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Bengals Booth Podcast: Orlando! · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast, the Orlando Landolano edition. As the
0:17
Speaker 1: Bengals shock the NFL by signing the best offensive lineman
0:21
Speaker 1: on the market in free agency this year, or Lando Brown,
0:25
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the Bengals new left tackle,
0:28
Speaker 1: who's going to play right tackle, and other developments in
0:32
Speaker 1: free agency. Jermaine Pratt remains a Bengal after signing a
0:35
Speaker 1: three year contract extension. I'll talk to him one on one.
0:38
Speaker 1: And then it's the third edition of our NFL Expert
0:42
Speaker 1: Mock draft as Ryan Fowler from the Draftnetwork dot com
0:46
Speaker 1: takes his turn on the Pro Football Focus mock simulator.
0:50
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health,
0:54
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than
0:57
Speaker 1: one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers,
1:01
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
1:05
Speaker 1: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now, here's a
1:08
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
1:11
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
1:15
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
1:19
Speaker 1: thing since people who are ready to order when it's
1:23
Speaker 1: their turn. We all have pet peeves, and here's one
1:27
Speaker 1: of my biggest. You're in line to order something. Picture
1:31
Speaker 1: a Starbucks or a fast food place, and as you're
1:34
Speaker 1: slowly making your way to the counter, you have plenty
1:36
Speaker 1: of time to study the menu, and yet when it's
1:40
Speaker 1: almost time to order, the person in front of you
1:43
Speaker 1: hems and haws when it's their turn, as if they
1:46
Speaker 1: are studying Matt Damon's math on the blackboard and goodwill
1:50
Speaker 1: hunting people. It's not that hard. Put away your phone
1:55
Speaker 1: for a second, look at the menu, and be ready
1:59
Speaker 1: to order when it's return. Everybody behind you in line
2:03
Speaker 1: will thank you. Rant dismissed. Now let's get to football.
2:10
Speaker 1: ESPN has a stat called pass blocking win rate. It
2:14
Speaker 1: involves sustaining your block for two and a half seconds
2:17
Speaker 1: or longer. Two years ago, the Bengals offensive line ranked thirtieth.
2:21
Speaker 1: The Super Bowl champion Rams were number one. Last year,
2:25
Speaker 1: after revamping their offensive line, the Bengals moved up nine
2:29
Speaker 1: spots to number twenty one. The NFC champion Eagles came
2:34
Speaker 1: out on top. Anybody that watched the Bengals last year
2:37
Speaker 1: knows that the offensive line struggled early, eventually was at
2:41
Speaker 1: least middle of the pack, and then was decimated by
2:44
Speaker 1: injuries at the end of the year, starting backups at
2:47
Speaker 1: left tackle, right tackle, and right guard In the AFC
2:51
Speaker 1: Championship Game loss to Kansas City. There was clearly room
2:54
Speaker 1: for improvement, but few people anticipated a massive improvement literally
3:00
Speaker 1: and figuratively with the addition of Orlando Brown. I discussed
3:05
Speaker 1: it and an interesting first week of free agency with
3:08
Speaker 1: my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. Lap I was broadcasting the
3:13
Speaker 1: UC basketball game on Wednesday night when the Orlando Brown
3:16
Speaker 1: news broke and my initial reaction was, is that the
3:20
Speaker 1: real Tom Pelli sera Twitter account? Let me see that
3:23
Speaker 1: blue check. I thought it might be a prank. Well,
3:26
Speaker 1: obviously it was not a prank. The six to eight,
3:29
Speaker 1: three hundred sixty three pound four time pro bowler is
3:33
Speaker 1: coming to Cincinnati and coming at a reasonable price. Yes,
3:36
Speaker 1: he gets the huge bonus up front thirty one mill,
3:39
Speaker 1: but it's sixty four mil for four years. That breaks
3:42
Speaker 1: down to sixteen million dollars a year for a soon
3:46
Speaker 1: to be twenty seven year old, outstanding, proven left tackle.
3:51
Speaker 1: Are you stunned? Totally? Totally? I mean, he is entering
3:57
Speaker 1: the prime years of his career at twenty seven years old,
4:00
Speaker 1: and he's been the four consecutive Pro Bowls, four consecutive.
4:04
Speaker 1: There's only four linemen in the National Football League that
4:07
Speaker 1: can make that claim. He's the only offensive tackle. Jason
4:11
Speaker 1: Kelsey at the center position, Joel Betonio at guard, Quentin
4:15
Speaker 1: Nelson at guard or the others. This guy's the only one,
4:19
Speaker 1: and a four straight Pro Bowl guy to at right tackle.
4:24
Speaker 1: To it left tackle. Now, he's made it clear he
4:27
Speaker 1: wants to play left tackle, and the Bengals are gonna
4:29
Speaker 1: play him at left at left tackle, make no mistake
4:32
Speaker 1: about that. But you know the other thing, when I
4:35
Speaker 1: think about it, three of the five offensive linemen now
4:38
Speaker 1: with the Cincinnati Bengals have Super Bowl rings left tackle, center,
4:42
Speaker 1: right guard. That's that's phenomenal. I mean, that's like, these
4:46
Speaker 1: guys know what it takes to get there. Um, you know,
4:50
Speaker 1: Centator's got two right guards, got one, left tackles, got one.
4:54
Speaker 1: That's uh, that's that's pretty spectacular. And when you look
4:57
Speaker 1: at Orlando Brown, he's he's throw he thrives in a
5:02
Speaker 1: situation in Baltimore that was, you know, run heavy thirty
5:06
Speaker 1: thirty five times a game on the ground with a
5:09
Speaker 1: quarterback named Lamar Jackson. He thrived there. He goes to
5:12
Speaker 1: Kansas City with a quarterback named Patrick Mahomes that threw
5:15
Speaker 1: it forty forty five times a game, thrive there. He's
5:20
Speaker 1: made the Pro Bowl at both right and left side.
5:22
Speaker 1: He's a very personal, outstanding, top level performer. And then
5:27
Speaker 1: he comes to Cincinnati with Joe Burrow. What a quarterback
5:29
Speaker 1: role call that is? Are you kidding me? So? Mark Jackson,
5:33
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow man its chevits It's crazy. If
5:38
Speaker 1: you read a lot about the guy, there are people
5:40
Speaker 1: out there around the NFL that say he's better at
5:43
Speaker 1: right tackle. That may be true, but he's proven to
5:47
Speaker 1: be excellent at left tackle. That's where he wants to play.
5:51
Speaker 1: The Bengals have been looking to upgrade the tackle position
5:55
Speaker 1: in general. They get a guy in his prime, and
5:58
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, that's where they're gonna put him. They're
6:01
Speaker 1: not going to mess around with him on the right side.
6:03
Speaker 1: Right he's he's been very adamant that he wants to
6:06
Speaker 1: play the left Haldle position. And um, you know it's
6:10
Speaker 1: you look at him like you said, Dan six eight,
6:13
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty three pounds with long arms. Length
6:17
Speaker 1: is a big, big prime requisite in terms of and
6:20
Speaker 1: a guy that knows how to use his length even
6:23
Speaker 1: make his length longer, and this guy does. Um, he's
6:29
Speaker 1: he's an athletic. I mean, he's not a stiff. He'll
6:31
Speaker 1: get to the second level and him a linebackers. I've
6:34
Speaker 1: seen him throw defensive backs to the ground like there
6:36
Speaker 1: were children, you know, out there in space. He's a
6:38
Speaker 1: guy that can readjust his body. I mean he's he's long,
6:43
Speaker 1: he's strong, he's wide, he's he's everything. I mean, he
6:48
Speaker 1: is a He is a massive, imposing human being. There
6:52
Speaker 1: is no question about it. And you know, um, when
6:57
Speaker 1: we went to the Super Bowl the two times in
6:58
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty and a bell cow, a guy named
7:02
Speaker 1: Anthony Munos, you have a bell cow on the offensive.
7:05
Speaker 1: This guy is the bell cow. This guy's the guy
7:08
Speaker 1: you know like with Anthony, was like he's the racers.
7:10
Speaker 1: We don't need to borry about. He'll take care of
7:12
Speaker 1: that guy. What are we gonna do with all the
7:13
Speaker 1: other guys? You know, Orlando Brown has proven and has
7:17
Speaker 1: one on one matchups in Kansas City and doing the
7:20
Speaker 1: things in the running game he did in Baltimore that
7:22
Speaker 1: you know, he's he can be that kind of guy.
7:24
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not trying to compare him to Anthony Munos.
7:27
Speaker 1: I'm not saying, you know, he's a twelve time Pro
7:29
Speaker 1: bowlder like Anthony, but four straight Pro Bowls with the
7:35
Speaker 1: talent and ability that he has. And I think Dan,
7:38
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have a chip on his shoulder.
7:40
Speaker 1: He's I think he's gonna be upset that the thirty
7:42
Speaker 1: one million dollars is a record kudoso the Bengals for
7:44
Speaker 1: giving a record bonus to an offensive lineman to a tackle.
7:48
Speaker 1: But you know, sixteen millionaire. People thought he was going
7:51
Speaker 1: to make more than that, There's no question, including himself.
7:54
Speaker 1: He turned down more than that from Kansas City and
7:57
Speaker 1: got tagged franchise tag. So I'm I mean that's going
8:01
Speaker 1: to motivate him. And the other thing Dan is the legacy.
8:04
Speaker 1: I mean his dad, you know, Zeus Orlando Zeus Brown
8:08
Speaker 1: was a great player himself died at the age of forty.
8:11
Speaker 1: Orlando's fifteen years old. That's adversity, having to deal with
8:15
Speaker 1: that and overcome that adversity, and then you want to
8:18
Speaker 1: continue your father's legacy. And that is a big motivator
8:22
Speaker 1: to this guy. I know it's a huge motivator to him.
8:25
Speaker 1: And you know hearing him communicate over the years and
8:31
Speaker 1: all of his stops. He's intelligent, he's articulate, he brings
8:36
Speaker 1: some juice, you know, to the equation. He's big time,
8:41
Speaker 1: no doubt. Let me follow up on that chip on
8:43
Speaker 1: the shoulder factor with Orlando Brown. Mike McGlinchey, one of
8:47
Speaker 1: the free agents in this year's class, a right tackle,
8:50
Speaker 1: got five years eighty seven point five mill from Denverse,
8:54
Speaker 1: so he got more money. Joan Taylor signed with Orlando
8:59
Speaker 1: Brown's former team, the Chiefs. He's been a right tackle
9:03
Speaker 1: now they might move him to left tackle to replace
9:06
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown. He got more money four years eighty mill
9:10
Speaker 1: now not as much as guaranteed, which is obviously a
9:13
Speaker 1: big factor. But that's a way that these guys keep score,
9:18
Speaker 1: and that has to drive Orlando Brown a little nutty. Yeah,
9:21
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at it, Orlando Brown, Kansas
9:26
Speaker 1: City let him go and he signed for less money
9:29
Speaker 1: than the guy that they ended up signing and that
9:31
Speaker 1: guy's not as good a player. I mean, to me,
9:34
Speaker 1: that's like, what was the problem there. There has to
9:37
Speaker 1: be I don't know, I don't know if a personnel,
9:39
Speaker 1: I don't know what the deal was, but there has
9:41
Speaker 1: to be something there. But that one, that one's an interesting,
9:46
Speaker 1: interesting dynamic to be sure. But boy, I mean, kudos
9:53
Speaker 1: to the Bengals for putting that money up front, thirty
9:56
Speaker 1: one million to sign the contract. I mean, that's that's
9:59
Speaker 1: life aging money for multiple generations right there, just to
10:02
Speaker 1: put your name on a contract. And honestly, Dan, when
10:07
Speaker 1: you think about it, we've heard it, you know many
10:10
Speaker 1: times over the years working together. The Bengals get criticized
10:13
Speaker 1: for their small scouting department, their small front office that
10:17
Speaker 1: they're you know, well, i'll tell you what to get
10:20
Speaker 1: this deal done. When Orlando Brown fell into their lap.
10:23
Speaker 1: There's no way that they thought that Orlando Brown was
10:27
Speaker 1: going to be an opportunity, an availability, but they were patient.
10:32
Speaker 1: They waited and the price came down and they pivoted.
10:37
Speaker 1: So the two peas patients and the ability ability to pivot.
10:41
Speaker 1: A lot of these organizations, like trying to turn the
10:44
Speaker 1: Queen Mary when they, you know, trying to get something
10:46
Speaker 1: done where everybody agrees on everything. They meet at eight
10:50
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning every morning this time of year,
10:53
Speaker 1: the owner, the head coach, the scouts. They talked through
10:57
Speaker 1: everything and they meet during the course of the data
11:00
Speaker 1: see any changes have been made and all that. They
11:02
Speaker 1: pivot like they pivot quickly. So they were a patient.
11:06
Speaker 1: They pivoted, they got the deal done, and they struck
11:09
Speaker 1: before anybody else could. So at what point do Duke
11:13
Speaker 1: Tobin and Katie Blackburn get the benefit of the doubt
11:17
Speaker 1: Because on the first couple of days a free agency,
11:19
Speaker 1: when they lost some very good but not Pro Bowl
11:22
Speaker 1: caliber players, people are not only disappointed, they're flipping out.
11:27
Speaker 1: It's a hannock, it's anger. And as I've said many
11:31
Speaker 1: times on the calendar, this is the year twenty twenty
11:35
Speaker 1: three a d. But it's the year four JB as
11:40
Speaker 1: in Joe Burrow, and everything has changed. All those old
11:43
Speaker 1: notions that people have of the Bengals throw them out
11:46
Speaker 1: the window. They don't apply anymore. Yeah, look what they've done.
11:50
Speaker 1: Back to back free ads and classes three offensive linemen
11:53
Speaker 1: last year and the coup this year. I mean that
11:57
Speaker 1: is that's and why it's a commitment to JB the
12:01
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. I mean, we're they're trying to build a
12:03
Speaker 1: stone wall to protect Joe Burrow, and they're getting closer
12:07
Speaker 1: and closer. Like we said, three of these guys have
12:10
Speaker 1: won Super Bowls. I mean, that's that's big. That is
12:14
Speaker 1: big this this group. You know, not only Okay, you
12:17
Speaker 1: put a Lambo Brown at left at left tackle, you
12:20
Speaker 1: got Volson who played at a very high level Paul
12:23
Speaker 1: Rookie mentioned, you know, at the left guard position, Harris
12:26
Speaker 1: at the center position, the quarterback of the offensive line,
12:28
Speaker 1: one of the most important players in the Bengals this
12:31
Speaker 1: past season. And then at right guard you have a
12:34
Speaker 1: guy that played at a Pro Bowl level, you know himself,
12:37
Speaker 1: He's played in the Super Bowl. Uh, you know, Kappa.
12:40
Speaker 1: I mean the interesting thing is going to be the
12:43
Speaker 1: derby at right tackle. Everybody's going to get a shot
12:46
Speaker 1: at the right tackle position. LC. I don't think else
12:50
Speaker 1: will be back in my mind, I don't know. Maybe
12:53
Speaker 1: mid season would be something you could contemplate. Maybe he
12:57
Speaker 1: misses a quarter of the season and I'm not sure
12:59
Speaker 1: he's going to be ready at the gun um and uh,
13:02
Speaker 1: you know, then you've got you've got five or six
13:04
Speaker 1: guys Jonah Williams included that would you know, be competing
13:07
Speaker 1: for that right tackle spot in the all important swing tackle,
13:10
Speaker 1: the third tackle. Have to have a guy that can
13:12
Speaker 1: play both. You know, Jackson Carmen obviously in the bix um,
13:17
Speaker 1: there's Isaiah Prince uh is in the mix. I mean
13:21
Speaker 1: you look at the look at the roster. I can
13:24
Speaker 1: go through uh Deante Smith, Jonah Williams, a kim idenergy,
13:30
Speaker 1: Jackson Carmen, Isaiah Prince LC. It's going to be a
13:35
Speaker 1: derby at that right tackle position. And then you know
13:38
Speaker 1: you can kick some of those guys inside and give
13:40
Speaker 1: you depth at the interior positions. You know, you need
13:43
Speaker 1: eight guys on game day. I mean, the offensive line
13:47
Speaker 1: is much improved right now, and supposedly they have some
13:50
Speaker 1: some you know that it's just coming up with the
13:53
Speaker 1: interior lineman and probably take one in the draft. It's
13:57
Speaker 1: right now, it's it's it's a very deep offensive line.
14:00
Speaker 1: It could get deeper. I mean and again and to me,
14:03
Speaker 1: it shows a big commitment to number nine Joe Burrow.
14:06
Speaker 1: So this is interesting to me because you're calling it
14:08
Speaker 1: a derby at right tackle. I assumed when they signed
14:12
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown that it's got to be Jonah. You know,
14:15
Speaker 1: they picked up his fifth year option prior to last year.
14:17
Speaker 1: He's gonna make twelve million bucks. Played right tackle early
14:20
Speaker 1: in his career at Alabama, so I just assumed he'll
14:24
Speaker 1: be the guy. But you don't necessarily think that's the case. Well,
14:27
Speaker 1: he's coming off surgery, you know, he had to have
14:30
Speaker 1: surgery on that knee, and you know, you wonder, and
14:33
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that he's not at some point in
14:36
Speaker 1: time during the season, but would else be still a guy,
14:40
Speaker 1: you know, at some point in the season as well.
14:41
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. There's there's a lot of people
14:44
Speaker 1: at that right tackle position, and a lot of these
14:47
Speaker 1: guys are competing for that third tackle spot, you know,
14:51
Speaker 1: as much as anything. Somebody that can show versatility to
14:54
Speaker 1: be able to play both of the spots, and Jonah
14:58
Speaker 1: could do that. But like you said, a twelve million
15:00
Speaker 1: dollar swing tackle, I don't know about that. It's gonna
15:03
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how the whole thing I'm full of.
15:05
Speaker 1: But they're gonna have a lot of decent bodies for
15:10
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock and his staff to work through at you know,
15:14
Speaker 1: OTA's and mini camps and training camp, and it's going
15:17
Speaker 1: to be interesting how this whole thing progresses. And there's
15:20
Speaker 1: obviously still a chance that LC could be cut for
15:23
Speaker 1: cap space. His contractors structured in such a way that
15:26
Speaker 1: that would not be a big dead money situation if
15:30
Speaker 1: they elected to go that way, But that probably comes
15:32
Speaker 1: down to who else they signed between now and the
15:35
Speaker 1: start of the season. Let's talk about how this impacts
15:38
Speaker 1: the draft. I think when I've been doing mock drafts
15:41
Speaker 1: and looking at the various boards and so forth, tackle
15:45
Speaker 1: was a decent possibility. Maybe it still is, but it's
15:49
Speaker 1: certainly I would think less of a possibility now they've
15:53
Speaker 1: got other needs. You're always looking for young corners. It's
15:56
Speaker 1: supposedly a good class. They need a tight end, or
15:59
Speaker 1: may be more than one tight end, and this is
16:02
Speaker 1: thought to be the greatest tight end class in ten years.
16:05
Speaker 1: So this does give them more flexibility for the position
16:10
Speaker 1: group that they target at the top of the draft. Yeah,
16:12
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. And when you talk free agency, I
16:16
Speaker 1: wonder if they're done, I wonder if there's enough left
16:19
Speaker 1: to maybe get a veteran safety, not the most expensive one.
16:24
Speaker 1: But you've got to get a guy in there that
16:26
Speaker 1: has some NFL snaps because you lost you know, you
16:29
Speaker 1: lost your two starters, and it's like you're you're a
16:33
Speaker 1: baseball guy. If you don't have a center fielder, balls
16:36
Speaker 1: to get to the gap, go to the wall. If
16:38
Speaker 1: you don't have a defensive center fielder that you know, uh,
16:41
Speaker 1: basically studies hitters and the align accordingly into the left, center,
16:47
Speaker 1: right center, trying to take gaps away. Same with safeties
16:50
Speaker 1: and all. If you if you let seams and gaps
16:53
Speaker 1: occur in baseball as a center fielder and football as
16:56
Speaker 1: a safety, they're gonna keep running. I mean, that's that's
16:59
Speaker 1: when balls to the wall and they're running the bases
17:01
Speaker 1: and you know, they hit a seam and they're they're
17:03
Speaker 1: going to the house. So, I mean, there's a lot
17:05
Speaker 1: of similarities there. They're going to have somebody that has
17:08
Speaker 1: an idea from an NFL standpoint, and there are a
17:13
Speaker 1: lot of guys with position versatility. The way the NFL
17:16
Speaker 1: and even college football even more so, as evolved. You
17:20
Speaker 1: have guys that play deep safety, in the box, outside corner,
17:24
Speaker 1: slot corner like Dax Hill did last year. There's a
17:26
Speaker 1: lot of guys that are exposed to two, three, even
17:30
Speaker 1: four components of that and have that position versatility that
17:35
Speaker 1: lou Anaumo likes, and I would think they would go
17:38
Speaker 1: with a veteran and then at some point, you know,
17:41
Speaker 1: in the draft the same way, and you know, it's
17:44
Speaker 1: it's interesting. This isn't a great free agency class for
17:47
Speaker 1: wide receiver or draft for wide receiver, But what did
17:50
Speaker 1: they do last year when they thought they might lose
17:52
Speaker 1: at least one of their safeties verse round fifth round
17:55
Speaker 1: two safeties? Don't be surprised. They don't draft the wide
17:57
Speaker 1: receiver at a spot where people like, well, you know,
18:02
Speaker 1: you can't sign them all, so you have to start
18:04
Speaker 1: thinking ahead a little bit like they did last year
18:07
Speaker 1: with Dax Hill in Tyson Anderson. So I'm not saying
18:12
Speaker 1: first round wide receiver. I'm not saying that, but it
18:14
Speaker 1: wouldn't shock me if there's a you know, wide receiver,
18:18
Speaker 1: you know taken I don't know, the top four rounds,
18:21
Speaker 1: wouldn't shock me at all. So there's still quite a
18:24
Speaker 1: few free agent safeties out there. I don't think any
18:27
Speaker 1: of them grated as well as von Bell did last year.
18:30
Speaker 1: But these are guys that have been starters on good
18:33
Speaker 1: NFL teams. Nick Scott from the Rams is apparently visiting
18:37
Speaker 1: Cincinnati on Thursday. By the time this podcast get posted.
18:41
Speaker 1: He might sign Who knows. He was a starter on
18:44
Speaker 1: their you know, super Bowl team that beat Cincinnati a
18:46
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. Taylor Rapp was hurt in the
18:49
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, but he started for the Rams. Zack Taylor
18:52
Speaker 1: is familiar with him. Julian Love has played for the
18:55
Speaker 1: Giants been James Betcher was the defensive coordinator. Now he's
18:59
Speaker 1: the Bengals linebackers coach, so they would know about him.
19:02
Speaker 1: Terrell Edmund's former first round draft pick by the Steelers,
19:06
Speaker 1: is still out there. He's only twenty six. He's played
19:08
Speaker 1: against the Bengals quite a bit. So between those guys
19:11
Speaker 1: and some of the other names that are out there,
19:14
Speaker 1: they are going to be able to get are reasonably
19:17
Speaker 1: priced veteran safety who's got skins on the wall and
19:21
Speaker 1: starts under his belt to pair with Dax Hill. I agree, Dan,
19:26
Speaker 1: and there's a guy named Adrian Aamers. It's got a
19:28
Speaker 1: thousand snaps, five straight years of veteran guy, you know that.
19:32
Speaker 1: And all these guys are good tacklers in space. You
19:35
Speaker 1: have to have that. That's the way college offenses and
19:39
Speaker 1: NFL offenses are going. You know you're going to be
19:41
Speaker 1: isolated even at the safety position, and going to be
19:44
Speaker 1: isolated in space. And yeah, I agree, I think there's
19:48
Speaker 1: going to be and I think with the way this
19:51
Speaker 1: contract is structured, you know that thirty one million dollars
19:56
Speaker 1: is going to be spaced out over four years, So
19:57
Speaker 1: at seven plus, you know you're they're still cap dollars
20:00
Speaker 1: there to go out and get a veteran safety not
20:03
Speaker 1: the top echelon in serious significant dollars. If I were
20:09
Speaker 1: a betting man, I would think the remaining dollars they
20:12
Speaker 1: have budgeted for veteran free agency would be spent at
20:15
Speaker 1: the safety position. I don't think there's any two ways
20:19
Speaker 1: about that. To me, it's as plain as the nose
20:21
Speaker 1: on our faces. Let's talk about some of the guys
20:23
Speaker 1: that are gone. We knew that Jesse Bates was almost
20:26
Speaker 1: certainly going to sign elsewhere, and he did with Atlanta.
20:28
Speaker 1: I was mildly surprised that Von Bell signed with Carolina,
20:32
Speaker 1: but only mildly surprised. I think after the Bengals gave
20:36
Speaker 1: third contracts to Carlos Dunlap in his thirties and Gino
20:40
Speaker 1: Atkins in his thirties, and they were both for three
20:42
Speaker 1: years plus. I think they're really reluctant to give more
20:46
Speaker 1: than a year or two to a veteran thirty year
20:49
Speaker 1: old Ish guy, especially on defense, and that kind of
20:54
Speaker 1: spelled the end, I think for von Bell, since he
20:56
Speaker 1: got three years from Carolina. Yeah, I think I think
20:58
Speaker 1: that it was it was von Bell and Pratt. You know,
21:02
Speaker 1: it was like who's gonna who's gonna take the cheese first?
21:05
Speaker 1: And economically they're about the same on a year at
21:08
Speaker 1: a year basis, but von Bell wanted more years, I
21:11
Speaker 1: would believe, like you and that Pratt got. Well, Pratt's
21:14
Speaker 1: that's a second contract is von Bell's third, So that
21:18
Speaker 1: that's the difference. I mean, the difference is just calendar.
21:21
Speaker 1: It's just you know, age and uh wear and tearing
21:24
Speaker 1: years and all that sort of thing. So um, you know,
21:27
Speaker 1: I probably a lot of people have been how geez,
21:29
Speaker 1: I wish it was von Bell and not Pratt and
21:31
Speaker 1: other people. I'm good with Pratt over von Bell, but
21:34
Speaker 1: I will say that, uh, you know, Robert Livingston, I
21:39
Speaker 1: bet that was a that was a kick in the
21:40
Speaker 1: pants when he realized both of them were gone. But
21:42
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's it's um, it's better sweet, I
21:46
Speaker 1: guess as a term for it, because you know, you're
21:48
Speaker 1: you're instrumental in developing these guys, and as a coach,
21:52
Speaker 1: you want these guys to make as much money as
21:53
Speaker 1: they can and have, you know, as great a legacy
21:56
Speaker 1: as they can, and then when they move on and
21:58
Speaker 1: graduated as such, it becomes a sad day. But I
22:01
Speaker 1: will say that these guys were huge with the culture.
22:03
Speaker 1: And culture is not a raw material that don't go
22:05
Speaker 1: mining culture, and these guys were instrumental in it. But Dan,
22:10
Speaker 1: what you have guys, I remember veteran players, you know
22:14
Speaker 1: when I was in the early stages of my career
22:16
Speaker 1: that had a major impact on me and other guys
22:18
Speaker 1: in the football team. And they got they retired or
22:22
Speaker 1: traded or whatever. And what they did while they were there,
22:25
Speaker 1: it didn't go with them, it didn't leave the door.
22:28
Speaker 1: I mean, they made a lasting impression and it's like
22:30
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to do this, this, this, and this,
22:33
Speaker 1: just like we did when so and so was here.
22:35
Speaker 1: And that's what's going to happen with the Cincinnati Bengals.
22:38
Speaker 1: It's not gonna you know, now you missed these guys
22:41
Speaker 1: and their personalities and their leadership and all that sort
22:44
Speaker 1: of thing. But you know, you just you just go
22:46
Speaker 1: to try to find others. And that's the thing I
22:49
Speaker 1: look at. I look at all five of the offensive lineman,
22:53
Speaker 1: every one of them, captain, you know, leader all America.
22:56
Speaker 1: It's it's like, man, that's that's a strong group up front,
23:00
Speaker 1: you know. And you look at a lot of position
23:02
Speaker 1: groups at the Bengals. That's one thing that we've talked about,
23:05
Speaker 1: you know, at nausea um. It's like, and these guys
23:09
Speaker 1: they all were, you know, high level student athletes, they
23:11
Speaker 1: were captains, they were you know, all Americans, they were whatever.
23:15
Speaker 1: It's like, and there's a n there's zero zilch jerk factor.
23:20
Speaker 1: It's incredible lo JF for jerk factor. I like that term.
23:26
Speaker 1: Let's get back to the Germaine Pratt contract. Three years,
23:30
Speaker 1: twenty point two five mills, so roughly seven million dollars
23:33
Speaker 1: a year. Right, The Ravens traded for Roquan Smith and
23:38
Speaker 1: gave him a five year, one hundred million dollar deal.
23:41
Speaker 1: The Bears just signed Tremaine Edmonds, the former Buffalo off
23:45
Speaker 1: the ball linebacker four years, seventy two million. I'm not
23:49
Speaker 1: saying Germaine Pratt is as good as either of those
23:51
Speaker 1: two guys. He's probably not. I mean, he's certainly not
23:54
Speaker 1: as good as Roquan Smith. But he's very good, and
23:57
Speaker 1: he's coming at a fraction of the cost at a
24:00
Speaker 1: position that you don't prioritize like you prioritize pass rushers,
24:05
Speaker 1: cover corners, quarterback, left tackle, the very premium positions that
24:11
Speaker 1: you have to pay absolutely And the thing that it
24:14
Speaker 1: does do is when you look at it, you know,
24:17
Speaker 1: there are three guys that finish the third year of
24:20
Speaker 1: their rookie contract, Logan Wilson being one of them. There's
24:24
Speaker 1: room left for sign Logan Wilson as well as Pride
24:27
Speaker 1: keep that intact because that duo at the linebacker position
24:31
Speaker 1: of Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt is stronger than new rope.
24:35
Speaker 1: I mean, it's as good as there is in the league.
24:37
Speaker 1: So you know, you think about that. You know, Joe Burrow,
24:40
Speaker 1: t Higgins, Logan Wilson, those are those are three core
24:43
Speaker 1: guys that have now finished the third year of their
24:46
Speaker 1: rookie contracts that you can look to extend you know,
24:49
Speaker 1: some or all of them, or whatever the case may be.
24:51
Speaker 1: And that's another bucket. I mean, you know, it's so
24:53
Speaker 1: much there's a free agency from other teams bucket, your
24:56
Speaker 1: own free agent's bucket, the draft bucket. I mean, they're
25:00
Speaker 1: juggling those buckets. Is amazing. And that's what those morning
25:05
Speaker 1: meetings are here. It's plan A. Okay, this happens, Plan B, C,
25:09
Speaker 1: D E, all the way to the whole alphabet is expanded.
25:11
Speaker 1: Probably you end up going double A, double B. But
25:14
Speaker 1: when something happens, you got to pivot. And again they
25:18
Speaker 1: were able to pivot, so they got more pivot and
25:21
Speaker 1: low post moves. And you see it college fastball in
25:24
Speaker 1: the NBA, they are a chem Elijah On doing a
25:27
Speaker 1: dream shake in the low post, no doubt. How about
25:30
Speaker 1: tight end Hayden Hurts got a three year deal from Carolina.
25:33
Speaker 1: It seems like every former Bengal is winding up in Carolina,
25:36
Speaker 1: including Andy Dalton. Oddly enough, as I mentioned earlier, this
25:40
Speaker 1: tight end class is thought to be the best draft class,
25:43
Speaker 1: that is, in the last ten years. I don't know
25:47
Speaker 1: if they would take one with the twenty eighth pick
25:49
Speaker 1: in the draft. Because they're still going to be good
25:50
Speaker 1: ones in the second, third, and probably fourth round. But
25:55
Speaker 1: wouldn't you rather have at that position a young, talented
25:59
Speaker 1: guy on a key contract at this point, considering the
26:02
Speaker 1: other mouths that you have to feed, then spending a
26:04
Speaker 1: lot of money on Hayden Hurst over three years. Yeah, Dan,
26:07
Speaker 1: I agree. I think you know, the experts are saying
26:13
Speaker 1: there could be you know, ten tight ends taken in
26:16
Speaker 1: the first couple of rounds, the first two days of
26:19
Speaker 1: the draft, for sure. You know, the first three rounds
26:21
Speaker 1: could be ten tight ends off the board. Would not
26:23
Speaker 1: shock me at all if the Bengals were one of those,
26:25
Speaker 1: you know, teams that drafted a tight end at some
26:28
Speaker 1: point in time during that during that run. But let's
26:32
Speaker 1: face it, this offense, if if the Bengals offense is
26:37
Speaker 1: a cocktail, so Martini, the tight end is the olive,
26:42
Speaker 1: I mean, the wide receivers of the booze, you know,
26:44
Speaker 1: and the quarterbacks the mixer you know it's like, and
26:47
Speaker 1: then the Garnish meant, the olive is the tight end.
26:50
Speaker 1: This offense is wide receiver driven, There's no question about it.
26:55
Speaker 1: And I think it's going to continue to stay that way.
26:58
Speaker 1: Not to say that you don't need a tight end,
27:01
Speaker 1: but from a priority standpoint, offensively, you know, a quarterback
27:04
Speaker 1: and whiteouts are a big, big part of this schematic.
27:08
Speaker 1: There's no question about it. It's a necessity, but I
27:11
Speaker 1: wouldn't say it's necessity number one, two or three of
27:14
Speaker 1: the three whiteouts are going to get the ball, you know.
27:16
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's kind of the nature of the Beast.
27:19
Speaker 1: And again, I do think that they've got a really
27:23
Speaker 1: good tight end coach. I think James Casey does a
27:25
Speaker 1: great job with the tight ends. I think Hayden Hurst
27:29
Speaker 1: should should forever thank James case for helping him get
27:33
Speaker 1: the contract he got with the Carolina Panthers, and and
27:36
Speaker 1: he'll do that. He'll do that with everybody that he
27:39
Speaker 1: has in his room at that tight end position. I
27:42
Speaker 1: think that that's going to be solved, and it's going
27:44
Speaker 1: to be solved readily. Still some free agent tight ends
27:48
Speaker 1: out there, Yeah, Mike. Mike Hilton has been trying to
27:51
Speaker 1: recruit Mike Kasicki Miami Dolphins. I want my college team
27:56
Speaker 1: to have Mike Hilton on the coaching staff someday as
27:59
Speaker 1: a recruiter because he's relentless at least on social media.
28:04
Speaker 1: If there's a free agent that he's interested in, he's
28:06
Speaker 1: he's out there swinging, no doubt, no, no two ways
28:10
Speaker 1: about that. There's absolutely no question. So you had Frank
28:14
Speaker 1: Pollock on your in the Trenches podcast after Orlando Brown
28:18
Speaker 1: agreed to come to Cincinnati. I found it interesting that
28:21
Speaker 1: he more or less said, at least from his perspective,
28:24
Speaker 1: this came out of nowhere. This was not something that
28:27
Speaker 1: had been you know, discussed in those morning meetings day
28:30
Speaker 1: after day after day. It sounded like about a day
28:33
Speaker 1: before it happened. It got hot and heavy, and the
28:36
Speaker 1: Bengals found a way to make it happen. Yeah, I
28:38
Speaker 1: think I think before the actual you know, gonge or
28:42
Speaker 1: free agency started at four o'clock, you know, it was
28:46
Speaker 1: like pipe dream. Then all of a sudden, what no offers?
28:52
Speaker 1: What the market looks a little dry, And the day
28:54
Speaker 1: goes by and then it's like, wow, this this could
28:57
Speaker 1: possibly happen. I mean it fell into and fell into
29:01
Speaker 1: their laps kind of, and they and they responded, and uh,
29:04
Speaker 1: when opportunity knocked, they pulled the door open. Many they
29:08
Speaker 1: opened it with opened the door with open arms, um
29:12
Speaker 1: and you got you got to give him credit for that.
29:14
Speaker 1: I don't think that that was somebody that's, oh man,
29:17
Speaker 1: this this is gonna We're gonna be in the mix
29:20
Speaker 1: for Orlando Brown. I don't think they anticipated they would be,
29:23
Speaker 1: but boy it it showed itself and and they they
29:28
Speaker 1: responded and find fashion there's no question because I had
29:32
Speaker 1: Frank on Um did a podcast with him the day
29:35
Speaker 1: before the podcast it's up there now is we just
29:38
Speaker 1: did that this morning a reaction to the Orlando Brown
29:41
Speaker 1: did a podcast with him, and then that night last
29:43
Speaker 1: night they signed a Lando brownna oh man, I got
29:45
Speaker 1: to get an addendum or we can't do a podcast
29:49
Speaker 1: with Frank that doesn't include Orlando Brown. Well we're gonna
29:52
Speaker 1: do it, but you know, say, okay if reference are
29:55
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown podcast, because it's not covered in this other one.
29:58
Speaker 1: He covers a lot of other good stuff. But man,
30:01
Speaker 1: I said, or you're you're poker faced. I don't want
30:04
Speaker 1: to play cards against you. You gave no indication. It
30:07
Speaker 1: sounded like even even that day that you know, when
30:11
Speaker 1: we were doing the podcast that morning. I don't think
30:14
Speaker 1: it was. I think it was something that heated up quickly.
30:17
Speaker 1: And uh, and man, they could have to and let
30:20
Speaker 1: it boil over. I know one thing, when training camp
30:23
Speaker 1: rolls around in August, you're gonna be standing by that
30:26
Speaker 1: old line. You're gonna have your notepad in front of you.
30:29
Speaker 1: You're gonna be salivating watching Orlando Brown and this group
30:33
Speaker 1: get ready for the season. Zoos, that's gonna be the
30:39
Speaker 1: call of the while for me. Zoos. We're four out. Man.
30:43
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that that is uh. I just can't
30:46
Speaker 1: wait to see him, you know, in action he is
30:51
Speaker 1: he is one big human being that he that can move.
30:55
Speaker 1: I really, I really think his feet and his hands
31:00
Speaker 1: and everything's in sync. And that length that he has
31:03
Speaker 1: is very very extraordinary, very unusual. Been a fun podcast
31:08
Speaker 1: and a great last twenty four hours for Bengals fans.
31:11
Speaker 1: Appreciate the time. Talk to you soon. You got it,
31:13
Speaker 1: Daniel the best. Following my conversation with Lap, the Bengals
31:17
Speaker 1: signed another offensive lineman, Orlando's former college teammate at Oklahoma,
31:22
Speaker 1: Cody Ford, who signed a one year deal. Ford was
31:26
Speaker 1: a second round draft pick by Buffalo who spent three
31:28
Speaker 1: years with the Bills before spending last season with Arizona.
31:32
Speaker 1: He has NFL starts at both guard spots and right tackle,
31:36
Speaker 1: and is another huge man at six three, three hundred
31:39
Speaker 1: twenty nine pounds. His Pro Football Focus grades have not
31:42
Speaker 1: been good so far, but he does add experience and
31:46
Speaker 1: versatility and perhaps will perform better under Bengals offensive line
31:51
Speaker 1: coach Frank Pollock. As I mentioned in my chat with
31:54
Speaker 1: lap Rams, safety Nick Scott visited with the Bengals on Thursday,
31:59
Speaker 1: and LA's other free agent safety Taylor Rapp, is scheduled
32:03
Speaker 1: to visit on Friday. Scott is twenty six years old
32:07
Speaker 1: and became a full time starter last year. Rapp is
32:10
Speaker 1: twenty five and has been a full time starter for
32:12
Speaker 1: the last two years. They were both drafted in twenty
32:15
Speaker 1: nineteen and have four years of NFL experience. The Bengals
32:20
Speaker 1: Booth podcast is brought to you by Paycorps. More than
32:23
Speaker 1: twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorps to help them recruit, pay, engage,
32:28
Speaker 1: and retain employees. Learn more at paycorps dot com and
32:33
Speaker 1: buy Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play
32:37
Speaker 1: with tickets and sign merchandise up for grabs. Find both
32:40
Speaker 1: inside the Bengals app. The Bengals have had a ton
32:44
Speaker 1: of success in free agency on defense by following this formula,
32:49
Speaker 1: sign ascending players in their mid twenties to their second
32:53
Speaker 1: NFL contract. That was the case with DJ Reader, Trey Hendrickson,
32:58
Speaker 1: Chitube Awouge, and Mike Hilton, among others. Well. That also
33:02
Speaker 1: applies to their own players like Sam Hubbard and now
33:06
Speaker 1: Jermaine Pratt. I talked to him this week after he
33:10
Speaker 1: put pen to paper. Jermaine, at the end of the
33:14
Speaker 1: AFC Championship game against Kansas City. I saw you sitting
33:17
Speaker 1: on a stool in the locker room. You're obviously disappointed
33:20
Speaker 1: about the loss. I got the vibe just looking at
33:23
Speaker 1: you that day that you're at least considering, Man, is
33:27
Speaker 1: this my last game in Cincinnati? Was that going through
33:29
Speaker 1: your mind? Or was I just reading into it too much? Someway,
33:33
Speaker 1: I was thinking like, maybe this is my last game,
33:35
Speaker 1: but I knew that that we have some on done,
33:39
Speaker 1: finished on business to taken care of, so I feel
33:41
Speaker 1: like it would need to come back. You've made something
33:45
Speaker 1: like six million dollars in your career to this point.
33:48
Speaker 1: A lot of that gets taken out in taxes. Obviously
33:51
Speaker 1: when you sign that second contract. When you earn that
33:54
Speaker 1: second contract. That's the type of money that can take
33:57
Speaker 1: care of your kids. They're kids, your mom, etc. Has
34:03
Speaker 1: that sunk in? It really hads me yet until I
34:08
Speaker 1: get it, probably, but they really hasn't. So I'm just
34:11
Speaker 1: I don't know, just living in the moment. What's the
34:14
Speaker 1: feeling of pride in earning this? They don't just hand
34:17
Speaker 1: you a deal like this. I mean, just keep on working,
34:20
Speaker 1: you know. You know, once you work, you'll get what
34:23
Speaker 1: you want. You know, in life, Mom always told me
34:25
Speaker 1: to work for work or whatever you put in the work,
34:28
Speaker 1: you'll get what you want. You know, keep on working
34:30
Speaker 1: on your crab, getting better each and every day, and
34:32
Speaker 1: then everything you'll pay up. Watching you play over the
34:35
Speaker 1: last four years, it seems like the game has slowed down.
34:40
Speaker 1: Is that a good way to describe how you feel? Yeah? Absolutely,
34:43
Speaker 1: just slow down. I can see stuff so much. You know,
34:46
Speaker 1: I'll get a different lens of glasses out to say
34:49
Speaker 1: a little bit blind when I first got a night league,
34:51
Speaker 1: So when I'll put on a new pair of glasses,
34:53
Speaker 1: it helped me out a lot. How much did winning
34:57
Speaker 1: factor into this decision? Hughes? You know he was everybody
35:01
Speaker 1: want to win, you know, everybody want money. Everybody want
35:04
Speaker 1: to win, so you take take more to go to
35:07
Speaker 1: a team that ain't winning. You'll be miserable your rookie year.
35:11
Speaker 1: The team lost the first eleven games that you were
35:14
Speaker 1: on an NFL roster to distant memory. I guess when
35:18
Speaker 1: you go to a Super Bowl, in an FC championship
35:20
Speaker 1: game the last two you glad isn't the distant Mary?
35:23
Speaker 1: You know, you're just knowing what happened. The first two years.
35:26
Speaker 1: You didn't really know what was going on. You didn't
35:29
Speaker 1: really know what guy was doing to you know, he
35:33
Speaker 1: didn't know this NFL football like this what welcome to
35:37
Speaker 1: football is? You know, welcome to the NFL. You didn't
35:40
Speaker 1: know what you're getting into. But everything has changed over
35:43
Speaker 1: the two years I've been here. We've been winning. We
35:46
Speaker 1: headed to the right direction. We just won two three
35:49
Speaker 1: players away from winning the Super Bowl. So why not
35:52
Speaker 1: come back? Why not trying to compete for a championship
35:55
Speaker 1: with the guys that you started with. You put it
35:56
Speaker 1: in and people are blue collar and know what winning
36:01
Speaker 1: look like. You know, guys, guys are putting in the
36:04
Speaker 1: work in all season, like pushing it as a step
36:07
Speaker 1: to try to win the Super Bowl. You expressed the
36:10
Speaker 1: desire publicly at times last year to be on the
36:13
Speaker 1: field more on third down, and Pro Football Focus created
36:17
Speaker 1: you as that I think the third best coverage linebacker
36:20
Speaker 1: in the NFL. When you were making the case that
36:24
Speaker 1: you should be on the field more on third down,
36:27
Speaker 1: was that kind of the proof that you felt that
36:30
Speaker 1: you were good in that role? I mean, I just
36:33
Speaker 1: know my ability of what I can do. You know,
36:36
Speaker 1: the first two years probably helped me back from being
36:39
Speaker 1: on the field third down. But you know, each and
36:42
Speaker 1: every year you can see the stats. I'm getting better
36:44
Speaker 1: each and every year, and I'm I'm continue to get better.
36:47
Speaker 1: You know, I know I have a long way to go.
36:49
Speaker 1: I'm not dis way about last year no more. You know,
36:52
Speaker 1: gotta put it behind me. How to figure out how
36:54
Speaker 1: to get better, you know, to be the top top
36:57
Speaker 1: linebacker and lead top five linebackers. I gotta keep on
37:00
Speaker 1: getting better. The Bengals were obviously thrilled to keep you,
37:03
Speaker 1: but you don't keep everybody in free agency, and on Monday,
37:07
Speaker 1: Jesse and Vaughan both elected to sign elsewhere where. Does
37:10
Speaker 1: that hurt the defense in your opinion? I mean, you
37:14
Speaker 1: gotta figure out you find the safety, you know, safety,
37:18
Speaker 1: the defense roll. I mean the defense run because of linebackers,
37:22
Speaker 1: but safeties help help a lot. You know, they they
37:26
Speaker 1: they had to clean up. You know, the last defense.
37:29
Speaker 1: You know, any ball anything split, the last defender got
37:33
Speaker 1: to make that tackle. You know, just did a huge job.
37:35
Speaker 1: If a bass without he knocked it down, you know
37:38
Speaker 1: it went in too many supposed to plays back there
37:40
Speaker 1: on the back end. Varne did it as well too,
37:42
Speaker 1: So it's all be hard replacing them guys. But I
37:45
Speaker 1: know that we got dats and whoever. We get a
37:49
Speaker 1: couple of days, so we get somebody that's great. This
37:52
Speaker 1: gonna be a oil in draft that's ready to play.
37:54
Speaker 1: You've got to figure it out. Tax is the first
37:56
Speaker 1: round pick for a reason. Do you think that he
37:59
Speaker 1: could basically fill in in either of those roles Jesse's
38:03
Speaker 1: role or Von's role, depending on who else is at it.
38:06
Speaker 1: I mean he versed him. You know, he's a fast
38:08
Speaker 1: guy that can cover. He can do it all. He
38:10
Speaker 1: played corner and played nickel, he played everything. So a
38:13
Speaker 1: guy that you know, he understand football. If you can
38:16
Speaker 1: play out of multiple roles, so put him in one
38:18
Speaker 1: role can help him out a lot. And then make
38:21
Speaker 1: him be a baller like Jesse was. After the FC
38:26
Speaker 1: Championship game, you expressed your frustration over the Joseph Osid
38:30
Speaker 1: penalty at the end of that game, and then the
38:32
Speaker 1: next day you came out publicly and apologized and said,
38:35
Speaker 1: I let my emotions get the best to me. I
38:37
Speaker 1: wasn't a great teammate in those situations. In that situation,
38:40
Speaker 1: why did you feel that was important to do? It's
38:43
Speaker 1: the right thing to do? It wasn't important. Thing is
38:45
Speaker 1: the right thing he can do. You know, as I
38:47
Speaker 1: tell myself, I look at myself as a man in
38:49
Speaker 1: the mirror and as a father. You gotta tell you
38:52
Speaker 1: meant when you're wrong. You know, because my son you'll
38:55
Speaker 1: see that when he get out of you'll see why
38:57
Speaker 1: Dad yell at this guy over a game of football.
39:02
Speaker 1: You know it didn't You gotta look at Oh Daddy
39:04
Speaker 1: did apologize, He meet will He was wrong. So you
39:07
Speaker 1: gotta be the bigger guy. Don't matter who pointing the finger,
39:10
Speaker 1: who telling you you did wrong, wrong and stuff. Once
39:12
Speaker 1: you tell him yourself that you did wrong, and you
39:14
Speaker 1: can go out in the public and tell him that
39:16
Speaker 1: you did wrong, you you're satisfied. At the end of
39:18
Speaker 1: the day. Have you had a chance to visit with Joseph. No,
39:21
Speaker 1: I haven't, but we talked to a taste messages, so
39:24
Speaker 1: you know, we got a little group taste masses with
39:26
Speaker 1: the group with the guys that we play pain pong with.
39:29
Speaker 1: So we we've been sharing words about before. P J
39:32
Speaker 1: Ho is one of your closest friends, going back to
39:34
Speaker 1: your days together at NC State. How did he react
39:37
Speaker 1: to you resigning to the Bengals. He wanted me to
39:40
Speaker 1: save his head. I guess he was happy. He was
39:43
Speaker 1: happy for me, you know, happy that I'm back with
39:46
Speaker 1: the guys. You know, I was very happy for him
39:48
Speaker 1: to be here with me. So I know he very
39:50
Speaker 1: happy for me be here with him. Are you going
39:52
Speaker 1: to hold him to that promise to go ball? Yeah? Absolutely.
39:54
Speaker 1: You gotta be bald with me. You know, this is
39:56
Speaker 1: one of the best haircuts that you haven't Yeah. So
40:01
Speaker 1: you made one of the most famous defensive plays in
40:04
Speaker 1: franchise history with the interception at the end of the
40:06
Speaker 1: Raiders game that ended the long drought without a playoff victory.
40:10
Speaker 1: Here's my question, are you getting enough credit for your
40:14
Speaker 1: role in the Sam Hubbard ninety eight yard fumble returned
40:17
Speaker 1: touchdown this year. Yeah, I got great. I didn't did
40:22
Speaker 1: what I need to do, you know, stop the initial
40:24
Speaker 1: or running about a quarterback, and then Logan knocked it
40:28
Speaker 1: out there. Sam did. We did, Ruyn Sam Ryn Sam.
40:32
Speaker 1: He did his job, you know, he took care of
40:35
Speaker 1: other risk the ninety eight. I've looked at that replay
40:38
Speaker 1: numerous times. Your hand was in there too. I don't
40:41
Speaker 1: know if you deserve like one third credit for the
40:43
Speaker 1: forest fumble or something like that, but you may have
40:45
Speaker 1: had part of that as well. I mean probably did.
40:48
Speaker 1: But you know rists history, Sam did to everything that
40:51
Speaker 1: we needed to get it. We saw his speed. Yeah,
40:55
Speaker 1: very good speed. Hey, this is great for the franchise
40:59
Speaker 1: and obviously great for you and your family. Congratulations on
41:02
Speaker 1: a well deserved contract extension and we look forward to
41:05
Speaker 1: a visiting again when you guys are back for OTIS. Yes, sir,
41:08
Speaker 1: thank you. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
41:11
Speaker 1: by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering
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Speaker 1: multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and
41:19
Speaker 1: community to a new level. Elevate your connection with Alta Fiber.
41:24
Speaker 1: Now time for our third edition of the three round
41:28
Speaker 1: mock draft with an NFL expert. Here's the concept. When
41:32
Speaker 1: I attended the NFL Combine a couple of weeks ago,
41:35
Speaker 1: I had the Pro Football Focus mock draft simulator set
41:39
Speaker 1: up on my laptop and invited several NFL experts to
41:43
Speaker 1: make the Bengals picks in the first three rounds while
41:46
Speaker 1: discussing their options. If you've never tried a draft simulator before,
41:50
Speaker 1: it allows you to play Bengals GM for as many
41:54
Speaker 1: rounds of the draft as you want. The simulator begins
41:57
Speaker 1: making picks in order, and then when it's return you'll
42:01
Speaker 1: get trade proposals and decide whether you want to wheel
42:04
Speaker 1: and deal or go ahead and pick. It's a good
42:07
Speaker 1: way to get to know the players who are likely
42:09
Speaker 1: to be available when the Bengals around the clock in
42:12
Speaker 1: late April. Dane Brugler from The Athletic chose Maryland cornerback
42:17
Speaker 1: Deonte Banks in the first round, Northwestern defensive lineman at
42:22
Speaker 1: A Tommy wah at A bare in the second, and
42:24
Speaker 1: Iowa tight end Sam Laporta in the third. He received
42:28
Speaker 1: an A minus grade from Pro Football Focus. Pete Prisco
42:32
Speaker 1: from CBS Sports chose Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid in
42:36
Speaker 1: round one, Washington State linebacker day On Henley in round two,
42:41
Speaker 1: and BYU offensive tackle Blake Freeland in round three. He
42:45
Speaker 1: received a B grade. Now Time four contestant number three
42:52
Speaker 1: Time to do a three round Bengals mock draft on
42:55
Speaker 1: a simulator with Ryan Fowler from the Draft Network. I'm
42:59
Speaker 1: about to hit start draft and we are underway. The
43:02
Speaker 1: picks are flying off the board. I'm seeing several quarterbacks.
43:06
Speaker 1: Joey Porter just went off the board. He would have
43:08
Speaker 1: been nice to Cincinnati in any case. Michael Mayer, the
43:11
Speaker 1: tight end from Notre Dame, just went off the board.
43:13
Speaker 1: We have reached pick number twenty eight. The Buffalo Bills
43:16
Speaker 1: have just selected cornerback Cam Smith out of South Carolina. Ryan,
43:21
Speaker 1: take a look at some of the picks that just
43:22
Speaker 1: went off the board, and then we'll see who you
43:24
Speaker 1: like for the Bengals at twenty eight. Yeah, I'm going
43:27
Speaker 1: to check out tight end here. And the reason why
43:29
Speaker 1: I say that is because I need more weapons on
43:32
Speaker 1: offense to spread out this offense for Cincinnati. You got
43:35
Speaker 1: guys on the outside. We'll see what happens with te
43:37
Speaker 1: Higgins moving forward. But you got to quarterback in Joe Burrow,
43:40
Speaker 1: and you want to change the math on defense, and
43:42
Speaker 1: what I mean by that is you want to get
43:44
Speaker 1: guys all eleven guys on defense. Asked them to cover everybody,
43:48
Speaker 1: not just Jamar Chase, not just not just Tyler Boyd.
43:51
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take Luke Musgrave, tight end from Oregon State,
43:54
Speaker 1: consistently running in the fourth four. He's gonna surprise today.
43:57
Speaker 1: So him down to mobile. He looks like an offensive tackle.
43:59
Speaker 1: He's all of six, five sixty six. Extremely impressive individual.
44:03
Speaker 1: You had Luke Musgrave in that offense run pass game.
44:06
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow another set of hands, another sure handed kid
44:09
Speaker 1: of the middle field. Not just a guy that you
44:11
Speaker 1: can target third and four, third and five, first and ten.
44:14
Speaker 1: You want to play action. Asked him to stretch to scene.
44:16
Speaker 1: Luke Musgrave from Morgan State is one of my favorite
44:18
Speaker 1: players in this class. Dalton Kincaid was still on the
44:21
Speaker 1: board when you made that pick. You like Musgrave, Moore,
44:23
Speaker 1: I absolutely do, yes. I know Dalton is extremely well
44:26
Speaker 1: refined prospect. You can play the y, which means in line,
44:28
Speaker 1: play the f flex out to the perimeter, but Luke
44:31
Speaker 1: Musgrave can do the same. Seeing him live. I know
44:34
Speaker 1: we only played two games this year, a nasty scar
44:36
Speaker 1: down his knee. Seeing him live and seeing him move,
44:39
Speaker 1: you know when he as an individual and put Luke
44:41
Speaker 1: Musgrave and Cincinnati. I love that pick. Dan on to
44:43
Speaker 1: round two with Ryan Fowler from the Draft Network. Josh Downs,
44:47
Speaker 1: a wide receiver from North Carolina, was just taken by Buffalo.
44:50
Speaker 1: The pick before that was offensive lineman Tyler Steen and
44:53
Speaker 1: he went to the Cowboys out of Alabama. We moved
44:55
Speaker 1: to your second pick, number sixty overall for Cincinnati. Absolutely.
45:01
Speaker 1: For me, I want some offensive line help. And I
45:03
Speaker 1: know the top of the board is a little bit rough,
45:06
Speaker 1: not too deep an offensive tackle class here, But for me,
45:10
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take Matthew bergeron from Syracuse, another guy that
45:14
Speaker 1: was down at the Senior Bowl and seeing him live
45:16
Speaker 1: everything for me, And it starts with footwork. And it
45:18
Speaker 1: really doesn't matter what sport you play. I don't care
45:20
Speaker 1: if it's hockey. I don't care if it's basketball, or
45:22
Speaker 1: you're playing offensive tackle in the NFL and you get
45:25
Speaker 1: Joe Burtle, keep him upright. That's been the issue in Cincinnati.
45:27
Speaker 1: We talked about it for a long time. I feel
45:29
Speaker 1: like Dan so keeping him upright, young, fresh set of legs. Again.
45:33
Speaker 1: You want to run the ball, he can do that
45:34
Speaker 1: for you. You You want to ask him to drop his
45:36
Speaker 1: anchor and pass pro and allow Joe Burtle to sling
45:38
Speaker 1: at thirty five forty times a game, Matthew Bergeron can
45:40
Speaker 1: do that for you. L Collins is coming back from
45:43
Speaker 1: a torn acl it happened on Christmas Eve. Not sure
45:46
Speaker 1: if he's going to be good to go for the
45:47
Speaker 1: start of the season. Can Bergeron step in at right
45:49
Speaker 1: tackle if me'd be and play right away? Absolutely? And
45:52
Speaker 1: I think if he does have to sit, it's fine
45:54
Speaker 1: there because you're grabbing depth. He can be an OT
45:57
Speaker 1: one where he can be a guy that can sit
45:58
Speaker 1: a here. So I like that pig because he has
46:00
Speaker 1: that depth ability and then he can come in right
46:02
Speaker 1: away and start. And if he does start, I think
46:04
Speaker 1: if LA word to miss time, you can say Matthew
46:07
Speaker 1: Bergeron is the future. There got a tight end in
46:09
Speaker 1: round one and an offensive tackle in round two. We
46:13
Speaker 1: move on to our third and final pick with Ryan
46:15
Speaker 1: Fowler from the Draft Network. We're looking at some of
46:17
Speaker 1: the guys that just went off the board, including Tucker Craft.
46:21
Speaker 1: Now you've already taken a tight end, but Bengals fans
46:23
Speaker 1: have probably seen that name, the tight end out of
46:26
Speaker 1: South Dakota State. He just went to the New York Giants.
46:29
Speaker 1: What position are you looking for in round three? Yeah,
46:31
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna take all the corners. And there's
46:33
Speaker 1: a couple of positions in this In the NFL and
46:35
Speaker 1: in the draft to where you look. You never have
46:36
Speaker 1: enough had rushers. You never have guys on the offensive
46:39
Speaker 1: side of the ball receiver that can separate, and you
46:41
Speaker 1: can never have enough guys that can cover because we
46:43
Speaker 1: know how pass happy the NFL is. In A name
46:46
Speaker 1: that is a riser in this class is Jacorey and
46:48
Speaker 1: Bennett fro Maryland. We saw him yesterday a round four three.
46:50
Speaker 1: I was not surprised by that. He's been testing well
46:53
Speaker 1: all throughout the winter watching him at Maryland. Deontay Banks
46:56
Speaker 1: got all the attention at Maryland this year, but Jacoreyan
46:59
Speaker 1: Bennett is play the nickel, he can play outside if
47:01
Speaker 1: need be, and he can be a special team's core contributor.
47:04
Speaker 1: And that's something that's consistently overlooked every single year in
47:08
Speaker 1: the draft. Those are your core glue guys that separate.
47:11
Speaker 1: When you get to January, getting cold football in Cincinnati
47:13
Speaker 1: and there's snow coming down, who's gonna run down as
47:16
Speaker 1: a gunner on kickoff or punt and light somebody up
47:19
Speaker 1: and then come on defense and earn snaps as well.
47:21
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna take Jacoreyan Bennett from Maryland there. Time
47:24
Speaker 1: to look at your grades. Feel free to disagree with
47:28
Speaker 1: how Pro Football Focus has ranked your grades. They love
47:31
Speaker 1: your second round pick, Matthew Bergier on Yeah, that's get
47:34
Speaker 1: the A with Matthew Bergier on C minus. So Luke Musgrave,
47:37
Speaker 1: that's fine, you give me a C minus, but I'm gonna,
47:38
Speaker 1: you know, five years down the road, we can look
47:40
Speaker 1: back at that and Jacoryan Bennett D minus. I'm not
47:43
Speaker 1: worried about it at all. Again, Jacoreyan Bennett someone that
47:46
Speaker 1: again is riser in this class. I don't think he
47:48
Speaker 1: gets out of that ninety two spot. He's a top
47:51
Speaker 1: one hundred guy on my personal board. Again, depth in
47:53
Speaker 1: the corners room, you can never have enough of it.
47:55
Speaker 1: You gotta cover guys and the AC north and I'm
47:58
Speaker 1: gonna take Jacorey in there. Despite the that I have
48:00
Speaker 1: here from this mock drafting Lade. Well, it's interesting to
48:03
Speaker 1: me because you took him ninety second. That's where the
48:05
Speaker 1: Bengals are drafting in the third round right now. Pro
48:08
Speaker 1: Football Focus has him graded as the ninety eighth player
48:10
Speaker 1: on their big board. They probably give you a D
48:14
Speaker 1: grade before the incredible time he ran at the scouting combine,
48:18
Speaker 1: So I suspect with a little more analysis, that would
48:22
Speaker 1: probably be pretty well received as a third round pick. Absolutely,
48:25
Speaker 1: and I think the scouting combine as much as it
48:27
Speaker 1: is fun watching these guys work out in T shirt
48:29
Speaker 1: and shorts, you know, film has to have to hold weight, right,
48:32
Speaker 1: it has to hold weight. But being here seeing him
48:35
Speaker 1: run in the athletic profile who he is that matters
48:38
Speaker 1: as well. And athletes that run fast and test well,
48:41
Speaker 1: they just don't last long on boards and ninety two overall,
48:43
Speaker 1: it's a heck of amount of value for a guy
48:45
Speaker 1: of his ability. Your overall grade from Pro Football Focus
48:48
Speaker 1: was a B minus, so not awful, and I know
48:50
Speaker 1: that Bengals fans like the idea of tight end tackle
48:52
Speaker 1: and cornerback. Ryan Fowler, you did this extremely well. Appreciate
48:56
Speaker 1: your time. Thanks so much, Dan, Ryan made those picks
49:00
Speaker 1: for the Bengals signed Orlando Brown, so that might have
49:03
Speaker 1: impacted his selection of offensive lineman Matthew bergeron in round two,
49:08
Speaker 1: but then again, that was his highest graded pick. More
49:12
Speaker 1: NFL expert mock drafts still to look forward to in
49:15
Speaker 1: the weeks to come. That's going to do it for
49:17
Speaker 1: this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you
49:19
Speaker 1: by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals,
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Speaker 1: to this podcast and if you have a minute, give
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Speaker 1: it a rating or share a comment that helps more
49:49
Speaker 1: Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for
49:52
Speaker 1: listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast