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Bengals Booth Podcast: Scout's Honor · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody on Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, the It's True Swear Scouts Honor
0:13
Speaker 1: edition as I visit with Bengals scout Andrew Johnson, now
0:17
Speaker 1: entering his tenth year with the team. Then it's the
0:20
Speaker 1: latest edition of five Questions with one of this year's
0:23
Speaker 1: draft picks, followed by five observations after watching practice. The
0:29
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
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Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
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Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
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Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
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Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
0:51
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
0:54
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet or computer
0:58
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
1:02
Speaker 1: thing since a Ring of Honor case for my broadcast
1:06
Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham. This week, the Bengals announced that voting
1:10
Speaker 1: has started for this year's Ring of Honor Class Season
1:13
Speaker 1: ticket members have until Friday June sixth to cast their vote.
1:18
Speaker 1: I joked in a speaking engagement recently that I have
1:20
Speaker 1: three wishes this year. Number one a cure for baldness,
1:26
Speaker 1: Number two a Bengals Super Bowl title, and number three
1:30
Speaker 1: seeing Dave Lapham inducted into the Bengals Ring of Honor.
1:34
Speaker 1: Lapp was a Bengals offensive lineman for ten years and
1:37
Speaker 1: the starting left guard on their first Super Bowl team.
1:41
Speaker 1: His skill and smarts made him a Paul Brown favorite
1:45
Speaker 1: and allowed him to play all five spots on the
1:48
Speaker 1: offensive line in the same game. And since his stellar
1:52
Speaker 1: playing career, Dave has arguably been the team's best ambassador
1:56
Speaker 1: as a radio analyst, public speaker, and member of the community.
2:02
Speaker 1: This will be Lap's fiftieth year with a franchise as
2:06
Speaker 1: a player and broadcaster. I can't think of a better
2:09
Speaker 1: way to celebrate his golden anniversary than adding Dave Lapham
2:14
Speaker 1: to the Bengals Ring of Honor. Now, let's get to
2:18
Speaker 1: my first guest. Andrew Johnson is entering his tenth season
2:22
Speaker 1: as a Bengals scout and he had some interesting things
2:25
Speaker 1: to say about recent Bengals draft picks, the return of
2:29
Speaker 1: Al Golden, his defensive coordinator, and how he benefited from
2:34
Speaker 1: working in the hotel industry. Andrew, for all the times
2:39
Speaker 1: that we've talked about draft picks or college players or whatever,
2:42
Speaker 1: it occurs to me that we have never discussed your
2:44
Speaker 1: path to the NFL. I know you played at Cornell,
2:48
Speaker 1: you were a tight end. There wasn't your plan to
2:50
Speaker 1: pursue a scouting or front office type job in the NFL.
2:54
Speaker 2: It was I knew since I was in high school
2:59
Speaker 2: that I want wanted to make a career out of it,
3:02
Speaker 2: and was fortunate enough to play in college. And you know,
3:07
Speaker 2: I actually came up here and interviewed. So I medical
3:11
Speaker 2: redshirted as a freshman at Cornell. I had three right
3:16
Speaker 2: elbow surgeries in high school, all of which came my
3:19
Speaker 2: senior year. So I was rehabbing elbow surgeries my freshman year,
3:25
Speaker 2: so didn't play ball that year, then played the next
3:28
Speaker 2: four years. So I graduated in May of fifteen. Actually
3:32
Speaker 2: drove from Ithaca, New York, down here to what was
3:36
Speaker 2: then Paul Brown Stadium and interviewed with Troy Blackburn, Duke Tobin,
3:41
Speaker 2: and Bill Scanlon, who is who used to be our CFO,
3:45
Speaker 2: and got in the car drove back to Ithaca and
3:49
Speaker 2: played my last season the fall of twenty fifteen, and
3:55
Speaker 2: Duke reached out to me January of sixteen. I remember
4:00
Speaker 2: it was a couple of weeks after the Steelers game
4:02
Speaker 2: that year, and I was I was trying to I know,
4:07
Speaker 2: just finished school and I was trying to find a
4:10
Speaker 2: job in football and was debating when to reach out
4:13
Speaker 2: to people at the Bengals, And you know, I was
4:16
Speaker 2: very fortunate that Duke reached out to me and I
4:20
Speaker 2: came on as an intern February fifteenth of twenty sixteen.
4:25
Speaker 2: I was hired full time May first to twenty sixteen,
4:28
Speaker 2: and a little over nine years later, we're still here.
4:31
Speaker 2: So I'm very, very fortunate to work for wonderful people
4:35
Speaker 2: that treat me very well, from Duke to the ownership family.
4:39
Speaker 2: And had one full time employer and intend to keep
4:42
Speaker 2: it that way.
4:43
Speaker 1: So it's interesting because I had the dream of becoming
4:46
Speaker 1: a sports broadcaster, and it's difficult in some ways, but
4:51
Speaker 1: there's a path. You go to Syracuse if you can
4:55
Speaker 1: send out your material, and if you're lucky enough, you
4:57
Speaker 1: land a gig. Your dream is a little bit less linear.
5:02
Speaker 1: Did you have a strategy for getting into scouting or
5:05
Speaker 1: front office work.
5:07
Speaker 2: So at Cornell, I wouldn't say football is in the
5:10
Speaker 2: forefront of most people's minds, even in the athletic world.
5:16
Speaker 2: You know, it's a hockey, lacrosse, wrestling school. And you know,
5:21
Speaker 2: I tell I told people that, you know, throughout my
5:25
Speaker 2: years at Cornell that I wanted to work in football,
5:28
Speaker 2: and they were like, Okay, you know, how are you
5:30
Speaker 2: going to make money? You know, is it you know,
5:33
Speaker 2: that's a great hobby. And I'm like, no, no, you know,
5:35
Speaker 2: I can. I can make it work. And the other thing,
5:37
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of people who get into football
5:40
Speaker 2: their their parents or siblings or extended family work in it,
5:45
Speaker 2: and I didn't have any of that. I had two
5:47
Speaker 2: wonderful parents that supported me greatly growing up. But my
5:51
Speaker 2: dad's been in academics his whole career. My mom is
5:53
Speaker 2: a lawyer by trade. So the foot we all played,
5:56
Speaker 2: my brother played at Cornell, I played, my younger brother played,
6:00
Speaker 2: but nobody worked in it. And Cornell is not exactly
6:03
Speaker 2: the school that had It's not like I went to Alabama,
6:05
Speaker 2: where you know, you can get hired as a GA tomorrow.
6:09
Speaker 2: So I had to really work at it and find
6:14
Speaker 2: any connection I possibly could.
6:15
Speaker 3: I was.
6:16
Speaker 2: I was prepared to go coach high school, to go GA,
6:20
Speaker 2: to volunteer, whatever it took. But it was a relentless
6:25
Speaker 2: pursuit of finding my foot in the door. And then,
6:30
Speaker 2: you know, my first couple of years here, you know,
6:33
Speaker 2: sleeping under my desk three four nights a week, and
6:36
Speaker 2: you know, first and last out and trying to think
6:39
Speaker 2: it any way I could make, you know, Duke and
6:42
Speaker 2: our other guys make their lives easier and make our
6:45
Speaker 2: team better. And you know, growing up and in ann Arbor,
6:50
Speaker 2: I was a big beauchem Beckler guy, and you know,
6:52
Speaker 2: the team. The team. The team has always kind of
6:54
Speaker 2: been my personal mantra and approached everything that we do.
6:58
Speaker 2: No man is more important than the team, so it's
7:01
Speaker 2: kind of been my thing.
7:03
Speaker 1: Cornell has the most prestigious hotel management program in the country.
7:07
Speaker 1: I've read that was your major. Were there lessons that
7:09
Speaker 1: you learned that are applicable to what you do now?
7:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, proud School of Hotel Administration grad. I personally think
7:17
Speaker 2: everybody should work in service at some time in their life.
7:19
Speaker 2: I worked in hotels for six or excuse me, three
7:25
Speaker 2: summers in high school. My first two summers in college,
7:29
Speaker 2: and I did everything from being a banquet server to
7:32
Speaker 2: being a line cook, to being a bellman, to working
7:37
Speaker 2: valet to I washed dishes and I waited tables, and
7:43
Speaker 2: you know, those are things that I just think. It's
7:46
Speaker 2: an ir irreplaceable trade and experience. And my summer summer
7:52
Speaker 2: after my sophomore year academically at Cornell, so it would
7:56
Speaker 2: have been gosh. I think this summer of thirteen, I
7:59
Speaker 2: worked at the Hilton Chicago in Chicago, and it was
8:04
Speaker 2: a fifteen hundred room hotel that in the summertime would
8:08
Speaker 2: have a thousand check ins and a thousand checkouts on someday.
8:11
Speaker 2: And I was working the front desk that summer. And
8:13
Speaker 2: you have to have the exact same approach to every
8:16
Speaker 2: person that comes up to you. And you're having the
8:17
Speaker 2: same conversation for eight hours a day, and you see
8:21
Speaker 2: all walks of life downtown Chicago, and you know, you
8:24
Speaker 2: learn how to deal with people. And and my job
8:27
Speaker 2: now in personnel and scouting, you know, throughout the fall
8:31
Speaker 2: in the spring, I'm on a different college campus most
8:34
Speaker 2: days of the week, and I have to be able
8:35
Speaker 2: to interact with all different types of sources and people
8:39
Speaker 2: and players, and whether it's you know, the head coach
8:42
Speaker 2: at you know, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, or the
8:46
Speaker 2: equipment guy at Slippery Rock. You know, I have to
8:49
Speaker 2: be able to, you know, interact with those different people.
8:53
Speaker 2: I have to be able to, you know, interact with
8:55
Speaker 2: kids that are from inner cities or tougher backgrounds, or
8:59
Speaker 2: you know, kids that come from you know, nice private schools.
9:02
Speaker 2: So I think working in service, you know, taught me
9:05
Speaker 2: just how to work with people. And I think everybody
9:09
Speaker 2: should have worked in service at some point in their life.
9:11
Speaker 3: So I loved it.
9:13
Speaker 2: I wouldn't trade it for for anything. And we'll always
9:16
Speaker 2: remember those times.
9:17
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Bengal Scout Andrew Johnson, describe your responsibilities
9:22
Speaker 1: in the Bengals front office.
9:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, so going on, just finished up Draft ten, going
9:27
Speaker 2: on Season ten, and you know, we are as We've
9:32
Speaker 2: got a little bit of movement in our department right now.
9:35
Speaker 2: I think we're doing a little bit of reshuffling that
9:38
Speaker 2: we're going to iron out over the summer. But college wise,
9:42
Speaker 2: you know, I've I've covered you know, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky,
9:45
Speaker 2: West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina all the way up to
9:49
Speaker 2: Maine and everything in between. So I've had the opportunity
9:53
Speaker 2: to evaluate a lot of guys that we've ended up with,
9:56
Speaker 2: you know, the Dax Hills, Chris Jenkins, Jesse Bates, guys
10:01
Speaker 2: like that that have come in and had a huge
10:03
Speaker 2: impact on our team. But you know there are guys
10:06
Speaker 2: like you know, if you remember Jake Dolagala, who was
10:09
Speaker 2: a college free agent out of Central Connecticut. You know,
10:12
Speaker 2: finding guys like that is always fun. But been scouring
10:16
Speaker 2: that area for a while now and have really you know,
10:21
Speaker 2: going on, you know, the the tenth year here, have
10:25
Speaker 2: you know, have a good feel of what I'm doing
10:27
Speaker 2: and what I'm trying to accomplish on every visit in
10:30
Speaker 2: pro day and and interview with a player and just
10:33
Speaker 2: trying to be you know, when you cover an area,
10:36
Speaker 2: you have to be the master of anyone you know
10:39
Speaker 2: in the draft at that time. So if we're sitting
10:42
Speaker 2: in the draft room and Duke or Mike Potts or
10:45
Speaker 2: Mike Brown asks me, hey, you know, why did Dax
10:48
Speaker 2: Hill move from nickel to safety? Why did Jesse Bates
10:52
Speaker 2: not return punts full time? You know, why did Chris
10:55
Speaker 2: Jenkins rotate out on third down. You know, I have
10:57
Speaker 2: to know those things like the back of my hand,
10:59
Speaker 2: or you know, what does Dax Hill's mother do for
11:01
Speaker 2: a living? You know where'd he play? You know where
11:05
Speaker 2: did Dax's brother go? You know, Dax's brother, Justice was
11:09
Speaker 2: a draft pick to Baltimore. Literally, you have to know
11:14
Speaker 2: those kids inside and out, and the higher level of
11:19
Speaker 2: prospect they are, the more you have to know about them.
11:22
Speaker 2: You know, I'll continue to come back to Dax probably
11:25
Speaker 2: because he's you know, one that hit home for me.
11:29
Speaker 2: He's one that I stood on the table for and
11:32
Speaker 2: put in more work on him than probably anybody I
11:34
Speaker 2: ever have. And you know, with a with a first
11:38
Speaker 2: round prospect, I may speak to fifteen different people at
11:42
Speaker 2: the school about him, and I may talk to those
11:44
Speaker 2: fifteen people, you know, upwards at three different times, you know,
11:49
Speaker 2: and you're following having covered the same area now for
11:52
Speaker 2: a little while. I've been able to attract these kids
11:55
Speaker 2: coming out of high school and throughout their whole career,
11:58
Speaker 2: and you get a really good feeling for him with
12:03
Speaker 2: you know, Dax was a five star kid out of Tulsa, Oklahoma,
12:06
Speaker 2: played right away, played multiple positions, was highly effective on
12:10
Speaker 2: special teams, and to follow him from really when he
12:14
Speaker 2: was a junior in high school to us taking him
12:17
Speaker 2: was a really special moment. But I would say ninety
12:22
Speaker 2: percent of my job is on the college side and
12:25
Speaker 2: knowing my area inside and out. And you know, as
12:29
Speaker 2: I said, if any questions come up, it could be
12:31
Speaker 2: the smallest thing. Hey did this kid play basketball in
12:34
Speaker 2: high school? Like that came up. We were talking about
12:37
Speaker 2: a kid in the third round this year that we
12:39
Speaker 2: ultimately didn't take, And you know, Duke asked me at
12:43
Speaker 2: one point, hey, did this kid play basketball in high school?
12:46
Speaker 2: And that was one I had to dig a little
12:48
Speaker 2: bit deep, but I had the answer. But it's it's
12:50
Speaker 2: little things like that that you have to know, like, hey,
12:52
Speaker 2: was he a big recruit? You know, did his dad
12:54
Speaker 2: play in college? What did he run track? Did he
12:57
Speaker 2: what was this one hundred meter time? You have to
12:59
Speaker 2: know all these things. Was he a captain? You know,
13:02
Speaker 2: why wasn't he a captain? What did he play on
13:04
Speaker 2: special teams? You know, who did he live with? Any
13:07
Speaker 2: little piece of information that you think is valuable for
13:11
Speaker 2: us to know and what we are getting and how
13:14
Speaker 2: we can put the kids in the best position to
13:16
Speaker 2: be successful here with the Bengals, I'm responsible and knowing
13:20
Speaker 2: for the schools. I go to sorry that that that
13:22
Speaker 2: might have been a loaded welcome to my world here,
13:25
Speaker 2: but it's it's a lot of fun. It's it's something
13:29
Speaker 2: that you kind of can't do lack of days ago.
13:34
Speaker 2: It's something you have to be all in on. So,
13:37
Speaker 2: like right now here in the summertime there's no football
13:39
Speaker 2: being played, I kind of think, okay, evaluating a college prospect,
13:47
Speaker 2: I think sixty percent of it is the character in
13:49
Speaker 2: the background and forty percent is the evaluation of the player.
13:54
Speaker 2: Other people may have different takes on that, but that's
13:58
Speaker 2: kind of where I come out on it. And in
14:01
Speaker 2: the summertime now May, June July, when there's no ball
14:03
Speaker 2: being played, I do my very best to get ahead
14:07
Speaker 2: on the personal character in the background so when the
14:09
Speaker 2: fall comes, I can really focus on the player and
14:14
Speaker 2: evaluating the tape and my live exposures of the kid.
14:19
Speaker 2: So that's that's probably ninety to ninety five percent of
14:23
Speaker 2: my job is on the college side, and I take
14:26
Speaker 2: a lot of pride in that and have learned a
14:28
Speaker 2: ton from from Duke and Mike and Trey and Steven.
14:32
Speaker 2: They're phenomenal coworkers to work with. And then on on
14:37
Speaker 2: the pro side, I, you know, have a role at
14:39
Speaker 2: roster cutdown. We come on, I'll go out on the
14:42
Speaker 2: road for three weeks in August, come back and for
14:46
Speaker 2: about a week will grind bubble players for the cut
14:49
Speaker 2: down and you know, see if there's anybody that's going
14:52
Speaker 2: to be released at cut down that can possibly upgrade
14:54
Speaker 2: what we have. One that comes to mind for me
14:57
Speaker 2: is Jeff Driscoll. Jeff was a a fifth round pick
15:01
Speaker 2: to San Francisco that was cut after his rookie camp.
15:04
Speaker 2: We claimed Jeff and you know he contributed for us
15:08
Speaker 2: for a few years and was was a great add
15:11
Speaker 2: to our team. And then I will have a few
15:14
Speaker 2: positions every January and February and free agency to watch.
15:18
Speaker 2: So this year I had the tight ends and the linebackers.
15:21
Speaker 2: It's changed every year. You know, Steve does a really
15:24
Speaker 2: good job of trying to get us to see different positions.
15:27
Speaker 2: And you know, I think that's another big thing here.
15:32
Speaker 2: As in a lot of other personnel departments, you may
15:34
Speaker 2: be you know a college guy or a pro guy.
15:38
Speaker 2: And Duke does an excellent job of letting us do
15:41
Speaker 2: both of those, and it gives you a great grasp
15:45
Speaker 2: of what's still playing in the league while you're out
15:48
Speaker 2: evaluating the college players.
15:50
Speaker 1: Your affection for Dax Hill shines through anytime you talk
15:54
Speaker 1: about him. The team recently picked up his fifth year options,
15:57
Speaker 1: so he's under contract this year and next. Made that
16:00
Speaker 1: switch last year from safety to outside corner. He seemed
16:03
Speaker 1: to really be thriving before he tore his ACL. Do
16:06
Speaker 1: you feel like the Bengals have found the best spot
16:08
Speaker 1: for him?
16:10
Speaker 2: I I do, you know when he was coming out
16:14
Speaker 2: the bottom line of my report is this player is
16:17
Speaker 2: a starting level free safety, nickel and outside corner. And
16:23
Speaker 2: you know, early on in his career his I remember
16:26
Speaker 2: his rookie year, we were kind of, you know, we
16:29
Speaker 2: had Jesse and Vaughn back there at free safety, so
16:32
Speaker 2: we you know, we told ourselves that Dax is, you know,
16:35
Speaker 2: going to be a safety and we're gonna, we're gonna
16:36
Speaker 2: we're a good team. We've got two starters, and we
16:39
Speaker 2: can we can move him in at a good pace.
16:43
Speaker 2: But what it ended up happening is, you know, guys
16:45
Speaker 2: were going down at different positions corner, nickel, and we
16:48
Speaker 2: he kind of we had to throw him in the fire,
16:50
Speaker 2: and you know, I think he did a lot of
16:54
Speaker 2: growing as a rookie and then I thought he had
16:58
Speaker 2: a pretty darn good year as a free safety and
17:00
Speaker 2: uh it would have been twenty three. He played one
17:03
Speaker 2: hundred percent of our snaps and you know it's it's
17:07
Speaker 2: free safety is a hard position to play in this
17:09
Speaker 2: league with with how much passing there is. Had he
17:13
Speaker 2: he was off to a phenomenal start last year at corner.
17:17
Speaker 2: You know, I think we made it easier on him
17:19
Speaker 2: and let him focus on just one spot. You know,
17:22
Speaker 2: I I think the world of him. He's a phenomenal,
17:26
Speaker 2: phenomenal young man. He's gonna whatever we asked him to do.
17:28
Speaker 2: He's gonna work his tail off. He he hit the
17:32
Speaker 2: ground running last year. He was gonna have a great year.
17:35
Speaker 2: It's his first. I think it's his first surgery he's
17:37
Speaker 2: ever had. He did the finger too, he did his
17:39
Speaker 2: I think he did his a little pinky at the
17:42
Speaker 2: same time of his knee. But he's been crushing his
17:45
Speaker 2: rehab and I'm thinking he'll win Comeback Player of the Year.
17:49
Speaker 2: So have have big hopes for Dex.
17:53
Speaker 1: You also put a lot of time in on his
17:55
Speaker 1: college teammate DJ Turner. What kind of growth did you
17:58
Speaker 1: see in DJT year in his second NFL season.
18:02
Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing with DJ is just knowing
18:04
Speaker 2: how to play against bigger receivers. You know, DJ is
18:09
Speaker 2: a is a rare athlete. He was four to eight
18:14
Speaker 2: coming out in the forty but he is a slighter
18:16
Speaker 2: built guy, which there's nothing he can do about it.
18:20
Speaker 2: That's what his god given dimensions are. But seeing him
18:25
Speaker 2: learn how to play against big receivers on the outside
18:29
Speaker 2: was the biggest step I saw DJ take. And the
18:33
Speaker 2: game against the Chargers stands out to me when he
18:37
Speaker 2: had to go outside and cover Quinton Johnson and probably
18:42
Speaker 2: had his best game that he's ever had here. I think.
18:44
Speaker 2: Unfortunately he also that was the game he broke his
18:47
Speaker 2: collar bone, but he had a phenomenal game. DJ is
18:51
Speaker 2: very smart, He's very confident. He's also very tough, so,
18:57
Speaker 2: you know, despite being a smaller stature guy, he's he's
19:01
Speaker 2: not afraid to anyone. So I think playing on the
19:04
Speaker 2: outside against bigger receivers, bigger and faster receivers, despite playing
19:09
Speaker 2: you know, at a very high level in college, seeing
19:12
Speaker 2: that every week and you know, adjusting to Okay, how
19:16
Speaker 2: am I going to play this ball in the air?
19:17
Speaker 2: How am I going to play at the top of
19:19
Speaker 2: the route when this guy's got longer arms than me
19:21
Speaker 2: and he's going to try and push off? You know,
19:23
Speaker 2: how am I going to make up for those things
19:25
Speaker 2: with my feet, my speed, my leverage. So seeing that,
19:30
Speaker 2: I would say that that you know, just adjusting to
19:34
Speaker 2: the heightweight speed that you see in outside receivers in
19:37
Speaker 2: the NFL. You know, I think in college it's rare
19:41
Speaker 2: to see a big guy with speed on the outside.
19:43
Speaker 2: You may see a big guy that can't really run
19:46
Speaker 2: or you know, and he saw a lot of those.
19:48
Speaker 2: But that was a huge adjustment I saw for him
19:52
Speaker 2: to make. And I also, you know, he DJ is
19:55
Speaker 2: a good tackler. He's not afraid to anybody. He'll come
19:58
Speaker 2: up and smack you. He plays with no gloves. You know,
20:00
Speaker 2: he's he's a fearless, fearless player. I think we're going
20:05
Speaker 2: to see him take another step. And unfortunately, like Dax,
20:08
Speaker 2: he also got hurt. But you know, they're they're they're
20:12
Speaker 2: a little bit different personalities, but they're wired the same way.
20:15
Speaker 2: They they love football, they're smart, they live right away
20:19
Speaker 2: from the building and they represent our team in a
20:21
Speaker 2: great manner.
20:23
Speaker 1: Then there's Chris Jenkins, who played a big chunk of
20:25
Speaker 1: his rookie year with a giant club on his hand,
20:28
Speaker 1: which couldn't have been easy. What did you think of
20:30
Speaker 1: his rookie season?
20:31
Speaker 2: Chris got thrown in the fire a little bit. We
20:33
Speaker 2: we got banged up, uh in the interior last year.
20:37
Speaker 2: I think Chris is going to take a huge step
20:40
Speaker 2: this year. You know, he went from being you know,
20:43
Speaker 2: captain big fish in a big pond essentially at Michigan
20:48
Speaker 2: to kind of, you know, not being the man last year.
20:51
Speaker 2: Is a rookie and I and Chris is is is
20:54
Speaker 2: such a big, outgoing, fun personality to be around and
20:59
Speaker 2: having to adjust to, hey, I'm a rookie now, like
21:02
Speaker 2: you know, so so things like that, having a year
21:04
Speaker 2: under his belt, you know, having a system that I
21:08
Speaker 2: think what we're going to ask our interior guys to
21:11
Speaker 2: do is going to to pair up with his skill
21:15
Speaker 2: set a little bit better.
21:17
Speaker 4: You know.
21:17
Speaker 2: I think we were asking him to do some things
21:19
Speaker 2: technique wise and assignment wise that maybe he hadn't done
21:23
Speaker 2: in the past at Michigan. So I think this year,
21:27
Speaker 2: you know, we're gonna really utilize his skill set in
21:30
Speaker 2: a great way and and I'll allow him to to
21:34
Speaker 2: highlight the things that he does best, and you know,
21:36
Speaker 2: play with his length, and play with his get off,
21:39
Speaker 2: and play with his speed and bend. And Chris is
21:42
Speaker 2: is very, very gifted athletically. He has all the physical
21:47
Speaker 2: tools and in tangibles to be a good starter in
21:51
Speaker 2: our league. And I think this year with us being
21:56
Speaker 2: you know that we you know, we didn't draft a
21:58
Speaker 2: defensive tackle. We obviously signed T and BJ, but Chris
22:01
Speaker 2: is going to have to play a lot. You know.
22:04
Speaker 2: I think last year it was good for him to
22:06
Speaker 2: get his feet wet. I think he played just over
22:08
Speaker 2: forty percent of our snaps. But allowing him to play
22:12
Speaker 2: within his skill set and play to what he does
22:16
Speaker 2: best is what I think is really going to help
22:18
Speaker 2: him this year. And he's a tremendous kid. He loves football.
22:23
Speaker 2: He works really really hard, he loves the game. His
22:25
Speaker 2: teammates love him, so I expect him to take a
22:28
Speaker 2: huge step.
22:30
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Bengal scout Andrew Johnson. Let's get to
22:32
Speaker 1: this year's draft class. First round pick Shamar Stewart has
22:36
Speaker 1: the physical traits of Miles Garrett. But many people have
22:39
Speaker 1: focused on the fact that he didn't have a lot
22:41
Speaker 1: of sacks at Texas A and M and that's fair,
22:44
Speaker 1: But what does he do well right now and how
22:48
Speaker 1: can he improve in that area?
22:50
Speaker 2: So Schamar is obviously a rare athlete, rare size, length, speed, explosiveness.
22:57
Speaker 2: He plays with excellent effort, toughness, physicality, and violence. I
23:01
Speaker 2: think the the instinctiveness part of the game is something
23:04
Speaker 2: that he still has to work on. Finishing at the
23:07
Speaker 2: top of the rush, you know, not you know, he
23:10
Speaker 2: reminds different body types. He reminds me a little bit
23:12
Speaker 2: of Carl Lawson the way that the way that they played.
23:14
Speaker 2: They're they're two totally different body types, but play styles.
23:18
Speaker 2: You know that they remind me a little bit of
23:19
Speaker 2: each other. But you know, finishing on the quarterback, knowing
23:24
Speaker 2: when to bend your rush at the top or when
23:27
Speaker 2: to counter back and not just you know, sprint up
23:30
Speaker 2: field and kind of take yourself out of the play.
23:32
Speaker 2: But that comes with with playing time, that comes with reps.
23:35
Speaker 2: You know, instincts is something that that develops over time.
23:38
Speaker 2: Chamar is a young player with a super high upside,
23:42
Speaker 2: trending up player, but his his physicality, his his toughness,
23:48
Speaker 2: his strength, and his his pursuit of the ball and
23:50
Speaker 2: the quarterback despite not having great production, I think it's
23:54
Speaker 2: something that will come. You know, when we talked about
23:57
Speaker 2: Schamar in the draft process, we talked about guys like
24:00
Speaker 2: Jason Oway, who wasn't super productive at Penn State but
24:04
Speaker 2: has turned into a productive player. Unfortunately for Baltimore. Daniel
24:09
Speaker 2: Hunter was a guy that had similar highway speed to Shamar,
24:15
Speaker 2: wasn't super productive at LSU, has turned into a very
24:19
Speaker 2: productive player. Rashan Gary, I think, had three and a
24:22
Speaker 2: half sacks at Michigan in his career and has turned
24:25
Speaker 2: into a highly productive player who's gotten a big second
24:28
Speaker 2: contract for Green Bay. So those were all guys that
24:31
Speaker 2: had similar strengths and weaknesses as Shamar. Rare physical talents
24:36
Speaker 2: that were young players when they entered the draft and
24:40
Speaker 2: instinctively were still figuring things out how to use their hands,
24:43
Speaker 2: when to bend at the top of the rush, when
24:45
Speaker 2: to counter back inside, when to long arm, when to
24:48
Speaker 2: push pulls, stuff like that. So everything is there for
24:53
Speaker 2: Chamar to be an all pro player. Everything is there
24:58
Speaker 2: and I have faith in our coaching staff that will
25:00
Speaker 2: get him there. So it's it's really exciting to get
25:04
Speaker 2: a guy like that because had he had I would
25:09
Speaker 2: even say six or seven sacks, we probably wouldn't have
25:11
Speaker 2: seen him. It's it's kind of similar to when we
25:14
Speaker 2: took A Marius last year. A Marius is as rare
25:18
Speaker 2: physically as anybody in the National Football League, but he
25:22
Speaker 2: was hurt and you know was I think he was hurt.
25:26
Speaker 2: I don't cover Georgia, but being in interviews and meetings,
25:30
Speaker 2: but he had, you know, some injury stuff that he
25:32
Speaker 2: was working through through the draft process, and that's why
25:36
Speaker 2: we got him at I think it was eighteen when
25:37
Speaker 2: we took him. And for anybody that watched this last year,
25:42
Speaker 2: A Marius has a chance to be as special as
25:45
Speaker 2: anybody that I've seen it. So I'm hoping that, you know,
25:50
Speaker 2: Chamar kind of you know, has a similar trajectory because
25:53
Speaker 2: you know, we've I think Marius is a is a
25:56
Speaker 2: huge trending upward player, and I see a similar path
26:00
Speaker 2: for Schamar despite them being different positions.
26:02
Speaker 1: Your second round pick was linebacker Demetrius Night out of
26:05
Speaker 1: South Carolina. He's got a personality that screams future captain.
26:10
Speaker 1: What does he immediately add on defense?
26:13
Speaker 2: He immediately adds a smart, athletic, hard hitting, well rounded,
26:20
Speaker 2: three down linebacker. He's a little bit of an older guy,
26:24
Speaker 2: he's played a lot of college football, but he's a
26:27
Speaker 2: phenomenal young man. He's smart, he can play all three
26:31
Speaker 2: linebacker positions. He can blitz, he can tackle, he can
26:35
Speaker 2: get off blocks. He's going to contribute on special teams
26:38
Speaker 2: right away. I think we took Demetrius with the thought
26:41
Speaker 2: process that he's also going to play on defense right away.
26:45
Speaker 2: So you know, he's somebody. He's a phenomenal athlete. He's
26:48
Speaker 2: a phenomenal young man. He's great to be around. He's
26:53
Speaker 2: assimilated very quickly in the locker room, and I think
26:57
Speaker 2: he's somebody that is going to, you know, bring a
27:00
Speaker 2: a sense of physicality and violence and toughness to our defense.
27:04
Speaker 2: And I would agree with what you just said, a
27:06
Speaker 2: potential future captain for sure.
27:09
Speaker 1: In the third round, you addressed the guard position with
27:11
Speaker 1: the selection of George's Dylan Fairchild. Right now, it looks
27:15
Speaker 1: like he's the leading candidate to start at left guard.
27:17
Speaker 1: This was thought to be a deep guard class, were
27:20
Speaker 1: you confident that you could get somebody that could compete
27:23
Speaker 1: for a starting job as late as the third round
27:26
Speaker 1: or even later.
27:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, Dylan is someone that we did a ton of
27:31
Speaker 2: extensive work on throughout the process we had. You know,
27:34
Speaker 2: our coaches did a lot of hands on work with them. Again,
27:37
Speaker 2: I don't cover Georgia, but I know that he is
27:40
Speaker 2: somebody that as a Bengals staff, as a whole, we
27:45
Speaker 2: did as much work on as any other player in
27:47
Speaker 2: the draft. And you know, Dylan is a phenomenal kid.
27:51
Speaker 2: He loves football. He's young, he is still a little
27:55
Speaker 2: bit of a raw prospect, but he's got length, he's
27:59
Speaker 2: very very wrong and for what we do on offense
28:03
Speaker 2: as a pass heavy offense, he's a great pass protector.
28:06
Speaker 2: He's got very good punch and hand strength and grip strength.
28:10
Speaker 2: So I think from a from a scheme fit, he's
28:13
Speaker 2: an excellent scheme fit for us. From a personality fit,
28:17
Speaker 2: he's going to blend right in with our room. So
28:19
Speaker 2: you know, he is somebody that I think we would
28:22
Speaker 2: have felt comfortable taking earlier than where we got him.
28:27
Speaker 2: And you know, only having six picks made things a
28:29
Speaker 2: little bit tougher, you know, it we we had to
28:33
Speaker 2: make some some tough calls, you know, here not there
28:36
Speaker 2: throughout the draft, but I think everybody is very happy
28:39
Speaker 2: we have Dylan. I think it was it certainly was
28:43
Speaker 2: a position of need, and obviously he's going to need
28:45
Speaker 2: to compete for the job. And he is still a
28:48
Speaker 2: little bit of a raw prospect that's got to work,
28:51
Speaker 2: you know, work through some some technique things, but physically
28:54
Speaker 2: he has everything to be a good starter in our league.
28:59
Speaker 2: He was one of the strongest players in the draft,
29:02
Speaker 2: and having unanimity with our coaching staff and our personnel staff,
29:10
Speaker 2: we feel really good about Dylan.
29:13
Speaker 1: In the fourth round, he took another linebacker, Barrett Carter
29:15
Speaker 1: out of Clemson. In watching the drills over the last
29:18
Speaker 1: few weeks, he looks fast and fluid to me, what
29:20
Speaker 1: impressed you about Barrett?
29:22
Speaker 2: Barrett is super athletic, another guy that we had a
29:26
Speaker 2: higher opinion of than where we took him. We would
29:28
Speaker 2: have felt comfortable taking him earlier if we needed to.
29:32
Speaker 2: He's probably the best cover linebacker in the draft. He's
29:35
Speaker 2: super athletic. He can run, he can change direction, he
29:38
Speaker 2: can flip his hips, he can play sam linebacker, will linebacker.
29:42
Speaker 2: He was highly productive on special teams. He's a great kid.
29:46
Speaker 2: He's a leader. But the biggest thing he's going to
29:49
Speaker 2: help us with day one is covering on third down.
29:52
Speaker 2: He's a phenomenal cover linebacker.
29:55
Speaker 1: In the fifth round, you took Jalen Rivers as six
29:58
Speaker 1: to six offensive lineman out of the University of Miami
30:01
Speaker 1: with thirty five inch arms. He played tackling guard almost
30:04
Speaker 1: equally at the you where did he perform best?
30:08
Speaker 2: In your opinion, I think Jalen's a tackle. He's He's
30:13
Speaker 2: another kid that is an exceptional young man, somebody that
30:17
Speaker 2: we you know, I don't do Miami, but saw him
30:20
Speaker 2: at the Senior Bowl, and I think he's somebody that
30:23
Speaker 2: we see that can that can fill in at both spots.
30:26
Speaker 1: You know.
30:27
Speaker 2: I think, if if we had to pick one, I
30:29
Speaker 2: think tackle is probably his best spot. He's athletic, he's long,
30:32
Speaker 2: he can bend, he's got good feet, you know, going inside.
30:37
Speaker 2: You know, for what we do on offense, playing guard,
30:41
Speaker 2: you know, you you almost have to pass protect like
30:43
Speaker 2: a tackle just because how much we pass protect. But
30:46
Speaker 2: I think his versatility, his intelligence, his athletic ability, and
30:51
Speaker 2: his dimensions, his length were really what stood out to us,
30:55
Speaker 2: and you know, I think that he could fill in.
30:58
Speaker 2: You know, if somebody goes down to guard, we think
31:01
Speaker 2: he can go in and help us. And if somebody
31:02
Speaker 2: goes goes down to tackle, we think he can he
31:04
Speaker 2: can go in and help us. He reminds me a
31:06
Speaker 2: little bit of Deontay Smith. When Deontay came out. I
31:09
Speaker 2: did Deontay coming out of East Carolina, and I think
31:12
Speaker 2: they had similar bodies of work to this point. Deontay
31:15
Speaker 2: had some some injuries here, but you know, there there
31:18
Speaker 2: were flashes of Deontay that, you know, we thought we're
31:21
Speaker 2: gonna be really good. You know, he unfortunately had a
31:24
Speaker 2: couple of injuries here and there. But those two remind me.
31:28
Speaker 2: We took Deontay at the back of the fourth and
31:30
Speaker 2: those two remind me of each other a little bit.
31:32
Speaker 1: Your sixth and final pick was running back Taj Brooks.
31:35
Speaker 1: You've got an emerging Chase Brown. You brought back some
31:38
Speaker 1: I J. P.
31:38
Speaker 3: Ryan.
31:39
Speaker 1: What does Taj Brooks add to the mix?
31:42
Speaker 2: Taj was very productive at Texas Tech. He's tough, he's strong,
31:47
Speaker 2: he's instinctive, he's got good vision, he's got good make miss,
31:51
Speaker 2: he can pass protect, He's somebody that we feel can
31:54
Speaker 2: do everything that we need. You know, if if somej
31:58
Speaker 2: goes down, he can go in, be the past protector.
32:00
Speaker 2: If you know, Chase goes down, he can go in.
32:03
Speaker 2: You know, God forbid all these If Chase goes down,
32:05
Speaker 2: he can go in and carry the ball twenty times
32:07
Speaker 2: a game if we need him to. If you know,
32:10
Speaker 2: we need him to go in on third down and
32:12
Speaker 2: catch a swing out of the backfield, he can do that.
32:14
Speaker 2: He's a jack of all trades type of player. You know,
32:19
Speaker 2: it was an exceptional running back draft, probably the best
32:23
Speaker 2: you know, I saw, and even just this this year
32:27
Speaker 2: being the year where all these extra COVID seasons were ending,
32:33
Speaker 2: you know, there were more what we would call draftable
32:37
Speaker 2: players in this draft than any year that you know,
32:40
Speaker 2: of the ten that I've been doing it. So you
32:43
Speaker 2: know that that led to you know, guys that we
32:47
Speaker 2: had high opinions of being there in the sixth round.
32:50
Speaker 2: So you know, we see Taj as somebody that is
32:53
Speaker 2: a make it player, a contributing player, and you can't
32:56
Speaker 2: say that for every six or seventh round pick. So
32:58
Speaker 2: somebody that we feel has a very well rounded skill
33:01
Speaker 2: set and could go in and you know, if, as
33:05
Speaker 2: I said, he can carry the ball, he can pass, protect,
33:08
Speaker 2: he can catch the ball and run routes. So phenomenal
33:12
Speaker 2: young man too. Has has really these last couple of weeks,
33:16
Speaker 2: you know, just getting here been a great ad and
33:19
Speaker 2: fit in very well.
33:21
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Bengal scout Andrew Johnson. Let's talk about
33:24
Speaker 1: a couple of the undrafted free agents, beginning with center
33:27
Speaker 1: Seth McLaughlan out of Ohio State. He won the Remmington
33:31
Speaker 1: Award He's the best center in the country before tearing
33:33
Speaker 1: his achilles in November. He hopes to be back by
33:36
Speaker 1: the start of training camp. What grade did you have
33:38
Speaker 1: on Seth before the injury.
33:40
Speaker 2: Yes, certainly. You know, in the scouting world, you grade
33:44
Speaker 2: the medical separate from the playing ability. So you grade
33:47
Speaker 2: the playing ability for what it is, You grade the
33:49
Speaker 2: character for what it is, and you grade the medical
33:52
Speaker 2: for what it is. There are three independent evaluations that
33:55
Speaker 2: all you know, it's all part of the player's body
33:59
Speaker 2: at work. But certainly thought Seth was a was a
34:01
Speaker 2: draftable player and a late day too early day three pick,
34:07
Speaker 2: I would say, going into you know, the draft process,
34:11
Speaker 2: not being able to work out at the combine not
34:14
Speaker 2: being able to work out at Pro Day and having
34:16
Speaker 2: an active injury during the draft is very difficult. Certainly
34:21
Speaker 2: think Seth was going to get drafted, you know, tearing
34:23
Speaker 2: your achilles. I think it was in practice, you know,
34:27
Speaker 2: either the second or last week of the season for
34:29
Speaker 2: Seth is really difficult. Played at a very high level
34:34
Speaker 2: for two blue bloods in college football at Alabama and
34:37
Speaker 2: Ohio State. Was obviously part of a national championship winning
34:40
Speaker 2: team this year. He's super, super smart. He plays with
34:45
Speaker 2: outstanding leverage, outstanding instincts. He plays like a veteran on
34:49
Speaker 2: the field. You know, he may not be the god
34:53
Speaker 2: given athlete that you know, a first round or second
34:56
Speaker 2: round center is, but he makes up for that with
35:01
Speaker 2: his intelligence, his anticipation, his leverage, his hand use, and
35:07
Speaker 2: you know, I'm really excited for him. I hope he
35:10
Speaker 2: I hope we can you know, see him in camp
35:13
Speaker 2: be what he was. I know it's going to be
35:14
Speaker 2: tough coming back from from a major injury, but you know,
35:20
Speaker 2: I think we're planning on, you know, whether it's active roster,
35:23
Speaker 2: practice squad, you know, getting him through this injury and
35:26
Speaker 2: getting him back to where he was. I think it's
35:29
Speaker 2: going to be a really really good ad for us
35:31
Speaker 2: when we when we can see Seth back at his
35:34
Speaker 2: full go his full potential. So we were thrilled to
35:38
Speaker 2: get to get him as a college free agent, and
35:40
Speaker 2: I think he's one that you know, will eventually factor
35:43
Speaker 2: and be a contributing player for us.
35:45
Speaker 1: You didn't draft to safety, but you did sign one
35:48
Speaker 1: in Chequan Loyal out of Rutgers. He reportedly had offers
35:52
Speaker 1: out of high school from Alabama and Ohio State. What
35:55
Speaker 1: can you tell us about him?
35:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, really really excited about Shaq. He's as you said,
36:01
Speaker 2: we did not draft a safety. You know, it was something,
36:04
Speaker 2: it was a position. It's I would still call it
36:06
Speaker 2: a position and need for us, and it was just
36:08
Speaker 2: one of those positions. We're here in the draft and
36:10
Speaker 2: only having six picks, you know, we had to make
36:13
Speaker 2: some tough decisions, but we had very very high opinions
36:16
Speaker 2: a shack coming out of Rutgers. I was at the
36:19
Speaker 2: pro day. I worked him out myself. He is a big, tough, strong,
36:25
Speaker 2: physical safety that has played free strong and nickel. He's
36:30
Speaker 2: been a high level special teams player. I was just
36:35
Speaker 2: you know, watching our buzzing through some of our tape
36:38
Speaker 2: before we jumped on here, and he made a play
36:40
Speaker 2: in individual last week. I think it was on Tuesday
36:43
Speaker 2: or I think it was Tuesday of last week where
36:46
Speaker 2: it you know, we're just doing drills on air here
36:48
Speaker 2: in shorts and t shirts. But it was a run
36:52
Speaker 2: and catch a deep ball, high point it, and he
36:54
Speaker 2: made an incredibly athletic play to high point this ball
36:57
Speaker 2: and and and come down with it. And that was
37:00
Speaker 2: something he was more of a box guy at Rutgers,
37:02
Speaker 2: so to see him do that, it was like, WHOA.
37:05
Speaker 2: So he's somebody that I think, just in these first
37:09
Speaker 2: couple weeks of being here, has really impressed. You know,
37:13
Speaker 2: he looks the part. He's athletic, he's strong, he's very
37:18
Speaker 2: tough and physical. He was very productive. He plays in
37:22
Speaker 2: a program that I have a lot of respect for.
37:25
Speaker 2: It's a tough place to play, and he's a he's
37:29
Speaker 2: a great ad and I think he's really gonna factor
37:32
Speaker 2: for us and eventually be a contributor.
37:34
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Bengals scout Andrew Johnson. You worked with
37:38
Speaker 1: Al Golden previously when he was a Bengals assistant coach.
37:41
Speaker 1: I'm sure you watched a lot of his Notre Dame
37:43
Speaker 1: defenses as you studied tape as a college scout over
37:46
Speaker 1: the last few years. What stood out to you about
37:49
Speaker 1: those Notre Dame defenses?
37:51
Speaker 2: Al first of all, couldn't be more excited to have alback.
37:55
Speaker 2: I think the absolute world of Al and can't believe
37:59
Speaker 2: he's not a head coach. Hopefully we win the Super
38:01
Speaker 2: Bowl here and you know, maybe maybe he gets one then.
38:05
Speaker 2: But I that just tells you what I what I
38:07
Speaker 2: think of Al. One story I like to tell about
38:11
Speaker 2: Al is he was our linebackers coach in twenty twenty
38:14
Speaker 2: and twenty twenty one. We went to Super Bowl and
38:16
Speaker 2: during the twenty twenty draft, I think it was the
38:21
Speaker 2: twenty twenty and twenty twenty one draft, we couldn't do
38:24
Speaker 2: our draft visits because of you know, COVID rules, So
38:27
Speaker 2: we were doing all these zoom calls with these kids
38:30
Speaker 2: and I would, you know, if it was a guy
38:33
Speaker 2: in my area, I would jump on with Al and
38:36
Speaker 2: listen in. And I remember, I'll leave the player un names.
38:41
Speaker 2: But it was a high level first round player that year.
38:45
Speaker 2: And you know a lot of times, you know, some
38:48
Speaker 2: coaches will you know, spend five ten, maybe a whole call,
38:52
Speaker 2: just getting to know the kid. And we jumped on
38:54
Speaker 2: this call with this player. It was a Sunday morning,
38:58
Speaker 2: I think it was like eight am, and Al said, Hey,
39:02
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say his name, but hey, you know,
39:03
Speaker 2: thanks so much for jumping on the call. You got
39:05
Speaker 2: to coach, no problem. All right, I'm gonna put this
39:07
Speaker 2: front up here, and I want you to tell me
39:09
Speaker 2: what happens when you know this guy goes in motion,
39:12
Speaker 2: and how you pass it off and what you call
39:13
Speaker 2: on your defense. And for forty five minutes straight, we
39:16
Speaker 2: did nothing but talk about defenses and fronts and adjustments
39:20
Speaker 2: and calls and checks and you know, how to close
39:24
Speaker 2: the front and what to communicate to the safeties. And
39:27
Speaker 2: I was sitting on the call, like, you know, I'm
39:30
Speaker 2: having a hard time following this. So he's he's one
39:33
Speaker 2: of the most detail oriented people I've ever been around.
39:38
Speaker 2: But at the same time, he's a phenomenal personality. He's
39:42
Speaker 2: so easy to get along with. He knows when to
39:45
Speaker 2: be serious and when to to you know, be you know,
39:49
Speaker 2: have fun and be loose. And he's you know, I
39:53
Speaker 2: think Al's players love him. I think people I would
39:57
Speaker 2: run through a wall for him, and I think our player,
40:00
Speaker 2: I think the Notre Dame players when we talked to,
40:02
Speaker 2: you know, guys in the draft that played for Al
40:06
Speaker 2: at Notre Dame, they loved him. And that's no shock
40:09
Speaker 2: to me. Our guys loved him in twenty twenty and
40:11
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. So I think it's a huge, huge
40:16
Speaker 2: ad for us and I think it's it's going to
40:18
Speaker 2: be the X factor in US winning the Super Bowl.
40:21
Speaker 1: Do you think he has a unique ability to develop
40:23
Speaker 1: young talent?
40:24
Speaker 2: Absolutely, He's one thing about Al is he knows how
40:28
Speaker 2: to get along with all walks of life. You know,
40:30
Speaker 2: he can talk to, you know, an inner city kid,
40:34
Speaker 2: he can talk to a suburban kid. He can talk
40:37
Speaker 2: to a ten year of d or a rookie, and
40:39
Speaker 2: he strategically communicates to different people to know how to
40:44
Speaker 2: get the best out of them. So incredibly happy to
40:49
Speaker 2: have him here. And yeah, I think I think development
40:53
Speaker 2: is something that we're putting a huge emphasis on, and
40:56
Speaker 2: with a lot of you know, obviously everybody knows that
40:59
Speaker 2: we've spent a lot of money on the offensive side
41:01
Speaker 2: of the ball and that's resulting in a lot of
41:03
Speaker 2: young draft picks. On defense. So you know, we have
41:06
Speaker 2: a lot of young players that are going to be playing,
41:09
Speaker 2: and you know Hal knows that, and we've put an
41:11
Speaker 2: emphasis on development, So I have no doubt that he
41:15
Speaker 2: will get the best out of our young players.
41:17
Speaker 1: A couple more topics for Andrew Johnson. One of your
41:20
Speaker 1: colleagues with the Bengals, Christian Sarkisian, recently left the team
41:23
Speaker 1: to be the GM at Northwestern University College football. GM
41:28
Speaker 1: is a relatively new position. Is it something that people
41:31
Speaker 1: in your world are talking about? It's a possible stepping
41:34
Speaker 1: stone to be an NFL GM, not that.
41:38
Speaker 2: I have heard of. You know, I think it's a
41:41
Speaker 2: different world with the money aspect in college football right now.
41:47
Speaker 2: College recruiting is not what it used to be. You know,
41:49
Speaker 2: you used to recruit, you know, ten years when I
41:53
Speaker 2: was playing, you know, you recruited thirty high school kids
41:56
Speaker 2: a year and maybe you took one or two transfers.
41:58
Speaker 2: And now you know, you've got kids making seven figures
42:03
Speaker 2: and you're recruiting high school kids, you're recruiting transfers, and
42:07
Speaker 2: you're recruiting your own roster back every single day. Because
42:11
Speaker 2: of the current landscape of college football, you know, I
42:16
Speaker 2: could go on and on about that for a long time.
42:19
Speaker 2: But that's the one thing about the IVY League is
42:21
Speaker 2: there's no scholarships. We're just playing for the love of
42:23
Speaker 2: the game. But IVY League hasn't really been impacted by NIL.
42:27
Speaker 2: But no, really, really really happy for Christian. He's super smart,
42:31
Speaker 2: he was a great guy to work with. He's going
42:32
Speaker 2: to do an excellent job, and really happy for him
42:35
Speaker 2: and wish him the best.
42:37
Speaker 1: Is your ultimate dream NFL GM.
42:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll answer that by saying that I have no
42:45
Speaker 2: intentions of working for any other team than the Bengals,
42:47
Speaker 2: and I'll work that back to something I said on
42:51
Speaker 2: the you know at the beginning, is that you know,
42:53
Speaker 2: we are very, very fortunate to work for the best
42:56
Speaker 2: people in football, and I truly mean that, from the
42:58
Speaker 2: ownership family to do Uk and Zach. This is a
43:02
Speaker 2: special place and that's something that anybody I talked to
43:05
Speaker 2: about our team, that's the first thing that I'll tell him,
43:08
Speaker 2: and it's the god honest truth.
43:09
Speaker 3: So, you know, I.
43:12
Speaker 2: Want to win a Super Bowl here. I want to
43:15
Speaker 2: win one for our owner, Mike Brown and everybody in
43:18
Speaker 2: the building. But that would be great if it was here.
43:22
Speaker 2: That would be great, but I would like to have
43:26
Speaker 2: one full time employer in my whole life and that's
43:28
Speaker 2: the Bengals.
43:29
Speaker 1: This has been fun. Really appreciate your time, Andrew, thank.
43:31
Speaker 2: You, Thank you, Dan Hudei.
43:34
Speaker 1: Before getting to my next guest, here's a quick reminder
43:37
Speaker 1: that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by
43:39
Speaker 1: pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider,
43:44
Speaker 1: by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate
43:48
Speaker 1: your home, business and community to a new level, and
43:51
Speaker 1: by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
43:54
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
43:58
Speaker 1: Now time to move on to another edition of five
44:02
Speaker 1: Questions with a Bengals rookie. It's my way of getting
44:05
Speaker 1: to know them a little bit better by asking five
44:08
Speaker 1: questions that hopefully they don't hear over and over again.
44:14
Speaker 1: Time for five Questions with third round draft pick Dylan Fairchild.
44:18
Speaker 1: Question number one. I think people have heard that you
44:20
Speaker 1: are a tremendous high school wrestler, four times all state
44:24
Speaker 1: undefeated as a junior and a senior. You reportedly pinned
44:28
Speaker 1: every opponent your senior year here's my question. Could you
44:32
Speaker 1: have been an Olympian and did you have any interest
44:34
Speaker 1: in trying to pursue.
44:35
Speaker 3: That an Olympian? I don't know.
44:38
Speaker 5: That's a hard that's a hard h thing to do.
44:41
Speaker 5: But I mean, you know, football is always like my
44:44
Speaker 5: main passion, so I mean, I really just wanted to
44:47
Speaker 5: pursue football, but I don't know an olympian.
44:49
Speaker 3: That's a hard thing to do.
44:51
Speaker 5: So I don't know if Gabe Stevenson will have something
44:53
Speaker 5: to say about that.
44:56
Speaker 1: I did hear or read that Cale Sanderson, legendary Olympic
45:00
Speaker 1: old Metal has tried to recruit you at Penn State.
45:02
Speaker 1: Was that the case?
45:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, he did well. He didn't try to recruit me necessarily.
45:06
Speaker 5: He just basically told me, like, you know, you can
45:10
Speaker 5: wrestle here, like if you you know, if you come
45:12
Speaker 5: here to play football. I mean it was really more
45:14
Speaker 5: of like almost a dual scholarship.
45:16
Speaker 1: Question Number two for Dylan Fairchild. You spent four years
45:20
Speaker 1: at Georgia. Who is the toughest person you either faced
45:23
Speaker 1: in a game or at practice.
45:27
Speaker 3: Definitely Jalen Carter in practice.
45:29
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, he's one of the elite guys
45:32
Speaker 5: in the league, right now, Yeah, I mean i'd probably
45:35
Speaker 5: just say him in the practice for sure.
45:38
Speaker 1: Was it miserable and what made him so tough to face?
45:41
Speaker 5: I think, yeah, that first year was pretty miserable. Was
45:44
Speaker 5: not even not even ever feeling anything like that? You know,
45:48
Speaker 5: like seven A Georgia football is a great it's a
45:51
Speaker 5: great division to play in high school. But you know,
45:53
Speaker 5: you got those rare guys that come into college and
45:56
Speaker 5: you know end up being like how he had a
45:58
Speaker 5: how his career shaped up. You know, I look at
46:02
Speaker 5: us as a blessing just to be able to see
46:04
Speaker 5: him early on in my career and feel what the
46:08
Speaker 5: best feels like.
46:09
Speaker 1: So yeah, question three for dylean Fairchild. According to your bio,
46:14
Speaker 1: you are an avid fisherman. What's your biggest catch or
46:17
Speaker 1: your proudest fishing accomplishment?
46:21
Speaker 5: My biggest I caught like a two hundred pounds shark
46:23
Speaker 5: when I was younger. Man, I don't even say my
46:28
Speaker 5: biggest bass because it wasn't that big.
46:31
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the two hundred pound shark. How
46:35
Speaker 1: did you bring in a two hundred pound shark?
46:38
Speaker 3: I think I was like eleven. It took me like
46:39
Speaker 3: three hours.
46:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, I actually went with my dad a long time ago,
46:45
Speaker 5: and we went fishing and hooked up on a shark
46:48
Speaker 5: and then brought it in.
46:49
Speaker 1: So is there a good photo?
46:52
Speaker 5: No, No, No, I know I wish I had one.
46:57
Speaker 5: I think we broke it off right at the boat.
47:00
Speaker 5: But yeah, I mean that's I know, I know, I
47:04
Speaker 5: really wish we got a photo that.
47:06
Speaker 1: I am actually devastated for you that there's no photo
47:09
Speaker 1: of that, all right? Question number four. Your Instagram feed
47:13
Speaker 1: includes picks of what appears to be your wedding proposal,
47:17
Speaker 1: and I was impressed. There's a giant heart that looks
47:20
Speaker 1: like it's made of flowers. There are candles, there's champagne.
47:24
Speaker 1: You went all out.
47:25
Speaker 3: Yeah I did, I did.
47:27
Speaker 5: I gotta give credit to the people at Athletes first
47:31
Speaker 5: hooking me up and helping me with that too. I mean,
47:33
Speaker 5: they hooked me up with all the people that could
47:35
Speaker 5: connect me and.
47:37
Speaker 3: Help me set it up for my wife. Now she's
47:39
Speaker 3: my wife now, so.
47:41
Speaker 1: I mean she can't say no when you go to
47:44
Speaker 1: those lengths.
47:44
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, No, it was hard to hide it from her,
47:47
Speaker 5: Like walking up to it, she knew.
47:48
Speaker 3: She pretty much knew from a mile away.
47:52
Speaker 1: That's all right, when it's that elaborate the element of
47:54
Speaker 1: surprise doesn't matter quite as much. Fifth and final question
47:58
Speaker 1: for Dylan Fairchild. Tell us thing about you that not
48:02
Speaker 1: that many people know.
48:04
Speaker 3: I don't know.
48:05
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm a pretty open book, you know. I mean,
48:07
Speaker 5: I just pursue the Lord. I love my family and
48:10
Speaker 5: I love.
48:10
Speaker 3: Football, and that's really I'm simple guy. You know. I
48:14
Speaker 3: want to farm one day. You could say that. Really, Yeah,
48:18
Speaker 3: like a small farm, not like anything huge.
48:20
Speaker 1: But are there farmers in your family trade?
48:22
Speaker 3: No?
48:23
Speaker 5: No, I just it's something that I just want to learn,
48:25
Speaker 5: and I just want to be constantly learning, and you know,
48:29
Speaker 5: I feel like that's a great opportunity to do something
48:32
Speaker 5: like that.
48:32
Speaker 1: So I figured this out faith family Football farming. You
48:38
Speaker 1: got the big four Big four f's.
48:40
Speaker 3: That's right. There you go.
48:42
Speaker 1: This has been fun. Great to have you in Cincinnati.
48:44
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time, Sarah.
48:45
Speaker 3: Thank you.
48:46
Speaker 1: Now let's turn from five questions to five observations after
48:50
Speaker 1: watching the Bengals practice and talking to players and coaches
48:54
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Topic number one is first round draft pick
48:58
Speaker 1: Shamar Stewart. As of this recording, Shamar is one of
49:02
Speaker 1: eleven first round draft picks who hasn't signed a contract
49:06
Speaker 1: that's basically one third of the first round, and in
49:10
Speaker 1: Stuart's case, he also has not signed a waiver that
49:13
Speaker 1: would allow him to practice during negotiations while protecting him
49:17
Speaker 1: in the event of injury. As a result, he's still
49:20
Speaker 1: observing from the sideline. I don't think it's an issue yet,
49:24
Speaker 1: but Zach Taylor says it would help Stuart to start
49:27
Speaker 1: practicing asap.
49:29
Speaker 6: It's always good to be out there physically in the field.
49:31
Speaker 3: You know.
49:31
Speaker 6: Mentally is one thing, and he's doing that. He's in
49:34
Speaker 6: the meetings, he studying, he's been great about all that,
49:37
Speaker 6: and then the physical thing. You just don't want to
49:38
Speaker 6: fall too far behind. You know, every week that passes
49:41
Speaker 6: and can be different, and you want to set yourself
49:44
Speaker 6: up to success. And we expect a great year from
49:46
Speaker 6: Schamar and so part of that will just be getting
49:48
Speaker 6: up to speed when he does.
49:49
Speaker 4: Get on the field.
49:50
Speaker 1: Oddly enough, the eleven unsigned first round picks include two
49:54
Speaker 1: more from the AFC North, the Browns Mason Graham and
49:58
Speaker 1: the Ravens Malachi Starks. Topic number two is another defensive
50:02
Speaker 1: end drafted in the first round by Cincinnati, Miles Murphy,
50:06
Speaker 1: and watching Miles during defensive line drills, he looks lean
50:10
Speaker 1: and fast. Murphy told Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Hobson
50:14
Speaker 1: recently that he's improved his diet in the offseason, including
50:18
Speaker 1: eliminating sugary cereals, and the change in his physique is noticeable.
50:23
Speaker 1: New defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery is eager to work
50:27
Speaker 1: with Murphy and try to help him reach his immense potential.
50:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is we
50:33
Speaker 4: can just clean up some technique and fundamental things that
50:36
Speaker 4: can help them. You know, is this not like he's
50:39
Speaker 4: a bad football player. I mean, the kid's got he's
50:43
Speaker 4: got good size, he plays hard. You know, we can
50:47
Speaker 4: clean up hands, eyes, feed pad level, you know, help
50:52
Speaker 4: him put a better you know, rush playing together from
50:55
Speaker 4: a standpoint on how you want to attack guys, how
50:59
Speaker 4: somebody's going to set you those things. But like, I
51:05
Speaker 4: see a kid that has a chance to be a
51:07
Speaker 4: good football.
51:08
Speaker 1: Player, and following the retirement of Sam Hubbard, Miles is
51:11
Speaker 1: definitely going to get increased opportunities to show what he
51:14
Speaker 1: can do this year. Topic number three is a potential
51:19
Speaker 1: Bengals Pro bowler, Tyson Anderson, who is entering his fourth
51:23
Speaker 1: season has emerged as one of the best special teams
51:26
Speaker 1: performers in the league, leading the Bengals in special teams
51:30
Speaker 1: tackles in each of the last two years.
51:33
Speaker 7: I just want to be the best special teams player
51:35
Speaker 7: in this league. We got a lot of great guys
51:38
Speaker 7: in this league. Schooler reeves, there's a lot of great dudes,
51:42
Speaker 7: Killer Brew, It's a lot of great dudes. I just
51:44
Speaker 7: want to be brought up in no discussion.
51:46
Speaker 3: Try to push for all pro seasons.
51:48
Speaker 7: I got some big goals, but just trying to take
51:50
Speaker 7: baby steps to get there.
51:51
Speaker 1: But that's not his only goal. Gino Stone and Jordan
51:55
Speaker 1: Battle are the projected starters at safety, but the Bengals
51:58
Speaker 1: did not draft one or sign a veteran in free agency.
52:03
Speaker 1: Does Anderson view that as a vote of confidence that
52:06
Speaker 1: he can contribute in the secondary?
52:07
Speaker 3: This for sure confidence booster.
52:09
Speaker 7: Just know that they I guess they view me as
52:11
Speaker 7: a player who can contribute in this league, so for sure.
52:16
Speaker 7: But I'm confident regardless. So it's all interconfidence for sure.
52:20
Speaker 1: Anderson has great size and speed, but has not played
52:24
Speaker 1: any snaps on defense in the regular season. It'll be
52:27
Speaker 1: interesting to see if that changes under Al Golden this year.
52:32
Speaker 1: Topic number four is Jermaine Burton. I mentioned on this
52:36
Speaker 1: podcast last week that I've been encouraged by what I've
52:39
Speaker 1: seen so far from the second year wide receiver at
52:42
Speaker 1: practice and in the building. After a rookie year that
52:45
Speaker 1: featured too many instances of being laid or not living
52:49
Speaker 1: up to team standards, Burden is taking steps toward earning
52:53
Speaker 1: the trust of teammates and coaches. Here are Zach Taylor
52:57
Speaker 1: and Joe Burrow.
52:58
Speaker 6: All you can handle on is the president right now,
53:00
Speaker 6: and I think he's done a good job of that
53:01
Speaker 6: this offseason. He's been in the building, seen in the
53:04
Speaker 6: building outside of work hours, you know, doing his own thing, rehaving,
53:08
Speaker 6: preh having I should say, just keeping his body right.
53:11
Speaker 6: And so again he's attacked every practice and meeting the
53:14
Speaker 6: right way, and that's what he can control right now,
53:17
Speaker 6: and so so I appreciate that from treumat.
53:19
Speaker 8: I think he's stuffed up this year so far, he's
53:21
Speaker 8: taking it very seriously.
53:24
Speaker 3: Matured.
53:25
Speaker 8: It seems like that's exciting to see. I know, based
53:29
Speaker 8: on conversations that we have had, he's in a good
53:32
Speaker 8: spot mentally and physically, and he's been working hard.
53:34
Speaker 1: So that's exciting to see and exciting to hear, keeping
53:37
Speaker 1: in mind that we are a long way from the
53:40
Speaker 1: season opener in Cleveland. The fifth and final topic involves
53:44
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow's appearance on the upcoming second season of the
53:48
Speaker 1: Netflix Quarterback documentary. This edition features Burrow, Jared Goff, and
53:54
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins and the highs and lows they experienced last year.
53:58
Speaker 1: Joe discussed it with Porters for the first time this week,
54:02
Speaker 1: sharing that he agreed to do the show after getting
54:05
Speaker 1: a call from Peyton Manning, who is an executive producer.
54:09
Speaker 8: Caught me on the on the right day, I guess,
54:11
Speaker 8: but you know, I think it's gonna be I think
54:14
Speaker 8: it's gonna be good entertainment. Not necessarily the season that
54:19
Speaker 8: I wanted to have in that spotlight, but you know,
54:25
Speaker 8: I think a big part was Peyton being involved.
54:29
Speaker 3: In it too.
54:30
Speaker 8: You know, I have a lot of respect for him obviously,
54:33
Speaker 8: and what he did does is as a person, so
54:39
Speaker 8: that guy reaches out to you and asks you to
54:41
Speaker 8: do something, then you know, most of the time I'm
54:44
Speaker 8: going to say yeah.
54:45
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor hopes the show gives viewers an added appreciation
54:49
Speaker 1: for what it takes to be a great NFL quarterback.
54:52
Speaker 6: And appreciation of what they go through every single day
54:54
Speaker 6: of a game and over the course of a season,
54:57
Speaker 6: and how their role can evolve as a season goes,
55:01
Speaker 6: the stresses they deal with in game, the pressure is
55:05
Speaker 6: not the right word that they put themselves, but just
55:08
Speaker 6: the commitment that they put in during the week. I mean,
55:12
Speaker 6: if you really filmed every install meeting we have, you know,
55:16
Speaker 6: from Wednesday through Saturday night in which I think that
55:21
Speaker 6: they do, their cameras are in there, so you're going
55:23
Speaker 6: to see some of that stuff with us, and it's
55:25
Speaker 6: impressive and it's not many people can do it. It's
55:29
Speaker 6: why there's only thirty two starters in the world, you know,
55:31
Speaker 6: at this level, and it's Having played the position, I
55:36
Speaker 6: obviously have a strong appreciation for what you go through
55:38
Speaker 6: physically and mentally. But again, the top dogs at that position,
55:42
Speaker 6: like Joe, I mean, what they put themselves through and
55:45
Speaker 6: the mental stress that they can handle and process so
55:47
Speaker 6: quickly is unbelievable. I'd be hard pressed to say it's
55:52
Speaker 6: matched at any position anywhere, just because of what they've
55:55
Speaker 6: got to go through mentally and physically. And so you know,
55:58
Speaker 6: I'm sure we'll see some of that with this that
56:00
Speaker 6: comes on.
56:00
Speaker 1: I for one can't wait. The show is scheduled to
56:03
Speaker 1: be released in July. That's going to do it for
56:07
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