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Bengals Booth Podcast: Give Me The News · 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 Doctor Doctor Gimme the news addition,
0:13
Speaker 1: as Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the start of
0:15
Speaker 1: free agency in a very newsworthy day for the Bengals.
0:19
Speaker 1: Monday was the start of the so called legal tampering period,
0:23
Speaker 1: and the Bengals reportedly reached agreements with two offensive linemen
0:27
Speaker 1: from recent Super Bowl champions, Alex Kappa from Tampa Bay
0:31
Speaker 1: and Ted Carriss from New England, along with a key
0:34
Speaker 1: member of their own defensive line, b J. Hill. The
0:38
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate
0:43
Speaker 1: Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free
0:46
Speaker 1: to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes.
0:51
Speaker 1: Get it now on the App Store and Google Play.
0:54
Speaker 1: And here's a quick reminder that you can have the
0:56
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone,
0:59
Speaker 1: tablet computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
1:04
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since Call My Agent. I guess it's
1:09
Speaker 1: appropriate to be talking about agents during free agency, but
1:12
Speaker 1: Call My Agent is actually a French TV show that
1:16
Speaker 1: I have been watching on Netflix. It's a comedy about
1:19
Speaker 1: a talent agency in Paris that manages demanding movie stars
1:24
Speaker 1: while the agents also juggle their own chaotic lives. I'm
1:28
Speaker 1: two seasons in the first season is witty and charming.
1:32
Speaker 1: The second season is laugh out loud funny. In fact,
1:36
Speaker 1: the show won an International Emmy Award for Best Comedy.
1:40
Speaker 1: I warn you in advance that it's in French with subtitles,
1:44
Speaker 1: so I know that's not for everybody, but I'm not
1:46
Speaker 1: exactly high brow and I love it. Call My Agent
1:51
Speaker 1: is magnifique. Before we get to my conversation with Dave Lappham,
1:55
Speaker 1: I should point out that we recorded it just before
1:58
Speaker 1: the news broke that CJ Uzama has reportedly agreed to
2:02
Speaker 1: a three year, twenty four million dollar deal with the
2:05
Speaker 1: New York Jets. In fact, you'll hear Lap and I
2:08
Speaker 1: discuss how the hefty price tag for free agent tight
2:11
Speaker 1: Ends might make it difficult for the Bengals to retain Uzama.
2:16
Speaker 1: In my eleven years as a Bengals broadcaster, CJ is
2:19
Speaker 1: one of the nicest, funniest and friendliest players the Bengals
2:22
Speaker 1: have had, and he will be missed at Paul Brown Stadium.
2:26
Speaker 1: It's impossible to keep everybody in free agency, and we
2:29
Speaker 1: wish him nothing but the best in New York. Now
2:33
Speaker 1: time to discuss a big day for the Bengals with
2:36
Speaker 1: lap Lapids day one of the legal tampering period, and
2:40
Speaker 1: the Bengals did not wait for other teams to set
2:42
Speaker 1: the market. They jumped in with both feet, reportedly agreeing
2:47
Speaker 1: to deals with three players, including two offensive linemen. Let's
2:50
Speaker 1: start with Alex Kappa, who played right guard for Tampa
2:53
Speaker 1: Bay for the last three years. That was the biggest
2:55
Speaker 1: weakness on the Bengals offensive line last year. He's twenty
2:58
Speaker 1: seven years old, he get it's a four year, forty
3:01
Speaker 1: million dollar deal. He was graded as the thirteenth best
3:04
Speaker 1: guard in the NFL last year by Pro Football Focus.
3:07
Speaker 1: What do you think, you know, Dan, I'm gonna say
3:11
Speaker 1: the same thing about both of these guys, man. I mean,
3:14
Speaker 1: they're they're tough, they play hard, and uh, you know,
3:18
Speaker 1: they've both been part of productive, pass heavy offenses playing
3:22
Speaker 1: with Tom Brady. And you know Joe Burrow. Everybody's talking
3:27
Speaker 1: about how Joe Burrow. A lot of players are saying,
3:29
Speaker 1: Joe Burrows next Tom Brady, so they wanted to come
3:31
Speaker 1: with the younger Tom Brady come to Cincinnati. They're both smart,
3:35
Speaker 1: they're both aware. You know, the one thing that hurt
3:38
Speaker 1: the Bengals in the playoffs against these real good pass
3:41
Speaker 1: rush teams, not just you know, straight bullrush that was
3:45
Speaker 1: a problem, but then the twists and stunts and you know,
3:48
Speaker 1: lack of awareness and those pickups and some blitzes and
3:52
Speaker 1: involved in there as well. You got guys that are
3:55
Speaker 1: in the prime of their career. Dan, you got you
3:58
Speaker 1: got one, like you said, is twenty seven years old, Karis,
4:03
Speaker 1: I should say kappas twenty seven years old. Karis turns
4:06
Speaker 1: twenty nine tomorrow. So they're they're right in the prime,
4:11
Speaker 1: right in the sweet spot of their careers. They've proven
4:14
Speaker 1: they can play. They proven they can play at a
4:17
Speaker 1: good level with good football teams. You know, you're talking
4:20
Speaker 1: about Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and that's they've been
4:25
Speaker 1: coached by good offensive line coaches. I don't think they'll
4:29
Speaker 1: have any trouble because of their intelligence adapting to the
4:33
Speaker 1: language in the schemes of Frank Pollock. I think Frank
4:37
Speaker 1: Pollock haven't played the position from nine years and the
4:39
Speaker 1: NFL himself is very aware of not over burdening guys
4:43
Speaker 1: with too much language to learn and too many schematics
4:47
Speaker 1: and things to learn. I think it's going to be
4:49
Speaker 1: a smooth transition, and I think, you know, it's going
4:52
Speaker 1: to work very well for both guys, and you look
4:55
Speaker 1: at it. We talked about earlier, Dan, the template was
4:58
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs. They signed two veteran free agents
5:02
Speaker 1: and they drafted two guys to revamp their offensive line,
5:05
Speaker 1: where they signed a tackle Brown and they signed a guard,
5:11
Speaker 1: a Tuney. And now the Bengals have signed what I
5:15
Speaker 1: think is going to be a center and right guard,
5:17
Speaker 1: and now they'll have to you know, maybe address address
5:21
Speaker 1: tackle and maybe in another guard in the in the
5:24
Speaker 1: draft or whatever the case may be. Um hopefully some
5:28
Speaker 1: of the young guys they have on the roster developed,
5:31
Speaker 1: but you know, they got they got two starting players,
5:34
Speaker 1: and they're paying a mess s touch obviously, so you
5:37
Speaker 1: got to figure that that the center and right guard
5:39
Speaker 1: spot will be manned by these two guys. Let's get
5:43
Speaker 1: into Ted Carris a little bit in more detail. He
5:46
Speaker 1: played left guard for the Patriots last year. He was
5:49
Speaker 1: graded as the sixteenth best guard in the NFL by
5:52
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus. But he has been a center before that.
5:55
Speaker 1: Two years ago played center for Miami, three years ago
5:58
Speaker 1: played center for the Patriots. He gets a three year,
6:01
Speaker 1: eighteen million dollar deal, you see him most likely as
6:06
Speaker 1: the center. I think he gives you the position versatility.
6:12
Speaker 1: You know, Kappa Kappa has been a guard his entire career.
6:17
Speaker 1: Um Carris has played both. I think I think that
6:24
Speaker 1: I think he could play either. You know that. I
6:26
Speaker 1: think that's the good news for Frank Pollack. I think
6:29
Speaker 1: he could play either position for them very well. And
6:32
Speaker 1: it will all depend on all Right, Well, you have
6:35
Speaker 1: a better option at center if Carris goes to left guard?
6:40
Speaker 1: Do you have a better option left guard off Carris
6:42
Speaker 1: play center? It makes me wonder this lap, what if
6:44
Speaker 1: Tyler Linderbaum is there with a thirty first pick in
6:47
Speaker 1: the draft. Yeah, I mean, I think any any of
6:51
Speaker 1: those offensive lineman, um, I don't. I wouldn't have a
6:55
Speaker 1: problem with it. If it's a guy that's never played center,
6:58
Speaker 1: you know, if he's played you know, guarden, maybe you
7:00
Speaker 1: project he could move outside to tackle or whatever the
7:04
Speaker 1: case may be. I mean I'd still even though you
7:08
Speaker 1: you know, you went about your business in free agency
7:11
Speaker 1: with these veteran offensive lineman. I'd still if there's a
7:14
Speaker 1: linement there at thirty one, that is you have rated
7:18
Speaker 1: appropriately to take it that thirty first pick, and there's
7:21
Speaker 1: not a corner that's slid or an edge rush guy
7:24
Speaker 1: that's slid or whatever, I jump all over that that
7:27
Speaker 1: offensive lineman, whoever that may be. Yeah, I'm just wondering
7:30
Speaker 1: since Linderbaum apparently is strictly a center, if he's still there,
7:34
Speaker 1: the fact that Karis can play center or left guard
7:38
Speaker 1: makes that a very attractive draft pick, assuming that they
7:41
Speaker 1: have the high grade on him that most others do.
7:44
Speaker 1: And if he's not there, okay, you've still You've got
7:47
Speaker 1: Jackson Carmen to potentially compete at left guard. Who knows,
7:52
Speaker 1: you know who they might draft this year that could
7:54
Speaker 1: possibly compete. But Carris does give you that wiggle room
7:57
Speaker 1: if that highly graded center falls all the way to
8:02
Speaker 1: number thirty one. Yeah, and that's the one that you
8:04
Speaker 1: think might fall. Tackles aren't going to fall, right, you know,
8:08
Speaker 1: they're gonna take the premier tame. I mean, the tackles
8:10
Speaker 1: are gonna go. You know, they're um and and a
8:12
Speaker 1: premier guard is going to go. I mean a center
8:15
Speaker 1: centers might might slide a little bit. So he could
8:18
Speaker 1: be the guy that potentially could slide. And and that's
8:21
Speaker 1: that's very possible. But then you look at you look
8:24
Speaker 1: at what you've got, like like you say, all right, well,
8:29
Speaker 1: well Carmen Jackson will he will he developed, Jackson Carmen,
8:34
Speaker 1: Jackson Carmen, I'm sorry, well, Jackson Carmen developed, Well, we'll
8:37
Speaker 1: Hill develop will Trey Hill developed? Trey Hill is an
8:40
Speaker 1: option potentially, you know, at center if he develops from
8:44
Speaker 1: his first to second year. But the thing that is
8:47
Speaker 1: worrisome with me about him is, you know, when he
8:50
Speaker 1: had the brain lock that he had, man and you're
8:53
Speaker 1: relying on the center to make all the calls and
8:55
Speaker 1: everything else. I mean, he's got to get over get
8:58
Speaker 1: over that. And it advanced physically. I think he can compete,
9:02
Speaker 1: but the other part's been physically. Jackson Carmen can compete
9:07
Speaker 1: as well. But it's it's the intangible stuff with these guys.
9:12
Speaker 1: You know, again talked about the awareness and the football intelligence.
9:17
Speaker 1: These two veterans that got this big money that proved
9:19
Speaker 1: they can play. They checked more boxes. They check the
9:24
Speaker 1: intangible boxes and right now, these these young linemen that
9:29
Speaker 1: they drafted last year haven't checked all those boxes. And
9:33
Speaker 1: will they come back checking more boxes with some experience
9:36
Speaker 1: under their belt. We'll see. But like I said, the
9:40
Speaker 1: good news is, I mean, Kappa is a guy that
9:43
Speaker 1: you know, everybody's like, this is a downhill run block
9:46
Speaker 1: and son of a gun too. You know the physicality
9:49
Speaker 1: Kappa played. He broke his leg against the Redskins and
9:52
Speaker 1: the playoffs and tried to play in the game, continue
9:55
Speaker 1: to play with a broken leg. So Frank Pollock's looking
9:58
Speaker 1: for glass eaters man tappas eating some glasses, no doubt
10:02
Speaker 1: about that. He tried to hide the fact that his
10:06
Speaker 1: leg was broken and still go out there to play.
10:08
Speaker 1: That's a dude that's committed to the game of football.
10:11
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that. That's impressive, no question about it.
10:13
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the finances a little bit, so you know, historically,
10:18
Speaker 1: we all know the Bengals haven't been prone to pay
10:22
Speaker 1: guards at the top of the pay scale, and they're
10:25
Speaker 1: not doing that with Alex Kappa. He's going to get
10:27
Speaker 1: ten million dollars a year four years forty mill. I
10:29
Speaker 1: think that puts him roughly tenth right now on the
10:33
Speaker 1: guard scale, and that'll get passed by other free agents
10:36
Speaker 1: out there, I'm guessing, but you know that's the say,
10:40
Speaker 1: like a Brandon Schurf, you're probably saving five million dollars
10:44
Speaker 1: a year between him and Alex Kapp. And then where
10:47
Speaker 1: center is concerned, Ryan Jensen just got three years thirty
10:51
Speaker 1: nine million from Tampa Bay, so thirteen million dollars a year.
10:55
Speaker 1: You're getting Kiss for six million dollars a year. He's
10:58
Speaker 1: not the player that Ryan and Jensen, and he's never
11:01
Speaker 1: been to a Pro Bowl. He's not considered to be
11:03
Speaker 1: one of the very top in the NFL, but he's
11:06
Speaker 1: proven to be solid and reliable and you're getting him
11:09
Speaker 1: for you know, roughly half the price. And Tom Brady
11:12
Speaker 1: reached out to both of them, you know, Jensen and
11:16
Speaker 1: uh to Kappa, and you know, Kappa was already pretty
11:22
Speaker 1: far along with Cincinnati Bengals and Jensen. Obviously, they offered
11:25
Speaker 1: more money to Jensen and he stayed, and the dollars
11:29
Speaker 1: weren't quite there for Kappa after signing Jensen and and
11:34
Speaker 1: they you know, their Bengals and Kappa and his people
11:37
Speaker 1: were pretty far along. But the fact that you know,
11:40
Speaker 1: Brady wanted uh, you know, wanted Kapita to be there
11:43
Speaker 1: as well. I think says something particularly with the retirement
11:46
Speaker 1: of the right guard. So now they're they're in a
11:49
Speaker 1: little bit of a quantity in terms of what they're
11:50
Speaker 1: going to do with their offensive line unless they get
11:53
Speaker 1: him out of retirement. Brady has a double out of
11:55
Speaker 1: retirement party for himself and his right guard. They're going
12:00
Speaker 1: to have to figure something out there. Market's a good player.
12:03
Speaker 1: If they bring him out of retirement, I mean, that solves,
12:05
Speaker 1: you know, one of those problems. But he supposedly uh
12:09
Speaker 1: you know, going to grad school of some sort. He's
12:11
Speaker 1: got his backpack and he's ready to roll become a
12:13
Speaker 1: student again, I guess. But um yeah, it's it's gonna
12:17
Speaker 1: be it's gonna be very interesting. I do think that that,
12:21
Speaker 1: you know, just like just like they did before, instead
12:24
Speaker 1: of paying the big dollar at corner, try to get
12:27
Speaker 1: two for one, you know, And and that's that's been
12:30
Speaker 1: their their m that's been there. Their their methodology is
12:34
Speaker 1: to is to get yourself a player that's a proven
12:36
Speaker 1: player and is a very good football player, but you're
12:40
Speaker 1: not breaking the bank. And they got that. They got
12:43
Speaker 1: that done again. Um, you know, it was in the
12:46
Speaker 1: secondary last year in free agency, and this year they're
12:49
Speaker 1: doing it in the offensive line. Pretty good. Yeah. The
12:52
Speaker 1: other good comparison I guess to make would be Lake
12:54
Speaker 1: and Tomlinson because he was, you know, rumored to be
12:57
Speaker 1: a player that the Bengals are really interested in and
13:00
Speaker 1: he wound up going to the Jets. He gets forty
13:02
Speaker 1: million for three years, So that's thirteen point three million
13:05
Speaker 1: dollars a year approximately. You saved three million plus in
13:10
Speaker 1: comparison to the deal, right right, And and you know,
13:15
Speaker 1: if if if he I'm sure Frank Pollock did all
13:19
Speaker 1: of his due diligence in terms of, you know, checking
13:23
Speaker 1: everything there is to know about these linemen. Um, not
13:27
Speaker 1: just pro coaches, college coaches, high school coaches. You do
13:30
Speaker 1: a thorough character checking these guys when you're talking about
13:33
Speaker 1: spending you know, six to ten million dollars a year
13:37
Speaker 1: on a player. And uh, yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure
13:40
Speaker 1: he was satisfied with what he found out, what he
13:44
Speaker 1: found out when he talked to these players and interview him,
13:47
Speaker 1: most importantly, what he found out when he watched the tape,
13:50
Speaker 1: and the fact that you know that they did a
13:53
Speaker 1: good job. Again with a past heavy offense with Tom
13:57
Speaker 1: Brady pulling the trigger. Both of these guys performed pretty
14:01
Speaker 1: well respectively in terms of protection in run blocking. Let's
14:06
Speaker 1: move on to the other big news, and that was
14:08
Speaker 1: losing Aaron Larry Ogan Joby, but keeping b J. Hill.
14:12
Speaker 1: Let's start with Ogan Joby. He was with the Bengals
14:15
Speaker 1: on a one year proven deal for about six million bucks.
14:18
Speaker 1: He gets a three year, forty point five million dollar
14:22
Speaker 1: deal from the Bears. Did you find that to be
14:24
Speaker 1: a little bit rich? I was. I was pretty surprised,
14:28
Speaker 1: and you know, particularly, I guess they did a medical
14:31
Speaker 1: check on the When you have a foot injury, you know,
14:34
Speaker 1: I don't know the extent of the foot or ankle
14:36
Speaker 1: or whatever it was injury, you know, you have a
14:38
Speaker 1: crack in the foundation. You've got to make sure medically
14:42
Speaker 1: that everything's good. And obviously that was the case. He
14:45
Speaker 1: checked out. They're fine, at least the Chicago Bears doctors
14:49
Speaker 1: are satisfied that Ogan job he's not going to be
14:52
Speaker 1: hindered whatsoever by you know, the injury that he had
14:55
Speaker 1: to kept him out of the playoffs in the end
14:57
Speaker 1: of the regular season. But he yeah. I mean it
15:01
Speaker 1: just goes to show you that man interior defensive lineman
15:07
Speaker 1: that that are disruptive, that invert the line of scrimmage,
15:11
Speaker 1: that can rush the quarterback. And like we saw, um
15:15
Speaker 1: when the pocket collapses inside, it's tough on a quarterback.
15:19
Speaker 1: Every quarterback will tell you they don't want a guy
15:21
Speaker 1: in their face. I mean the edge for guys ripping
15:24
Speaker 1: up the interstate on your outside on the edge, and
15:26
Speaker 1: you can at least, you know, manipulate the pocket in
15:29
Speaker 1: the middle of the pocket. You can describe it. Man,
15:31
Speaker 1: if it's if it's coming up inside. Boy, you know
15:35
Speaker 1: you have you have everybody's numbers are coming right in
15:39
Speaker 1: your face as the offensive lineman's numbers are coming at
15:42
Speaker 1: you and they're getting knocked backwards. Well that's a bad
15:45
Speaker 1: feeling for a quarterback. M and Ogan job, he's a
15:49
Speaker 1: he's an impact guy that way. But boy, that that
15:51
Speaker 1: is that's big dollars, it really is. And um they
15:54
Speaker 1: get they get b J. Hill for what ten million
15:57
Speaker 1: a year? Correct? Three years? Thirty mil? Right, So you
16:01
Speaker 1: know that's that's it. Fortunately you're able to get one
16:06
Speaker 1: of them, don't lose them both because he obviously made
16:10
Speaker 1: a lot of plays down the stretch of the regular
16:12
Speaker 1: season and through the playoffs. He showed up big time.
16:14
Speaker 1: There's no doubt when you get his opportunity, he stepped up,
16:17
Speaker 1: he made plays. He's a year younger than Larry Ogan Joebi.
16:21
Speaker 1: The production was very similar. BJ Hill had seven sacks
16:25
Speaker 1: if you include the one and a half he had
16:27
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. He obviously had the huge interception against
16:30
Speaker 1: Kansas City in the AFC Championship game. I think Larry
16:34
Speaker 1: Ogan Joebi was a little more explosive, more likely to
16:37
Speaker 1: knife into the backfield and make disruptive plays, But I
16:41
Speaker 1: thought that b J Hill is probably a little more consistent. Yeah,
16:45
Speaker 1: I think I think that. You know, would you like
16:48
Speaker 1: to have both of them? Oh? Hell yeah, sure, there's
16:50
Speaker 1: no doubt. But the fact that you lose, you lose
16:54
Speaker 1: Ogan Joeby and you have BJ Hill. All I can
16:58
Speaker 1: say is found a way to make it work in
17:01
Speaker 1: the winning three straight playoff games and coming close to
17:04
Speaker 1: winning the Super Bowl. I wouldn't say defensive tackle was
17:08
Speaker 1: a reason that they lost the Super Bowl, and it
17:11
Speaker 1: certainly didn't. You know, the level of play didn't fall off,
17:16
Speaker 1: and they went out and they found guys off the
17:18
Speaker 1: street to make contributions. And you know, I'm not saying
17:20
Speaker 1: anybody can line up and play defensive tackle. And I'm
17:23
Speaker 1: saying that b J. Hill, when he got his opportunity,
17:26
Speaker 1: he played. I mean, he showed up, He made plays.
17:29
Speaker 1: He was a difference maker, no doubt about it. So
17:33
Speaker 1: over the last two years, the Bengals have been one
17:35
Speaker 1: of the biggest spenders in the NFL and free agency.
17:38
Speaker 1: Here we are on day one of the legal tampering period,
17:41
Speaker 1: and they've made as big of a splash as any
17:43
Speaker 1: team in the NFL. Do you think we can finally
17:46
Speaker 1: retire the notion in other cities around the country that
17:50
Speaker 1: the Bengals do not participate in free agency? Yeah, I
17:54
Speaker 1: would think so. I mean, jeez, you look at it.
17:57
Speaker 1: You know, well over two hundred million dollars the last
17:59
Speaker 1: two years and then these deals right out of the
18:01
Speaker 1: gate here. And the thing about it is it's a
18:05
Speaker 1: serious activity, but it's intelligent activity. It's not careless, you know,
18:10
Speaker 1: like we talked about, it's not it's not going to
18:12
Speaker 1: I don't feel like, you know, obviously everybody that's that's um,
18:18
Speaker 1: you know, uh, working five days a week and killing
18:22
Speaker 1: themselves in so doing is saying all these guys are overpaid.
18:25
Speaker 1: Damn it, This is ridiculous. I mean, all these guys
18:28
Speaker 1: are making uh too much money, and you can make
18:31
Speaker 1: a case for that, but that's that's what the market bears,
18:35
Speaker 1: you know, and uh and the Bengals aren't being careless
18:38
Speaker 1: with that market bill. They're not paying the top end. Um.
18:42
Speaker 1: You know, a few a few teams. Jacksonville is better.
18:46
Speaker 1: Did Jacksonville overpay? Did they overpay a wide receiver with Kirk?
18:50
Speaker 1: I mean, wow? You know, it's like did they overpay
18:53
Speaker 1: it with Shriff? That they overpay? Have they overpaid to
18:56
Speaker 1: get themselves that much better? I would say that the
18:59
Speaker 1: Bengals have definitely improve themselves in the trenches with the
19:03
Speaker 1: offensive line, and I don't think they're overpaid and so
19:06
Speaker 1: doing so. I think I think it's a there's multiple parts,
19:11
Speaker 1: multiple components to a successful free agent spend as such,
19:16
Speaker 1: you know, and I think they're at tracking to a
19:18
Speaker 1: good one. Let's talk about another name that's attracted a
19:22
Speaker 1: lot of interest in the last week or so, and
19:24
Speaker 1: that is l Collins from the Dallas Cowboys. Twenty eight
19:28
Speaker 1: year old right tackle. Cowboys are in a tough situation
19:31
Speaker 1: where their salary cap. They have given his agent permission
19:35
Speaker 1: to try to work out a trade with other NFL teams. Naturally,
19:39
Speaker 1: because Riley Reef is not currently under contract, A lot
19:42
Speaker 1: of people have said, well, that would make sense for
19:44
Speaker 1: the Bengals. He's twenty eight years old. He was the
19:46
Speaker 1: number sixteen graded tackle by Pro Football Focus last year.
19:50
Speaker 1: But there's some red flags here. He's had injuries, He's
19:54
Speaker 1: been suspended each of the last two years. He had
19:56
Speaker 1: a suspension for substance abuse violation last year. How interested
20:03
Speaker 1: should the Bengals be in L. L. Collins? You know,
20:07
Speaker 1: I think in this case, you definitely don't overpay. And
20:11
Speaker 1: I think the fact that he's that you know, there
20:14
Speaker 1: hasn't been a trade consummated yet, is you don't want
20:17
Speaker 1: to overpay in two areas, you don't want to give
20:18
Speaker 1: up too much form, and you don't want to overpay
20:21
Speaker 1: in terms of compensating them, you know, I mean, I
20:23
Speaker 1: think it's a double It's a double store there, not
20:25
Speaker 1: double edge. It's two different swords and you have to
20:28
Speaker 1: deal with both of them. So I would think the
20:33
Speaker 1: Bengals have probably been in dialogue and I don't know
20:36
Speaker 1: if the dialogue is continuing. I'm sure that they The
20:40
Speaker 1: waters have been tested, though, and uh will will that continue?
20:47
Speaker 1: I don't know that's it, but I certainly, I certainly
20:51
Speaker 1: would not open up the bank vault in terms of
20:54
Speaker 1: expending draft picks or whatever for a trade or if
20:58
Speaker 1: it's a player and rat whatever it is, I wouldn't.
21:02
Speaker 1: I wouldn't certainly make sure that I was comfortable with
21:05
Speaker 1: what I was giving up in return because of the
21:08
Speaker 1: things that you talked about. Um, he's really hurt his
21:11
Speaker 1: market value with all of that because he can play,
21:14
Speaker 1: and there's no there's no question about that. He's a
21:17
Speaker 1: he's a very solid offensive tackle. But I wouldn't overpay
21:21
Speaker 1: him and I wouldn't give up too much to get him.
21:25
Speaker 1: All right, let me hit you on a few other
21:27
Speaker 1: news worried the items in the NFL. On day one
21:29
Speaker 1: of the legal tampering period, Mitch Trubisky to the Pittsburgh
21:34
Speaker 1: Steelers on a two years on a two year deal.
21:39
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I think he's going to help him.
21:41
Speaker 1: I really do. I think I think his his mobility. Basically,
21:48
Speaker 1: this was the only quarterback in the in the in
21:51
Speaker 1: the in the division, only team that had a quarterback
21:54
Speaker 1: that was a statue. I mean, every other quarterback had
21:57
Speaker 1: some mobility to him. And you know, obviously one quarterback
22:01
Speaker 1: is like a running back that can throw the football
22:04
Speaker 1: in division. Trubisky is very, very mobile, and I think
22:10
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's offense is going to look very, very different with
22:13
Speaker 1: Mitchell Trubisky at the quarterback position. I think he's going
22:18
Speaker 1: to do a lot in terms of opening up their
22:21
Speaker 1: running game because you know they're going to have that
22:24
Speaker 1: eleven on eleven aspect of their run game where the
22:28
Speaker 1: quarterback doesn't hand it off and stand there and watch,
22:31
Speaker 1: and then he can also extend and create some plays.
22:35
Speaker 1: I think when a guy gets if you look at
22:38
Speaker 1: the NSC, North Cleveland has the first pick of the
22:42
Speaker 1: draft to quarterback. The Bengals have the first pick of
22:44
Speaker 1: the draft. Now Pittsburgh has the second pick of their draft.
22:47
Speaker 1: When Trubisky came out, now was he over was he
22:50
Speaker 1: over picked? Was Mayfield over picked? I mean, but the
22:54
Speaker 1: bottom line is when they came out, people that that
22:58
Speaker 1: picked them project them to be a big time player.
23:03
Speaker 1: I think with the right coaching and I think at Pittsburgh,
23:06
Speaker 1: I think Trubisky is gonna get pretty good coaching. I
23:10
Speaker 1: think they're gonna be better. I think they're gonna be
23:12
Speaker 1: a little bit better offensively. That one. That one is
23:16
Speaker 1: U is going to be interesting to see how it unfolds.
23:20
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope he I hope he gives the
23:22
Speaker 1: ball away. I hope he doesn't take care of the football.
23:25
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's something that has haunted him a
23:28
Speaker 1: little bit, trying to do too much. But if they
23:31
Speaker 1: if they can get that change, if they can get
23:33
Speaker 1: that remedied it, I'm a little bit, uh, a little
23:38
Speaker 1: bit interested to see how that's going to help their
23:41
Speaker 1: running game. Bottom line. Is they going to get better
23:44
Speaker 1: in their offensive line as well too, though, no question
23:47
Speaker 1: about that. I do think with the various quarterbacks that
23:51
Speaker 1: we're out there and in Deshaun Watson's case, still out
23:54
Speaker 1: there as a AFC North Bengal supporter who doesn't to
24:00
Speaker 1: see the Steelers be really, really good again, I'm kind
24:03
Speaker 1: of happy that Mitch Trubisky is the way they went.
24:06
Speaker 1: I know that there's some talent and potential there, and
24:08
Speaker 1: he did have one really good year with the Bears,
24:11
Speaker 1: but I still think he's the fourth best quarterback in
24:14
Speaker 1: the division. Oh I agree, Yeah, but he's he's a
24:18
Speaker 1: much better option than what they had. They definitely get
24:21
Speaker 1: better at the quarterback position. But yeah, I agree. I
24:24
Speaker 1: would not want to see Watson there talk about Watson
24:28
Speaker 1: is Trubisky on steroids. You know, it's there's no there's
24:32
Speaker 1: no uh no comparison there. Um, but it's it's gonna be.
24:36
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it's gonna be very interesting to see. Um.
24:40
Speaker 1: You know, how how how how that one unfolds? What
24:45
Speaker 1: what they do with Trubisky, how they how their offense evolves.
24:50
Speaker 1: Will they get back to being you know, the Pittsburgh
24:52
Speaker 1: Steelers of old, where they're gonna run the football and
24:55
Speaker 1: they're gonna run it, right, you know, they're gonna run
24:57
Speaker 1: it and run it and run it again. And how
24:59
Speaker 1: much of the quarterback run game will be incorporated? How
25:03
Speaker 1: much of that can he take? He's not that big
25:05
Speaker 1: a guy. He can run them. That dude can run. So,
25:10
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not I think there were better options
25:14
Speaker 1: out there, but I think that was probably the best
25:16
Speaker 1: option that there was available to them. That's the best
25:19
Speaker 1: they could come up with. Seattle tight end Will Disley,
25:23
Speaker 1: solid player, not a superstar by any stretch of the
25:26
Speaker 1: imagination gets a three year, twenty four million dollar deal.
25:30
Speaker 1: Is the market for tight ends getting so lucrative that
25:34
Speaker 1: the Bengals are going to have a hard time holding
25:35
Speaker 1: out A CJ Uzama. Yeah. I look at all these contracts,
25:40
Speaker 1: and I mean the market in general. I mean the
25:43
Speaker 1: Bengals they gave big Fred Johnson, they gave him almost
25:48
Speaker 1: three million over two anyway. Not guaranteed though, yeah, I guaranteed,
25:53
Speaker 1: gotta make it, but just to just to put your
25:57
Speaker 1: name on a contract. As you make the team, you're
25:59
Speaker 1: making two point three whatever it is, two point whatever million,
26:02
Speaker 1: God Lee man. I mean it's the league is uh,
26:07
Speaker 1: it's exploding. It's exploding. The TV revenues are just incredible.
26:12
Speaker 1: U Is It's a It's an eight hundred pound gorilla
26:15
Speaker 1: the National Football League. There's no doubt. So yeah, I
26:19
Speaker 1: think I think the market on every position group is
26:23
Speaker 1: UH is increasing, There's no, There's no question about it.
26:26
Speaker 1: And I think CJ. Zamba is very important to this franchise,
26:32
Speaker 1: not only on the field xs and ohs, but as
26:35
Speaker 1: we know, all the intangibles that he brings to the table.
26:37
Speaker 1: I mean, he is he is big time glue. He's
26:41
Speaker 1: one of those glue players. He's one of those players
26:44
Speaker 1: that you could you could almost have one less coach
26:48
Speaker 1: and your coaching staff and leave it up to CJ.
26:50
Speaker 1: Zamba to bring the team together, you know, and and
26:54
Speaker 1: uh and overcome not having enough coaches on your coaching staff.
26:57
Speaker 1: He's that kind of guy. So he feels a lot
27:01
Speaker 1: of roles for the Bengals. There's no question about it.
27:04
Speaker 1: That Fred Johnson tender that you referred to as really
27:07
Speaker 1: interesting to me because he was basically the bottom guy
27:09
Speaker 1: in the Totem poll among the linemen that were on
27:12
Speaker 1: the you know, the fifty three man roster. By the
27:14
Speaker 1: end of the year. You're not going to pay him
27:17
Speaker 1: that much for that role. So it almost seems to
27:20
Speaker 1: me like this is a carrot. All right, Fred, We're
27:23
Speaker 1: going to bring it back you can compete for. At
27:25
Speaker 1: least right now, the right tackle job is open. I mean,
27:28
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. They might bring back Riley Reef
27:31
Speaker 1: or sign another free agent or draft a guy. But yeah,
27:34
Speaker 1: you can dangle the potential to start at that job,
27:37
Speaker 1: and if he's not able to earn that position, like
27:40
Speaker 1: I said, you could let him go without having to
27:42
Speaker 1: pay the free absolutely. I think it is an incentive.
27:46
Speaker 1: I think they want to see I think they're trying
27:48
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to incentivize them. I think
27:50
Speaker 1: that's the biggest flying disappointment. Has got to be more
27:55
Speaker 1: important to him, and you know, I think I think
27:59
Speaker 1: that's the case with a couple of the young linemen.
28:02
Speaker 1: I think it's the it's it's the same way with uh,
28:06
Speaker 1: you know Jackson Carmen that you know, it's it's gonna
28:09
Speaker 1: they just have to the game has to start to
28:12
Speaker 1: be more important to him, and um. The final way
28:15
Speaker 1: to do it is to is to dangle out some
28:19
Speaker 1: financial incentive because physically, both of them have the physical capabilities,
28:25
Speaker 1: the measurables and all that sort of thing. They both
28:28
Speaker 1: have what it takes. Um. But heck, you know, like
28:31
Speaker 1: you said, Fred, Fred was inactive and most of the
28:35
Speaker 1: time he wasn't even one of the linemen that Frank
28:37
Speaker 1: Pollack had up, um, you know, for for active duty
28:41
Speaker 1: during the course of the season. So I think I
28:45
Speaker 1: think it is, uh, it's fisher cut bait time for
28:48
Speaker 1: Fred and uh, you know, if if if he ends
28:52
Speaker 1: up fishing, he can pull in a big one, you know,
28:56
Speaker 1: but if he cuts bait. It doesn't matter what he
28:58
Speaker 1: could have pulled in. He's done. It ain't gonna happen.
29:00
Speaker 1: You're not going to get it done. Let me circle
29:03
Speaker 1: back to Jackson Carmen for a second, because now that
29:05
Speaker 1: they've signed Alex cap assume, assuming that he's healthy, there's
29:09
Speaker 1: your right guard. So Jackson will not be a candidate
29:12
Speaker 1: to start there anymore. You've got an opening, at least
29:15
Speaker 1: for now, at left guard. You've got an opening at
29:17
Speaker 1: right tackle. He was a left tackle at Clemson, so
29:22
Speaker 1: you could put him at a left guard that's his
29:24
Speaker 1: more natural side at least from where he played in college,
29:27
Speaker 1: or you could put him at right tackle, which was
29:29
Speaker 1: his position at least tackle was his position. What do
29:32
Speaker 1: you think is the best way to go about trying
29:34
Speaker 1: to get the best out of Jackson Carmen. It definitely
29:37
Speaker 1: seems like Jackson Carmen feels more comfortable on the left side.
29:42
Speaker 1: I feel that feels more natural to him. But you know,
29:46
Speaker 1: if you if you say, all right, well, his best
29:49
Speaker 1: position is tackle, so do we kick him out to
29:52
Speaker 1: left tackle and put Joan at right tackle? Well, you know,
29:57
Speaker 1: now you're making a two for one again, a two
29:59
Speaker 1: for one move um, okay, well keep on the left
30:02
Speaker 1: side and keep him at the left guard position. But
30:06
Speaker 1: he doesn't seem as comfortable at guard as he doesn't tackle,
30:09
Speaker 1: so he is a quandary. He's he's a little bit
30:12
Speaker 1: of a little bit of a mystery. But it's up
30:15
Speaker 1: to him. It's up to him. He's the one that
30:18
Speaker 1: has to solve the mystery. You know, it's not going
30:20
Speaker 1: to be the coaches. You know, Frank Paula is not
30:23
Speaker 1: going to say look here. Well, he may say I'm
30:28
Speaker 1: going to put you at this position, and you just
30:30
Speaker 1: go play, you know, get out of your own head,
30:33
Speaker 1: go play. It's going to be interesting to see how
30:37
Speaker 1: how it all shakes down. I mean, I do think.
30:40
Speaker 1: I do think that it is wide open up front.
30:43
Speaker 1: It's a wild wild West. In the offensive line. I
30:47
Speaker 1: think that they've they've obviously committed to two players. It's
30:53
Speaker 1: going to be their best vibe. They just went out
30:55
Speaker 1: and gave him a bunch of money in free agency.
30:57
Speaker 1: So you don't do that unless you consider them to
30:59
Speaker 1: be among your best five guys. Who else, who are
31:03
Speaker 1: the other guys? Who are the other three guys? And
31:05
Speaker 1: where will they end up? It's gonna be again. It
31:10
Speaker 1: is gonna be free for all man, very competitive. It's
31:14
Speaker 1: going to be best man wins, and best man might
31:18
Speaker 1: win in a position that you didn't think that he
31:21
Speaker 1: was going to be at potentially. But you find out
31:25
Speaker 1: who your best five players are and find out the
31:27
Speaker 1: best places to play those best five players, you go
31:30
Speaker 1: out there and roll. It has certainly been an interesting
31:33
Speaker 1: first day in the illegal tampering period. We've got another
31:37
Speaker 1: day of this coming up tomorrow, and then teams can
31:39
Speaker 1: officially sign guys on Wednesday. Don't screen my calls, Dave Lapham.
31:44
Speaker 1: We may be doing this again very soon. I'm telling you.
31:46
Speaker 1: If if today's any indication they jumped in with both feet,
31:52
Speaker 1: didn't they It was unbelievable. They get after it. He
31:55
Speaker 1: certainly did, and there is little doubt there are more
31:58
Speaker 1: free agent acquisitions to come. That's going to do it
32:01
Speaker 1: for this episode of The Bengals Booth podcast presented by
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32:22
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32:25
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
32:28
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast