker 1: Federalum and Stephen Carter back to back years, go to
- 13:18Speaker 1: Miami Special team stall Wars. Go to the head coach
- 13:22Speaker 1: who's new England background tells you all you need to
- 13:24Speaker 1: know about what he thinks of Darren Simmons as a
- 13:27Speaker 1: special team's coach. If we're the gunners, Huber better punted
- 13:31Speaker 1: out of bounds every single time. All right, let's move
- 13:34Speaker 1: on and look at this free agent group as a whole.
- 13:37Speaker 1: Of the seven guys that they've signed so far, Trey Hendrickson,
- 13:41Speaker 1: chit obey A Woge, Mike Hilton, Larry, Ogan, job Riley
- 13:45Speaker 1: reef Eli Apple, Ricardo Allen. Which of those guys, as
- 13:50Speaker 1: you're a favorite signing thus far, I go, it's a
- 13:53Speaker 1: tight contest between Larry. Oh, I'm not going to take
- 13:56Speaker 1: a shot of that name, Ogan, Joe not that tough
- 14:00Speaker 1: Ojan Joby because he just because but I know how
- 14:04Speaker 1: to spell it because I wrote it so many times
- 14:06Speaker 1: when he played, because he gave so many plays. But
- 14:10Speaker 1: and Hilton, I think Hilton is a really nice, uh
- 14:13Speaker 1: really nice add to the to the mix, just as
- 14:15Speaker 1: a just from his mentality. You know, I like Mike
- 14:20Speaker 1: Tomlin players. I've kind of gone up and I've had
- 14:22Speaker 1: a love hate relationship with Tomlin watching him coach. I
- 14:26Speaker 1: really think the last couple of years he's really uh
- 14:28Speaker 1: he's a help of coach, you know. So you're coming
- 14:30Speaker 1: out of that program, I think I think that will
- 14:33Speaker 1: help him putting a guy like Hilton in there. So
- 14:35Speaker 1: I Clario with a slight edge over Hilton, you know.
- 14:40Speaker 1: I like the combination. I think that they were able
- 14:43Speaker 1: to handle. They're they're in the running for Galaday big time.
- 14:46Speaker 1: You know, a lot of these free agents are signing
- 14:49Speaker 1: one year deals and it has to be a good
- 14:51Speaker 1: one year deal for both parties. So the only way
- 14:54Speaker 1: it's a good one year deal for the team that's
- 14:56Speaker 1: signing is they're gonna they can't do anything with a
- 14:59Speaker 1: salary cap or you can't pro rate it or anything else,
- 15:02Speaker 1: so you and try to incentivize it. And the Bengals
- 15:06Speaker 1: are right and the run with the guy Gallady Galla,
- 15:08Speaker 1: they wanted to sign with the Bengals my understanding, and
- 15:10Speaker 1: the Giants made a longer term commitment to them, but
- 15:13Speaker 1: with the money that they didn't give Galladay, they got
- 15:15Speaker 1: Ogan Joe be In Reef. I'll take that. I'll take that.
- 15:19Speaker 1: In my mind, the offensive defensive line needed to be addressed,
- 15:23Speaker 1: and by not going giving that money to Galladay, they
- 15:26Speaker 1: read big. Two words that the Bengals I think did
- 15:29Speaker 1: so well in free agency two p words patience and pivot.
- 15:34Speaker 1: They were like low post players. They were pivoting so much,
- 15:37Speaker 1: and they showed tremendous amount of patients, you know, to
- 15:39Speaker 1: boot and they didn't get, you know, all the smarts
- 15:42Speaker 1: when oh man, this didn't work out, what are we
- 15:44Speaker 1: gonna what are we gonna do? I mean here in
- 15:47Speaker 1: the U in the timeframe of March madness, they were
- 15:50Speaker 1: like a low post player. They were pivoting so much,
- 15:52Speaker 1: you know, And so they moved and they and they
- 15:55Speaker 1: signed Ogan Job and they signed Reef and you know,
- 15:57Speaker 1: needed to have somebody at that tackle position. I would
- 16:00Speaker 1: have loved to them have signed Zeidler. I know they
- 16:03Speaker 1: were in the hunt, but Baltimore offered more than they
- 16:06Speaker 1: were they were, you know, going to offer, and uh,
- 16:09Speaker 1: you know, I think I think Zieler probably would have
- 16:11Speaker 1: been okay coming back here, but Baltimore is a great
- 16:14Speaker 1: fifth for him. And that's the that's the signing. In
- 16:16Speaker 1: my mind, that cut away. But you know, if you
- 16:18Speaker 1: get Reef addressed the tackle position, he could always kick
- 16:22Speaker 1: in the guard. Ziler ain't going to kick out the tackle.
- 16:25Speaker 1: Zider is not going to give you the position versatility
- 16:27Speaker 1: that Reef gives you. So you know the fact that uh,
- 16:30Speaker 1: I like that, you know, addressing defensive lineman Ogan Joebian Reef,
- 16:36Speaker 1: but you know Hendrickson as well, I mean edge rusher.
- 16:40Speaker 1: My my thing was Paul Brown always built a team
- 16:43Speaker 1: from the inside out. As creative a thinker as he was,
- 16:47Speaker 1: and with all of his offensive formations and schemes and
- 16:50Speaker 1: everything he knew, it started at the line of scrimmage.
- 16:53Speaker 1: He his first pick ever with the Cincinnati Bengals, Bob
- 16:56Speaker 1: Johnson center, right in the middle of the offensive line.
- 16:58Speaker 1: Built from the inside out. That was his whole mindset.
- 17:01Speaker 1: So I have no problem with them addressed in lineman,
- 17:05Speaker 1: you know, defensive an offensive lineman. They finally got that
- 17:08Speaker 1: offensive lineman that took someone the pressure off in Riley Reef. Butch,
- 17:12Speaker 1: I'm going to agree with your pick. From my favorite
- 17:15Speaker 1: free agent signing thus far, it's Mike Hilton's my guy.
- 17:18Speaker 1: For a couple of reasons one, and I like the
- 17:20Speaker 1: fact that they got him for four years at a
- 17:22Speaker 1: pretty reasonable price. It's going to get six million dollars
- 17:25Speaker 1: a year, which is the most of any of the
- 17:27Speaker 1: slot corner free agents this year, so it's not like
- 17:30Speaker 1: he was super cheap. But still it's six million a year,
- 17:33Speaker 1: it's not ten plus. I think slot corner is a
- 17:36Speaker 1: hugely important position that you know, maybe is underrated in
- 17:42Speaker 1: terms of its importance. Those guys are on the field
- 17:44Speaker 1: now probably seventy five percent of the time, and I
- 17:47Speaker 1: think he is one of the very best in the NFL.
- 17:51Speaker 1: He's a playmaker. What does this defense lacked in recent
- 17:54Speaker 1: year as a playmaker. Somebody that can come up with
- 17:57Speaker 1: an interception. He's got seven. Somebody that can say at
- 18:00Speaker 1: the quarterback from time to time. He's got nine and
- 18:02Speaker 1: a half. Somebody that can force fumbles. He's got a
- 18:04Speaker 1: few of those. I just really think that he adds
- 18:08Speaker 1: that element to this defense with the added bonus of
- 18:11Speaker 1: your stealing him from a division rival, which was also
- 18:14Speaker 1: the case with Ogan Job and I love anytime you
- 18:17Speaker 1: can do that. I think that's a good thing. Now,
- 18:19Speaker 1: that's a good call. I mean pressure, pressure, pressure, They
- 18:22Speaker 1: just haven't had it. I think the last three years
- 18:24Speaker 1: they've been the lowest in the leave in sacks. And
- 18:26Speaker 1: you get a guy in ojan Obie who's a hag
- 18:29Speaker 1: killed that again, sorry, but in Larry, you got a
- 18:31Speaker 1: guy in Larry. You got a guy when he was
- 18:34Speaker 1: playing kind of a free technique in Cleveland, and laugh
- 18:37Speaker 1: can speak it is probably better than I can. But
- 18:39Speaker 1: I think in eighteen and nineteen he was he was
- 18:42Speaker 1: playing nose, but he told me that he was kind
- 18:44Speaker 1: of he had a little bit more. It wasn't a
- 18:46Speaker 1: true nose. They played him at a two nose in
- 18:49Speaker 1: twenty and he didn't didn't play on third down. So
- 18:52Speaker 1: now he's going to be a pure he's gonna be
- 18:54Speaker 1: at his actual position, a pure three technique, you know.
- 18:57Speaker 1: And if you can get six, you know, if he
- 18:58Speaker 1: could get six seven sacks out of a guy like that,
- 19:01Speaker 1: that's uh, you know, that's uh, that's huge. And I
- 19:04Speaker 1: and I, uh, it's interesting. Lat brought up Henderson and
- 19:07Speaker 1: you know this is why you know, Pro Football Focus
- 19:11Speaker 1: is great, love Pro Football Focus, but clearly the Bengals
- 19:15Speaker 1: scouts have got it completely different than PFF. They've got
- 19:19Speaker 1: you know, Henderson Mark really below Karl Lawson and why
- 19:23Speaker 1: they have high regards the Lawson. I think they feel
- 19:25Speaker 1: like and Lap mentioned this on the previous on the
- 19:28Speaker 1: podcast last week, I think Bablieve Henderson is a better
- 19:31Speaker 1: all around player. He's bigger, and he's bigger against the run.
- 19:34Speaker 1: But it's amazing how you have these two things. You know,
- 19:36Speaker 1: our Pro Football Focus just kills the deal. But that's
- 19:39Speaker 1: the guy to Bengals really when you match it up,
- 19:41Speaker 1: they would you know, Lawson grated so much better in PFF,
- 19:44Speaker 1: but I think the Bengals feel like they get the
- 19:46Speaker 1: better all around player from the football instinct standpoint. You know,
- 19:50Speaker 1: Carl Lawson is a great athlete, but from football instincts,
- 19:53Speaker 1: just okay, that guy's a ball player. That guy sees things,
- 19:57Speaker 1: that guy's there even before it happened, and you know
- 20:00Speaker 1: kind of thing. He's just a football player. I think
- 20:03Speaker 1: Henderson's more of a quote football player in terms of seeing,
- 20:08Speaker 1: seeing the game, understanding the game and and all that
- 20:10Speaker 1: sort of thing. Lawson has some great physical tools, There's
- 20:14Speaker 1: no question about it. He's you know, he's this explosive,
- 20:17Speaker 1: uh you know, his first step quickness, his studdenness, all
- 20:20Speaker 1: that stuff. But I think they are getting a more
- 20:23Speaker 1: complete football player, and I do agree with you guys.
- 20:27Speaker 1: Ogan Joby was like the ast knows, you know, they
- 20:30Speaker 1: put him in a gap and they let him penetrate
- 20:32Speaker 1: some and to me, hilt in the same way when
- 20:36Speaker 1: you can invert the line of scrimmage. As a former alignman,
- 20:39Speaker 1: guys that used to like worry me to death were
- 20:42Speaker 1: guys that would you know, line up in gaps or
- 20:45Speaker 1: be able to jump across your face with quickness and
- 20:47Speaker 1: get penetration because now all of a sudden you can't
- 20:50Speaker 1: attack with as much you know, uh, force and authority,
- 20:56Speaker 1: because man, you're warning, where's this guy going? What's he doing?
- 21:00Speaker 1: Those guys, those quick guys, they're tough to deal with,
- 21:02Speaker 1: and they can invert the line of scrimmage on you
- 21:04Speaker 1: the wrong way. So, Ogan Joby, you know, when you
- 21:07Speaker 1: have a guy from a slot corner who can invert
- 21:10Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage on you, you know, on running backs,
- 21:13Speaker 1: on you know, matchups that favored him potentially as a
- 21:16Speaker 1: pass rusher, and he's inverting the line of scrimmage and
- 21:19Speaker 1: pressure in the quarterback. Not only is Sacks has tackle philosop,
- 21:22Speaker 1: he's got a number of those, you know, in the
- 21:24Speaker 1: running game. I mean he's he's made He's made a
- 21:26Speaker 1: lot of negative plays, which are positive plays for the defense,
- 21:30Speaker 1: negative plays to the offense. He's been responsible for a
- 21:33Speaker 1: lot of those. And if they can get players that
- 21:37Speaker 1: fit that attack mode, you know, and attack more. In
- 21:41Speaker 1: my mind, football is punch, counter punch. Who's punching, who's
- 21:45Speaker 1: doing the counter punching, you know, And I think defensively
- 21:48Speaker 1: we've had we've had the CounterPunch too much. Maybe we
- 21:50Speaker 1: can start punching a little bit more. And it's like
- 21:53Speaker 1: you said on Hendrickson, and I've used this barge a
- 21:55Speaker 1: quote and I have credited you thirteen and a half sacks.
- 21:58Speaker 1: It's thirteen and a half secs. He got him, Yeah,
- 22:01Speaker 1: no matter. I mean he was surrounded by great people,
- 22:03Speaker 1: and he was playing with the lead with Drew Brees
- 22:05Speaker 1: a quarterback. I mean there are a lot of factors there.
- 22:08Speaker 1: I'm in a situation, you know, all he has to
- 22:11Speaker 1: do any enough to worry about defending the run. Just
- 22:13Speaker 1: rushed the passer in a lot of these down and
- 22:15Speaker 1: distance situations. But the fact is he still generated thirteen
- 22:19Speaker 1: and a half sacks. He still was the guy that
- 22:21Speaker 1: got it done. All right? Next question, and Lap, you
- 22:24Speaker 1: may have already answered this one with your mention of
- 22:27Speaker 1: Kevin Zeitler, But is there a deal that another team
- 22:30Speaker 1: gave a free agent that you wish that Bengals had done?
- 22:34Speaker 1: What you go first? On this one. I was kind
- 22:37Speaker 1: of with Lap about Zeitler, but we made after the draft.
- 22:39Speaker 1: We may forget about that Zeitler depending on where the
- 22:42Speaker 1: offensive line settles. But yeah, that was one. But I
- 22:46Speaker 1: also when they when the Raiders signed John But why
- 22:50Speaker 1: did receive John Brown for three point seven five? No
- 22:53Speaker 1: for a year? You know, guy that can stretch the
- 22:57Speaker 1: field probably exactly what with Ross gone on an AJN,
- 23:00Speaker 1: probably exactly what they needed. Would have liked to have
- 23:03Speaker 1: seen that, but who knows. There's some other guys out
- 23:05Speaker 1: there too that I think they're looking at. But you know,
- 23:08Speaker 1: that would have been would have been nice. Yeah, I'm
- 23:11Speaker 1: going to stay with the Zeiler deal because I agree
- 23:15Speaker 1: even if I signed Zeidler, I still would address Garden
- 23:18Speaker 1: tackling the draft. I hope they still do still a
- 23:21Speaker 1: draft address addressed tackling Garden the draft. But I think
- 23:24Speaker 1: Zeiler would have come back here. I think you would
- 23:26Speaker 1: have done a good job here And to your point earlier, Dan,
- 23:29Speaker 1: he went to a division rival. So you know, the
- 23:31Speaker 1: last place you'd like to see a guy that maybe
- 23:33Speaker 1: you thought could help you go is to go help
- 23:35Speaker 1: somebody that's you know, a playoff team in your division.
- 23:38Speaker 1: And he fits Baltimore scheme perfectly because in my mind,
- 23:43Speaker 1: he's a better run blocker than a pass protector. He's
- 23:46Speaker 1: not terrible in pass protection. He only gave up you know,
- 23:49Speaker 1: two sacks last year. You know, he six hundred and
- 23:52Speaker 1: thirty snaps, gave up two sacks twenty eight pressures. That's
- 23:55Speaker 1: pretty damn good. But with that gap running game and
- 23:58Speaker 1: with Lamar Jackson, you know, run the ball as well
- 24:02Speaker 1: as the running backs. They have that big old brute
- 24:05Speaker 1: man with the gap and pulling. He's a good puller.
- 24:08Speaker 1: He fits their scheme perfectly. So when he ended up
- 24:11Speaker 1: going to Baltimore's, like god damn, not only didn't we
- 24:14Speaker 1: get him, he went somewhere that is a perfect marriage
- 24:17Speaker 1: for both parties. You know, but the Ravens paid him more,
- 24:20Speaker 1: you know, I mean money talks, no matter why what
- 24:22Speaker 1: the situation. Do we know for a fact that the
- 24:24Speaker 1: Bengals weren't close on that dollar figure. I mean, where
- 24:28Speaker 1: the Bengals willing to pay roughly as much seven million
- 24:30Speaker 1: a year, and and Kevin Zeitler said, you know what,
- 24:33Speaker 1: this is the offense and the team I want to
- 24:35Speaker 1: play with. I don't know the answer to that question.
- 24:39Speaker 1: I heard. I heard that the Ravens definitely offered more money.
- 24:42Speaker 1: I don't think it was crazy more, but it was
- 24:45Speaker 1: more money. So you say more money plus like you said,
- 24:48Speaker 1: and we mentioned earlier, there's scheme the teams in the playoffs.
- 24:54Speaker 1: I mean, you know, why why would you not go
- 24:56Speaker 1: there if they offer If they offer you, I don't
- 25:00Speaker 1: I don't care how much more. If it's if it's
- 25:01Speaker 1: a little a little bit more money and what they
- 25:04Speaker 1: have on the table. I could see where he'd make
- 25:06Speaker 1: that decision. I was gonna ask Lapis and I was
- 25:09Speaker 1: gonna ask lapp a question when it came when when
- 25:11Speaker 1: it comes to pass protection, where would you put Zeitler
- 25:14Speaker 1: compared to Spain quintin Spain with the with the Bengals,
- 25:17Speaker 1: have you reportedly resigned Spain is a much bigger body guy,
- 25:22Speaker 1: you know, much thicker, bigger, let's get good feet. I
- 25:25Speaker 1: think that gives him, you know, a little bit of
- 25:27Speaker 1: an edge in protection. Um, I don't. I don't see
- 25:31Speaker 1: Zeiler having an advantage. I see Zier having an advantage,
- 25:35Speaker 1: you know, in movement went as a point guard and
- 25:38Speaker 1: that sort of thing, and and and angle blocking and
- 25:41Speaker 1: you know things that That's why I say, man, uh,
- 25:45Speaker 1: he's basically on the lineup. They struggled to replace Marshall
- 25:48Speaker 1: Yonda at right guard. When Yonda retired. They think, now
- 25:52Speaker 1: they've got a guy. They're not saying I'm not saying
- 25:54Speaker 1: I don't think they're saying that it's going to be
- 25:57Speaker 1: a future Hall of Famer like Marshall Yonda, but he's
- 25:59Speaker 1: a damn good player. Kevin zeit was a solid player well.
- 26:06Speaker 1: With Roddie Stanley back and Kevin Zeitler added and Orlando
- 26:10Speaker 1: Brown moving back to the right side, that is a
- 26:13Speaker 1: mighty offensive line again, so look out for the Ravens. So,
- 26:16Speaker 1: speaking of the Bengals offensive line, They've signed Riley Reef,
- 26:20Speaker 1: they are bringing back Clinton Spain. Are they done spending
- 26:24Speaker 1: on the offensive line or is there still maybe a
- 26:27Speaker 1: guard out there that they would try to get on
- 26:29Speaker 1: a cheapo one year deal? Lap What do you think
- 26:33Speaker 1: I'm not sure that if there's anybody that they'd they
- 26:37Speaker 1: probably purchased at this point in time, I think they're
- 26:41Speaker 1: almost they're probably they probably almost exhausted their cap. You know,
- 26:45Speaker 1: to be able to go out and give a veteran
- 26:46Speaker 1: player of any substance would probably require more than they've got.
- 26:51Speaker 1: You know. That's why people are, oh, man, this Giovanni
- 26:54Speaker 1: Bernard potential trade rumor boll that's a four million dollar
- 26:57Speaker 1: cap saving that would add more money to the kitty
- 26:59Speaker 1: to continue some of their free agency signings and their
- 27:03Speaker 1: roster purge. I mean, you look at it right now,
- 27:06Speaker 1: going into the draft, before the draft, and then June one,
- 27:09Speaker 1: there's gonna be a bunch of other players cut. There's
- 27:11Speaker 1: still gonna be a bunch of cuts that are gonna happen.
- 27:14Speaker 1: You watch these one year deals, They're gonna be happening
- 27:16Speaker 1: left and right. Maybe then they can maybe go out
- 27:19Speaker 1: and get a guy for one year, you know, a
- 27:21Speaker 1: one year proven deal. So many guys are saying, terrible
- 27:25Speaker 1: year to be a free agent. I'll just do a
- 27:26Speaker 1: one year and bet on meat deal. They've only got
- 27:29Speaker 1: five starters the last game of the season on the
- 27:33Speaker 1: depth chart for January fourth to twenty twenty one, there
- 27:36Speaker 1: are five starters left, six new players, and defensively there
- 27:40Speaker 1: are four starters left, seven new players. And that's before
- 27:43Speaker 1: the draft and then maybe other potential free agency after
- 27:46Speaker 1: the June first, uh, you know date when other other cuts.
- 27:51Speaker 1: A lot of blood is gonna flow on that, on
- 27:53Speaker 1: that data around in the league as well. It's not
- 27:55Speaker 1: it's not an impossibility, but I think it's it's probably
- 27:59Speaker 1: a little probable. Trade turner, Larry Warford, Collecchi, Assembly, any
- 28:05Speaker 1: anybody interest you butch all those guys, But I don't
- 28:09Speaker 1: know are they you know, they've all they've all had
- 28:11Speaker 1: pretty good careers. I'm not sure where they are where
- 28:14Speaker 1: they are now. And I think Lap touched on this
- 28:16Speaker 1: last week too, is they looked at these people that
- 28:19Speaker 1: were out there and maybe for two and a half
- 28:21Speaker 1: guys maybe, but for two and a half guys, one
- 28:24Speaker 1: of them being funny, they thought the people on the
- 28:27Speaker 1: market were, you know, were significantly better than what they've
- 28:31Speaker 1: got a guard. You know, I'm just not sure that
- 28:34Speaker 1: they feel like there's a huge now. I I you know,
- 28:37Speaker 1: when things, you know, I think things change. When I
- 28:40Speaker 1: think they have their eyes on guys who are still
- 28:42Speaker 1: under contract, but who they are expected to get whacked
- 28:45Speaker 1: that not only a guard but also at wide receiver.
- 28:48Speaker 1: I don't think they've signed their last guy, and I
- 28:50Speaker 1: think they'll probably sign the receiver. And I agree, I
- 28:53Speaker 1: think I think that they're the guys you mentioned Dan.
- 28:55Speaker 1: Obviously they're all attractive, but man, they're wanting. They're wanting
- 28:59Speaker 1: more money than the banks are able to offer right now.
- 29:02Speaker 1: As free agency extends goes on, prices are going to
- 29:05Speaker 1: come down. You know who's going to come down the
- 29:07Speaker 1: furthest who's going to come down the most. So, you know,
- 29:11Speaker 1: I think they're still going to grind. I don't think
- 29:13Speaker 1: they're packing up shop, but I don't I don't think
- 29:16Speaker 1: they find they see a fit yet at this point
- 29:18Speaker 1: in time where they would they would pull the trigger
- 29:21Speaker 1: and they might, you know, say let's see what we
- 29:23Speaker 1: get in the draft, Let's see what happens. And you
- 29:26Speaker 1: know that that now you're go into the draft with
- 29:29Speaker 1: a much different look and idea than before free agency
- 29:32Speaker 1: with all these signings that you've had, you know, with
- 29:34Speaker 1: your defensive depth and some starters, and you know you've
- 29:37Speaker 1: address one position offensively, your right tackle position potential, but
- 29:42Speaker 1: depending on what you get in the draft, you might
- 29:44Speaker 1: be able to kick him inside the guard Riley Reef.
- 29:46Speaker 1: Who knows. So you go into each phase that with
- 29:49Speaker 1: a different mindset after you've done operating in the particular
- 29:52Speaker 1: phase that you're in. Ryan Kerrigan visited on Thursday without
- 29:57Speaker 1: a deal getting done. Then Tom Pallisero reported that the
- 30:02Speaker 1: Bengals were fielding calls on Giovanni Bernard possibility of trading him,
- 30:06Speaker 1: as Lamp mentioned a free up more than four million
- 30:09Speaker 1: against the cap. Where those two things related, butch the
- 30:13Speaker 1: fact that they weren't able to get something done with
- 30:15Speaker 1: Ryan Carrigan and maybe the need to create some more space. No,
- 30:20Speaker 1: I think they're I think that's uh, I think that's isolated.
- 30:23Speaker 1: I think they're a good thirty million. I think they've
- 30:26Speaker 1: spent a good thirty million on the cap for this
- 30:29Speaker 1: year with those five six seven new players. So they
- 30:33Speaker 1: maybe they're trying to, uh, you know, I think they're
- 30:35Speaker 1: trying to get some breathing room just for those you
- 30:38Speaker 1: know and plus two, uh you know, you don't know.
- 30:43Speaker 1: They may end up their rookie pool might get a
- 30:45Speaker 1: little bit bigger if they do actually say they do
- 30:48Speaker 1: end up trading that fifth pick, you know, you end
- 30:50Speaker 1: up with two. You know, you end up with another
- 30:54Speaker 1: high second round pick. Who knows. So you know they've
- 30:56Speaker 1: done They've done a lot of good They've done a
- 30:58Speaker 1: lot of good work, and they've put up a number
- 31:01Speaker 1: that I'm not sure they thought they were going to
- 31:04Speaker 1: hit because I think they, you know, like Lap said,
- 31:07Speaker 1: they did a hell of a job. I think pivoting
- 31:09Speaker 1: early on when they saw that the prices were not
- 31:12Speaker 1: going to be reduced because of the reduced cap, they
- 31:15Speaker 1: were still there were still a pre pandemic numbers, and
- 31:18Speaker 1: so you know, that's that's uh, you know, there's I
- 31:23Speaker 1: think they're looking to find ways to do some different
- 31:26Speaker 1: things and still trying to even probably fit the guys
- 31:30Speaker 1: they already got. Lap one about the Ryan Carrigan possibility,
- 31:34Speaker 1: thirty two years old, four time pro bowler, the Redskins
- 31:37Speaker 1: all time leader in sacks, obviously, and being nice to
- 31:41Speaker 1: have somebody else that has a track record for getting
- 31:44Speaker 1: after the quarterback. But how much gas is left in
- 31:46Speaker 1: that tank? That's the question. Gas in the tank, tread
- 31:50Speaker 1: on the tire, you know, taking a lot of hits,
- 31:54Speaker 1: a lot of wear and tear on the body. You know,
- 31:58Speaker 1: I'm assuming on these visits guys take physicals. That's the
- 32:01Speaker 1: thing with these draft prospects. You're gonna be able to
- 32:03Speaker 1: have you doctors put their hands on the particularly guys
- 32:06Speaker 1: that had incurred an injury. Some of these veteran free agents,
- 32:09Speaker 1: you know, deals might be contingent on how they are physical.
- 32:13Speaker 1: I mean, the longer a guy plays, the more potential
- 32:17Speaker 1: injuries over the years start to mount up and become
- 32:20Speaker 1: issues with guys and affect their level of play. I
- 32:23Speaker 1: think too, that it might be just a situation where
- 32:26Speaker 1: he might still be looking for more money than they're
- 32:29Speaker 1: willing to offer, but they wanted to bring him in,
- 32:31Speaker 1: talk to him, check him out, see what he's about,
- 32:35Speaker 1: just because it hasn't happened yet, hasn't happened anywhere else
- 32:39Speaker 1: yet either. He still may be out there. So I think,
- 32:42Speaker 1: you know, they've exhibited that other P word might be talked,
- 32:46Speaker 1: you know, pivoting. We've said a couple of times that patience,
- 32:49Speaker 1: and it's like patience, Daniel Son, you know, don't don't
- 32:53Speaker 1: get Wang chung. At this point in time, there's going
- 32:55Speaker 1: to be there's going to be other possibilities, and if
- 32:57Speaker 1: it's not this guy, it might be a guy in
- 33:00Speaker 1: the draft that might be revisited if they don't get
- 33:02Speaker 1: an edge rush guy, and there are some there's some
- 33:04Speaker 1: depth at edge rush, there's some depth in the offensive line,
- 33:07Speaker 1: and there's depth at receiver, and interestingly enough, there's still
- 33:11Speaker 1: a lot of receivers out there that aren't signed. Who
- 33:14Speaker 1: got the money. Trent Williams got a record amount at
- 33:17Speaker 1: left tackle, Tuney got almost record amounted guard build from
- 33:22Speaker 1: the inside out like the legendary Paul Brown said, the
- 33:25Speaker 1: team's only had one thing to worry about and could
- 33:27Speaker 1: spend a ton of cap dollars on it. That's all
- 33:29Speaker 1: San Francisco did. That's basically all Kansas City did. The
- 33:33Speaker 1: Bengals weren't in that position. The Bengals had multiple you know,
- 33:36Speaker 1: they'd rather have a bunch of spread the money out
- 33:39Speaker 1: over a bunch of people that might be able to
- 33:41Speaker 1: help the roster, rather than throwing it all on one
- 33:44Speaker 1: and you're all or nothing on a guy with Trent
- 33:47Speaker 1: Williams who's in his thirties, you know, Tuney, who's been
- 33:50Speaker 1: around a little bit. I mean that's that can be
- 33:52Speaker 1: sometimes a dangerous playing free agency. It can work out
- 33:55Speaker 1: as well, but the Bengals decided, you know, to basically
- 33:59Speaker 1: spread the money amongst multiple and I'm all for doubling down. Man,
- 34:05Speaker 1: You throw all your money in one pot and free agency, man,
- 34:09Speaker 1: you can you can crap out in the old blackjack
- 34:12Speaker 1: table quickly. Yeah. I think in this draft, I think
- 34:15Speaker 1: there's a shot they come out of the two edge
- 34:17Speaker 1: rushers yep, and you know, and a guard and attacker
- 34:22Speaker 1: and a wide receiver. They gotta go get a speed
- 34:24Speaker 1: receiver somewhere. Gotta go get one. Let's move on to
- 34:28Speaker 1: a couple of former Bengals who have signed elsewhere. Andy Dalton,
- 34:33Speaker 1: Chicago Bears, a J Green, Arizona Cardinals. How are they
- 34:38Speaker 1: going to do in their new destinations? Lap You can
- 34:41Speaker 1: give a battle lead off on this one. I feel
- 34:44Speaker 1: bad for Andy Dalton. No matter who the quarterback that
- 34:48Speaker 1: the Bears signed, he was going to get abused because
- 34:50Speaker 1: Russell Wilson is not a Chicago Bear. The whole city
- 34:54Speaker 1: was infatuated with Russell Wilson's coming to Chicago. They're all
- 34:58Speaker 1: all pumped up. And then and Andy Dalton's the guy
- 35:01Speaker 1: or whoever was going to be the guy is the guy. Um,
- 35:05Speaker 1: you know, I think I think Andy Dalton still can
- 35:09Speaker 1: do the things that he's done mentally over his career,
- 35:13Speaker 1: and that is be a problem solver. Identify defenses quickly,
- 35:19Speaker 1: know where to go at the football, how to get
- 35:21Speaker 1: it there. You know, Andy was as good as I've
- 35:25Speaker 1: seen coming into the league. Joe Burrows right in that
- 35:28Speaker 1: category as well. Joe Burrows probably you know, maybe doctor
- 35:32Speaker 1: at Andy Andy Daltons the grad school plus you know,
- 35:36Speaker 1: maybe master's plus thirty and just right below that doctor level.
- 35:40Speaker 1: I mean, so those kind of things coaches like Bill
- 35:45Speaker 1: Laser is up there. Bill Laser knows he can do
- 35:48Speaker 1: that kind of thing as a as a former lineman.
- 35:51Speaker 1: His lineman is gonna love how he gets the ball
- 35:53Speaker 1: out of his hand quickly. It's going to make their
- 35:55Speaker 1: protection life so much easier. I mean, he's gonna do
- 35:58Speaker 1: a lot of things that that the Chicago Bears I
- 36:02Speaker 1: think are gonna like the thing that he has to
- 36:05Speaker 1: make sure that he doesn't do. Though, don't turn it
- 36:08Speaker 1: over because the Bears have a great defense, So don't
- 36:11Speaker 1: put the offense. Make the opposite. Always bear in mind
- 36:15Speaker 1: the opposing offense. Make them go to the length the
- 36:17Speaker 1: field against that Bears defense don't give short fields. You
- 36:21Speaker 1: know that the Bears defense can't be as dominant as
- 36:24Speaker 1: they might be able to be when the offense is
- 36:27Speaker 1: in more of a predicament. So it's all about not
- 36:30Speaker 1: turning the football over and in Andy Dalton knows that.
- 36:34Speaker 1: I think as well as anybody and as far as
- 36:36Speaker 1: AJ Green is concerned, it's going to be very interesting. Um,
- 36:39Speaker 1: you know, will Larry Fitzgerald come back if he doesn't
- 36:42Speaker 1: AJ Green? Probably. It's like the third guy. AJ Green
- 36:46Speaker 1: last year was the third guy here in Cincinnati. So
- 36:49Speaker 1: as the third guy, you're facing you know, the third
- 36:52Speaker 1: corner and when you're playing man, if you playing zone,
- 36:55Speaker 1: it's a different ball game. But if you're matching up
- 36:57Speaker 1: in man coverage, you know, I was expected to a
- 37:00Speaker 1: light up those third corners. We talked about it during
- 37:03Speaker 1: the year. Then when you know, when aj season started
- 37:06Speaker 1: unfolded progress at this point in time, the way Talboyd
- 37:09Speaker 1: and T Higgins are planning AJ Green, he's getting their
- 37:12Speaker 1: third cover guy, the third best guy, and he wasn't
- 37:15Speaker 1: tearing that guy up. You know, it wasn't winning at
- 37:18Speaker 1: the level that that I thought that I might see um,
- 37:22Speaker 1: but you know, a new place, new lease on life.
- 37:26Speaker 1: A quarterback that is extremely talented, can create plays and
- 37:30Speaker 1: extend plays, can throw the football. It's going to be
- 37:33Speaker 1: interest interesting to see, you know. If Aj Green Um
- 37:37Speaker 1: just you know, gets a burst of energy. I think
- 37:40Speaker 1: I think that the the the biggest surprise to me
- 37:46Speaker 1: was AJ's body language through the whole thing. He almost
- 37:50Speaker 1: played like he was disinterested. You know, he had that
- 37:53Speaker 1: look of a disinterest body language wise, and when you
- 37:57Speaker 1: see his face in the sideline, you know, it just
- 38:00Speaker 1: it just didn't seem like it was working, like it
- 38:02Speaker 1: was a fit. And he talked about how, you know,
- 38:05Speaker 1: it was hard for him. They were asking him to
- 38:08Speaker 1: do different things and it wasn't coming easy to him.
- 38:11Speaker 1: He wasn't learning things, you know, as well as or
- 38:13Speaker 1: as quickly as he says he would have liked to.
- 38:15Speaker 1: So he has to learn a whole new offense, you know,
- 38:18Speaker 1: and that's not aj strong suit necessarily. So how long
- 38:22Speaker 1: will it take Aja to digest, comprehend and uh and
- 38:26Speaker 1: be able to go out there and uh and perform
- 38:29Speaker 1: you know, if they if they decided he was he was.
- 38:32Speaker 1: He didn't like the fact that he was just like
- 38:33Speaker 1: put in one spot. Well, in order to learn a
- 38:36Speaker 1: new offense. They may start him out just playing in
- 38:38Speaker 1: one spot until he can master that, and then they'll
- 38:41Speaker 1: try to expand, you know, um, some of the other
- 38:44Speaker 1: parts of what he might be able to contribute. But
- 38:47Speaker 1: it's going to be interesting to see how the whole
- 38:48Speaker 1: thing unfolds. I haven't seen a guy get I mean,
- 38:52Speaker 1: you know, like I mean in Chicago. I haven't seen
- 38:54Speaker 1: a guy in Chicago get worse pressed maybe since uh
- 38:57Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln in the first debate against Steve Douglas. I
- 39:00Speaker 1: mean that was, Yeah, that was that was a tough welcome. Uh,
- 39:05Speaker 1: you know, but like Laps said, you know, he's going
- 39:08Speaker 1: to a good defense. Don't forget Andy Dalton when Mike
- 39:10Speaker 1: Zimo was a defensive coordinator. Uh, and Andy Dalton didn't
- 39:14Speaker 1: lose a lot of games, you know, I mean, he
- 39:15Speaker 1: wanted enough games to go to five playoffs and uh,
- 39:18Speaker 1: you know, Andy get ripped so badly here. Yeah, there
- 39:22Speaker 1: was some you know, some call for it, but my god,
- 39:25Speaker 1: I mean people forget that. Going into the twenty nineteen season,
- 39:28Speaker 1: I think he had more fourth quarter comebacks in that
- 39:33Speaker 1: stretch you get into the league since uh, everybody but
- 39:36Speaker 1: one guy, and uh, you know he had more than
- 39:38Speaker 1: Tom Brady, So I mean, the guy can win games.
- 39:41Speaker 1: He put him with a good defense. You know, I
- 39:43Speaker 1: think it will uh you know, it's going to be
- 39:45Speaker 1: miserable for him probably, But I would I would think,
- 39:48Speaker 1: you know, I think he'll give it. I think he'll
- 39:49Speaker 1: give it a good go. Lat made a good point
- 39:52Speaker 1: about a J. I would think, you know, when I
- 39:55Speaker 1: had a chance to talk to him, he was excited
- 39:56Speaker 1: about them, about his fit in that scheme in Arizona.
- 40:00Speaker 1: He compared it to what basically kens Ampezi and Bill
- 40:05Speaker 1: Laser ran here. Uh but when when they were the
- 40:09Speaker 1: coordinators and you know it's it's uh, you know, people
- 40:13Speaker 1: forget this, but that that twenty eighteen season before AJ
- 40:17Speaker 1: got hurt, I mean he was on fire. I mean
- 40:18Speaker 1: he was. He was, you know, going to be uh
- 40:21Speaker 1: getting near his career high. You know, the three touchdowns
- 40:25Speaker 1: against Baltimore when they put him in the slot. I
- 40:28Speaker 1: think I think I think he lined up in the
- 40:29Speaker 1: slot on all three you know those touchdowns. He was
- 40:32Speaker 1: That's something that he mentioned was you know they lined
- 40:35Speaker 1: them bump into one spot here, they're lined them up
- 40:37Speaker 1: at the X in this last offense, and I think
- 40:40Speaker 1: he feels like Arizona is going to move him around
- 40:42Speaker 1: a little bit and that he'll probably run more, you know,
- 40:45Speaker 1: he won't run as many. And I think Lapp was right.
- 40:47Speaker 1: And AJ didn't mention this in his last news conference.
- 40:51Speaker 1: Was you know, it was a new you know, I'm
- 40:53Speaker 1: not sure he was into the routes that they wanted
- 40:56Speaker 1: him to run, so at least I think mentally he's
- 40:59Speaker 1: going into it feeling like it's a better it's a
- 41:01Speaker 1: better fit form, you know. And like lap mentioned um,
- 41:05Speaker 1: you know, you know, does he have any Jews left?
- 41:07Speaker 1: You know, I mean he did not go you know,
- 41:09Speaker 1: when they were looking at te Higgins and Tyler Boyd,
- 41:11Speaker 1: you figured he'd go off. It didn't happen. Didn't happen
- 41:16Speaker 1: because of the system that had happened, because you've got
- 41:19Speaker 1: nothing left. Did it happened? You know, why did it happen?
- 41:22Speaker 1: We're not gonna know, you know, we'll probably get a
- 41:24Speaker 1: better We'll probably get a better answer when we see
- 41:27Speaker 1: what happens, when we see what happens out there. I
- 41:29Speaker 1: wish the best form, I wish the best for both guys.
- 41:32Speaker 1: You know, without them, there is no Green Dalton era. Yeah,
- 41:37Speaker 1: they Andy Ajer, like you talked about push five straight
- 41:41Speaker 1: playoffs fifty and twenty five over seventy five games. They
- 41:44Speaker 1: won twice as many as they lost. I mean that
- 41:48Speaker 1: and they were the two, you know, big primary reasons
- 41:51Speaker 1: for it. I mean, that's what people forget about Andy Dalton.
- 41:53Speaker 1: The start of his career was about as good as anybody's.
- 41:56Speaker 1: I mean, you wouldn't twice as many games as you
- 41:59Speaker 1: lose in your first five years in the league and
- 42:02Speaker 1: have and start right away as a rookie quarterback. That's
- 42:05Speaker 1: that's a that's a hell of an accomplishment. Yeah, I
- 42:07Speaker 1: was right up until the play where he broke his
- 42:09Speaker 1: thumb fifty and twenty five until that game in twenty
- 42:12Speaker 1: fifteen when he broke his thumb. Right, He's going to
- 42:15Speaker 1: say when with you know, when you know Zach Taylor
- 42:17Speaker 1: coming in, tuck for Zach Taylor too, to fit him
- 42:20Speaker 1: into his to to build a scheme because Ajie gets
- 42:23Speaker 1: hurt like in his first practice, that Taylor is a
- 42:25Speaker 1: coach and so is he is he is he scheming
- 42:28Speaker 1: for aj Green of twenty fifteen. Aj Green of twenty twenty.
- 42:32Speaker 1: It's a hard It was a hard call for everybody,
- 42:35Speaker 1: and then you're throwing the pandemic where they couldn't have
- 42:37Speaker 1: worked together with a rookie quarterback. It was a perfect storm.
- 42:41Speaker 1: It just goes to show you, no matter how great
- 42:43Speaker 1: the player is, the mind has to be right. Mind
- 42:47Speaker 1: can't be cluttered, you know, I mean it, and yep,
- 42:49Speaker 1: your mindset has to be uh has to be really good.
- 42:52Speaker 1: And I'll tell you know, AJ that that guy is
- 42:55Speaker 1: solid gold. I mean as as a as a player,
- 42:58Speaker 1: as a human being, you know, one of the one
- 43:00Speaker 1: of the greats of all time. And obviously wish him
- 43:03Speaker 1: nothing but success than the m he don't like you mentioned,
- 43:05Speaker 1: but I'd like to know how last year would have
- 43:08Speaker 1: gone if the referee did what he should have done
- 43:11Speaker 1: and keep the flag in his pocket and play against
- 43:14Speaker 1: the Chargers in the opening game. Maybe that helps him,
- 43:18Speaker 1: Maybe it doesn't. Maybe I'm a homer. I don't keep
- 43:21Speaker 1: the flag in the pocket. You know, AJ got no
- 43:26Speaker 1: separation last year. I don't know why that was the case.
- 43:30Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because of age. I don't
- 43:31Speaker 1: know if it was because he missed the previous year
- 43:34Speaker 1: and a half due to injury. I don't know if
- 43:36Speaker 1: it was the comfort level in the offense, but your
- 43:39Speaker 1: eye told you that that he didn't get any separation.
- 43:42Speaker 1: The GPS data told you that that he didn't get
- 43:45Speaker 1: any separation. So to me, it seems like as he
- 43:50Speaker 1: gets older he'll be thirty three this season, that's probably
- 43:52Speaker 1: not going to get better. It's going to get worse.
- 43:55Speaker 1: I hope he proves me wrong, because I love AJ
- 43:58Speaker 1: and I would love to see him have a great
- 44:01Speaker 1: finish to his career in Arizona. But I do wonder
- 44:05Speaker 1: what the Cardinals are doing. I mean, do they think
- 44:09Speaker 1: that there is an over thirty league for football that
- 44:13Speaker 1: I'm not familiar with, because you know, JJ Watts one
- 44:16Speaker 1: of the great defensive players of all time, but he's
- 44:19Speaker 1: thirty one and has a building injury history. You know
- 44:22Speaker 1: Malcolm Butler, they just signed him, He's in his thirties.
- 44:25Speaker 1: AJ is going to be thirty three. They went out
- 44:27Speaker 1: and added a thirty seven year old kicker in Matt Crater.
- 44:31Speaker 1: So I think the overwhelming history in the NFL is
- 44:36Speaker 1: that if you go out and sign thirty year old
- 44:40Speaker 1: and older free agents, it doesn't work. And they're signing
- 44:44Speaker 1: one after the other. I guess what they're saying is
- 44:46Speaker 1: they're all in for this year, right because next year
- 44:50Speaker 1: probably not going to be. Any of these guys are
- 44:51Speaker 1: gonna be honest, If you end up signing guys and
- 44:54Speaker 1: rewarding them for careers they have with other teams, that's
- 44:56Speaker 1: dangerous policy there. You know, if you're signing the JJ
- 45:00Speaker 1: Watt based on what he was with the Texans and
- 45:02Speaker 1: what he was with the Texans five years ago, or
- 45:04Speaker 1: you're signing an Aj Green what he was with the Bengas,
- 45:06Speaker 1: what he was at the Bengas three years ago, that
- 45:09Speaker 1: can be a dangerous thing. The other I can tell
- 45:12Speaker 1: you for from experience, if you have any doubt in
- 45:17Speaker 1: your mind or aren't confident as an athlete, if you
- 45:20Speaker 1: line up to pass protect, like when I was pass
- 45:22Speaker 1: protecting or trying to against Joe Green and I thought, oh,
- 45:25Speaker 1: this isn't going to go. Well, you're done, You're beaten.
- 45:28Speaker 1: I mean, if AJ lined up, it's like, what am
- 45:31Speaker 1: I supposed to do on this? I'm not sure about this.
- 45:34Speaker 1: I don't really believe in this. You're not gonna You're
- 45:36Speaker 1: not gonna win, you know, So your mind has to
- 45:39Speaker 1: be totally free and clear. You can't have any doubt
- 45:43Speaker 1: about the scheme, the coaching, anything else, or you're in
- 45:46Speaker 1: trouble and and uh, you know, maybe that's when when
- 45:49Speaker 1: guys say I needed a new destination, I needed a
- 45:53Speaker 1: new location, a change of scenery. That's kind of what
- 45:56Speaker 1: they're talking about. For whatever reason, maybe it was both ways,
- 46:00Speaker 1: both parties off confidence and trust in each other or whatever.
- 46:03Speaker 1: Who knows what the situation is, and every one of
- 46:06Speaker 1: them is a little bit different. But change of scenery,
- 46:09Speaker 1: you know, in some instances might be just exactly that.
- 46:13Speaker 1: I'm gonna start fresh, start with a clean slate, an
- 46:17Speaker 1: open mind. My head is clear, and I believe, and
- 46:21Speaker 1: I'm gonna go out there and kick butt like I
- 46:23Speaker 1: used to. I mean, who knows, we'll see. DeAndre Hopkins
- 46:27Speaker 1: had one hundred and fifteen catches last year, so AJ
- 46:29Speaker 1: is not going to be the number one target or
- 46:31Speaker 1: even the number two target if fift DeAndre Hopkins is
- 46:34Speaker 1: healthy in Arizona last year, Larry Fitzgerald had fifty four
- 46:40Speaker 1: catches for four hundred and nine yards. It was like
- 46:44Speaker 1: seven yards per catch. AJ Green can obviously do that.
- 46:48Speaker 1: I mean, he was a little better than that for
- 46:50Speaker 1: Cincinnati last year. So if that's what the Cardinals they're
- 46:53Speaker 1: looking for, the guys that can get fifty catches average China,
- 46:57Speaker 1: maybe close to ten yards at catches a third option,
- 47:00Speaker 1: then he can deliver that. But if if they are
- 47:04Speaker 1: expecting him to be the AJ Green from his first
- 47:07Speaker 1: seven years in Cincinnati, I don't think there's much of
- 47:09Speaker 1: a chance of that being the case. That's a good point.
- 47:12Speaker 1: Then maybe they said, you know what, we're getting a
- 47:14Speaker 1: younger Larry Fitzgerald. AJ Green is almost a carbon copy
- 47:17Speaker 1: of Larry Fitzgerald personality wise performance, you know, not Larry
- 47:23Speaker 1: Fitzgerald can't run flat out speed like AJ. But I
- 47:26Speaker 1: mean obviously great route runner, great understanding football and all
- 47:29Speaker 1: that production level though. I mean they're both Pro Bowl players,
- 47:33Speaker 1: multiple time Pro Bowl players, future Hall of Fame type
- 47:36Speaker 1: player with great people skills on and off the football field.
- 47:41Speaker 1: Maybe they thought, let's get a younger version of Larry
- 47:43Speaker 1: Fitzgerald and that's what we're expecting. They paid what six
- 47:46Speaker 1: million guaranteed eight million contract. That's pretty good eats for
- 47:51Speaker 1: if that's what their expectation was. You know, as for
- 47:54Speaker 1: Andy Dalton in Chicago, he just better have tough skin
- 47:58Speaker 1: he and JJ because you know, as you guys alluded to,
- 48:02Speaker 1: it's already started and he hasn't even played a game
- 48:05Speaker 1: yet in a Chicago uniform. The Bears posted a picture
- 48:08Speaker 1: on Twitter yesterday or the day before of him in
- 48:11Speaker 1: his new number fourteen Bears jersey. Somebody photo shopped it
- 48:15Speaker 1: and made it two and fourteen on the front of
- 48:18Speaker 1: the jersey, which was not very nice. And I don't
- 48:21Speaker 1: know if you guys saw the Wheel of Fortune gag
- 48:23Speaker 1: that was out there last week after he signed his
- 48:25Speaker 1: deal with Chicago, but somebody posted the picture of the
- 48:29Speaker 1: Wheel of Fortune board and you see, like on the
- 48:33Speaker 1: top line there are four blank letters and then on
- 48:36Speaker 1: the bottom line it's blank blank L blank O N
- 48:43Speaker 1: and a Bears fan says, I would like to answer
- 48:46Speaker 1: the puzzle Russ Wilson, and he's all happy, and then
- 48:50Speaker 1: the letters turn over and it says Andy Dalton and
- 48:53Speaker 1: he's destroyed. So they are having a lot of fun
- 48:56Speaker 1: at Andy's expense. In the games he started for Dallas
- 49:00Speaker 1: last year, the Cowboys were four and five. I think
- 49:03Speaker 1: that the Bears are going to be roughly a five
- 49:05Speaker 1: hundred team. Their defense is good enough, that's what they
- 49:08Speaker 1: were last year with you know, Nick Foles and Mitch
- 49:10Speaker 1: Drubisky at quarterback, and he will be okay, he'll be
- 49:13Speaker 1: somewhere around you know, twentieth and passer rating or something
- 49:16Speaker 1: like that. And I see them being a middle of
- 49:20Speaker 1: the pack eight and nine, nine and eight type team.
- 49:25Speaker 1: That's right. Abraham Wincoln had it tough on social media.
- 49:30Speaker 1: He had it even worse than Ford's theater unfortunately. Yeah,
- 49:35Speaker 1: all right, before we move on to some ask Lap
- 49:37Speaker 1: or in this case ask a Lapping, Butch questions one
- 49:41Speaker 1: more thing from me, and that is another all time
- 49:45Speaker 1: Bengals great who has been let go. He hasn't signed
- 49:48Speaker 1: on another team yet. That is Geno Atkins. What is
- 49:52Speaker 1: your favorite Geno Atkins memory? Butch, you want to go
- 49:58Speaker 1: first for this one. It involves the man sitting right here.
- 50:03Speaker 1: I didn't have much in our action with Gino, so
- 50:05Speaker 1: I don't but Lap. When Lap was calling the December
- 50:10Speaker 1: twenty third, twenty twelve game in Pittsburgh, when that great
- 50:15Speaker 1: Bengals defense stone Pittsburgh to get into the playoffs, and
- 50:19Speaker 1: Lap was punctuating each Geno play with Geno Atkins, I
- 50:26Speaker 1: mean it was, I mean, Juno was dominant that day.
- 50:29Speaker 1: You know, that was kind of his coming out Patty.
- 50:32Speaker 1: He was already a great play it was already a pro.
- 50:34Speaker 1: But I think that game he established himself and it
- 50:38Speaker 1: was Hey. I mean, it made one of the great
- 50:40Speaker 1: analysts in the game. Break in the song. I remember
- 50:42Speaker 1: in the locker room after that, in the locker room,
- 50:44Speaker 1: he was looking for him. He goes, I'm looking for
- 50:46Speaker 1: Geno act. It was great. That was my That's my
- 50:50Speaker 1: one Geno memory in my one Geno game. I'm glad
- 50:52Speaker 1: you asked me first, because that might be laps memory too.
- 50:56Speaker 1: My memory is Geno Atkins. When you go again a
- 51:00Speaker 1: rookie or a young or just somebody that had never
- 51:04Speaker 1: practiced against Geno Atkins before in pass rush drill, and
- 51:08Speaker 1: I would position myself to look at the face of
- 51:11Speaker 1: the opposing offensive lineman when Gino stormed off the ball
- 51:15Speaker 1: and started bull rushing them, and the guys jacked up.
- 51:19Speaker 1: He's on skates, he can't get his feed back on
- 51:21Speaker 1: the ground, and his eyes were as biggest hard boiled
- 51:24Speaker 1: eggs and Gino Atkins is throwing them around like a
- 51:27Speaker 1: rag doll. And I'm like, welcome to the world. To
- 51:30Speaker 1: Geno Atkins. That was the most I mean, these are
- 51:33Speaker 1: grown men, big body guys, and Gino in his prime
- 51:36Speaker 1: was just tooling them, I mean throwing them around like there.
- 51:40Speaker 1: It was a man amongst boys, and I would just
- 51:42Speaker 1: love to watch training camp, pass rush, drill. And the
- 51:46Speaker 1: first exposure of those guys had to the real Gino
- 51:49Speaker 1: Atkins coming off to football man, he was unbelievable. He'd
- 51:53Speaker 1: break them all in. He didn't doctrinate him for the
- 51:55Speaker 1: way of Gino. My on the old favorite memory of
- 51:58Speaker 1: Gino is from the same game that Butch mentioned, that
- 52:01Speaker 1: two twelve game in Pittsburgh where the Bengals beat the
- 52:04Speaker 1: Steelers two days before Christmas. They earned the playoff berth.
- 52:08Speaker 1: They knocked the Steelers out of the playoffs on their
- 52:10Speaker 1: home field, and the reason in my case is that
- 52:13Speaker 1: that is the most physical football game I have ever
- 52:17Speaker 1: seen in my life on both sides. I mean, that
- 52:20Speaker 1: was an absolute fifteen round heavyweight fight. The Bengals sacked
- 52:25Speaker 1: brought the burger four times, the Steelers sat Andy six times,
- 52:30Speaker 1: the Bengals hit Ben seven times, the Steelers hit Andy
- 52:33Speaker 1: eight times. And of all of those warriors that were
- 52:37Speaker 1: out there that day, throwing Haymakers. Gino was the guy
- 52:41Speaker 1: that stood out the most. His final stats. He had
- 52:44Speaker 1: two sacks in that game, but he was actually in
- 52:46Speaker 1: on three, so he had one solo and two shared sacks.
- 52:52Speaker 1: He had a forced fumble, he had another tackle for loss.
- 52:55Speaker 1: I mean, the Steelers could not handle him in that game.
- 52:59Speaker 1: Bengals wind up on the last second field bow by
- 53:01Speaker 1: Josh Brown to go to the playoffs. And for an
- 53:03Speaker 1: on field memory, that one is number one for me.
- 53:08Speaker 1: I remember guys like Richie Incognito, you know when he
- 53:11Speaker 1: was a pro bowler, and other guys, even even at
- 53:14Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl, those guys would just say, Geno Atkins
- 53:17Speaker 1: will start shaking their head. I mean, Geno Atkins was
- 53:20Speaker 1: definitely a freak of nature. I mean, just on that short,
- 53:26Speaker 1: that short stout frame, he was so explosive, so strong,
- 53:30Speaker 1: low center or gravity nightmare, nightmare. You gotta keep your
- 53:35Speaker 1: pad level low. And even when you keep it low,
- 53:38Speaker 1: it's awkward for you because his pad levels already low.
- 53:41Speaker 1: You have to come off on your kneecaps instead of
- 53:44Speaker 1: your feet to stay as low as Gino and his
- 53:46Speaker 1: day boy, he was unblockable one on one. They would
- 53:51Speaker 1: never I mean I've watched games and he'd play an
- 53:54Speaker 1: entire game and never be single blocked and pass protection
- 53:57Speaker 1: not one time. Do you think Gino made it to be,
- 54:01Speaker 1: you know, with the leverage game, to be a short game,
- 54:03Speaker 1: you know, I think they were. I remember playing against
- 54:05Speaker 1: guys like Dave Purify, Dave Roller. These defensive tackles were
- 54:10Speaker 1: you know, like the short short player like you talked about.
- 54:13Speaker 1: They weren't Gino. You know. Dave Roller had a spin
- 54:15Speaker 1: move was his big move. These guys had signature, you know,
- 54:19Speaker 1: moves pacinos was I'm just gonna line up and kick
- 54:23Speaker 1: your butt with my explosiveness, my strength. So yeah, I mean,
- 54:28Speaker 1: I think I think anytime a guy um of that
- 54:32Speaker 1: different stature, like Sam Mills playing linebacker, you know, five ten,
- 54:37Speaker 1: five nine, and it's like unheard of before you can't
- 54:41Speaker 1: play middle linebacker in the NFL at five to nine.
- 54:43Speaker 1: I played against him in the USFL before we went
- 54:45Speaker 1: to the NFL. That dude could play. I don't care
- 54:48Speaker 1: how tall that dude was a player. And uh yeah,
- 54:51Speaker 1: I think you know Doug Gluti at quarterback, there's a
- 54:55Speaker 1: There are all kinds of guys who break trends. I
- 54:57Speaker 1: think Gino had fallen that category, butch, I mean that
- 55:00Speaker 1: not only made it, but made it big. I mean,
- 55:03Speaker 1: you know, perennial pro bowler. We're talking because I think
- 55:07Speaker 1: Aaron Donald was. I think Aaron Donald a few years
- 55:10Speaker 1: after that was, you know, a first round picking. You
- 55:12Speaker 1: never would have seen a first round defensive tackle at
- 55:16Speaker 1: his dimension. Yeah, I mean for Gino to be all
- 55:23Speaker 1: the Pro Bowls that he went to as a fourth
- 55:25Speaker 1: round pick, one of the best value picks in franchise history.
- 55:29Speaker 1: Let's face it, him and Trump twelfth round in Trumpy's case.
- 55:32Speaker 1: I do actually have a Geno Atkins off the field
- 55:37Speaker 1: memory back in two thou eleven, when when the Bengals
- 55:41Speaker 1: were nice enough to give you Friday afternoons off lap
- 55:44Speaker 1: and I used to do the Pepper Rally Show with
- 55:46Speaker 1: Archell Hawkins. Gino Atkins came on and did one hour
- 55:51Speaker 1: on the radio with us, which you know he would
- 55:55Speaker 1: never do. Now. He was perfectly fine. I thought he
- 55:59Speaker 1: was good, The fans loved it. I wish that would
- 56:02Speaker 1: have continued. But after he tore his ACL in twenty
- 56:05Speaker 1: thirteen and then you know, wasn't quite as good the
- 56:08Speaker 1: next year before eventually returning to his great form, took
- 56:12Speaker 1: some criticism. Paul Gunther wasn't very kind and describing his play,
- 56:16Speaker 1: it seemed like that was the point where he shut
- 56:18Speaker 1: it down to the media. And unfortunately, the notion of
- 56:21Speaker 1: doing an hour of radio on location with with Gino
- 56:25Speaker 1: Atkins could never happen again. My career conversations with you
- 56:30Speaker 1: would not add up to an hour run them all together.
- 56:34Speaker 1: It's a shame because he was fine when he did
- 56:36Speaker 1: that news conference after he signed his most recent contract extension.
- 56:39Speaker 1: He was fine. I don't know if he just didn't
- 56:43Speaker 1: like doing it or didn't think he was good good
- 56:45Speaker 1: at doing interviews, but I wish that would have continued
- 56:48Speaker 1: because that that one hour show with him was great.
- 56:52Speaker 1: We have him on multiple times Dan, you know, early
- 56:55Speaker 1: in his career on Bengals Final Monday Night for an
- 56:57Speaker 1: hour and he was great. You're right. I think he
- 57:00Speaker 1: just somebody something happened. He felt like he get betrayed
- 57:04Speaker 1: by somebody, and he shut it down. He said, that's it,
- 57:07Speaker 1: I'm done with all of you. Whatever. That one incident
- 57:11Speaker 1: was erected for everybody. I don't know what it was
- 57:15Speaker 1: or how big it was, but in Geno's mind, it
- 57:18Speaker 1: was big enough to shut it all down. All right,
- 57:22Speaker 1: let's get to some of the ask Lap questions that
- 57:24Speaker 1: came rolling in on Twitter this week. We will expand
- 57:27Speaker 1: it to ask Lap and Butch, but since they were
- 57:30Speaker 1: meant for Lap, well, let Lap go first, and then
- 57:33Speaker 1: we'll comment after our first question comes from Kelsey. Why
- 57:38Speaker 1: do the Bengals feel comfortable banking on Frank Pollock turning
- 57:42Speaker 1: around their offensive line play when that strategy didn't work
- 57:46Speaker 1: with Jim Turner. Well, you know, the first thing that
- 57:50Speaker 1: you have to have talent makes a coach great talent.
- 57:55Speaker 1: If a coach has got players, it's a hell of
- 57:57Speaker 1: a lot easier to be a great coach. There's no
- 57:59Speaker 1: question about it. All coaches will tell you the same thing,
- 58:02Speaker 1: but all all great players, you know, Anthony Munos will
- 58:06Speaker 1: tell you the reason he was as good as he
- 58:08Speaker 1: was as Jim mc nelli, you know, and Maxi Montoria
- 58:11Speaker 1: feels the same way. It's it's almost like, you know,
- 58:15Speaker 1: it's you have to have both if if if a
- 58:19Speaker 1: great player doesn't have a coach that can take him
- 58:23Speaker 1: to another level. Everybody wants to be coached, Everybody wants
- 58:27Speaker 1: to be helped. Everybody wants to improve, and the great
- 58:33Speaker 1: ones that are realistic realize they don't have all the answers.
- 58:36Speaker 1: So you're looking for somebody that's going to take your game,
- 58:39Speaker 1: whatever it is, to the next level. If you're a
- 58:41Speaker 1: guy that's just making an NFL team, you want a
- 58:44Speaker 1: guy that's gonna help you be a contributor on the roster.
- 58:47Speaker 1: If you're just a contributor on the roster, you want
- 58:49Speaker 1: a guy who's going to make you a starter. If
- 58:51Speaker 1: you're a starter, you want a guy that's going to
- 58:53Speaker 1: make you a pro bowler. I mean, that's just the
- 58:54Speaker 1: way it is. And I think that Frank Pollock has
- 59:01Speaker 1: I think he has a reputation of employing sound techniques
- 59:05Speaker 1: and he's a great teacher of his techniques. And that's
- 59:08Speaker 1: what Jim McNally was. Jim McNally had techniques he believed in.
- 59:12Speaker 1: He was always refining them. Jim McNally would would never
- 59:16Speaker 1: like no nose. This is the answer, this is the
- 59:20Speaker 1: only answer. And that's why I think what players like
- 59:22Speaker 1: about Frank Pollack. Having played the game for nine years,
- 59:26Speaker 1: he understands that everybody types not the same, and a
- 59:29Speaker 1: technique that works for one guy might not be the
- 59:32Speaker 1: best technique in the world for another guy. One guy
- 59:35Speaker 1: might be long upper torso, short legs, another guy long legs,
- 59:39Speaker 1: short up torso. One guy's get long on, one guy's
- 59:42Speaker 1: get short on. You have to be able to mollify,
- 59:44Speaker 1: you know, and adapt your and adjust your techniques. And
- 59:47Speaker 1: Frank is really good at that, and I think players
- 59:50Speaker 1: respond to that. And he's there not to be a dictate.
- 59:54Speaker 1: He's there to help. You know, I'm not saying that
- 59:56Speaker 1: it's a democracy. You know, he will make all the
- 59:59Speaker 1: decis as, but he listens and um and and adapts.
- 1:00:03Speaker 1: And I think I think a great testament to Frank
- 1:00:07Speaker 1: Pollock is the relationship he has with Joe Nixon. That's
- 1:00:11Speaker 1: not even one of his players, but Joe Nixon realizes
- 1:00:14Speaker 1: the value that Frank Pollock brought to that offensive line
- 1:00:17Speaker 1: room and how they responded to him, and how it
- 1:00:20Speaker 1: made him his life easier and better as a running
- 1:00:23Speaker 1: back and as a football player. And so I think
- 1:00:26Speaker 1: that the ripple effect that a good offensive line coach
- 1:00:29Speaker 1: can have in terms of confidence and then performance betterment,
- 1:00:36Speaker 1: not just by lineman, by by everybody. Quarterback feels more confident,
- 1:00:41Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to have time to build the
- 1:00:42Speaker 1: football with this guy teaching my lineman. But again, Dan,
- 1:00:46Speaker 1: you do have to have something to work with, you know.
- 1:00:48Speaker 1: I mean he can't, he can't perform miracles. Got to
- 1:00:53Speaker 1: improve the offensive line and and let him be part
- 1:00:57Speaker 1: of the valuation process. This guy would be perfect because
- 1:01:00Speaker 1: the techniques that I'm trying to employ, he's watching him
- 1:01:04Speaker 1: on tape. He's going to be able to execute everything
- 1:01:06Speaker 1: that I want to execute from a technique standpoint. All
- 1:01:09Speaker 1: that stuff I think becomes important. I've never heard another
- 1:01:14Speaker 1: coach or player say a negative word about Frank Pollock,
- 1:01:19Speaker 1: whether it's with the Bengals or with another team. And
- 1:01:22Speaker 1: there aren't that many coaches that I can say that about.
- 1:01:24Speaker 1: There's always a critic out there somewhere just about everybody.
- 1:01:27Speaker 1: It seems like anybody you talk to has respect for
- 1:01:31Speaker 1: Frank Pollock as a coach and as a person. It's
- 1:01:33Speaker 1: a pretty good sign. And you know, Dan, that's a
- 1:01:36Speaker 1: great point because like Dick Lebou, for example, every player
- 1:01:40Speaker 1: that was in contact with Dick Lebau respects them and
- 1:01:44Speaker 1: then likes them to boot. If you have that double combination,
- 1:01:47Speaker 1: you have total respect. So you're not going to take
- 1:01:50Speaker 1: advantage of them, but you really like them. That's powerful
- 1:01:54Speaker 1: and I think you hit right on that right nail.
- 1:01:57Speaker 1: Running the head with Frank Pollock. I think the players
- 1:01:59Speaker 1: respect and the added cherry on top of the Sunday
- 1:02:02Speaker 1: is they like them. Next question, I'm going to combine
- 1:02:06Speaker 1: two questions. Hank asks, why is the Bengals organization so
- 1:02:11Speaker 1: cavalier about improving the offensive line? Ryan asks, how can
- 1:02:16Speaker 1: they not address guard? So combine those two two questions
- 1:02:20Speaker 1: into one thought lap Why so cavalier about approving the
- 1:02:24Speaker 1: offensive line? Why have they not addressed guard? They haven't
- 1:02:28Speaker 1: been cavalier, They just haven't hit. They don't have to
- 1:02:31Speaker 1: go back too many drafts to find a way hand
- 1:02:33Speaker 1: fish where they went first and second round and tried
- 1:02:35Speaker 1: to double down with their top two picks and went
- 1:02:38Speaker 1: over You know, that's just that's a tough that's a
- 1:02:41Speaker 1: tough dynamic. That's a tough thing to recover from. Not
- 1:02:44Speaker 1: just that here, that has an impact on a few
- 1:02:46Speaker 1: years when you when you go over two on your
- 1:02:50Speaker 1: first two picks of a draft, that it doesn't work
- 1:02:53Speaker 1: out at that position and other positions you could have
- 1:02:56Speaker 1: addressed with those picks. Go unaddressed. You haven't massive ripple effect.
- 1:03:01Speaker 1: So you know, Billy Price, you know, with a high
- 1:03:06Speaker 1: it's not like they haven't expended high picks, but they
- 1:03:09Speaker 1: haven't gotten the value in return for those high picks.
- 1:03:13Speaker 1: And it's not just the Bengals, I mean coaches should say.
- 1:03:17Speaker 1: Fans in every single city will cry and moan about,
- 1:03:21Speaker 1: you know, failed picks with their offensive line. It's not
- 1:03:25Speaker 1: an exact science. And they have tried to address it
- 1:03:29Speaker 1: and they will continue to address it, and it's going
- 1:03:31Speaker 1: to be addressed big time in this draft. And what
- 1:03:33Speaker 1: you have to do is you just have to try
- 1:03:35Speaker 1: to recruit by whatever means, free agency, the draft, college fit,
- 1:03:39Speaker 1: whatever it is, as many talented players as you can
- 1:03:45Speaker 1: and put the best five out in the field, no
- 1:03:47Speaker 1: matter what position you end up putting them at. If
- 1:03:50Speaker 1: they do draft Penney Seul and they say, all right,
- 1:03:55Speaker 1: we're gonna put them at right tackle and Riley Reef
- 1:03:56Speaker 1: you're going inside. Well we're gonna put them at left tackle,
- 1:03:59Speaker 1: and Jonah you're going in, so be it. If it's
- 1:04:01Speaker 1: better to put Penney Suel inside, so be it. The
- 1:04:04Speaker 1: guy who's going to decide that is Frank Pollock. But
- 1:04:08Speaker 1: put the five best guys. Hopefully you have ten guys
- 1:04:13Speaker 1: that you can you know, you're they're all compete in
- 1:04:16Speaker 1: their tail on. You find the five best, put him
- 1:04:18Speaker 1: at positions that you feel will be most successful for
- 1:04:22Speaker 1: their contribution to the team. And then you know, however
- 1:04:26Speaker 1: many to keep eight or nine offensive lineman and have
- 1:04:30Speaker 1: to deactivate one or two of them, whatever the case
- 1:04:32Speaker 1: may be. You have to have position versatility, and that's
- 1:04:36Speaker 1: one thing that I think Frank understands them and puts
- 1:04:39Speaker 1: in his evaluation process. Have to be able to play
- 1:04:42Speaker 1: more than one position. I really do believe that he'll
- 1:04:46Speaker 1: help get it right. He'll get players in there to
- 1:04:48Speaker 1: compete and put an offensive line out there, and he's
- 1:04:51Speaker 1: going to feel proud of it. Are the Bengals Cavalier
- 1:04:54Speaker 1: about improving the offensive line? If they draft Suol and
- 1:04:58Speaker 1: us Slater in the first round, there'll be fourth first
- 1:05:02Speaker 1: round picks in the last seven drafts. That's the opposite
- 1:05:05Speaker 1: of Cavalier. And I agree with you, Butch, I think
- 1:05:07Speaker 1: Slater I'm not. I'm not one that has Seul and
- 1:05:11Speaker 1: then a big drop to Slater. I have Sul and
- 1:05:14Speaker 1: Slater you know up there pretty good in fact, if
- 1:05:17Speaker 1: I were in a situation where I could trade back
- 1:05:20Speaker 1: with that fifth pick and still be able to get
- 1:05:22Speaker 1: Slater and get an extra second round pick. Bingo Bengo Bongo,
- 1:05:26Speaker 1: I am printing to get that done, because then you
- 1:05:30Speaker 1: get then you get Slater, and then you get maybe
- 1:05:33Speaker 1: two edge rushers in the second round. If you are
- 1:05:37Speaker 1: if you get tackle in an edge rush, you think
- 1:05:41Speaker 1: later can definitely play garden tackle, and then you get
- 1:05:45Speaker 1: maybe uh yeah, an edge rush. In my mind, there's
- 1:05:48Speaker 1: offensive lineman that they could get that could help, particularly
- 1:05:51Speaker 1: of guard up until the fourth round. Fourth round. If
- 1:05:54Speaker 1: you get an extra second round pick, you have five
- 1:05:56Speaker 1: picks in the and they're in the fifth pick of
- 1:05:59Speaker 1: the fourth round. So you're five picks to the fifth
- 1:06:02Speaker 1: pick of the fourth round. You're still talking about, you know,
- 1:06:06Speaker 1: one of the top one hundred and fifty odd players
- 1:06:10Speaker 1: in the country. You're still going to be able to
- 1:06:12Speaker 1: get good, viable candidates and double down on one or
- 1:06:15Speaker 1: two position groups. Our next question comes from Bearcat Joe.
- 1:06:21Speaker 1: If Paul Brown were still alive, wouldn't he draft Pinney Sewell?
- 1:06:27Speaker 1: Would he? Laugh? I think he'd be in consideration. Under consideration,
- 1:06:33Speaker 1: I mean, like I've said a couple of times, I
- 1:06:36Speaker 1: know Paul Brown's mentality was, you know, built from the
- 1:06:40Speaker 1: inside out, and he knew that he had a lot
- 1:06:43Speaker 1: of great Pro Bowl skilled players, but without you know,
- 1:06:47Speaker 1: the Mike McCormick's of the world. In his offensive line,
- 1:06:50Speaker 1: he Lou Groza, you know, he was he was all
- 1:06:53Speaker 1: about Lulu two. Obviously a more famous kicker than but
- 1:06:56Speaker 1: he was the Pro Bowl tackle as well, Mike McCormick
- 1:06:59Speaker 1: and Lou grow He. He always had superior offensive lines.
- 1:07:04Speaker 1: He believed in it. So I do think that he
- 1:07:08Speaker 1: would he would definitely consider Seul Slater. I mean, there's
- 1:07:13Speaker 1: I'm not sure that he would necessarily be married to one,
- 1:07:17Speaker 1: but I know he would put high importance on that position.
- 1:07:22Speaker 1: You know. The thing, like I've said with Seuel, I
- 1:07:24Speaker 1: like him obviously, it's hard not to like him his
- 1:07:27Speaker 1: physical attributes, but it's a very small sample size. And
- 1:07:32Speaker 1: you know, when you watch him, like in this opener
- 1:07:35Speaker 1: against Oregon, watching that game, a third of his pass
- 1:07:39Speaker 1: sets he didn't win, and he didn't have many of them.
- 1:07:43Speaker 1: I'm talking about drop back protection and the way their
- 1:07:46Speaker 1: offense is struggled. Drop Back protection is hard to identify,
- 1:07:49Speaker 1: and it wasn't It wasn't great competition. You know that
- 1:07:54Speaker 1: uh that that SEC who's Auburn's you know, middle of
- 1:07:58Speaker 1: the SEC. He was struggling. He was struggling to win.
- 1:08:03Speaker 1: So he didn't play against ten or twelve dominant edge
- 1:08:07Speaker 1: rushes from the SEC that you have all this tape,
- 1:08:10Speaker 1: you know, in order to say, oh, yeah he's the guy,
- 1:08:13Speaker 1: Maybe not be there. I mean, I'm not saying he
- 1:08:16Speaker 1: wouldn't project. I'm saying he does project, but I'm not
- 1:08:19Speaker 1: saying that's a slam dunk. It never is with anybody.
- 1:08:22Speaker 1: But you know, he's obviously wanted to consider what do
- 1:08:26Speaker 1: you think Butcher Paul were still alive, would he takes
- 1:08:28Speaker 1: suel It's interesting what Lapps said, you know about you know,
- 1:08:33Speaker 1: Paul noticed stuff like that. Obviously clearly he was one
- 1:08:36Speaker 1: of the best in the game, you know, and he
- 1:08:39Speaker 1: wasn't afraid of going out of the box. Maybe he wouldn't.
- 1:08:42Speaker 1: Maybe I remember him the only the only draft I
- 1:08:45Speaker 1: covered him in was the nineteen ninety one draft, and
- 1:08:49Speaker 1: he was heartbroken when the Seattle took Dan McGuire, who
- 1:08:54Speaker 1: was Mark McGuire's brother. He loved the Quay he loved
- 1:08:58Speaker 1: the tall quarterback, and that would have been a little
- 1:09:01Speaker 1: bit out of the box at that point in the
- 1:09:03Speaker 1: first round, So you know, if people were alive, I
- 1:09:06Speaker 1: remember him saying at a practice, he goes, I'm a
- 1:09:09Speaker 1: firing fallback guy. Peepe might be pulling the trigger on Chase.
- 1:09:14Speaker 1: Where are you guys right now? I think our opinions
- 1:09:17Speaker 1: all you know, we drift back and forth for which
- 1:09:21Speaker 1: guy we would like if they stay at number five.
- 1:09:24Speaker 1: Who are you picking right now? He said? You know,
- 1:09:27Speaker 1: Lap just scared me with that, So I don't you
- 1:09:32Speaker 1: know you gotta go. You gotta protect the guy, right,
- 1:09:35Speaker 1: I mean, I guess you go. If you think schools better.
- 1:09:38Speaker 1: I think you got to take the tackle. I think
- 1:09:40Speaker 1: you got to take the offensive lignement. Yeah, I would.
- 1:09:43Speaker 1: I would go for an offensive lineman if there's one
- 1:09:46Speaker 1: available there, like we talked about before. I mean, you know,
- 1:09:50Speaker 1: these mock drafts are exactly that. But you got mock
- 1:09:53Speaker 1: drafts to have quarterbacks going with the first four picks.
- 1:09:56Speaker 1: So you know, if that's the case, you're gonna be
- 1:09:58Speaker 1: able to pick the best non quarterback football player in
- 1:10:02Speaker 1: the entire draft. That's a good place to be if
- 1:10:06Speaker 1: they don't take all those quarterbacks the first four picks
- 1:10:09Speaker 1: ahead of the Bengals at number five. Now, you're gonna
- 1:10:11Speaker 1: have teams wanting to move up if they are indeed
- 1:10:14Speaker 1: interested in a quarterback and their guys still there, and
- 1:10:17Speaker 1: you'll be able to trade back. That's my first option,
- 1:10:20Speaker 1: or my first hope, is that those quarterbacks don't all
- 1:10:23Speaker 1: go in the first four picks. I don't know, maybe
- 1:10:26Speaker 1: somebody would panic and say, oh, we'll take the fifth one.
- 1:10:28Speaker 1: Whoever the fifth one is. There are five of them
- 1:10:30Speaker 1: that they're projecting go in the first round. They're not
- 1:10:33Speaker 1: all going to go the first five picks, but you
- 1:10:35Speaker 1: never know. I mean, I think they're going to be
- 1:10:38Speaker 1: in a good position. The draft starts at pick two, obviously,
- 1:10:41Speaker 1: I think they're going to be in a good position
- 1:10:43Speaker 1: at five to potentially trade back. And just like in
- 1:10:46Speaker 1: these free agency contracts, you know, the Bengals they were
- 1:10:50Speaker 1: out pursuing players, but it takes two to make a deal.
- 1:10:53Speaker 1: If the player doesn't want to sign, it doesn't matter
- 1:10:55Speaker 1: if you're out there trying to sign them. If they
- 1:10:57Speaker 1: don't want to sign them, you know, it's a two
- 1:11:00Speaker 1: street Galladay in my mind, Joe Burrow was an attraction.
- 1:11:05Speaker 1: These receivers that want to sign one year contracts and
- 1:11:08Speaker 1: then go to free agency next year. Why wouldn't you
- 1:11:10Speaker 1: want to be with Joe Burrow if your receiver that
- 1:11:13Speaker 1: you know wants to have a big year and a
- 1:11:14Speaker 1: one year deal. So you know, I don't know this,
- 1:11:19Speaker 1: It's going to be an interesting time this draft. But
- 1:11:22Speaker 1: if they could trade back, I think they might might
- 1:11:25Speaker 1: find a partner to trade back. In the end, that
- 1:11:27Speaker 1: would be a Christmas morning for me. Get two firm,
- 1:11:29Speaker 1: get two players. If Sewell is there, I take Sewell.
- 1:11:35Speaker 1: I'm not going to overthink it. I think he's got
- 1:11:37Speaker 1: the chance to be a multi time pro bowler who's
- 1:11:40Speaker 1: going to spend you know, a decade at either left
- 1:11:42Speaker 1: or right tackle. If he's gone and Jamar Chase is there,
- 1:11:46Speaker 1: I'm fine with taking Jamar Chase and reuniting him with
- 1:11:49Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. If they're both gone, I'm still not there.
- 1:11:52Speaker 1: And taking Kyle Pitts at number five is as great
- 1:11:55Speaker 1: as he seems like he could be, and you know,
- 1:11:59Speaker 1: the grand the unbelief about forty time. At that point,
- 1:12:02Speaker 1: I would really look to trade down. That's where I am.
- 1:12:06Speaker 1: Suel is still my hope Chase is right there with him.
- 1:12:09Speaker 1: After that, I'd be fine with trading down. I'm with you,
- 1:12:12Speaker 1: I would not have if they take Tonay Seul at five,
- 1:12:16Speaker 1: and you know, you wonder if I mean you're hearing,
- 1:12:18Speaker 1: then he might not be there. But if he is
- 1:12:19Speaker 1: there at five, he deserves it. I mean he's I
- 1:12:22Speaker 1: don't think that's over ranking him in this year's draft. Chase.
- 1:12:26Speaker 1: You watch that guy run routes. He throws people around.
- 1:12:31Speaker 1: I mean he is a physical route runner. And of
- 1:12:34Speaker 1: course you know Joe Burrow throwing twenty touchdown passes in
- 1:12:37Speaker 1: the great year. So how can you argue that? Laugh.
- 1:12:40Speaker 1: I think left to make a big decision, they'll have
- 1:12:42Speaker 1: to say, is our Suel and Chase that much better then?
- 1:12:47Speaker 1: Because I think they'll have multiple suitors. I don't think
- 1:12:50Speaker 1: he'll be I think they'll have multiple suitors. I think
- 1:12:52Speaker 1: they'll be able to take the deal. With that deal,
- 1:12:55Speaker 1: you know, be better than taking Suel or Chase. You know,
- 1:12:58Speaker 1: I think they have to, you know, because like you
- 1:13:01Speaker 1: said about those those two high second round picks, those
- 1:13:05Speaker 1: are going to be what one of the top fifty
- 1:13:07Speaker 1: players in the country. What are they? What are they
- 1:13:10Speaker 1: do in free agency. Instead of taking one guy, they
- 1:13:14Speaker 1: tried to get many guys they possibly could. I think
- 1:13:18Speaker 1: they're in that kind of that that mode. You know,
- 1:13:21Speaker 1: it might spill over into the draft. Instead of just
- 1:13:23Speaker 1: one guy. If you have a chance to get a
- 1:13:26Speaker 1: guy that you have rated very closely to that one
- 1:13:29Speaker 1: guy and get another pick, you know, they may go
- 1:13:33Speaker 1: that rug. You know, they got two corners for the
- 1:13:35Speaker 1: price of Will Jackson, maybe they can get a couple
- 1:13:38Speaker 1: of rookie linemen for the price of one. Or who knows?
- 1:13:42Speaker 1: Who knows? All right, a few more ask Lap questions.
- 1:13:45Speaker 1: This one comes from Dustin. Did the Bengals attack defense
- 1:13:49Speaker 1: and free agency or is that just how things worked out?
- 1:13:53Speaker 1: I think it's just how it worked out, you know.
- 1:13:55Speaker 1: I think I think that they were they were in there.
- 1:13:58Speaker 1: They wanted to sign and Tuning just like everybody. But
- 1:14:01Speaker 1: it got ridiculous. They weren't going to sign them. They
- 1:14:05Speaker 1: wanted to sign Golladay. You know, there there were offensive
- 1:14:07Speaker 1: players that they were in the hunt for. I'm sure,
- 1:14:10Speaker 1: but you know, when the numbers got to the point
- 1:14:13Speaker 1: where all right, let's pivot and see what we can
- 1:14:16Speaker 1: get a bigger bang for the buck. Ass such and
- 1:14:19Speaker 1: how many players that we might be able to get,
- 1:14:21Speaker 1: and I think it just so happened to be defensive players.
- 1:14:24Speaker 1: I don't think when they went through their free agency
- 1:14:27Speaker 1: evaluation was like, jeez, there were no offensive players and
- 1:14:29Speaker 1: there are a ton of defensive players, and the draft
- 1:14:33Speaker 1: is all offense and no defense. I don't think it
- 1:14:35Speaker 1: was that clear cut and simple. I think they just
- 1:14:38Speaker 1: ended up pivoting to the you know, to the next
- 1:14:41Speaker 1: the next plan, and it fell in the defensive players laps.
- 1:14:45Speaker 1: I think I'm not saying coincidental, but I'm saying that
- 1:14:49Speaker 1: it just that's just the way the chips fell. I
- 1:14:53Speaker 1: think laps deet on. I think it was a deeper
- 1:14:55Speaker 1: It was a deeper free agency. The free agency board
- 1:15:00Speaker 1: was deeper on defense, I think for the spots that
- 1:15:03Speaker 1: they needed compared to offense. You know, the guy the
- 1:15:06Speaker 1: guard thing I think just kind of fell off the
- 1:15:07Speaker 1: cliff after Pooney when you're talking about the money, and
- 1:15:10Speaker 1: I just felt like they thought they were better fits
- 1:15:14Speaker 1: at corner, like you said, the two for one, and
- 1:15:17Speaker 1: they knew they had to get at the minute the
- 1:15:19Speaker 1: Thuney thing went ridiculous. They knew they had to get
- 1:15:22Speaker 1: an edge rusher because that because because I think they
- 1:15:24Speaker 1: went in thinking, you know, we might be able to
- 1:15:26Speaker 1: get two edge rushers at ten millarpiece, but that you know,
- 1:15:30Speaker 1: because of the way, because of the reduced cap. But
- 1:15:33Speaker 1: then the way the thing you know, obviously in the
- 1:15:34Speaker 1: first hours of free agency are clearly that that was
- 1:15:37Speaker 1: not going to happen. Again, like Lap said, the pivot
- 1:15:41Speaker 1: pooney was ridiculous. Get the make sure you get the
- 1:15:44Speaker 1: edge game. I think the other thing that happened too
- 1:15:47Speaker 1: was that offensive linemen that they were interested in either
- 1:15:51Speaker 1: resigned with their original team or got tagged, like Taylor
- 1:15:55Speaker 1: Moten from Carolina. You know, that was a name that
- 1:15:58Speaker 1: came up over and over and over and over, and
- 1:16:00Speaker 1: then Panthers stagged so much for that. Darryl Williams name
- 1:16:04Speaker 1: came and came up a lot, Buffalo resigned him. So
- 1:16:07Speaker 1: some of those free agents that they probably spent a
- 1:16:09Speaker 1: lot of time studying and determining what they were going
- 1:16:13Speaker 1: to offer and what their value would be, never came
- 1:16:16Speaker 1: to fruition because they ultimately were not free agents, and
- 1:16:18Speaker 1: at that point you pivot to the guys that are,
- 1:16:21Speaker 1: and that's why the numbers went up so extremely high.
- 1:16:24Speaker 1: For the ones that did make free agency, the pool
- 1:16:27Speaker 1: was smaller. It's a supply and demand thing. You had
- 1:16:30Speaker 1: a smaller pool, fewer teams, the fewer teams wanted to
- 1:16:34Speaker 1: make make a you know that that had the one need.
- 1:16:38Speaker 1: I mean, Kansas City said we need we need an
- 1:16:41Speaker 1: interior linehelp. That's what they went after, and they spent
- 1:16:44Speaker 1: a ton to get it. Redskins, you know, targeted dear
- 1:16:47Speaker 1: guy Trent Willas. That was their only what they went
- 1:16:50Speaker 1: and got it done. So that's why free agency in
- 1:16:54Speaker 1: the early stages, if you have a great lineman, normally
- 1:16:58Speaker 1: they don't make free agency. See but when when they did,
- 1:17:02Speaker 1: I think I think some teams were probably surprised that
- 1:17:07Speaker 1: the number got so high. I bet San Francisco Chiefs,
- 1:17:10Speaker 1: we didn't expect to pay that much for Trent Williams.
- 1:17:12Speaker 1: I bet Kennethy, I bet we didn't expect that much
- 1:17:15Speaker 1: to pay for a guard. But you know, those guys
- 1:17:19Speaker 1: were commodities that that that a team that needed that
- 1:17:23Speaker 1: specific thing was going to pay whatever it took to
- 1:17:25Speaker 1: get and others had to move on and pivot. All right,
- 1:17:29Speaker 1: Our next question is actually a celebrity question. This comes
- 1:17:33Speaker 1: from former Saturday Night Live cast member and Lakota East
- 1:17:37Speaker 1: High School grad Luke Null, a big Bengals fan. Luke's
- 1:17:40Speaker 1: question is who do you anticipate seeing the biggest improvement
- 1:17:44Speaker 1: out of from the returning players on defense? What do
- 1:17:49Speaker 1: you think of that? Let My first reaction is, I
- 1:17:52Speaker 1: can't wait to see the guy they spent so much
- 1:17:54Speaker 1: money on it didn't get a snap out of it,
- 1:17:56Speaker 1: Trey Waynes. You know, I think he's going to be
- 1:17:59Speaker 1: a big contribute to their success. Um, and we're talking
- 1:18:04Speaker 1: about free agents that, uh or anybody that played defense
- 1:18:08Speaker 1: last year you're saying to improve to this year? Is
- 1:18:10Speaker 1: that the question? I think so returning players on defense.
- 1:18:14Speaker 1: So I guess it could be a guy like Trey
- 1:18:15Speaker 1: Waynes who was returning that didn't play. Yeah, I mean,
- 1:18:19Speaker 1: you know, I can't wait to see, you know, his
- 1:18:22Speaker 1: his contribution, DJ reader, I think was was playing well
- 1:18:26Speaker 1: and uh, you only got a couple of snaps in before,
- 1:18:29Speaker 1: you know, having that that severe knee injury. So you know,
- 1:18:33Speaker 1: I think I think him and and that that's that's
- 1:18:35Speaker 1: brings you know, to the to the other point. It's, uh,
- 1:18:39Speaker 1: it's it's almost like you've got two free agency classes
- 1:18:43Speaker 1: instead of just one with with guys like Trey Waynes
- 1:18:46Speaker 1: and DJ Reader being added to the guys that they've
- 1:18:48Speaker 1: signed on defense. Uh, you know in this offseason with
- 1:18:53Speaker 1: Mike Hilton's and uh hit Cheeto and uh you know
- 1:18:58Speaker 1: you had Trey Waynes to that, and it's uh, it
- 1:19:01Speaker 1: really is, it really is pretty pretty incredible. Ricardo Allen
- 1:19:05Speaker 1: um Eli Apple. I mean, they they've remade their secondary
- 1:19:10Speaker 1: DJ Reader, Trey Hendrickson, Clarry Ogan, Joebie. I mean, it's
- 1:19:16Speaker 1: it's it's remarkable what they've done in terms of free
- 1:19:18Speaker 1: agency the last two years. The defense is totally redone, reshuffled,
- 1:19:23Speaker 1: and I think it's going to be interesting who steps up,
- 1:19:26Speaker 1: who steps up and performs at the levels that they
- 1:19:28Speaker 1: were evaluated at and the team's projecting them to play it.
- 1:19:32Speaker 1: I'm a Logan Wilson guy. I think Logan Wilson is
- 1:19:35Speaker 1: going to be I expect him to come up big.
- 1:19:38Speaker 1: They obviously have a lot of confidence in him because
- 1:19:40Speaker 1: they seem to suggest that he will be starting a
- 1:19:44Speaker 1: rat and I think that they're very high on when
- 1:19:50Speaker 1: they draft. You know, they were cyber Leaf when they
- 1:19:53Speaker 1: did get him at the top of the third round,
- 1:19:56Speaker 1: and I think they feel like his football instincts, his
- 1:20:00Speaker 1: quickness and his athleticism is something they really haven't had
- 1:20:04Speaker 1: a bet spot. They've tried there too down through the years,
- 1:20:07Speaker 1: but I expect him to take a big guy. He'll
- 1:20:10Speaker 1: be starting getting a lot of snaps that year wanted
- 1:20:14Speaker 1: two jump I think will be huge for Roldan Wilson.
- 1:20:17Speaker 1: And on that note, we will wrap up this logger
- 1:20:21Speaker 1: than anticipated but hopefully very entertaining version of the Bengals
- 1:20:25Speaker 1: Booth Podcast. Gentlemen, I really appreciate your time. Thank you,
- 1:20:29Speaker 1: Thanks forty. Always great to be with you. Guys, appreciate it. Dan,
- 1:20:32Speaker 1: good to see you. Butch same here and laugh. Thank you.
- 1:20:36Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this week's episode of
- 1:20:38Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer.
- 1:20:41Speaker 1: Refresh the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
- 1:20:45Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, given a rating or
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- 1:20:52Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The
- 1:20:54Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast.