Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Because I'm Happy

Transcript

Bengals Booth Podcast: Because I'm Happy · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast, the Because I'm Happy edition, as
0:13
Speaker 1: we take a look at the Bengals Hall on Day
0:15
Speaker 1: three of the NFL Draft and provide an overview of
0:18
Speaker 1: a draft class featuring a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, a
0:22
Speaker 1: big play threat and wide receiver, and three newcomers at
0:26
Speaker 1: the team's most obvious position of need. The Bengals Booth
0:30
Speaker 1: Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel
0:33
Speaker 1: and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a
0:37
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
0:40
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
0:44
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
0:48
Speaker 1: thing since the little kid who imitated Joe Burrow's famous
0:54
Speaker 1: victory cigar. This is courtesy of my friend and former
0:58
Speaker 1: co worker Joe Daneman, amendous sports anchor at Fox nineteen
1:02
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. He challenged viewers to imitate their favorite Joe
1:06
Speaker 1: Burrow gifts, and a six year old named Jake Hoffsteader,
1:11
Speaker 1: with an assist from his dad, did a slow motion
1:14
Speaker 1: video that perfectly mimics Burrow with his legs crossed, savoring
1:19
Speaker 1: that victory cigar after the National championship win over Clemson.
1:23
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and
1:26
Speaker 1: check it out. Just go to Twitter and look for
1:29
Speaker 1: at hum Ken. That's hum k e n hum Ken.
1:38
Speaker 1: Trust me, it's priceless. Now let's learn about the newest
1:42
Speaker 1: Bengals from people who have watched them play. After choosing
1:46
Speaker 1: linebacker Logan Wilson with the first pick in the third
1:48
Speaker 1: round on Friday night, the Bengals doubled down at the
1:52
Speaker 1: position at the top of the fourth round on Saturday
1:55
Speaker 1: by selecting Appalachian States Akeem Davis Gaither. By traditional standards,
2:01
Speaker 1: he's undersized for linebacker at six one two twenty four,
2:05
Speaker 1: but the game is changing. Devin Bush is two inches
2:08
Speaker 1: shorter and about ten pounds heavier and was the tenth
2:11
Speaker 1: pick in last year's draft before having a strong rookie
2:15
Speaker 1: season for the Steelers. For more on a Keen Davis Gaither,
2:19
Speaker 1: here's Appalachian State play by play voice Adam Witton. A
2:23
Speaker 1: Keem is one of those guys who is incredibly versatile
2:26
Speaker 1: as a player. Dan, thanks for thanks for having me.
2:29
Speaker 1: We're really excited as the Appalachian family to see him
2:33
Speaker 1: get drafted so early and see a guy really who
2:37
Speaker 1: has worked his tail off to get to where he has.
2:40
Speaker 1: Everybody that's been drafted has their own story to get
2:42
Speaker 1: to this point. But I think what people are really
2:44
Speaker 1: gonna like about a team is his work ethic and
2:47
Speaker 1: his motivation and his attitude. He's got the physical traits.
2:51
Speaker 1: He's incredibly fast, he's strong, He's put on about fifty
2:55
Speaker 1: pounds since he came on campus as one hundred and
2:57
Speaker 1: seventy five pound freshman in twenty fifteen. But just to
3:01
Speaker 1: see where he was and where he's gotten to now
3:06
Speaker 1: is a true testament to his work ethic. That guy
3:09
Speaker 1: is someone that wasn't very highly recruited out of high school.
3:13
Speaker 1: He had one Power five offer really out of Thomasville
3:16
Speaker 1: High School near Winston Salem in North Carolina. But he
3:20
Speaker 1: has developed, he has learned, he has applied himself, and
3:26
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, he has taken that strong
3:28
Speaker 1: work ethic and combined it with some amazing physical traits
3:33
Speaker 1: to become the complete package and linebacker. I like that,
3:36
Speaker 1: the fact that he can do a lot of different things,
3:38
Speaker 1: you know, I think He's big enough to be somebody
3:41
Speaker 1: that can tackle in space one on one. He's fast
3:44
Speaker 1: enough to track guys down sideline to sideline on the perimeter,
3:47
Speaker 1: and we've seen him a lot in coverage to being
3:51
Speaker 1: able to cover tight ends or slot receivers and be
3:54
Speaker 1: able to make plays and cause some destruction in the
3:57
Speaker 1: passing game as well. I think Bengal fans are really
4:00
Speaker 1: gonna like this young man. We are talking to the
4:02
Speaker 1: voice of Appalachian State, Adam Witton. He's a coaches kid.
4:06
Speaker 1: Was that evident when you were around him? I think so.
4:10
Speaker 1: But but the interesting thing about a team is that
4:12
Speaker 1: he didn't really have a love for football when he
4:14
Speaker 1: was in high school until about midway through his high
4:17
Speaker 1: school career. You know, his dad, Keith, has been a
4:20
Speaker 1: coach for for a long time, and so it was
4:24
Speaker 1: kind of something that was expected out of him when
4:26
Speaker 1: when he was growing up. But it wasn't until midway
4:29
Speaker 1: through his high school career that that he kind of
4:31
Speaker 1: developed that love for football. But once he did develop
4:34
Speaker 1: that love and that passion for it, you can really
4:36
Speaker 1: see it. I mean, all the things that you look
4:38
Speaker 1: for in someone who who grows up in a football family,
4:42
Speaker 1: and a coach's son um. You can see the discipline,
4:45
Speaker 1: you can see the attention to detail, you can see
4:48
Speaker 1: the attitude. He is mature way beyond his years because
4:52
Speaker 1: he has learned a lot of those traits I think
4:54
Speaker 1: from his upbringing, and so yes, you can you can
4:57
Speaker 1: certainly see that come across not watching him play, but
5:01
Speaker 1: when you get a chance to speak to him and
5:03
Speaker 1: be around him off the field as well. He has
5:06
Speaker 1: special teams experience at Appalachian State. He told us that
5:10
Speaker 1: he was the special teams player of the year early
5:12
Speaker 1: in his career in college, and that's likely something he'll
5:16
Speaker 1: be asked to do in Cincinnati. Do you see him
5:19
Speaker 1: contributing right away in that department? I do you know
5:23
Speaker 1: a tame One of the highlights of his career was
5:27
Speaker 1: this past season and it was on special teams. You know,
5:30
Speaker 1: he early in the year, you see guys like him
5:33
Speaker 1: that are on cover junits, getting down, making tackles, causing
5:37
Speaker 1: havoc in the kickoff return game when you're on the
5:39
Speaker 1: other side. But Akame's biggest play, maybe in his career,
5:43
Speaker 1: one of the ones that he's going to be remembered for,
5:46
Speaker 1: is he blocked the field goal to beat North Carolina
5:49
Speaker 1: early in the season. For the Mountaineers, it was a
5:51
Speaker 1: monumental win for the program, beating an ACC program from
5:55
Speaker 1: within the state, their first win over a P five
5:58
Speaker 1: program since Michigan into seven, and a team had the
6:01
Speaker 1: game winning play by by blocking the kick to give
6:05
Speaker 1: Appalachian a three point win. So, whether it's in coverage,
6:09
Speaker 1: making tackles on kickoff coverage or punk coverage, or even
6:14
Speaker 1: on the block units to be able to make a
6:17
Speaker 1: play and field goal block or even punk block, he's
6:20
Speaker 1: got a lot of different ways he could potentially help
6:22
Speaker 1: on special teams. You mentioned that he's added about fifty
6:25
Speaker 1: pounds since enrolling in college one seventy five to two
6:29
Speaker 1: twenty five. Is that about all that he can grow
6:32
Speaker 1: to or is there still room to maybe add a
6:34
Speaker 1: little more size. It's a good question. You know, we've
6:39
Speaker 1: seen this at places like Appalachian where guys, you know,
6:42
Speaker 1: traditionally at a a G five program like an app state,
6:46
Speaker 1: you'll tend to get guys who are super talented but
6:49
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit under size. But we've seen them
6:52
Speaker 1: graduate into the NFL and then put on a lot
6:55
Speaker 1: more bulk. You know, one of the team's biggest strengths
6:58
Speaker 1: is his speed. He is uniquely quick as a linebacker,
7:04
Speaker 1: and he was able to play an outside linebacker position
7:07
Speaker 1: in a three to four bass because of that speed
7:10
Speaker 1: and the way that he could get out of the
7:12
Speaker 1: quarterback or track guys down in space. And so I
7:15
Speaker 1: don't know. I think it kind of remains to be
7:17
Speaker 1: seeing whether or not getting larger than two twenty five
7:20
Speaker 1: is going to be a benefit for him, because I
7:22
Speaker 1: think even at two twenty five, he's strong enough and
7:25
Speaker 1: has good enough technique to still tackle bigger guys. So
7:30
Speaker 1: you know, the one thing that you don't want to
7:31
Speaker 1: do is do anything to make him lose some of
7:33
Speaker 1: the things he's really good at, which is certainly his quickness.
7:37
Speaker 1: Final question for Appalachian State broadcaster Adam Whitton. I was
7:40
Speaker 1: surprised to learn that a team suffered a stress fracture
7:43
Speaker 1: in his foot in Week three and kept playing, made
7:47
Speaker 1: it through the season, played in the Senior Bowl, then
7:49
Speaker 1: had foot surgery in March. What does that say about
7:53
Speaker 1: a Keen Davis Gaither? It certainly shows his toughness, and
7:57
Speaker 1: you know that that's one way to look at It's
7:59
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of us kind of learned
8:01
Speaker 1: towards the end of the season just what he was
8:03
Speaker 1: dealing with throughout twenty nineteen. The fact that you said,
8:06
Speaker 1: you know, it happened in that North Carolina game that
8:09
Speaker 1: we just talked about. Um, but we saw, we saw
8:12
Speaker 1: those signs of him slowing down. He was still as
8:15
Speaker 1: good as ever and continued to improve his stock at
8:18
Speaker 1: the season went along. Um. You know, he was impressive
8:21
Speaker 1: in the Senior Bowls, as we've discussed, and so I
8:25
Speaker 1: think if anything, it says his ability to to really
8:30
Speaker 1: do whatever is required for him to get the job accomplished. UM.
8:34
Speaker 1: I've talked about his determination, which is which is apparent
8:38
Speaker 1: as we've seen him throughout his Appalachian career. But the
8:41
Speaker 1: fact that he was still just as productive as he
8:44
Speaker 1: was even battling that injury in his senior season. You know,
8:48
Speaker 1: ideally it says, man, after now a long time to
8:52
Speaker 1: heal from from that procedure, you know, imagine, could he
8:56
Speaker 1: be even better than than what we saw in his
8:59
Speaker 1: senior season Appalachian, which was pretty spectacular. So hopefully it
9:03
Speaker 1: gives maybe even a higher ceiling than we originally thought.
9:07
Speaker 1: Excellent luck at fourth round pick Akeem Davis Gaither courtesy
9:10
Speaker 1: of broadcaster Adam Witton. In the fifth round, the Bengal
9:14
Speaker 1: selected Notre Dame defensive end Khaled Kareem, a six four,
9:19
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty eight pounder who was a two
9:21
Speaker 1: year starter for the Fighting Irish and had thirteen sacks
9:25
Speaker 1: over the last three years. Here's a closer look at
9:28
Speaker 1: Kareem from Bengals defensive coordinator lou Anna Rumo. You know,
9:32
Speaker 1: at this point in the draft, when you get a
9:34
Speaker 1: guy that's as big and as tall and as long
9:38
Speaker 1: as you know, a guy's an eighty four inch wingspan,
9:42
Speaker 1: you know, had thirteen somewhat sacks in his career, was
9:45
Speaker 1: a captain and Notre Dame last year you're talking about
9:48
Speaker 1: some and has passed rush ability again in the fifth round.
9:52
Speaker 1: I think that's, uh, those are traits that we like.
9:55
Speaker 1: Seems like everybody year draft and has been a team
9:58
Speaker 1: captain was severing elegance. I mean, it's it's it's building
10:03
Speaker 1: a heck of a culture. It seems like, yeah, it helps.
10:05
Speaker 1: I mean those guys, Uh, you know, anybody anytime you've
10:08
Speaker 1: got leaders, uh you know that we're leaders in college.
10:11
Speaker 1: Certainly that uh that Lens lends itself to being a
10:15
Speaker 1: better leader in the pro so and at a place
10:17
Speaker 1: like Notre Dame, you know, which is uh obviously is
10:20
Speaker 1: what it is. So we're very excited about it. You've
10:24
Speaker 1: got five free agents that could start. Logan Wilson was drafted.
10:28
Speaker 1: Now this player from Notre Dame. Can you talk about
10:31
Speaker 1: how the talent on defense had just been transformed? Well,
10:36
Speaker 1: you know it was over the last few years. You know,
10:40
Speaker 1: obviously got here late last year, but uh, um, you know,
10:43
Speaker 1: as I've said, since I've gotten here, this has been
10:45
Speaker 1: a proud place when it comes to defense, uh, you know,
10:48
Speaker 1: for a long long time, and it hasn't been that
10:50
Speaker 1: way the last few years. And uh, you know, some
10:52
Speaker 1: of the players getting older and you know, for whatever
10:55
Speaker 1: the reasons. But part of it is our job is
10:58
Speaker 1: to evaluate and uh get younger bodies in here that
11:01
Speaker 1: can compete for spots, and you know, who ends up
11:04
Speaker 1: starting and all that will play itself out. But our
11:07
Speaker 1: jobs is to get a pool to create competition and
11:11
Speaker 1: then the best guys will bubble up and play. And
11:14
Speaker 1: we're doing that with both free hc in the draft.
11:17
Speaker 1: Before we get to the Bengal sixth round pick, here's
11:19
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can take your Bengals pride
11:22
Speaker 1: to the next level in twenty twenty with an official
11:25
Speaker 1: Bengals fan package from Prime Sport. The Bengal selected one
11:29
Speaker 1: offensive lineman in this year's draft, Hakim Identagy, a four
11:34
Speaker 1: year starter at Kansas who played tackle there before taking
11:37
Speaker 1: some snaps at guard and the Senior Bowl. He's six four,
11:41
Speaker 1: three hundred pounds and had a fourth round grade according
11:44
Speaker 1: to draft guru Dane Brugler, but fell to the Bengals
11:47
Speaker 1: at the top of round six. From more on Identagy,
11:51
Speaker 1: here's the voice of the Kansas Jayhawks, Brian Haney. Well, Dad,
11:55
Speaker 1: thanks a lot for having me on. I'm so excited
11:57
Speaker 1: for a Kim and picks it Cinnati stats be pumped two.
12:00
Speaker 1: This was a guy who was the model of consistency
12:03
Speaker 1: from the first day he arrives on campus. And I
12:06
Speaker 1: know we'll talk about the circumstances that led to him
12:08
Speaker 1: being a Jayhawk, but he comes in the middle of
12:11
Speaker 1: the summer before his true freshman year and winds up
12:14
Speaker 1: starting all forty eight games as his collegiate career. Twice
12:19
Speaker 1: over was an All Big Twelve lineman, including first team
12:21
Speaker 1: all big twelve senior years. So he was the model
12:24
Speaker 1: of consistency and just a really productive player that got
12:28
Speaker 1: stronger as he grew into his body and added to
12:31
Speaker 1: his frame, played through injuries a couple of times in
12:34
Speaker 1: the middle of his career for lengthy stretches, and yet
12:36
Speaker 1: never came off the field. So you gotta love a
12:39
Speaker 1: guy like that. He's gritty, he's tough, and he's a
12:41
Speaker 1: really high character young man. It'll be a tremendous addition
12:44
Speaker 1: to your franchise. If not for a Cashew allergy, he
12:48
Speaker 1: would not have wound up at Kansas, Isn't that crazy? Yeah,
12:52
Speaker 1: he was supposed to go to air Force. His brother
12:54
Speaker 1: had played at Air Force, and he was always planning
12:56
Speaker 1: to follow in his brother's footsteps. And he shows up
12:59
Speaker 1: on campus and in the medical reports there pops up
13:03
Speaker 1: the allergy. And at a place like air Force, that's
13:06
Speaker 1: enough to derail your acceptance. And so it's June of
13:10
Speaker 1: the summertime to perceives his first semester as a college
13:13
Speaker 1: student athlete, and thankfully for him, his Garland High school
13:17
Speaker 1: and coach Jeff Jordan, had just taken the job for
13:20
Speaker 1: another Garland graduate at the time, Kansas head coach David Beatty.
13:24
Speaker 1: And so you know, one door closes, another opens, and
13:27
Speaker 1: a Kim has a tremendous perspective on that. You never know,
13:32
Speaker 1: you know what curveball life's going to throw you in
13:34
Speaker 1: some ways, this weekend was a curveball because I know
13:36
Speaker 1: he really felt like he was going to go on
13:38
Speaker 1: the fourth round. But he's been a guy that's always
13:40
Speaker 1: accepted whatever cards he's dealt, and that makes the most
13:43
Speaker 1: of them. In this case, he comes to Kansas and
13:45
Speaker 1: as I said, within about six weeks he's won himself
13:48
Speaker 1: a starting job and he never let lucifit his entire career.
13:52
Speaker 1: Got to finish up playing his last season for Less Miles,
13:55
Speaker 1: a future Hall of Famer and his own right, and
13:58
Speaker 1: learned a lot from coach Miles former lineman himself, So
14:01
Speaker 1: he had a chance to play for several guys he
14:03
Speaker 1: never would have dreamed he would have played flore had
14:05
Speaker 1: it not been for the Cashoe Ala Geet. But all
14:08
Speaker 1: the while he felt like it was happening for a
14:10
Speaker 1: reason and he was getting blessed by it. And here
14:12
Speaker 1: he is now fulfilling his NFL dream. Because of it,
14:15
Speaker 1: we're spending a few minutes with the voice of the
14:16
Speaker 1: Kansas Jayhawks, Brian Haney. When Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan
14:21
Speaker 1: was asked about Hakim, the first thing that he spoke
14:24
Speaker 1: of was his smarts. Did that stand out in your
14:27
Speaker 1: interactions with him? Absolutely, very football savvy, a guy that
14:32
Speaker 1: always on Tuesdays and we got to talk to the players,
14:35
Speaker 1: you could always count on a great sound buy from
14:37
Speaker 1: him because whether they'd only had a day or so
14:39
Speaker 1: a film study, he'd already been watching in the weeks
14:42
Speaker 1: leading up on that next opponent coming up. So he
14:45
Speaker 1: always had a head for the scouting report in the
14:48
Speaker 1: opposition coming up. And on top of that, he's just
14:50
Speaker 1: a delightfully young guy to talk to. His mother is
14:53
Speaker 1: from Nigeria and she was actually a broadcast TV star
14:57
Speaker 1: back in Nigeria as a reporter, anchor journalists, and so
15:01
Speaker 1: he's always been a very well spoken young man. And
15:04
Speaker 1: when you're adding how much he studies the game and
15:06
Speaker 1: how well prepared he is weeken and we got I
15:08
Speaker 1: think you'll find him from a media perspective as one
15:11
Speaker 1: of your favorites to talk to. It seems like in
15:13
Speaker 1: this particular draft, if you are not a team captain,
15:16
Speaker 1: the Bengals aren't interested. It's been one team captain after
15:20
Speaker 1: the next. And that was the case for a team identity.
15:25
Speaker 1: What traits stood out that his teammates would want him
15:29
Speaker 1: in that role? Great question. And you know when you
15:32
Speaker 1: think about his four years of Kansas, and I talked
15:35
Speaker 1: earlier about no matter what the circumstances are, always finding
15:39
Speaker 1: a positive adjust to move forward, starting with how he
15:42
Speaker 1: arrived here to then the adversity of going through three
15:45
Speaker 1: different offensive line coaches and two head coaches in his
15:49
Speaker 1: time here. He was always the same consistent, eyes on
15:54
Speaker 1: the prize, looking ahead as opposed to looking behind, and
15:57
Speaker 1: all that type of mentality, and I think that's what
15:59
Speaker 1: you needing a leader, a next playoff, next man up,
16:02
Speaker 1: that kind of mindset, and he had that throughout and
16:05
Speaker 1: no matter who was doing the coaching on the sidelines
16:08
Speaker 1: or who the headman was atop the program, he adjusted.
16:11
Speaker 1: And Akim was the same guy, bringing his lunch pail
16:13
Speaker 1: to work every single day, same approach, same hard work,
16:17
Speaker 1: a rock steady solid and I think that's what you
16:20
Speaker 1: want from leaders. Obviously, he didn't obviously enjoy as much
16:23
Speaker 1: winning here as we would like the last time, well
16:26
Speaker 1: not the last time, I guess you guys took Tanner
16:28
Speaker 1: Hockinson in twenty thirteen, but before that, when you took
16:31
Speaker 1: a Kansas offensive lineman in two thousand and eight, Anthony Collins,
16:34
Speaker 1: he'd just come off twelve wins and the Orange Bowl championship.
16:38
Speaker 1: And Ke never got that. But he was the part
16:41
Speaker 1: of some really big individual moments, like beating Texas as
16:45
Speaker 1: a sophomore, first time k You've beaten ut in fifty years.
16:49
Speaker 1: He helps k you beat Boston College on national TV
16:52
Speaker 1: this year, beat Texas Tech. I think he's excited to
16:55
Speaker 1: get in with the great franchise. It's clearly on the
16:58
Speaker 1: rise now at Joe Burrow and Tiggins and all these guys,
17:01
Speaker 1: and be a part of a young nucleus that's going
17:03
Speaker 1: to do a whole lot more winning than what he
17:05
Speaker 1: ever achieved on the collegiate gridiron. And because he's so consistent,
17:09
Speaker 1: so well prepared, and so determined, I think he's going
17:12
Speaker 1: to fit into that pedigree at DNA with the rest
17:15
Speaker 1: of those guys like Burrow and Higgins. Thanks to Brian
17:18
Speaker 1: Haney for that in depth look at Hakim Adenagee, the
17:22
Speaker 1: Bengal seventh and final pick was another linebacker, Marcus Bailey,
17:27
Speaker 1: who grew up in Columbus before his standout career at Purdue.
17:31
Speaker 1: He was still available with a two hundred and fifteenth
17:34
Speaker 1: pick in the draft due to knee problems. Marcus toward
17:37
Speaker 1: the ACL and his left knee as a freshman, then
17:40
Speaker 1: toward the ACL and his right knee early last season.
17:44
Speaker 1: Here's a closer look at Marcus Bailey from Purdue radio
17:47
Speaker 1: voice Tim Newton. Marcus Bailey is a really instinctive football player.
17:53
Speaker 1: When he hits somebody, they usually go down. He doesn't
17:56
Speaker 1: miss a lot of tackles. He's very good in open space,
18:00
Speaker 1: going up against some of the best athletes in the
18:02
Speaker 1: Big Ten one on one in the flat. He was
18:04
Speaker 1: able to get guys to the turf with regularity. And
18:08
Speaker 1: if he can stay healthy, I think the Bengals had
18:10
Speaker 1: one of the steels of the draft. A Bengals coach
18:14
Speaker 1: described him as a football junkie. Is that accurate? I
18:18
Speaker 1: think it is. He would see him all the time
18:21
Speaker 1: over in the football complex. You know he's a good student.
18:24
Speaker 1: He was a three time academic All Big Ten. He
18:27
Speaker 1: graduated early. In fact, was actually into his second year
18:30
Speaker 1: of grad school starting the last season. So he's a
18:35
Speaker 1: guy that is a student of the game. I think
18:37
Speaker 1: again that matched with his instinctiveness on the football field,
18:41
Speaker 1: has really made him a very productive player. And it's
18:44
Speaker 1: a shame that his last season was cut short, just
18:46
Speaker 1: as his first season was. But he's a guy that
18:49
Speaker 1: football is very important to him. And I think he's
18:51
Speaker 1: also a great leader, and that was shown by the
18:54
Speaker 1: fact that his teammates voted him captain. We are visiting
18:57
Speaker 1: with Purdue radio voice Tim Newton. When he suffered that
19:00
Speaker 1: knee injury last year, second torn ACL of his Purdue career.
19:05
Speaker 1: How devastating was that for the entire program. I think
19:09
Speaker 1: of all the losses that Purdue had, and I've never
19:11
Speaker 1: seen a team as ravaged last year by injury as
19:13
Speaker 1: this team was. His was the biggest loss of all.
19:16
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just the fact that he was probably
19:19
Speaker 1: the best defensive player in terms of production, but he
19:22
Speaker 1: was also the best leader. And I think that's really
19:26
Speaker 1: where a lot of things went sideways in the season
19:28
Speaker 1: last year for Purdue is after he got hurt, there
19:31
Speaker 1: wasn't that guy that could bring everybody together in the huddle,
19:34
Speaker 1: in the midst of battle and say Okay, let's settle down.
19:37
Speaker 1: We need to do this, that or the other thing.
19:40
Speaker 1: They really really suffered after he went out last season,
19:43
Speaker 1: So it was a huge loss booth from what he
19:45
Speaker 1: was able to do production wise, but also his leadership.
19:48
Speaker 1: You mentioned him that you think he could turn out
19:51
Speaker 1: to be a steal if he stays healthy. Did you
19:54
Speaker 1: have any sense prior to his injury for how high
19:57
Speaker 1: he might have been drafted. I think he had. I believe,
20:02
Speaker 1: and this is talking to some people in both in
20:05
Speaker 1: the scouting business and on the coaching staff. I think
20:08
Speaker 1: he was a second or third round talent. I really
20:10
Speaker 1: believe that, just again from his productivity and the fact
20:14
Speaker 1: that he is good in space. He's an outstanding athlete,
20:17
Speaker 1: and he played with a little bit of a chip
20:19
Speaker 1: on his shoulder. He's a kid from Columbus that was
20:21
Speaker 1: not recruited by his hometown team, and in twenty eighteen
20:25
Speaker 1: he got a measure of revenge by taking an interception
20:28
Speaker 1: in for a touchdown in the big win over Ohio State.
20:31
Speaker 1: So he was a kid that was motivated from the
20:33
Speaker 1: time he got on campus. But I think when he
20:36
Speaker 1: was healthy he was easily one of the best five
20:39
Speaker 1: linebackers in the conference. Mets saying a lot with some
20:42
Speaker 1: of the talent we have at places like Ohio State, Michigan,
20:44
Speaker 1: Penn State. But he was really a legitimate All Big
20:49
Speaker 1: Ten player and I think was going to have a
20:52
Speaker 1: great senior season. The Bengals have really struggled in recent
20:56
Speaker 1: years to find linebackers with coverage ability. You mentioned his
21:00
Speaker 1: pick six against the Buckeyes. He had six interceptions in
21:03
Speaker 1: his career at Purdue. Is that a strength it is?
21:07
Speaker 1: I think he's able to get out. I mentioned the
21:09
Speaker 1: fact that he can get guys down in one on
21:11
Speaker 1: one situations, but he's also going to be somebody that
21:14
Speaker 1: will be able to cover running backs coming out of
21:16
Speaker 1: the backfield. I think whether he had to pick up
21:19
Speaker 1: a tight end or a running back, he'll be able
21:20
Speaker 1: to play in space and he's able to cover a
21:24
Speaker 1: lot of ground. He's a sidelined a sideline players. I
21:29
Speaker 1: think he's really again the whole package is the only
21:31
Speaker 1: problem with him has been the knee injuries in keeping
21:35
Speaker 1: him on the field and healthy. It happened early last year.
21:38
Speaker 1: It sounds like the surgery went smoothly and everything's coming
21:41
Speaker 1: along on schedule. Is he the type of guy that,
21:45
Speaker 1: just based on his history, you would expect to make
21:47
Speaker 1: a speed of recovery. Oh, I would think so. He did.
21:50
Speaker 1: He recovered very well from the first surgery, and from
21:52
Speaker 1: all indications we had, this one was going equally as well.
21:56
Speaker 1: So I would expect by whenever training camp is that
21:59
Speaker 1: he should be ready to go, and it will be
22:01
Speaker 1: close to a full year by the time he gets
22:04
Speaker 1: back on the field, if it's July or August. And
22:06
Speaker 1: he suffered the injury in September, so he's had he
22:09
Speaker 1: will have had the majority of the year by the
22:11
Speaker 1: time he gets on the field. But he's been rehabbing
22:15
Speaker 1: and I think he'll be ready to go physically. I
22:17
Speaker 1: know he's ready to go mentally. Thanks to the Voice
22:20
Speaker 1: of the boiler Makers, Tim Newton. Now time for a
22:24
Speaker 1: Day three recap and an overall look at the Bengals
22:27
Speaker 1: draft class with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. All right, Lap,
22:31
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the Day three draft picks and then
22:34
Speaker 1: we'll get to an overview of the entire draft for
22:36
Speaker 1: the Bengals. Let's start in Round four with the first
22:39
Speaker 1: pick of the fourth round. The Bengals drafted the guy
22:41
Speaker 1: that you more or less predicted they would pick prior
22:44
Speaker 1: to Day three of the draft, linebacker Akeem Davis Gaither.
22:49
Speaker 1: They not only doubled down at linebacker in this draft,
22:53
Speaker 1: three of their seven picks came from that position. Yeah,
22:57
Speaker 1: And I think you know they've they've done it before
23:00
Speaker 1: about before the draft, back in the earliest part of
23:04
Speaker 1: the century. They draft Tekioe Spikes, Brian Simmons, Steve Foley
23:09
Speaker 1: three draft picks, and then they signed a free age
23:12
Speaker 1: in Adrian Ross. While they draft three picks, they're at linebacker,
23:16
Speaker 1: not as high, but they still address it. And then
23:19
Speaker 1: they may sign another one in free agers who we
23:21
Speaker 1: don't know. The common denominator in the overhaul of those
23:25
Speaker 1: two different occasions Mark Duffner. So, Mark duft had had
23:29
Speaker 1: a big thing in evaluating the linebacker talent in both
23:32
Speaker 1: of those instances and and maybe rebuilding the linebacker group.
23:36
Speaker 1: And I think that these guys individually have a lot
23:41
Speaker 1: of a lot of pride, and I think the game
23:42
Speaker 1: of football means a ton to them, and I think collectively,
23:46
Speaker 1: I think they'd like to be the three musketeers that
23:49
Speaker 1: turn the franchise around at the linebacker position. I think
23:53
Speaker 1: they'd relish the fact that you know, they could wave
23:55
Speaker 1: the flag, that they're the guys that solidified the middle
23:58
Speaker 1: of the Cincinnati Bengals defense was used and had so
24:01
Speaker 1: many problems with miss tackles and mister Simons and everything else.
24:04
Speaker 1: I see all three of those guys, you know, wanted
24:08
Speaker 1: to make make that different for sure. And a Keen
24:11
Speaker 1: Davis Gaitheror is a captain son of a football coach.
24:16
Speaker 1: And when you when you have sons of football coaches,
24:20
Speaker 1: that means that they have a support system. You know,
24:22
Speaker 1: they've grown up around the game. The entire family, wife
24:25
Speaker 1: and other siblings understand how important the game is, and
24:30
Speaker 1: it gives it gives them an additional opportunity to succeed.
24:34
Speaker 1: A tremendous support system, and I think, uh, I think
24:37
Speaker 1: that's going to pay dividends for the Bengals. You saw
24:40
Speaker 1: a Keen Davis Gaitheror at the Senior Bowl. The Bengals
24:43
Speaker 1: coaching staff obviously got to know him there. He was
24:46
Speaker 1: the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year at Appalachian State.
24:50
Speaker 1: Draft expert Dane Bruegler from The Athletic had him number
24:53
Speaker 1: fifty four overall on his board. The Bengals got him
24:57
Speaker 1: with a one hundred and seventh pick, so that's all good.
25:00
Speaker 1: The question mark with him seems to be is he
25:03
Speaker 1: big enough right? And and because it's fast enough, I mean,
25:07
Speaker 1: you know he runs four or five and that that's
25:10
Speaker 1: going to be the thing um when he's on the
25:12
Speaker 1: football field, particularly in the AFC North I Buy formation.
25:16
Speaker 1: They're going to probably try to target him in an area,
25:19
Speaker 1: try to locate him on an area of the football
25:21
Speaker 1: field where they're going to test his ability to get
25:24
Speaker 1: off blocks and stop the run. You know, I think
25:27
Speaker 1: they everybody's going to understand that a guy that size
25:30
Speaker 1: and that kind of speed, you know, will operate well
25:33
Speaker 1: in space. But can can you muscle up? You know,
25:36
Speaker 1: can when when you come in there with a couple
25:39
Speaker 1: of a couple of tightens and you know, when they
25:41
Speaker 1: sub times like that, you may be subbed out of
25:43
Speaker 1: the football game. But if if they decide to reduce
25:47
Speaker 1: the formation and play smash ball football between the hash
25:50
Speaker 1: marks and get him in tight in a home booth
25:54
Speaker 1: as such, can he operated his way out of that
25:56
Speaker 1: phone booth? And that's that's going to be the test
25:59
Speaker 1: for all these young linebackers because some of these, uh,
26:02
Speaker 1: some of these guys in the offensive lines with the
26:05
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steels in Cleveland Browns, I mean,
26:09
Speaker 1: they're they these college kids that are coming in they
26:13
Speaker 1: have seen one or two of those guys during the
26:15
Speaker 1: course of the season. Now they're going to see five
26:18
Speaker 1: of those guys every single week of their professional career.
26:22
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that special teams coordinator Darren Simmons loves this
26:26
Speaker 1: pick a tea. Yeah, Kam Davis Gaither played special teams
26:30
Speaker 1: at Appalachian State. He was the teams special teams Player
26:33
Speaker 1: of the Year early in his career. He had a
26:36
Speaker 1: game saving block field goal last year against North Carolina.
26:40
Speaker 1: So this is not something that he is going to
26:42
Speaker 1: have to embrace at the NFL level. It's something he's
26:45
Speaker 1: been doing absolutely, Dan, And you look at you look
26:49
Speaker 1: at all the picks h you know at the linebacker position.
26:52
Speaker 1: You know they're being termed as potentially as three down linebackers.
26:57
Speaker 1: But you know, I'm not sure that that's going to
26:59
Speaker 1: be the case for all of them, miss rookies. So
27:02
Speaker 1: at some point in time, I'm sure Logan Wilson will
27:05
Speaker 1: get some taste of special teams. The keen Davis Gaither
27:09
Speaker 1: will as well, and Marcus Bailey is the third linebacker
27:11
Speaker 1: that they drafted. At the end of the day, all
27:15
Speaker 1: of them have tasted the special teams, particularly early in
27:18
Speaker 1: their career. Like you said, as they turned into stalwarts
27:22
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the football, you know that
27:24
Speaker 1: that minimalizes the special team snaps. But these guys were
27:28
Speaker 1: all smart. That's a common denominator two with all the
27:30
Speaker 1: picks to in and they're all captains, they're all smart,
27:33
Speaker 1: they're all sons of coaches. I mean, it's crazy. I
27:36
Speaker 1: think that they they're going to understand very quickly, and
27:40
Speaker 1: Darren Simmons will make a point of them understanding it
27:42
Speaker 1: very quickly that their future is going to be determined
27:45
Speaker 1: in the short term by what they do. For Darren Simmons.
27:48
Speaker 1: Let's move to the fifth round. The Bengals selected a
27:50
Speaker 1: defensive end out of Notre Dame Khalid Kareem six four,
27:54
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty eight pounds, another college captain. The
27:58
Speaker 1: description I got on him was solid, if unspectacular. Had
28:02
Speaker 1: five and a half sacks this year, forced three fumbles,
28:05
Speaker 1: and apparently has gigantic arms. Yeah, he's got a huge
28:10
Speaker 1: wingspan eighty four inch wingspan, thirty four and a half
28:13
Speaker 1: inch length in the arms, big hands, So that that
28:17
Speaker 1: tells you though, he should be able to control people
28:19
Speaker 1: and keep people you know, away from him, out of
28:22
Speaker 1: his out of his body as such. And you know
28:24
Speaker 1: all these guys too, they have position versatility. You know,
28:28
Speaker 1: he might give him some snaps. A defensive end might
28:30
Speaker 1: give him some snaps outside linebacker, could be a sub
28:33
Speaker 1: package edge rush guy because he could you know, they
28:36
Speaker 1: could drop him off into coverage. And you know what
28:38
Speaker 1: they've done with Sam Hubbard, I think this guy might
28:41
Speaker 1: be capable of doing as well. And you know another
28:44
Speaker 1: kid that a captain of his football team, and um,
28:47
Speaker 1: you know the culture that they're building I think is
28:49
Speaker 1: uh is very very interesting. You know. It's another one
28:53
Speaker 1: that that was he was scheduled to play in the
28:58
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl. He couldn't because of venue. But you know,
29:02
Speaker 1: he's obviously he's obviously got some some talents in coming
29:06
Speaker 1: out and Notre Dame. We know what Brian Kelly is
29:08
Speaker 1: all about. We know the program that Frian Kelly runs,
29:11
Speaker 1: so we know that this kid is the real deal.
29:13
Speaker 1: In terms of being, you know, not only a good
29:16
Speaker 1: football player, but a solid citizen in every way, shape
29:19
Speaker 1: or form. To the sixth round, where the Bengal selected
29:22
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman, Hakim Identagy. He played tackle at Kansas.
29:26
Speaker 1: Apparently the Bengals look at him as a guy who
29:29
Speaker 1: could play guard as well in the NFL. And of
29:32
Speaker 1: all the Bengals draft picks, he's the one who has
29:34
Speaker 1: the most interesting backstory. He was going to go to
29:37
Speaker 1: Air Force and then shortly before he was ready to
29:40
Speaker 1: go from high school to college, Air Force said, nope,
29:43
Speaker 1: you can no longer be admitted because of a cash
29:46
Speaker 1: you allergy man. How bad would you feel as the
29:51
Speaker 1: coach that recruited him. Everything's hunky door, it's all set
29:54
Speaker 1: to go, and cash you allergy nullifies the whole thing.
29:58
Speaker 1: And that dad had to be a interesting, dynamic beau.
30:01
Speaker 1: His brother was already at Air Force and already gone
30:03
Speaker 1: to Air Force. That tells you a lot about that family.
30:06
Speaker 1: When when you're talking to military academies, I mean, you know,
30:09
Speaker 1: I remember what it was. I get recruited by Army
30:12
Speaker 1: and Navy and and you have to get you know,
30:14
Speaker 1: your local center at Cenator Ted Kennedy wrote a letter
30:17
Speaker 1: of recommendation Army Navy for me. He said, I know
30:20
Speaker 1: the process you have to go through and for these
30:22
Speaker 1: these guys to get accepted the Air Force tells you
30:25
Speaker 1: a lot about the type of person there. And another
30:29
Speaker 1: there's another case of a guy that's got some intal act,
30:31
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, there's there's no doubt about it.
30:33
Speaker 1: These guys took the book seriously, not just the football
30:36
Speaker 1: field or the basketball court or whatever the case may be.
30:38
Speaker 1: They they they're true student athletes. And you know, thing
30:42
Speaker 1: about this guy is when you look at his game,
30:45
Speaker 1: he's explosive, he's sudden, he's got really good feet. I
30:50
Speaker 1: think he's got some big upside. I really do. I
30:52
Speaker 1: think that. Initially, you know, he played more left tackle
30:56
Speaker 1: than right tackle. But if I'm doing a depth chart
30:58
Speaker 1: for the season, I have him in their competition over
31:02
Speaker 1: there at the right tackle spot to see who's the
31:05
Speaker 1: better man. You know, Bobby Hart is Fred Johns? Is
31:08
Speaker 1: Fred the better man? Is it? Is it this rookie?
31:12
Speaker 1: I mean, I'd make that a very competitive scenario over
31:15
Speaker 1: there at the right tackle position. Then move from there accordingly.
31:19
Speaker 1: It's a lot easier, you know, he was supposed to
31:21
Speaker 1: bounce in. You know, he didn't put part in the
31:25
Speaker 1: in the Senior Bowl. And this is one of the
31:27
Speaker 1: three Senior Bowl people that the Bengals drafted. Um, and
31:31
Speaker 1: you know, he did it willingly. And I think initially
31:35
Speaker 1: they're going to take a look at him at tackle,
31:36
Speaker 1: but hey, if you can play tackle, I'm telling you,
31:40
Speaker 1: it's much easier to kick inside and play guard. Usually
31:42
Speaker 1: pretty remarkable. When he accomplished at Kansas, he gets the
31:45
Speaker 1: late word from Air Force that he can't go there
31:47
Speaker 1: because of the cashew allergy. So he winds up at
31:50
Speaker 1: Kansas at the last minute, shows up for fall practice,
31:53
Speaker 1: wins the starting job, and starts forty eight consecutive games. Yeah,
31:58
Speaker 1: that's that's the other thing. A lot these guys are,
32:01
Speaker 1: you know, four year players, red shirt guys. Everybody they
32:06
Speaker 1: drafted has played a lot of football, except when injury
32:11
Speaker 1: unfortunately interrupted you know, their respective careers. In some cases,
32:15
Speaker 1: they played a lot of football, prospected by their teammates,
32:19
Speaker 1: voted captain, handled the academic part of it. You know,
32:22
Speaker 1: it's it really is. I mean, my numbers say three
32:28
Speaker 1: three Senior Bowl participants. Senior Bowls certainly paid off for
32:31
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. In this draft, five of the seven
32:34
Speaker 1: draft picks are captains. Three of the seven draft picks
32:37
Speaker 1: are coaches sons. I mean, my goodness, you know, it's
32:40
Speaker 1: it's uh. I think I'm not sure if they had
32:44
Speaker 1: the FBI IA. I don't know how many people investigated
32:47
Speaker 1: the character of their players, but well, they did a
32:49
Speaker 1: good job of screening them and getting guys that in
32:53
Speaker 1: most cases came from very very successful, winning programs as well.
32:57
Speaker 1: And the same thing happened in free agency again. I mean,
32:59
Speaker 1: you know what they did in free it to see,
33:01
Speaker 1: it's like everybody was on a playoff team. So it's
33:04
Speaker 1: it's there's there's some common denominators that flowed through all
33:08
Speaker 1: these selections, including Hakim. The Bengals final pick was linebacker
33:13
Speaker 1: Marcus Bailey out of Purdue, And this reminds me of
33:16
Speaker 1: the Rodney Anderson selection last year, and that you take
33:19
Speaker 1: a late draft chance on a guy with an injury
33:23
Speaker 1: history who was extremely productive when he wasn't hurt. He
33:27
Speaker 1: only played in a couple of games last year. He
33:29
Speaker 1: missed the last ten with a torn right ACL. Early
33:32
Speaker 1: in his college career, he tore his left ACL but
33:36
Speaker 1: in between he was one of the most productive linebackers
33:39
Speaker 1: in the Big Ten. Yeah, and when you hear that,
33:43
Speaker 1: I mean he's a football junkie as such, he's always
33:47
Speaker 1: at the facility. You know, you can only spend so
33:49
Speaker 1: many hours with a player by hen rules X number
33:54
Speaker 1: of hours per week. But that doesn't mean that the
33:56
Speaker 1: player can't go in there on their own and breakdown
33:59
Speaker 1: tape and do a everything they want to do in
34:01
Speaker 1: that regard to improve themselves as football players. And that
34:03
Speaker 1: was Marcus Bailey and the coaches basically had to kick
34:06
Speaker 1: him out of the place. That tells you that you
34:09
Speaker 1: got a guy that the game is significantly important to him.
34:13
Speaker 1: He can't he's got a thirst for knowledge. You know.
34:16
Speaker 1: He started throwing names out there like Luke Keigley, Bobby
34:19
Speaker 1: Wagner that you know, he felt like had had a
34:22
Speaker 1: tremendous football IQ that could never be satisfied and another
34:26
Speaker 1: good student, you know, three point five GPA. He's got
34:29
Speaker 1: his masters and leadership and said that's pretty good. I mean,
34:33
Speaker 1: he said, there's going to be a Kansas at FORDU
34:36
Speaker 1: for five years. Why not get a master's degree out
34:39
Speaker 1: of it? And that's somebody that's got some maturity to
34:41
Speaker 1: him instead of you know, worrying about where your next
34:45
Speaker 1: beer is coming from on campus in the party, you know,
34:47
Speaker 1: he wants to balance it out and make sure that
34:49
Speaker 1: he's got his academics taken care of him. Another guy
34:52
Speaker 1: that gives a lot of position versatility. He can play
34:55
Speaker 1: well in space. You know, he can cover people, he
34:58
Speaker 1: can blitz. So I they've they've got themselves some chess
35:02
Speaker 1: pieces to play with at this linebacker position, with smart
35:06
Speaker 1: guys that you don't necessarily have to sub in and
35:09
Speaker 1: out of there. You know, when when the offense make
35:12
Speaker 1: substitutions and personnel formation wise, you're you're allowed to. But
35:18
Speaker 1: if the offense has versatility and they flex tight ends
35:21
Speaker 1: or whatever the case may be, and they don't allow
35:23
Speaker 1: you to sub personnel, you get linebackers they can walk
35:26
Speaker 1: out there with those tight ends. In some cases, uh
35:29
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you know we'll even cover a slot receiver.
35:32
Speaker 1: You know, at a pension, when you have those kind
35:34
Speaker 1: of athletes, it gives you usually your heck of a counter.
35:37
Speaker 1: I mean, now you're in a great testpense. There's no
35:40
Speaker 1: question about it. All right. A few big picture topics
35:44
Speaker 1: now that the draft is finished for the Bengals. We've
35:46
Speaker 1: talked about the fact that a lot of these guys
35:49
Speaker 1: were captains. Six of the seven draft picks were college captains.
35:53
Speaker 1: Logan Wilson three time captain, Marcus Bailey two time captain,
35:57
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow two time captains. I joked on Twitter the
36:01
Speaker 1: only captains the Bengals didn't draft were Hook, Kangaroo, Morgan
36:06
Speaker 1: and Crunch. I like it, but Zach Taylor made a
36:10
Speaker 1: point of saying, it's great that they're captains. That says
36:14
Speaker 1: something about them. But we didn't just draft good guys.
36:18
Speaker 1: They were all extremely talented players and the captain aspect
36:22
Speaker 1: is a nice bonus, right, And I think I think
36:27
Speaker 1: you know the concept of all right, when you're a captain,
36:31
Speaker 1: one of the things that you have to do is
36:33
Speaker 1: make sure that you're setting a standard where don't accept
36:37
Speaker 1: anything but the best effort out of individual players. And
36:40
Speaker 1: then of course it accumulates to be a team thing
36:44
Speaker 1: and you have to set the standard. And that's why
36:47
Speaker 1: in my mind, you know, great players, um, you know,
36:51
Speaker 1: like Anthony Munio's, James Brooks, you know, pick some of
36:54
Speaker 1: the great players in Bengal franchise history. Their work ethic
36:58
Speaker 1: was to suck that man. Those guys they're always in
37:02
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl every year and look what they're doing.
37:05
Speaker 1: Am I doing enough? And that's that's a good thing
37:08
Speaker 1: to have telling you when you're when your best players.
37:11
Speaker 1: And that's sort of a professional approach to it. The
37:13
Speaker 1: mentality where I'm going to be the best and no
37:16
Speaker 1: one's going to stop me from being the best. It
37:18
Speaker 1: raises the whole boat. You know. Tom Brady is in there,
37:22
Speaker 1: you know, bright and early, first one in, last to leave,
37:24
Speaker 1: and he's not wasted time. He's efficiently getting himself better,
37:28
Speaker 1: you know, day after day, week after week, month after month,
37:31
Speaker 1: year after year. Now now he cames into it. It's crazy.
37:35
Speaker 1: And if you can find guys that have that type
37:39
Speaker 1: of mentality, that type of mindset, you know, instead of
37:42
Speaker 1: the coaches having to force you to do it, if
37:46
Speaker 1: the players are saying, hey, follow my lead, do what
37:48
Speaker 1: I do, and it's a positive example. Now you've got
37:51
Speaker 1: something cooking. If the players can can set the standard
37:55
Speaker 1: of that, police themselves if somebody stray, as the players
37:59
Speaker 1: take care of it. That's the good teams that I
38:01
Speaker 1: played on or played with. We never waited for coaches
38:05
Speaker 1: to discipline or correct or whatever. Man took care of ourselves,
38:10
Speaker 1: took care of ourselves. It's like, you, dude, we got
38:12
Speaker 1: something good going on here. Don't screw this up. You
38:15
Speaker 1: know you don't want to be part of this. There's
38:18
Speaker 1: the door, don't body hit you in the buttter on
38:20
Speaker 1: your way out. And when the players are believing that
38:24
Speaker 1: that kind of mentality and self policing it, now you
38:28
Speaker 1: get something powerful. The biggest surprise to me is that
38:32
Speaker 1: the Bengals never traded down for more picks. I would
38:36
Speaker 1: have guaranteed going into this draft that at some point
38:40
Speaker 1: they're going to trade down a few spots to get
38:43
Speaker 1: more picks. And when they reached their their spot in
38:47
Speaker 1: every round, either they liked the guy that was there
38:51
Speaker 1: so much that they weren't willing to go down, or
38:53
Speaker 1: no team really made a good enough offer for them
38:55
Speaker 1: to do it. Yeah. Right, And I think I think
38:59
Speaker 1: the overlooked to the draft had a play in that.
39:02
Speaker 1: You know, it's like, okay, and I'm sure not only
39:05
Speaker 1: did the Bengals just wait for people to call be proactive,
39:09
Speaker 1: aren't reactive? I think they probably picked the phones up
39:11
Speaker 1: and targeted some people and tried to see if they
39:15
Speaker 1: could work work something out. But if if, whoever it is,
39:20
Speaker 1: you're trying to get them to move up, and they're
39:23
Speaker 1: looking at their board just like you are and their song.
39:27
Speaker 1: I got three or four guys here I'm comfortable with,
39:29
Speaker 1: Why should I give you draft capital to move up
39:32
Speaker 1: to take them when I can sit and still get
39:34
Speaker 1: one of them. And that's what the Bengals are trying
39:36
Speaker 1: to do, is you know, move back and accumulate capital
39:40
Speaker 1: and still be satisfied with one of them. So it
39:42
Speaker 1: just there was never anybody that I guess slid to
39:45
Speaker 1: the point where, oh my gosh, we had this guy
39:48
Speaker 1: you know, evaluated a full round better through where he
39:51
Speaker 1: is now. So maybe the overall depth of the draft
39:54
Speaker 1: was a you know, was a factor in that. But
39:57
Speaker 1: being the first band out of the gate, know, every round,
40:01
Speaker 1: let's go, every player they picked, they had evaluated a
40:05
Speaker 1: round higher because they had the first pick of the
40:07
Speaker 1: following round. So it's easy to say, oh, we had
40:11
Speaker 1: a humor waters a third round value you took up
40:12
Speaker 1: in the first pick in the fourth round. It's basically
40:15
Speaker 1: a third round draft pick. But you know, in some instances,
40:18
Speaker 1: I know they had guys you know away up in
40:22
Speaker 1: that round and maybe even at the end of the
40:24
Speaker 1: round before that. And like we talked about before, Dan,
40:27
Speaker 1: everybody's board is said differently because you know people it's
40:32
Speaker 1: it's it almost gets humorous to me, and because like
40:35
Speaker 1: Zach said, okay, do you draft for need or do
40:39
Speaker 1: your draft for best player? And he said, well, it's
40:41
Speaker 1: always a combination. And that's why every team's draft board
40:44
Speaker 1: is different. Every team has different needs. So when you're
40:48
Speaker 1: evaluating a player, it's like, yeah, boy, this this offensive
40:53
Speaker 1: tackle is good, and so is this cornerback. But we
40:55
Speaker 1: have a much bigger needed offensive tackles. He's going to
40:58
Speaker 1: go up higher on our board than the back. So
41:00
Speaker 1: that's why everybody's board is different. You know, when you
41:03
Speaker 1: set your board, you've already kind of you know, had
41:06
Speaker 1: a blend of need and in best player available. So
41:11
Speaker 1: that's why it kind of tickles me where oh man,
41:13
Speaker 1: we had this guy evaluated, you know, so much higher,
41:16
Speaker 1: and the other team be like, what, yeah, I wasn't
41:20
Speaker 1: that that guy up. I didn't have them that high
41:22
Speaker 1: at all. I had totally different needs. You're running totally
41:25
Speaker 1: different systems. Um, you know you have to you have
41:28
Speaker 1: to basically draft football players that that fit your system.
41:32
Speaker 1: It's crazy the draft football players and say, oh, just
41:35
Speaker 1: because of this one guy, we're going to change what
41:37
Speaker 1: we do from the philosophical standpoint now. So you know,
41:40
Speaker 1: you set what you're gonna do and try to draft
41:43
Speaker 1: players that fit it. And that's why everybody's board's different.
41:47
Speaker 1: What do you make of the fact that they only
41:49
Speaker 1: selected one offensive lineman and they didn't choose him until
41:53
Speaker 1: round six. Yeah, Like, like we talked about earlier, I
41:57
Speaker 1: think they're you know, they're feeling that they've made some
42:00
Speaker 1: improvements there. You know, I think that, Uh, I do
42:03
Speaker 1: think that the right tackle is going to be a
42:06
Speaker 1: free for all. Bobby Hart, you know, Fred Johnson obviously
42:10
Speaker 1: is going to be going to be in the mix,
42:13
Speaker 1: and uh and so will the Keen. There's no there's
42:16
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. Um. So you know that that
42:20
Speaker 1: that'll be just at the right tackle position, right guard,
42:24
Speaker 1: Xavier and Alex will be you know, competing, Uh, Sue
42:27
Speaker 1: Flow and Alex Redmond will be competing. And you know,
42:30
Speaker 1: Medie if if it works out where a team it
42:35
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't in the mix real strongly attack. He could
42:38
Speaker 1: kick inside the guard. Um, you know, Trey Hopkins has
42:41
Speaker 1: Billy Price, and Billy Price can you know play both guards,
42:44
Speaker 1: So he gives you some depth the all three interior positions.
42:48
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan came on. I thought Michael Jordan drew a lot.
42:52
Speaker 1: I mean, Michael Jordan. He met his match in Pittsburgh
42:55
Speaker 1: with Cameron Heyward Man. I was a man against a
42:59
Speaker 1: boy that day. But Michael Jordan grew. He went the
43:02
Speaker 1: boy at the end of the season. There's no doubt
43:04
Speaker 1: about that that he had a baptism under fire and
43:07
Speaker 1: he got torched pretty good. But he didn't curl up
43:10
Speaker 1: in his fetal position and cry about it, which I
43:12
Speaker 1: respected the hell out of them. He came back and
43:14
Speaker 1: played some pretty good football in the second half of
43:16
Speaker 1: the season. Um, Jonah Warren's gonna be interesting to see,
43:20
Speaker 1: you know, see what he gives. Damn you know what
43:22
Speaker 1: he's capable of. I mean, obviously how they regarded the
43:24
Speaker 1: eleventh take in the draft. Um, and and that's that's right.
43:29
Speaker 1: Teams played mostly left tackle, So worst case scenario, he's
43:33
Speaker 1: got a swing tackle in the team. I say, your prance,
43:36
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's different and better than what
43:39
Speaker 1: they had at the start of the season last year
43:41
Speaker 1: for sure, and then with the scheme change to fit everybody,
43:44
Speaker 1: I think they're no drafting. The one lineman they did
43:47
Speaker 1: draft has athletic ability. He has a good seat, you know,
43:51
Speaker 1: he's not he's not a guy that can't climb to
43:53
Speaker 1: the second level when they're running inside the outside of it.
43:55
Speaker 1: He's he's not a guy that can't can't move when
43:59
Speaker 1: they run their pin and pole stuff. So yeah, we'll see.
44:03
Speaker 1: I would think that they're probably targeting some college free
44:07
Speaker 1: agents in terms of the offensive line. Whoever is left
44:11
Speaker 1: from the Senior Bowl that they worked with down there.
44:14
Speaker 1: I'm sure they'll bring them to camp, you know, and
44:16
Speaker 1: that they've either met with and studied from the North
44:19
Speaker 1: or coached from the South. I know Balt get drafted,
44:23
Speaker 1: I know Hennessy get drafted. Both of those guys were
44:26
Speaker 1: down to the Senior Bowl. But I'm not sure about
44:28
Speaker 1: how many of the other offensive line we get drafted.
44:31
Speaker 1: And the fact that they only signed only drafted seven rookies,
44:35
Speaker 1: you would think that you might have a few more
44:37
Speaker 1: dollars in the budget to go out and get, you know,
44:39
Speaker 1: an additional college free ason or two but like we
44:42
Speaker 1: talked about earlier, with this era of the coronavirus, and
44:46
Speaker 1: you know, very few oldtas potentially or mini camps or
44:49
Speaker 1: anything else. And how you're going to evaluate guys, how
44:52
Speaker 1: many do you bring in? You know, you made not
44:54
Speaker 1: d ninety players this year. It might be a different
44:56
Speaker 1: kind of year. It might only needs eighty, might only
44:58
Speaker 1: needs seventy fives. So all that stuff I'm sure they're
45:01
Speaker 1: talking about. They've already I know they. I know they've
45:04
Speaker 1: done a budget, um, you know, for college free agency,
45:07
Speaker 1: and then they kind of assigned it to different position groups,
45:10
Speaker 1: and if one physician group has success, you know, the
45:13
Speaker 1: other position position group might not get the guy they're
45:16
Speaker 1: looking forward frees up funds for you know, a third
45:19
Speaker 1: physian group for whatever. So that's kind of the way
45:21
Speaker 1: they the way they worked at whoever has the all
45:24
Speaker 1: the success, whever gets the first guest gets the dough
45:27
Speaker 1: and then they just go from there. So I'm sure
45:30
Speaker 1: they've targeted a couple of offensive lineman and they're probably
45:33
Speaker 1: on the fallow of them as we speak here. I'm
45:36
Speaker 1: glad you mentioned Jonah Williams because after our last podcast,
45:40
Speaker 1: I got a question from somebody on Twitter. That's a
45:43
Speaker 1: tough question, but a fair question. You pointed out that
45:46
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why Josh Jones from Houston slid
45:51
Speaker 1: in the NFL draft was that he has short arms.
45:54
Speaker 1: His arms are roughly the same length as Jonah Williams.
45:57
Speaker 1: Why didn't Jonah slide for the same reason. Bottom line
46:01
Speaker 1: is he's just an overall, you know, better player with
46:04
Speaker 1: his feet, with his power, with everything else that he
46:08
Speaker 1: could overcome it more than that, more than Jones could.
46:11
Speaker 1: But um, and we'll see, we'll see if we'll see
46:15
Speaker 1: if Jonah wins that that's going to be a problem
46:17
Speaker 1: for him as well. I will I will say because
46:21
Speaker 1: I remember experiencing it when you when you're trying to
46:24
Speaker 1: pass protect against a you know, an octopus and you
46:28
Speaker 1: know you don't have those octopus length arms. That's tough.
46:32
Speaker 1: That's tough. You can try to swat him away from you.
46:34
Speaker 1: You know, it's hand to hand combat. But before you
46:37
Speaker 1: could use your hands, I had to keep my hands.
46:39
Speaker 1: I sist Clenston on my sternum and you know, try
46:42
Speaker 1: to block the chicken wing elbows. Well, if the old
46:46
Speaker 1: rings are boodle and these guys have you know, thirty
46:49
Speaker 1: six ten charms in there. They could head slap. There's
46:51
Speaker 1: swatting your head around their ear hole. You know, they're
46:54
Speaker 1: popping your ear hole and your helmet. You ear drums
46:57
Speaker 1: are popping and bursting. You know, it's like, what the
46:59
Speaker 1: hell man? And then it might be something else I
47:01
Speaker 1: can do other than this. It was it was brutal,
47:04
Speaker 1: but then when they allowed you to use your hands
47:06
Speaker 1: as an offensive and now you can counter, you know,
47:08
Speaker 1: and do some hand to that combat stuff, So you know,
47:12
Speaker 1: at all of that comes into play. How could if
47:15
Speaker 1: you do have short arms, how good are your hands? Well,
47:17
Speaker 1: where's your hand placement? How quick are your hands? Uh?
47:20
Speaker 1: You know, how good are you in that hand to
47:22
Speaker 1: hand combat? But yeah, it's it's probably that's not the
47:26
Speaker 1: the only reason that you draft or don't draft a guy.
47:29
Speaker 1: But you know, I think it's a tipe aaker? Do
47:32
Speaker 1: you think it's a type aaker at times? All right,
47:34
Speaker 1: final question. You've been associated with this franchise for more
47:37
Speaker 1: than forty years. Do you ever recall a time that
47:41
Speaker 1: the fan base was so excited about a newcomer as
47:45
Speaker 1: Bengals fans are about Joe burrow Boy? You know, I
47:49
Speaker 1: know I know the fans were pumped up when we
47:51
Speaker 1: drafted two time Heisman Trophy when Archie Griffin from right
47:54
Speaker 1: up the road in Columbus, Ohio. There's no doubt about that.
47:57
Speaker 1: And Archie such a great guy to boot. I mean,
48:00
Speaker 1: talk about somebody that, uh, you know, you could put
48:02
Speaker 1: up on billboards. It could be a face your franchise.
48:04
Speaker 1: It wasn't a quarterback that here's the guy that is
48:07
Speaker 1: the face of your franchise as the quarterback. And he's uh,
48:11
Speaker 1: he's he's something special and there's no doubt about it.
48:14
Speaker 1: I mean it's this this uh, this community is fired up.
48:18
Speaker 1: This region should be fired up, and I think it
48:20
Speaker 1: is fired up. I think I do think that this uh,
48:23
Speaker 1: this guy's going to do some some very special things. Um.
48:27
Speaker 1: You know, when you drafted first first pick of the draft,
48:30
Speaker 1: it was a Heisman Trophy went to Carson Palmer. But
48:32
Speaker 1: he's excited about obviously, and he had had some good
48:35
Speaker 1: years for the Bengals. But man, Joe Burrow, uh, but Carson,
48:39
Speaker 1: who was a California guy, and Carson, you know, made
48:42
Speaker 1: it made it known that he didn't wasn't sure if
48:46
Speaker 1: he and his wife fit in the Midwest, you know,
48:48
Speaker 1: as easily as as people wanted it to to take place.
48:51
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, he couldn't wait to get back
48:54
Speaker 1: out to Little to the West Coast as quickly as
48:56
Speaker 1: he possibly could. Borrow's coming home. This is this is
49:00
Speaker 1: where it's at for Joe Burrow. I mean, his family is.
49:02
Speaker 1: He's so excited about being able to go home and
49:05
Speaker 1: have a home cooked meal with his parents and his
49:08
Speaker 1: girlfriend lives right here in Mason, Ohio and her family.
49:11
Speaker 1: Talk about a support system, you know, sometimes two two
49:15
Speaker 1: yard drive away, all of his friends, family, supporters. I mean,
49:21
Speaker 1: he's got he's got a heck of a support system
49:24
Speaker 1: going there. And I admire him for you know, he
49:28
Speaker 1: went to Columbus, wanted to stay. Look, but then go
49:30
Speaker 1: down to LSU and do what he did. It shows
49:33
Speaker 1: you a lot, shows you a lot. Now now he
49:35
Speaker 1: can be back home again and a guy that won
49:38
Speaker 1: the Heisman Trophy, the National Championship. First pick of the draft,
49:43
Speaker 1: and believe me, every player that has a chance to
49:47
Speaker 1: be the first pick in the draft, you want to
49:49
Speaker 1: compete and get that bad boy and the records he said,
49:52
Speaker 1: might be a while before they're broke and sixty touchdown passes,
49:55
Speaker 1: accounting for sixty five total touchdown ridiculous, cartoonish, it's crazy.
50:01
Speaker 1: Let's see if he can set some in the NFL.
50:04
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I'd love to see him. You know,
50:07
Speaker 1: I do think you know I don't. I don't want
50:10
Speaker 1: to set like ridiculous expectations to Joe Burrow. But I
50:15
Speaker 1: don't know. Dan. You know, Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, they could,
50:19
Speaker 1: they could compliment each other so well, one hand washed
50:22
Speaker 1: the other. It's the Joe Show, the Joe Show, Joe Burrow,
50:25
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon. Let's get the Joe Show started. Here we go.
50:30
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of The
50:32
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Prime Sport, the
50:35
Speaker 1: official fan, travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals.
50:40
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe, and if
50:43
Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or share
50:45
Speaker 1: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast.
50:49
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals
50:52
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast