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Bengals Booth Podcast: Build Me Up · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horden. Thanks for downloading the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast. The Why Do You Build Me Up? Addition,
0:12
Speaker 1: as the Bengals turn their focus toward building a better
0:15
Speaker 1: defense in twenty twenty six, Coming up, Barrett Carter and
0:19
Speaker 1: Demetrius Knight discuss their rookie year growing pains, We learn
0:23
Speaker 1: how DJ Turner went from good to great, and Joseph
0:27
Speaker 1: Osai has an all caps four letter compliment for teammate
0:32
Speaker 1: Miles Murphy. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
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Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
0:57
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast deliver right to your phone, tablet,
1:02
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
1:06
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since the Bengals twenty twenty six schedule.
1:12
Speaker 1: Before I get into the details, I'll admit that It's
1:15
Speaker 1: really hard to project how difficult or easy an NFL
1:19
Speaker 1: schedule is going to be for the upcoming season because
1:22
Speaker 1: several teams make dramatic turnarounds every year. This year, for example,
1:28
Speaker 1: the Bengals faced five teams that had top ten draft picks,
1:31
Speaker 1: meaning they weren't good in twenty twenty four. Three of
1:35
Speaker 1: those teams one division titles, Jacksonville, New England and Chicago,
1:40
Speaker 1: with a combined record of thirty eight and thirteen. But
1:44
Speaker 1: having said that, the Bengals schedule for next year looks
1:47
Speaker 1: pretty favorable based on this year's records. It's the third
1:52
Speaker 1: easiest schedule in the league. The Browns are number one,
1:55
Speaker 1: the Saints are number two. There are only four games
1:59
Speaker 1: on the schedule against teams with winning records, two against
2:02
Speaker 1: the ten and seven Steelers, who will have a new
2:05
Speaker 1: coach and probably a different starting quarterback, plus a home
2:09
Speaker 1: game against the thirteen and four Jags, and a road
2:12
Speaker 1: game against the twelve and five Texans. That's it for
2:16
Speaker 1: teams with winning records. Every year, the Bengals face all
2:20
Speaker 1: four teams from an NFC division next season, they'll miss
2:24
Speaker 1: the West, where three of the four teams won at
2:27
Speaker 1: least twelve games and the North, where every team had
2:30
Speaker 1: a winning record. They get to face the NFC South,
2:34
Speaker 1: where all four teams the Panthers, Bucks, Falcons, and Saints
2:38
Speaker 1: had losing records in twenty twenty five. Three of their
2:42
Speaker 1: opponents had quarterbacks go down with major injuries late in
2:46
Speaker 1: the year. Patrick Mahomes, Michael Pennix, and Daniel Jones, who
2:50
Speaker 1: was also a free agent in Indianapolis to Atungo Viiloa
2:53
Speaker 1: appears to be out in Miami, and Cleveland can't feel
2:57
Speaker 1: confident about Shador Sanders, who through seven touchdown passes in
3:01
Speaker 1: ten picks as a rookie with a passer rating of
3:04
Speaker 1: sixty eight point one that would have been last in
3:07
Speaker 1: the league by far if he had enough attempts to qualify.
3:11
Speaker 1: And in addition to Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Miami
3:16
Speaker 1: will have new coaches and who knows how that'll go,
3:19
Speaker 1: especially early in the season. In short, it looks like
3:24
Speaker 1: a schedule with a lot of wins on it that
3:26
Speaker 1: could help Cincinnati be one of those teams that makes
3:30
Speaker 1: a dramatic turnaround from one year to the next. Now,
3:35
Speaker 1: let's discuss the biggest key to a turnaround next season
3:39
Speaker 1: fixing the defense. In each of the last two years,
3:42
Speaker 1: the Bengals have tied a franchise record by scoring thirty
3:46
Speaker 1: or more points in eight games. That's sixteen of their
3:50
Speaker 1: thirty four games, or forty seven percent. Unfortunately, they lost
3:55
Speaker 1: seven of those games, including four where they scored at
3:59
Speaker 1: least thirty eight points. With Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase t Higgins,
4:04
Speaker 1: Chase Brown and a much improved offensive line, the Bengals
4:07
Speaker 1: should be one of the highest scoring teams in the
4:10
Speaker 1: league next year. I asked Zach Taylor if that makes
4:13
Speaker 1: their off season job pretty simple in the months to come.
4:18
Speaker 1: Every offensive starter but one is under contract.
4:20
Speaker 2: Do you feel like.
4:21
Speaker 1: You're in a unique position where you really only have
4:24
Speaker 1: to address one side of the ball.
4:28
Speaker 3: I mean, that's the truth of it, you know, And
4:30
Speaker 3: so there's no real sugarcoating that you got a bunch
4:32
Speaker 3: of guys coming back, and it's exciting because you can
4:36
Speaker 3: focus your energy and there's so many guys on outside
4:39
Speaker 3: the ball that really their growth was accelerated over the
4:43
Speaker 3: last half of the year that you're really excited about
4:45
Speaker 3: their future here as starters, as role players. So I
4:48
Speaker 3: feel like we're in a tremendous position.
4:50
Speaker 1: Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin echoed those comments when
4:54
Speaker 1: he met with the media last week.
4:56
Speaker 4: You know, this year on offense, we feel really good.
4:59
Speaker 4: We feel like that's a unit that's going to be
5:02
Speaker 4: back in full and we feel like it's a unit
5:07
Speaker 4: that was really hitting its stride and expanding on the
5:10
Speaker 4: stride that it hit. So we feel really good about
5:13
Speaker 4: that side of the ball, and we'll see what we
5:16
Speaker 4: can get done.
5:17
Speaker 5: On defense, it's important.
5:19
Speaker 4: For us to address what needs to be addressed. We
5:24
Speaker 4: don't bury our head in the sand. We see what's
5:27
Speaker 4: going on and we'll try to address it in every
5:30
Speaker 4: way we can.
5:30
Speaker 1: And that begins up front, where the Bengals have struggled
5:33
Speaker 1: to put consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks to the last
5:37
Speaker 1: few seasons.
5:38
Speaker 4: Successful defenses, in my opinion, they have to be able
5:41
Speaker 4: to pressure the passer. You'd like to be able to
5:43
Speaker 4: pressure with four I think we need pass rush. I
5:50
Speaker 4: think that relieves some of the strain on the coverage.
5:54
Speaker 4: So I'm a guy that believes in the front on
5:57
Speaker 4: both sides of the ball.
5:59
Speaker 5: That is my focus.
6:00
Speaker 4: People might not believe that, but that is my focus.
6:03
Speaker 5: They might believe I.
6:04
Speaker 4: Love throwing the ball down the field and having great
6:07
Speaker 4: wide outs. Those opportunities presented himself, we grabbed them, and
6:12
Speaker 4: we're glad we did.
6:13
Speaker 5: But I want to build the front. I always want
6:15
Speaker 5: to build the front.
6:16
Speaker 1: Duke, assuming that Trey is not back, how imperative is
6:20
Speaker 1: it to try to add and a lead pass rush.
6:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm for pass rush. I'm for pass rush. I
6:27
Speaker 4: don't know what the future holds for for Trey. Those
6:30
Speaker 4: are those are discussions that we're going to have to
6:32
Speaker 4: have ongoing. You know, he's one of a number of
6:36
Speaker 4: free agents that we have that will have to decide
6:39
Speaker 4: how we're going to go forward with. The pass rush
6:42
Speaker 4: is king, and you always need to be layering in
6:45
Speaker 4: pass rusher. It can develop from within your team, and
6:49
Speaker 4: I think we've seen some of that start to develop
6:52
Speaker 4: from within our team, and then I think we need
6:54
Speaker 4: to find some from external sources as well.
6:57
Speaker 1: Duke didn't rule out the return of Trey Hendrickson, and
7:00
Speaker 1: I suppose anything is possible, but that seems unlikely. The
7:04
Speaker 1: Bengals could try to tag in trade tray to get
7:08
Speaker 1: a draft pick this year. If they let him go,
7:10
Speaker 1: they would get a compensatory draft pick next year. Joseph
7:14
Speaker 1: Osai is also due to be a free agent after
7:17
Speaker 1: staying with the team on a one year, six point
7:20
Speaker 1: five million dollar deal this season. Osai missed his rookie
7:24
Speaker 1: year due to injury and committed a costly penalty at
7:27
Speaker 1: the end of the AFC Championship Game, a year two
7:31
Speaker 1: that helped Kansas City advance to the Super Bowl, but
7:34
Speaker 1: Joseph has shown steady improvement and earned the respective teammates
7:38
Speaker 1: and coaches for his effort in attitude. I talked to
7:41
Speaker 1: Osai about his future and about fellow edge rusher Miles Murphy.
7:48
Speaker 6: It's been great. It's been great. There's been there's been
7:49
Speaker 6: up and downs, ups and downs for short but I'm
7:54
Speaker 6: most excited about the relationships I've built in those years,
7:58
Speaker 6: in those in those learnings to situations growing you know,
8:01
Speaker 6: I gained friends for life in those learning situations. So
8:04
Speaker 6: I wouldn't I wouldn't change any of that for the world.
8:08
Speaker 6: But yeah, it's been great. You can't grow without going
8:10
Speaker 6: through some hurt, you know what I mean. That's why
8:12
Speaker 6: it's called growing pains. So yeah, five years year, it's
8:18
Speaker 6: been great. It's been a blessing. Hopefully there's more. If
8:20
Speaker 6: there's not, I hope I keep growing wherever I get to.
8:24
Speaker 1: It's kind of a blunt way of asking this question,
8:26
Speaker 1: but do you feel like you put yourself into a
8:28
Speaker 1: position to get paid?
8:30
Speaker 6: I think I did alright. I think I did alright
8:32
Speaker 6: for myself. This is always, you know, I'm very critical
8:34
Speaker 6: for myself. So there's definitely a lot more that I
8:37
Speaker 6: wanted to do. A lot of more I could have done.
8:41
Speaker 6: Easier said than done, obviously, But I'm lucky that we
8:45
Speaker 6: get paid so much to do what we do. This
8:47
Speaker 6: is fun for me, This is a this is what
8:49
Speaker 6: I would dream about. This is what I it's about
8:51
Speaker 6: when in the off season, when we're not playing for
8:53
Speaker 6: so long. So whatever, if they give me five bucks,
8:56
Speaker 6: I'm good. You know what I'm saying.
8:58
Speaker 1: I think it gets a little more than that.
9:00
Speaker 6: I'll get a little more than that, but you know,
9:03
Speaker 6: whatever they give me, I'm happy with.
9:05
Speaker 5: So we'll see.
9:06
Speaker 3: How do you think losing Tray in the middle of
9:08
Speaker 3: the year kind of affected the way the whole defensive
9:10
Speaker 3: line room went about business.
9:11
Speaker 7: How do you think that impact?
9:12
Speaker 6: It's tough when you when you lose a guy like
9:14
Speaker 6: that and the impact he makes, the impact he has
9:17
Speaker 6: on a defense, any defense, it's tough. But I think
9:21
Speaker 6: I think we did a good job of of a
9:23
Speaker 6: rallying as a D line and playing with each other
9:26
Speaker 6: and leaning on each other and in hopes of filling
9:30
Speaker 6: that hole. But you know, anyone who's played against him
9:33
Speaker 6: or or played with him knows it's a it's a
9:36
Speaker 6: massive hole that he that's that's gone in a defense
9:40
Speaker 6: when he's not on it. So I think I'm giving
9:44
Speaker 6: props to the whole D line for for rallying around
9:47
Speaker 6: each other and leaning on each other and trying to
9:50
Speaker 6: to to be impactful still without him.
9:53
Speaker 1: You got to rush from his side after he got hurt.
9:55
Speaker 1: Did that unlock something for you?
9:57
Speaker 5: It was great? It was great.
9:59
Speaker 6: You know I favored that side a bit, But I'm
10:03
Speaker 6: not gonna speak to it unlocking this and that, because
10:07
Speaker 6: you know that that brings up the fact that he
10:10
Speaker 6: wasn't there, and I don't like to talk about that,
10:12
Speaker 6: but it was it was great to be over there.
10:15
Speaker 5: Predominantly, I would.
10:16
Speaker 1: Say, could Miles become a dude this year?
10:20
Speaker 6: And that's what I'm so excited about, man, And I
10:24
Speaker 6: love because seeing young guys grow. It's there's nothing like it.
10:27
Speaker 6: Seeing young guys developed, There's nothing like it. Miles become
10:31
Speaker 6: a became a All Caps dude.
10:34
Speaker 5: This year and and I love that.
10:36
Speaker 6: I love that. And I've always said he had he
10:38
Speaker 6: had all the tangibles, you know, he just needed one
10:40
Speaker 6: opportunity in this game is just bigger than most. And
10:43
Speaker 6: then the confidence to know that he can do it.
10:45
Speaker 6: And you can see it every week when he got
10:47
Speaker 6: more confident and more confident in the way he played,
10:50
Speaker 6: and the swagger about him was different and all that stuff.
10:53
Speaker 6: And I'm just I'm happy for him. Capital All Caps
10:58
Speaker 6: d u d dude.
11:00
Speaker 8: You broke in in the Super Bowl defense first two
11:04
Speaker 8: years in that in the run of the title game.
11:07
Speaker 8: Does this defense that finished this season any characteristics that can.
11:14
Speaker 6: This defense, this defense that de finished the season has
11:19
Speaker 6: the chance to be one of the best defenses in
11:22
Speaker 6: the league.
11:23
Speaker 5: My opinion, I'm very biased.
11:25
Speaker 6: Let mean, let me start off by saying that I'm
11:27
Speaker 6: very biased, but I think I think they do. You know,
11:30
Speaker 6: we got guys that can fly around you guys, guys
11:32
Speaker 6: communicated committed to.
11:37
Speaker 8: The scheme, to the to the to.
11:39
Speaker 6: The defense, and from what I've seen, you know, put
11:43
Speaker 6: us against anybody.
11:44
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying.
11:45
Speaker 6: The way Miles is growing, the the the way the
11:48
Speaker 6: young guys in Cedric and Chamar and and cam you know,
11:52
Speaker 6: the way they we're all grown and taking that step.
11:54
Speaker 6: Why not. It took some time from guys to to.
11:58
Speaker 5: Settle down a bit, to.
12:02
Speaker 6: To shut out some outside noise a bit and just
12:05
Speaker 6: locking and understanding that this is. But when you say
12:08
Speaker 6: bunker mentality, you have to mean bunker mentality.
12:11
Speaker 5: So I think that's what it was.
12:13
Speaker 1: With regard to your contract, he said, hopefully it's still here.
12:16
Speaker 1: If not, you know, you'll go wherever you go. What
12:18
Speaker 1: are the benefits of staying for you plenty?
12:20
Speaker 6: You know, again, this locker room, you don't cultivate the
12:26
Speaker 6: relationships you do in five years, you don't, you know
12:29
Speaker 6: what I mean, It'll take another five years to get.
12:31
Speaker 5: The same relationships. So start off with that.
12:36
Speaker 6: The coaching, the training staff, the city of Cincinnati and
12:40
Speaker 6: what it's been to me for five years. Has been
12:42
Speaker 6: home for five years. So so those are all benefits.
12:46
Speaker 6: Those all benefits playing with Joe Burrow, playing with freaking Jamaar.
12:49
Speaker 5: Chase T.
12:50
Speaker 6: Higgins, having those guys on your offense. Uh, and knowing
12:54
Speaker 6: you can you can go against anybody with those guys.
12:56
Speaker 2: That's gonna be missed if I don't stay.
13:00
Speaker 6: There's so many variables that go into that that make
13:04
Speaker 6: up the decision. But that's the beauty of it, that's
13:06
Speaker 6: the beaute of it. That's the beauty of figuring out
13:08
Speaker 6: to stay or go. That's the beauty of me coming
13:11
Speaker 6: back last year. So you know, and again that's a
13:14
Speaker 6: huge part of it because you know, I love these.
13:15
Speaker 5: Guys so much.
13:16
Speaker 6: I love this locker room so much, so I'm sure
13:18
Speaker 6: I could go into it.
13:19
Speaker 5: But we'll see.
13:21
Speaker 1: If you agree with Osai that Miles Murphy, the Bengals
13:24
Speaker 1: first round pick in twenty twenty three, became an All
13:27
Speaker 1: Caps Dude this year, then the same should apply to
13:31
Speaker 1: the team's second round pick that year, Dj Turner. He
13:35
Speaker 1: didn't even start the season opener, but daily meditation and
13:39
Speaker 1: an increased commitment to the mental side of the game
13:42
Speaker 1: helped DJ become one of the NFL's top cover corners
13:46
Speaker 1: and a third alternate for the Pro Bowl. Here's defensive
13:50
Speaker 1: coordinator Al Golden and fellow cornerback DJ Ivy.
13:55
Speaker 9: I just see a very driven, very consistent climb. He's
13:59
Speaker 9: got a house in order, and what I mean by
14:01
Speaker 9: that is there's not many things that knock.
14:04
Speaker 5: Him down the peg from week to week. He's got
14:07
Speaker 5: everything in order.
14:08
Speaker 9: He knows exactly what he needs to do, mind, body, spirit,
14:12
Speaker 9: on and off the field. His approach has been consistent,
14:16
Speaker 9: and obviously we think he's playing at a really.
14:19
Speaker 10: High level, more locked in, more honed in on the details,
14:23
Speaker 10: and just coming out working every day. Not saying that
14:27
Speaker 10: he didn't do it before, but this year everyone else
14:31
Speaker 10: saw it. Obviously, we've seen it day in and day out.
14:34
Speaker 10: I've been with these are my draft class. I've been
14:36
Speaker 10: with him for the past three years, so I know
14:39
Speaker 10: what he's capable of. But to actually get to show
14:43
Speaker 10: the world what he could do, it was impressive.
14:45
Speaker 1: This year, He's talked a lot about the mental side
14:48
Speaker 1: of his game and meditation and things that he's done
14:51
Speaker 1: like that. Has it made other guys think maybe this
14:54
Speaker 1: is something I need to embrace more.
14:57
Speaker 10: I would say yes, I mean for me, it did.
15:01
Speaker 10: He opened up to us during the season, probably midway
15:05
Speaker 10: through the season, he opened up to the defense about,
15:08
Speaker 10: you know how, pretty much how he takes care of
15:10
Speaker 10: his mental and how he thinks that it's a big
15:13
Speaker 10: tossess part of his game. And I said the same thing.
15:18
Speaker 10: Let me, let me try it out, let me you know,
15:20
Speaker 10: let me see.
15:20
Speaker 5: If it works for me.
15:21
Speaker 10: And uh, and I could add it to my playbook.
15:24
Speaker 10: So you know, I you know, try to start meditating
15:26
Speaker 10: a little bit.
15:27
Speaker 7: Uh.
15:28
Speaker 10: It's definitely hard to start, but I think the biggest
15:31
Speaker 10: thing is you just have to keep doing it and
15:33
Speaker 10: being consistent with it and then just find you'll you'll
15:36
Speaker 10: breathing it rhythm.
15:37
Speaker 1: DJ finished with the seventh best coverage grade among NFL
15:41
Speaker 1: cornerbacks according to Pro Football Focus, and is embracing a
15:45
Speaker 1: leadership role.
15:47
Speaker 11: Everything I've gotten here, I've earned it, and that's as
15:51
Speaker 11: a coachure, that's what you want, you know what I mean.
15:52
Speaker 11: And so you know, I just want to try to
15:54
Speaker 11: bring everybody along with me and from the season I had,
15:56
Speaker 11: from the growth I've had, and just ENLiGHT everybody on
16:00
Speaker 11: what I've done to you know, help out and just
16:03
Speaker 11: improve in the game. On every time I've been on
16:06
Speaker 11: I've been a capital. So it's like it's not a
16:09
Speaker 11: new thing for me. You know, I definitely wouldn't bradge.
16:12
Speaker 1: That role, your commitment to the mental side of the game,
16:16
Speaker 1: and some of the things that you've been doing off
16:18
Speaker 1: the field. It seems like the word is spreading among
16:21
Speaker 1: your teammates. Do you feel like teammates you feel like
16:23
Speaker 1: you're kind of an advocate for that kind of stuff.
16:25
Speaker 11: No, for sure, because it's just so impactful, Like it's
16:29
Speaker 11: just so impactful to just and I always say, but
16:33
Speaker 11: there's no blueprint though, so like what I do in
16:36
Speaker 11: the all season, Like I might to go travel the
16:38
Speaker 11: whole bunch. Somebody might not want to travel, he might
16:40
Speaker 11: want to be with his family, he might want it. Whatever,
16:43
Speaker 11: whatever it is that clears your mind, gets your mental straight,
16:46
Speaker 11: whatever it is for you, you have to figure that out.
16:48
Speaker 11: And that's why I just keep telling everybody is once
16:50
Speaker 11: you once you figure it out, you got it. And
16:52
Speaker 11: so like I said, I know what I have to do,
16:54
Speaker 11: so I'm about to go do it. But once you
16:55
Speaker 11: figure it out, this all season is a big, big part.
16:59
Speaker 11: It's not it's it's an off season, but you got
17:02
Speaker 11: to use off seasons to still find a routine and
17:04
Speaker 11: you know, just to improve, just really just improve every day.
17:08
Speaker 1: You're Pro Bowl Alternate you could get in. Are you
17:11
Speaker 1: kind of monitoring which guys are healthy, which guys might
17:15
Speaker 1: wind up in the Super Bowl? Nah, I'm not even
17:17
Speaker 1: looking at it.
17:18
Speaker 11: If I get a call, okay, but you know it's
17:21
Speaker 11: cool being awesome, but I want to make it so
17:23
Speaker 11: you know, I'm not even looking at.
17:24
Speaker 5: It for real.
17:24
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow said publicly that he told you you start
17:27
Speaker 1: out as an alternate, that's kind of step one, and
17:30
Speaker 1: then once you get the reputation, you start going. Do
17:33
Speaker 1: you agree with that?
17:34
Speaker 11: Yeah, well, I mean agree to what the reason though?
17:38
Speaker 7: What Joe Jo said?
17:39
Speaker 4: Oh?
17:39
Speaker 5: I mean yeah, I mean.
17:41
Speaker 11: He said it happened to him that he pulled me
17:43
Speaker 11: aside inside of a whole bunch of people, even Orlando Brown,
17:45
Speaker 11: he pulled me aside aside the same thing. So you know, uh,
17:49
Speaker 11: it was cool that day.
17:50
Speaker 5: You want me side.
17:51
Speaker 1: And you know it's all to me, your draft class, Miles, you,
17:55
Speaker 1: Chase Brown, Jordan Battle, Andre Josi, Vash and others. Do
17:59
Speaker 1: you feel like that's a core of the Bengals nucleus
18:02
Speaker 1: going forward?
18:03
Speaker 11: Not for sure? And we're so close to from life
18:09
Speaker 11: is Yeah, we're all close on and that's definitely, like
18:12
Speaker 11: I said, AWD, NASA strong core, and all of us
18:16
Speaker 11: are willing to build up. You know, I mean, we
18:18
Speaker 11: want the role for all of us, so you know
18:20
Speaker 11: I'm excited for it.
18:21
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
18:24
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
18:28
Speaker 1: Ulta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
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Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
18:36
Speaker 1: Health the Best Care for the Best Fans. Kettering Health
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Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. The members
18:44
Speaker 1: of that strong twenty twenty three draft class have one
18:47
Speaker 1: year left on their rookie contracts and are now eligible
18:50
Speaker 1: for extensions. The team could use a fifth year option
18:54
Speaker 1: with first round pick Miles Murphy, but it would cost
18:57
Speaker 1: them roughly thirteen point six million bucks. They have until
19:01
Speaker 1: May one to decide. The Bengals used the fifth year
19:05
Speaker 1: option to keep their first round pick from the previous draft,
19:08
Speaker 1: Dax Hill, and he responded with a strong season after
19:12
Speaker 1: coming back from a torn acl for much of the year,
19:16
Speaker 1: Dax started at slot corner, but following an injury to
19:19
Speaker 1: Cam Taylor, britt Jalen Davis took over in the slot,
19:23
Speaker 1: and Dax moved outside, where he thrived Over the last
19:27
Speaker 1: six weeks of the season. PFF grated Dax as the
19:31
Speaker 1: fifth best cornerback in the NFL. Once again, here are
19:36
Speaker 1: Al Golden and Djivy.
19:38
Speaker 9: He's just so great to be around and his journey.
19:41
Speaker 9: You know, I wasn't here for all of it, you know,
19:44
Speaker 9: but I guess outside, inside, at safety, then to nickel,
19:49
Speaker 9: now to corner, and I can safely say now what
19:53
Speaker 9: this body of work that he's found a home.
19:55
Speaker 10: Honestly, I feel like Desk could play anywhere, as you
19:57
Speaker 10: guys can see safety, corner, Nick Dime, whatever position you
20:03
Speaker 10: put him at, that stacks with l He's a great great, great,
20:07
Speaker 10: great guy, great competitor, a great teammate. He's also another
20:12
Speaker 10: one who had a wonderful season at the corner position
20:17
Speaker 10: in our room, coming from playing nickel. But maybe like
20:21
Speaker 10: the first five weeks they have them move to outside corner.
20:24
Speaker 10: I know it could probably be a lot. He's his
20:26
Speaker 10: adjustment from going inside to outside, but he's just attackled
20:31
Speaker 10: every day in the NFL. He had a wonderful season
20:34
Speaker 10: as well.
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Speaker 1: The former Michigan teammates Hill and Turner are twenty five
20:38
Speaker 1: years old and could be one of the league's top
20:42
Speaker 1: tandems at corner going forward. Here's Duke Tobin.
20:46
Speaker 4: They're pretty high level cover corners. They have they have
20:51
Speaker 4: the skill set that we thought they had. They've developed
20:54
Speaker 4: the way that we thought they would develop. And I
20:58
Speaker 4: was impressed with Dak's coming off of his knee injury,
21:01
Speaker 4: and you could just see the confidence grow as the
21:04
Speaker 4: longer that got Pat you know in his past and
21:10
Speaker 4: really proud of the way dj you know, grew both
21:14
Speaker 4: as a leader and as.
21:16
Speaker 5: A and as a player.
21:18
Speaker 4: Those guys were fortunate to have them, and you know
21:20
Speaker 4: those are guys to build around well.
21:22
Speaker 1: Turner and Hill are clear cut starters for twenty twenty six.
21:25
Speaker 1: The picture is Murkier at linebacker. Barrett Carter and Demetrius
21:30
Speaker 1: Knight took most of the defensive snaps as rookies, and
21:34
Speaker 1: at times their inexperience showed.
21:37
Speaker 4: The growing pains that we saw this year are going
21:40
Speaker 4: to pay off because we saw them this year. It's
21:44
Speaker 4: not always fun while they're happening. But those two linebackers
21:49
Speaker 4: that when they first started playing to when they finished
21:52
Speaker 4: the season versus Cleveland out here are Night and day,
21:57
Speaker 4: and you can see exactly what the vision is for
22:02
Speaker 4: those two guys.
22:03
Speaker 1: I spoke to Barrett Carter with Demetrius Knight eventually joining
22:07
Speaker 1: us about year one. Aaron, I thought, you came a
22:12
Speaker 1: long way in your rookie year. You were thrown into
22:14
Speaker 1: the fire and got better and better. How did you
22:16
Speaker 1: feel about your first NFL season?
22:19
Speaker 5: It was a blessing. You know.
22:20
Speaker 2: It was a lot of ups and downs, to say
22:21
Speaker 2: the least. You know, playing in this league is not
22:24
Speaker 2: easy by any means. You're going against the best guys
22:27
Speaker 2: day in and day out, week in and week out.
22:29
Speaker 2: So just the fact that the coaches and the players,
22:33
Speaker 2: you know, trust in me just to take control and
22:37
Speaker 2: you know, step into that role, you know, nothing short
22:39
Speaker 2: of a blessing. So I don't take that lightly. But
22:42
Speaker 2: it was a lot of ups and downs, but you know,
22:44
Speaker 2: I felt myself grow every single week. And that's what
22:46
Speaker 2: it's about. You know, It's not about you know, it's
22:50
Speaker 2: not about what you can do that day. It's about
22:52
Speaker 2: the end goal. It's about the journey, like how you
22:54
Speaker 2: can develop every single day. And I truly felt like
22:56
Speaker 2: I am developing and I did develop, So proud of myself.
23:00
Speaker 2: But you know, it's back to the drawing boat, back
23:02
Speaker 2: to work, so a lot, a lot more place to
23:05
Speaker 2: be made, a lot more work to be done.
23:07
Speaker 1: I don't even know how many rookies had that green
23:09
Speaker 1: dot on their helmet this year. It couldn't have been many,
23:11
Speaker 1: maybe two or three. I don't know. What was that
23:14
Speaker 1: responsibility like for you at your age?
23:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I don't, although I'm I came in here.
23:21
Speaker 2: I was twenty two, turned twenty three recently, and like,
23:24
Speaker 2: I don't, I don't see that being my age. You know,
23:26
Speaker 2: if you're if you're smart enough, if you're good enough,
23:29
Speaker 2: you're old enough. And you know, that's something that I've
23:32
Speaker 2: been told since I was a little kid. So I mean,
23:35
Speaker 2: you know, it's a big responsibility, but you know, it's
23:38
Speaker 2: no pressure for me. I just see it as an opportunity.
23:42
Speaker 2: I take that. I wear that badge with pride, just
23:44
Speaker 2: knowing that I'm trusted to be in that position. So
23:48
Speaker 2: just I'm glad that they trust me to do that,
23:50
Speaker 2: and I'm just gonna keep working, keep working my ass
23:52
Speaker 2: off every single day just to you know, be the
23:55
Speaker 2: best version of myself, and you know, be be the
23:57
Speaker 2: leader and be the you know, future teampter this team needs.
24:01
Speaker 2: So I just got to just got to get back
24:03
Speaker 2: to the drawing board.
24:04
Speaker 1: When I've talked to some of the vets in recent
24:06
Speaker 1: days and ask them about the development of the younger guys,
24:09
Speaker 1: your name is one of the first that comes up.
24:12
Speaker 1: Could you feel that Did you feel earning the respect
24:14
Speaker 1: of your veteran teammates?
24:16
Speaker 5: Absolutely?
24:16
Speaker 2: Now that's what that was one of my goals coming
24:19
Speaker 2: in here, just like I know that you know, we
24:21
Speaker 2: already had great leadership, we already had proven veterans. We
24:24
Speaker 2: have done it at a high level for a long time.
24:26
Speaker 2: So I just want to just come in and just
24:28
Speaker 2: show that, you know, although I'm a rookie, although I'm
24:31
Speaker 2: a I'm a quote unquote young guy, like I can,
24:34
Speaker 2: I can play with y'all. I can, I can, I
24:37
Speaker 2: can hang with y'all. So I just wanted to show that,
24:39
Speaker 2: you know, I'm I'm here, I'm I belong here, and
24:41
Speaker 2: I'm here for a reason, and I just I just
24:44
Speaker 2: want to keep proving that to them every single day.
24:46
Speaker 1: I know more than anything, you wish he had a
24:48
Speaker 1: game next week, a playoff game, But is there a
24:50
Speaker 1: little bit of a can take a breath. Seasons over
24:55
Speaker 1: all the training and everything that went up to the draft,
24:58
Speaker 1: you now can finally kind of for a little while.
25:01
Speaker 5: Yeah.
25:01
Speaker 2: You know, I was told a lot that you know,
25:03
Speaker 2: your rookie year is the longest year of your life,
25:05
Speaker 2: and I was like, Nah, no way, And until you're
25:08
Speaker 2: actually in it and going through it, you can't really
25:11
Speaker 2: you can't really like speak anything of it, but actually
25:14
Speaker 2: like experience experiencing it. It truly is the longest ear
25:17
Speaker 2: of your life. So I had I had great veterans.
25:20
Speaker 2: I leaned on them the whole year. I leaned on
25:22
Speaker 2: d Night because we were in it together. But you know,
25:25
Speaker 2: they were not lying about it being the longest ear
25:26
Speaker 2: of your life. So although I'm pissed off and I
25:28
Speaker 2: wish that we were playing next week in preparing and
25:31
Speaker 2: all the things, but it is gonna be refreshing just
25:34
Speaker 2: to you know, heal up and you know, get back,
25:37
Speaker 2: get back to work and get ready for next season
25:39
Speaker 2: because it's not gonna happen anymore. And me, my my
25:42
Speaker 2: co partner right here next to me, we're not gonna
25:44
Speaker 2: let it happen. So it's back to work, but definitely
25:47
Speaker 2: not gonna enjoy this time for sure.
25:50
Speaker 1: Hey, Demitrius, you just threw your arm around your buddy. Here,
25:53
Speaker 1: Barrett Carter, step in for a second. Share your thoughts
25:57
Speaker 1: on the two of you and the development that you
25:59
Speaker 1: made together this year.
26:01
Speaker 7: That's my brother may win to opposite schools, and we're
26:04
Speaker 7: brothers now, and that's that's never gonna change, brothers forever.
26:06
Speaker 7: We always say it before each game. Hey, you know,
26:09
Speaker 7: I'm with you and it goes both the ways. Both
26:12
Speaker 7: the families are close, and we're only gonna continue to
26:14
Speaker 7: grow together, both on and off the field. And this
26:17
Speaker 7: is only beginning something you know.
26:18
Speaker 1: Great, Since you're right here together, I'm gonna ask each
26:21
Speaker 1: of you to talk about the others. So Demitrius, you
26:23
Speaker 1: go first. What could Barrett show you this year?
26:26
Speaker 7: He showed me what it is to to not flinch,
26:29
Speaker 7: being ready for when your opportunity calls. And uh, that's
26:32
Speaker 7: that's what this league is about. You know, when your
26:34
Speaker 7: opportunity calls, and you know they're there are situations that
26:37
Speaker 7: you can't plan for. You know, God, uh, he blesses
26:41
Speaker 7: you with opportunities, wants to see what you're gonna do
26:43
Speaker 7: with it, and when you're ready, like he was, you
26:46
Speaker 7: make the most of it and you have an incredible season.
26:48
Speaker 7: That's exactly what he did. So uh that that's one
26:52
Speaker 7: way some guys, you know, falter at the opportunity to
26:54
Speaker 7: step into their role to make the calls, to control
26:57
Speaker 7: the defense, to get us in the right call, to
26:59
Speaker 7: give us a call, and we don't get a call
27:01
Speaker 7: so we can all be on the same page and
27:03
Speaker 7: him not being able to or him not falling into
27:06
Speaker 7: that trap of it being too much and falling into
27:08
Speaker 7: that trap of being a rookie. And truly, you know,
27:11
Speaker 7: acting as a veteran is you know what makes him
27:14
Speaker 7: who he is and is why you know, we feed
27:16
Speaker 7: out the energy that he plays with him and when
27:18
Speaker 7: he goes, we go, and he goes, I go, and
27:21
Speaker 7: then you know, we feed off of each other and
27:23
Speaker 7: it's a chain reaction from there. So extremely excited, you
27:29
Speaker 7: know that we get to keep doing this thing and
27:31
Speaker 7: get better, come back, get better better than ever.
27:34
Speaker 1: Barrett, your thoughts on Demetrius and they'll let you two
27:36
Speaker 1: guys go.
27:36
Speaker 5: Yeah.
27:37
Speaker 2: When I think of Demetrius and I just think of
27:39
Speaker 2: someone who is okay with being uncomfortable, which is so.
27:43
Speaker 5: Hard to do nowadays. Like d night.
27:46
Speaker 2: He when he came in here, he literally was learning
27:49
Speaker 2: like five different positions. And I'm just like, I'm witnessing
27:52
Speaker 2: at firsthand, and I'm just like in awe because I'm like,
27:54
Speaker 2: especially in our scheme, it's not an easy thing to do.
27:57
Speaker 2: And he he didn't.
27:59
Speaker 5: He never complained, He attacked a head on.
28:01
Speaker 2: Even when you know, times got rough, he just he
28:04
Speaker 2: just put his head down and went to work. And
28:06
Speaker 2: that's something that that's been a part of his journey.
28:08
Speaker 2: It's just you can always lean on the work. That's
28:10
Speaker 2: something that I really admire about him. Like he works
28:12
Speaker 2: his tail off every single day, regardless of when loss.
28:16
Speaker 2: He has a routine, he sits at routine and he
28:18
Speaker 2: like that's his that's him, that's like, that's Demetrius. So
28:22
Speaker 2: it's something that I really admire from him. And obviously
28:24
Speaker 2: his place speak for hisself. And you know, I've seen
28:27
Speaker 2: how he prepares every single day, day in and day out,
28:30
Speaker 2: and the way he the way he plays, It's like
28:32
Speaker 2: it's nothing new to me. Like I see it every
28:33
Speaker 2: single day. I see him make these crazy plays when
28:36
Speaker 2: he when he sacks quarterbacks, when he does he does
28:40
Speaker 2: stuff on the field it's it's nothing to me because
28:42
Speaker 2: I see it every single day. So he's a workhorse
28:44
Speaker 2: and it's a blessing to get get to get to
28:46
Speaker 2: go to work with him.
28:48
Speaker 1: Harder and Knight will obviously be back, but adding a
28:51
Speaker 1: proven starter at linebacker is certainly possible. There will definitely
28:56
Speaker 1: be additions on the defensive line, and it change could
28:59
Speaker 1: also becoming its safety where Gino Stone will be a
29:02
Speaker 1: free agent. As I said at the beginning of the podcast,
29:06
Speaker 1: the mission is simple, improve the defense. The Bengals have
29:11
Speaker 1: the tenth pick in the draft. The last five times
29:14
Speaker 1: they've had a top ten pick, they've chosen an offensive player.
29:18
Speaker 1: In those selections have included Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and
29:22
Speaker 1: aj Green. This year, that pick will almost certainly be
29:27
Speaker 1: used on defense, giving them the opportunity to land an
29:31
Speaker 1: impact player. The Bengals also have money to spend in
29:35
Speaker 1: free agency. They rank eighth in salary cap space according
29:39
Speaker 1: to overthecap dot com. So how much better can the
29:43
Speaker 1: defense get in one year? If you use the advanced
29:47
Speaker 1: metric DVOA as a measurement, which takes into account strength
29:51
Speaker 1: of opponent and game situations, among other things, The Bengals
29:55
Speaker 1: jumped from twenty sixth in the league in twenty twenty
29:59
Speaker 1: to sixty in twenty twenty one and went to the
30:02
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. A similar jump to at least middle of
30:06
Speaker 1: the pack doesn't seem far fetched. For closing thoughts here
30:11
Speaker 1: are Duke Tobin, Al Bolden, and Zach Taylor.
30:14
Speaker 4: We need an increase in talent on that side of
30:16
Speaker 4: the ball, and there's no question about it.
30:18
Speaker 5: We'll take a look and see how much we can
30:21
Speaker 5: get done.
30:21
Speaker 2: Oh, we're going to turn it around.
30:23
Speaker 5: We're going to turn it around, there's no doubt.
30:24
Speaker 9: I mean, we got the right people in the building.
30:28
Speaker 9: We've got leaders emerging, We've played, you know, a lot
30:33
Speaker 9: of young guys, and again I look at improvement. You know,
30:36
Speaker 9: individual improvement is what ultimately is going to lead to
30:39
Speaker 9: unit success and team success.
30:41
Speaker 3: We are on a path to really good things next year.
30:44
Speaker 3: And I think everybody that exit this building today feels
30:46
Speaker 3: that players, coaches, everybody involved with this thing and that
30:50
Speaker 3: this season was a disappointment. It didn't go the way
30:52
Speaker 3: we wanted. But I'm already re energized. You're working on
30:55
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six and get back to work. Doesn't mean
30:57
Speaker 3: I won't take a couple of days. But I just
30:59
Speaker 3: feel like the energy of this group and the talent
31:02
Speaker 3: we have and the progress a lot of these guests
31:05
Speaker 3: made that we've got a chance to be back in
31:08
Speaker 3: the conversation of where we belong these the last couple
31:11
Speaker 3: of years and a falling short of that. And so
31:13
Speaker 3: I'm excited and I feel these seven off all our
31:15
Speaker 3: players and coaches to get back to that.
31:16
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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31:50
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
31:54
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.