Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on dan Board, and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast the Gotta give Me some dollars
Speaker 1: and cents dollars and cents audition as I discussed the
Speaker 1: Bengals free agent acquisitions with Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: Then you'll hear from one of those free agents, pass
Speaker 1: rusher Terrell Basham, who joined the team this week. Did
Speaker 1: you know that a Bengals player won the NFL Ping
Speaker 1: Pong title this offseason? I'll talk to him. And finally,
Speaker 1: it's the sixth edition of our three round NFL Expert
Speaker 1: Mock Draft. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
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Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since brisket. I
Speaker 1: am first team All Carnivore and my favorite meat is
Speaker 1: probably smoked brisket. That mouth watering, slow cooked cut of
Speaker 1: beef with just the right amount of fat for maximum flavor.
Speaker 1: It's not the healthiest thing on the menu, but hey,
Speaker 1: you only live once, and in my case, I probably
Speaker 1: won't live quite as long because of my love of brisket.
Speaker 1: Now time for my first guest. It's been nearly ten
Speaker 1: years since Chris Collinsworth purchased a majority stake in Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus and eventually moved the company to downtown Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I've had the chance to visit PFF headquarters on several occasions,
Speaker 1: and this week I caught up with one off's top
Speaker 1: NFL analysts, Sam Monson. Sam, let's start with the Bengal's
Speaker 1: biggest offseason acquisition, literally and figuratively, Orlando Brown Junior. They
Speaker 1: got a proven left tackle for four years sixty four mill.
Speaker 1: That's almost exactly what the Falcons gave safety Jesse Bates.
Speaker 1: Your reaction to that acquisition for Cincinnati, You know, obviously,
Speaker 1: I think it was clear quite early on in the
Speaker 1: process that they were never really going to give Jesse
Speaker 1: Bates the big extension. They were always sort of planning
Speaker 1: that he would depart at some point. They were going
Speaker 1: to play out the contract franchise tag him and then
Speaker 1: eventually he would move on. So from a sort of
Speaker 1: position value standpoint, it makes a ton of sense. Right,
Speaker 1: You've gone from a safety which is at the lower
Speaker 1: end of the value scale in terms of the impact
Speaker 1: that they can make on winning and losing games, and
Speaker 1: converted that into a left tackle, which is I think
Speaker 1: at the other end of the scale and probably even
Speaker 1: more valuable when you already have the likes of Joe
Speaker 1: Barrow and Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, like the other
Speaker 1: positions that are high up in that value hierarchy are
Speaker 1: already there and you want to make sure that that
Speaker 1: increases or the effect that those guys have is as
Speaker 1: big as it can possibly be. So I think it
Speaker 1: made a ton of sense. I don't think it was
Speaker 1: necessarily something they were planning on all the way, but
Speaker 1: once it became possible, I think it was a great
Speaker 1: signing for them and a deal, and when we look
Speaker 1: at some of the other tackle contracts that were signed,
Speaker 1: it's reasonably cheap. Totally agree. How does PFF view Orlando
Speaker 1: Brown Junior among the better tackles in the NFL? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he's always been a good, not great tackle,
Speaker 1: and that's both at right tackle and left tackle. But
Speaker 1: there's a ton of value in that. So he's never
Speaker 1: going to be a top five player at that position,
Speaker 1: but he's probably always going to be a top half
Speaker 1: player at that position and lock you in a guaranteed
Speaker 1: level of good play. And sort of ironically for a
Speaker 1: guy of his size and mentions, he's probably a better
Speaker 1: pass blocker than he is a run blocker and always
Speaker 1: has been. He's despite he's a very strange player because
Speaker 1: you know that the tape at Oklahoma was obviously really good.
Speaker 1: His workout was catastrophic, you know, one of the worst
Speaker 1: combined performances of any player ever, and then showed up
Speaker 1: and showed that it didn't matter. Like he can come
Speaker 1: into the NFL, whether it's right tackle, left tackle, whether
Speaker 1: it's two different offenses. He's always been good and he's
Speaker 1: been this consistent presence for them. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he's he's not a superstar, but he's a good starting
Speaker 1: left tackle. How do you view the options at right tackle,
Speaker 1: whether it's the guys on the roster or possibly somebody
Speaker 1: in the draft. Yeah, I don't know that they have
Speaker 1: that position locked up yet. Obviously Lyle Collins was supposed
Speaker 1: to be that guy. Between the injury and the fact
Speaker 1: that he wasn't really the player that he used to be,
Speaker 1: presumably due to you know, previous injuries just taking their toll.
Speaker 1: He hasn't. I don't think really solidified that spot. Jonah
Speaker 1: Will would be an interesting player to kick over the
Speaker 1: right tackle if they can keep him around instead of
Speaker 1: dissuade him from getting traded away. Other than that, I
Speaker 1: think that's the one spot along that offensive line where
Speaker 1: you look at it and say, we'd like to add
Speaker 1: another player there just to increase the chances of that
Speaker 1: spot is okay because we've seen the hakim idenergy, you know, real,
Speaker 1: We've seen how that works and they have to go
Speaker 1: to him at right tackle and it's not pretty. We'll
Speaker 1: see if you draft one later when we put you
Speaker 1: on the mock simulator and do a three round Bengals draft.
Speaker 1: Other significant signings for the Bengals safety Nick Scott he
Speaker 1: get a three year, twelve million dollar deal. Tight end
Speaker 1: Irf Smith, junior cornerback Sidney Jones, edge rusher Terrell Basham
Speaker 1: all got one year deals. Do any of those names
Speaker 1: move the needle for you? I really like the kind
Speaker 1: of shot to nothing that IRF Smith is. You know,
Speaker 1: he was a high draft pick from Minnesota, never really
Speaker 1: panned out for them, but just because of injuries. I
Speaker 1: mean every season you would hear those guys talk up
Speaker 1: the potential that IRF Smith Junior has in that offense
Speaker 1: and what he could be as a pass catcher. And
Speaker 1: it's a little bit like the Hayden Hurst move where
Speaker 1: you bring in a guy with this sort of former
Speaker 1: elite pedigree of status draft position that hadn't worked out
Speaker 1: in the NFL or hadn't been the player that he
Speaker 1: was supposed to be and see if you can kind
Speaker 1: of resurrect that. And I think there's a lot of
Speaker 1: mileage in that. When you have a Joe Burrow, you
Speaker 1: know you have an offense it's as good as the
Speaker 1: one that they have. It should raise the level of
Speaker 1: sort of bit part players, no matter who they are.
Speaker 1: And when you have a player getting their level raised
Speaker 1: who had sort of prior ability, I think it's a
Speaker 1: great gamble. Like if he if the same thing happens
Speaker 1: and he's the same player he was in Minnesota injured,
Speaker 1: not really a big part of the offense. It doesn't
Speaker 1: cost you an awful lot, but if you end up
Speaker 1: rediscovering the player that the Vikings thought they had for
Speaker 1: a few years, it's potentially a huge payoff of their
Speaker 1: own free agents. The one starter that they kept was
Speaker 1: linebacker Main Pratt, very reasonable deal, three years, twenty one mill.
Speaker 1: He got tremendous PFF grades last year, much higher than
Speaker 1: he had had previously. Do you view that as kind
Speaker 1: of an outlier situation or do you think he can
Speaker 1: sustain it? And if so, that would seem to be
Speaker 1: a great value signing to me. Yeah, that's a big question.
Speaker 1: He's like a sort of a light version of Tremaine
Speaker 1: Edmonds in terms of, you know, young player who had
Speaker 1: that career year was a big outlier relative to the
Speaker 1: rest of their NFL performance and very weighted towards coverage.
Speaker 1: You know, he made a lot of big plays in
Speaker 1: coverage versus the run and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So for both those guys, I think you always have
Speaker 1: questions about what that's going to be going forward when
Speaker 1: it is such a big departure from previous because you
Speaker 1: can look at it in two ways. You can either say, well,
Speaker 1: this is just how long it took for the light
Speaker 1: to go on, which I think is a valid argument
Speaker 1: for linebackers. Today's NFL is a nightmare world for off
Speaker 1: the ball linebackers. Those guys are put in a bind
Speaker 1: every single play. They're being stretched vertically horizontally. They're having
Speaker 1: to contend with runs that look like passes passes that
Speaker 1: look like runs. It's a horrible position to play right now.
Speaker 1: I think that's why when you look at PF grading,
Speaker 1: there's very few linebackers that are grading well right now.
Speaker 1: And I don't think it's necessarily because the linebackers are
Speaker 1: worse than they were, you know, ten years ago. It's
Speaker 1: because the position is a lot harder than it used
Speaker 1: to be and the grading hasn't adjusted to reflect that.
Speaker 1: So you can look at it that way, or you
Speaker 1: can say it's a career year. It's coming, you know,
Speaker 1: after a few years of bad play. It's largely in coverage,
Speaker 1: which we know is a volatile, dependent type of facet
Speaker 1: of play. Maybe we should just be a bit more
Speaker 1: careful about that. And for Pratt, I think the deal
Speaker 1: he got like that's exactly the kind of gamble I
Speaker 1: would happily take. It's reasonably low priced, you can bank
Speaker 1: on the idea that maybe the light did go on
Speaker 1: versus Tremaine Edmonds, where you're giving him top of the
Speaker 1: market deal and hoping the same thing. It's true. We're
Speaker 1: chatting with Sammonson from Pro Football Focus. They lost Bell
Speaker 1: and Bates, they lost tight end Hayden Hurst, they lost
Speaker 1: running back some J P. Ryan. Is there anybody on
Speaker 1: that list that you think is going to be really
Speaker 1: hard to replace? Not really, I think. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates replacing him and in particular, you know, losing
Speaker 1: both safety safeties at the same time is potentially problematic.
Speaker 1: But they knew Bates was going to be gone very
Speaker 1: early on. Maybe they thought they would keep von Bell
Speaker 1: and try and keep that intact, so that losing both
Speaker 1: of them I think has the potential to cause some hiccups.
Speaker 1: You know, Dax and Hill should be able to come
Speaker 1: in and at least future proof one of those spots,
Speaker 1: but trying to replace both of your starting safeties at
Speaker 1: the same time as at least not ideal. But they're
Speaker 1: all replaceable players. You know, they're either at positions that
Speaker 1: are reasonably low value, or they're players that weren't stellar
Speaker 1: to begin with. So I think those are just the
Speaker 1: moves you have to make when you you know you're
Speaker 1: planning where the money is going to go on a roster,
Speaker 1: you know, locking up a ton of cash in either
Speaker 1: the big free agents that they've got this year or
Speaker 1: Joe Borrow, jamar Chetti's those guys going forwards. So extending
Speaker 1: Burrow is obviously the number one priority. It's going to
Speaker 1: cost more than fifty million dollars a year. Are you
Speaker 1: of the mind that it's even possible to sign Burrow
Speaker 1: and keep both Higgins and Chase? Yeah, So there's there's
Speaker 1: a couple of different parts of that. There's the is
Speaker 1: it possible from a salary camp standpoint? And then the
Speaker 1: second part is it possible from just a cash outlay standpoint?
Speaker 1: You know? But the Bengals are a team that doesn't
Speaker 1: play in the world of the the Walton family or
Speaker 1: the you know, the the Cronkys, where they have just
Speaker 1: unlimited billions sitting around to deploy anytime they want. They
Speaker 1: probably have to think about the amount of cash that
Speaker 1: has to get thrown into an escrow when you sign
Speaker 1: every one of these giant contracts. So that is its
Speaker 1: own question that I have no part of. I don't
Speaker 1: see the accounts from a salary camp standpoint, it's doable.
Speaker 1: It's obviously challenging, and you can only sign so many
Speaker 1: of those big deals, But when you look at where
Speaker 1: they have the money allocated, it's in the right kind
Speaker 1: of places. You know that if you were saying you
Speaker 1: only have four or five big contracts to hand out,
Speaker 1: everybody else has got to be playing on low end
Speaker 1: of the market money. They would be signing them in
Speaker 1: the right areas quarterback, number one wide receiver, maybe number
Speaker 1: two wide receiver, pass rusher, left tackle, like they're ticking
Speaker 1: off the right spot. So I think if they want
Speaker 1: to keep those three guys around, they can do it.
Speaker 1: It's probably more likely that they just keep the two,
Speaker 1: you know, Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow and maybe te
Speaker 1: Higgins they sort of played out the same way that
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates was played out. Or if somebody phones up
Speaker 1: with a trade offer involving a number one draft pick,
Speaker 1: maybe that changes the dynamic. So we're several weeks before
Speaker 1: the draft, most of free agency is behind us. Do
Speaker 1: you feel better about the Bengals Super Bowl chances going
Speaker 1: into this coming season then you did going into last season?
Speaker 1: I liked what they did last year. I thought they
Speaker 1: played saw season extremely intelligently. I think it would have
Speaker 1: been very easy to kind of get lost in their
Speaker 1: own hype and say, we made the super Bowl. You know,
Speaker 1: we're heading in the right direction. Everything's good, we don't
Speaker 1: need to do anything crazy. But they understood that that
Speaker 1: offensive line needed serious work if they were even going
Speaker 1: to get bank, you know, in the same kind of position.
Speaker 1: And I think by and large, they were a better
Speaker 1: team this year than they were the year before. So
Speaker 1: I was very high on them going into last season.
Speaker 1: I think at the moment, I'm probably in the same
Speaker 1: kind of area. I think they've done good work. I
Speaker 1: like the Orlando Brown edition. I think generally they they've
Speaker 1: kind of between the players that they've let go the
Speaker 1: players they brought in, they've probably treaded water. And now
Speaker 1: we get to see what the draft brings and we
Speaker 1: will see who you will pick in a three round
Speaker 1: mock simulator Bengals Draft coming up a little bit later
Speaker 1: on the podcast. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals,
Speaker 1: with more than one hundred and twenty care facility and
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred care providers. Kettering Health is committed to guiding
Speaker 1: you to your best health. Visit Kettering health dot org
Speaker 1: to learn more. The Bengals have signed six free agents
Speaker 1: from other organizations so far, the latest being edge rusher
Speaker 1: Terrell Basham. He's six four, two hundred and sixty five
Speaker 1: pounds and a former Ohio Bobcat. He was the MAC
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year in two sixteen, when he
Speaker 1: led the conference in sacks with eleven and a half.
Speaker 1: Basham was drafted by the Colts and has also played
Speaker 1: for the Jets, Cowboys, and Titans in his six NFL seasons.
Speaker 1: I caught up with him on Thursday throughout when you
Speaker 1: agreed to your deal with the Bengals. Recently, your agent
Speaker 1: tweeted back home with an exclamation point. You're from Virginia,
Speaker 1: but you went to Ohio University. Just being back in
Speaker 1: the state of Ohio feel like home to you. Yeah, Honestly,
Speaker 1: I gotta say it does, because I have played football
Speaker 1: and mcgie since I was eight, you know, But the
Speaker 1: moment in my life when I feel like I came
Speaker 1: alive was definitely an Ohio University. You know and something
Speaker 1: about playing football in Ohio. It was special. Your defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator at Ohio was Jimmy Burrow, Joe's dad. Joe was
Speaker 1: playing quarterback in high school when you were going to college.
Speaker 1: Describe your relationship with Joe and Jimmy and the Burrow family.
Speaker 1: Coach Burrow was my coordinated all four years. And I
Speaker 1: did get a chance to him and UH coach William
Speaker 1: Jesse Williams, both of their sons both played at at
Speaker 1: Athens High School at the time, So I had a
Speaker 1: chance to see I had a chance because a couple
Speaker 1: of games in high school, and you know, they would
Speaker 1: always talk about him. We read about him, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Locally, you know you you would hear
Speaker 1: about him like he was. He was that guy to
Speaker 1: a young age, you know what I'm saying, always clutching
Speaker 1: the most clutch moments. So when his career took off
Speaker 1: at LSU and he won the Heisman and he won
Speaker 1: the national championship, did you feel kind of like an
Speaker 1: insider having seen him a little bit in high school. Yeah, honestly,
Speaker 1: like I didn't feel like an insider, Like I was
Speaker 1: honest like a fan at that point. You know I was.
Speaker 1: I was always a fan of him. But you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, like because like I knew like the
Speaker 1: potentially hit you know, he he he went to Ohio State.
Speaker 1: You know he was clearly like a talented guy. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying from from from a very good age.
Speaker 1: When he got on that stage and did what he did,
Speaker 1: I think he earned the world's respect. You know, no
Speaker 1: question about that. We're visiting with Terrell Basham. You're twenty nine,
Speaker 1: You've got six NFL seasons under your belt. What appealed
Speaker 1: to you about Cincinnati? Um tis to win? Uh, Like
Speaker 1: you said, tend to get back in Ohio play football again.
Speaker 1: You know, an opportunity, you know what I'm saying, to
Speaker 1: show that I'm hungry that I can kind of trush.
Speaker 1: We'll get to the quarterback. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I can contribute to a playoff team and a super
Speaker 1: Bowl team. You're the all time record holder for sacks
Speaker 1: at Ohio you with twenty nine and a half. You've
Speaker 1: got eleven so far in the NFL plus five forced fumbles.
Speaker 1: Is that past rushing ability the biggest thing that you
Speaker 1: feel you bring to Cincinnati? That and like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: a I'm a very like energy. I'm a big energy guy.
Speaker 1: Like so I push the energy. I'm a bit I
Speaker 1: ort to carry myself. You know what I'm saying. I'd
Speaker 1: be good around the young guys. I have the young guys,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, prepaired mentally on the mental side,
Speaker 1: you know, for what's to come through a season. You know,
Speaker 1: the Bengals already have great leadership, you know, and uh
Speaker 1: and the guys that they have and on the on
Speaker 1: the program already. I'm kind I'm just happy to be
Speaker 1: a part of it. So, Terrell, your first NFL sack
Speaker 1: was against the Bengals at pay Court Stadium when you
Speaker 1: were rookie with the Colts. Do you remember it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember. I was on the right side. I came off,
Speaker 1: just gave like a little speed to power move on
Speaker 1: the left tackle and think the quarterback with Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: at the toe, that is correct, down went the red rifle.
Speaker 1: So the Colts drafted you in the third round back
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. And here are some of the past
Speaker 1: rushers from your draft, Miles Garrett, T. J. Watt, Hassan Reddick,
Speaker 1: Carl Lawson and your new teammate Trey Hendrickson. Is it
Speaker 1: a point of pride to be part of that draft
Speaker 1: class and doesn't motivate you? It was, definitely it's to
Speaker 1: be a part of that class, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I feel like I was a big class as far
Speaker 1: as rush. We're still a lot of us in the lead,
Speaker 1: still making noise, you know. So I'm just trying to
Speaker 1: sway Hey, I'm still here in the league and say,
Speaker 1: have you had any contact with any of your new teammates? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I talked to uh. However, he reached out to me
Speaker 1: on Instagram and gave me his number and told me
Speaker 1: if I need anything, let me know because he's a
Speaker 1: Cincinnati guy. So actually saw trade when I went in
Speaker 1: for my visit. So you got a taste of the
Speaker 1: playoffs with the Cowboys a couple of years ago. Did
Speaker 1: that wet your appetite to be on an NFL contender? Well, definitely.
Speaker 1: You know, I spent the enough of years on teams
Speaker 1: that weren't even looking to go to the playoffs at
Speaker 1: the end of the year, and then that right, that
Speaker 1: like being on a winning team is nothing like it.
Speaker 1: Nothing like winning It's nothing like being a part of
Speaker 1: something that you feel special like that. You know, I
Speaker 1: see that these these guys been, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: win to both strong for the past two years for sure,
Speaker 1: and they're booting will they got a great quarterback, They're
Speaker 1: they're booting around, and I see nothing but good things
Speaker 1: in the tut I know you had a thigh injury
Speaker 1: last year and only played in seven games. That's not
Speaker 1: ideal going into free agency. Do you feel like you
Speaker 1: have anything to prove? My hoath is one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: But as far as I always always feel like I
Speaker 1: have something to prove. You know, you have a small
Speaker 1: school guy, you know, come out of a mat always
Speaker 1: kind of well. Bengals fans are excited to have you,
Speaker 1: look forward to getting to know you better and I
Speaker 1: appreciate your time today. Congratulations on signing with Cincinnati. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers
Speaker 1: trust pay Corps to help them recruit, pay engage, and
Speaker 1: retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. My next
Speaker 1: guest is a free agent who is staying with the
Speaker 1: Bengals after signing a one year extension wide receiver and
Speaker 1: punt returner Trent Taylor, who added another title to his
Speaker 1: resume this offseason. Trent, let me start with congratulations, not
Speaker 1: for the contract extension, We'll get to that, but for
Speaker 1: winning the Battle of the Paddles, the Procter and Gamble
Speaker 1: sponsored NFL Player Ping Pong Championship at the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: that you won. How did you get involved? Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was like three days before the tournament started and my
Speaker 1: marketing lady just hit me up. She was like, do
Speaker 1: you play ping pong? Yes? Yes, I played a little
Speaker 1: bit of ping pong, but yeah, So then I flew
Speaker 1: out there and did the tournament, won the whole thing.
Speaker 1: It was a great time. So you beat Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: in the semifinals, you beat Christian McCaffrey for the championship.
Speaker 1: The level of ping pong was excelent. I watched it
Speaker 1: on YouTube. People that are interested in this, just look
Speaker 1: up Battle of the Paddles. You can find the whole telecast.
Speaker 1: When did you start playing? And as far as you know,
Speaker 1: is this a staple now of NFL locker rooms? I
Speaker 1: think it's definitely a staple. I think it's like become
Speaker 1: more and more popular, you know. I remember we used
Speaker 1: to play it all the time and San Francisco and
Speaker 1: then come here to Cincinnati and everybody's playing it here
Speaker 1: in the locker room too. And then you talk to
Speaker 1: guys around the NFL, you you learned that everyone kind
Speaker 1: of has a ping pong table in the locker room.
Speaker 1: It's just such an easy sport to play, just you know,
Speaker 1: hanging out with the guys playing ping pong. It's a blast.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I've played for a long time. My
Speaker 1: grandfather used to play in a league growing up, so
Speaker 1: then we would go watch him sometimes and we would
Speaker 1: play against him, and he would always he would always
Speaker 1: beat us, no problem. And he he was like seventy
Speaker 1: something years old. We still couldn't touch him. So that's
Speaker 1: I guess that's kind of where we started playing it.
Speaker 1: Me and my brother and my cousins all grown up.
Speaker 1: We always played it. So, yeah, something I've always played
Speaker 1: for a long time. How did your Bengals teammates react
Speaker 1: or they saw that you won the NFL Battle of
Speaker 1: the Paddles. There a lot of them hit me up there,
Speaker 1: like we knew that was gonna happen and something like
Speaker 1: Mitch Wilcox. He was kind of mad he didn't get
Speaker 1: invited because like me and him, we always go back
Speaker 1: and forth together. Yeah, a couple of my friends that
Speaker 1: I know across the NFL that weren't invited. They were
Speaker 1: kind of pissed because they, you know, they've beat me before,
Speaker 1: but I usually beat them. But they were like, dude,
Speaker 1: I would have beat you. Blah blah blah. A lot
Speaker 1: of trash talk going on. So it was good. Though.
Speaker 1: We're sitting here in front of your locker. The gigantic
Speaker 1: Championship belt that you received is not on display, at
Speaker 1: least not yet. Will it make its way to Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should just for bragging rights in the locker
Speaker 1: room and make sure you know nobody gets about that.
Speaker 1: It's in my It's in my man cave at the
Speaker 1: house right now. But that might be a good idea
Speaker 1: to bring it out. Of course, then they might want
Speaker 1: to play you for it. It's not up for sale.
Speaker 1: It's not up for sale. Visiting with Trent Taylor. Let's
Speaker 1: get to the contract. When the news broke that you
Speaker 1: were going to stay in Cincinnati on a one year extension,
Speaker 1: you tweeted, year seven right where I want to be.
Speaker 1: Did you go into this phase of free agency thinking,
Speaker 1: if the Bengals make a good offer, I'd like to stay,
Speaker 1: or did you owe it to yourself to see everything
Speaker 1: that might be out there. Yeah. I mean from the
Speaker 1: beginning of free agency, I knew I wanted to come back,
Speaker 1: and you know everything that they were telling me in
Speaker 1: my agent and they said they wanted me back, and
Speaker 1: you know, I was hoping for a little bit more money,
Speaker 1: which you know everyone does. I guess so, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't even really listen to offers from other teams.
Speaker 1: I was as long as they gave me something decent,
Speaker 1: I was going to take it. So, yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: that's what happened. I'm glad it happened. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was trying to get it done as soon as
Speaker 1: possible because I knew this was exactly where I wanted
Speaker 1: to be. Last year, you played in all nineteen games,
Speaker 1: including the postseason. You were the only Bengals player to
Speaker 1: return a punt and finished third in the NFL and
Speaker 1: punt return yardage. What did you think of your season?
Speaker 1: If you told me my stats before the season, I
Speaker 1: would I would be like, Yeah, that would be great.
Speaker 1: I would love to have that kind of season. But
Speaker 1: you know, I was having a great year and kind
Speaker 1: of started my stats card started falling off a little
Speaker 1: bit towards the end of the season, which I wish
Speaker 1: wouldn't have happened. I wish it would have kind of
Speaker 1: kept going up. But you know, I definitely learned a
Speaker 1: lot about myself, learned learned a lot more about returning punts,
Speaker 1: and so I think it's gonna be great for me
Speaker 1: going into this next year. I think I learned a
Speaker 1: lot from last season. You've been a Bengal for two years.
Speaker 1: You went to the super Bowl in year one, in
Speaker 1: the AFC Championship game in year two. How much has
Speaker 1: this at your appetite to try to get back. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We these two years in Cincinnati have been have been crazy,
Speaker 1: Like you said, the super Bowl and the AFC Championship,
Speaker 1: And I think that's just kind of the standard around here. Now.
Speaker 1: We know that we'll always have that team to compete
Speaker 1: and you know, win playoff games as long as we
Speaker 1: got Joe Burrow back there. Obviously. You know, there's a
Speaker 1: great nucleus of guys that we got here in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I'm happy to be a part
Speaker 1: of it and I'm ready to go once more playoff games.
Speaker 1: Is it that simple that when you have a Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow one of those guys, you figure we're gonna be
Speaker 1: in the mix every year for the most part. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what you You know, there's only so many guys
Speaker 1: in the NFL that are game changers, like like Joe is,
Speaker 1: And uh, it's not something that you can teach. It's
Speaker 1: either you kind of either have that it factor about
Speaker 1: yourself or you don't. So whenever you have a guy
Speaker 1: like that on your team, you I mean, as an organization,
Speaker 1: I'm sure they know we got nine back there, and
Speaker 1: so they're trying to connect every piece possible, you know,
Speaker 1: putting you know, putting it all on the table right
Speaker 1: now to make these Super Bowl runs continue and eventually
Speaker 1: win one. The Bengal surprised many of us by signing
Speaker 1: the best available free agent offensive linemen in Orlando Brown.
Speaker 1: Were you surprised? Every year? You're kind of surprised of
Speaker 1: what happens because you know, everyone kind of has in
Speaker 1: their head what they think will happen. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, we really don't know the details
Speaker 1: of everything that goes on in the front offices. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's so many moving parts that go into every
Speaker 1: every free agent move. Every little detail in the off
Speaker 1: season changes changes another one. So there's always moving parts.
Speaker 1: There's always moves that will happen that are surprising to hear,
Speaker 1: surprising to see. So I think that's just part of
Speaker 1: the NFL. You never know what's going to happen, and
Speaker 1: you just got to keep moving with it. As an
Speaker 1: offensive player. What's your reaction to landing a four time
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl left tackle. I mean, that's you can't ask
Speaker 1: for anything better than that. Obviously, he's going to be,
Speaker 1: you know, a guy like that. There's no doubt he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a leader in this locker room and on
Speaker 1: this team, just from the experience that he has as
Speaker 1: a left tackle and all the success that he's had
Speaker 1: as a player and playing for the Chiefs obviously. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to meeting him and getting to know
Speaker 1: him and watching him lead this team. I mentioned your
Speaker 1: tweet earlier that began with year seven. You're five eight,
Speaker 1: one eighty one. There are guys your size in the NFL,
Speaker 1: but not Manny, what's it mean to you now to
Speaker 1: be going into your seventh NFL season and to have
Speaker 1: overcome the odds that go with being your size. It
Speaker 1: means a lot, man it. Um. You know, if you
Speaker 1: would have told me I was gonna be like my
Speaker 1: rookie year, when somebody tells me they're in year seven
Speaker 1: or eight or something like that, it would just like
Speaker 1: blow my mind because that's like seemed like light years away.
Speaker 1: But I mean, here I am somehow, by the grace
Speaker 1: of God, I'm still playing, still living my dream. I'm
Speaker 1: still doing what I love to do. And you know,
Speaker 1: been been through a lot of ups and downs in
Speaker 1: the NFL, but it's about just getting back up and
Speaker 1: you know, controlling everything that you can control as a
Speaker 1: player and not getting lost in the you know, the
Speaker 1: emotions of the game of like maybe losing a starting
Speaker 1: spot or you know, I went to practice squad my
Speaker 1: first year here. Um. You know, I think the guys
Speaker 1: who just learned how to control what they can control
Speaker 1: are the ones that make it far in the NFL.
Speaker 1: So that's that's what I've been trying to do. So
Speaker 1: in addition to the battle for the paddle in Arizona.
Speaker 1: Have you been up to in the offseason. I just
Speaker 1: got back from Hawaii not too long ago. When I
Speaker 1: was I was negotiating the contract, it was like five am,
Speaker 1: Hawaii times, and you know, my agent's blowing me up
Speaker 1: at five am. I'm like, dude, I'm on vacation right now.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to trying to sleep. But you know, you
Speaker 1: get up early and do negotiations, you know, with the Bengals.
Speaker 1: So it's good. We finally got it done. Got to
Speaker 1: enjoy vacation a little bit. So yeah, it was a
Speaker 1: good time. It's a good way to see the Hawaii sunrises,
Speaker 1: get up, negotiate a new deal, and here it comes
Speaker 1: the sun. It really was. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: You get up early, negotiate a deal, you know, get
Speaker 1: everything confirmed, and then you go enjoy the day. So
Speaker 1: it was a good time. It'll be something I always
Speaker 1: remember for sure. Congratulations on the extension. Great to have
Speaker 1: you back. I hope you bring the championship belt. I'd
Speaker 1: like to see it in person. I think I'll do
Speaker 1: that now that you keep asking, Yeah, I'll do that.
Speaker 1: I'll do that for you. The Bengals Booth By podcast
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals.
Speaker 1: There free to play with tickets and sign merchandise up
Speaker 1: for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Now time
Speaker 1: for our sixth edition of the three round mock Draft
Speaker 1: with an NFL expert. Here's the concept. When I attended
Speaker 1: the NFL Combine several weeks ago, I had the Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus Mock Draft simulator set up on my laptop
Speaker 1: and invited several NFL experts to make the Bengals picks
Speaker 1: in the first three rounds while discussing their options. If
Speaker 1: you've never tried a draft simulator before, it allows you
Speaker 1: to play GM for as many rounds of the draft
Speaker 1: as you want. The simulator begins making picks in order,
Speaker 1: and then when it's your turn, you can make trades
Speaker 1: or go ahead and pick. It's a great way to
Speaker 1: get to know the players who might be available when
Speaker 1: the Bengals are on the clock later this month. So far,
Speaker 1: our experts have chosen the following players in the first round.
Speaker 1: Two have selected Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid. Two others
Speaker 1: have picked Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks, and one chose Oregon
Speaker 1: State tight end Luke Musgrave. In the second round, two
Speaker 1: experts picked Northwestern defensive lineman at A Tommy wa at
Speaker 1: A bare and the other picks were Washington State linebacker
Speaker 1: Dayon Henley, Syracuse offensive tackle Matthew Bergeron and Illinois safety
Speaker 1: Sydney Brown. And in the third round, there have been
Speaker 1: five different picks Iowa tight end Sam Laporta, byu offensive
Speaker 1: tackle Blake Freeland, Maryland cornerback Jakoyan Bennett, UAB running back
Speaker 1: Dwayne McBride, and Texas A and M running back Devon
Speaker 1: a Chain. After you make your picks on the simulator,
Speaker 1: PFF gives you a grade, and the highest marks so
Speaker 1: far have been a pair of A minuses for Dane
Speaker 1: Burgler of the Athlete and Austin Gale from the Ringer.
Speaker 1: Now time for contestant number six. All right, time for
Speaker 1: our next version of the three round mock draft with
Speaker 1: an NFL expert, Sam Monson, who we heard earlier on
Speaker 1: the podcast from Pro Football Focus, has the simulator in
Speaker 1: front of him. You have an advantage compared to some
Speaker 1: of the previous people that have done this in that
Speaker 1: you work at PF. You know how to get a
Speaker 1: good grade on this, but in any case, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you're going to make your picks appropriately based on who
Speaker 1: goes off the board. So we will hit start draft.
Speaker 1: We'll see some of the people as they are selected.
Speaker 1: Bryce Young going number one overall to the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: The quarterbacks are flying off the board. CJ. Stroud was
Speaker 1: a top ten pick. We are up to pick number seventeen,
Speaker 1: seeing some wide receivers and skill position talent go off
Speaker 1: the board. Kalijah Kancie just was taken number twenty one.
Speaker 1: That's a name that a lot of Bengals fans are
Speaker 1: intrigued by. Deante Banks just selected number twenty seven by Buffalo.
Speaker 1: That's been a guy that a couple of our previous
Speaker 1: experts have taken at number twenty eight. You do not
Speaker 1: have that option. What do you think of some of
Speaker 1: the guys that have just been selected and some of
Speaker 1: your options. I mean, this was an unusual draft, right
Speaker 1: looking at the just the top there we got Bryce Young,
Speaker 1: will Anderson was our number one two. So the Houston
Speaker 1: Texans did the thing that started to come up recently,
Speaker 1: which is maybe they don't take a quarterback at number two.
Speaker 1: Christian Gonzalez number three This is a very strange top
Speaker 1: of the draft. I gotta say it's he's number one
Speaker 1: on the remaining board right now. But the idea of
Speaker 1: putting Dalton Kincaid in the Cincinnati offense is incredible to me.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think Kinkaid is by far
Speaker 1: the best tight end in this draft. And I didn't
Speaker 1: expect to think that when I went into the tape
Speaker 1: of all the tight ends. I expected to like Michael
Speaker 1: Mayer much more than I like Kincaid because of almost
Speaker 1: how those two guys were being billed sort of one
Speaker 1: dimensional pass catcher versus the all around, sort of throwback
Speaker 1: Rob Gronkowski style of tight end. But I actually think
Speaker 1: Kinkaid is so much better as a pass catching option
Speaker 1: that you know, given that the Bengals can deploy multiple
Speaker 1: tight ends already, Kincaid in this offense could put that
Speaker 1: to something to to a completely different level. Dalton Kincaid
Speaker 1: graded number fifteen overall by PF. That's your pick. Anton
Speaker 1: Harrison was still there on the board, but you elect
Speaker 1: to go with the tight end. Do you think he
Speaker 1: will be there at number twenty eight? I don't. I
Speaker 1: think there's too many teams in the middle of the
Speaker 1: first round and in the twenties that have a need
Speaker 1: to tight end. I think he's too special of a
Speaker 1: player at that spot. I'd be amazed if you last
Speaker 1: as far as the Bengals pick. So Sam joins two
Speaker 1: of our previous experts, Pete Prisco and Charles Davis in
Speaker 1: selecting Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid. He's obviously been available
Speaker 1: on the PFF simulator, but on most of the recent
Speaker 1: mock drafts I've looked at he has gone before picked
Speaker 1: number twenty eight. Lan Zerline from NFL dot Com has
Speaker 1: Dalton going fifteenth to the Packers, and in his latest
Speaker 1: mock draft for CBS, Pete Prisco has the Utah tight
Speaker 1: end going eighteenth to Detroit. Daniel Jeremiah from the NFL
Speaker 1: Network now ranks Dalton kincaide as the ninth overall player
Speaker 1: in this year's class. Now time to find out who's
Speaker 1: Sam Monson selected in round two. The Bengals have picked
Speaker 1: number sixty and Cincinnati is now on the clock. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we've got Tank Dell, the wide receiver from Houston,
Speaker 1: is a really intriguing player, a guy that I am
Speaker 1: a lot higher on than a lot of other people.
Speaker 1: He was my number four wide receiver in this draft,
Speaker 1: whereas I think a lot of people would have him
Speaker 1: seven eight nine something like that. We've had I think
Speaker 1: a bit of a run on cornerbacks based off the
Speaker 1: guys that are left. We've got Julius Brents from Kansas State,
Speaker 1: who's ranked number fifty one on the PFF Big Board.
Speaker 1: We've had a lot of the interior offensive linemen taken.
Speaker 1: The tackles are all pretty much gone. If you were
Speaker 1: looking for a right tackle, I think you're probably gonna
Speaker 1: struggle at this spot. I think based off his tape overall,
Speaker 1: based off his absurd measurements, Julius Brands is probably the
Speaker 1: pick at corner. This guy is six foot three, incredible wingspan,
Speaker 1: incredible movement skills for a guy that big. A lot
Speaker 1: like a season ago, we were talking about Terrek Woollin
Speaker 1: and how there's it's pointless trying to come up with
Speaker 1: comps for him because based off that athletic profile, there
Speaker 1: are no comps. Nobody's ever done that before. Brents is
Speaker 1: putting up similar numbers. I mean, he has various athletic
Speaker 1: measurements in the ninety nine one hundred percentile, completely unprecedented
Speaker 1: for a guy that size. So I think at this
Speaker 1: point number sixty well worth the spot. Do you view
Speaker 1: cornerback as a deep position in this draft? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it is. It's it's a lot like wide receiver
Speaker 1: to me, which is it's maybe not incredible at the
Speaker 1: very top end, like you hear a lot with this
Speaker 1: wide receiver class. There's no Jamar Chase in this draft class,
Speaker 1: and I think the top receiver in a lot of
Speaker 1: the last previous drafts would be the top receiver in
Speaker 1: this draft class. I feel the same way with corner
Speaker 1: There's no Sauce Gardner, there's no Derek Stingley in terms
Speaker 1: of quality of prospect, but I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of strength in depth, and I think that this is
Speaker 1: the first couple of rounds have a lot of players
Speaker 1: that maybe they can't be superstar number one corners, but
Speaker 1: I think they can be quality starters in your offense
Speaker 1: or in your defense rather whether it's the boundary spot
Speaker 1: opposite you know, a true number one, or the slot.
Speaker 1: I think there's quite a lot of slot defenders in
Speaker 1: this class. Here's the lowdown on cornerback. Julius Brent's. He
Speaker 1: does not have great speed. He ran a four or
Speaker 1: five three forty at the combine, but he still has
Speaker 1: an elite R as a relative athletic score because he's
Speaker 1: huge for a corner at sixty three with thirty four
Speaker 1: inch arms, and he's explosive. Brents had a forty one
Speaker 1: and a half inch vertical at the combine. The twenty
Speaker 1: three year old started his college career at Iowa before
Speaker 1: transferring to kay State. He had six interceptions in his
Speaker 1: college career, including four last season. Now let's get to
Speaker 1: Sam Monson's third and final pick. So you have added
Speaker 1: a pass catcher in tight end Dalton Kincaid. You have
Speaker 1: added a cornerback and Julius Brents from Kansas State. Now
Speaker 1: we move on to the bengals third pick, third round
Speaker 1: pick number ninety two. Overall, we see names going off
Speaker 1: the aboard right now, including Blake Freeland, the offensive tackle
Speaker 1: from BYU. I'm sure that's somebody. The Bengals fans are
Speaker 1: intrigued by Spears, the running back from tul And I
Speaker 1: saw him destroy the UC Bearcats this past year. So
Speaker 1: we are now on the clock with pick number ninety two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So You're right. A lot of players there went that
Speaker 1: I think would be intriguing options for Cincinnati. Blake Freeland
Speaker 1: I think would be a really interesting one. He's the
Speaker 1: guy where you think of as a potential mid round
Speaker 1: tackle that could come in and has higher upside than
Speaker 1: just being a body or a backup player, could potentially
Speaker 1: be a legitimate starter. So that's not great seeing him go.
Speaker 1: Really at this spot, you're kind of playing the board,
Speaker 1: I think, and you're just entirely at the mercy of
Speaker 1: who's available, who you think can be a high end player.
Speaker 1: I think Trevias Hodges Thomlinson is a very interesting cornerback option,
Speaker 1: a guy that would play the slot and be a
Speaker 1: high level player. Nick Herbig, the edge rusher from Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: I think Cincinnati would be smart to start to future
Speaker 1: proof that defensive line. Isaiah McGuire, the edge rusher from Missouri,
Speaker 1: is another guy I think that can come in and
Speaker 1: very early on have a situational role and set a
Speaker 1: hard edge and those kinds of things. And then I
Speaker 1: think running is a spot where you're probably looking at
Speaker 1: in the mid rounds. A lot of those guys have
Speaker 1: already flown off the board, but as Shan Tucker from
Speaker 1: Syracuse is a real home run type of hitter. I
Speaker 1: think there's definitely options, and then at some point everybody's
Speaker 1: going to have to ask the question of when is
Speaker 1: Keshawn Boute value? Like he his tape when he was
Speaker 1: on not last year, but the year before that is
Speaker 1: incredibly good. He's a wide receiver from LSU. Right, He's
Speaker 1: a really smooth route runner, smooth mover, has the skill set.
Speaker 1: And then last year's tape wasn't great, his workouts were worse,
Speaker 1: and it generally sort of looks like a kind of
Speaker 1: relative lack of want to versus some of these other guys.
Speaker 1: But at some point the upside there is incredibly tantalizing.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was supposed to be the next one
Speaker 1: of those LSU receivers after Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, who
Speaker 1: could step in and you know, be an elite player.
Speaker 1: Maybe this spot of the third round is a little
Speaker 1: bit rich for me, but at some stage I think
Speaker 1: teams are going to be asking themselves that question. I
Speaker 1: think the guy from this list I would go for
Speaker 1: is Isaiah McGuire, the edge rusher from Missouri. Isaiah McGuire
Speaker 1: is six four two hundred and seventy four pounds with
Speaker 1: long arms, and had eight and a half sacks for
Speaker 1: Missouri last season. His RIS score of nine point five
Speaker 1: three is excellent, and he opened eyes at the combine
Speaker 1: by broad jumping more than ten feet. McGuire's young. He
Speaker 1: doesn't turn twenty two until July, and NFL dot com
Speaker 1: describes him as quote a bulldozing power rusher who can
Speaker 1: uproot tackles and collapse pockets with forceful punch and explosive
Speaker 1: leg drive. Now time to find out how PFF graded
Speaker 1: Sam's picks. Best grades we have so far A couple
Speaker 1: of A minuses. Okay, today we beat it the Dalton Kincaid.
Speaker 1: The Dalton Kincaid put me over the top. That was
Speaker 1: an A plus. You have the two Julius brands with
Speaker 1: an A. Isaiah McGuire would just a B. But that
Speaker 1: gives me an overall A. I'm okay with that. I'll
Speaker 1: take it. If you want to email Dane Brugler and
Speaker 1: tell him you beat him on a three round Bengals mock,
Speaker 1: you can. He's coming on our show next week, I
Speaker 1: think so I'll tell him. Then we'll have another three
Speaker 1: round mock draft from an NFL expert next week. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it. For this episode of The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, brought to you by Kettering Health, the official
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Buy Bengals Picks and Ultimate
Speaker 1: Bengals They're free to play with. Tickets and signed merchandise
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast