Speaker 1: Hi again everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The I'll simply say it's on again.
Speaker 1: It's on again. Woo. Addition, as I get you set
Speaker 1: for the start of training camp on looking at some
Speaker 1: of the key storylines before getting to my two guests,
Speaker 1: team president Mike Brown and my broadcast partner Dave Lapham.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season, gets
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Speaker 1: Get it now on the App Store and Google Play.
Speaker 1: And here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
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Speaker 1: be the shoes. Now, let's look ahead to the start
Speaker 1: of training camp, beginning with some of the most important storylines.
Speaker 1: As you probably know by now, the news broke on
Speaker 1: Tuesday that Joe Burrow needs surgery to remove his appendix.
Speaker 1: It sucks for Joe. Appendectomies are considered to be routine
Speaker 1: procedures and he should be able to practice within a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. For the sake of comparison, the UC
Speaker 1: Bearcats had a long snapper back in twenty eighteen named
Speaker 1: Zach Wood out of McNicholas High School, Kevin Huber's alma mater,
Speaker 1: who played in a game nine days after an appendectomy.
Speaker 1: Then there's the status of Jesse Bates. He has not
Speaker 1: signed the twelve point nine million dollar franchise tag yet
Speaker 1: and did not report on time for the beginning of
Speaker 1: training camp, but Duke Tobin and Zach Taylor expect him
Speaker 1: to eventually sign the tag and be ready to go. Well,
Speaker 1: we trust Jesse's going to be in shape. That's just
Speaker 1: who Jesse is, and Jesse will be ready to go.
Speaker 1: We have high hopes to have a great year together
Speaker 1: with Jesse again and to be right back where we
Speaker 1: were with him. We tried for a couple of years.
Speaker 1: It didn't come together. There's no hard feelings there. It's
Speaker 1: got to work for us and it has to work
Speaker 1: for him, and some times things don't come together. Maybe
Speaker 1: there'll be a chance in the future that something comes
Speaker 1: comes together in a way that we all feel good about.
Speaker 1: But you know, at this point we're we're focused on
Speaker 1: having the best possible year we can and Jesse's a
Speaker 1: part of that and a big part of it. Got
Speaker 1: nothing but love for Jesse's a He is a success story.
Speaker 1: You know, he's a draft choice here that's developed and
Speaker 1: become an outstanding football player. When he comes, we'll be
Speaker 1: excited to have him. He's a great person, great player,
Speaker 1: a great leader for us, and when he shows up,
Speaker 1: we know that he'll be in shape and ready hit
Speaker 1: the ground. Running and I'm not going to predict a
Speaker 1: timeline and when he shows up, that's up to him.
Speaker 1: But again, he's I know Jesse, I know he's working
Speaker 1: and he's prepared himself to again have a great season.
Speaker 1: So just look forward to when he comes. We'll be
Speaker 1: ready for him. On the injury front, we knew that
Speaker 1: right guard Alex Kappa might miss the start of camp
Speaker 1: since he had surgery to repair a core muscle injury,
Speaker 1: and he is on the physically unable to perform list
Speaker 1: of the pup list, along with Joe Bacci, College, Kareem
Speaker 1: so I, JP Ryan, and Brandon Wilson. But we got
Speaker 1: a little bit of a surprise over the weekend when
Speaker 1: the team announced that right tackle l Collins would begin
Speaker 1: camp on the non football injury list. That's for players
Speaker 1: whose injuries did not occur during practices or games. Here's
Speaker 1: coach Taylor, he's dealing with an issue with his back,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's something he's experienced before and him
Speaker 1: and vets that kind of go through this stuff. On
Speaker 1: the coaching side of the medical side, we want to
Speaker 1: be slow to to get those guys back into the mix.
Speaker 1: We know it's long training camp, he's got a lot
Speaker 1: of Repsomer's belt. He feels good about where he's at
Speaker 1: and we do two and so we'll be slow to
Speaker 1: go with him and Alex, But there's good news on
Speaker 1: the injury front as well. Te Higgins and Joseph Osi,
Speaker 1: who did not practice during OTA's are good to go
Speaker 1: for the start of training camp. Osi was the star
Speaker 1: of the Bengals preseason opener last year, with seven quarterback
Speaker 1: pressures and a sack of Tom Brady before he heard
Speaker 1: his wrist and knee in that game. Duke Tobin is
Speaker 1: eager to see him back on the practice field. We'll
Speaker 1: work him back in and and the coaches will be
Speaker 1: cognizant of the fact that he's been out for quite
Speaker 1: a while, so we'll work him back in at his
Speaker 1: speed and hopefully he'll show what he showed down to
Speaker 1: Tampa last year. You know, he was going to be
Speaker 1: Bruce Smith there for for a very short period of time,
Speaker 1: so maybe that'll evolve. All the Bengals are hoping that
Speaker 1: Osai can boost their pass rush, especially on third down.
Speaker 1: The biggest battle for a starting spotted training camp is
Speaker 1: it left guard, where the leading candidates are Jackson Carmen
Speaker 1: and rookie fourth round draft pick Cordell Volson. Once again,
Speaker 1: here's Duke. We think we've got pretty talented guys that
Speaker 1: will be competing and it'll be good when when the
Speaker 1: whole the group of five actually solidifies and and kind
Speaker 1: of gets confidence in each other. But yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna make any predictions. I think it's uh,
Speaker 1: it is what it is, and we'll we'll see who
Speaker 1: who's the best five, you know, to start the season.
Speaker 1: But I know one thing, You're gonna need more than
Speaker 1: five as the year goes on. You never only get
Speaker 1: through with five. You're gonna need six, seven, eight, nine
Speaker 1: and two practice squad guys that are ready to play
Speaker 1: at a moment's notice. Regardless of who wins that left
Speaker 1: guard spot. Mike Brown expects the old line to be
Speaker 1: vastly improved. We've tried our best to add people there, Keis,
Speaker 1: Kappa Collins, they're veteran players. They should come in and
Speaker 1: be able to shore up our performance make us better.
Speaker 1: I want to see how it comes together. I'm hopeful
Speaker 1: that it'll turn the trick and give us better protection
Speaker 1: for Joe. We're aware of the shortfall there last year,
Speaker 1: believe me. And we'll see if this can help. I
Speaker 1: think it ken I wanted to, but the proof is
Speaker 1: in the pudding well. With Mike Brown coming up shortly,
Speaker 1: but first a brief visit with Special Teams coordinator Darren Simmons,
Speaker 1: who will oversee a training camp battle at punter between
Speaker 1: thirty seven year old Kevin Huber and twenty five year
Speaker 1: old Drew Chrissman. You know, I think it was unique.
Speaker 1: I told Kevin and Drew that the competition really wouldn't
Speaker 1: start until training camp comes around, and I think that
Speaker 1: affords Kevin the best opportunity, you know, to not pun
Speaker 1: himself out and hern OTAs and I think it's the
Speaker 1: right way to go about it. And so we'll see
Speaker 1: what kind of shape he's he is coming back into it.
Speaker 1: You know, Drew's had the opportunity to punt here for
Speaker 1: a couple of days with the rookies and to kind
Speaker 1: of get him his feet underneath him a little bit.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it'll be unique for Kevin. It'll be the
Speaker 1: first time that he's been pushed. He's a competitive guy.
Speaker 1: He knows how this league works, and you know, I
Speaker 1: expect nothing but his best shot, and it'll take Drew's
Speaker 1: best shot to unseat him, you know, quite frankly and um,
Speaker 1: but I think that's what you want. I think you want.
Speaker 1: You want to keep the best guy and the guy
Speaker 1: who's going to give our team the best opportunity to
Speaker 1: you know, not only exchange field position in the punning game,
Speaker 1: but also to score points in the field goal portion
Speaker 1: of it too. So the field goal the holding will
Speaker 1: have you know, an effect on that as well. How
Speaker 1: big of an effect Kevin estimated to me that holding
Speaker 1: is sixty percent of the job. Now, yeah, well I
Speaker 1: kind of gave him that assessment, you know, at the
Speaker 1: end of the year. You know, I would tell you
Speaker 1: it was probably flipped before that, you know, with the
Speaker 1: advent of and the way that we use analytics now
Speaker 1: to we go for it so much more in fourth down,
Speaker 1: and with the weapon we have is you know, at
Speaker 1: the kicker position now it really expands the field for
Speaker 1: So I would have said before that probably sixty percent
Speaker 1: of the punters job was punning and forty percent was holding,
Speaker 1: and I think I probably flipped that, and now I
Speaker 1: would probably think that fifty five percent of his job
Speaker 1: is holding and forty five percent is actually punning and
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. You know, what means we're getting
Speaker 1: an opportunity to score points. Uh So I think that's
Speaker 1: pretty accurate. You were able to sign the highest rated
Speaker 1: long snapper in college football last year as an undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent. Is that competition similar to the punting competition? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think way, Why the hell not get him getting Kevin?
Speaker 1: Kevin's getting pushed, so why not push Clark too? Now,
Speaker 1: I think that at some point here that the uh,
Speaker 1: you know, if other time is going to catch up
Speaker 1: with those two guys and it's going to be up
Speaker 1: to them when that time is this year, is it
Speaker 1: next year? Is it three years? So now I don't know,
Speaker 1: but but I think I owe it to our team
Speaker 1: to uh push those two positions and push those two
Speaker 1: players specifically as hard as I can because it's it,
Speaker 1: uh you know, it's it's it's that important for where
Speaker 1: we're at as a team. Um. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think they both need to keep working to improve.
Speaker 1: Kevin Clark, I mean, um, you know, on the deficiency
Speaker 1: deficiencies that they had. I don't think Kevin punted his
Speaker 1: best down the stretch last year. I think he struggled
Speaker 1: down the stretch in this pieway or even having this conversation. UM,
Speaker 1: and so he knows that, he feels that, and I
Speaker 1: think he's uh uh, you know, on board. I think
Speaker 1: he's probably excited about having competition. It's it's be the
Speaker 1: first time he's had that. Who are your top candidates
Speaker 1: to return kicks and punts? Well, you know, with the uncertainty,
Speaker 1: probably Brandon Wilson, you know, and certainly what his injury brings, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it really opens that spot up. UM, A
Speaker 1: couple of candidates saying, Chris Evans will well, we'll get
Speaker 1: a shot in there. You know, he was somebody who
Speaker 1: did that for the first time in the Cleveland game,
Speaker 1: you know, and then ultimately did it throughout the playoffs
Speaker 1: and handled handled the position well enough. But but I
Speaker 1: think what he lacks obviously his experience. UM. I think
Speaker 1: Puka Williams get a crack at that, and I think
Speaker 1: Kami last we'll get a crack at that too. I mean,
Speaker 1: those are you know, a couple of three guys. It's
Speaker 1: at the kick return spots and you know, the pump
Speaker 1: return spot. I think it'll you know, Trent Tail will
Speaker 1: be the first guy that trots out there, um as
Speaker 1: the incoment, but he'll be pushed hard by Poking and
Speaker 1: Kwammie also, um, you know, I've told Kwammie and Puka
Speaker 1: both that I mean, the only, the only opportunity to
Speaker 1: make our team is to be the pump return, and
Speaker 1: I think they both understand how critical that spot is
Speaker 1: going to be for them. That's that's only they're going
Speaker 1: to seat Trent or truly, only who they're gonna be
Speaker 1: on the forty six man rosters is to be the
Speaker 1: starting return, starting pulp return specifically. So those are a
Speaker 1: couple of guys that, you know, three guys related each
Speaker 1: spot that it was pretty wide open, honestly. Before we
Speaker 1: get to my one on one conversation with Mike Brown,
Speaker 1: here's a reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is presented
Speaker 1: by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game.
Speaker 1: This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during
Speaker 1: the course of the year with tickets, autographed merchandise, and
Speaker 1: money can buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate
Speaker 1: Bengals in the App Store and Google Play. We recently
Speaker 1: learned that the Bengals have been negotiating with local companies
Speaker 1: about selling naming rights to Paul Brown Stadium. That was
Speaker 1: one of the topics I discussed with team president Mike
Speaker 1: Brown when I had the opportunity to spend about ten
Speaker 1: minutes with him on Monday twenty twenty one. Was one
Speaker 1: of the most successful seasons in franchise history. How did
Speaker 1: you sell them? Rate the big postseason wins? Do you
Speaker 1: save a special bottle of wine? Do you and Nancy
Speaker 1: go out for dinner? Do you do anything after those
Speaker 1: big victories? No? I just sit and feel pretty good.
Speaker 1: And that's the extent of celebration for me. I'm an
Speaker 1: old man now and those games are night games. I'm
Speaker 1: not looking to jump up in the air and click
Speaker 1: my heels. It was a great run, though. It was
Speaker 1: exciting a playoff run as you're ever gonna see, and
Speaker 1: I just couldn't have felt happier about how all that went.
Speaker 1: It was a good year. What sticks with you more
Speaker 1: an exhilarating win or a heartbreaking loss? Oh? I probably
Speaker 1: remember the losses. They stick in your crow. You remember
Speaker 1: Super Bowl losses more than others. Were here with Dave
Speaker 1: Lapham and were you in one of those games? A
Speaker 1: second game or the first game, first one, super Bowl sixteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I don't care. That was a close game when
Speaker 1: we could have won that game, and you just don't
Speaker 1: get it out of your mind. Has a little spot
Speaker 1: back there then it pops up every once in a while.
Speaker 1: He told me once that that first Super Bowl, super
Speaker 1: Bowl sixteen was the loss that hurts the most because
Speaker 1: you thought that the Bengals were the better team. Do
Speaker 1: you still feel that way? Is that the one that
Speaker 1: stands out most of all? Well, I have to confess
Speaker 1: I did think we were the better team. You can't
Speaker 1: win when you turn the bowl over like we did
Speaker 1: in that game, But I would have liked to have
Speaker 1: had another chance at it. Of course, you don't get
Speaker 1: but one chance, and we came up short. To their credit,
Speaker 1: they played well. I thought that Kenny Anderson out played
Speaker 1: Montana in that game, and I remember afterwards having the
Speaker 1: worst headache I've ever had in my life. It was
Speaker 1: what you get when you lose. It was recently announced
Speaker 1: that the Bengals are negotiating to possibly sell naming rights
Speaker 1: to Paul Brown Stadium. Why is that important to the
Speaker 1: long term health of the franchise and how difficulty is
Speaker 1: that for you personally? Well, I think my dad would
Speaker 1: have understood. I think he would even have approved it
Speaker 1: in his mind. What mattered most was the team. This
Speaker 1: gives us a revenue stream if we go forward with it,
Speaker 1: and we need that for doing things such as the
Speaker 1: indoor facility we're building to help us when we get
Speaker 1: to signing some of our headline players. That's going to
Speaker 1: be a real challenge. We have things to spend that
Speaker 1: money on, believe me, and it will help us. We
Speaker 1: need some help because we're a small market team and
Speaker 1: our revenues don't normally match up with the large revenue teams.
Speaker 1: We have to do with less, and this will give
Speaker 1: us a little more to work with. Last year, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow became just the seventh quarterback to start a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl in his second season, joining names like Dan Marino,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and other all time greats. Of
Speaker 1: Joe's many great qualities, what stands out most to you, oh,
Speaker 1: probably is poise. He can see the field, He has
Speaker 1: a sense of the rush, he never flusters, is accurate.
Speaker 1: Of course as a passer, he can move and run
Speaker 1: a little bit, but when you get down to it.
Speaker 1: It's the way he thinks that is most impressive. He's
Speaker 1: got a quick mind, a good football mind. Let's moved
Speaker 1: to Jamar Chase. He had a record setting rookie year.
Speaker 1: He was spectacular, but in training camp in the preseason,
Speaker 1: he struggled. He couldn't catch a cold for a while.
Speaker 1: There were you worried at all? Or did history tell
Speaker 1: you that Jamar Chase was going to be fine? Well?
Speaker 1: What told me Jamar Chase was going to be fine?
Speaker 1: When Jamar Chase was fine and he was fine in
Speaker 1: capital letters, we all saw it was unbelievable. He had
Speaker 1: a great, great season. He's a tremendous talent, and he
Speaker 1: now has to face a new season and they'll be
Speaker 1: looking at him more than ever, and he'll have to
Speaker 1: be ready for it and keep the ball rolling. I
Speaker 1: think he will. What did you think of Zach Taylor's
Speaker 1: idea to hand out game balls to fans at local
Speaker 1: bars and restaurants after the playoff wins. Well, I thought
Speaker 1: it was nice. So he has a mindset to him.
Speaker 1: He thinks about other people, and I was appreciative of
Speaker 1: that and some of the other things he does. He's
Speaker 1: a good ambassador for the Bengals off the field, and
Speaker 1: that's just his nature. He seems to come by it naturally.
Speaker 1: I don't think anything galvanizes a city quite like a
Speaker 1: successful championship level NFL team. What did you think of
Speaker 1: the way Bengals fans responded the last season. I thought
Speaker 1: it was wonderful. I thought at the game when we
Speaker 1: beat the Raiders here that you couldn't have had a
Speaker 1: stadium more live than that one was. And then our
Speaker 1: fans were so pleased with how it went. It was
Speaker 1: coming out of the COVID time, and this was a
Speaker 1: moment when they could get involved publicly again with each other,
Speaker 1: and it just caught fire. It was as exciting time
Speaker 1: for our pro football team in Cincinnati as any that
Speaker 1: I remember. We had good times in eighty two and
Speaker 1: eighty eight, but I'd have to say this last one
Speaker 1: probably it was the most exciting UH season. The fan
Speaker 1: base is very excited about the white alternate helmet that
Speaker 1: is coming in twenty twenty two. What was your reaction
Speaker 1: You saw that it's a white alternate helmet with black stripes,
Speaker 1: and I the women are excited about it, and my
Speaker 1: family and my end daughters and my daughter and my wife.
Speaker 1: You know, they just tell me I don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm doing. So they like it a lot, and I
Speaker 1: think I'll like it too. You joke, when your granddaughters
Speaker 1: ask you to do something where the franchise is concerned,
Speaker 1: you typically say yes. But in all seriousness, Elizabeth and
Speaker 1: Caroline have had a pretty remarkable impact on the franchise
Speaker 1: in the last year or so. You know, they got
Speaker 1: some things straightened out. They are in a way inside
Speaker 1: and outside. They had time to look at it from
Speaker 1: the outside. And let's face it, we were going through
Speaker 1: some tough years and we needed a boost. We needed
Speaker 1: to do a few things that got the public behind
Speaker 1: us better. The Ring of Honor certainly is one of those.
Speaker 1: For some reason, the public see seems to insist on
Speaker 1: a indoor facility. They'll never be in there. Why do
Speaker 1: they insistent? But we're going to have it for the
Speaker 1: players now, and I think they'll like it. It'll be
Speaker 1: a warmer spot to practice. I always felt that your
Speaker 1: NFL player a little cold and snow, what the heck?
Speaker 1: But now we'll be a little bit warmer and it'll
Speaker 1: be easier for them. Paul Docherty recently retired from the Enquirer,
Speaker 1: and when asked about you, he said one of the
Speaker 1: things he admired most was that, no matter how harshly
Speaker 1: he criticized you, you never seemed to take it personally.
Speaker 1: Is he right about that? Or how do you handle that? Well?
Speaker 1: I know I shouldn't. Probably there's an occasion or two
Speaker 1: when I might, but not for long. The writers are
Speaker 1: doing a task, They're doing what they do, and the
Speaker 1: TV guys the same thing. All of this is just opinion,
Speaker 1: and it's fleeting. It's on to the next day very quickly.
Speaker 1: I like Paul Docherty as a person. He's a very
Speaker 1: bright guy, and I find him an interesting person to
Speaker 1: talk to. I wish him well in retirement, whatever he's
Speaker 1: going to do with it. John Madden passed away this
Speaker 1: past year. What was your relationship like with John Madden. Well,
Speaker 1: he was not too far off my age, and we
Speaker 1: were sort of friendly. I knew him mainly after he
Speaker 1: was let go or rather retired as a football coach,
Speaker 1: and before he became a big time telecaster, and we
Speaker 1: were just aware of each other. We would talk. I
Speaker 1: would say we were the kind of people that were
Speaker 1: on a first name basis and friendly to each other,
Speaker 1: interested in the others views on the different subjects that
Speaker 1: came up to h came in front of the NFL
Speaker 1: and I liked him. He was easy to like, a
Speaker 1: nice guy, and I think he did an amazing dual performance.
Speaker 1: A great coach and just as good announcer as well.
Speaker 1: This will be the Bengals fifty fifth season. Do you
Speaker 1: get as excited for the start of training camp as
Speaker 1: you did now all of the previous fifty four? I
Speaker 1: don't know that excited is the word for me? Probably concerned.
Speaker 1: Do I get concerned more? Yes? It just is what
Speaker 1: I do, and I am conditioned to believe it's the
Speaker 1: natural way, and I look forward to it. I like
Speaker 1: being around the players and coaches. Feel very lucky at
Speaker 1: my stage of life to be able to do that.
Speaker 1: And here we go again. I find it hard to
Speaker 1: believe that I have grown to be so old. But
Speaker 1: as long as I can hang on, I'll probably hang on.
Speaker 1: I always appreciate your time. Thank you so much, good
Speaker 1: to be with you. Find late time for an in
Speaker 1: depth training camp preview with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap.
Speaker 1: There a lot of intriguing storylines going into this training camp,
Speaker 1: the improvements on the offensive line, the status of Jesse Bates, etc.
Speaker 1: What are the things that are the top of your
Speaker 1: list that you're looking forward to watching when camp gets underway. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you've hit on a couple of
Speaker 1: big ones, you know. I think offensively, the offensive line
Speaker 1: player is going to be huge. I'd expected to be
Speaker 1: much improved. I think it's going to ease a big
Speaker 1: burden on the offensive coaching staff. To me, in hindsight,
Speaker 1: reflecting on last year, the game planning that they had
Speaker 1: to do is five times harder than it should have
Speaker 1: been because they were trying to figure out how to
Speaker 1: cover up a weakness here or a problem there, and
Speaker 1: instead of just game planning and attacking areas of the field,
Speaker 1: they had to cover things up and maybe not attack
Speaker 1: areas of the field the way they wanted to with
Speaker 1: route combinations and all that sort of thing, because they
Speaker 1: just didn't have the protection ability. And unless you go
Speaker 1: six men protection all the time, you know, to block
Speaker 1: four guys, which is tough. You're eliminating another one of
Speaker 1: your receivers. So at some point you have to line
Speaker 1: up and handle one on one situations. And I think
Speaker 1: this group would be able to handle that better. And
Speaker 1: I expect Joe to even perform at a higher level.
Speaker 1: You know, I think he's going to see the field easier.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna, you know, be able to attack
Speaker 1: areas of the field that he wasn't thinking about attacking
Speaker 1: last year. From the game plan. He's got the answers
Speaker 1: to everything from a test standpoint, He's a quick study,
Speaker 1: understands things so quickly. I mean, I just think they're
Speaker 1: going to be even better. I really do. And it
Speaker 1: starts with the with the running game. You know, they'll
Speaker 1: be able to control the line of scrimmage instead of
Speaker 1: Joe Nixon seeing numbers being pushed back at him. You know,
Speaker 1: they'll hopefully get a push at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: He'll be able to make a cut at or beyond
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage instead of making his first cutting
Speaker 1: his own backfield as many times as he had to. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I think it starts there. And
Speaker 1: when it does start there, there'll be more you know,
Speaker 1: second and fours, third and twos and down a distance
Speaker 1: being control of where you can run or throw the football,
Speaker 1: play action pass it, you know, drop back when when
Speaker 1: you feel like dropping back, dropping back to pass because
Speaker 1: you want to, not because you have to. And that's
Speaker 1: a big big For instance, it's much here to pass
Speaker 1: protect when you're dropping back because you want to instead
Speaker 1: of because you have to because your running game is
Speaker 1: good enough. So I think the offensive line is a
Speaker 1: huge story. It's a it's a big deal. And you know,
Speaker 1: as far as Jesse Bates is concerned, you know, I'd
Speaker 1: love to see him come in and play, and I
Speaker 1: hope he does. Whatever the number is, fourteen, fifteen, whatever
Speaker 1: the dollar figure is actually as a tag player, as
Speaker 1: a franchise tag player, it's what thirteen, twelve point nine whatever?
Speaker 1: Why not come in and play because if you trade him,
Speaker 1: he has to play for that amount as well that
Speaker 1: year he's locked now no matter who he's playing for.
Speaker 1: At twelve point nine, why not come back to the
Speaker 1: defending AFC Championship football team where you know guys, where
Speaker 1: guys respect you, you respect them, and go out and
Speaker 1: play your tail off and then okay, you're bet on yourself.
Speaker 1: Let the chips fall, and then after that decide what's
Speaker 1: gonna what's gonna go down. I just can't fathom him
Speaker 1: not playing. I just I just can't comprehend that one.
Speaker 1: So to me, it's a matter of I don't I
Speaker 1: don't see I don't see the line in the sand
Speaker 1: having been drawn. You know, I think it's a difficult situation.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a business scenario. It's the it's probably
Speaker 1: the ugly part of the business and the national as
Speaker 1: far as the National Football League is concerned. But you
Speaker 1: can still handle it civilly on both sides. And I
Speaker 1: think they have to as good a point as you
Speaker 1: can in this situation. And I expect him to uh
Speaker 1: to come and play, and I expect the coaches to
Speaker 1: I'm not saying protect him as such, because football is
Speaker 1: a violent game, but I don't think they're gonna wear
Speaker 1: them out. And you know, I think there's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: there'll probably be an understanding there that you come in
Speaker 1: and you play for us, we're going to take care
Speaker 1: of you as well, and that's the way it should be.
Speaker 1: And you play for that almost thirteen million dollars a
Speaker 1: year and let the chips fall as they may. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: have to go out and have the greatest year you've
Speaker 1: ever had, and hopefully your team wins the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: I'm with you. He's made a total of about six
Speaker 1: million dollars in the first four years of his NFL career,
Speaker 1: so he stands to make more than twice that this year,
Speaker 1: twelve point nine mill. I find it hard to believe
Speaker 1: he would leave that on the table. Secondly, if he
Speaker 1: wants to get a contract that pays him as one
Speaker 1: of the top safeties in the NFL, he's not going
Speaker 1: to get that by sitting out. He's going to get
Speaker 1: that by playing and playing well. Playing and playing well,
Speaker 1: have a five six interception year and playing the Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: You know, I think he everage is about three interceptions
Speaker 1: a year, maybe as a career player. Have a career year,
Speaker 1: go out and double that, go out and have six interceptions,
Speaker 1: maybe five interceptions, whatever, and have the best year you've had,
Speaker 1: go to the Pro Bowl, and make yourself as marketable
Speaker 1: as possible. If you don't play, I mean, how are
Speaker 1: you helping your marketability? You're not. You're just not. You know, now,
Speaker 1: in the beginning of the prime seasons of your career,
Speaker 1: you're not doing anything. You're not on the football field playing.
Speaker 1: I just don't fathom it. I mean, to me, it's
Speaker 1: just it doesn't make any kind of sense. And then
Speaker 1: how are you going to make up the twelve point
Speaker 1: nine million? I mean, how do you make good on that?
Speaker 1: I mean what kind of salary are you gonna are
Speaker 1: you're gonna, you know, ask for to make up for
Speaker 1: not only the twelve point nine but maybe the years
Speaker 1: that you could have been making a heck of a
Speaker 1: lot more than you were making the numbers you just
Speaker 1: are out there. You could have been, you know, doubling
Speaker 1: down on that for a while. So I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's to me. To me, I don't dig myself a
Speaker 1: deeper hole to have to try to make good on
Speaker 1: and make up for. I go play in H thirteen
Speaker 1: million a year. That's not an embarrassment. That'll that'll that'll
Speaker 1: buy a lot of groceries, There's no question about that.
Speaker 1: It'll pay pay a bunch of bills. So the Bengals
Speaker 1: go out and sang three veteran offensive linemen, rebuild the
Speaker 1: offensive line, and two of the three will not be
Speaker 1: able to practice to begin training camp. Alex Kappa and L. L. Collins,
Speaker 1: how serious do you think these things are and how
Speaker 1: quickly do they need to be back in order to
Speaker 1: develop that kind of offensive line chemistry you're trying to develop. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think that's the that's the thing, um,
Speaker 1: is that they can't be part of the UH. I
Speaker 1: think it'd be part of the meetings. But beyond the
Speaker 1: field where you're even even in drills that aren't live
Speaker 1: you know, just half speed drills or whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be, you're starting to coordinate the steps between each other.
Speaker 1: You're starting to coordinate the depth of the pass protection sets.
Speaker 1: You know, Oh boy, I better, I better take my
Speaker 1: set a little bit deeper or they'll be stunting to death.
Speaker 1: They'll penetrate that end and pick me off, and that
Speaker 1: my tack will be looping. And you just start to
Speaker 1: get a feel for everything. Um and also the all
Speaker 1: important communication. You know, sometimes it gets to a point
Speaker 1: where when you feel really comfortable with a guy, it's unspoken.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a blink of an eye, not a
Speaker 1: wink um, any kind of body language thing that you
Speaker 1: work out. It's like you'll be in the huddling and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be this is the call unless if I
Speaker 1: if I blink, I'm calling it off or I'm doing whatever.
Speaker 1: All of that stuff needs to take place a little bit,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't have to you want it to take
Speaker 1: place some in the game. But the repetitions are practice,
Speaker 1: is they're very important for that. Honestly, I wouldn't. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily play a whole lot of veterans a whole
Speaker 1: lot of playing time in any of the preseason games.
Speaker 1: I just wouldn't. I mean, you've got you've got something
Speaker 1: good going on here, and uh, you know, these guys
Speaker 1: all take care of themselves, they all work out hard,
Speaker 1: They're all going to be ready to play. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying to you know, to just let them all sit
Speaker 1: out training camp. You're gonna have to do uh, you
Speaker 1: know that that portion of things gets yourself physically and
Speaker 1: mentally ready. But in my mind, the two most important
Speaker 1: days of training camp are going to be the two
Speaker 1: days that they practice against the Rams, because that'll be
Speaker 1: a controlled environment where things will be, you know, pretty
Speaker 1: frisky and but not not a game situation where you're
Speaker 1: risking serious injury or whatever. But you can time things out,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's okay, it's live in the in
Speaker 1: the offensive and defensive line, but no tackling, you know,
Speaker 1: or it's live here, but we're not going to take
Speaker 1: it to the very end in terms of finishing plays.
Speaker 1: That's where I think those two days are going to
Speaker 1: be probably unbelievably important getting the team ready for the season,
Speaker 1: because it's against a really good team with really good
Speaker 1: people who won a Super Bowl. You know you played
Speaker 1: against them, you know how good they are. I think
Speaker 1: I think that those two days are proud. I don't
Speaker 1: think any of the veterans I need the team are
Speaker 1: going to play in that preseason, and I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody will see the field, so national television is going
Speaker 1: to have a little interesting story to tell there. But
Speaker 1: I do think that those workouts are going to be
Speaker 1: must see. I think those are going to be pretty
Speaker 1: pretty good. I think that's going to be a big,
Speaker 1: big barometer to the coaches seeing how ready the team
Speaker 1: is to start the season. So the big position battle
Speaker 1: going into training camp is left guard. Who will be
Speaker 1: the starting left guard? In your mind, is it Jackson
Speaker 1: Carmen's job to lose or is it more wide open
Speaker 1: than that. I mean, you have to have somebody, you
Speaker 1: have to line them up somehow, and I don't I
Speaker 1: don't think that it's necessarily his job to lose. I
Speaker 1: think it is pretty wide open. But but I think
Speaker 1: when whenever, if I'm in the situation that they're all
Speaker 1: in as a competitor, I want to have that first
Speaker 1: opportunity and not give it up, you know, to me
Speaker 1: defending that that spot it Okay, I'm lining up with
Speaker 1: the first group, I want to stay there. To me,
Speaker 1: that's a I'm not saying, an easier task, but mentally,
Speaker 1: I'd be feeling like I just need to do my job,
Speaker 1: and I need to do my job well. I don't
Speaker 1: need to try to do too much. I just need
Speaker 1: to do my job well. I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be very interesting. I'm impressed with Volson because I think
Speaker 1: he has the physical stuff, and he seems like he's
Speaker 1: a quick study. He seems like he's he's getting it
Speaker 1: picking him up pretty darn quickly. From what I can
Speaker 1: see out in the football field, It's like when when
Speaker 1: a coach tells a player or something, you know, you
Speaker 1: can you can tell if players are, you know, really
Speaker 1: kind of grasping it or hot by body language sometimes
Speaker 1: and then the very next snap, okay, did they make
Speaker 1: an adjustment. He's all that, I think, So I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be a very competitive situation. I think
Speaker 1: between between those two guys, you know, the real intriguing
Speaker 1: guy for me is Ben Brown because I think he
Speaker 1: showed that he's got the feet, he's got the hands,
Speaker 1: and those are the two things you have to have
Speaker 1: to compete athletically in anything. And good footwork to start
Speaker 1: you off, in hands to finish, and a lot of
Speaker 1: things in sports. And I think that's the case with
Speaker 1: him in his situation. I want to see shoulder pads
Speaker 1: and helmet. I want to see how he adapts mentally,
Speaker 1: how quick a study he is, all those all those
Speaker 1: kind of all those kind of variables will keep up,
Speaker 1: will Lee lag behind. It's going to be interesting to tell.
Speaker 1: He's a very interesting guy to me. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: they're looking at him necessarily to be a guard. I
Speaker 1: think he and Trey Hill are having a training camp battle.
Speaker 1: He and Trey Hill are basically backup center swing guard,
Speaker 1: you know, and which guy's going to be able to
Speaker 1: handle it. So if I'm Ben Brown, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: unsee Trey Hill. That's that's the first thing on my agenda.
Speaker 1: And if you continue to ascend and continue to show
Speaker 1: you can play. You know, who knows, maybe you do
Speaker 1: get an opportunity for more than that, but that that
Speaker 1: one is going to be a very good training camp
Speaker 1: battle in my mind to watch those two guys, and
Speaker 1: I don't project either one of them to be in
Speaker 1: the starting five. But you have to have versatility, you
Speaker 1: have to have position versatility, and who's going to show
Speaker 1: the most of that? I think a lot of us
Speaker 1: were surprised to see La L. Collins begin training camp
Speaker 1: on the non football injury list. Hopefully this back problem
Speaker 1: that he has is not too serious. But I was
Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised that Joseph Osai was not on the pop list.
Speaker 1: He's good to go. The knee is better, the rist
Speaker 1: is now better. That's very encouraging because he's a guy
Speaker 1: that potentially could have a huge impact now that he's healthy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and Dan, I mean they got so many younger guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, Collins is the old guy. Collins is going
Speaker 1: into his eighth year and he's had lower back problems before,
Speaker 1: So you know, is it an issue? Is it a
Speaker 1: congenital degenerative thing. I don't think they think it is um.
Speaker 1: I don't think they think it's anything major. I think
Speaker 1: they expect him to be back fairly quickly. But I think,
Speaker 1: quite honestly, if he weren't on that active, you know,
Speaker 1: pup list, I think that he would they would be
Speaker 1: treating him with veteran gloves. I think he'd be ta
Speaker 1: doing much anyway. So I don't think he's going to
Speaker 1: necessarily fall behind, um if he misses a day or two.
Speaker 1: But like we talked about before, lining up next to
Speaker 1: a guy and getting all the communication, all those kind
Speaker 1: of things is some is a plus. And if you're
Speaker 1: on those lists, you can't do that. So, um, you know,
Speaker 1: at some point in time you'd like to see him
Speaker 1: come back and start to be in the mix and
Speaker 1: that and that part of the process getting ready for
Speaker 1: the regular season. Um, but yeah, right now, UM, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's very very wise to play everything with
Speaker 1: him on the safe side right now and don't push anything.
Speaker 1: But when you start talking about back issues, those those
Speaker 1: things are are they can be very very tricky. So
Speaker 1: you want to curb it. You want to nip it
Speaker 1: in the BT as quickly as you possibly can. I
Speaker 1: want to circle back to Jesse Bates for a second.
Speaker 1: You played professionally for twelve years, so you went through
Speaker 1: contract negotiations, you had any of teammates obviously that had
Speaker 1: difficult contract negotiations. Are you all concerned about kind of
Speaker 1: a ripple effect among the locker room of a popular
Speaker 1: player who the Bengals were not able to extend That
Speaker 1: that can be an issue. I mean, you know a
Speaker 1: guy like Jesse Bates who's held in such high regard
Speaker 1: by his team, not only his teammates, to coaches and
Speaker 1: the organization, front office, management, everybody. And you know it's
Speaker 1: like Anthony Munos for example, when when Anthony Munos had
Speaker 1: made I don't know how many consecutive you know, Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl appearances and all pro recognitions, he had to hold
Speaker 1: out to get a contract done. And the feeling in
Speaker 1: the locker room was, man, if Anthony's holding out, what
Speaker 1: chance do I ever have of getting a second or
Speaker 1: a third contract. So there is a little bit of that,
Speaker 1: But you know, then the other business side of it is,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't overpay anywhere because there are other
Speaker 1: guys you have to sign as well. So it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a tough balancing act, but there is I think, ah,
Speaker 1: that's real that's that's not imaginary, that's that's real. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear guys saying Jesse needs to be here.
Speaker 1: You've already heard guys saying it, and I think I
Speaker 1: think that that's going to go more and more as
Speaker 1: time wears on if Jesse's not in camp. So I
Speaker 1: do think that's, uh, that's that's a little bit of
Speaker 1: you know, something that that needs to be handled. But
Speaker 1: I do also feel that this football team, even though
Speaker 1: it's young in terms of years service, it's very mature,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of their cohesiveness and understanding you know, um,
Speaker 1: the chemistry or what it takes to put a team
Speaker 1: together in the business aspect of it. When you you know,
Speaker 1: you kind of filter that into it as well. So
Speaker 1: I don't I don't think there's going to be any
Speaker 1: mutiny or you know, anything close to that. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think looking at anything like that. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's going to get contentious like that. But uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's always it's always something that you have
Speaker 1: to address because you know, if you ignore it, the
Speaker 1: infection starts to spread. I know training camp was brutal
Speaker 1: back when you played for as Greg was tough seven
Speaker 1: preseason games one year. But having said that, do you
Speaker 1: miss it? Yeah? I do. I mean, um, this time
Speaker 1: of year. I always felt like when I was a
Speaker 1: player that I was so fortunate to be able to
Speaker 1: do what I was about to embark on, you know.
Speaker 1: And and it's like they can't they can't ask me
Speaker 1: to do anything that I wouldn't. I'd be like, I'm
Speaker 1: definitely doing this. I think back to when you was six, seven,
Speaker 1: eight years old, you kide me you would have done
Speaker 1: you would have run through, you know, a house on
Speaker 1: fire to in a gasoline suit to play in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. And I always looked at it that way. Um,
Speaker 1: but there were there were some challenges, there were some
Speaker 1: some trying times, There's there's no question about it. And
Speaker 1: were there difficult periods, Yeah, for sure. Would would you
Speaker 1: do them all over again? Hell? Yeah, I do it again,
Speaker 1: and I do it again, and I do it again. Um.
Speaker 1: I guess that's just the nature of the beast. And
Speaker 1: I think I think that's what uh, you know, Zach
Speaker 1: and the organization's talking about. Where football there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things that you get. You're treated well as a
Speaker 1: professional football player, you're compensated well as a professional football player,
Speaker 1: but you've got to love the game. You got to
Speaker 1: love the grind of the game. You got to love
Speaker 1: the preparation you'd have to have for the game, both mentally,
Speaker 1: physically and all that. And I'll say that that time
Speaker 1: period there was most joyous time in my life. And
Speaker 1: even though training camp at the end of the at
Speaker 1: the end of the some of those days of training
Speaker 1: camp before you close your eyes because you sleep like
Speaker 1: a log. But I'd say, you know what, this is tough.
Speaker 1: This is a challenge, there's no doubt about. But there's
Speaker 1: no place ouse I'd rather be right now. That's going
Speaker 1: to do it. For this episode of The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: podcast presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast