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Bengals Booth Podcast: You Better Shop Around · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The My Mama told Me a
0:12
Speaker 1: better shop around. Addition, as Dave Lapham joins me to
0:16
Speaker 1: take a look at the free agents who have agreed
0:18
Speaker 1: to new deals in Cincinnati, some guys they are still
0:21
Speaker 1: negotiating with, and we'll answer your ask lap questions. Then
0:26
Speaker 1: after that it's a tribute to a J Green, who
0:29
Speaker 1: is moving on to Arizona after a memorable decade in Cincinnati.
0:34
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer.
0:37
Speaker 1: Refresh the game, and here's a quick reminder that you
0:41
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right
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Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
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Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing
0:52
Speaker 1: since Team Hoyt. I've been incredibly lucky to see some
0:57
Speaker 1: of the greatest athletes of my lifetime perform in person.
1:01
Speaker 1: I've seen Michael Jordan and Lebron James dunk. I've seen
1:05
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods and Ken Griffey junior swing. I've seen Tom
1:09
Speaker 1: Brady throw and AJ Green catch. But the most inspirational
1:14
Speaker 1: athlete I have ever seen is Dick Hoyt, who passed
1:17
Speaker 1: away this week at the age of eighty. Dick inspired
1:21
Speaker 1: millions of people over a span of more than thirty
1:24
Speaker 1: years by pushing his son Rick in a wheelchair in
1:28
Speaker 1: thirty two Boston Marathons and more than one thousand other
1:33
Speaker 1: races all over the world. I lived in Boston for
1:36
Speaker 1: several years, and my wife Peg is an eight time
1:38
Speaker 1: finisher of the marathon, so I've been a spectator many times.
1:43
Speaker 1: Seeing team Hoyt reached the finish line moved me to
1:46
Speaker 1: tears every time. If you're not familiar with their story,
1:50
Speaker 1: look up Dick and Rick Hoyt on YouTube. I suspect
1:53
Speaker 1: that you'll be moved to tears as well. Now let's
1:57
Speaker 1: get to football, as Dave Lapham joins me to discuss
2:00
Speaker 1: free agency and much more. All right, lab, let's dive
2:04
Speaker 1: right into free agency. So far from the Bengals, and
2:07
Speaker 1: who knows, as we're doing this recording, they might sign
2:09
Speaker 1: another guy or two. I'll keep an eye on that
2:11
Speaker 1: during the recording. But let's start with the biggest free
2:14
Speaker 1: agent acquisition thus far, and that is defensive end Trey
2:18
Speaker 1: Hendrickson from the Saints. Four years, sixty million dollars. Basically,
2:23
Speaker 1: it's kind of a swap. They lost Carl Lawson, their
2:26
Speaker 1: best pass rusher. They're bringing in a guy who had
2:28
Speaker 1: thirteen and a half sacks last year to tie for
2:31
Speaker 1: second best in the NFL. Yeah. I thought that free
2:35
Speaker 1: agency had some depth to it Dan with the edge rushers,
2:39
Speaker 1: and it has some solid depth of defensive tackle and
2:42
Speaker 1: the Bengals got one of each. You know, Ogan Joey,
2:45
Speaker 1: we know a lot about. He's raised some heck here
2:48
Speaker 1: against the Cincinnati Bengals, and like you said, Hendrickson had
2:52
Speaker 1: a breakout year thirteen and a half sacks. The Lawson
2:55
Speaker 1: Henderson trade off to me is an interesting one. I
2:59
Speaker 1: think they're both rated maybe in the top three edge
3:02
Speaker 1: guys by by most uh most people that were rating
3:07
Speaker 1: edge people in the free agency. They have different uh
3:11
Speaker 1: they're a little bit different though. I think I think Hendrickson,
3:14
Speaker 1: if I had to use the term football player instincts,
3:19
Speaker 1: you know, an instinctive football player. I give the edge
3:22
Speaker 1: to Hendrickson because he plays the run a little bit better,
3:25
Speaker 1: obviously a lot better in my opinion than Carl does.
3:28
Speaker 1: And then Carl was improving. But if you're talking quick twitch,
3:32
Speaker 1: rare explosion, unbelievable first step, get off all the He's
3:37
Speaker 1: got that skill that that part of the skill set
3:40
Speaker 1: Lawson has is very very unique, you know, and you
3:43
Speaker 1: look at Carl Losson put his numbers up basically a
3:47
Speaker 1: one man band, with Hubbard being hurt a good part
3:49
Speaker 1: of it. Not, you know, not any compliment, guys. You
3:52
Speaker 1: know people are gonna argue Hendrickson thirteen and a half sacks,
3:55
Speaker 1: but man, you get you know, you get Cam Jordan,
4:00
Speaker 1: you know, working with him, you get other other guys inside.
4:03
Speaker 1: With the offense the Saints have, they're playing with the
4:06
Speaker 1: lead all the time, and rush from the quarterback becomes
4:08
Speaker 1: much easier when you know you're going to rush the
4:10
Speaker 1: passer because they have to throw the football and try
4:12
Speaker 1: to catch up. Team start abandoned in their running game.
4:15
Speaker 1: I mean, you can come up with all kinds of
4:17
Speaker 1: theories and arguments and reasons. Bottom line, in my opinion,
4:21
Speaker 1: having you know, played in the trenches, thirteen half sacks
4:24
Speaker 1: is thirteen a half sacks. He still went out and
4:26
Speaker 1: got him, you know, he still did it. And I'm
4:29
Speaker 1: not saying that it wasn't maybe an easier path. I
4:31
Speaker 1: mean Carl had more fewer sacks, but more hits, but
4:35
Speaker 1: a lot more snaps. Well, you know, Hendrickson has a
4:38
Speaker 1: good rush and the quarterback has nowhere else to go
4:42
Speaker 1: because other guys are getting a good rush. Carl Lawston
4:44
Speaker 1: has a good rush. Quarterback can slidestep and move and
4:48
Speaker 1: change the pocket because it's a one man band on
4:50
Speaker 1: the rush. So you know, there's there's something to it
4:53
Speaker 1: all the time when you look at a guy's numbers.
4:56
Speaker 1: That's why football, I think is the is the most
4:58
Speaker 1: interesting sport because there's the moving parts on both sides
5:01
Speaker 1: of the football, and you know one guy's numbers, you
5:05
Speaker 1: can't just extrapolate it. It's not like a vacuum extrapolated
5:08
Speaker 1: and plugged in here and he's going to have those
5:10
Speaker 1: same numbers. Just doesn't work that way. You know, there's
5:13
Speaker 1: a lot of variables and a lot of components around
5:15
Speaker 1: everybody's numbers and everybody's efforts and all that goes into it.
5:18
Speaker 1: But bottom line is when I watch him play, I mean,
5:23
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see the h men. Hubbard and Henderson.
5:27
Speaker 1: They both have to. I mean, they're both gonna bring
5:31
Speaker 1: it every snap. They're both gonna be you know, a
5:33
Speaker 1: full effort going to empty the effort bucket up. I'm
5:36
Speaker 1: very interested in seeing the ah men on the edges.
5:39
Speaker 1: I think covered gonna be a good little, good little tandem.
5:42
Speaker 1: We will not use preparation age when talking about those
5:46
Speaker 1: two guys coming off the edge as a term that is,
5:49
Speaker 1: we're not going to use that. Here's here's what I
5:52
Speaker 1: like about it. A couple of things. Number One, you
5:55
Speaker 1: get an extra year. So Carl's deal with the Jets
5:59
Speaker 1: was three years. The Bengals deal with Hendrickson was four years,
6:03
Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars a year in each case, so I
6:05
Speaker 1: like the extra year. Secondly would be the durability. Hendrickson
6:10
Speaker 1: did have one season where he only played five games.
6:13
Speaker 1: But Karl, of course, has a couple of significant knee
6:16
Speaker 1: injuries in his past. You know, there were times that
6:20
Speaker 1: he had to miss several games here, several games there
6:22
Speaker 1: for pulled muscles and things like that. I think you're
6:25
Speaker 1: getting a slightly more durable guy, at least based on
6:29
Speaker 1: his history. I agree with that. Dan and a bigger guy,
6:34
Speaker 1: you know, overall frame, you know, two hundred and seventy pounds,
6:37
Speaker 1: that carries it a lot more easily than Carl Lawson,
6:40
Speaker 1: who's a beefed up whatever he is, and he's not
6:42
Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy pounds. And you know, in my
6:46
Speaker 1: mind with Carl, the only negative I guess from a
6:50
Speaker 1: physical standpoint is lack of length, and Henderson has got
6:55
Speaker 1: more length, you know that way, And again I think
6:57
Speaker 1: I think overall foot ball player in terms of football
7:01
Speaker 1: player instincts, I give, I definitely give the edge to Hendrickson. Um,
7:06
Speaker 1: and I do like, like you said, I do like
7:08
Speaker 1: the fact that you have the extra year. They're both
7:11
Speaker 1: the standing player. It's going to be very interesting to see,
7:14
Speaker 1: you know, whose ascension continues. I do think both have
7:18
Speaker 1: upside potential. The gets will probably say I think Carl
7:23
Speaker 1: Loston more upside potential because of that the rare explosiveness,
7:28
Speaker 1: that quick twitch that he has. I mean, you don't
7:30
Speaker 1: find many big guys with the quick twitch to that
7:32
Speaker 1: that that dude has. Kray Hendrickson ran a four six
7:36
Speaker 1: five forty you know, out of college, so he's a
7:38
Speaker 1: guy that might not have the quickness and explosion is
7:42
Speaker 1: Carl Lawson, but he is also a tremendous all around athlete,
7:46
Speaker 1: effort guy too, and I'm not standing to Carl Lawson.
7:48
Speaker 1: Isn't or wasn't um Carl Lawson. I think, you know,
7:51
Speaker 1: gives you gives good effort. But we know what's Sam
7:53
Speaker 1: Hubbard's like, I mean Sam Hubbards. You know it's it's
7:56
Speaker 1: like if she's he's losing an arm, he's still coming,
7:59
Speaker 1: you know. And that's what Henderson brings to the table
8:02
Speaker 1: it as well. I think, all right, let's talk about
8:04
Speaker 1: the two cornerbacks that have signed so far, beginning with
8:08
Speaker 1: and I'm going to I work very hard on this name,
8:11
Speaker 1: on the pronunciation. I think I've got it right. Shitubey
8:16
Speaker 1: a Woogie shit Obey A Wougier, second round draft picked
8:21
Speaker 1: by the Cowboys back in twenty seventeen. He'll be twenty
8:24
Speaker 1: seven years old in June. He gets a three year
8:27
Speaker 1: roughly twenty one million dollar contracts, so that's about seven
8:32
Speaker 1: million dollars a year. Will Jackson signed with Washington for
8:36
Speaker 1: twice that fourteen million dollars a year. Will Jackson is
8:41
Speaker 1: not twice as good as Shitubey A. Wougier. In fact,
8:45
Speaker 1: based on conversations that I've had with people from Dallas,
8:49
Speaker 1: a description of shit Obey a Wougier sounds exactly like
8:53
Speaker 1: Will Jackson to me. Yeah, I mean, I think there's
8:56
Speaker 1: a there's a lot of a lot of comparisons. To me,
9:00
Speaker 1: he looks like he's a, you know, a reliable guy
9:02
Speaker 1: where he's supposed to be kind of guy can make
9:04
Speaker 1: playce Now, last year he you know, he misstate games.
9:07
Speaker 1: He had the hamstring injury and COVID issues, but his
9:13
Speaker 1: overall production the first four years in the league. Yeah,
9:16
Speaker 1: I mean, I agree with you. I think I don't
9:18
Speaker 1: think they're losing much and they're not paying anywhere near
9:21
Speaker 1: as much, so I don't have a real big problem
9:25
Speaker 1: with that signing. And he'll start, you know. To me,
9:30
Speaker 1: the Bengals went out in free agency and they got
9:33
Speaker 1: a starting edge rusher at a starting corner, they got
9:37
Speaker 1: a starting stock corner, and they got a starting defensive
9:40
Speaker 1: tackle a three technique. I mean, they've addressed a lot
9:43
Speaker 1: of defensive needs. And again and I feel like in
9:46
Speaker 1: free agency there was more depth on the defensive side
9:50
Speaker 1: of the football. I think the offensive line depth in
9:54
Speaker 1: free agency was not his deep. I think there were
9:57
Speaker 1: some good players and they got paid the old line
10:00
Speaker 1: the guys that, uh, we're out there broke the bank. Um.
10:04
Speaker 1: But I think the offensive line in the draft is
10:07
Speaker 1: a lot deeper than, uh than the defensive front and
10:10
Speaker 1: the secondary draft. So I think the Bengals went and said,
10:14
Speaker 1: all right, well, free agency edge, defensive tack or corner,
10:19
Speaker 1: let's see what we get there, and then we'll address
10:22
Speaker 1: and still try to get that old lineman and Riley
10:25
Speaker 1: reive and hopefully he's signing as we speak. Hopefully uh
10:30
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow's taking him to breakfast, lunch and dinner and
10:32
Speaker 1: told him how important is that he comes here to
10:36
Speaker 1: be a Cincinnati Bengal um. And and if they if
10:40
Speaker 1: they get that done, then then a little bit of
10:42
Speaker 1: the pressure is off, I think in terms of the draft,
10:46
Speaker 1: and I know people are gonna be like, look, you
10:48
Speaker 1: know you're gonna play it. You're saying, all right, well
10:50
Speaker 1: the draft, you're gonna have two rookies starting in your
10:52
Speaker 1: offensive line. No, that's not That's not what I'm saying.
10:55
Speaker 1: But I'm saying I think the draft is uh is
10:58
Speaker 1: deeper than what they have out there in free agency.
11:01
Speaker 1: And I think it was like in this free agency
11:04
Speaker 1: that was supposed to be terrible year to be a
11:07
Speaker 1: free agent because fifteen million dollars less than a cap
11:10
Speaker 1: and a lot of teams been capped jail in camp bid.
11:13
Speaker 1: Trent Williams got the highest offensive tackle contract in the
11:17
Speaker 1: history of the National Football League. Doon, he got eighty million,
11:21
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty plus. Don't get eighty million plus.
11:23
Speaker 1: So the peak guys, the prime guys, we're gonna get paid.
11:28
Speaker 1: And the Chiefs just the Chiefs only need his offensive line.
11:32
Speaker 1: They addressed it with a bell cop. You know, the
11:34
Speaker 1: forty nine ers they've got Trent Williams in a trade.
11:38
Speaker 1: They like Trent Williams. They you know, they haven't need there.
11:41
Speaker 1: They're not. They didn't do anything else. Neither of those
11:43
Speaker 1: teams did anything else. What the Bengals decided to do
11:45
Speaker 1: is not a that kind of money for that type
11:48
Speaker 1: of the player. Instead, you know, try to try to
11:52
Speaker 1: address multiple needs the Bengals had. Let's face, the Bengals
11:55
Speaker 1: have many more needs than the Kansas City Chiefs in
11:57
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine ers. That's just the the truth,
12:00
Speaker 1: that's just the nature of the beach. Let's turn to
12:02
Speaker 1: the next defensive back that they signed, slot corner Mike Hilton.
12:07
Speaker 1: We know all about him from seeing the Bengals face
12:09
Speaker 1: the Steelers over the past several years. He's twenty seven
12:12
Speaker 1: years old. He gets a four year, twenty four million
12:15
Speaker 1: dollars deal, so that projects to six million per So
12:18
Speaker 1: basically a Wugier gets seven million a year, Hilton gets
12:24
Speaker 1: six million a year. Added up thirteen million dollars. That's
12:28
Speaker 1: still less than Will Jackson. You got two for you
12:32
Speaker 1: got two for one, you know, in terms of the
12:34
Speaker 1: dollars there, and for multiple years. And they're both two
12:39
Speaker 1: years younger than Will. Right, Hilton's twenty, Wugier is twenty
12:45
Speaker 1: five and Hilton's twenty seven. Right, No, and Wougier turns
12:49
Speaker 1: twenty seven in June, so he'll be twenty seven in
12:52
Speaker 1: time for next season, and Hilton is twenty seven. Will
12:56
Speaker 1: will be twenty nine next year. So Hilton seven interceptions,
13:02
Speaker 1: nine and a half sacks, and you know, forty one
13:05
Speaker 1: pressures off the edge. So I mean, now you have
13:09
Speaker 1: an element that caused the Bengals and other team's problems.
13:12
Speaker 1: When Hilton comes, he brings it. I mean he's matched
13:15
Speaker 1: up on running backs and people like that, and he
13:17
Speaker 1: that's a mismatch in Hilton's favor in the Steelers opinion
13:21
Speaker 1: and probably uh Luna Ruma's opinion as well. So it's
13:24
Speaker 1: going to be interesting to see how they utilized him.
13:27
Speaker 1: You know, It's it's very interesting though, Dan. You know
13:30
Speaker 1: the thing is, you almost have two free agent classes,
13:33
Speaker 1: honestly because DJ Reader made a guest appearance, Trey Waynes
13:39
Speaker 1: didn't make any appearance. So you've got basically this year,
13:44
Speaker 1: you've got Trey Waynes, who they got paid a ton
13:46
Speaker 1: of money to play corner, and last year's free agency market,
13:49
Speaker 1: I mean they have they have basically a new secondary,
13:51
Speaker 1: three three new starters out there, you know in the
13:54
Speaker 1: secondary and Ogan Job as a three technique, hendricksoners and
13:58
Speaker 1: defensive end. They have addressed that defensive football team in
14:02
Speaker 1: the last two free agency classes where they felt like
14:06
Speaker 1: there's a deeper pool of defensive players to look at
14:10
Speaker 1: to get better than offensive lineman. Well, let's turn to
14:14
Speaker 1: Larry Ogan Job because that's another guy we've seen a
14:16
Speaker 1: lot of over the past several years with the Cleveland Browns.
14:19
Speaker 1: Also a member of the two thousand and seventeen draft class.
14:22
Speaker 1: So that was the case with Hendrickson and a Wouger.
14:26
Speaker 1: Hilton was part of the two thousand and sixteen draft class.
14:29
Speaker 1: But in any case, Larry Ogan Job turns twenty seven
14:32
Speaker 1: in June five and a half sacks, is an interior
14:36
Speaker 1: defensive lineman. In two eighteen and two thousand nineteen story
14:40
Speaker 1: on him is that, apparently he's a little bit inconsistent,
14:43
Speaker 1: but he always played well against the Bengals. He did.
14:47
Speaker 1: I mean in eight games he had a one and
14:49
Speaker 1: a half sacks, six tackless, lost four quarterback hits. He
14:53
Speaker 1: was thorn in their side, and they moved to him
14:56
Speaker 1: Cleveland ended up, you know, moving him from a three
15:00
Speaker 1: technique to a nose tackle. I thought that that they
15:03
Speaker 1: did people a favor. I thought he was better as
15:05
Speaker 1: a as a three technique and I think, you know,
15:07
Speaker 1: outside shoulders guard pass rush guy, and I think that's
15:10
Speaker 1: where the Bengals, you know, are looking to utilize him.
15:14
Speaker 1: They felt like, honestly, they were second second few as
15:18
Speaker 1: quarterback sacks in the National Football League. Obviously that's a
15:21
Speaker 1: huge weakness. Where the Bengals had problems last year was
15:25
Speaker 1: in the trenches offensive and defensive line. So they've addressed
15:29
Speaker 1: the defensive line in free agency, and you know, everybody
15:33
Speaker 1: out there is gonna go nuts they don't get resigned
15:36
Speaker 1: that they didn't do anything with the offensive line, but
15:39
Speaker 1: they will address it in the draft. And no, still
15:42
Speaker 1: I addressed U for depth defensive depth in the draft.
15:46
Speaker 1: But I think in the early rounds it's gonna be
15:49
Speaker 1: offensive oriented. There's no two ways about it, no question
15:52
Speaker 1: about it. But I think Ogan joby is I think
15:56
Speaker 1: it's a solid signing. You know, I I think I
16:00
Speaker 1: think maybe Geno Atkins games the numbered. I mean, you
16:03
Speaker 1: can't spend forty million dollars the defensive tackle with, you know,
16:06
Speaker 1: DJ Reader, Ogan Joebi, Gino Atkins, Daniels. Somebody's got to go,
16:11
Speaker 1: and obviously I think Gino might be the guy to go,
16:15
Speaker 1: unless he takes an enormous haircut. All right, now, let's
16:18
Speaker 1: turn to some guys that the Bengals are reportedly talking to,
16:21
Speaker 1: including a player that you've mentioned a few times already today.
16:24
Speaker 1: Riley Reef, veteran offensive lineman, former first round draft pick
16:28
Speaker 1: by the Lions, spent five years in Detroit and the
16:31
Speaker 1: last four in Minnesota. Thirty two years old. Pro Football
16:35
Speaker 1: Focus calls him one of the most consistent offensive tackles
16:39
Speaker 1: in the league. So this obviously would be a significant
16:42
Speaker 1: addition in the attempt to improve the offensive line. Yeah,
16:47
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of things I like about him. Obviously,
16:50
Speaker 1: he's on the back nine of his career. He's played
16:52
Speaker 1: a few years. They do need that veteran presence, you know,
16:55
Speaker 1: there's always a need for a veteran presence in the
16:58
Speaker 1: offensive line, and he would divide that and for years
17:02
Speaker 1: linebackers coming out of Penn State it was Penn State.
17:04
Speaker 1: You he comes off of Iowa. In my mind, that's
17:08
Speaker 1: full lined. You. Kirk Ferns was an offensive line coach
17:11
Speaker 1: in the NFL at the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
17:15
Speaker 1: He knows his offensive lineman. He recruits offensive lineman out
17:19
Speaker 1: of high school with great talent to develop at Iowa.
17:22
Speaker 1: They come out of Iola, I think, ready to play.
17:26
Speaker 1: You know, suff is another example of an Iowa guy
17:28
Speaker 1: that was out there in free agency and he got
17:30
Speaker 1: tagged by the Redskins. So there's there's we can go
17:33
Speaker 1: over a litanya guys that have had success from from
17:37
Speaker 1: Iowa in terms of the offensive line. Like you said, Dan,
17:40
Speaker 1: it was the twenty third pick in the draft in
17:42
Speaker 1: the first round coming out of college, so over thousand
17:46
Speaker 1: snaps last year, only had one penalty, committed one penalty
17:49
Speaker 1: and gave up one sack. I think he's very intelligent.
17:53
Speaker 1: I think he's extremely durable. I mean he's dependable, he
17:56
Speaker 1: shows up. He's accountable, reliability, depending ability because the physical
18:01
Speaker 1: aspect of it with the mental intelligence. And he's versatile.
18:04
Speaker 1: It's the position versatility. He can play left hackley to
18:06
Speaker 1: play right tackle. So I think he would be a
18:09
Speaker 1: great signing. Um. He's kind of kind of what you're
18:12
Speaker 1: looking for. And he was a stalary casualty the Viking
18:18
Speaker 1: saved between eleven and twelve million bucks. I think it
18:20
Speaker 1: was by letting him go. And I think his people
18:24
Speaker 1: probably feel like after Trent Williams, he might be the guy.
18:29
Speaker 1: So but it hasn't worked out that way, I guess
18:32
Speaker 1: maybe necessarily. And the Bengals have him in town and
18:36
Speaker 1: they're they're winding and dining him and trying to get
18:38
Speaker 1: a deal done. It'd be great if they could get
18:40
Speaker 1: a deal done with him, and then I think there'd
18:42
Speaker 1: be a transposition of Riley Reeve comes and at that
18:47
Speaker 1: point Propy's heart would probably go, you can't It wouldn't
18:51
Speaker 1: be keeping them, both of them out there in the
18:54
Speaker 1: early stages of free agency when we were talking about possibilities. Obviously,
18:59
Speaker 1: you know Trent Williams is at the top of the
19:01
Speaker 1: totem pole. He's getting twenty three millions dollars a year
19:04
Speaker 1: from the forty nine Ers. That wasn't going to happen.
19:06
Speaker 1: Taylor Moden's name came up, he got tagged by the Panthers.
19:10
Speaker 1: Darryl Williams name came up. He got a three year
19:12
Speaker 1: extension with his team, the Buffalo Bills, So that really
19:16
Speaker 1: thinned the available tackle market out pretty quickly. We mentioned
19:21
Speaker 1: Matt Feiler, who signed with the Chargers for three years
19:24
Speaker 1: twenty one million bucks. From what's still left out there
19:27
Speaker 1: as we speak, Riley Reif, Mitchell Schwartz, who got cut
19:32
Speaker 1: by the Chiefs, Russell o'coon, Alejandro Villa Nueva. What appeals
19:40
Speaker 1: to you most from that pack? Is it? Riley Reef? Yeah,
19:44
Speaker 1: I mean I think they're I think they've got a good, solid,
19:48
Speaker 1: solid guy there. I don't think the Minnesota Vikings wouldn't necessarily,
19:52
Speaker 1: you know, let him go if it wasn't just our capissues.
19:57
Speaker 1: They're in a little bit of cap jail and had
19:59
Speaker 1: to make a I had to make a decision, had
20:01
Speaker 1: to make a move. UH. I like him a lot.
20:04
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he's a I think he's a
20:06
Speaker 1: really good player. I do think that that the uh,
20:09
Speaker 1: the offensive line gaps got thinned out very quickly. I
20:13
Speaker 1: didn't think it was that deep as we talked about
20:16
Speaker 1: UH in free agency with the offensive line, and it
20:19
Speaker 1: got pluck. If you have a good one, normally you
20:22
Speaker 1: don't let them, you know, out there unless you have
20:25
Speaker 1: situations with cap problems and and things of that nature.
20:28
Speaker 1: And the guys on the back nine, because everybody, a
20:31
Speaker 1: lot of the guys were talking about they have some
20:34
Speaker 1: wear and tear on them. There's no question. I mean,
20:36
Speaker 1: I think Trent Williams, I think will probably be upper
20:41
Speaker 1: cruss guy for a couple more years, maybe maybe three.
20:46
Speaker 1: Um and and in the forty nine ers are like,
20:49
Speaker 1: look we have this is our kneed Perry and creates.
20:53
Speaker 1: This is what we're going to spend on. So he
20:55
Speaker 1: got the he got the enormous box. The one thing
20:57
Speaker 1: that we talked about this a lot is okay, do
21:02
Speaker 1: you go get the weapons or do you get linemen. Well,
21:05
Speaker 1: in this down market, the two guys that get paid
21:09
Speaker 1: were a left tackle and a guard. They hit the
21:12
Speaker 1: jack pot because there weren't many of them and the
21:16
Speaker 1: teams that had a need for them were willing to
21:18
Speaker 1: pay significant dollars. I mean, they're paid. Their contracts didn't
21:24
Speaker 1: diminish like people thought they might. It might be a
21:27
Speaker 1: you know, a bad years. It's going to be a
21:29
Speaker 1: bad year for some quite a few free agents, but
21:32
Speaker 1: the cream of the crop free agents. Not a bad
21:34
Speaker 1: year for and who are the two highest paid offensive linemen?
21:39
Speaker 1: Who else get money? Edge rush guys, cornerbacks, it's a
21:44
Speaker 1: passing lead going to protect them, that to be able
21:47
Speaker 1: to rush them and cover them. And yet the wide
21:51
Speaker 1: receivers buy and large, are not getting paid. And that
21:54
Speaker 1: leads us to Kenny gala Day, who has a one
21:57
Speaker 1: year offer on the table from Cincinnati, reportedly the number
22:01
Speaker 1: one free agent wide receiver in this class according to
22:04
Speaker 1: most of the experts. Head back to back one thousand
22:06
Speaker 1: yards seasons for Detroit two eighteen and twenty nineteen before
22:10
Speaker 1: getting hurt last year. Career yards per catch average of
22:14
Speaker 1: nearly seventeen yards a catch. He wants to get paid
22:18
Speaker 1: like the top receivers in the NFL. You know, of course,
22:21
Speaker 1: to twenty million dollars a year. That's not happening for
22:24
Speaker 1: any of these guys with the cap going down. So
22:27
Speaker 1: the Bengals have offered him a one year deal, basically saying, hey,
22:30
Speaker 1: come here, put up big numbers with Joe Burrow throwing
22:33
Speaker 1: you the ball, and then next year you can cash
22:35
Speaker 1: in either here or somewhere else when the cap goes
22:38
Speaker 1: back up. The Giants are bringing him in for a visit.
22:41
Speaker 1: So maybe that's the way it turns out, but the
22:44
Speaker 1: Bengals have at least put their chips on the table.
22:47
Speaker 1: With the best free agent wide receiver out there, I
22:49
Speaker 1: think that it's a bad year to be a free
22:52
Speaker 1: agent wide receiver from a market standpoint. Kenny Galladay is
22:58
Speaker 1: a great player, There's no question about it. In teams
23:02
Speaker 1: around the league are saying, Okay, why don't you just
23:04
Speaker 1: do a one year better on yourself deal and then
23:08
Speaker 1: put up some great numbers and next year it will
23:11
Speaker 1: be a better year to be a free agent. There
23:13
Speaker 1: maybe fewer free agents at wide receiver out there on
23:16
Speaker 1: the market, the market could be more rich. It was
23:19
Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars decrease this year because of coronavirus, so
23:23
Speaker 1: there's a lot of extenuating circumstances. It's a it's a
23:26
Speaker 1: supply and demand uh scenario. There's more supply, so the
23:31
Speaker 1: demand goes down. Everybody's waiting for the wide receivers. They're
23:35
Speaker 1: all they're all looking for pay days. Everybody can't get
23:37
Speaker 1: a payday, so teams are saying, when are you going
23:40
Speaker 1: to get more reasonable? Who's going to get more reasonable?
23:43
Speaker 1: The Bengals are part of that, part of that mix.
23:46
Speaker 1: We'll see if if they can land a guy like
23:49
Speaker 1: Dolla Day or if he ends up going to the
23:51
Speaker 1: big apples. All right, we have discussed the guys that
23:54
Speaker 1: the Bengals have signed, We've discussed a couple of guys
23:58
Speaker 1: that they are still talking to, and they're obviously others
24:00
Speaker 1: that they are talking to that have not become public.
24:03
Speaker 1: But it's time to turn to a listener. We've got
24:07
Speaker 1: a bunch of asked Lap questions that were submitted via Twitter,
24:12
Speaker 1: and let's start with Ryan. Here's Ryan's question, Lap, why
24:16
Speaker 1: have the Bengals ignored ignored their most glaring need of
24:20
Speaker 1: offensive line so far? Shouldn't Burrow be the top priority
24:24
Speaker 1: and we'd spending on the top lineman available. Related question
24:30
Speaker 1: from Daniel is there a plan to protect the franchise quarterback?
24:34
Speaker 1: So this is obviously the number one topic I think
24:37
Speaker 1: for most Bengals fans. Why haven't they made a step
24:42
Speaker 1: yet to fix the offensive line? Yeah? I think that
24:45
Speaker 1: they decided that the amount of spend all your cap
24:50
Speaker 1: on one guy or you know, maybe have room for
24:53
Speaker 1: maybe one more player, they feel like addressing the defense
24:58
Speaker 1: with three potential starters or more, and that they can
25:02
Speaker 1: if they do end up getting a deal done with
25:05
Speaker 1: Riley Reef. And I do think that there's pressure on
25:07
Speaker 1: them to get a deal done with Riley Reef. If
25:09
Speaker 1: they get that deal done, I think it eases the
25:12
Speaker 1: pressure tremendously. But you know, the old Deald philosophy of uh,
25:17
Speaker 1: do you want just one stellar offensive lineman and you
25:20
Speaker 1: can't really afford to have, you know, four others? Or
25:25
Speaker 1: would you rather have five good ones across the board? Uh?
25:28
Speaker 1: You know that That's that's part of I guess they're
25:30
Speaker 1: the philosophy. Bottom line is it's going to have to
25:33
Speaker 1: be addressed. Um and if they didn't get it done
25:35
Speaker 1: in free agency, if they don't get Riley Reef or
25:37
Speaker 1: they don't get any offensive lineman sign in free agency
25:40
Speaker 1: where it is not incredibly deep. There was there was
25:43
Speaker 1: some talent um, but again it takes two to tango.
25:48
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's multiple reasons why white guys signed
25:52
Speaker 1: with teams, and money is up is number one. But
25:55
Speaker 1: then if if you're going to get the money from
25:58
Speaker 1: somebody another suitor, that is the playoff team and you're not.
26:02
Speaker 1: I think the chat of Joe Burrow is a significant one.
26:06
Speaker 1: I think I think that's a factor. And if I'm
26:10
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman or free agent offensive lineman, I'm looking
26:13
Speaker 1: to see who my quarterback might be. So I think
26:16
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow's definite plus. But you know, teams that that
26:20
Speaker 1: that got the big value free agents forty nine ers
26:24
Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs Enough said similar question from JT. Why
26:30
Speaker 1: do the Bengals refuse to value guards the way the
26:33
Speaker 1: rest of the successful teams do. Why not build a
26:36
Speaker 1: superior line instead of going the cheap route. Well, it's
26:40
Speaker 1: going to be interesting to see what they what they
26:42
Speaker 1: do end up with at at the guard position. And uh,
26:45
Speaker 1: you know, everybody was so sold and me and clude,
26:49
Speaker 1: I mean, Duney's a great player, There's no question about it.
26:52
Speaker 1: Trent Williams is a great player. Penney Stool is a
26:55
Speaker 1: great player. And you start hearing about these guys and
26:58
Speaker 1: if you don't get that guy, there's bitter disappointment. And
27:01
Speaker 1: there's only one team that's going to get the guy.
27:04
Speaker 1: Um so uh am I saying that that, I that
27:09
Speaker 1: I as a former alignement, do I want the Bengals
27:12
Speaker 1: offensive line to be improved upon and to to get
27:16
Speaker 1: better with Frank Pollack. Give him some tools, gives him
27:19
Speaker 1: some clay that he can mold into a solid offensive line.
27:22
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, And I've said before our best offensive line
27:27
Speaker 1: enfranchise history was in the eighties. Do we had good
27:30
Speaker 1: lines in that decade? Who were the kingpins? The Mexican Connection?
27:35
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl left tackle Perennial, Anthony Munos, Pro Bowl guard
27:39
Speaker 1: Max Montoya. Yeah. I mean there's there's no question that
27:44
Speaker 1: that the best teams in Bengals history had the best
27:47
Speaker 1: offensive lines in Bengals history operating with them with those
27:51
Speaker 1: two guys, So it's it goes hand in hand. Yeah,
27:55
Speaker 1: there's no doubt in my mind the Bengals offensive line
27:57
Speaker 1: has to improve and and maybe the first step is
28:02
Speaker 1: underway as we're as we're speaking here. If they can
28:05
Speaker 1: get something done with Riley Reef and then and then
28:08
Speaker 1: go and address things in the draft. I want to
28:11
Speaker 1: go back to the beginning of JT's question, why do
28:14
Speaker 1: the Bengals refuse to value guards the way the rest
28:16
Speaker 1: of the successful teams do. The Patriots have been pretty successful.
28:21
Speaker 1: They had Joe Tooney, they elected not to resign him
28:25
Speaker 1: for those kinds of numbers. I think that the Bengals
28:30
Speaker 1: are actually in the norm where where valuing guards is concerned.
28:34
Speaker 1: I think their feeling is and this has been proven
28:38
Speaker 1: out over history. You've got to spend on tackles and
28:43
Speaker 1: you draft and develop guards, and I think that that's
28:47
Speaker 1: probably the norm. Now, there are some exceptions. I think
28:50
Speaker 1: the Chiefs showed recently they cut their tackles and they spent,
28:55
Speaker 1: you know, big on a guard. The Saints have historically
28:59
Speaker 1: spent big on guards. But I think by and large,
29:03
Speaker 1: the Bengals are probably in the norm, at least in
29:05
Speaker 1: terms of how they budget for their offensive line in thinking,
29:10
Speaker 1: we've got to pay tackles at the top of the
29:13
Speaker 1: pay scale, but if you do that with guards overall,
29:16
Speaker 1: it's going to hurt your team. Yeah. Bottom line is
29:20
Speaker 1: when push came to shove and the New England Patriots said, Okay,
29:26
Speaker 1: well we've got money spent at X Y Z position
29:32
Speaker 1: and one of them includes a guard. The guard's always
29:35
Speaker 1: going to lose. That position is always going to be
29:37
Speaker 1: the first one to go, no matter how great the
29:39
Speaker 1: guy is. And it is puzzling that the Kansas City
29:42
Speaker 1: Chiefs who are exposed and abused on the edge in
29:44
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl with their two tackles injured, and they
29:48
Speaker 1: got rid of both of them and they were injured
29:51
Speaker 1: in and then they'd let them go for cap dollars
29:54
Speaker 1: and everything else. It is interesting for them to go
29:57
Speaker 1: the route that they've gone. I guess it's going to
29:59
Speaker 1: be to see how that how that you know, the
30:03
Speaker 1: final solution of that whole thing. You know, Pittsburgh with
30:06
Speaker 1: the Castro has spent some money at guard. Um, you
30:09
Speaker 1: know Cleveland has spent some money at guard. These are
30:12
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl caliber ligneman though, you know and and uh
30:15
Speaker 1: and once you develop you develop a guy, he becomes
30:18
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl caliber guy like tun tuney is. You know,
30:23
Speaker 1: they're gonna get paid. But then when you have cap problems,
30:27
Speaker 1: they're going to be the first ones to go. So
30:29
Speaker 1: it is it's a it's an interesting diconomy that goes
30:32
Speaker 1: on at that position. There's no doubt about it. Question
30:36
Speaker 1: from Steve, Oh, could Bobby Heart be a decent guard?
30:42
Speaker 1: I believe that if you can play tackle, most probably
30:46
Speaker 1: you can play guard. But the one thing that Bobby
30:49
Speaker 1: has had difficulty with is bull rush. And at guard
30:53
Speaker 1: you're gonna get your butt bull rushed. So you know,
30:56
Speaker 1: if if you can't stink your hips and handle the
30:59
Speaker 1: bull rush out on the edge, gonna be harder to
31:02
Speaker 1: sink your hips and handle a bullrush inside. Um, So
31:05
Speaker 1: that that would be I guess my only concern there
31:08
Speaker 1: does he have enough ballast and um, you know, lower
31:12
Speaker 1: body strength and all those kind of things to uh
31:15
Speaker 1: to to you know, to transition to the guard position.
31:19
Speaker 1: It is interesting I've seen in my mind, having played
31:23
Speaker 1: all five of the positions, I felt like, boy, if
31:26
Speaker 1: you can play tack, you play you could play guard.
31:28
Speaker 1: But there's you know, Willie Anderson. I remember talking to Willie.
31:31
Speaker 1: Will He's like, man, I don't like I don't like guard.
31:34
Speaker 1: You know, it's like there's the traffic in there is
31:36
Speaker 1: it's so much faster it is. It is almost like
31:39
Speaker 1: rush hour. You know, you're you're in rush hour, and
31:42
Speaker 1: it's rush hour on the interstate because it's not only traffic,
31:45
Speaker 1: it's fast traffic. There's stuff twisting and turning and spinning
31:49
Speaker 1: going crazy inside, and it's it's a quicker reaction time.
31:53
Speaker 1: Some guys don't like the environment inside that if they've
31:56
Speaker 1: if they've been out in the edge their whole career.
31:58
Speaker 1: So there's you know, it's it's never a given, but
32:02
Speaker 1: it would be interesting to see how Bobby would transition
32:04
Speaker 1: to a guard if the Bengals wind up signing Riley
32:08
Speaker 1: Reef or another of the tackles that's still out there,
32:12
Speaker 1: and Piney Sewell is available with a fifth pick in
32:14
Speaker 1: the draft and they take him. Who plays where? That's
32:19
Speaker 1: a good problem to have your five best lineman hit
32:22
Speaker 1: the field, you know. So I means as of right now,
32:28
Speaker 1: without the draft, if they can get Riley Reef, I mean,
32:31
Speaker 1: obviously you'd still have Jonah Williams out there at left
32:34
Speaker 1: tackle and then Riley Reef at the right tackle, and
32:37
Speaker 1: then you'd have, in my mind a guide not to
32:40
Speaker 1: give up on Identergy as a swing tackle. I think
32:43
Speaker 1: Identergy is a good football player, and I think he
32:45
Speaker 1: showed promise, and I think I think he'll develop even
32:49
Speaker 1: further with Frank Pollock. I think that Frank's going to
32:52
Speaker 1: teach him some techniques. I think that would be very
32:54
Speaker 1: useful in his development. So it's going to be interesting
32:57
Speaker 1: to see who ends up shift thing where. You know,
33:01
Speaker 1: I've said a couple of times now in my mind,
33:03
Speaker 1: I think Jonah Williams might be a good center. Now
33:05
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna do that with Trey Hopkins
33:08
Speaker 1: the level level that he plays the center position. But
33:11
Speaker 1: he's coming back from the ACCL. But he'll be back
33:13
Speaker 1: and I think he'll be as good as he's ever been.
33:17
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about the very start of the season though.
33:19
Speaker 1: So the thing you want is seven or eight starters
33:24
Speaker 1: is what you want, and you want versatility. You want
33:28
Speaker 1: You got your your starting five, but you want at
33:32
Speaker 1: least another couple of guys can play multiple positions. And also,
33:36
Speaker 1: um you want at least two of your offensive starting
33:40
Speaker 1: offensive lineman to be able to play multiple positions. You
33:43
Speaker 1: don't want to have to make two or three moves
33:47
Speaker 1: because of one injury. So that that that would be
33:51
Speaker 1: the ideal scenario for any NFL team. So if they
33:55
Speaker 1: signed Riley Reef, and draft an a Suo or will
33:59
Speaker 1: even say Rashaan Slater. So you've got Jonah Williams, Riley
34:04
Speaker 1: Reef and Pennays Sewel. Which guy would be most likely
34:08
Speaker 1: to move to guard? Maybe if it's only in the
34:12
Speaker 1: short term, maybe Pennay Seouel. That's what they did with
34:15
Speaker 1: Andrew Whitworth. I mean Worth you worked at guard to
34:20
Speaker 1: acclimate himself to the National Football League. Because Dan as
34:24
Speaker 1: great as as great as Seoul is from a physical standpoint,
34:28
Speaker 1: looking at him, it's like if you put requirements and
34:32
Speaker 1: specifications into a computer, Penney Sewel would come spitting out
34:35
Speaker 1: of there. But he didn't play last year. He sat
34:39
Speaker 1: out last year because of coronavirus. So he's got a
34:42
Speaker 1: small sample size and it's not against the SEC. If
34:47
Speaker 1: he was handling ten to twelve rushers that the SEC
34:50
Speaker 1: provides on an annual basis, I'd feel better. But the
34:54
Speaker 1: PAC twelve, I mean, I'm not saying that he can't
34:57
Speaker 1: do it, but he hasn't shown that he can do it,
35:00
Speaker 1: So to me, there's no there's no total guarantee, no
35:05
Speaker 1: total given there. So it'd be up to Frank to
35:10
Speaker 1: decide that, obviously, But it might be easier for Penasool
35:15
Speaker 1: to transition inside working his way inside outside, but that
35:20
Speaker 1: would be decided by the practices, the pass rush drills,
35:25
Speaker 1: preseason games, how many there are, and all that that
35:27
Speaker 1: goes along with it. Question from Nathan do you think
35:31
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bill's approach to the offensive line would be
35:34
Speaker 1: the best way to go now by bringing in several
35:37
Speaker 1: options in both free agency and the draft and then
35:41
Speaker 1: letting them battle it out. Yeah, that's the ideal world.
35:46
Speaker 1: I mean, if you the thing you don't want to
35:49
Speaker 1: do though, You don't want to sign a free agent
35:51
Speaker 1: lineman just to sign one because the pressure to sign
35:56
Speaker 1: one is so immense that you sign a guy just
36:00
Speaker 1: to sign a guy, and then you have to draft. Still.
36:02
Speaker 1: You know, It's like, my whole thing is if you can,
36:06
Speaker 1: if you can double down, and you're doubling down because
36:09
Speaker 1: you think you've got two viable candidates and may the
36:12
Speaker 1: best man win, that's doubling down. Doubling Down's not like
36:17
Speaker 1: I'll sign this guy because damn, I better sign somebody,
36:19
Speaker 1: and then, jeez, if I really solved my if I
36:22
Speaker 1: really upgraded, I'm still gonna have to draft. That's not
36:24
Speaker 1: really doubling down. Doubling down is accumulating as much talent
36:29
Speaker 1: as you possibly can with as much resources as you
36:33
Speaker 1: possibly can, and letting the best man win. That's a
36:35
Speaker 1: true double down, and I hope the Bengals do it
36:38
Speaker 1: with offensive lineman for sure. All Right, We've got some
36:43
Speaker 1: Aj Green questions following the news that Aj is signing
36:46
Speaker 1: with the Arizona Cardinals from our friends at Bengals UK.
36:50
Speaker 1: You played with Isaac Curtis, you played with Charlie Joyner,
36:53
Speaker 1: You've seen Chad Johnson, Eddie Brown, t J. Hushman, Zada, etc.
36:58
Speaker 1: Where does Aj Green? Right? Well, he's right up there,
37:03
Speaker 1: you know, he's I think I think Isaac Curtis. If
37:08
Speaker 1: Isaac Curtis had played in today's football, I think he
37:11
Speaker 1: would have put up stupid numbers. I mean Isaac, Isaac
37:15
Speaker 1: was world class speed, with as good at hands, a
37:20
Speaker 1: good a pair of hands as I've ever seen. He
37:23
Speaker 1: Just being on the field with him and watching him
37:26
Speaker 1: do the things that he did is like, oh my god.
37:30
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'd ever can say that there
37:32
Speaker 1: may be another guy that could do what Isaac Curtis
37:34
Speaker 1: could do. He was mesmerizing, But Aj Green is right there.
37:40
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's he's very very close. And the
37:43
Speaker 1: thing that they both have in common from a personality standpoint,
37:48
Speaker 1: very very similar to unbelievable human beings, you know, for
37:53
Speaker 1: for his elite a player as they are, they're an
37:56
Speaker 1: elite person that way and every way you can be
38:00
Speaker 1: a son, a husband, a father, a friend, you know,
38:05
Speaker 1: a citizen. I mean, they're just just unbelievable people. So
38:10
Speaker 1: the fact that that they gave you and Charlie Joyner
38:14
Speaker 1: falls into that category as from a human being standpoint,
38:18
Speaker 1: But he's, um, he didn't have the gifted skill set
38:23
Speaker 1: that that aj and Uh and Isaac Curtis do. I mean,
38:26
Speaker 1: they're they're like world class of lead athletes. And Charlie
38:30
Speaker 1: Joyner got the utmost out of what his physical abilities were,
38:35
Speaker 1: and he had some, but not to the levels that
38:38
Speaker 1: those guys did. But all three of those guys, you
38:42
Speaker 1: as a coach, you never had to worry about them
38:44
Speaker 1: causing any kind of problem whatsoever. Forget a week to
38:48
Speaker 1: week basis or even day to day, hour to hour basis.
38:51
Speaker 1: I mean, those guys were just unbelievable character as well
38:56
Speaker 1: as an incredible football player. So um, Yeah. AJ Green
39:01
Speaker 1: is somebody that man, what a what a mark, what
39:06
Speaker 1: a legacy He's left in this in this franchise for
39:10
Speaker 1: his on the field, off the field, just total person
39:15
Speaker 1: that Aj Green is. And that leads to this question
39:18
Speaker 1: from Jacob. Do you think AJ had the most influence
39:23
Speaker 1: on Bengals fandom in the past twenty five years? I
39:27
Speaker 1: would actually say Chad Johnson had more impact on fans
39:31
Speaker 1: just because you know, he moved the needle with everybody.
39:36
Speaker 1: You didn't even have to be a football fan to
39:38
Speaker 1: be interested in what Chad was up to. But but
39:41
Speaker 1: what do you think about that question? Did he have
39:43
Speaker 1: the most influence on the fans over the past twenty
39:45
Speaker 1: five years? I think that he didn't care about that
39:49
Speaker 1: and he had no intention of it. Whereas Chad or
39:52
Speaker 1: social media, you know, craving spotlight. That's what he wanted.
39:56
Speaker 1: That Chad wanted to be a social media maven and
39:58
Speaker 1: he was. I mean, you're right, Dan, I mean Chad,
40:01
Speaker 1: Chad is an influencer, you know, in a social media platform.
40:06
Speaker 1: AJ could give a hill of beans about that. We
40:08
Speaker 1: had no interest in it. So from that standpoint, they
40:11
Speaker 1: are at North and South Pole. But um, you know,
40:15
Speaker 1: the from a from a true football fan, the fanatic
40:18
Speaker 1: part of it. AJ had as much influence I think
40:21
Speaker 1: as anybody, but as far as periphery fans or people,
40:26
Speaker 1: I mean, Chad had Chad has an influence on had
40:29
Speaker 1: an influence and does still on people that aren't necessarily
40:33
Speaker 1: all that interested in football. Correct. I would agree with
40:36
Speaker 1: ad part all right. Whenever we shine the lap signal
40:39
Speaker 1: into the nighttime sky and ask for ask lap questions,
40:44
Speaker 1: we get a few that are a little bit off
40:45
Speaker 1: the wall. Here goes this is from my Bengals thoughts.
40:51
Speaker 1: Do you have any stories from when you played for
40:54
Speaker 1: Donald Trump? I know the answer to that question. You've
40:58
Speaker 1: got a ton of stories from when you played for
41:01
Speaker 1: Donald Trump in the USFL. Why don't I te you
41:05
Speaker 1: up just to describe what it was like to walk
41:07
Speaker 1: in for that first contract meeting and Trump Tower? Yeah,
41:12
Speaker 1: that was he was. He was impressive, to say the least.
41:15
Speaker 1: You know, the Trump Tower had just been completed, and uh,
41:19
Speaker 1: he had his penthouse offices up there on that top floor.
41:23
Speaker 1: And up you go, and uh, you know, you're you're
41:28
Speaker 1: in front of him and his desk and there's little depression.
41:30
Speaker 1: You go down a step into a seat and he's
41:33
Speaker 1: elevated behind him as a portrait of himself, and it's like, whoa,
41:38
Speaker 1: I'm not in Kansas anymore. I'm in the land of
41:40
Speaker 1: oz That's where we are right now. But uh yeah,
41:44
Speaker 1: he was. He was a very very m shrewd businessman,
41:50
Speaker 1: very fair though, and I remember saying, uh, Chief, this, this,
41:56
Speaker 1: this offer is pretty pretty nice. I mean, if we
41:58
Speaker 1: could guarantee the first two years done, son, I'm like, oh, man,
42:02
Speaker 1: I wish I asked from pot guaranteed. He was a
42:06
Speaker 1: no nonsense guy. You know. There was no like let
42:09
Speaker 1: me think about it and come back tomorrow. He either
42:11
Speaker 1: were like I'm all for that, forget that. I mean,
42:14
Speaker 1: it was like he was very very uh to the point,
42:18
Speaker 1: and he just uh I think I think real successful
42:22
Speaker 1: people can make decisions like that, you know. And you
42:25
Speaker 1: know when when you look around his office and see
42:28
Speaker 1: all the projects that he had going and and that
42:31
Speaker 1: this football thing was was just almost like a fun
42:35
Speaker 1: thing for him, um compared to the other things that
42:38
Speaker 1: he was doing. But he was a very competitive guy.
42:42
Speaker 1: He loved he loved owned the football team. There's no
42:44
Speaker 1: question about it. He was a great owner and he
42:47
Speaker 1: just he whatever the coaches really wanted or needed, he
42:50
Speaker 1: would he would try to get that done. He was
42:53
Speaker 1: He was definitely somebody that was very, very u interested
42:56
Speaker 1: in being an owner in the National Football League. There's
42:59
Speaker 1: no question about them, all right. Our final ask lap
43:02
Speaker 1: question comes from Jim. What's the most fun you've ever
43:07
Speaker 1: had on a family vacation and do you have any recommendations?
43:14
Speaker 1: Our family vacation is the same thing. Every year. We're
43:20
Speaker 1: beach people. We go to the beach, and hilton Head
43:23
Speaker 1: has been the destination for quite a quite a few
43:26
Speaker 1: years now in the summertime where the entire family goes. Well,
43:30
Speaker 1: you know, we've been to Florida and other places, but
43:33
Speaker 1: hilton Head is easier to get to and we really
43:37
Speaker 1: really enjoy hilton Head. So yeah, we're beach bums. I
43:40
Speaker 1: love everything about the beach, you know, and hilton Head
43:44
Speaker 1: offers all kinds of things on top of just you know,
43:48
Speaker 1: going to the beach. Twenty four seven, that's for sure,
43:51
Speaker 1: So I recommended, highly, highly recommend hilton Head. All right, buddy,
43:55
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this week's edition of
43:58
Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm sure there will be or news to
44:00
Speaker 1: talk about in the very near future of and keeping
44:03
Speaker 1: an eye on my phone just in case any news
44:06
Speaker 1: signings happened during our conversation. They didn't, but I look
44:10
Speaker 1: forward to more breaking news in the days to come. Well,
44:14
Speaker 1: I hope, I hope our squared Riley reef. I hope
44:17
Speaker 1: they get him again, they get him sign it'd be
44:21
Speaker 1: nice that he'd be out there, Dan, And it's a pleasure,
44:24
Speaker 1: as always great catching up with you on the podcast.
44:28
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer.
44:32
Speaker 1: It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor.
44:36
Speaker 1: After a memorable decade in Cincinnati that included Pro Bowl
44:39
Speaker 1: trips in each of his first seven seasons, AJ Green
44:42
Speaker 1: is headed to the Arizona Cardinals, signing a one year
44:46
Speaker 1: contract for six million dollars guaranteed, with incentives that could
44:50
Speaker 1: push that salary to eight point five million. We heard
44:54
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham discuss where he ranks Aj among the Bengals
44:57
Speaker 1: all time great wide receivers, and I asked my Brown
45:00
Speaker 1: about AJ's place in Bengals history a few years ago.
45:05
Speaker 1: If I had a starting all time Bengals team, he'd
45:08
Speaker 1: be on him. He brings a different package. He's fast,
45:14
Speaker 1: but not as fast as Easy, He's quick, but not
45:18
Speaker 1: as quick as chand he has a tremendous catching radius
45:24
Speaker 1: and a very competitive spirit. You feel really secure with
45:32
Speaker 1: him on one side. They have to overplay him. They
45:36
Speaker 1: know if they don't, they're in trouble. And yes, you're
45:39
Speaker 1: right when you say we've had a number of top
45:42
Speaker 1: white outs over the years. I think probably that is
45:47
Speaker 1: a position where we've had more than our share of
45:49
Speaker 1: great players. It has truly been my privilege to be
45:53
Speaker 1: behind the mic for all sixty five of AJ's touchdown
45:56
Speaker 1: catches in a Bengals uniform, and I puncture awaited many
46:00
Speaker 1: of those calls by saying his full name. In case
46:04
Speaker 1: you've never heard the story behind that, I was hired
46:06
Speaker 1: to be the Bengals radio broadcaster in May of two eleven,
46:11
Speaker 1: when I was still the radio TV voice of the
46:13
Speaker 1: Pentucket Red Sox. Since it was just a month into
46:16
Speaker 1: the baseball season, I didn't want to leave the pass
46:19
Speaker 1: Sox high and dry, so I stayed with the team
46:22
Speaker 1: until the beginning of September, meaning I wasn't able to
46:25
Speaker 1: attend Bengals training camp. That was AJ's rookie year and
46:30
Speaker 1: The first time I ever met him was before getting
46:32
Speaker 1: on a team bus prior to the first preseason game.
46:36
Speaker 1: I figured I would introduce myself and while making small talk,
46:39
Speaker 1: I asked him what AJ stood for. When he answered
46:43
Speaker 1: Adriel Jeremiah, I thought, what a cool name. It sounded
46:49
Speaker 1: majestic or biblical, and that's when I first thought it
46:53
Speaker 1: might be fun to use that after some of his
46:56
Speaker 1: biggest plays now an eye formation back field on first
47:00
Speaker 1: and ten, play action fake with out of the right,
47:02
Speaker 1: good ball for a wide open Jen catches at the eighteen.
47:06
Speaker 1: It's a touchdown for Adriel Jeremiah Green his eighth consecutive
47:13
Speaker 1: game with a touchdown catch on a beautiful fifty seven
47:18
Speaker 1: yard bomb from the red rifle to play action fake,
47:21
Speaker 1: Dalton sets up to throw, he rings it deep for
47:23
Speaker 1: a wide up in a J Green catches instig look
47:27
Speaker 1: at him go at the twenty ten the fun touchdown.
47:32
Speaker 1: Fangals eighty one yards to eighteen. Adriel Jeremiah Green boy
47:40
Speaker 1: out to the right, here's a past. AJ wiggles out
47:43
Speaker 1: of an ankle tackle and runs into the end zone
47:46
Speaker 1: for a Bengals touchdown. Great yak yards after catch produces
47:52
Speaker 1: a touchdown. For Adriel Jeremiah Green. Dalton takes a shotgun
47:56
Speaker 1: snap against the five man rush. He's gonna fire a teacher.
47:59
Speaker 1: AJ Green is hoping he bobbles it. He's got it
48:02
Speaker 1: half the funny, great God, he's still running ten five
48:06
Speaker 1: touchdown Adriel Jeremiah Green, seventy seven yards. The former juggler
48:14
Speaker 1: as a kid made a juggling catch and took it
48:17
Speaker 1: to the house to give the Bengals a twenty one
48:20
Speaker 1: to sixteen lead. On first and ten, Dalton fakes to
48:23
Speaker 1: mix some fills a high indeed. J Green catches half
48:26
Speaker 1: the buffalo forty It's pretty turn on the field. A
48:28
Speaker 1: club of gene and five touchdown seventy seven yards. Andy
48:36
Speaker 1: Dalton finding a J. Green, who roasted the rookie cornerback R.
48:41
Speaker 1: Davis White Boyd goes in motion. Dalton back to throw
48:45
Speaker 1: steps up, keeps it along. J Green is won Agemen.
48:48
Speaker 1: He's done. Touchdown Bengals as Andy Dalton floated a high
48:55
Speaker 1: rainbow fifty four yards down field, A touchdown AJ Green.
49:01
Speaker 1: No revas island there. It is third and seven at
49:03
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh twenty five. McCarron, five yards behind the line,
49:07
Speaker 1: takes a shotgun snap. It's a four man rush A J.
49:10
Speaker 1: Dun Field free J Greene. He catch and gets into
49:14
Speaker 1: the end zone. Touchdown Bengals a twenty five yard touchdown
49:21
Speaker 1: and the Bengals have a one point lead. Dalton back
49:25
Speaker 1: to throw. We're down to five seconds left and a half.
49:28
Speaker 1: He's gonna throw a high, deep hail Mary pass into
49:31
Speaker 1: the m JJ and it is Baba J makes the catch.
49:37
Speaker 1: I'm the ricochet hail Mary. A forty nine yard touchdown
49:42
Speaker 1: pass as a prairie is answered in the end zone
49:47
Speaker 1: by Adriel Jeremiah Green. Last but not least, about one
49:53
Speaker 1: month into his NFL career, AJ joined me on the
49:56
Speaker 1: pregame show for a fun Facts Interview Time Fantastic Funch
50:01
Speaker 1: Facts with eight reel Jeremiah Green. Anybody in your life
50:05
Speaker 1: that uses your real name? Uh? Sometimes my parents. Uh
50:09
Speaker 1: that's about it. Nobody else. Did They used to drop
50:11
Speaker 1: it on you when you got in trouble, Yeah, my
50:13
Speaker 1: mom did. All right, you're a South Carolina kid. Tell
50:16
Speaker 1: us a little bit about where you're from. I'm from
50:19
Speaker 1: this little country place called Rigial, South Carolina. No nothing
50:24
Speaker 1: out there. This is a country area. And you know,
50:28
Speaker 1: just went to some real high school and that's what
50:30
Speaker 1: I played football. Speaking of Summerville High School, your high
50:35
Speaker 1: school football coach is the winningest high school football coach,
50:39
Speaker 1: John McKissick still going strong at eighty five, Is that right? Yeah?
50:42
Speaker 1: Eighty five is unbelievable. But he's still active. He's still coaches,
50:47
Speaker 1: So this is unbelievable. What was he like? Uh, you know,
50:51
Speaker 1: he was really outgoing, always talking, you know, trying to coach. Uh,
50:54
Speaker 1: you know, he got rained over a couple of times
50:56
Speaker 1: on the sideline. So I don't know how he's still coaching,
50:58
Speaker 1: but he's a great guy. I read somewhere that he's
51:01
Speaker 1: retired one number in his fifty nine years or sixty
51:04
Speaker 1: years of high school coaching, it's yours. That must mean
51:06
Speaker 1: a lot. Yeah, definitely, Man, it's coming from him. You know,
51:10
Speaker 1: he seems a lot of great that that came through
51:12
Speaker 1: that program. And you know, I would just honor. So
51:15
Speaker 1: tenth grade high school, you verbally commit to Georgia. What
51:18
Speaker 1: was it about the Bulldogs that enthralled you? So it
51:22
Speaker 1: was just coach Raking, you know, just preaching to be
51:24
Speaker 1: a better man after the life of football, And I
51:26
Speaker 1: felt I could go anywhere and play and uh but
51:30
Speaker 1: just give me that that that that like growing up
51:32
Speaker 1: and being a man and being on my own. And
51:35
Speaker 1: I felt like coach was the best man for that.
51:37
Speaker 1: So after you did that, a bunch of big time
51:40
Speaker 1: coaches from other schools kept coming around trying to get
51:42
Speaker 1: you to change your mind. Right, Yeah, definitely, but you
51:44
Speaker 1: know I stayed firm, and uh, you know, I held
51:46
Speaker 1: it through. Who is your childhood hero? Um? You know,
51:49
Speaker 1: my dad got to be my parents, you know, just
51:52
Speaker 1: they always pushed high work and uh, you know, always
51:55
Speaker 1: said nothing as easy, always have to work for. Gotta
51:57
Speaker 1: be my parents. Did you have an athletic or somebody
52:00
Speaker 1: who's poster was on your bedroom wall? Anything like that?
52:03
Speaker 1: Part of Michael Jordan, you know, because he always striding
52:06
Speaker 1: stuff to be great. And that's what I'm trying to do.
52:08
Speaker 1: All right. So you're the number four pick in this
52:10
Speaker 1: year's draft. Obviously, whoever that is is well compensated. What's
52:15
Speaker 1: your splurge? What do you spend money on? Um? You know,
52:18
Speaker 1: I'm just not really a big spender, but I love clothing, shoes,
52:21
Speaker 1: That's my passion, even though I don't even get dressed
52:23
Speaker 1: dressed that much. But you know, I just just knowledge
52:26
Speaker 1: that I know that I have them is always good.
52:28
Speaker 1: So I close horror sound. Yeah, clothing shoes, all right.
52:31
Speaker 1: I read it somewhere that you were on a juggling
52:34
Speaker 1: team as a kid. Yeah. What do they do in
52:36
Speaker 1: the juggling team? You know, you just juggle a different
52:40
Speaker 1: item like balls, scars, all kind of stuff like that.
52:42
Speaker 1: And we used to perform at halftimes a basketball game,
52:45
Speaker 1: so kind of fun. How many things could you get
52:47
Speaker 1: in the air? Four? Four? And then after sixth grade,
52:51
Speaker 1: I was like, man, it's not cool no more, so
52:53
Speaker 1: I just quick ajs a like riding a bike. Could
52:56
Speaker 1: you still juggle if we had four objects here right now?
52:59
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, definitely. Uh. Gatorway did like a little special
53:02
Speaker 1: on me with a little juggling stuff, so I still
53:04
Speaker 1: got it this radio, So I'm not going to ask
53:06
Speaker 1: you too, So you're off the hook for now. Anyway.
53:08
Speaker 1: Have you had any other jobs other than professional athlete? Oh? Yeah,
53:12
Speaker 1: I had one job at the store, like department store
53:16
Speaker 1: like Stephen Bears, and I used to work as xpies,
53:18
Speaker 1: but my coach made me quit of both, I mean
53:21
Speaker 1: both jobs because he said I have my whole life
53:23
Speaker 1: to work. So, uh, you know, I just focused on athletics.
53:26
Speaker 1: Well they sold shoes there, so you were able to
53:28
Speaker 1: indulge your habit probably for for liking shoes, right, yeah,
53:31
Speaker 1: a little bit for like two weeks. All right, what
53:35
Speaker 1: NFL star do you look forward to meeting? That'd be
53:38
Speaker 1: probably this scene pay Manny, you know, you know, just
53:41
Speaker 1: watching the whole my whole life growing up, and you know,
53:44
Speaker 1: just now I'm here like playing on the same fuel,
53:46
Speaker 1: well not playing on the same field, but in the NFL.
53:49
Speaker 1: But uh, pay many when you have Matt pig time
53:52
Speaker 1: people over the last year or two, are you a
53:54
Speaker 1: little bit awestruck? Are you over that? No? I think
53:57
Speaker 1: I'm over that now. So all right, fair enough. When
53:59
Speaker 1: you not at work, what do you enjoyed doing it?
54:01
Speaker 1: Hard to sleeping and playing the video games? I'll late?
54:05
Speaker 1: Do you sleep when you can? I mean, if you've
54:07
Speaker 1: got the freedom to sleep, how late will you go?
54:09
Speaker 1: Probably two o'clock, three o'clock. You know, no longer an
54:13
Speaker 1: option in the NFL. Exactly that you're lacking means need
54:18
Speaker 1: to get your wrist when you can. All right, you're
54:20
Speaker 1: off the hot seat, Thanks, thank you. Here's hoping for
54:23
Speaker 1: a spectacular next chapter in Arizona for AJ Green. I
54:28
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed this week's episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast,
54:31
Speaker 1: brought to you by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game.
54:35
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe, and if
54:38
Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or share
54:40
Speaker 1: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast.
54:45
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thank you for listening to the
54:48
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast