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Bengals Booth Podcast: It Starts Now · 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 Yeah Revolution starts now addition,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: as the Joe Burrow Era begins with the arrival of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: this year's rookies. For the start of training camp. Coming up,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: i'll talk to Robert Weintraub, who covers the Bengals for
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Cincinnati Magazine and wrote the team's season preview for this
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: year's edition of The Football Outsiders Almanac. Robert is also
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: a diehard Bengals fan who is as giddy as the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: rest of us about Joe Burrow. Then, for the first
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: time in a few weeks, it's my broadcast partner Dave
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Lapham as he answers my questions and yours. The Bengals
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the way I
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: heard at podcast with Mike Rowe You know Microw, the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: host of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel and the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: deep voiced pitchman for Ford truck commercials. I recently became
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: aware of a podcast that he's been doing for about
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: four years called The Way I Heard It. If you're
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: old enough to remember radio legend Paul Harvey and his
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: now you know the rest of the Story features, this
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: podcast is very similar. They're short stories with a clever
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: twist at the end. The writing is great and Micro's
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: vocal presentation is nothing short of magnificent. The stories are
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: less than ten minutes long and you'll love them. So
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: check out The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts Now, let's get to football.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Last year, I purchased The Football Outsider's Almanac for the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: first time, and did it somewhat reluctantly. In my mind,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I pictured it being mostly a book of in depth stats,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and while I like that stuff, I already get plenty
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: of data from Pro Football Focus and elsewhere. Well Man,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: was I wrong. The Football Outsider's Almanac is more than
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: five hundred pages long, and while it definitely includes a
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: lot of statistical analysis, the writing is great and it's
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: filled with snarky humor. It includes in depth previews for
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: all thirty two NFL teams and the Bengals chapter this
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: year was written by Robert Weintraub, who also covers the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: team for Cincinnati Magazine. I spoke to Robert this week. Robert,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: I guess your feelings about Joe Burrow can be summed
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: up by this sentence that you wrote in Cincinnati Magazine.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Quote pure awesomeness, oozing out of his every pore, don't
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: hold back. Yeah, did I oversell it? We there? I
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: think anything? I feel like I understand. Yeah, it was amazing.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I remember I went to the LSU Oklahoma semi final.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I live in Atlanta. He was here, and I was
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: just a quiver, I guess you'd say at all times,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and by halftime I was just yelling for them to
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: take Burrow out so he wouldn't get injured, and just
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I want him to go directly into the Bengal lineup.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Right at that point, there's no doubt he provides, you know,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: a boost of excitement and optimism that we haven't felt
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: in the Bengal land and sometimes so what else is
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: there to say? You know, we can only hope that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: any of that translates to the NFL, especially in this bizarre,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: you know, offseason that we've had, and hopefully we even
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: have a season. But I guess we'll put that that
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: note of pessimism aside and just, you know, hope that
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Joe translates as we think he should. He has all
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the traits, you know, he certainly has the mind for
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the game, and he's His statistical numbers at LSU were
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: off the charts, both counting and what we call analytical
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: numbers over here at Football Outsiders, so you know, he's
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: We have a projection system that is called q base,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: and he had the second highest of all time for
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: any starter with less two or fewer years of starting.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: The only one ever was Alex Smith. Alex Smith who
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: best to him, But he had a higher projection than
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the likes of Cam Newton and even to attack of Violoa,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: who would be compared to no doubt throughout his career.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: So and I think he certainly projects as a higher
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: possibility than even Alex Smith. So if we can get
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: that kind of career out of Joe, it would be
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: you know, it would be great, and you know, sky's
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the limit. We can dream even higher than that. Hopefully
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: if they ever get a chance to play ball again.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Nobody wants to see their teams starting eleven and go
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to and fourteen, but ultimately was bottoming out the best
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: thing long term for this franchise. I don't think there's
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: any doubt about it, right, I mean where would six
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and ten have gotten them? Absolutely nowhere? Maybe even yet
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: another year of Andy Dalton. I mean nothing against Andy,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: but we couldn't have had yet another year spinning the wheels, right.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I mean maybe you could argue that, okay, you bought
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: them out this year coming up, and then you have
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: another three or four quarterbacks who are potentially franchise quarterbacks,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I guess, but you know you have a chance at one,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: you grab them and you don't look back. And I
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: think there's no doubt they really the three games that
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: you know, Andy didn't start this past year and Ryan
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Finley was in there wound up being the most important
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: three games in the season, probably because you know, who
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: knows what happens if Dalton starts those games, and maybe
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: the Bengals finish four and twelve, and we're all trying
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to talk ourselves into Justin Herbert right about now, you know,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: so I don't think there's any question. If you're going
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: to be a bad team, there's no benefit and being
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: a sort of a bad team just being all the
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: way a bad team, and that just doesn't go for
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. You know, it makes the whole franchise look
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: in the mirror and make a raft of changes, which
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: obviously they did in many other places, not just a quarterback.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: So I think that's overall for the best spinning their
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: wheels had been done for about four year years and
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: it was enough already. We're talking to Robert Weintraub, who
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: wrote the Bengals chapter in this year's Football Outsiders Almanac.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about free agency. The Bengals obviously
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: went all in DJ reader, Trey Wayne's and six others.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: You wrote something that I hadn't seen anywhere else, and
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: that is that the Bengals are basically one year behind
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the Packers, an organization that has always stressed draft and development,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: and then last year the Packers embraced free agency. They
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: signed Zadarius Smith, they signed Preston Smith and several other
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: guys and wound up going thirteen and three. Do you
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: think the Bengals learned from Green Bay. Yeah, I don't
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: necessarily think they'll go thirteen and three, but I don't
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: think there's any doubt that they saw what the landscape
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: in the NFL looks like now. I think a large
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: part of that is in place because of the new
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: rules that were put in limiting practice time. You know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: there was a period when the Packers and the Bengals
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: were sort of looked at as the models for what
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: to do. You draft and develop, you don't overspend, keep
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: your guys, and that was the very sort of ideal
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: of team building. But now, especially because with such a
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: lack of practice time, a veteran who knows what he's
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: doing out there is sort of more prize than he
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: had been even a couple of years ago. Now, I
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: don't think there's any doubt that you have to kind
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: of change what the Bengals have been doing. So, you know,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: so on in terms of ignoring the free agent pool
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and spending more money to get guys who you can
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: rely on and aren't going to need a whole bunch
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: of coaching into your system and a whole bunch of
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: coaching up just to get to a level of play
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: where you want them to be, only to see them
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: walk out the door, you know, as when they become
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: free agents. So yes, I do think that they they
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: learned maybe a year after the Packers, and the Packers
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: obviously had Aaron Rodgers that helped them to go thirteen
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: in three. But you know, I look for Cincinnati to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: improve just on that basis alone. I don't think there's
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: any doubt about it. Their defense was as bad as
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: could be last year. We have a saying called the
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: plexiclass principal in the analytic world, which means that when
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: you're really bad at anything or really good, you tend
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to regress toward the mean the following year. So that
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: means that even by just mathematical principles, they should be
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: better next year on defense than they were last year.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any doubt that the wholesale changes
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: will improve the team, especially the tackling that he obviously
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: made a lot of these changes with the likes of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson and Nick Chubb in mind, and that seems
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: to be a solid principle to go after. Running the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: football in the AFC North is more prized than it
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: is elsewhere in the league, and the Bengals couldn't stop it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Last year, the top three players in the entire league
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: who miss tackles by our charting, we're all Bengals. So
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's right right there. It tells y'all need
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: to go. And Jesse Vh and Seawan Williams are two
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: of them. They're back. Nick Vigil was gone. But you know,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: certainly we'll see the secondary tackle better, take better angles,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: you know, use their space more to their advantage. And
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: that's the kind of thing that you know, you really
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: can't necessarily teach in the limited practice time anymore. You
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: just have to have guys who can do it, and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: hopefully these are the right guys. Well, that's interesting because
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: the three guys they signed his free agents to play
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: in the secondary, Trey Waynes, Mackenzie, Alexander and von Bell
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: were all known for their ability to stop the run.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: People worry about Trey Waynes. Is he truly a number
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: one corner? Well, we'll see. But one thing he has
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: proven is the willingness to get in there and tackle people,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: no question. I mean that that was an undoubted reason
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: they got him. I mean, in terms of just pass
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: covering numbers, him and Drake or Patrick are pretty much identical,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: but there's no question that Trey Waynes is much more
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: willing tackler and not just do it, does it better,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: but gets his nose in there much more than Trade.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Trade made a lot of business decisions out there. It
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: seems like, and you know, does he have to be
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a number one corner. William Jackson still to me has
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the ability to be that number one corner. And when
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: it came out that he played the entire season basically
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: with a torn labor that sort of explained some of
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: his kind of indifferent play from time to time. So
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I think that's and so the Bengals could definitely have improved,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: And obviously mentioned von bell An outstanding run stopper Mackenzie
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Alexander as well, although the car's Darky's Denard we should
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: point out also had very good run stopping numbers and
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: played injured and seems like he's possibly available for you
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: know future is signing if it need be, could play
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: that Chris Crocker role maybe down then down the fairway here.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: If he's still unsigned, he could come back and help out.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: He's said, certainly a good run support player. Yeah, for
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: those who missed it, he did sign in the off
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: season with Jacksonville, but then failed the physical. So he's
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: still outright, Yeah, and I wouldn't be shocked if he
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: came back, certainly as injuries mounter, you know, things happened
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: in this bizarre offseason that we're in. Uh, you know,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: he'd probably go with you know, I don't know if
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: there's some behind the scenes issue that would prevent him
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: from doing that, but to the outsider, it would seem
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: like a natural fit for him to come back and play.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: We said, on a limited basis. We are chatting with
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Robert Weintrauba writes about the bank to Cincinnati Magazine Football
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: outsiders and others. You mentioned reduced practice time and reduced
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: practice contact. Well, this year, no OTAs, no mini camps
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: in the off season for Joe Burrow, no private workouts
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: with receivers. Now it looks like no preseason games. What
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: do you think that's going to mean for Joe Burrow?
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I mean it can't be good, right obviously, I do
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: think if you're talking and I have no mathematical precise
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: basis to base this on, but if you're talking about
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: any quarterback out there who you would like to see
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: in the situation like that, certainly, Burrow looks like he's
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the mature, kind of go for a guy who you
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: would handle something like that as best as possible. But
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: obviously it's it's not an ideal situation. He's not really
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: ever thrown to AJ Green, you know, in any real
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: capacity until they show up a training camp, and who
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: knows what that's going to look like. I mean, it's
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: entirely possible. The first time he ever throws a past
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: aj Green would be in the first game of this season,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: with no fans in the stands, and who knows what
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: else is going on. So it's a bizarre situation obviously
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: all around. But you know, if you're going to have
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: a guy, one thing that set Joe apart from not
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: just all his competitors this past year, but pretty much
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: everybody we've seen in college football and the last decade
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: two decades was his you know, Joe cool if you will,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: His incredible ability to just shut out everything around him,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: make plays and put his team in the best situations possible.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: And that's that's a maturity that's rare. He's a coaches kid.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: He knows what, he knows what's going on. He's been
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: in touch with the Bengals coaching staff. This entire process,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I feel like. So if anybody can make lemonade out
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: of his particular lemon tree, you Joe Burrow. Robert. I
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: mentioned that you wrote the Bengals season preview in the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Football Outsiders Almanac this year, mine is on the way.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to get it. I courchesed it for
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the first time last year, and I can't stress enough
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: to foot all fans how awesome it is. Not only
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: is the data great, but the writing is entertaining. And
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: you did not write last year's Bengals preview, but I
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: want to read how it ended. This is slightly paraphrased
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: final sentence. The next step is probably for Zach Taylor
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to determine what does and doesn't work over sixteen games,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: then let the roster blood letting begin. So that's basically
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: exactly how it played out. So what's the next step
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: this year? I think it's an obvious sort of you
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: still see what you have and what's just put aside
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: all the pandemic slash who knows what's going to happen
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: issues of it aside. This approach you from a normal season.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: From Zach Taylor's point of view, and that would be
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: still you know, see what works with Joe Burrow, See
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: what he likes to do best, See how the new
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: arrivals mesh in what capacity they work best. Maybe just
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: some of his strategic tendencies which we saw this year
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: really mirror what he learned under Sean McVeigh in Los Angeles.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: You know, a ton of three wide receiver one back sets.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: The Bengals led the league in three wide receiver sets
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and a lot of max protection. They were in the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: top five in max protection and maybe add some more
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: play action into it, which they didn't really do last year,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: which was a bit of a surprise, because that's a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: McVeigh principles for sure, and to take you know, on
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: both sides of the coin, on the defense, well and
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: see what works best, and you know, hopefully you have
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: a quarterback who can make these things work obviously and
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: improve the off ends. Last year, it was just a
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: battle just to get first downs and occasional points. Let's
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: face it, they were such a struggle to move the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: ball at times that you almost couldn't do anything except
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: for you know, kind of look towards what you're going
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: to replace this year. You hope to see what, you know,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: what will be more of a fine tuning process, actually
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: win some close games. Bengals were winless in one score games,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: and that's you know, unusual for any team that should
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: bounce back a little bit to learn how to win,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: learn what works best, obviously improve, maybe even sniff a
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: playoff first with the expanded playoffs. But listen, not dream
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: too big, and then use the year three as the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: year and year two of Joe Burrow as your kind
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: of go forward year. That's when your window really opens,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: and hopefully you'll have foundation that you can really build
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: upon and you know, look for a championship level team
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: for the immediate future. After that, there will be dozens
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: of interesting statistical nuggets and this year's almanac. You've shared
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: a few things so far in this conversation. As you
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: looked at things about the individual players, did anything really
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: catch your eye, maybe explaining why a guy might be
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: better or worse than you thought, Well, what one is
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: stowed out just because everybody else's numbers were so bad,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: we're so bad? Was Tyler Boyd's positive numbers and the
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: way that he in the middle of the field was
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: so effective and also just had third down and fourth
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: down high efficiency rates that nobody else on the team
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: came anywhere close to as you could imagine, And that
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: speaks a lot for him just as a player and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: as a guy who can get things done even when
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have the speed on the outside that you know,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: you would think he would require. And certainly when there
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: is that kind of player with him, like a J. Green,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: you know, we forget Green and Boyd have hardly ever
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: really played together, certainly since Boyd has gotten to be
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the tyler Boyd. We know, Green has been out so
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and John Ross has mostly been out as well, or
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: in and out of the lineup anyway, so he has
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: hardly ever had a real speed got to take the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: attention of the defense away from the middle of the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: field and away from him, so he has been double
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: covered a lot, had a lot of even more than
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I thought, really a lot of attention paid to him,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: and still put up not just good counting numbers, but
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: very good efficiency numbers. And that that was a bit
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: of a surprise and more certainly more impressive to me
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: than I thought it was going to be. You know,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: there are some other ones that are negative. I was
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: still surprising how little Joe Mixon got used in the
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: passing game. I think that's a real place where they
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: could improve this year coming up. And as we saw
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: in at LSU, Joe Burrow excelled as using the running
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: backs in tight ends in you know, sort of his
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: open sets and ways to exploit mismatches. So I think
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: you'll see Mixon become much more of a passing threat,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: and he sort of has to be, especially if he
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: wants to contract, which we all think he does. Robert,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: you made an interesting observation about T Higgins that I
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: haven't seen anywhere else. Most people compare him to AJ Green,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: You say Carl Pickens, hopefully with a more cheerful disposition.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: No offense to Carl. I love pick They'll get me wrong,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: but great player, but interesting cat right. It wasn't necessarily
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the same guy you expected to be off the field, well,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: t Yeah, comparing him to AJ Green is really doing
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: him a disservice, as it would be the most young receivers.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: AJ Green came in as an incredibly high end finished
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: product and TJ. T Higgins is not a speed merchant,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: not nearly the speed merchant that AJ is and was.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: This is a guy who you know, is more about
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: catch radius, incredible catch radius at making plays around the
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: ball and surprisingly for his figure, you know, his frame
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: is very large, but he does a great deal after
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the catch. He's very strong, has great balance. You'll see
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: that he doesn't necessarily run away from guys when he
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: has the ball in the open field. But he's very
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: hard to break down. And that's a sort of an
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: element that you haven't seen Cincinnati in a while. And
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I feel like that's a Pickins thing as well, both
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: going up and getting the ball and then once he does,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: you know, making it hard for the defender to bring
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: him down. AJ just runs either runs right away from
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: guys or gets wide open right off the line. Neither
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: of those things that really t Higgins is strong suits,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: but he does have plenty of others. And you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: if you have a guy he stel Earl play in college,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: he did a lot of back shoulder throws, a lot
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: of throws that let both Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: go up and get balls where only they could get it.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: That really plays right into higgins strength and I think
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: you'll see a lot of that and since then this year,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: hopefully we're chatting with Robert Weintraub, who wrote the Bengals
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: chapter and this year's Football Outsiders, Albanac linebacker play has
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: been lousy in recent years between Josh Bynes and the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: three draft picks. What are your expectations for that position group?
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Not especially high just because they're all rookies, like you say,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: and Josh Bines will you know, decent players? Really just
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: a journeyman if the most I think he brings is
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: sort of a knowledge of the Ravens offense and maybe
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: some of the moves that Lamar Jackson likes to use,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: and maybe he'll won't get faked out of his cleat
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: so easily as some of the other Bengal linebackers had been. Certainly,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: you know, the likes of Logan Wilson and the other
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: draftees that the pick this year have a great promise,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: you know, and they're going to be asked to do
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: a lot the aspect of coming straight into the NFL,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: especially as we've been talking, without any of the offseason
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: ability to learn the scheme and get on the field.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: That's asking a lot in their first season to really
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: make an impact. That's certainly the impact that they were
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: required or turn the position group around. I still think
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Germaine Pratt is the guy who will wind up being
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the leader of that position and being somebody that you
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: know takes a step forward this year. Whether he turns
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: into a real stud at the position remains to be seen,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: but I think he showed toward the end of the
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: last year that he was making great strides, and maybe
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: that's what you'll see from the other rookies as well,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: sort of a twelve ten to twelve game breaking in
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: period and then that final month really makes steps, and
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: who knows, by this time next year we can be
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: looking at that position as one of strength, for which
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: would be rare. Obviously, as he said, Cincinnati, we haven't
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: had that in a long time. It has been a while.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Here's a question where your head and your heart might
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: have different answer. What would you like to see the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Bengals do long term with aj Green and Joe Mixon? Yeah? Indeed,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, just from a pure Bengal fan, you'd
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: ever want to see guys like that ever leave. You
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: want them to play their entire career in stripes and
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: then go up into that non existent Ring of Fame
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame ring of honor, whatever you want to
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: call it, and you know, just be lifetime Bengals realistically,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and you know, sort of from a team building aspect,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I think, certainly in Mixonon's case, you know, are one
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: of our main principles in the analytic world as you
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: never pay running backs. Certainly not the kind of contract
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: he's going to command, I think, and I pointed this
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: out before, maybe even in the omen Act, that there
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: are some extenuating circumstances with Joe based on the controversy
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: coming out of college and the fact that Bengals took
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: a chance on him and both sides were very aptly
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: rewarded for that. So there might be a little bit
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: of residual good feeling which might bring his price down
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: to somewhere where you might think, you know, sort of
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: like would you Bernard When they gave him a second contract,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a bad move because of his age and
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: because of the contract itself, it wasn't a crippling deal.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: And I don't know that Mixing has said at any
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: point that he's willing to accept something like that, but
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: if he did, you know, there are ways to sign him,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: and certainly in the medium term. That would not be
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: a team crushing blow in terms of salary cap, but
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if that happened and he just scot
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: move on. Unfortunately, if it comes to that, I don't
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: know that AJ Green is in quite the same situation.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I think, even with his age and injury history, if
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: he plays this season and shows the team and the
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: league really that he can make it through an entire
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: season unscathed, I think there'll be plenty of teams bidding
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: for his services. But he seems to have indicated that
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Cincinnati would be the place he wants to go, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: I think both sides would want to keep him about.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: You know, both sides want to keep him in Cincinnati.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I don't necessarily it's hard to answer without seeing him
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: played this year. If he's anything like the old AJ,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and we have no reason to think he wouldn't be,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: then you know, I could see where they would give
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: him extent him to at least a competitive deal, and
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: that wouldn't be completely opposed to that necessarily from a
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: pure team building analytical side, But a lot of that
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: depends on how he looks to play. If he's really good,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: he might price himself entirely out of the Bengals price structure.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: You know, he sort of wished to hope for him
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: as a Bengal fan, to have sort of a medium
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: year which shows that he can stay healthy, but not
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: great enough that he's you know, too expensive. I guess
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: it's that's where the heart and the head collide, right
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: in the medium. I want great year and pay the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: guy too. I mean, you know, and who knows what
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the future of the salary cap is. You hear a
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: lot of doom and gloom, but then the owners always
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: cry poor. There's always plenty of money when you need
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: it to be spent in other areas. So you know,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: if anybody deserves a big contract over and above what
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: you know, certainly other people will get. It's aj green.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's anything any doubt about that. A
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: couple more questions for Robert Weintraub a great Twitter, followed
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: by the way at Rob Wine w E I N
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: has your hope been restored? I like to think he
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: was never extinguished. That come on, I'm always the eternal
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: out to this. Uh yeah, there's no question. Like I
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: said at the beginning, just watching Joe Burrow play this
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: entire year and knowing he was pretty much ticketed for
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: since since about Thanksgiving, Uh, it's been you know, it's
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: been at full full flame, you know for a while now.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Pandemic be damned. I definitely think you know that the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: franchise quarterback, as we all know, you know, that's the
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: that's the tide that lifts all boats, right, I mean everything,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: not just you play on the field. He'll he'll improve
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the defense because the offense is better. Who will make
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the coaching staff look better? And he might even you know,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: keep the team in Cincinnati when it's all done. I
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: don't want to put too much on the guy's shoulders,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: but you know, there's a lot of talk about that.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: You know, if the team continues down the wrong path,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: who knows what the future will hold in Maybe there's
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: with the stadium lease issue up ahead. Nobody really knows.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The team is influx. And the one thing that certainly
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: takes that, you know, takes that out of play and
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: brings the team into the pride of the civic heart,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: so to speak, would be a great quarterback and the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: guy who can look up to you and certainly looks
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: like Joe has everything in that in his positive categories
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to make that happen, just needs to do it on
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: the field. And you know, I'm certainly I'm certainly optimistic.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I'm cautiously optimistic, I guess you'd say, because I'm a
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Bengals fan and my hope has been obliterated so often
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: over these years. But at this point I'm definitely optimistic.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: And that leads to the final question, how did a
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: kid from New York State becomes such a diehard Bengals fan? Yeah?
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I got no business being a Bengal fan, that's true.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: And if I become a Jets or Giants fan like
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: everybody else in my neighborhood, I just would have saved
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: myself a lot of psychic anguish over the years. I
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: suppose maybe maybe Giants. I don't know about Jets. Yeah,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: that's a good point, and I think what to answer
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: the question, I'm pretty sure they were the Bengals were
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: playing the Jets. You know, I was five, six years
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: old something like that, and you know, you drop in
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: front of the TV and you watch the game, and
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: obviously the Bengals won that day, or maybe their uniforms
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: look cool. I'm not sure, but whatever alchemy goes on
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: in the little kid's mind. You know, I just said, Okay,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: that's my team, and uh, you know, I'm stuck to
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: it at plenty of opportunities as supposed to change. But
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: you know you can't do that and be a real fan, right,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: So I've stuck with the Bengals through thick and mostly
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: thin over these many many years now, and hopefully some
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of that, some of that loyalty will be rewarded with
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: the dawn of a new era, the Joe Burrow era.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Your patients will be rewarded thanks to the quarterback with
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: awesomeness oozing out of every pore. Indeed myself. Yeah, we
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: have been chatting with Robert Weintraub, who writes about the
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Bengals for Cincinnati Magazine and the website in addition to
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: writing for Football Outsiders. Plus, you are an author of
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: several books, and you have a new one out now.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Tell us about it. Yeah. Thanks. It's called The Divine
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Miss Marble. It's about a woman named Alice Marble, who,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: in addition to being the greatest female tennis player the
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: pre war era, having her illustrious career ended by World
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: War Two, also excelled in a number of off the
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: courts areas, including so she says, and the heart of
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the book is really a detective story, an espionage mission
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: unless she went on during World War Two and just
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: claimed that she was shot during and had all kinds
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: of daring do. And I follow her path down a
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: lot of unusual and dark paths to ferret out her story,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: and it's really quite fascinating. She's a mysterious and amazing woman,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: even putting all that mystery aside, and somebody who's kind
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: of been forgotten over the years because of just time
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in sports history and because of her her career was interrupted.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: But she's an amazing subject and I hope everybody checks
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: it out. The Divine Miss Marble is the name of
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the book, and you can get it you know, Amazon, Penguin, Random,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: random House dot com, or anywhere bookstores are open these days,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: which hopefully is more and more places as we as
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: we get healthier. Well, let's hope sounds like she had
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: some awesomeness oozing out of her stores as well. The Female, Yes,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: sounds like a great read. Again. I can't wait to
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: get my Football Outsiders Almanac, and I can't recommend purchasing
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: that more highly to football fans. If you haven't done
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: it before, please do it. It's it's great and we
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: all have time to read right now, so this is
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: the perfect time to purchase one. Robert, this has been great.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we'll do it again down the road, and the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: next time we do, hopefully we'll be talking about the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: emerging Bengals under the leadership of Joe Burrow, indeed six
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: and two and looking for the playoffs. That would be nice. Yes,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: any time. Damp Football Outsiders Almanac isn't cheap. The printed
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: version is about fifty bucks, or you can download it
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: for thirty five, but I think it's worth it and
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: you can get more information at Football Outsiders dot com.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Before we get to our next conversation, here's a quick
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: reminder that you can take your Bengals pride to the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: next level in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: package from Prime Sport. It's been a few weeks since
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: we've heard from my broadcast partner Dave Lapham on the podcast.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: He went on vacation early in the month and I
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: was out of town last week, but we got together
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: this week to discuss the start of training camp and
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: to answer the ask lap questions that you submitted on Twitter. Lap.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: I want to start with another never doubt Dave Lapham.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Lesson for more than a month on this podcast, you
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: have talked about the possibility of having a reduced number
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: of players in training camps under these circumstances, and I
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: never said it to you, but in my mind I'm thinking,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: no way, the players will never allow it. Well, sure enough,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Adam Schefter reported earlier this week the teams will likely
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: have eighty players on the roster instead of the usual ninety.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Once again, never doubt, Dave Lapham. Who does this help?
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Who does it hurt? Well, it hurts all the college
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: free agents, late round picks that you know are going
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: to be using preseason games to make their mark a
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: little bit. A lot of times you can evaluate players
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: in certain drills in practice, and then all you have
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: to do in the game is see, okay, can he
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: finish but he's putting himself in great position. Now can
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: he bring the guy to the ground? You know? And
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: then you see in the games if in fact he
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: can do all phases of it, and you make a
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: determination if a guy makes the team or not. Without that,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: it's it's very, very difficult for you know, the late
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: round picks and the college free agents to make the
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: football team. I mean, you know, unless you're a guy
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: like Tim Crummer, who the very first drill is like whoa,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I mean this guy, how did he last? Still the
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: tenth round? Everybody missed on this dude. Um, those those
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: are kind of rare. A lot of times you just
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you need reps, you need opportunities to prove yourself. So
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: it really hurts hurts that level of player. What it
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: helps is the veteran who's hanging on, you know, the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: guy that maybe can do a few things, can provide
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: back up in a few different a couple of different
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: position areas, and uh, you know, can still you know,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: be a factor in the in the room as such
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: in terms of grooming some younger guys. And uh, you know,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: he's battling for the last year or two of his
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: career against a guy who you know doesn't get the
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: opportunity to show or there are a fewer numbers of
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: guys going against him to take that job. It just
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: it just makes it makes life a little bit better
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: for those guys. So the Union probably said, yeah, okay,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: we'll take We'll take that that's that's something we'll give on.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: You know, we'll take that ten fewer players because we're
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: protecting our guys that are already union members. We're protecting
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: their job even more so. So you do feel for
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: the guys that and there's ten per team that's und
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: twenty guys. Out of three hundred twenty guys you're probably
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: gonna get thirty or so that could really make a team,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: make an impact, have have a career, and those guys
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: you feel really bad for. This is our first conversation
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: since AJ Green signed his franchise tag tender and then
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: spoke to reporters. You asked him several questions during that
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: zoom call. What stood out the fact that he is,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: in my mind, cut from the same cloth as Anthony Munios.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: He might be the greatest human being, you know, in
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: terms of a football player, not just not just a
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: great player, I mean a world class player, but as
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: well has everything else, I mean everything you could ask for.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Just a tremendous human being, a great leader of men.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, the team is going to be better for
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: having him on the practice field every day. I've said
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: it many times, you know, and even in the offseason.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: You know, when I work out with Anthony, I'm like,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: oh man, this guy, the great ones, Anthony Minos, James Brooks,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: they worked harder than anybody. So it's like, look what
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Anthony's doing, Look what Jab's doing. Am I doing enough?
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: You know? And that's the same with aj Green. Oh
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: my gosh, these young players. Look what he j Green's
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: doing in practice. Look what he does, you know, getting
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: ready for workouts. Am I doing enough? And it just
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: raises the boat, you know. So he just makes he
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: makes the football team better in obvious ways, you know,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: on the field, tilting coverage, defenses, having to do accompliment
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and all that. But the ripple effect all the way
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: down to you know, how he takes care of his
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: body for nutrition wise, guys, see how he works out,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: all the little things. I mean, he just he upgrades
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the organization every way it can be upgraded. And most importantly,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: what kind of guy he is, you know, the human
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: being that he is. He's such a plus to a
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: locker room. Speaking of Anthony Milius, Johnny Unitis ended his
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: career with the Chargers, Emmett Smith with the Cardinals, Joe
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: nath with the Rams, Anthony Munier has played in preseason
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: games for the Bucks. Thankfully, he never played in a
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: regular season game in that uniform. So here's my question
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: prediction time. Will AJ Green end his career with the
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Bengals or will he eventually wear another uniform? You know,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: I asked him that very question is why is it,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: why is this so important for you to finish, you know,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: as a Cincinnati Bengal And his answer was, executy to
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: expect from AJ Green. That's the team that took the
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: chance to me. That's the team that picked me. That's
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: the team that said we want you. And a guy
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: like him, with the character that he has, all things
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: being equal, I think he is going to stay with
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: that football team. So it would not shock me at
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: all if AJ Green takes every single snap of his
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: professional career as a Cincinnati Bengal, because you know, I
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: mean the organization obviously, everything we're talking about with AJ Green,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: they see it in spades every single day. So I mean,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: this is like you know, parting with the biggest diamond
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: you can mine in a minefield in Africa, uh In
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: saying that I'm done with that and I'm going to
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: move on to another one. I think I'll keep that one,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I don't know. I don't I
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: think I'll just make sure that that I wear that
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: until he cracks or whatever happens to Diamonds. I don't
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: know what happens to him, but I mean A J
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: and I and I really do think that he does.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: He says he feels like he has four years left.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: And we've talked about it a few times. Dan seeing
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: him up there in Cleveland on the field before the game,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: I'm like, heys, and he said it. I'm not the fastest,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: but man, I'm smooth. I'm like, that's part he is
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: so sinking his hips, getting in and out of cuts.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: At a guy six foot four looking like a guy
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: five foot four, The way he can sink his hips
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: and getting it out is remarkable. And that's what makes
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: you know great receivers um. You know Fred Bulitnikoff, Um,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: guys like you know of that of that type, Steve Largent,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: they weren't going to burn, but they he just got
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: in and out of cuts. I mean, they changed direction.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: They had that type of thing, uh in their game,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: and we're always open and that's what That's what AJ's got.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: On top of leaping ability hands. And he's plenty fast too.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm not going to say that. Uh you know,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: A two was being very humble as he always is. Well, yeah,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: it may not be that you're pretty fast, man. You
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: can run. You can run. You may not be world class,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: but you can run, man. And if he stays healthy
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: this year and plays the way that Aj Green has
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: always played when healthy, I personally think the Bengals would
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: pay him as much as any other team in the
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: league would pay him. I agree with you. I agree
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: with you, Dan, I mean I think that, and I
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: think aj Aj seems to me to be the kind
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: of guy that if he feels like he's been treated
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: fairly and he knows has a good feeling about his
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: environment and the surroundings and everything. Because Aj is not
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: one of these guys that you know as a boisterous,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: you know, outgoing coming to locker room. It's all about me,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: me me, Hey, I'm Aj Green here, I'm He'd rather
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: be a guy just you know, just blending in working
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: as you know, just just blend in with the crowd
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: of the locker room. And I think if he feels
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: good about Zach Taylor, the coaching staff, his teammates Joe Burrow,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: I think he stays and I can see it definitely happened.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: The owners and players are still negotiating details for training
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: camp in the upcoming season. The players pushed for no
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: preseason games. It looks like they're going to get their wish.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: So how huge of a problem is that for a
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: rookie quarterback like Joe Burrow. You know, it's it's I
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: think it's gotta it's gotta be tough because I'm thinking
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: as an offensive lineman, no preseason games plum. Playing in
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: a regular season game without any preseason steps whatsoever, is
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: like going into the opening night of a play without
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: any dress rehearsal. You know, it's like, hey, you feel
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: a little naked. You know, it's like not quite sure
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: and maybe not maybe you're totally sure about what you're
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: supposed to do, but how you're supposed to do it
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: in concert with others, you know, when those stunts happen
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: and all those kind of things that you need to
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: take game reps to get a feel for and make
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: sure that you are all on the same page and
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: everything's locked up, everything's buttoned up. So there's still a
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: little uncertainty you know, I think I know how it's
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: going to flow, but I'm not really totally sure how
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: it's going to flow. And I think the level of
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: play in the first a few games are going to
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: be more like preseason, you know. I think there's going
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: to be tackling issues. There's tackling issues anyway, because people
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: don't tackle anymore in practice, but I think it's going
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: to be even more so. And I think, you know,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I think some of the pass protection pickups of twists
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: and stunts is going to be spotty, you know. And
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and a young player like like Joe Burrow with AJ Green,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: for example, Andy Dalton and aj Green had built up
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: such a report they needed. Andy Dalton knew where AJ
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: Green wanted the football on different routes. He wants it here,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: he wants it back shoulder, and he wants to he
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: wants him to be lit here. He wants to be
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: able to have the ball out in front of him.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: So so he all that stuff only happens by taking
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: rep in specifically game reps too, having some sort of
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: an idea. So I think there's going to be a
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: little bit of an impact. But I am a firm
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: believer in what I'm hearing about Joe Burrow that that
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: he is so mature. You know, he's he's he's older
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: than Mahomes, you know, I mean, he's older than Lamar Jackson.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: I mean he's a mature guy and U and I
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: you know, in his ability to pick up and understand offense,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I don't doubt any of that, but the nuances of
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: fine tuning, you know, the reps of where different receivers
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: want footballs, and he's really good with that. He didn't
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: put the ball the same place to Jeffers and he
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: did the Mosses tight end. I mean, he had he
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: had an idea of exactly where those guys wanted it.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: And and you know, after doing it for so many reps,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: the receivers know where the quarterback expect them to be,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: and the quarterback feels the receiver's going to be there,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: and he's gonna put the ball exactly where you know
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: that's supposed to be, and that's that's not going to
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: necessarily be there right away if it is. Man, he's
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: a magician. He's Joe Burrows, like Joe Burrows more than
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: a human being. And that's for she's a superhero. On
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: the one hand, I say to myself, college football teams
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: don't get preseason games. They have to be ready to
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: go right away. On the other hand, the Bengals don't
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: get the opportunity to schedule an FCS opponent. Yeah, that's true,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: That's very true. And and I think, you know, college,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: they'll hit a little more. I mean, in the NFL,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: it's like, you know, they're already they're already concerned now
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: with how many padded practices are they going to be
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: with respect to no preseason games, we know there's only
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: seventeen during the course of the entire season, you know,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: one a week. Maybe it's even less than that. So
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know how many padded practices are going to
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: allow in this negotiated unusual You know, the year twenty
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty, you think perfect vision, Well, twenty twenty is
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: nothing but blurry. There's no perfect about this twenty twenty.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: This twenty twenty is all man, it's all a fog
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: for everybody. So you don't know what to expect. So
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: how many padded actuses are you're going to have to
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: be able to do some of the things we're talking
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: about in terms of timing things full speed now there's
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: not going to be tackling, but you know the one
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: on ones, all of that sort of thing, beating, beating
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: a defensive back. You know, the receivers with their footwork
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: beating defensive backs in and how it cuts on rounds
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: like we're talking about defensive backs, you know, flipping their
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: hips like we're all those kind of things. And you know,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: the big worry for me, dan is is they start
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: playing regular season games and you know you're not in
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: as good a football shape as you would have been
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: if you want through training camp to pushing and pulling
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: all the time. When you do have padded practices, I mean,
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: you can lift weights and run until you're blue in
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: the face, But until you get out there and hit push,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: pull all the tenons, ligaments, all the attachments, that's where
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: the soreness comes. And man, I'm telling you, the first
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: night of after live contact to training camp wake up
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: the next morning every year is like rig and Morris
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: get out of bed like whoa, Oh, well that's football,
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: you know, and now you got to get into football shape.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: So if you get into football shape and then the
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: season stops were for or whatever, and you get out
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: of football shape, then how are you going to get
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: back into football shape if they restarted? And that's a
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: concern to me in terms of injuries and all that
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: sort of thing that they're talking about. And to me,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: it's almost like a delicate balancing act. You don't want
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: to overhit because of player safety, but you don't want
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: to have guys go in not ready to hit in
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: terms of player safety. Where is that balance? Where is
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: that balance of justice there? You know? I mean, that's
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: the big deal in NFL news this week, the Titans
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: gave Derek Henry a four year, fifty million dollar contract extension.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: They can get out of it after a couple of
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: years with minimal salary cap damage. But in any case,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: would you give Joe Mixon a similar deal? Yes? I would.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: I'd give Joe Mixon a similar deal, and you know
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: Joe might be looking for more than that. But I
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: mean to me, you know, when accaffrey signed, it was like, uh, man,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: that's who when is a running back? And assign and
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: what is he going to sign for? And then it
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: came back into a more of a realistic standpoint. But
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: because McCaffrey's different, I mean, coming out of Stanford was
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: like half the half the league was thinking running back,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: half the league was thinking wide receiver. I mean, he's
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: that gifted in both of those scenarios, and so he's
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: an unusual guy. He's an exception of the rule. I
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: would I would. I mean, Joe obviously was a huge,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: huge factor in the second half of the season last year.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, without Aja around and you know, not having
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: the passing attack they had, and knowing that Joe Joe
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Mixon was going to run the football, he still was
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: one of the top rushers in the National Football League
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: the last eight games of the season. So he's obviously
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: he's a guy that he's a lightning rod for the
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: rest of the team. Guys gravitate toward him. They feed
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: off his energy. He provides a lot of energy. He's
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: a hell of a player. I would, I'd think him
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: if I could. There are only five running backs right
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: now making more than ten million a year. McCaffrey's deal
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: is sixteen million a year, as akl Elliot at fifteen,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: Leveon Bell thirteen point one two five, David Johnson thirteen.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: That one hasn't worked out very well, and now Henry
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: twelve point five. That's it. There's nobody between ten and
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: Henry's twelve point five. So if you could get Mixon,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, somewhere in that range ten million to
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: twelve point five for four years, yeah, I think that's fair.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: I do. I agree with you. And uh, you know,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: you look at it, um, Yeah, Johnson obviously that that
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: didn't did not work out at all. Levy on Bell.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: You know, the big money hasn't started to pay dividends
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: yet either. So you look at those and you say,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: you know, I wonder, I just think McCaffrey's in a
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: different category, and so's so's Henry. I mean, god, he's
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: you know, he's a monster. I mean that guy's that
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: guys are physical freak to be able to do the
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: things that he can do at his size, and uh,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: you know, just his footspeed and his ability to to
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: you know, make people miss when he does. And you know,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: he's he's a he's a different breed of cat. But
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: I do think Joe Mixon is in the upper tier
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: of complete backs in the National Football League. I mean,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Joe won't hesitate to bloody his nose, you know, in
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: past protection either. I mean, he's a complete back for sure.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: So just like Batman. We took a gigantic spotlight put
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: the Bengals logo into the Cincinnati sky and that was
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: the signal for ask lap questions on Twitter. So we've
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: got a bunch from people. Here goes. Randy is up first,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: with no preseason game games. What's the over under on
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: early season injuries? And rather than trying to come up
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: with some sort of number for an over under, just
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: in general terms, do you expect a big increase in injuries?
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: That's that's a big That's an interesting question because that's
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: what I was talking about with I can understand how
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: guys want to You have to ramp into it. There's
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: not going to be anything but lifting and conditioning initially
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: and then unpadded practices and then a few padded practices
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: down the stretch. And if you're not, if you have
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: not had at least in preseason game, no matter when
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: it is, you know the preseason game. Number three is
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: one the veterans usually get the most snaps and they
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: go through that stiffness thing. I was talking about, that
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: football getting in football shape kind of thing. And you
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: still have time to get yourself ready for that for
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: that opener. I don't know I just I wonder. I
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: can see a lot of guys after the first game
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: of the season waking up on Monday morning going, oh
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: my god, I've never felt like this. And the Bengals
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: play on Thursday in a week two, Yeah, they get
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: the short week. They got Cleveland, um, and you know,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: it's it's if you're an offensive lineman working against the
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: Chargers have a pretty good physical defense up front, and
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: because sometimes you play against teams and their finesse teams,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: but you know, it's it's relative. It's still there's still
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: some physicality, but some are just brutes, you know, some
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: just try to beat you up. Chargers have have some
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: force in their front seven. And you wake up on
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: Monday morning and it's like going to play Thursday night.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: I'm thirty years I feel a little stiff. I'm gonna
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: be able to play Thursday night. I mean, those kind
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: of things start to start to be a little bit
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: of a factor. We've talked about it before. You know,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: when I was twenty two or twenty three, I could
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: play Sunday. I felt like I'd played on Tuesday or Wednesday.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: You know, once I got in football shape, you hit
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: twenty eight, thirty thirty one, thirty two. It's it's a
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: little bit different. It's like, yeah, I need all those days.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: I don't Thursday night football, Wow, who Monday night football
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: is great, you get that expert, then you got the
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: short week after Monday night football. I don't really like
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: that short week. So yeah, those are all those are
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: all big factors, and I do think that that's going
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: to be an issue. It's going to be very interesting
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: how they handle Fortunately, it's Cleveland, so they have a
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: lot of knowledge of some of the personal but they've
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: changed a lot. They have a new head coach, they
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: have a new offensive system, they have a new this
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: knew that, So they have some sort of familiarity with
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns, but not as much as they have
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: another year's for a short week, So it's going to
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: be very interesting how they handle practice. I think a
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: lot of that week is going to be mental and
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: a lot less of its physical. How many games did
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: you play in nineteen eighty three? Played sixteen games with
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: the Bengals, we played oh No, and then four preseason games,
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: so I played twenty twenty games and then played twenty
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: more with the New Jersey Generals and then two in
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: the posted forty two games, forty two football games in
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: one calendar year, less than a calendar year, in less
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: than a calendar year, and you still have all your marbles.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: And I was. I was thirty two coming home, thirty
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: three years old. I remember when I was done with
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: that season with the New Jersey Generals. I went to
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: Cape Cod and laid in the ocean and I laid
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: their light. It was a natural um like hot not
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: hot tub, but just the waves, you know, just maybe
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: soak a little bit in salt water with the waves.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: And man, I was, I was struggling. I mean, I'd
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: go home and lay down after practice, could barely get
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: up and shuffle the table and eat dinner. And the
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: trainers will give me Enderson, which is what they give
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: horses at the racetrack for swelling or inflammation. Mike, are
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: you sure, Yeah, yeah, these would be all right. I'm
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: on these little red pills Enderson to make sure I
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: could play on the following uh on the following Sunday.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that was so brutal. Here's a Dave
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: lap I'm interview from the end of the nineteen eighty
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: three season. From that Enderson of course, of course, next
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: question comes from Jim. I think I know the answer
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: to this one. Jim asks, would it be best to
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: sign or trade for a veteran quarterback and let Joe
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: Burrow sit since this is the worst season to start
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: a rookie quarterback in history? You know, it's it's interesting.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, there is there is you could you could
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: probably say that it might be the worst season to
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: start a rookie quarterback in NFL history, But I don't think.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: I don't think i'd trade for a veteran quarterback too.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: I really have a belief that mentally he's going to
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: be okay if you if you trade for a veteran quarterback, Honestly,
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: I don't think he'll have obviously reps experience. But Joe
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: Burrow I think understands football to the point that just
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: about any veteran quarterback in the league. So Joe Burrow
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: may not have the reps like we're talking about Joe
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: Green and others, but no either with the guy that
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: he trade for, I mean, he would have no no prior,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: you know, workout or anything, any kind of timing, any
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: kind of This is this is exactly where aj Green,
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: you know, wants the football. He doesn't have any of
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: that either, So, um, you know, I'm not sure. I'm
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: not sure I would necessarily go that route. I think
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Philip Rivers obviously he knows what to expect more than
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: more than Joe Joe does. But I mean he's in
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: a whole new situation with you, with the Indianapolis Colts.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: He hasn't thrown in any of those guys. He and
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Joe Burrow will be on the exact same starting point
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: in terms of what kind of reps every every quarterback
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: in the league other than you know, Drew Brees. That's
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: why you know, the New Orleans Saints said, fine, you know,
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: no matter what the leagu he says, we'll see a
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: training camp. They got Drew Brees, they get all these
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: weapons that he's thrown to. Those guys are so far
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: ahead of the curve on veterans and rookie quarterbacks that
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: are with new teams. That's it's it's a big, big issue.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: There's no doubt. Next question from doctor who Day, why
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: are players in favor of no preseason games? You know,
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: I think they just the injury risk, you know, I
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: think they just uh, I think players would love to
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: see preseason games gone anyway, and players don't really play
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: all that much. Veteran players don't play all that much
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: in the preseason obviously. Preseason games are intended more for
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: determining the last ten players on your roster and practice
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: squads and all those sort of things. It's player evaluation
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: of the back end of that. That's why there's ninety players.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: They want to bring as many as they possibly can
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: and to have options to see what they can to
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: fill out their roster and their practice squad. So players
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: think any and I want to avoid injury, they will play.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: Usually in preseason game number three, they'll play a half,
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: cool down, warm back up, play a series in the
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: third quarter, and get that part of it under their belts.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: And that's another thing that they're not going to have
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: going into that first week. Going there at halftime, cool down,
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: warm back up, go out there for the second half.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: Be the first time you're doing that and in quite
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: a while. So the players. But to me, it's kind
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: of foolhardy because now with salary cap this year, salary
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: caps one hundred ninety eight million dollars preseason with no
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: preseason games next year, salary cap is already going to
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: be affected because players say, oh, I only get like
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: fifteen hundred bucks a week to play in the preseason,
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: and I don't start getting paid until the regular season.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: Those big paychecks will come in. So a fifteen hundred
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: dollars paycheck could become a thirty five thousand dollars paycheck
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: once the regular season starts for some of these guys.
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: But in terms of salary cap, that is part of
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: the salary cap. That is that money that that revenue
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: is split the following year in the salary cap. So
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: the veteran players have to realize that's something that's not
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: going to be there. I mean, people are projecting the
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: salary cap could be down fifty sixty million bucks next
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: year from one hundred ninety eight to one hundred and
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: thirty eight million bucks, and not having a preseason with
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, the TV revenue is obviously not as big
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: as it is in a regular season, but there's there's tickets,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: there's concessions, there's all those sort of things, and the
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: owners aren't paying out big bucks in terms of the
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: to the players, but that money gets split, the revenue
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: gets split for that that following year's salary cap, so
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: there won't be any any preseason revenue coming up in
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. They're going to have to spread that
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: salary cap damage out over the course of several years,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: don't you think, because teams aren't just going to say,
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: all right, we got to lop fifty million dollars worth
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: the players off the roster. I don't see that happen.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: How would you like to be Kansas City with them
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: home signing, you know, and then Chris Jones these big contracts,
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: you know, anybody that in this offseason? How about Miles
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Garrett up in Cleveland? You kidding me, you know, give
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: him that kind of money and then all of us.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: Maybe next year's cap is going to take a major
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: hit if they don't pro rate it like you're talking about.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: It's like, wow, jeez, maybe we shouldn't. Maybe maybe we
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: should have thought twice about the timing of this. You know,
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: maybe we should have waited a little a little while longer.
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, because everybody's doing these deals with the perception,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: and you know, well thought out perception that the Caps
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: are going to do nothing but go up. Well, coronavirus said,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: not so fast. The best laid plans. All right. Next
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: question comes from Will what's been the issue with Billy
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: Price that's prevented his play in college to carry over
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: to the NFL and can it be corrected? Well, I
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: think one of the things is injury, you know. I
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: mean he was durable as durable as you know can
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: be in college, played a bunch of games at a
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: house state and a ridiculous number never missed really, and
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: then right away at the combine before the draft, he
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: tears his pectorial doing you know, the bench press h work,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: and that that sets him back a little bit. And
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: then he has the planet phaciitis or not the planet phacotis,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: he had the Liz franc injury, and that those are
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: significant where right between the big toe and the second
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: toe you have a separation of the bone and there
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: can be some soft tissue damage in there as well,
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: and you have a crack in the foundation, you know,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, those are two integral
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: areas for for an offensive lineman. Feet. That's where it starts,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: you have to no matter in sports, no matter what
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: you're talking about, it starts with your feet getting human
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: place to block, and then it finishes with your hands,
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: and if your pectoral's messed up, you can't really finish
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: the way you want to with the you know, everything's
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: connected kinesiology, everything's connected. You can't really finish upper body
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: wise the way you want to, or put yourself in
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: a position to block the way you want to at
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: the lower body injury. So those are a factor. And uh,
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: and I do think, um, he's got a little bit
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: of an issue with his arm length. And you know,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: NP will say Jonah Williams has got shorter arms as well.
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: He seems to be able to handle it a little
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: bit differently Billy. Sometimes Billy ends up getting in a
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: situation when I watch him, whereas if you're a skier,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: his his chins out over the tip of his skis.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: He's leaning too much, he's too too much forward. And
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: why he's doing that is with the shorter arms, he
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: wants to get the extra length of leaning forward to
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: try to negate the defensive lineman's longer arms, and that
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: just gets them in trouble because they get to the
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: back of the candle lever and they'll get him on
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: the ground. You know, you're off balance and you and
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: you're on the ground. So I mean, you have to
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: work with what you got, but you do have to
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: make sure that you know you're not you're not leaning
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: in the National Football give you lean and defensive lineman,
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: you're just drooling waiting for guys to get off balance
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: and lean in the National Football League. John asks, given
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: how well Fred Johnson played at left tackle at the
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: end of the season, is there any chance the Bengals
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: put him at left tackle and Jonah Williams at right tackle.
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: I guess there could be a possibility, but I do
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: think that I think they want to give Jonah every
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: opportunity to, uh, to prove that he can play the
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: left tackle position. He played it at Alabama at a
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: very very high level. Fred Johnson, you know, played one game,
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: but it was an NFL game, you know, no question
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: about it. And he finished the season at the left
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: tackle position and fared well. But the projection of Jonah,
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: a healthy Jonah Williams and uh, you know, Jonah obviously
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: coming off of rotator cuff surgery with a shorter arm.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: To me, is there is there any coincidence to the
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: fact that as you're in a drill without pads, even
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: in OTAs, and you're trying to stop somebody and you're
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: maybe not where you should be position wise with the
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: shorter arm you Terry rotator Cuff, don't. I don't know
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: if you if you're not, if you're not in that position,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: if you have a little bit more length, you're own,
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: who knows. I mean, these are all speculations. Obviously, you
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: just don't know. Hopefully that rotator Cuff is strong and
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: healthy and he shows that he can play the left
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: tackle the way he played at Alabama, and then I
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: think Fred Johnson, Bobby Hart, Identagy, I'd have a best
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: man win at the right tackle position. You guys battle
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: it out. Not to say that Jonah is. You know,
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: nobody's going to even take snaps on the Jona winning.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: Obviously he can't do that. So I think Fred Taylor,
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: Bobby Hart, whoever it is, Identagy, whoever it is, whoever
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: that swing tackle is, has to be able to play
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: right and left. So you know, maybe knowing Jimmy Turner,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: maybe he will play Jonah a little bit at right.
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: Because in the National Football League, you can't just be
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: like one win position. You can't be just I'm a
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: left tackle and that's all I am. You have to
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: be able to play left or right? Can you go
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: inside and play guard? If you're a guard, can you
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: be a backup center or vice versa. So I think
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: position versatility is extremely important, and I think you need
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: to expose guys to at least you know the scenario that, hey,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: we get beaten up, you may have to play some
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: right right tackle. You know our best option. This guy
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: can play left. He can't play right at all. You
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: can play right at all. You shown you can play
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: right a little bit, so you know, the more you
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: can do, the more valuable you can be. Final ask
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: lap question. This one comes from PJ. With the addition
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: of von Bell to go with Jesse Bates. What kind
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: of role does Sean Williams have? That's an interesting question.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think the Bengals have played a lot
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: of three safety looks in there and a lot of
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: their sub packages, and uh, you know, Sean is obviously
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: capable of doing that. And it's it's it's not a
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: given that von Bell will start at that safety position.
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: They paid him a lot of money though, so you
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: know it's it's like again, if you have it's better
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: to have three safeties than only two. And uh, Sean
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: can play. He's very physical, von Bell is very physical.
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: Either one of them could play like that linebacker or
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: safety hybrid type position and some of the sub packages
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: when they go to three safeties. So with the problems
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: that they had at the linebacker position, and last year
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: they did do a lot of that and um Um,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: Sean and and Vaughan both show that they if they can,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: you know, get off blocks, defeat blocks, separate from blocks,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: and make plays in the running game not be a liability,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: they could be on the field a lot. Um. So
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: I know Sean is uh is very highly regarded in
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: the locker room by his teammates and by the coaches
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: and the coaching staff, so they'll they'll carve a role
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: for him. I mean, there's there's no question about it.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: It's it's Uh. You You basically you don't say, all right,
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: I've got these are the defenses we're going to run,
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: no matter what personnel I've got. You basically look at
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: your personnel. You have an idea of what you want
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: to do schematically, but sometimes it morphs a little bit
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: based on what you have from personnel standpoint, Where your strengths,
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: where your weaknesses accentuate, your strengths, hide your weaknesses and
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: uh and you go from there. And having a guy
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: the caliber Shawn that's had as many NFL snaps as
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: he had, ain't nothing wrong with that. Normally, in training
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: camp were standing between the two fields, right up next
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: to the action, talking to people, picking up interesting material.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: This year, it sounds like we'll be watching from a
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: distance wearing masks six feet apart. But that's okay. I'm
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: looking forward to it anyway, And on our next podcast
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: we'll look ahead at some training camp battles that we're
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: looking forward to watching. How that's yeah, that sounds good. Yeah,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: we're gonna have to have binoculars. I think we're gonna
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: be a little ways away, and it's going to be
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: very interesting not having access to players in the locker room.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: And I mean we can't even go into our studio.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's very little that I guess we're
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: gonna be spending a lot of time up in the
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: press box at Paul Brown Stadium up top there and Dana,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: we're going to travel for away games. We may be
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: calling football games from up there in the press box
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: and on a monitor. I guess, depending on how this
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: whole thing goes. One thing we know is we don't know.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: We don't know what the heck is going to happen.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: It can change weekly, daily, hourly. I mean, it's it's
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: that type of year at twenty twenty, it's about it's
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: a lot blurry on that there's no clear vision to
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: what this year is going to unfold. I'll tell you Hi,
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: thanks to Lap and to Robert Weintraub, and that's going
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: to do it for this episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast,
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: brought to you by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe, and if you have a minute,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast