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Bengals Booth Podcast: I'm All Shook Up · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi again everybody.
0:04
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast. Nah,
0:09
Speaker 2: I'm in love, I'm all Shuoka. Addition, as I discussed
0:14
Speaker 2: the Bengals free agency acquisitions and the upcoming draft with
0:17
Speaker 2: NFL dot Com writer and analyst Nick Schuk, plus a
0:22
Speaker 2: tribute to an outstanding Bengal who announced his retirement this week.
0:27
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corp.
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Speaker 2: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
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Speaker 2: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's
0:48
Speaker 2: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
0:51
Speaker 2: of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
0:54
Speaker 2: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
0:59
Speaker 2: greatest thing, said It's Logan Wilson. On Wednesday, the former
1:03
Speaker 2: Bengals linebacker announced that he's retiring after six seasons in
1:07
Speaker 2: the NFL. Two significant injuries were a major factor why
1:11
Speaker 2: he's calling it quits. A few months before his thirtieth birthday.
1:15
Speaker 2: Logan was part of a great draft for Cincinnati Joe
1:19
Speaker 2: Burrow in round one, t Higgins in round two, and
1:23
Speaker 2: Wilson in round three, and the native of Casper, Wyoming,
1:27
Speaker 2: says that Cincinnati was the perfect place for him to
1:31
Speaker 2: spend nearly all of his NFL career.
1:34
Speaker 3: I feel like the for being from a small town,
1:36
Speaker 3: like it's not an overwhelming big city, but you get
1:38
Speaker 3: the amenities of a big city. The people are also
1:42
Speaker 3: great people, which is which is great because back home,
1:44
Speaker 3: there's a lot of great people in Wyoming. So for
1:48
Speaker 3: me to come into an organization like in the NFL,
1:51
Speaker 3: I don't think I could have picked a better city
1:53
Speaker 3: to kind of end up in just to kind.
1:55
Speaker 4: Of pick up where I left off from where I
1:56
Speaker 4: grew up.
1:57
Speaker 5: So it's been a lot of it's been a lot
1:58
Speaker 5: of good things that have happened here.
2:00
Speaker 2: Later on the podcast, more on Logan Wilson as will
2:03
Speaker 2: flash back to one of the most important interceptions in
2:06
Speaker 2: team history, hear him discuss what it meant to be
2:09
Speaker 2: a Bengals captain and bring you an encore presentation of
2:13
Speaker 2: my fun facts. Conversation with him as he discusses his
2:17
Speaker 2: road to Cincinnati. But first, it's my visit with Nick
2:22
Speaker 2: Shook from NFL dot Com as he shares his thoughts
2:25
Speaker 2: on the Bengals moves in free agency and who we
2:28
Speaker 2: should all be hoping to still be available when Cincinnati
2:32
Speaker 2: is on the clock with the tenth pick in this
2:35
Speaker 2: year's draft. Nick, the Bengals made three significant free agent
2:39
Speaker 2: additions on defense, safety Brian Cook, edge defender boy A Mafe,
2:43
Speaker 2: and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen. Give me your grade for
2:48
Speaker 2: each of those editions and explain why.
2:50
Speaker 6: I gotta start with Willya Mafe, one of my favorite
2:53
Speaker 6: edge rusher's additions to this team, a guy that they
2:57
Speaker 6: certainly needed, especially after losing Trey hendrickson which I think
2:59
Speaker 6: we all expected him to walk away and go somewhere else,
3:03
Speaker 6: maybe not to Baltimore, but this is the reality we
3:05
Speaker 6: live in now.
3:06
Speaker 5: Mafe is a guy that I believe.
3:08
Speaker 6: Most people don't aren't fully aware of as part of
3:11
Speaker 6: that Seattle defense, but a guy who is good for
3:13
Speaker 6: some splash plays and I think his best football is
3:15
Speaker 6: ahead of him.
3:16
Speaker 5: So for grading on a traditional academic scale, I'm gonna
3:19
Speaker 5: give that.
3:19
Speaker 6: Like I don't know at b plus a minus because
3:21
Speaker 6: they addressed what they needed to. I don't think it
3:24
Speaker 6: was the most expensive addition, and they're working within certain
3:27
Speaker 6: constraints when it comes to the finances of everything, so
3:29
Speaker 6: that's fine. I'm very happy about that when I thought
3:32
Speaker 6: that was their best move of the off season. Jonathan
3:34
Speaker 6: Allen kind of feels like, look, we know we need
3:37
Speaker 6: interior help. We're gonna get a guy who's a little
3:39
Speaker 6: bit older, who you know, washed out of Minnesota really
3:42
Speaker 6: mainly because of money, and we're gonna be willing to
3:45
Speaker 6: at least, you know, give him an opportunity to come
3:47
Speaker 6: play with us and try to shore up the interior
3:49
Speaker 6: of our defense. In fact, I was working on a
3:51
Speaker 6: free agency fits piece yesterday and really throughout the last week,
3:55
Speaker 6: just kind of monitoring it. And you start with a
3:57
Speaker 6: really long list, and I'm thinking, all right, the Bengals
4:00
Speaker 6: could use some help because I'm trying to.
4:01
Speaker 5: Place DJ Reader.
4:02
Speaker 6: And then I look at as like, oh, well, they
4:03
Speaker 6: already signed Jonathan Allen, which is basically a younger version
4:06
Speaker 6: that's potentially more productive at least has a history of
4:09
Speaker 6: being pretty productive, especially back during his days in Washington.
4:12
Speaker 5: So we'll give that. I think a bus C plus range.
4:16
Speaker 5: Not because it's a massive.
4:17
Speaker 6: Splash, but just because you filled a need with a
4:20
Speaker 6: veteran and you hope that you're going to get quality
4:22
Speaker 6: production out of him. I think that that actually approached
4:24
Speaker 6: kind of mirrors with the Browns have done the division
4:26
Speaker 6: rival over the last five or six years, which is
4:28
Speaker 6: we're going to draft defensive tackles. We're going to hope
4:31
Speaker 6: they work out, but we're also going to plug the
4:32
Speaker 6: other spot next to them with veterans. Whether it was
4:35
Speaker 6: Sheldon Richardson, Shelby Harris, Malik Jackson, Malik Collins as well.
4:40
Speaker 6: They've gone through a lot of them, and I think
4:42
Speaker 6: the Bengals were wise to do it because they need
4:44
Speaker 6: to shore up that side. And Brian Cook this is
4:47
Speaker 6: the one where I'm a little not concerned, maybe a
4:49
Speaker 6: little curious, if not perplexed, just because I know you
4:54
Speaker 6: needed the help back there. But Cook was not necessarily
4:57
Speaker 6: a player I felt really stood out in this Chiefs defense.
5:00
Speaker 6: There were other stars that made it happen. There were
5:03
Speaker 6: times where he got the there were times where he
5:04
Speaker 6: made plays. The rate that he got three years forty
5:07
Speaker 6: point twenty five million with.
5:09
Speaker 5: Eighteen million in year one.
5:10
Speaker 6: Obviously you're trying to entice him to come to the
5:12
Speaker 6: Bengals by giving him a lot of that money up front.
5:14
Speaker 6: I am gonna take a wait and see approach on that.
5:16
Speaker 6: It's again a position that they needed to address, and
5:19
Speaker 6: I you know, give Douke Tobin a lot of credit
5:21
Speaker 6: for going out there and aggressively trying to improve this
5:24
Speaker 6: defense because we know it's their weakness. But I'm not
5:26
Speaker 6: sure if his production is going to match that salary
5:29
Speaker 6: as aboun some the most expensive contract, but I thought
5:31
Speaker 6: it was a little much for him, so we'll give that.
5:34
Speaker 6: I think we'll put that in the same range as
5:36
Speaker 6: Jonathan Allen. We'll do a B minus overall, three solid additions.
5:40
Speaker 5: The one I'm most excited about is definitely Mafe.
5:42
Speaker 2: Well, let me circle back to that, Nick, Why was
5:45
Speaker 2: he one of your favorite available free agents?
5:48
Speaker 6: I just really liked the role that he failled in Seattle.
5:51
Speaker 6: I felt like, you know, we pay attention to a
5:53
Speaker 6: lot of other players on that defense, whether it was
5:55
Speaker 6: Leonard Williams coming over and making a difference, or or
5:59
Speaker 6: you know, you can talk about Devin Witherspoon at defensive
6:01
Speaker 6: back to Marcus Lawrence They had a lot of playmakers
6:03
Speaker 6: at every level the defense, but it felt like Mafay
6:05
Speaker 6: kind of got lost in the shuffle. He's a guy
6:07
Speaker 6: who's only twenty seven years old, He's only played four
6:09
Speaker 6: seasons in the NFL. Yet he's got twenty career sacks.
6:12
Speaker 6: He only had two last year. And I hate to
6:13
Speaker 6: rely on sacks as the defining metric because I think
6:16
Speaker 6: defensive ends and defensive players in general, especially defensive ends,
6:20
Speaker 6: do more than just sack the quarterback. But he was
6:23
Speaker 6: the guy that I just felt like every time you
6:25
Speaker 6: needed him to make a play, you just found him
6:27
Speaker 6: in a tough spot.
6:27
Speaker 5: It felt like Mafey was always there.
6:29
Speaker 6: There was kind of a similar situation with a former
6:33
Speaker 6: edge rusher who ended up playing in Miami for a
6:36
Speaker 6: good portion of time. Emmanuel Ogba, who started his career
6:39
Speaker 6: with the Browns, ended up in Kansas City and spent
6:41
Speaker 6: some time in Miami. And when he was in Miami,
6:44
Speaker 6: there was like a two season stretch in which whenever
6:46
Speaker 6: they needed to play, he made the play. And it
6:48
Speaker 6: wasn't like a guy that he wasn't a guy that
6:50
Speaker 6: was going to be a household name or command a
6:51
Speaker 6: lot of attention. But third down there's Agba, there's you
6:55
Speaker 6: know whatever it was. He just continued to make plays
6:57
Speaker 6: and I felt like Mafay kind of filled the similar role.
6:59
Speaker 6: But he'let and I think he'll be a great addition
7:01
Speaker 6: to a defense that needs some sort of force off
7:04
Speaker 6: of the edge. He is again not going to command
7:05
Speaker 6: the spotlight of a Hendrickson or a Crosby or a Garrett,
7:08
Speaker 6: but he's going to be effective for them. And I
7:11
Speaker 6: think that you know, they've spent draft capital on that side,
7:13
Speaker 6: they haven't necessarily gotten the results from some of the
7:15
Speaker 6: guys they've drafted, So bringing in a guy like Mafe,
7:18
Speaker 6: I believe will help upgrade this front where they desperately
7:21
Speaker 6: needed it.
7:21
Speaker 2: You made a reference to the column that you wrote
7:23
Speaker 2: this week where you basically looked at the best fit
7:28
Speaker 2: for ten remaining free agents, and you didn't have any
7:31
Speaker 2: of those players matched up with Cincinnati. But there are
7:34
Speaker 2: obviously other free agents that are still out there. Are
7:37
Speaker 2: there any that you think the Bengals should still try
7:39
Speaker 2: to sign.
7:41
Speaker 5: It's a great question.
7:42
Speaker 6: I think offensively you're largely set. You could look at
7:45
Speaker 6: the defensive side and think, all right, what do we need?
7:47
Speaker 6: You hope that on that front, Miles Murphy and Boye
7:50
Speaker 6: Mafe become a very effective edge rushing tandem. BJ Hill
7:53
Speaker 6: and Jonathan Allen seems like another good interior tantem.
7:55
Speaker 5: Maybe you lack some depth.
7:56
Speaker 6: You hope Shamar Stewart comes back and is effective as
7:59
Speaker 6: well given.
7:59
Speaker 5: Where you draft at him. They need linebackers.
8:01
Speaker 6: I really think they need linebackers, and I think it's
8:03
Speaker 6: gonna be really tough to fill that spot because, you know,
8:06
Speaker 6: I think the bible for free agency is my colleague
8:09
Speaker 6: Greg Rosenthal's top one oh one, and most of the
8:12
Speaker 6: veterans that are available at that position do not land
8:14
Speaker 6: in that top one oh one or they've been signed.
8:16
Speaker 6: So I think it's going to be tough for them
8:17
Speaker 6: to find guys and figure.
8:19
Speaker 5: Out exactly what they do.
8:21
Speaker 6: Maybe it's a position that you addressed in the draft,
8:23
Speaker 6: but I definitely think that they still need linebackers. Like
8:25
Speaker 6: the idea of Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter is your
8:28
Speaker 6: top two.
8:29
Speaker 5: Orn Burk's behind there on the depth chart.
8:30
Speaker 6: Burks as a well traveled, really nice guy and a
8:33
Speaker 6: solid veteran, but these are not the splash play linebackers
8:36
Speaker 6: that you thought you would like to have in your defense,
8:40
Speaker 6: and we know that they've kind of cleared out that
8:41
Speaker 6: room over the last couple of years from some of
8:43
Speaker 6: their main stays before. Like I think back to the
8:44
Speaker 6: days of like when Nick Vigil was back there. I
8:46
Speaker 6: loved watching Nick Vigil play. Not that you need to
8:48
Speaker 6: go find a linebacker of that caliber because ultimately he
8:51
Speaker 6: wasn't like a super productive guy. But I do think
8:53
Speaker 6: they need some help back there, and I think they'll
8:55
Speaker 6: address it in the draft more than free agency.
8:58
Speaker 2: Bobby Wagner is still out there, obviously getting up there
9:01
Speaker 2: in years. Matt Mulano is still out there. He's been
9:04
Speaker 2: injury plagued over the past three seasons. Do either of
9:08
Speaker 2: those names do anything for you?
9:11
Speaker 6: You know, Milano probably makes more sense given that you
9:15
Speaker 6: know where he is in his career, but you're right,
9:18
Speaker 6: the injuries have been an issue. I also feel like
9:20
Speaker 6: there's the Bills could potentially find a way to keep
9:22
Speaker 6: him around just because he's been there his whole career,
9:24
Speaker 6: so I think the availability is a little bit lower
9:26
Speaker 6: on him. Bobby Wagner is the wild card because like
9:29
Speaker 6: he spent the majority of his career in Seattle. He
9:31
Speaker 6: does that one year in la it does not work out.
9:33
Speaker 6: It's the year that they struggled as a team. He
9:35
Speaker 6: goes back to Seattle, then he ends up in Washington,
9:37
Speaker 6: where he played a very big part in dan Quinn's
9:39
Speaker 6: defense over the last two years. But it feels like
9:41
Speaker 6: with all the additions that the commanders have made that
9:43
Speaker 6: they may not bring him back either. Or maybe it's
9:46
Speaker 6: a matter of you take the maybe not the exaggerated
9:49
Speaker 6: approach of Jadavian Clowney, which is wait until the end
9:51
Speaker 6: of training camp to sign, or wait until May to
9:54
Speaker 6: sign and then end up getting you know, a good
9:56
Speaker 6: amount of money and it's just a matter of dollars
9:58
Speaker 6: and cents. But I do that he'll probably wait out
10:01
Speaker 6: the market a.
10:01
Speaker 5: Little bit longer.
10:02
Speaker 6: I would rather put Wagner back there, just to give
10:05
Speaker 6: you somebody who sets a standard at that level of
10:07
Speaker 6: your defense than maybe try to swing on Milana because
10:11
Speaker 6: the worst thing that could happen for the Bengals is
10:13
Speaker 6: and this is no knock on Malonal, but we have
10:14
Speaker 6: the history to prove it, is that he comes in there,
10:17
Speaker 6: you spend the remaining resources that you have to spend
10:20
Speaker 6: in free agency on him. You think you've made a
10:22
Speaker 6: big addition, and he doesn't end up playing more than
10:24
Speaker 6: half of the season, and again, you have a hole
10:26
Speaker 6: at that position right away. So not to say that
10:28
Speaker 6: Wagner isn't susceptible to the same thing, but.
10:30
Speaker 5: We have more of a history with Mlonna than we
10:32
Speaker 5: do with Wagner.
10:33
Speaker 6: So I would rather go Wagner, give you the veteran
10:35
Speaker 6: kind of give you the bridge to whatever is next
10:37
Speaker 6: for you.
10:37
Speaker 2: In that group, the Bengals would still like to bring
10:41
Speaker 2: back Joe Flacco. Most people think that his preference is
10:45
Speaker 2: to sign with a team where he would at least
10:47
Speaker 2: have a chance to be the starter. If that team
10:50
Speaker 2: doesn't exist, then maybe he would consider coming back to
10:53
Speaker 2: back up Joe Burrow.
10:54
Speaker 1: Are there any.
10:55
Speaker 2: Teams left out there where a potential starting job could
10:59
Speaker 2: be in the offing?
11:01
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I think this is a tough question
11:02
Speaker 6: to answer. The only place I would maybe point to
11:04
Speaker 6: is Arizona, where they did or didn't tell Jacoby Brissett
11:08
Speaker 6: that he'd be the starter. They obviously added Gardner Minshew,
11:10
Speaker 6: so they have a couple of options that are younger
11:12
Speaker 6: than Jill Flacco. You know what the Raiders are going
11:14
Speaker 6: to do with you know, expected to draft Bernado Mendoza.
11:17
Speaker 6: I still paired them with Kirk Cousins because I think
11:19
Speaker 6: that would be a great little pairing in the quarterback
11:21
Speaker 6: room for them from the past, present, and future. But no,
11:24
Speaker 6: I don't think the starting opportunities really exist because the
11:27
Speaker 6: Jets went and acquire Gino Smith. If they hadn't done that,
11:30
Speaker 6: I would say send him there. I know it's a
11:32
Speaker 6: terrible place for him and it's going to go poorly.
11:34
Speaker 6: It's going to go like it did with the Browns
11:35
Speaker 6: and their shoddy offensive line this past season before they
11:38
Speaker 6: traded into Cincinnati. It's going to go as poorly as
11:40
Speaker 6: it did for Flacco maybe in Indianapolis, where you know
11:42
Speaker 6: he's very statuesque in the pocket and if you can't
11:45
Speaker 6: protect him, he's going to struggle. So I really don't
11:47
Speaker 6: think that there is an opportunity because I think Pittsburgh's
11:50
Speaker 6: going to go for Aaron Rodgers at that point.
11:52
Speaker 5: We have basically all of our spots filled.
11:53
Speaker 6: Malik Willis down in Miami as well, and those are
11:55
Speaker 6: two completely different types of quarterbacks, so I think it's
11:58
Speaker 6: going to be difficult for him to find that operation
12:00
Speaker 6: or tunity, and ultimately he could land again in Cincinnati,
12:02
Speaker 6: where if anybody's learned the importance of a backup quarterback
12:05
Speaker 6: over the last few years, it's probably the Bengals and
12:07
Speaker 6: the forty nine Ers, and the Bengals are the one
12:10
Speaker 6: that certainly have an opening for one, unlike the forty
12:13
Speaker 6: nine Ers.
12:13
Speaker 2: Nick Shook is our guest from NFL dot Com. You
12:16
Speaker 2: can follow him on x at the Nick Shook, Let's
12:20
Speaker 2: talk about the Bengals offensive line. They extended Orlando Brown
12:23
Speaker 2: Junior for two more years. They re signed Dalton Reisner
12:27
Speaker 2: for one. How would you describe the Bengals offensive line
12:31
Speaker 2: at this point?
12:33
Speaker 5: Passable.
12:34
Speaker 6: It's not the best unit, but it wasn't as bad
12:37
Speaker 6: as it was a few years ago. I mean, I
12:39
Speaker 6: think even back to when they were making their Super
12:41
Speaker 6: Bowl runs or their runs of the AFC Championship game,
12:43
Speaker 6: and heman Energy is playing right tackle and he's just
12:46
Speaker 6: he's struggling, and we thought about, you know, some of
12:49
Speaker 6: the guys that have come and gone at left tackle
12:51
Speaker 6: as well. This feels like a more stable group, not
12:53
Speaker 6: the best group, but passable, you know, can do the
12:56
Speaker 6: job sufficiently.
12:58
Speaker 5: Than in past years.
12:59
Speaker 6: I would still like that to consider taking another look
13:01
Speaker 6: at right tackle.
13:02
Speaker 5: They have Cody Ford there as a backup. He's a
13:04
Speaker 5: veteran as well.
13:04
Speaker 6: But I think there's some depth in this draft, especially
13:07
Speaker 6: in Day two, that you could find, you know, potentially
13:10
Speaker 6: an interior alignment to kind of bolster that group. I
13:12
Speaker 6: know that's not your biggest weakness anymore, but if you
13:13
Speaker 6: want to look at left guard, there are some options
13:15
Speaker 6: there from some guys I really enjoyed watching, you know,
13:18
Speaker 6: run through the drills at the combine. I would definitely
13:21
Speaker 6: like to see them reinforce at least one of those
13:22
Speaker 6: spots in the draft. But it's better now than it
13:25
Speaker 6: was for most of the last five years.
13:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a backup swing tackle is a real
13:30
Speaker 2: need on this team that they probably will address in
13:33
Speaker 2: the draft. And let's turn to the draft. Who should
13:37
Speaker 2: Bengals fans be praying to still be there when they're
13:41
Speaker 2: on the clock with the tenth overall pick.
13:44
Speaker 6: Well, we know a lot of Ohio State fans reside
13:46
Speaker 6: in Cincinnati, right some Cincinnati fans as well, but in
13:49
Speaker 6: the general area in that state, you're either a fan
13:51
Speaker 6: of Ohio State or you hate Ohio State. You choose
13:53
Speaker 6: Notre Dame or Cincinnati or maybe one of the max schools.
13:55
Speaker 6: But we know that a lot of the people who've
13:57
Speaker 6: watched football in Ohio are very familiar with the performance
14:00
Speaker 6: safety Caleb Downs, and I think that the way this
14:02
Speaker 6: draft is going to unfold could very much make him
14:04
Speaker 6: available all the way from six to ten. And if
14:07
Speaker 6: he happened to fell all the way to ten, Bengals
14:09
Speaker 6: fans should be overjoyed. I know that you just made
14:11
Speaker 6: an addition at safety with Brian Cook, I don't care
14:14
Speaker 6: because I think Downs is a player that can be
14:16
Speaker 6: transformational on your defense.
14:17
Speaker 5: He is a three level defender.
14:19
Speaker 6: He can come up to the line, he's one of
14:20
Speaker 6: the best tacklers in college football. He's great in coverage,
14:23
Speaker 6: he can do everything, and I think he would transform
14:26
Speaker 6: that back half of your defense that you've been looking
14:28
Speaker 6: for to take that kind of next step, even all
14:30
Speaker 6: the way back to when you draft a Dax Hill
14:31
Speaker 6: out of Michigan, and it hasn't quite gotten to that point,
14:34
Speaker 6: even when you've dedicated some resources to it. So again,
14:37
Speaker 6: if the Bengals are investing in the defense this offseason,
14:39
Speaker 6: which is what they should do and it's what they've
14:41
Speaker 6: done so far, you got to target defense and if
14:43
Speaker 6: we're looking at the other guys that they're obviously the
14:45
Speaker 6: prize possession would be, you know, getting an edge rusher,
14:48
Speaker 6: because this class is very deep an edge rusher. But
14:51
Speaker 6: I think a lot of the top guys that you're
14:53
Speaker 6: looking for are either not fitting of the number ten
14:56
Speaker 6: pick or.
14:56
Speaker 5: They're already be gone.
14:57
Speaker 6: And so if Downs falls all way to ten, you
15:01
Speaker 6: can be really happy with getting great value at ten
15:03
Speaker 6: for a player like that. I mean, I think that
15:05
Speaker 6: as early as number six, Like you look at the Browns,
15:07
Speaker 6: I don't care what they need offensively or defensively. They
15:11
Speaker 6: want to take the best player available on downs is there.
15:13
Speaker 6: I would take them. If I was them commanders, I
15:14
Speaker 6: would do the same thing. You look at some of
15:16
Speaker 6: the mock drafts and you're just seeing edge rusher, edge rusher,
15:18
Speaker 6: and because of the way Sonny styles, you know, blew
15:20
Speaker 6: up the combine and are obviously the potential of Rvel Reese,
15:24
Speaker 6: It's created kind of a surplus of linebackers and edge rushers,
15:30
Speaker 6: and these teams are going to be hard pressed.
15:31
Speaker 5: To not take one of them, which is what's going
15:33
Speaker 5: to make Downs fall.
15:33
Speaker 6: I think in a traditional draft or a typical draft
15:35
Speaker 6: that doesn't include so much talent at edge.
15:38
Speaker 5: You're seeing Downs go in.
15:39
Speaker 6: The top five easily, So if he's there at ten,
15:41
Speaker 6: it would be a huge win for the Bengals.
15:43
Speaker 2: Caleb Downs is one of four guys that I think
15:46
Speaker 2: most Bengals fans have landed on as a person that
15:50
Speaker 2: they'd be thrilled with the Bengals selecting at number ten.
15:53
Speaker 2: Those four guys are Ruben Bain, David Bailey, Sonny Styles,
15:57
Speaker 2: and Caleb Downs.
15:59
Speaker 6: And I think all that the others are going to
16:00
Speaker 6: be gone by yeahs unfortunately.
16:03
Speaker 2: So that's the nightmare scenario that all four are gone.
16:07
Speaker 2: If that's the case, who's the pick at number ten
16:11
Speaker 2: or who would be a couple of good possibilities if
16:14
Speaker 2: all four of those guys are gone.
16:16
Speaker 6: Now, now I go to a corner and I'm thinking
16:17
Speaker 6: about the kid from Tennessee, Jermald McCoy, who didn't even
16:19
Speaker 6: play this year, but everybody loves him. It's obviously a
16:22
Speaker 6: risk because didn't see him play football in the last year.
16:24
Speaker 6: But the talent alone, I think speaks to you know,
16:27
Speaker 6: what could really help the Bengals. You know, look, this
16:29
Speaker 6: is a team that has kind of gone in and
16:31
Speaker 6: out with guys like Cam Taylor Bredtet corner over the
16:34
Speaker 6: last couple of years, you move DA's Hill down to corner.
16:36
Speaker 5: You obviously have DJ.
16:37
Speaker 6: Turner, a speedster who hasn't He really didn't become the
16:40
Speaker 6: guy that you expect him to until the second half
16:42
Speaker 6: of this season, and now that he's gotten there, you're like, Okay,
16:44
Speaker 6: we got that spot figured out, maybe we can look elsewhere.
16:47
Speaker 6: I would still consider going back there, given how bad
16:49
Speaker 6: your pass defense has been over the last few years,
16:51
Speaker 6: because if you can't affect the rushing unit, if the
16:54
Speaker 6: players that are available are not you know, fitting of
16:57
Speaker 6: the tenth pick and help your rushing unit, then you
16:59
Speaker 6: got to go back to the best defensive players available.
17:01
Speaker 6: At that point, you're dipping into the corners. Obviously you
17:04
Speaker 6: don't need a receiver, and I think it'd be a
17:06
Speaker 6: little bit too early for Reuben Bain's teammate, a Key
17:08
Speaker 6: Mezidor to be selected there, So maybe you consider trading back.
17:12
Speaker 5: But I think at that.
17:12
Speaker 6: Point you take the best defender available, and I think
17:15
Speaker 6: at that point it probably skews toward the secondary more
17:18
Speaker 6: than the edge rushing group.
17:19
Speaker 2: Do you think McCoy is the best corner in the draft.
17:22
Speaker 2: And how do you feel about mansword Delane.
17:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the debate.
17:25
Speaker 6: They're like one A and one B right now, And
17:28
Speaker 6: the only thing that we can really use to separate
17:30
Speaker 6: the two is that Delane played.
17:31
Speaker 5: Football this year.
17:32
Speaker 6: Other than that, like, they're both two very good prospects,
17:36
Speaker 6: and I think it's neck and neck between those two.
17:38
Speaker 6: I personally would lean toward McCoy if I could get
17:41
Speaker 6: into a time machine and figure out that he's completely
17:44
Speaker 6: helping and return to form after coming back from that
17:47
Speaker 6: ACL injury that cost him his entire last season at Tennessee.
17:50
Speaker 6: So I would lean McCoy. But I think either pick
17:52
Speaker 6: is probably pretty solid.
17:53
Speaker 2: Would you consider defensive tackle Peter Woods of Clemson or
17:57
Speaker 2: Auburn edge Heldric Falk.
18:00
Speaker 6: I think, you know, I would probably go Woods. Falk
18:04
Speaker 6: is an interesting player, you know, sitting at the combine,
18:08
Speaker 6: some of these guys didn't end up working out, and
18:10
Speaker 6: so that's kind of where I use my frame of
18:12
Speaker 6: reference when I'm trying to separate some of the top
18:13
Speaker 6: players in this upcoming draft. And so I lean Woods
18:19
Speaker 6: because I think that his numbers and his size and
18:22
Speaker 6: everything else, like he didn't do the drills on the field,
18:24
Speaker 6: but a lot of like his testing stuff was really good,
18:26
Speaker 6: and it was one of those players where like, I
18:28
Speaker 6: really wish you would have participated, just so I could
18:30
Speaker 6: have gotten a look at how you moved. But he's
18:32
Speaker 6: one of those players who I think is so effective
18:35
Speaker 6: that maybe he realized he didn't need to go through
18:37
Speaker 6: the drills to really prove his worth, So I would
18:39
Speaker 6: go that direction.
18:40
Speaker 5: I think there is a lot of talent.
18:42
Speaker 6: You know I talked about already, but but the edge rushers,
18:45
Speaker 6: you know, Falk being one of them. But there's I
18:47
Speaker 6: mean there's a number of guys that I really liked
18:49
Speaker 6: that we're working out at the combine. You started with
18:51
Speaker 6: Reese and Bailey, which, by the way, I would play
18:53
Speaker 6: Reese as a linebacker, as an off ball linebacker and
18:55
Speaker 6: allow him to rush the passer. Sometimes I think he's
18:57
Speaker 6: too good to just limit as an edge rusher and
18:59
Speaker 6: fit him into that box when he's dynamically talented.
19:02
Speaker 5: But I mean, Bailey's not going to be there. But
19:04
Speaker 5: you know, there's a number of other guys there.
19:05
Speaker 6: I even think about Ramelo Height, the running mate for
19:08
Speaker 6: David Bailey at Texas Tech. I really liked his workout
19:10
Speaker 6: as well. George Gumbs from Florida is very intriguing. So
19:13
Speaker 6: I think there's a lot of talent on that defensive
19:16
Speaker 6: front that you could, you know, resupply this defense with
19:19
Speaker 6: if you decide to go in that direction.
19:21
Speaker 2: We reference the Bengals needed linebacker. How is this draft
19:24
Speaker 2: after styles at linebacker?
19:27
Speaker 6: I mean, it kind of takes a step back, but
19:29
Speaker 6: I think Reese deserves to be in that group. Doesn't
19:31
Speaker 6: take as big of a step back as it's done
19:33
Speaker 6: in most years. I think this has been the position
19:35
Speaker 6: group that's been the thinnest over the last five years
19:37
Speaker 6: in most drafts, mainly because linebacker is just not as
19:40
Speaker 6: a valued position in the NFL as it was ten
19:42
Speaker 6: fifteen years ago, because everybody plays so many sub packages
19:45
Speaker 6: that you end up having box dafety's and one less
19:46
Speaker 6: linebacker on the field.
19:47
Speaker 5: Anyway, you're looking for a dynamic athlete.
19:49
Speaker 6: So this year, you know you have the two Ohio
19:52
Speaker 6: State guys, right, I think Reese is the guy with
19:54
Speaker 6: the higher ceiling styles, is the guy that tests, you know,
19:57
Speaker 6: really well, and you know has kind of proved with
20:00
Speaker 6: his production over the last few years at Ohio State.
20:01
Speaker 5: But I think Reese is the really the guy.
20:03
Speaker 6: If you're moving on from those two guys, I think
20:05
Speaker 6: you look at Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech, who would
20:08
Speaker 6: probably be linebacker number one in most classes that didn't
20:10
Speaker 6: include Sonny Styles in Rvil Reese. You look at Jake
20:13
Speaker 6: Golday from Cincinnati local kid. I think he's also in
20:16
Speaker 6: the running there, and I'm curious to see where he
20:18
Speaker 6: gets drafted because I think whoever takes him and where
20:20
Speaker 6: they take him could get serious value out of him.
20:23
Speaker 6: And even Betcher, the kid from Oregon, you know, played
20:25
Speaker 6: a ton of football with the Ducks, was kind of
20:28
Speaker 6: the heartbeat of their defense. I think he could help
20:30
Speaker 6: out a lot. And you know, even guys like Kyle
20:33
Speaker 6: Lewis from Pitt's Pitt, who essentially is like a safety
20:35
Speaker 6: playing linebacker. If you're looking for the sub package linebacker guy,
20:38
Speaker 6: the special guy that you're going to use on most downs,
20:41
Speaker 6: if you're gonna lean on Nickel packages, he could end
20:43
Speaker 6: up being that guy who can, you know, play at
20:45
Speaker 6: the second level but really performed like a safety in
20:47
Speaker 6: the box.
20:48
Speaker 5: You could go there as well.
20:49
Speaker 6: But I think you look at Rodriguez and you look
20:51
Speaker 6: at Goldae, those are two guys that would probably be
20:54
Speaker 6: mid to late first round picks in most years that
20:56
Speaker 6: are going to fall just because of the existence of
20:58
Speaker 6: styles in rees. And I think that's a good problem
20:59
Speaker 6: to have if you're the Bengals and you're looking at linebacker.
21:02
Speaker 2: Nick The Bengals offseason mission was to fix the defense.
21:06
Speaker 2: We know that the offense should be really good. Between
21:09
Speaker 2: the players that they've signed and what's out there in
21:12
Speaker 2: the draft, how optimistic should Bengals fans be that this
21:16
Speaker 2: defense is going to be significantly better?
21:20
Speaker 5: Pretty optimistic.
21:22
Speaker 6: Part of it kind of comes down to the fact
21:24
Speaker 6: that Al Golden's got a year under his belt with
21:26
Speaker 6: the Bengals and has been able to install his system.
21:29
Speaker 6: I felt like, you know, there were times where their
21:32
Speaker 6: defense looked like it was taking multiple steps forward. It
21:35
Speaker 6: just wasn't super consistent throughout the course of the entire season.
21:38
Speaker 6: But I think that they built some momentum that is
21:40
Speaker 6: positive going into the offseason. Then you add in these
21:42
Speaker 6: guys like Alan Mafey Cook, you look at your existing
21:45
Speaker 6: players and if you can get the most out of
21:47
Speaker 6: some of these unproven guys that you were expecting to
21:50
Speaker 6: do a lot like a Miles Murphy like a Shamar Stewart,
21:53
Speaker 6: and you can add in some talent at linebacker or
21:55
Speaker 6: maybe in the secondary if you don't find you know
21:58
Speaker 6: that you want one of these edge rugs in the
22:00
Speaker 6: first round. You can kind of complete this picture, or
22:02
Speaker 6: at least bring it closer to completion.
22:04
Speaker 5: Than you've been in the last few years.
22:05
Speaker 6: And with the second year of Al Golden now in charge,
22:08
Speaker 6: with all these talent in there, it feels like it's
22:10
Speaker 6: a general upgrade, so they can be optimistic.
22:12
Speaker 5: But what's most important, which is true.
22:14
Speaker 6: For any team, but especially for the Bengals, is the
22:16
Speaker 6: health of their team, and it's the health of their quarterback.
22:19
Speaker 6: And I really just wanted to see Joe Burrow make
22:21
Speaker 6: it through a full season and have a defense that's competent,
22:24
Speaker 6: and really see where this team can go, because I
22:25
Speaker 6: felt like the Bengals, they what they did to their
22:28
Speaker 6: fans by reaching the Super Bowl, losing in heartbreaking fashion,
22:31
Speaker 6: then nearly making it again the next year, and then
22:33
Speaker 6: what they've done in the next three four years has
22:37
Speaker 6: just been unfair. But it's been typical of a football
22:39
Speaker 6: fan that resides in Ohio, whether you're a Bengals or
22:41
Speaker 6: a Browns fan. I think they deserve better, and I
22:43
Speaker 6: believe that they're closer to getting there this year than
22:45
Speaker 6: they have been in recent years.
22:47
Speaker 2: Only three years and Joe has been injured for.
22:51
Speaker 6: Two exactly, Yeah, three four five. I was gonna do
22:55
Speaker 6: the finger counting, which is what I typically do, but
22:57
Speaker 6: you know.
22:58
Speaker 2: All right, final question for Nick Schuk from NFL dot
23:01
Speaker 2: Com and I appreciate your time. You're a Northeast Ohio guy.
23:04
Speaker 2: So you know the AFC North, Well, how does the
23:08
Speaker 2: division shape up in your mind right now?
23:11
Speaker 3: Ah?
23:12
Speaker 6: You know, this is a question that really depends on
23:15
Speaker 6: what the Ravens are going to be because I felt
23:18
Speaker 6: like they were the team to be in the AFC
23:21
Speaker 6: North over the last few years, and they have kind
23:24
Speaker 6: of fallen short generally speaking, especially last season. Obviously, the
23:28
Speaker 6: Lamar injury did not help them. The idea of replacing
23:31
Speaker 6: him with Cooper Rush and never made any sense, And
23:33
Speaker 6: luckily they figured that out before long and went to
23:35
Speaker 6: Tyler Huntley and have made that change permanent. But they're
23:37
Speaker 6: also dealing with the new coaching staff. They're also dealing
23:40
Speaker 6: with the decent amount of departures. A lot of guys
23:42
Speaker 6: who followed John Harbaugh in New York. Their team just
23:45
Speaker 6: looks different than it has over the last few years,
23:47
Speaker 6: and they have needs that they need to fill. Obviously,
23:50
Speaker 6: they added Trey Hendrickson, which is a big, big get
23:52
Speaker 6: for them, but he's got to stay healthy, and I
23:54
Speaker 6: still think that they need somebody else to kind of
23:57
Speaker 6: pair with him, just because for as good of a
23:59
Speaker 6: player as he is, he's not necessarily the level of
24:01
Speaker 6: a player they thought they were getting in Max Crosby.
24:04
Speaker 6: So I think that they are still probably in the
24:06
Speaker 6: driver's seat if all these things can come together. But
24:08
Speaker 6: I think it gets real tight between the Steelers and
24:11
Speaker 6: the Bengals. The Steelers, you know, another team with the
24:13
Speaker 6: new coaching staff and the first time that they've broken
24:17
Speaker 6: from convention and going with a veteran coach instead of
24:19
Speaker 6: a young, ascending coach. They're at a weird juncture in
24:23
Speaker 6: their franchise's history in which they know they don't have
24:25
Speaker 6: a long term planet quarterback. To keep trying to point
24:28
Speaker 6: to Will Howard as somebody who potentially can be the
24:30
Speaker 6: answer long term. I don't buy it, and they're waiting
24:32
Speaker 6: on Aaron Rodgers, who I fully expect to become a
24:35
Speaker 6: Steeler and.
24:37
Speaker 5: They spent all this money on their defense.
24:39
Speaker 6: Last year, the defense wasn't great, and they've gotten better
24:41
Speaker 6: on that side of the ball, and I think they've
24:42
Speaker 6: gotten better on the offensive side of the ball. So
24:44
Speaker 6: that's where it's going to be a very close race
24:45
Speaker 6: between them and the Bengals, because you could say similar
24:47
Speaker 6: things about the Bengals, except they still have their coaching
24:50
Speaker 6: staff intact, and they have a franchise quarterback who's one
24:52
Speaker 6: of the best in the NFL as long as he
24:54
Speaker 6: can stay healthy. So their neck and neck right there,
24:56
Speaker 6: right behind the Ravens. But honestly, I think it's a
24:58
Speaker 6: three horse race for number one, and I could see
25:00
Speaker 6: any of those three teams winning the division. The one
25:02
Speaker 6: team I know that's not going to win the division
25:03
Speaker 6: is the Cleveland Browns, who are clearly in a rebuild
25:06
Speaker 6: and still hamstrung by that terrible contract they gave to
25:08
Speaker 6: DeShawn Watson. They are interesting to watch only because they're
25:12
Speaker 6: an object of curiosity, not because they're a title contender.
25:15
Speaker 6: So it's going to be another fun year. Hopefully the
25:17
Speaker 6: division overall is better than it was last year, because
25:19
Speaker 6: it was very average, which is not typical of the
25:21
Speaker 6: AFC North.
25:23
Speaker 2: Very atypical of the AFC North, that's for sure.
25:26
Speaker 1: Nick.
25:26
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time and your expertise. As always, thanks so
25:29
Speaker 2: much for joining.
25:30
Speaker 5: Me, Thanks for having me on Dan Up.
25:32
Speaker 2: Next a tribute to Logan Wilson. But first, a quick
25:36
Speaker 2: reminder that the Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
25:39
Speaker 2: by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals official HR
25:43
Speaker 2: software provider, by all to to Fiber future proof fiber
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Speaker 2: Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to
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Speaker 2: a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care
25:53
Speaker 2: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
25:56
Speaker 2: provider of the Bengals. One of the most remarkable things
26:00
Speaker 2: about the Bengals Super Bowl run in twenty twenty one
26:03
Speaker 2: was the fact that the final defensive play in all
26:06
Speaker 2: three of their playoff wins was an interception. The first
26:11
Speaker 2: was Jermaine Pratt's pick near the goal line to clinch
26:14
Speaker 2: a home win over the Raiders. The third was Von
26:18
Speaker 2: Bell's overtimet at Kansas City that set up Evan McPherson's
26:23
Speaker 2: game winning field goal. And in between was this play
26:27
Speaker 2: in the final minute of a tie game at Tennessee
26:30
Speaker 2: thirty two seconds left, third down and five Tannehill ready
26:34
Speaker 2: for the shotgun snap. He has the ball, He's back
26:37
Speaker 2: to throw, looking throws over.
26:38
Speaker 1: The Medal Robot intercept it. The Bengals have it at
26:42
Speaker 1: the forty seven yard line. Twenty seconds on the clock
26:46
Speaker 1: and the.
26:46
Speaker 2: Bengals will have the ball about fifteen yards away from
26:51
Speaker 2: Evan McPherson's long field goal range. Logan Wilson with the
26:55
Speaker 2: interception on the tip ball, Eli Apple with the tip,
26:59
Speaker 2: Logan Wilson with the pick, and after a nineteen yard
27:02
Speaker 2: pass to Jamar Chase Money, Mack booted a fifty two
27:06
Speaker 2: yard walk off field goal to send Cincinnati to the
27:09
Speaker 2: AFC Championship Game. It was the first road playoff win
27:14
Speaker 2: in teen history. A year later, Logan Wilson was a
27:17
Speaker 2: big part of another iconic Bengals defensive play, as he
27:22
Speaker 2: punched the ball away from Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley into
27:25
Speaker 2: the hands of Sam Hubbard, who ran ninety eight yards
27:29
Speaker 2: for the game winning touchdown. Wilson's role is one of
27:32
Speaker 2: the reasons I prefer calling it the fumble in the
27:35
Speaker 2: Jungle instead of the Hubbard yard dash, since Sam never
27:39
Speaker 2: gets the ball if Wilson didn't knock it free. In
27:43
Speaker 2: addition to being a great player, Wilson was the consummate pro,
27:47
Speaker 2: being chosen by his teammates as a captain last year.
27:51
Speaker 4: I've always said this, even in college. I think that's
27:53
Speaker 4: the best of Warden sports.
27:55
Speaker 3: It's just like, because you're going to war, you're going
27:58
Speaker 3: to work, you're doing everything with those people around you,
28:01
Speaker 3: and they see what you go through and they see
28:02
Speaker 3: how you go about your business and see how you
28:04
Speaker 3: do all the little things, and like they admire and
28:07
Speaker 3: respect that. And to be honored for that, like that's
28:09
Speaker 3: just to me the best award. And to know that
28:10
Speaker 3: they look up to you in times of adversity speaks volumes.
28:15
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, as he came back from knee surgery last year,
28:18
Speaker 2: Wilson's play suffered and he was replaced by Barrett Carter
28:22
Speaker 2: in the starting lineup midway through the season. But even then,
28:26
Speaker 2: his leadership stood out, as Logan made it a point
28:29
Speaker 2: to help the rookie who took his spot.
28:32
Speaker 3: You know, I put my arm around him. I told him,
28:34
Speaker 3: I said, there's gonna be no hard feelings between us.
28:36
Speaker 3: Just know that, Like, I'm not going to change who
28:37
Speaker 3: I am. I still want to help you out. I
28:39
Speaker 3: know I've played a lot of football and there's things
28:40
Speaker 3: I can still pour into you. And I told myself
28:43
Speaker 3: I was not going to change who I am because
28:45
Speaker 3: of a time of adversity in my life. And you know,
28:48
Speaker 3: if whenever my career is done, like look back at
28:51
Speaker 3: this time of adversity and be able to tell my
28:54
Speaker 3: kids how to how to get through, how to work
28:56
Speaker 3: through adversity like this, And so that's what I'll be
28:58
Speaker 3: most proud of. By the end of the day, I'm
29:00
Speaker 3: still gonna work to continue to get better and just
29:03
Speaker 3: continue to support him as best as I can, because
29:05
Speaker 3: that's what a good teammate would do.
29:06
Speaker 7: He's been nothing but helpful for me. Just I still
29:09
Speaker 7: lean on him every single day, and I still will
29:11
Speaker 7: continue to lean on him every single day no matter
29:14
Speaker 7: what the coach decides to do. It's not it's not
29:16
Speaker 7: up to me, it's not up to him. But we both,
29:18
Speaker 7: we both love each other, we both go to war
29:20
Speaker 7: with each other.
29:20
Speaker 2: In the weeks that followed, Logan was traded to Dallas
29:23
Speaker 2: and the Wyoming Cowboy played his final seven NFL games
29:28
Speaker 2: as a Dallas Cowboy. But make no mistake. Logan Wilson
29:32
Speaker 2: will always be a Cincinnati Bengal. His rookie year was
29:37
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, the COVID season with limited fans in the
29:40
Speaker 2: stands and limited face to face contact between the media
29:44
Speaker 2: and players and coaches. So I first got to know
29:48
Speaker 2: Logan over zoom. Here's an encore presentation of our fun
29:52
Speaker 2: facts conversation from his first year in Cincinnati. Time for
29:58
Speaker 2: some fun facts with linebacker Logan Wilson from the Cowboys
30:01
Speaker 2: State Wyoming, more specifically Casper, Wyoming. Logan, I'm guessing that
30:07
Speaker 2: most of the people in our audience have never been
30:09
Speaker 2: to Casper.
30:10
Speaker 1: Described your hometown, it.
30:13
Speaker 3: Would will be what we would call the windy city
30:15
Speaker 3: of Wyoming. Although Wyoming is very windy as the state,
30:18
Speaker 3: Casper is one of the windier cities in Wyoming. We're
30:23
Speaker 3: the second biggest city in Wyoming behind Cheyenne, of about
30:27
Speaker 3: sixty thousand people, so not very big by any means,
30:30
Speaker 3: but definitely big for Wyoming town.
30:33
Speaker 2: So sixty thousand is not exactly tiny. Obviously, did you
30:37
Speaker 2: grow up in a neighborhood with quite a few other
30:39
Speaker 2: families or did you have a lot of property.
30:42
Speaker 4: We grew up in a neighborhood, you know.
30:44
Speaker 3: I lived about I think it was like two or
30:46
Speaker 3: three blocks from my elementary school. So I used to
30:48
Speaker 3: walk to elementary school, and then I went to Junior
30:52
Speaker 3: High on the on the west side. I lived on
30:54
Speaker 3: the west side of Casper and kind of grew up
30:55
Speaker 3: with all those people and then went to.
30:57
Speaker 4: High school sports with those guys as well.
31:00
Speaker 3: And then I was lucky enough to play college football
31:03
Speaker 3: with one of my high school friends that I grew
31:05
Speaker 3: up with.
31:05
Speaker 4: Since I moved to Casper, I wasn't born in Casper.
31:08
Speaker 3: I was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and then I
31:11
Speaker 3: lived in Cody for a little bit prior to moving
31:13
Speaker 3: to Casper.
31:14
Speaker 2: Or doing fun facts with Logan Wilson, I understand that
31:17
Speaker 2: your dad was an accomplished college wrestler. He is in
31:21
Speaker 2: the Dickinson State University Hall of Fame. Is that where
31:24
Speaker 2: your love of sports came from?
31:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, my dad was.
31:28
Speaker 3: He pushed me to be not only a good athlete,
31:31
Speaker 3: but also a great student. And I think that the
31:34
Speaker 3: thing that my dad always did was he never let
31:38
Speaker 3: me settle for anything I ever achieved or anything I
31:40
Speaker 3: ever underachieved. You know, whatever, if I got any awards
31:44
Speaker 3: or any success. This is his model was always that's great,
31:47
Speaker 3: now keep working hard. But he would always reiterate that
31:50
Speaker 3: keep working hard mentality, and I think that that's probably,
31:53
Speaker 3: you know, something he learned along his athletic career, and
31:56
Speaker 3: he definitely instilled.
31:57
Speaker 4: That in me.
31:58
Speaker 2: When did you begin streaming of a career in pro football.
32:03
Speaker 3: What's funny is a lot of people don't know, is
32:04
Speaker 3: I never even wanted to play tackle football when I
32:06
Speaker 3: was little. I enjoyed playing flag football better than I
32:09
Speaker 3: did worried about contact stuff. And then you know, the
32:13
Speaker 3: more I played it, the more my love for the
32:15
Speaker 3: game grew.
32:16
Speaker 4: And I think really.
32:17
Speaker 3: Once I got to college into my second or third year,
32:21
Speaker 3: is when I realized I might have an opportunity to
32:23
Speaker 3: play into the in the NFL, and I just kind
32:27
Speaker 3: of let it take care of itself.
32:28
Speaker 4: You know.
32:29
Speaker 3: I never really worried about it, never really stressed about it,
32:32
Speaker 3: just kind of focused on what was in front of
32:34
Speaker 3: me at the time. And here I am.
32:36
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Logan Wilson.
32:38
Speaker 2: Your high school is the alma mater a former US
32:42
Speaker 2: Vice President Dick Cheney. Is there a big Dick Cheney
32:45
Speaker 2: display at your alma mater, and is that a big
32:48
Speaker 2: point of pride for students that went there.
32:50
Speaker 3: Our high school stadium is called Cheney Alumni Field, So yeah,
32:55
Speaker 3: there's that's it's pretty cool having that background. Knowing someone
33:00
Speaker 3: like that on that level of social status, you know,
33:05
Speaker 3: that has gotten to our high school is really cool
33:07
Speaker 3: and really unique.
33:08
Speaker 4: You know, not a lot of high schools across the
33:09
Speaker 4: country you're able to say that.
33:11
Speaker 2: From there, it was on to the University of Wyoming
33:13
Speaker 2: and Laramie, about one hundred and fifty miles from home.
33:17
Speaker 2: Was it always your dream to play for the Brown
33:19
Speaker 2: and Gold?
33:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, for me, it was.
33:22
Speaker 3: I had an offer from Weaver State early on in
33:24
Speaker 3: my recruiting, but ultimately I wanted to play at the
33:28
Speaker 3: University of Wyoming.
33:29
Speaker 4: You know, they had just gotten a new coach and
33:31
Speaker 4: Craig Bowl and who's.
33:32
Speaker 3: Still there right now at the time, and he just
33:35
Speaker 3: seemed like a really good guy to play for. And
33:38
Speaker 3: as a Wyoming kid, you you kind of grow up
33:40
Speaker 3: with the dreaming about the opportunity of representing the Brown
33:43
Speaker 3: and Gold because a lot of people don't realize that Wyoming,
33:46
Speaker 3: the University of Wyoming is our only in sate university
33:49
Speaker 3: and it's kind of like Wyoming's pro team, So the
33:51
Speaker 3: whole state rallies behind all the athletics at the University
33:55
Speaker 3: of Wyoming, and I think that that's what makes the
33:57
Speaker 3: University of Wyoming so unique.
34:00
Speaker 1: What was the best part of your college experience?
34:03
Speaker 3: I mean, really all of it. You know, I wouldn't
34:04
Speaker 3: be where I am today without anything that ever happened.
34:08
Speaker 3: But I think that one of the best parts about
34:11
Speaker 3: playing college football was just kind of getting to.
34:14
Speaker 4: Know people from all sorts of different backgrounds.
34:16
Speaker 3: You know, we had guys from California, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska.
34:21
Speaker 3: I mean, there's people from pretty much everywhere Florida that
34:24
Speaker 3: come to the University of Wyoming. And don't get me wrong,
34:27
Speaker 3: the University of Wyomings Town is not like a It's
34:30
Speaker 3: a college town, is the best way to say it.
34:32
Speaker 4: You know.
34:32
Speaker 3: I think there's thirty thousand plus people that's including the
34:36
Speaker 3: student population, so it's not very big by any means,
34:40
Speaker 3: and so it's not for everyone. Plus it gets really cold,
34:42
Speaker 3: and a lot of people don't like to play in
34:43
Speaker 3: the cold, so it's very unique.
34:46
Speaker 4: And I think that that's what was.
34:47
Speaker 3: Really cool was everyone kind of bonded coming there for
34:50
Speaker 3: that one ultimate goal to win some football games.
34:53
Speaker 2: So your college teammates for three years included Josh Allen,
34:58
Speaker 2: the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. How excited are you
35:01
Speaker 2: to see the success he's having in the NFL.
35:04
Speaker 3: I love seeing it. I love seeing any any one
35:07
Speaker 3: of my former teammates and having the success that they do.
35:10
Speaker 3: But him specifically, to be the highest drafted Wyoming University
35:14
Speaker 3: of Wyoming football player we've ever had and to be
35:17
Speaker 3: representing not only himself but the University of Wyoming and
35:21
Speaker 3: the way he has been doing is very awesome for
35:24
Speaker 3: our state. You know, our state loves him. He's represented
35:28
Speaker 3: it with class, and you know, he's just one of
35:31
Speaker 3: those kids that you would wish nothing but success for.
35:34
Speaker 2: So you were a defensive back in high school and
35:37
Speaker 2: put out about fifty pounds to be an outstanding linebacker
35:40
Speaker 2: in college?
35:41
Speaker 1: How did you gain the weight?
35:43
Speaker 4: It didn't happen overnight. It was a process, for sure.
35:47
Speaker 1: You know.
35:47
Speaker 3: I got to the University of Wyoming at about one
35:49
Speaker 3: hundred and ninety five pounds and.
35:52
Speaker 4: Just kind of took it day by day and by.
35:55
Speaker 3: The time I was playing after I red shirted, I
35:57
Speaker 3: was my red shirt freshman year, I think I was
35:58
Speaker 3: about two fifteen, and then my sophomore year, I was
36:03
Speaker 3: about two thirty. Then my junior year, I was about
36:08
Speaker 3: two fifty, and then my senior year I was about
36:10
Speaker 3: back down to two forty. But it was just kind
36:13
Speaker 3: of a process of eating right way, not trying to
36:17
Speaker 3: put on bad weight and stuff with fat that's gonna
36:20
Speaker 3: slow you down. It's I worked with my nutritionists and
36:24
Speaker 3: it was just a long process. But Coach Bull's whole
36:29
Speaker 3: program is about developing, developing kids. You know, we're not
36:33
Speaker 3: gonna recruit.
36:34
Speaker 4: We're not going to get those five star kids who
36:36
Speaker 4: have already you.
36:37
Speaker 3: Know, they're ready to go in and play right away,
36:38
Speaker 3: and so they have the tools available at the University
36:42
Speaker 3: of Wyoming.
36:42
Speaker 4: It's just a matter of whether or not you use
36:44
Speaker 4: them correctly.
36:45
Speaker 2: Were there are a ton of protein shakes? Were you
36:47
Speaker 2: eating peanut butter and jelly before you went to bed.
36:51
Speaker 2: I've heard stories of guys that you know, had to
36:53
Speaker 2: do whatever it took to keep some of that weight on.
36:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was a lot of protein shakes,
37:00
Speaker 3: for sure, protein shakes at night when you're full, you
37:05
Speaker 3: had to pound one just to just to be able
37:07
Speaker 3: to maintain that weight. It was just kind of a sacrifice,
37:10
Speaker 3: so to say, you kind of had to stretch your
37:12
Speaker 3: stomach so that you could hold down that food.
37:15
Speaker 2: You were the first pick of the third round in
37:18
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty NFL Draft. Describe your draft experience.
37:23
Speaker 4: Not what I expected, so to say, in terms of COVID.
37:26
Speaker 3: And you know, not being able to go kind of
37:28
Speaker 3: be in Vegas for the draft and celebrate with my family.
37:31
Speaker 3: So but that was something that's out of my control
37:35
Speaker 3: and I enjoyed every moment of it being with my
37:36
Speaker 3: family and Casper. It was a very opportunity of a
37:40
Speaker 3: lifetime and.
37:43
Speaker 4: Very thankful what happened. You know.
37:45
Speaker 3: It was just it's surreal and like I think the
37:48
Speaker 3: best way I described it is I was I couldn't
37:50
Speaker 3: describe it. There's just so many emotions that went through
37:53
Speaker 3: your head, you know, and it's just kind of I
37:55
Speaker 3: think that's just the nature of having this opportunity, this
37:59
Speaker 3: lifelong dream so many kids dream about doing, and you
38:02
Speaker 3: actually having it right in front of you and just
38:03
Speaker 3: trying to take the take advantage of it.
38:05
Speaker 2: A few more fun facts for Logan Wilson, who is
38:08
Speaker 2: your all time favorite athlete in any sport.
38:13
Speaker 3: I don't know.
38:13
Speaker 4: Growing up, I was a because I was in Wyoming,
38:16
Speaker 4: I was.
38:16
Speaker 3: I grew up a Broncos fan, so I was a
38:18
Speaker 3: huge Champ Bailey fan because I also played defensive back.
38:21
Speaker 3: I never played lineback until I got to college, but
38:25
Speaker 3: I would probably have to say, Champ Bailey.
38:27
Speaker 1: What do you like to spend your money on?
38:29
Speaker 3: You know, I'm pretty smart about my money, and I'm stingy,
38:34
Speaker 3: so to say, in a way, I usually like to
38:37
Speaker 3: spend my money on my dogs, my girlfriend, and maybe
38:42
Speaker 3: some clothes here and there that i'd like to to get.
38:46
Speaker 4: So I like to help people around me as well
38:48
Speaker 4: when when needed. Dogs plural, Yes, we just got We
38:53
Speaker 4: just got another puppy. So we have a Golden Rechiever
38:55
Speaker 4: and a German Shepherd.
38:57
Speaker 2: What is your guilty pleasure when it comes to food?
39:01
Speaker 2: What do you have a hard time saying no to?
39:04
Speaker 3: Salty sweets like assaulted caramel? Oh that's that's a tough
39:10
Speaker 3: one to pass up.
39:12
Speaker 1: How about it? Take five? If you had to take five, I.
39:15
Speaker 4: Have it in a while. You ever had a watch
39:17
Speaker 4: you might call it? Oh? Yeah, yeah, are good too?
39:20
Speaker 1: Yeah?
39:21
Speaker 2: I like the combo of salt and sweet. I'm with you, yes,
39:24
Speaker 2: that's why I like to take five. It's got the
39:26
Speaker 2: pretzel hidden in the candy box.
39:27
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, I'm with you on that, all right.
39:30
Speaker 2: Final fun fact for Logan Wilson. If you could meet
39:35
Speaker 2: anybody in history, athlete, entertainer, statesman, whatever, who would that be?
39:44
Speaker 4: I would say The Rock.
39:45
Speaker 2: The Rock, Yeah, for the wrestling or the acting, I.
39:52
Speaker 4: Would say the acting.
39:53
Speaker 3: And this is the way that he handles his business,
39:56
Speaker 3: like he's always it seems like he's always in the
39:58
Speaker 3: weight room managing all of his acting stuff whatever, you know,
40:02
Speaker 3: whatever he's got going on in his life, he always
40:04
Speaker 3: seems to find a way to I don't know that's
40:06
Speaker 3: also from a social media perspective, of course, but he
40:09
Speaker 3: just seems like a very down to earth dude. I
40:11
Speaker 3: also know a guy who was on the Titan Games
40:14
Speaker 3: and so who got to be He actually to meet
40:16
Speaker 3: him and he said he's a very down to earth guy,
40:18
Speaker 3: which is which is awesome.
40:19
Speaker 4: I like, I really enjoyed being around people like that.
40:21
Speaker 1: So well.
40:22
Speaker 2: The Rock was a college football player at the University
40:25
Speaker 2: of Miami, so a similar career could be in your future.
40:30
Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know how well I do
40:31
Speaker 4: it acting, but you know, we never know. We'll see.
40:35
Speaker 2: All right, you're off the hot seat. I appreciate your time,
40:38
Speaker 2: best of luck.
40:38
Speaker 1: The rest of the year.
40:39
Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
40:41
Speaker 2: His girlfriend at that time, Morgan, became his wife and
40:45
Speaker 2: their daughter was born in Cincinnati in twenty twenty four.
40:49
Speaker 2: As Logan put it at the end of his retirement announcement,
40:53
Speaker 2: who day forever that's going to do it for This
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