Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Knew You Were Waiting

Transcript

Bengals Booth Podcast: Knew You Were Waiting · 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 new WIT in New Waiting
0:13
Speaker 1: for Me. Addition, as we look ahead to Thursday night,
0:18
Speaker 1: when the Cincinnati Bengals are expected to select LSU quarterback
0:22
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow number one overall in this year's NFL Draft,
0:26
Speaker 1: coming up, you'll hear from two former Bengals quarterbacks as
0:30
Speaker 1: well as one of Joe Burrow's former college teammates. Plus
0:34
Speaker 1: I'll take an in depth look, based on fifty plush
0:38
Speaker 1: years of NFL history at the likelihood that Burrow will
0:42
Speaker 1: have a highly successful NFL career. It's subjective, but I
0:47
Speaker 1: think you'll find it interesting. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
0:50
Speaker 1: presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality
0:54
Speaker 1: partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder
0:58
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
1:00
Speaker 1: delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing
1:05
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
1:10
Speaker 1: the Pro football focused Draft Guide. Holy cow, I love
1:15
Speaker 1: a good draft guide, and this sucker is one thousand,
1:19
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty nine pages long. PF has Joe
1:24
Speaker 1: Burrow ranked as the number one overall prospect, with two
1:27
Speaker 1: a Toungo vloa second and Chase Young third. Among the quarterbacks,
1:33
Speaker 1: they have Joe ranked on top in the following categories
1:36
Speaker 1: most accurate, best deep ball, and best outside the pocket,
1:41
Speaker 1: and their bottom line on Burrow reads as follows quote,
1:45
Speaker 1: he demolished college football in a way we've never seen before.
1:49
Speaker 1: Burrow is easily the most accurate quarterback we have ever
1:53
Speaker 1: scouted and looks NFL ready in every regard. The PF
1:59
Speaker 1: Draft Guide is huge and informative, and due to the coronavirus,
2:04
Speaker 1: we've got time to read the whole thing. We are
2:07
Speaker 1: less than a week away from the twenty twenty Draft,
2:09
Speaker 1: and this Thursday we invite you to join us for
2:12
Speaker 1: the Bengals pre Draft Party, presented by Bows. It's a
2:16
Speaker 1: thirty minute show that starts at seven thirty and will
2:19
Speaker 1: stream live on Bengals dot com and all of the
2:22
Speaker 1: Bengals social media platforms. Fans in the Cincinnati area can
2:26
Speaker 1: also tune in on TV on Local twelve leading up
2:30
Speaker 1: to first round coverage. I'll be interviewing Boomer Assiasin on
2:34
Speaker 1: Thursday Night show and I spoke to him recently about
2:37
Speaker 1: the national narrative that's been spewed for months that Burrow
2:41
Speaker 1: will have a hard time succeeding if he winds up
2:44
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. Boomer not only told me that he thinks
2:47
Speaker 1: it's nonsense, but he told Burrow the same thing when
2:51
Speaker 1: they met face to face in December. Yeah. I go
2:54
Speaker 1: all the way back to when I first gave in
2:55
Speaker 1: the helmet on NFL today after he had won the
2:57
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy, and I said, look, this is not the
3:00
Speaker 1: dead end street for NFL quarterbacks that you may think
3:03
Speaker 1: it is. As a matter of fact, there have been
3:05
Speaker 1: a number of us that have flourished in Cincinnati because
3:08
Speaker 1: Mike Brown understands that he's going to put good players
3:11
Speaker 1: around you and get the most out of you. Just
3:13
Speaker 1: ask Kenny Anderson, asked Andy Dalton, asked Carson Palmer, and
3:16
Speaker 1: asked me. No team has had as many of four
3:19
Speaker 1: quarterbacks start at least ninety three games in the modern
3:23
Speaker 1: era of the NFL. So that tells me that the
3:25
Speaker 1: franchise understands about stability for that position. And I tried
3:30
Speaker 1: to impart that on Joe, and I'm telling you now
3:33
Speaker 1: that he's realizing that it's his hometown team, that all
3:36
Speaker 1: of his buddies are going to be able to come
3:38
Speaker 1: and watch and see him, which would be a whole
3:39
Speaker 1: other set of circumstances is going to have to deal with.
3:42
Speaker 1: But that's going to be exciting for him. I just
3:44
Speaker 1: wish all of this was taking place in Las Vegas
3:47
Speaker 1: so he could enjoy the entire pomp and circumstance of
3:51
Speaker 1: this very special night. But at the end of the day,
3:54
Speaker 1: it's his hometown team. And I equated it to Lebron
3:57
Speaker 1: James going to the Cavaliers about three weeks ago, and
4:00
Speaker 1: I got roasted today saying that he is Lebron James.
4:04
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is that he's the number one overall
4:07
Speaker 1: pick in the NFL Draft and he's coming from a
4:10
Speaker 1: town that's two hours outside of Cincinnati. At the end
4:13
Speaker 1: of the day, he can do for Cincinnati what Lebron
4:17
Speaker 1: James did for Cleveland. That's the first quarterback selected in
4:21
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty four NFL draft. Talking about the young
4:24
Speaker 1: Matt expected to be the first players selected in this
4:27
Speaker 1: year's NFL Draft. Again, we hope you'll join us for
4:30
Speaker 1: the pre draft party presented by BOS Thursday at seven thirty,
4:35
Speaker 1: as the clock counts down to the number one pick.
4:38
Speaker 1: It seems like we've been building up to this moment forever.
4:41
Speaker 1: And it occurred to me this week that I started
4:44
Speaker 1: doing Joe Burrow homework before last season was even finished.
4:48
Speaker 1: The first person I interviewed about the Heisman Trophy winning
4:51
Speaker 1: quarterback was one of his former teammates at Ohio State
4:55
Speaker 1: Bengals offensive lineman Billy Price. Competitors to somebody who obviously
5:00
Speaker 1: wants to win, got a burning passion for winning. Um
5:03
Speaker 1: smart kid puts in the work hours and some of
5:05
Speaker 1: the again, a lot of guys respect I mean we left,
5:08
Speaker 1: ohiose they went down won the starting job. You know,
5:11
Speaker 1: got into this system. So something I know who's willing
5:14
Speaker 1: to work and could do. Did you root for him
5:16
Speaker 1: at LSU? And we always watching me again my trevelermate
5:20
Speaker 1: Sam Hubbard, so always got him on because Sam and
5:23
Speaker 1: him't have a great relationship, So uh yeah, I always
5:25
Speaker 1: working for him. Church Fickle has told me that he
5:28
Speaker 1: kind of looked at him as a guy whose intangibles
5:31
Speaker 1: were off the charts. Did you feel the same way
5:33
Speaker 1: about him? Oh yeah, that's also said earlier captain somebody again,
5:36
Speaker 1: here's captain in the room. So yeah, leadership is there,
5:38
Speaker 1: definitely there. Rice mentioned that his roommate on Bengals road trips,
5:42
Speaker 1: Sam Hubbard, is very close friends with Joe Burrow, and
5:46
Speaker 1: Hubbard will also be among the people will talk to
5:49
Speaker 1: on Thursday nights pre draft show. Before we get to
5:53
Speaker 1: our next guest, here's a quick reminder that you can
5:56
Speaker 1: take your Bengals pride to the next level in twenty
5:58
Speaker 1: twenty with an official Bengals fan package from Prime Sport.
6:03
Speaker 1: This week's primary interview is with former NFL quarterback Bruce Gradkowski,
6:08
Speaker 1: who spent eleven years in the NFL, including two in Cincinnati.
6:13
Speaker 1: I talked to him this week about Joe Burrow and
6:16
Speaker 1: about his friend and former teammate Andy Dalton. All Right, Bruce,
6:20
Speaker 1: you're the quarterback guru for Pro Football Focus, and I
6:23
Speaker 1: want to start with a quote from PF. In no
6:26
Speaker 1: season has anyone dominated a set of statistics or advanced
6:30
Speaker 1: analytics the way Joe Burrow did in twenty nineteen. Of
6:34
Speaker 1: the many things that he did well, what impressed you
6:38
Speaker 1: the most? The thing I love the most is just
6:41
Speaker 1: you can tell he has that. It's factor that you know,
6:45
Speaker 1: he brings to a locker room. He's a temperature changer. He's,
6:49
Speaker 1: you know, a guy that knows the pulse of the
6:52
Speaker 1: team and actually can help change it. That's what's kind
6:55
Speaker 1: of special about him and what separates him. I mean statistics.
7:00
Speaker 1: You know, you said he blew away every category for
7:03
Speaker 1: PFF last year, but you could just tell his game
7:06
Speaker 1: will transition very well to the NFL, and it's cool
7:10
Speaker 1: to see. But aside from all that, I just think,
7:13
Speaker 1: you know, it's the same thing when you see Brady
7:15
Speaker 1: going from New England to Tampa. My biggest thing what
7:18
Speaker 1: Brady brings is his mindset and that's what I think
7:23
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow has. I'm not comparing him to Brady, but
7:26
Speaker 1: I'm comparing his like mindset mentality. A lot of the
7:29
Speaker 1: great players have a different type of mindset mentality that
7:34
Speaker 1: they bring to the game, and I think Joe Burrows
7:35
Speaker 1: one of them. Bruce, you do brow what a throw
7:40
Speaker 1: videos for Pro Football Focus? Do specific throws or types
7:44
Speaker 1: of throws stand out from your film study of Joe.
7:48
Speaker 1: I think with Burrow, you know, really he can make
7:51
Speaker 1: every throw. One of the stats I was going through
7:54
Speaker 1: the other day looking at these college quarterbacks. You know,
7:57
Speaker 1: I wanted to see them in rhythm, which means there's
8:01
Speaker 1: nobody around them. They can be in their rhythmic drop
8:04
Speaker 1: and get the pass off with nothing that inhibits them
8:08
Speaker 1: in the pocket. And then the next is the receiver's
8:11
Speaker 1: either open, has a step on the dB. The dB
8:15
Speaker 1: is either closing to the receiver or it's wide open,
8:18
Speaker 1: so it's a pass the quarterback should hit. And then
8:21
Speaker 1: the range was seven plus yards downfield and Burrow just
8:26
Speaker 1: blows it away. His PFF grades and passing grades at
8:29
Speaker 1: ninety nine point nine. And to me, you know, that's
8:33
Speaker 1: just impressive that he could hit the passes when they're
8:36
Speaker 1: wide open. I mean, but one of the key stats
8:40
Speaker 1: within that is when when I go to that, it's
8:43
Speaker 1: the uncatchable inaccurate throw. So that just means, like, you know,
8:48
Speaker 1: if a quarterback throws a ball and it's just uncatchable,
8:52
Speaker 1: right and then it's inaccurate. Joe Burrow is the least
8:56
Speaker 1: amounted around like four percent of throwing us inaccurate throw.
9:01
Speaker 1: So it just means on whatever pass, whether it's complete
9:04
Speaker 1: or incomplete, the ball is accurate most of the time.
9:08
Speaker 1: That's that to me, like really popped out of me, Like, man,
9:11
Speaker 1: this guy is really putting the ball in the right
9:13
Speaker 1: place no matter what throw he's making. Talking to a
9:16
Speaker 1: former NFL quarterback, Bruce Gradkowski, how would you characterize Joe's
9:21
Speaker 1: arm strength? You know, Joe's arm strength. It's not like
9:24
Speaker 1: he's top tier arm strength and kids, you know, sling
9:29
Speaker 1: it through a wall or anything like that, or beyond
9:32
Speaker 1: a knee throwing his you know, seventy yards down field.
9:35
Speaker 1: But it's adequate and it's enough. I mean, he's definitely
9:38
Speaker 1: got enough pop on the ball. He knows like the
9:42
Speaker 1: right type of velocity to throw with each throw, and
9:45
Speaker 1: I think that's the most important thing. I think a
9:46
Speaker 1: lot of people get enamored with arm strength, but at
9:49
Speaker 1: the end of the day, you have to have enough.
9:52
Speaker 1: And aside from that, you have to understand the rhythm
9:54
Speaker 1: of rhythm and timing of the offense and how to
9:58
Speaker 1: throw and use your feet your arm together. And I
10:01
Speaker 1: think Burrow understands that. He knows that, so there's no
10:04
Speaker 1: throw he can't make. I mean, I don't think a
10:07
Speaker 1: coach is going to start down up plays Patrick Mahomes
10:10
Speaker 1: runs or Aaron Rodgers. But he's very able to make
10:14
Speaker 1: every throw in the football field, So it's not a
10:17
Speaker 1: concern to me. His arm strength is just okay, maybe
10:20
Speaker 1: he's not doesn't have the strongest arm in college football
10:24
Speaker 1: or in the NFL, But to me, you know, grading quarterbacks,
10:27
Speaker 1: and that's not even the first thing I look at
10:29
Speaker 1: is how strong their arm is. What is the first
10:31
Speaker 1: thing you look at? You know? When I look at
10:33
Speaker 1: these quarterbacks, I mean it's hard if I'm not able
10:36
Speaker 1: to meet them and get to know them, but I
10:39
Speaker 1: want to know their mentality. I want to see their toughness.
10:42
Speaker 1: I want to know if they have the in factor,
10:44
Speaker 1: if they're a temperature changer in the locker room, you know,
10:47
Speaker 1: a leader in that sense. But I like to, you know,
10:51
Speaker 1: watch their footwork. You know, the footwork and eyes work
10:54
Speaker 1: together where they read their decision making. And I think
10:58
Speaker 1: that's one of the most important thing because this asion
11:00
Speaker 1: making you can help coast. But what's their natural abilities
11:04
Speaker 1: and what are they doing? You know a lot of
11:06
Speaker 1: times I'll watch these guys turnover worthy plays and it
11:09
Speaker 1: tells me if they're just making bone headed type throws
11:13
Speaker 1: or if throws that are getting intercepted, or they're turnover
11:16
Speaker 1: where he plays are just football type throws that kind
11:20
Speaker 1: of just happened. I also like to look at how
11:22
Speaker 1: they bounce back from negative throws like that. So there's
11:26
Speaker 1: so much that goes into that. But I think, you know,
11:28
Speaker 1: for me, aside from the mentality, it's you know, the
11:32
Speaker 1: accuracy of this guy, his eyes, his feet, how they
11:36
Speaker 1: work together, his decision making, and the type of kind
11:40
Speaker 1: of releases he elongated. Does he have a quick twitch
11:43
Speaker 1: to him? And I think Joe Burrow, you know, checks
11:46
Speaker 1: all those boxes. We're talking to Bruce Gradkowski from Serious
11:50
Speaker 1: XMNFL radio and Pro Football Focus. Is taking Burrow number
11:54
Speaker 1: one overall a no brainer in your mind? Or are
11:57
Speaker 1: Ta and Justin Herbert close enough that you would favor
12:02
Speaker 1: taking one of those guys and getting extra picks? No,
12:06
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think Burrow's foreign ahead about
12:09
Speaker 1: those two. I like two and next after Burrow, I
12:12
Speaker 1: really do. I think two is smooth. I think he
12:15
Speaker 1: does a good job, and he does a good job
12:18
Speaker 1: in college, you know, and of course everyone's saying it,
12:20
Speaker 1: but it's gonna be him staying being able to stay healthy.
12:23
Speaker 1: I don't think the hips going to be a factor.
12:25
Speaker 1: But I think I just think it's we've seen him
12:28
Speaker 1: get hurt every year in college. How's he going to
12:31
Speaker 1: adjust and adapt to the NFL. But I think Joe
12:34
Speaker 1: Burrow's accuracy and just how he plays is better than
12:37
Speaker 1: two us. So you know, if to his injury didn't
12:40
Speaker 1: didn't happen, I'm still a Joe Burrow fan. So if
12:44
Speaker 1: I'm the Vengals, yeah, I don't taking Joe Burrow now.
12:47
Speaker 1: You know, a few months ago I was also thinking, man,
12:50
Speaker 1: you have the number one spot, you have everything on
12:52
Speaker 1: the table for you. I'd be picking up the call.
12:55
Speaker 1: I'd listen what other teams are offering. I mean, you
12:58
Speaker 1: have Andy Doane that you know. I played with Andy Dolan.
13:01
Speaker 1: I think Andy Dolan's a really good quarterback. And if
13:05
Speaker 1: I'm a team indeed right now a quarterback, I'd rather
13:08
Speaker 1: sign Andy Dolan and try to draft someone later in
13:11
Speaker 1: the rounds or even anyone outside of Burrow and Tour,
13:15
Speaker 1: to be honest and so, but I think when you're
13:19
Speaker 1: the Bengals and you're at that spot and you have
13:22
Speaker 1: this opportunity, you you just can't pass up a guy
13:25
Speaker 1: like Joe Burrow. BRUF. As of now, Andy's still under contract.
13:29
Speaker 1: What do you think will happen for him? And what
13:32
Speaker 1: would you like to see happen for your former teammate.
13:35
Speaker 1: You know, a few months ago, I really wanted to
13:37
Speaker 1: see him land with either New England or Chicago. I
13:40
Speaker 1: thought he could be a really great addition for both
13:43
Speaker 1: those teams. You know, I think the Chicago thing with
13:46
Speaker 1: Bill Laser there, they have some knowledge of each other,
13:50
Speaker 1: they worked together before. I think, and don't will be
13:53
Speaker 1: a perfect fit in New England type locker room and
13:56
Speaker 1: what Bill Belichick does. But it does it happened yet,
14:00
Speaker 1: And of course Chicago moved on with Nick Foles. It's tough.
14:04
Speaker 1: I don't know where he's gonna end up, but I
14:06
Speaker 1: know he has good football left in him. I know
14:08
Speaker 1: he's smart. I know you could be accurate, make good decisions.
14:12
Speaker 1: I mean, you even see Jake Gruden in Jacksonville. You know,
14:16
Speaker 1: if I'm Jay Gruden, why not trying to bring Andy
14:18
Speaker 1: Dolan over, a guy that knows my system, a guy
14:21
Speaker 1: that's executed it at a high level. You have Gardner Minshew,
14:24
Speaker 1: that's a young quarterback that you could help develop him
14:27
Speaker 1: as well. And then in the same sense too, if
14:30
Speaker 1: if you're Zach you're sitting here thinking, man, I got
14:33
Speaker 1: a reliable, veteran quarterback. Do I really just want to
14:37
Speaker 1: let him go for peanuts or do I keep them
14:39
Speaker 1: for this first year? Joe Burrow let them kind of compete.
14:43
Speaker 1: But Andy can also show Joe Burrow the ropes that
14:46
Speaker 1: might take a little pressure off Joe Burrow. I think
14:48
Speaker 1: a lot of young quarterbacks, if they're in that situation,
14:51
Speaker 1: that can sit back a year like Patrick Mahomes did,
14:54
Speaker 1: like we saw Aaron Rodgers for years. Dude behind Brett Farr.
14:58
Speaker 1: I honestly think that's the best for these quarterbacks come
15:00
Speaker 1: out of college. If you could do that. Yeah, the
15:03
Speaker 1: salary cap will be the question where Andy is concerned.
15:06
Speaker 1: You were his teammate for his first two years, so
15:09
Speaker 1: you saw him as a rookie inherit a four and
15:11
Speaker 1: twelve team and immediately take it to the playoffs. What
15:16
Speaker 1: traits did Andy have that allowed him to do that?
15:19
Speaker 1: Andy was very smart, you know, coming out of college,
15:22
Speaker 1: you don't see it often how a quarterback understands protections,
15:27
Speaker 1: and that's a difference maker. I mean, guys can execute
15:30
Speaker 1: an offense, understand concerts, but when you understand how you're protected,
15:35
Speaker 1: you could do more as an offense. And I remember Andy,
15:38
Speaker 1: you know, just being impressed with Andy and how he
15:42
Speaker 1: kind of understood protections already. And because me being you know,
15:47
Speaker 1: a veteran in the league, I know, it didn't just
15:50
Speaker 1: hit me right off the bat, and I grasped Pruden's
15:53
Speaker 1: offense pretty quick in Tampa. But Andy was the same way.
15:57
Speaker 1: And since he could learn and understand what we were
16:00
Speaker 1: trying to do offensively, he could actually take charge of
16:04
Speaker 1: the protection, redirect the protections and that was one thing
16:07
Speaker 1: that really stood out to me. And that's when I
16:09
Speaker 1: really think you can start as a rookie if you
16:13
Speaker 1: can understand how you're protected, how the blocking schemes work,
16:17
Speaker 1: and how to pick up blitzes. Man, you're you're head
16:19
Speaker 1: and shoulders above everyone else. And also Andy's demeanor, I mean,
16:23
Speaker 1: he he's always an even keeled guy. He never gets
16:27
Speaker 1: you know, too high or too low. And I think
16:29
Speaker 1: it was great for the team, Like he just did
16:32
Speaker 1: his job acker passer and we had some great leadership
16:36
Speaker 1: at the time with Andrew Whitworth on offense, so it
16:39
Speaker 1: just worked really well together. And I think Andy did
16:42
Speaker 1: a really good job coming in understand the offense protections
16:46
Speaker 1: and with his you know, low key demeanor, it fit
16:49
Speaker 1: right in and you know, the guys loved him and
16:52
Speaker 1: it it worked perfectly for the two years I was there. Man,
16:54
Speaker 1: we had a lot of successful the playoffs twice when
16:57
Speaker 1: I was there, So it's pretty cool to see. And
17:00
Speaker 1: that's why, even sitting here now, I don't understand why
17:03
Speaker 1: one of these teams want to want Andy, but it
17:05
Speaker 1: just depends who knows what the Bengals are looking to
17:08
Speaker 1: get for him. Final question for former NFL quarterback Bruce Gradkowski,
17:12
Speaker 1: and I appreciate your time. Perhaps I'm more aware of
17:15
Speaker 1: it because it's the Bengals, but I don't ever recall
17:18
Speaker 1: seeing so many negative stories about the likely number one
17:22
Speaker 1: picks chances of succeeding for a particular team. You are
17:27
Speaker 1: a Bengal for two years, as I've mentioned, twenty eleven,
17:29
Speaker 1: twenty twelve, two playoff teams. What's been your reaction to
17:34
Speaker 1: all of the stories that have suggested that Burrow is
17:37
Speaker 1: somehow doomed if he winds up in Cincinnati. You know,
17:40
Speaker 1: it's crazy to me because I love my time. It's
17:43
Speaker 1: since we loved the city. You know, I had Marvin
17:47
Speaker 1: Lewis at the time, I loved him as a head coach.
17:49
Speaker 1: I thought he did a fantastic job. You know, the
17:52
Speaker 1: Brown family, I thought they were awesome to work with.
17:56
Speaker 1: So it was really it's really hard for me to
17:58
Speaker 1: see that because I had good experiences there. We were successful,
18:02
Speaker 1: we did get to the playoffs. The Bengals have been
18:05
Speaker 1: a competitive team the last you know, decade since Andy
18:09
Speaker 1: Dolan has gotten drafted, you know, and even before that
18:11
Speaker 1: some of the Carson Palmer years. So it's hard to
18:15
Speaker 1: stay consistently good year in year out in the NFL,
18:18
Speaker 1: and that's one of the toughest things. But also people
18:21
Speaker 1: get kind of you know, they get kind of complacent, satisfied,
18:25
Speaker 1: and they want more. Right, So when Andy's taking the
18:27
Speaker 1: Bengals of this to the playoffs, you know, a lot
18:30
Speaker 1: of the years like we want one than that. We
18:32
Speaker 1: want a playoff win, we want a super Bowl. You know,
18:36
Speaker 1: if Andy doesn't get hurt and what two fifteen, you know,
18:40
Speaker 1: who knows what the Bengals do that year. So you know,
18:42
Speaker 1: it's really tough to look at and see. But look,
18:45
Speaker 1: if you build the right pieces and if in number
18:48
Speaker 1: one to starts to that quarterback position and the head coach.
18:51
Speaker 1: If you have those two pieces and you continue to
18:54
Speaker 1: trying to build around them, I don't care where you're at.
18:56
Speaker 1: You can win with the right with the right players
18:59
Speaker 1: in the right coach. I think since he has that,
19:02
Speaker 1: especially now, and if they go to Joe Burrow route
19:05
Speaker 1: a young quarterback, and then if they keep the Andy
19:08
Speaker 1: to help guide him along, you know they need a
19:10
Speaker 1: lot more pieces. But shoot, I mean, I just always
19:14
Speaker 1: enjoyed my time, So I kind of get unsure why
19:16
Speaker 1: that's always said like that. Thanks to Bruce Gradkowski, who
19:21
Speaker 1: is the answer to the following trivia question, who is
19:24
Speaker 1: the quarterback for AJ Green's first touchdown catch in the NFL?
19:30
Speaker 1: It was Gradkowski. After Andy Dalton injured his wrist in
19:34
Speaker 1: his NFL debut, Gradkowski came off the bench and threw
19:37
Speaker 1: a forty one yard game winning touchdown past two AJ
19:41
Speaker 1: Green with four twenty eight to go as the Bengals
19:44
Speaker 1: beat the Browns in Cleveland. Now time to do a
19:47
Speaker 1: little Joe Burrow experiment, and depending on how this turns out,
19:50
Speaker 1: it could impact your feelings on whether the Bengal should
19:54
Speaker 1: take him number one overall or trade down or possibly
19:59
Speaker 1: even select Chase Young. Here's the idea. Every team in
20:03
Speaker 1: history that has taken a quarterback with the number one
20:06
Speaker 1: overall pick in the draft figured they had their guy,
20:10
Speaker 1: the franchise QB that was going to be there for
20:13
Speaker 1: a decade, win playoff games, go to Super Bowls, and
20:16
Speaker 1: be the foundation to build around. But how often does
20:20
Speaker 1: it work? In other words, for every Peyton Manning, how
20:24
Speaker 1: often is there a JaMarcus Russell. I'm going to go
20:27
Speaker 1: back to the start of the Super Bowl era, the
20:30
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six season and take a look at every
20:33
Speaker 1: quarterback that was selected number one overall in the draft.
20:38
Speaker 1: Then I'm going to give him a grade, and you
20:40
Speaker 1: can do the same thing as you listen. We'll probably
20:43
Speaker 1: disagree on a few. The grade will be one of
20:47
Speaker 1: four categories. The quarterback turned out to be great, good, bad,
20:54
Speaker 1: or brutal. Then we'll tally up the results and see
20:58
Speaker 1: what the math tells us about the lifelihood that Joe
21:00
Speaker 1: Burrow will be the savior we're hoping he can be.
21:05
Speaker 1: Beginning in the Super Bowl era. The first quarterback selected
21:08
Speaker 1: number one overall in the draft came in nineteen seventy
21:11
Speaker 1: when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Terry Bradshaw. I like this
21:15
Speaker 1: experiment already. He certainly gets a great four time Super
21:20
Speaker 1: Bowl champ, NFL MVP in nineteen seventy eight, and Pro
21:23
Speaker 1: Football Hall of Famer, in other words, everything you're hoping
21:27
Speaker 1: that pick can be. One year later, another quarterback was
21:31
Speaker 1: selected number one overall, when the Patriots chose Jim Plunkett.
21:36
Speaker 1: He didn't do much for New England, but ultimately I
21:39
Speaker 1: think Plunkett has to receive a great grade. He led
21:42
Speaker 1: the Raiders to a pair of Super Bowl titles, was
21:44
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl MVP, and lasted for sixteen years in
21:48
Speaker 1: the NFL. So so far, we're two for two. The
21:52
Speaker 1: next quarterback taking number one overall was Steve Bartkowski, chosen
21:56
Speaker 1: by the Falcons in nineteen seventy five. I don't think
22:00
Speaker 1: we can give him a great grade. He was nine
22:02
Speaker 1: games under five hundred as a starting quarterback, but I
22:05
Speaker 1: think Bartkowski deserves a good He was the offensive rookie
22:09
Speaker 1: of the year, a two time Pro Bowler, and the
22:12
Speaker 1: Falcons retired his number ten. It took eight years before
22:16
Speaker 1: another quarterback was selected first overall, and he turned out
22:19
Speaker 1: to be one of the all time greats. John Elway
22:23
Speaker 1: taken by the Colts before being traded to the Broncos,
22:27
Speaker 1: two Super Bowl titles, NFL MVP, and a member of
22:31
Speaker 1: the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So so far, we've
22:34
Speaker 1: had four picks and three turned out to be great.
22:38
Speaker 1: Four years later, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Vinny Testaverdy
22:42
Speaker 1: number one overall. His one hundred twenty three losses as
22:46
Speaker 1: a starting quarterback is an NFL record, and his winning
22:50
Speaker 1: percentage of forty two point three is the lowest of
22:54
Speaker 1: any QB with at least seventy wins. But on the
22:57
Speaker 1: other hand, he played for twenty one year and went
23:00
Speaker 1: to a couple of Pro Bowls, so I can't give
23:03
Speaker 1: him a brutal grade. I am going to go with
23:06
Speaker 1: bad up next. The first overall pick in nineteen eighty nine,
23:11
Speaker 1: Troy Aikman put another one down in the grade category.
23:15
Speaker 1: Three Super Bowl titles, six trips to the Pro Bowl,
23:18
Speaker 1: and enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. We are now
23:22
Speaker 1: four for six in the grade category, but not about
23:26
Speaker 1: to be five for seven because the following year, the
23:29
Speaker 1: Colts selected Jeff George number one overall. He bounced around
23:34
Speaker 1: to seven different teams and lasted for thirteen years because
23:37
Speaker 1: of his raw talent, so that keeps him out of
23:40
Speaker 1: the brutal category. But he was forty six and seventy
23:44
Speaker 1: eight as a starter and wore out his welcome on
23:47
Speaker 1: several teams, So Jeff George goes down in the bad category.
23:52
Speaker 1: Up next, the first overall pick in nineteen ninety three
23:56
Speaker 1: Drew Bledsoe. He went to four Pro Bowls and guided
23:59
Speaker 1: the Patriots to one Super Bowl appearance, but they didn't
24:03
Speaker 1: start winning Super Bowls until he got hurt, paving the
24:06
Speaker 1: way for Tom Brady to take his job and keep
24:09
Speaker 1: it for twenty years. So we'll put Bledsoe down in
24:12
Speaker 1: the good category. The next quarterbacks selected first overall was
24:17
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning in nineteen ninety eight. No debate on his
24:21
Speaker 1: Grade five MVP awards, two Super Bowl titles, most commercials
24:26
Speaker 1: in history, another Hall of Famer. As soon as he
24:29
Speaker 1: can go in, he's a great. So to this point,
24:33
Speaker 1: we've looked at thirty three drafts and only nine quarterbacks
24:37
Speaker 1: were taken with the first overall pick. Five turned out
24:40
Speaker 1: to be great, But beginning with Peyton Manning, there's a
24:44
Speaker 1: seismic shift, and over the last twenty two drafts, sixteen
24:48
Speaker 1: quarterbacks have been taken number one overall. In nineteen ninety nine,
24:53
Speaker 1: Tim Couch went number one overall to the Browns due
24:56
Speaker 1: to injuries. Will never know how good he could have been,
24:59
Speaker 1: but he did leave Cleveland to a playoff appearance before
25:02
Speaker 1: breaking his leg in the final game of the regular season.
25:05
Speaker 1: In two thousand and two, I don't necessarily think he
25:08
Speaker 1: was a bad player, but in terms of how it
25:10
Speaker 1: worked out, I'm still going to give Couch a bad grade.
25:15
Speaker 1: In two thousand and one, the first overall pick was
25:18
Speaker 1: Michael Vick, another tough call because of the dog fighting
25:22
Speaker 1: conviction that halted his career. He was a four time
25:25
Speaker 1: Pro Bowler and the first quarterback ever to rush for
25:28
Speaker 1: more than a thousand yards in a season. So I'm
25:30
Speaker 1: going to go with a good grade for Michael Vick.
25:34
Speaker 1: In two thousand and two, the first pick was David Carr,
25:37
Speaker 1: and I think we've arrived on our first brutal grade.
25:40
Speaker 1: It wasn't all his fault. The expansion Texans were terrible
25:44
Speaker 1: and car got sacked an NFL record seventy six times
25:48
Speaker 1: as a rookie, but his record as a starter was
25:51
Speaker 1: twenty three and fifty six and he threw more interceptions
25:55
Speaker 1: than touchdowns, So I'm putting car down in the brutal category.
26:00
Speaker 1: Two thousand and three Carson Palmer. I think he deserves
26:03
Speaker 1: a good grade. Three Pro Bowls, three trips to the playoffs,
26:07
Speaker 1: thirteenth all time, and touchdown passes, and he might have
26:11
Speaker 1: been a great if not for the injuries. But Carson
26:14
Speaker 1: definitely qualifies as good. The following year, Eli Manning went
26:19
Speaker 1: first overall. Much like Jim Plunkett, if you lead your
26:23
Speaker 1: team to a pair of Super Bowl titles, you qualify
26:25
Speaker 1: as great for my purposes, and he becomes the sixth
26:29
Speaker 1: QB to get a great grade. Two thousand and five
26:32
Speaker 1: Alex Smith. It took a while since he had six
26:36
Speaker 1: offensive coordinators in his first six seasons, but I think
26:39
Speaker 1: he's worthy of a good grade. Three Pro Bowl trips
26:42
Speaker 1: late in his career, and he led the league in
26:44
Speaker 1: passer rating in his final season in Kansas City. Yes,
26:48
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers would have been a better pick that year,
26:50
Speaker 1: but Alex Smith did eventually turn out to be good.
26:54
Speaker 1: Now we get to two thousand and seven and the
26:56
Speaker 1: biggest bust of them all, JaMarcus Russell, an obvious brutal
27:01
Speaker 1: grade seven and eighteen, is a starter and out of
27:04
Speaker 1: the league before his twenty fifth birthday. Two years later,
27:09
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford went number one overall. Not great, definitely not brutal,
27:15
Speaker 1: but a tough call for me between good or bad.
27:18
Speaker 1: He's obviously put up huge numbers, but he's only been
27:21
Speaker 1: to one Pro Bowl, and more importantly, the Lions have
27:24
Speaker 1: finished with losing records in seven of his eleven seasons.
27:28
Speaker 1: I will grudgingly give him a good grade for the
27:32
Speaker 1: statistical achievements. Two ten Sam Bradford, my first instinct was brutal,
27:39
Speaker 1: but I'm going to settle on bad. Injuries have been
27:42
Speaker 1: a big factor and he's certainly been on lousy teams,
27:45
Speaker 1: but his stats are fairly good in terms of bang
27:49
Speaker 1: for the buck. He might be the worst player of
27:51
Speaker 1: all time. He's made more than one hundred and thirty
27:54
Speaker 1: million dollars in his career, but again I will give
27:58
Speaker 1: him a bad grade. Now to two thousand eleven and
28:02
Speaker 1: Cam Newton Rookie of the Year. M v P guided
28:07
Speaker 1: his team to a Super Bowl, but injury prone and
28:10
Speaker 1: currently out of work after only playing in two games
28:13
Speaker 1: last season. I'll go with good for Cam Newton. Two
28:18
Speaker 1: thousand and twelve Andrew Luck. This might be a controversial grade,
28:23
Speaker 1: but I'm going to give him great. He only played
28:27
Speaker 1: six seasons and battled injuries the last three, but when healthy,
28:31
Speaker 1: I think he was tracking to become one of the
28:33
Speaker 1: best ever. And who knows. I don't think it's going
28:36
Speaker 1: to happen, but maybe, just maybe he'll come out of retirement.
28:41
Speaker 1: He's my seventh QB to get a great grade. Two
28:44
Speaker 1: thousand and fifteen Jamis Winston. He's still only twenty six,
28:48
Speaker 1: so this could change, but for now I'm going with bad.
28:52
Speaker 1: He led the league in passing yards last year, but
28:55
Speaker 1: also led in interceptions and total turnovers, and he's currently
28:59
Speaker 1: out of work. He never got the Bucks to the
29:01
Speaker 1: playoffs in five seasons, so for now I'll put him
29:05
Speaker 1: in the bad category. Two thousand and sixteen Jared Goff.
29:10
Speaker 1: For now, I'll give him a good grade. Two Pro
29:13
Speaker 1: Bowls in four seasons and a trip to the Super Bowl.
29:17
Speaker 1: You can question the one hundred thirty four million dollar
29:20
Speaker 1: contract extension he got last year, but Goff has certainly
29:24
Speaker 1: been good for the Rams. Finally, I think it's too
29:27
Speaker 1: soon to grade the last two quarterbacks selected Number one overall.
29:31
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray both one Rookie of the
29:35
Speaker 1: Year awards, but Baker was awful in year two. Their
29:40
Speaker 1: stories are still to be written. All right. Time to
29:43
Speaker 1: tally up the results, throwing out Mayfield and Murray, I
29:48
Speaker 1: graded twenty two quarterbacks selected number one overall in the
29:51
Speaker 1: Super Bowl Era. Seven received great grades, Bradshaw, Plunkett, Elway, Acheman,
29:58
Speaker 1: the Manning Brothers, and perhaps controversially, Andrew Luck. Eight received
30:05
Speaker 1: good grades. Barkowski, Bledsoe, Vic Palmer, Smith, Stafford, Newton, and Goff.
30:12
Speaker 1: Five got bad grades, test of Erdie, George Couch, Bradford,
30:18
Speaker 1: and Winston, and two got brutal grades. Car and Russell. So,
30:24
Speaker 1: by my highly unscientific method, in the Super Bowl Era,
30:28
Speaker 1: if you select a quarterback number one overall, there's a
30:32
Speaker 1: thirty two percent chance he'll be great and a thirty
30:36
Speaker 1: six percent chance that he'll be good. Combine the two,
30:41
Speaker 1: and that's a sixty eight percent chance he'll be either
30:45
Speaker 1: good or great. There's a twenty three percent chance that
30:49
Speaker 1: he'll be bad, and a nine percent chance that he'll
30:53
Speaker 1: be brutal. So when I look at those odds, I
30:56
Speaker 1: am perfectly comfortable with the Bengal selecting Joe Burrow number
31:00
Speaker 1: one overall, and we'll see if that's how it plays
31:03
Speaker 1: out on Thursday. That's going to do it for this
31:07
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by
31:09
Speaker 1: Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of
31:13
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please
31:17
Speaker 1: subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a
31:19
Speaker 1: rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans
31:23
Speaker 1: find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening
31:27
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth Podcast