Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast The What Do You Want Me
Speaker 1: to Do? Make all the big decisions for you. Addition,
Speaker 1: as my broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins me to discuss
Speaker 1: the draft, free agency, NFL teams and salary cap hell,
Speaker 1: the possibility of a Bengals Ring of Honor at Paul
Speaker 1: Brown Stadium, and much much more. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since starting the seniors.
Speaker 1: This week was the final of the regular season for
Speaker 1: many college basketball teams, meaning it was Senior Day all
Speaker 1: over the country, the final home game of the year
Speaker 1: where teams honor their seniors. Many coaches taken a step
Speaker 1: further by starting all of their seniors, including the walk Ons.
Speaker 1: Florida State did that this week, and the walk Ons
Speaker 1: included Jason Lindner, whose dad was one of my high
Speaker 1: school teammates, Jason scored an early basket in a lopsided
Speaker 1: Seminoles win. Of course, when you start the reserves, you
Speaker 1: run the risk of getting off to a slow start,
Speaker 1: and that happened to you see last weekend when coach
Speaker 1: Brannon started two walk ons against Memphis, quickly fell behind
Speaker 1: six nothing and wound up losing by six points. But
Speaker 1: in my opinion, it was still the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: Walk Ons bust their tail at practice and help teams
Speaker 1: get better despite rarely getting the opportunity to play. For me,
Speaker 1: starting the seniors at their final home game despite their
Speaker 1: gill level is one of the great traditions in college basketball. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get to football. Much like the Bat signal, I
Speaker 1: shined the lap signal into the nighttime sky this week.
Speaker 1: In other words, I asked if you had any questions
Speaker 1: for Dave Lapham on Twitter, and you had a bunch,
Speaker 1: mostly about the draft and free agency. But I started
Speaker 1: our conversation with a topic of NFL quarterbacks asserting their power.
Speaker 1: Let's start with some recent NFL developments. Deshaun Watson launce
Speaker 1: out in Houston. Russell Wilson hasn't gone quite that far,
Speaker 1: but he has named four teams he would be willing
Speaker 1: to go to if Seattle wanted to make a deal.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys, Saints, Bears, and Raiders. Here's my question. Is
Speaker 1: this the start of a movement where superstar quarterbacks call
Speaker 1: the shots? Yeah, it's pretty amazing, Dan. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: like when I start hearing what's going on and see
Speaker 1: what's going on, It's like, man, back in the day,
Speaker 1: guys wouldn't even never thought about that. But it's it's
Speaker 1: all about money and money's power. And I mean back back,
Speaker 1: you know, when I was playing, coaches made more money
Speaker 1: than players. Today, not really the case, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: the players are making a ton of money, uh, and
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in particular. So it's it's almost like so foreign
Speaker 1: to me when I hear guys saying, oh, he should
Speaker 1: have a say and who they hire and how they
Speaker 1: put things together. I mean, not the game plan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I understand that, but I mean, you want to be
Speaker 1: a GM and a quarterback, you want to be a
Speaker 1: director of football operations and a quarterback. I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's almost gotten to the point where you
Speaker 1: know there's a power shift going on. I just wonder
Speaker 1: how far that PowerShift will go um and it's becoming
Speaker 1: more and more like you know, the NBA, I mean,
Speaker 1: the NBA player can dictate I want this guy, want
Speaker 1: that guy to come with me, and we'll make a
Speaker 1: Big three and we're going to try to win a
Speaker 1: world championship. And the quarterbacks obviously the most important position
Speaker 1: in football and maybe the most important position overall in
Speaker 1: all the team sports. So they've got the power and
Speaker 1: they're being compensated that way now. So it's not a surprise.
Speaker 1: I guess do you expect Watson to get traded, Wilson
Speaker 1: to get traded? Both or neither. I don't think Wilson
Speaker 1: will get traded this year, but you know, obviously, if
Speaker 1: there's enough, if there's enough noise being made, and obviously
Speaker 1: it depends on what happens this year, depends on what
Speaker 1: kind of changes are made within the Seattle organization that
Speaker 1: might pacify Wilson. Obviously, he's tired of getting hit. He's
Speaker 1: been sacked the bunch. I mean, he's like, he gets
Speaker 1: hit and sacked more than any quarterback in the league
Speaker 1: over the last nine years. It's crazy. You don't realize it.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of it is he holds onto
Speaker 1: the football and tries to create an extent and he'll
Speaker 1: make great plays doing that, but he's also going to
Speaker 1: take some licks. And when you're out there on your
Speaker 1: own doing that kind of thing as an offensive linement,
Speaker 1: i'm your your instruction on a if it's a pocket
Speaker 1: pass in particular, you know you're instructed to perform this
Speaker 1: technique and these mechanics to protect the quarterback in that spot,
Speaker 1: and if he's elsewhere, it's kind of on his own,
Speaker 1: and it kind of destroys all of that. So you know,
Speaker 1: there's how much of that is a factor in all
Speaker 1: the all the punishment that he's taken. So I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe he wants to change the schematic of the offense
Speaker 1: as well as control personnel and he wants to be
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, director of football operations head Scott who wants
Speaker 1: to be everything. I guess so to me, you know,
Speaker 1: it's if if you can't. Everything's built on relationships and
Speaker 1: trust in really life, never minds sports, but sports. If
Speaker 1: you can't trust, your organization is going to do everything
Speaker 1: they possibly can to you know, put you in a
Speaker 1: position to win. Maybe you don't. Maybe you try to
Speaker 1: find a way to get away from that organization. And
Speaker 1: I guess that's what it's boiling down to. Guys just
Speaker 1: don't have the faith and the trust in their organizations
Speaker 1: that they're going to do, you know, what they need
Speaker 1: to do. They're certainly paying them. I mean they're saying, no,
Speaker 1: we value you, and here's how we value you. When
Speaker 1: you go to the bank, you're going to see how
Speaker 1: we value you. But you know, in these players opinions,
Speaker 1: there's more to it than that. And that's what that's
Speaker 1: what everybody's you know, really concerned with. I guess at
Speaker 1: this point in time, they want they want everything to
Speaker 1: be perfect, that's for sure. Everybody's striving to be in
Speaker 1: the perfect, perfect spot, perfect situation to maximize their effort
Speaker 1: as much as possible because it's a short career. It
Speaker 1: can be a very short career. And that gets interesting
Speaker 1: where Joe Burrows concerned because even before he was drafted,
Speaker 1: people speculated how happy he was going to be in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: And I used to scoff at people who worried about
Speaker 1: Joe signing a second contract with the Bengals before he
Speaker 1: had even played in a single game in a Bengals uniform.
Speaker 1: And I'm still not overly concerned about those kinds of things.
Speaker 1: But I guess you do have to show a player
Speaker 1: of his skill level and potential stardom that you are
Speaker 1: doing everything you can to win. Yeah, I think so,
Speaker 1: you know, and and and really, you know what they're
Speaker 1: talking about now, the Jets trying to decide, you know,
Speaker 1: we do we stay with our guy that we picked third,
Speaker 1: you know, in the draft when he came out of USC,
Speaker 1: or do we go for one of these you know,
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks Wilson whoever it is, at number two this
Speaker 1: year and start the clock again on that multiple year
Speaker 1: rookie contract where we can build our organization up and
Speaker 1: have a window to try to go and win big.
Speaker 1: You know, It's it's almost like a double edged sword though,
Speaker 1: because you know, a lot of times, I mean some
Speaker 1: some quarterbacks, a lot of them fail. Let's face it,
Speaker 1: I mean, over fifty percent of the first round quarterbacks fail.
Speaker 1: They don't they don't end up having the career that
Speaker 1: that you would expect, even even the first pick of
Speaker 1: the draft. I mean, there's there's no guarantee. Over fifty
Speaker 1: percent of them don't even sign a second contract with
Speaker 1: the Peen Draft of them these high first round draft picks.
Speaker 1: You know, it's that's just the way it is in
Speaker 1: the national football You get to total crapshoot. If we're
Speaker 1: a pure science, the draft wouldn't be as interesting as
Speaker 1: it is because it's a total crapshoot. There's no no
Speaker 1: two ways about it. But um, when when you if
Speaker 1: you're going to try to go for the gusto with
Speaker 1: a young quarterback man, years one, two, and three may
Speaker 1: not be the premier years for the guy. It may
Speaker 1: take them a little bit of time to adjust, if
Speaker 1: he does adjust at all. So you're you're looking for
Speaker 1: the perfect storm. You're looking to draft of the guy
Speaker 1: that you've got your totally convinced that this is a
Speaker 1: guy that I can plug and play and he's going
Speaker 1: to be able to win for us if we have
Speaker 1: the right people around him and then have the money
Speaker 1: because of his low contract inexpensive contract to go and
Speaker 1: surround himself with all these weapons to go ahead and win.
Speaker 1: That's the perfect storm. I mean that that just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Vegas will take odds on that every single day.
Speaker 1: But you know, you look at a guy like Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: I think Joe Burrow when you look at all the components,
Speaker 1: not just the fisthical aspect, of the mental aspect, the intangible,
Speaker 1: all the things that go with it. He is a
Speaker 1: guy I think that if you can surround him with
Speaker 1: some good components, I think he can win for you
Speaker 1: pretty damn early. I mean, I think he's that type
Speaker 1: of player. I think he's that type of football intellect,
Speaker 1: you know, that type of intangibles. I really do. I
Speaker 1: think he's one of those guys that you can put
Speaker 1: some money on in that regard. So yesterday Ben roethlis
Speaker 1: agreed to a new contract with the Steelers to save
Speaker 1: them some calorie salary cap space in terms of their
Speaker 1: ability right now, not two or three years from now,
Speaker 1: four or five years from now. How do you rank
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks in the AFC North Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, Ben Roethlisberger. Yeah, it's it's it's an interesting
Speaker 1: mix because Lamar Jackson is so different with the skill set.
Speaker 1: You know, it's hard to it's hard to rate him.
Speaker 1: You know, He's he's like here's here's the traditional quarterback,
Speaker 1: and there's and then here's these hybrids, you know, these
Speaker 1: these different kind of quarterbacks, and he is, let's let's
Speaker 1: put it this way from a football player standpoint, scares
Speaker 1: you to death. You know, He's one of those kind
Speaker 1: of guys that athletically he is so off the charts,
Speaker 1: it's it's unbelievable. Um Baker Mayfield, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: once he got the right head coach and offensive system,
Speaker 1: I think he's shown that he can do the things
Speaker 1: that he did, you know, at Oklahoma. Maybe not to
Speaker 1: the level at Oklahoma because the competition level is so
Speaker 1: much more difficult to compete against, but you know, I
Speaker 1: think he's I think he is on the rise. I
Speaker 1: think he's an ascending player. I don't think he's a
Speaker 1: player that's hit his plateau or is is on the
Speaker 1: on the decline. I think Ben obviously is on the
Speaker 1: physical decline. There's there's no question about it. But he's
Speaker 1: Ben's the uber competitor, There's no doubt about that. And
Speaker 1: all the all the naysayers that he's hearing in this
Speaker 1: soft season, I think the guy is going to be
Speaker 1: big time motivated. But honestly, Dan, I think pounce he
Speaker 1: retires the offensive lines kind of in shambles. Foster retired
Speaker 1: Pouncy retired. They're they're just they're just not what they were.
Speaker 1: I mean once, the last time we saw the Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Steelers unable to run the football to the extent they
Speaker 1: were unable to run it last year, unbelievable. And if
Speaker 1: they don't get those things fixed, you know, I think
Speaker 1: Ben's at the stage in his career where he can't
Speaker 1: just put the whole team on his shoulders like he's
Speaker 1: done in the past and say I'm going to take
Speaker 1: you to the Promised Land. So they're going to be interesting.
Speaker 1: I think it's you know, I think it's a time
Speaker 1: where you can maybe ease your way past Pittsburgh in
Speaker 1: terms of what's going on with that organization a little bit.
Speaker 1: But I put you know, I put Joe right up
Speaker 1: there with the other three, the three quarterbacks, the three
Speaker 1: younger quarterbacks in the division of all one Heisman. They
Speaker 1: wanted in different ways for different reasons, but they're all,
Speaker 1: you know, very capable of trans transposing those talents that
Speaker 1: they had in college in the NFL if they have
Speaker 1: the right people in terms of coaching and scheme and
Speaker 1: all that sort of thing. So I would rate I
Speaker 1: would rate they're so young, and again Jackson. He's so
Speaker 1: hard to the pigeonhole in terms of the traditional quarterback grade,
Speaker 1: but he scares me to death. He probably scares me
Speaker 1: as much or more than any of them. And obviously
Speaker 1: the way he's played against the Bengals, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: got the Bengals number right now. They haven't come close
Speaker 1: to finding a way to solve him. Really. Um the
Speaker 1: one time he played when he was a little bit
Speaker 1: nicked up, it was it was a little bit different dynamic.
Speaker 1: But when he's one hundred percent physically capable of running
Speaker 1: around like he does like a human joystick, he's he's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: But I honestly as a player, as a former player,
Speaker 1: I kind of like Joe Burrow as a as a
Speaker 1: total entity at the quarterback position more than Baker because
Speaker 1: I think Joe's I don't think Joe's is mercurial or
Speaker 1: as you know, up and down personality standpoint. I think
Speaker 1: he's more steady, uh you know guy that that I
Speaker 1: think you can count on to not lose his mind
Speaker 1: in crucial situations and things like that. So I think
Speaker 1: his makeup gives me a tiebreak or vote over over
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield. I like Baker Mayfield's skill set, but I
Speaker 1: think he's a sometimes a little bit of a wild card.
Speaker 1: You know. I don't see any of that kind of
Speaker 1: thing in Joe Burrow long term. I'd take Burrow over
Speaker 1: any of them right now. Hard to go against Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: I mean right now, for his ability and the way
Speaker 1: the Ravens are using him, I guess because of the injury.
Speaker 1: I'd have to go Baker two, Burrow three right now.
Speaker 1: But it's amazing that I put Ben fourth. He's the
Speaker 1: one that's going to the Hall of Fame. He's the
Speaker 1: one that's got a couple of Super Bowl titles. He's
Speaker 1: the one that led the Steelers last year to the
Speaker 1: greatest start in franchise history, and they won the division.
Speaker 1: And yet I think the two of us and a
Speaker 1: lot of people out there are kind of looking at
Speaker 1: the Steelers as the team that's dropping, when they were
Speaker 1: the team that was the best in the division last year,
Speaker 1: at least until the playoffs rolled around. It is crazy,
Speaker 1: And you know, people, You'll hear people say a lot
Speaker 1: that sometimes the end comes, you fall off a clip.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the end comes it's a more gradual decline. One
Speaker 1: th that everybody knows other than Tom Brady or other
Speaker 1: times undefeated, you know, and father Time looks like he's
Speaker 1: catching up to Ben a little bit. Like I said,
Speaker 1: with Tom Brady, he's that guy's the biggest freak zoit ever.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a He's a trend breaker in every
Speaker 1: sense of the word. So the roster cuts have started
Speaker 1: around the NFL. There will be many more to come.
Speaker 1: The Vikings cut Kyle Rudolph this week after ten great
Speaker 1: years at tight end. Giants have cut Golden Tate, Tyler
Speaker 1: right forgot let go by the Jaguars. Sounds like the
Speaker 1: Raiders are going to cut offensive lineman Gabe Jackson. Like
Speaker 1: I said, there will be many others. Let's start with
Speaker 1: Kyle Rudolph since there's the local tie. Any interest in
Speaker 1: Kyle Rudolph, you know, it would have to be at
Speaker 1: what price? I think, you know, with ten years, ten
Speaker 1: years in the league. Obviously, is he what he was
Speaker 1: you know four years ago, three years ago? What ever?
Speaker 1: Obviously there's a salary cap castule people. You're right then,
Speaker 1: I mean the interesting thing is there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot of situations where guys are out there, like I
Speaker 1: never expected that well, for a lot of reasons, it's
Speaker 1: going to be the way it is. Instead of one
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety eight million, the cap is gonna be
Speaker 1: one hundred eighty one hundred and eighty five. And you
Speaker 1: have teams half a dozen teams that are in salary
Speaker 1: cap jail right now. And now when the starry cap
Speaker 1: comes out at a lot less, there's gonna be maybe
Speaker 1: eight teams that will be in salary cap jail, and
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to start. It's gonna be a bloodbat.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to start whacking people, slicing and dicing.
Speaker 1: So there's gonna be veteran players out there that you're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to get at a discounted price. And
Speaker 1: there's going to be out of the thirty two teams,
Speaker 1: maybe as many as eight that can't even bid, So
Speaker 1: you're down to twenty four bidders instead of thirty two.
Speaker 1: So now it's like, man, you've bettered your odds by
Speaker 1: twenty five percent of being able to land a Tier
Speaker 1: one or a Tier two guy. This year, I think
Speaker 1: Tier one and Tier two they're both going to a
Speaker 1: little bit higher. You know, some of the high tier
Speaker 1: twos would be Tier one guys in other years, but
Speaker 1: because of the salary cap situation, the salary cap trouble,
Speaker 1: a lot of teams find themselves in You're gonna have
Speaker 1: really good players that are making a ton of money
Speaker 1: that'll be out there that won't be making that money anymore,
Speaker 1: and can you can you land some of them. It's
Speaker 1: going to be interesting to see exactly who's out there.
Speaker 1: And in the Bengals, having the sixth most money to
Speaker 1: spend in the league tells you that, you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: they'll be able to land a good Tier one player,
Speaker 1: maybe a couple of Tier two guys potentially. So I
Speaker 1: think that they may find themselves in a in a
Speaker 1: pretty good situation. And you look at last year's draft,
Speaker 1: rated the best in terms of what they got from
Speaker 1: production standpoint. Out of the seven draft picks they obtained,
Speaker 1: they got them all high every round. Obviously, it was
Speaker 1: you would hope that they put the bat on the
Speaker 1: ball on almost every draft pick, and they did. So
Speaker 1: they have that to build on. And year one, year
Speaker 1: two is usually the biggest improvement in terms of light
Speaker 1: going on in your development. I can attest to that.
Speaker 1: I remember it being that way. It's like oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the game. The game is a lot different year two
Speaker 1: here than it was my rookie year. So you have
Speaker 1: you have that and you know one some one two
Speaker 1: year the first, second and thirty year players for the Bengals.
Speaker 1: They have another good draft. I mean they could they
Speaker 1: could find themselves in a pretty good spot that they
Speaker 1: can pick up a couple of Tier two and one
Speaker 1: of those Tier one free agents to go in that mix.
Speaker 1: It's going to be interesting. See what you get there
Speaker 1: in free agency, then attack it in the draft. And
Speaker 1: they have money to spend in free agency. They have
Speaker 1: the fifth pick in every round in the draft. I mean,
Speaker 1: they should be able to do some damage here in
Speaker 1: this offseason. Dan, for sure, you can make the case
Speaker 1: that with the salary cap going down, there has never
Speaker 1: been a better year to be where the Bengals are
Speaker 1: in the top six in cap room right now. I agree.
Speaker 1: There's no using about it. I mean, you know, when
Speaker 1: you can, you don't. You don't want to say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: there'll be another world pandemic, you know, like we just
Speaker 1: experienced in twenty twenty. I mean the odds of of
Speaker 1: of taking place what took place, and you know, disturbing
Speaker 1: and disrupting every single professional sport and then disrupting the
Speaker 1: revenue in every single professional sport. You're right. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Bengals have found themselves in a in a pretty
Speaker 1: good situation. The fact that they are a very salary
Speaker 1: cap savvy, you know, and some people criticize the way
Speaker 1: they handle the cap, but around the league, you know,
Speaker 1: when you talk to people around the league then and
Speaker 1: we both have Katie Blackburn gets very high grades for
Speaker 1: her acumen in terms of handling cap. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of people are like, Wow, she's and she knows
Speaker 1: what she's doing, and she has put them in a
Speaker 1: pretty good position, you know, to take advantage of it.
Speaker 1: And now it's uh, instead of your normal free agency,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a gold standard free agency. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a spit shine free agency. There's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot of talent out there you would have never ever
Speaker 1: thought might be available. You're gonna be able to take
Speaker 1: a shot at And the Bengals are creating more cap
Speaker 1: space as we speak. On Friday, they cut offensive lineman
Speaker 1: b J. Finney. That saves three point two five million
Speaker 1: against the cap. Here are some of the other guys
Speaker 1: that are rumored to possibly be in danger of being
Speaker 1: cut for cap space. Gino Atkins is obviously the biggest
Speaker 1: one that would save nine point five million. Bobby Hart
Speaker 1: would save five point nine million. C j Uzama possibility
Speaker 1: could save five million. Giovanni bernard A possibility could save
Speaker 1: four point one million. Xavier Suafilo's name has been mentioned
Speaker 1: two point four million. Which of those guys do you
Speaker 1: think is most likely to be let go? I think
Speaker 1: that you know, obviously AJ won't be coming back, but
Speaker 1: there's no cap, no cap ramification, you know there as
Speaker 1: far as that contract is concerned. But I would probably
Speaker 1: think Gino Atkins is is that that's that's one where
Speaker 1: you know the most savings can be can be made,
Speaker 1: And you would think, um, just like a lot of
Speaker 1: teams around the league, some of these players that are
Speaker 1: being cut, teams are going to let these players go
Speaker 1: as sarah cap casualties and say, wink wink, look we're
Speaker 1: not we're not waiving you because we don't want you anymore.
Speaker 1: We don't think you're capable of playing good enough football
Speaker 1: for us and being a factor, but we can't afford
Speaker 1: you in this situation period, So we may be getting
Speaker 1: back to you. And you know, Bengals may say that
Speaker 1: kind of thing to Gino depending on who has an
Speaker 1: interest out there, um in terms of other teams. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think I think he will be He's
Speaker 1: he's where they can make the most savings, and that
Speaker 1: seems to be where I think the uh, the Saray
Speaker 1: cap acts is gonna fall first. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: let Gino and Bobby Hart though, just those two, you
Speaker 1: can bring Carl Lawson back, absolutely, and you could use
Speaker 1: that to franchise tag Carl Lawson if you wanted to, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and then and you wouldn't have even dipped into the
Speaker 1: money that you're looking to go out and get other
Speaker 1: free agents. Yeah, if you just do some some some
Speaker 1: house cleaning within your own organization, who you're trying to resign,
Speaker 1: Who can you let go to try to get that
Speaker 1: that whole thing, you know, structured properly, just some internal
Speaker 1: shifting before you even out there and address outside free agents. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, I mean they could really, I mean it
Speaker 1: would be I don't know, I'm trying to think of
Speaker 1: a Hollywood star that had a facelift that looks so
Speaker 1: dramatically different after had the facelift done, but it could
Speaker 1: be one of the most unbelievable facelifts ever in the
Speaker 1: history of mankind. The things could pull off this year
Speaker 1: and changing the entire look at their franchise. You really could.
Speaker 1: I could name something that went badly. I won't, but
Speaker 1: there have definitely been something that didn't work out so well.
Speaker 1: I want to change the subject briefly and then we'll
Speaker 1: get back to the draft and free agency because we
Speaker 1: have a lot of questions about that that we're submitted
Speaker 1: by fans with the hashtag ask Lap on Twitter. But
Speaker 1: here's the question I want to get to before that.
Speaker 1: Recently we saw photographs and video where it appeared the
Speaker 1: Bengals we are looking at different letter sizes and colors
Speaker 1: for a possible ring of honor at Paul Brown Stadium.
Speaker 1: There has been no official announcement yet, but it certainly
Speaker 1: looks like they are seriously considering it. What did you
Speaker 1: think when you heard that and saw that? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that there'd be I guess everybody's reaction would be
Speaker 1: it's about time, you know. I mean, I think it
Speaker 1: is definitely definitely time for something like that. I can understand,
Speaker 1: you know, Mike, Mike Brown and conversations over the years.
Speaker 1: So I've had with Mike Brown. Honestly, his big thing
Speaker 1: is he really does not a single players out. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like he has an appreciation for what so many
Speaker 1: players have done for him over the years from a contribution,
Speaker 1: you know, to the franchise standpoint, that he just feels
Speaker 1: like singling them out. And people are going to say
Speaker 1: that's just an excuse they doesn't want to spend the money,
Speaker 1: take the time, you know, whatever the reasons. But you know,
Speaker 1: I honestly believe that's that's kind of knowing Mike, you know,
Speaker 1: for a few years now, I think really believe that
Speaker 1: that's that's his his mindset. Um. So I'm not sure
Speaker 1: that that Katie and Troy and Elizabeth and everybody else
Speaker 1: has the same shares the same opinion, but I do
Speaker 1: know that over the years Mike has felt that way. So, uh,
Speaker 1: if Elizabeth and Katie and if they can sell it
Speaker 1: to Mike and and get it done, I'd welcome it
Speaker 1: with with open arms. I mean, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: you think about guys like Ken Riley, would have been
Speaker 1: great if Ken Riley could have been in that ring
Speaker 1: of honor before he passed away, and now I was
Speaker 1: gonna have to be posthumously, so you know, it's that
Speaker 1: that's you know, those those kind of things start coming
Speaker 1: to combined right away. But um yeah, I just think
Speaker 1: that that there's nothing wrong with shaner appreciation for the
Speaker 1: history of France. I was given the fan base a
Speaker 1: rallying point. Um, I see positives and all of that.
Speaker 1: My impression from interacting with Mike over the years on
Speaker 1: this subject was that his feeling was fall as the
Speaker 1: ultimate team game, the right guard has just as much
Speaker 1: of an impact on your success as the star player
Speaker 1: whose name would go up on the Ring of honor.
Speaker 1: But what I think might get mistaken in Mike's thought
Speaker 1: process on that is that the right guard would appreciate
Speaker 1: seeing the quarterback's name go up there, even if you
Speaker 1: know that that player had just a bigger, bigger role
Speaker 1: on leading the team to a great season. I agree
Speaker 1: with you, Dan, I mean it was you know, when
Speaker 1: when Kenny Anderson won a passing title. I know that
Speaker 1: as aligneman, I live vicariously through the success of Kearny Anderson.
Speaker 1: I feel like, oh man, you know I had a
Speaker 1: little bit of a part in him having that tremendous success.
Speaker 1: He didn't his his abilities, he executed it. But you know,
Speaker 1: everybody had to do their job in Kenny Anderson to
Speaker 1: do his job to the level that he did his
Speaker 1: job to win a passing title, and he won four
Speaker 1: of them. He won four passing titles. And as as aligneman,
Speaker 1: you know that was involved with that. You know, you
Speaker 1: think I did, I did, I must have done something
Speaker 1: right some of the time, you know, and you do,
Speaker 1: you start to you start to live vicariously through the
Speaker 1: success of others, and that's what teamwork is really. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody feeds off each other and you uh, you know, somebody,
Speaker 1: somebody's always going to get more credit than others. That's
Speaker 1: just that's just the nature of the beast. But um,
Speaker 1: you know there everybody, if you're not doing your job,
Speaker 1: you're gonna make it more difficult to everybody else to
Speaker 1: achieve the success that they could. So everybody's important. And
Speaker 1: I you know, and I agree with you. I do
Speaker 1: think that that's Mike's mindset, that that's his pilosophy. He
Speaker 1: doesn't really want to single people out because you get
Speaker 1: you have eleven moving parts on offense and defense. You
Speaker 1: have a lot of things going on out there in
Speaker 1: the football field on an every snap basis, no doubt.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to ask Lap questions. We've got
Speaker 1: a bunch. We've got some good ones, many of them
Speaker 1: dealing with the draft and free agency as you would expect.
Speaker 1: Let's start with Vincent. Here is his question and ask Lap,
Speaker 1: what would you address in the draft on defense? Something
Speaker 1: specific or best player available? Well, I mean to me,
Speaker 1: I guess you'd hope that that they would be one
Speaker 1: and the same, that the best player available would would
Speaker 1: address the need. And I'm one that would go if
Speaker 1: it's if it's one of my top needs, if it's
Speaker 1: a top two or three need overall, um, I go
Speaker 1: with the player that fits that the best. Um, I
Speaker 1: would not, I would not reach to address the need.
Speaker 1: In other words, I would take the best player that
Speaker 1: I have a need. Like I'm not going to take
Speaker 1: a quarterback. If the best player available on the boards
Speaker 1: quarter I'm not taking a quarterback. Obviously, we just took
Speaker 1: one the number one pick last year, so you know,
Speaker 1: you just don't go with best player available unilaterally across
Speaker 1: the board. But if the best player available is an
Speaker 1: offensive tackle, I go there. Best player available is a
Speaker 1: is a defense a pass rusher that would scare people?
Speaker 1: You know, I go there, um so I think that
Speaker 1: it's in my mind it would be a combination um
Speaker 1: and and and I perceive from there. I guess The
Speaker 1: other thing that you that I would do if I
Speaker 1: was ever running a draft is, you know, try to
Speaker 1: try to find the best way that you possibly can,
Speaker 1: because you never know how the order is going to go.
Speaker 1: That's why the sooner in the draft and pick the
Speaker 1: less variable as you have, so you know what kind
Speaker 1: of player pool is going to be. But even projecting
Speaker 1: down to the second round or the third round, even
Speaker 1: if you have one of the higher picks, you don't
Speaker 1: exactly know who's going to go where and when, and
Speaker 1: what trades are in happening, all those sort of things
Speaker 1: in the first round. But the best of my ability, though,
Speaker 1: I would say, all right, well, the strength of the draft,
Speaker 1: of these positions, these teams are going to make a run.
Speaker 1: Just try to piece the puzzles together and say, all right, well,
Speaker 1: the best player available there might be at that position.
Speaker 1: There may be a guy in the second round that's
Speaker 1: pretty close, but the best player available at this position
Speaker 1: is so far ahead of the next guy that might
Speaker 1: be available in their second or third round. That's my tiebreaker.
Speaker 1: You know, I take the big, big picture view of
Speaker 1: it as well. I just wouldn't, you know, pigeonhole and
Speaker 1: focus on just that one pick. You know, I want
Speaker 1: to try to, you know, strike us consistently as I
Speaker 1: can't on a round by round basis of the best
Speaker 1: player of available. Fitting needs, you know, to have a
Speaker 1: larger degree as I possibly could. And when it comes
Speaker 1: to defense where the draft is concerned, I think you
Speaker 1: can probably eliminate a couple of spots with a high pick.
Speaker 1: You don't need a safety at least high. Wouldn't be
Speaker 1: shocked if you take one at some point if you
Speaker 1: really like one, but you don't, you don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about Bates and Bell in the short term. Probably
Speaker 1: don't need a linebacker high with the three that you
Speaker 1: drafted last year, although again at some point I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be shocked to see them take another. So as opposed
Speaker 1: to drafting for need, it's almost eliminating the areas where
Speaker 1: you're already strong right like you know, um, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: necessarily put running back up there. As you know, quarterback
Speaker 1: obviously running back on the offensive side of the defensier,
Speaker 1: like you said, safety and particularly inside backer outside backers.
Speaker 1: If he's that dominant rush guy though, if he's that
Speaker 1: edge guy, you know, now you get that hybrid. Is
Speaker 1: it a defensive ends is an outside linebacker? What is it?
Speaker 1: All I know is he gets after the quarterback. You know,
Speaker 1: I may go after that guy. So yeah, it's I agree, Dan,
Speaker 1: I'm in the same thought process. Next question comes from Sam.
Speaker 1: If the offensive line improved substantially in free agency, do
Speaker 1: the Bengals still take Piney Sewell if available, or opt
Speaker 1: for a wide receiver or tight end Kyle Pitts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: or And the thing is, unfortunately this year from an
Speaker 1: edge rush standpoint, there's no Miles Garrett, there's no Chase Young,
Speaker 1: There's nobody like that. So, you know, the defense of
Speaker 1: the edge rush guy, I think the Bengs gonna be
Speaker 1: able to get a good edge rush guy in the
Speaker 1: second round. I think University Miami has two, University of
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh has two. I mean, there's some edge rush guys,
Speaker 1: so they're all not going to go in the first round.
Speaker 1: I think somebody may be there in the early stages
Speaker 1: of that of that second round. Um. Yeah, but that's
Speaker 1: exactly right. If you if you go out and you
Speaker 1: get a Tier one offensive tackle and a Tier two guard,
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden in the draft, you does
Speaker 1: that change your focus? Does that change your thought process?
Speaker 1: It could depending on who you get, and uh, you
Speaker 1: know if it's that, it absolutely could. All I know
Speaker 1: is from the offensive line standpoint, haven't played the position.
Speaker 1: When we had our best offensive lines in the eighties,
Speaker 1: Anthony Munio's was the eraser at left tack and a
Speaker 1: sul can be an eraser at left tack from what
Speaker 1: I've seen, And we had a black kicking guard in
Speaker 1: Max Montoya who would just as soon beat the heck
Speaker 1: out of you then look at you, and I think
Speaker 1: that you know, they could go out and get if
Speaker 1: you could get somebody one of those guards. You know,
Speaker 1: free agency, you get tuney or shirt in free agency
Speaker 1: and you get not soul. If you don't get tackled
Speaker 1: in free agency and you could get sulf you could
Speaker 1: have those two areas filled in. Um. I just know
Speaker 1: that that that works. I've seen that work, you know
Speaker 1: with Anthony Muno. As we said, we don't have to
Speaker 1: slide always let's everybody else take care of people in here.
Speaker 1: He's got him, he's the eraser. He's taking care of
Speaker 1: that guy. Those kind of players are generational players are
Speaker 1: like once, you know, just a dream come true for
Speaker 1: any offensive line coach. And that's why I value Sulu.
Speaker 1: And but but again, if if if they sign the
Speaker 1: best tackle in free agency and Schul could go, Luke
Speaker 1: could go before number five. Anyway, in my opinion, it
Speaker 1: could happen. I saw Todd mcchay's latest mock draft at
Speaker 1: least got four quarters Backstron the first four picks of
Speaker 1: the draft by a trade with trade and all those
Speaker 1: other things. But if Sul is gone, I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: a problem then going, you know, going with the best
Speaker 1: wide receiver. I wouldn't have a problem doing that. Um
Speaker 1: the tight end, I know, I know everybody loves this
Speaker 1: tight end and I can I can understand why because
Speaker 1: he is a mismatched nightmare fan. The guy's six five,
Speaker 1: two fifty and runs in the high four forwards. That's
Speaker 1: what they think, think he's gonna run. But I'm not
Speaker 1: even I'm not even sure he's an adequate blocker. Watching him,
Speaker 1: he's he's willing, but not capable. I don't he's I mean,
Speaker 1: they play him, they put him out there as a pie,
Speaker 1: they play him in the slot. He's a big mismatch problem.
Speaker 1: It's what he is throwing the football. And there's no
Speaker 1: doubt that that he's a talented player, absolutely no question
Speaker 1: about it. I mean, the guy's a freak, and you
Speaker 1: would but basically in football, you're you're trying to uh,
Speaker 1: You're trying to create and then have the defense counter
Speaker 1: your creation, and this guy would would be a point
Speaker 1: of emas in that regard, you'd have to respond to
Speaker 1: what the offense. The offense is dictating and the defenses
Speaker 1: is trying the defense is trying to counter. When you
Speaker 1: have a guy like this, this tight end tis there's
Speaker 1: no doubt, but I'd still I mean, if we're going
Speaker 1: to do something a receiver, I'd go Chase. The dude
Speaker 1: had eighteen hundred yards and twenty touchdowns. Who were throwing
Speaker 1: him the football? Joe Burrow, I mean, I think he's
Speaker 1: the best receiver. Watching him. Then he's strong, he throws
Speaker 1: people around, releasing off the line of scrimmage. You know
Speaker 1: he's not He's not the most physically imposing. He's not
Speaker 1: the fastest of all the receivers, but what he is
Speaker 1: is a damn good football player. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: if I if I get my offensive line taking care
Speaker 1: of in the draft, I wouldn't have any trouble saying,
Speaker 1: let's evaluate weapons for Joe Burrow on the you know,
Speaker 1: at the quarter back position. I don't think there's an
Speaker 1: edge rusher that I'd take it at five necessarily. Um,
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't have a problem doing that question from
Speaker 1: Alan is Zach Taylor on the hot seat if he
Speaker 1: wins fewer than eight games this year? Oh, that's a
Speaker 1: good question. I'm sure he's on his own hot seat.
Speaker 1: You know, you'd like to see, uh, you'd like to
Speaker 1: see the doubling doubling down continue one two in the
Speaker 1: first year, double the win total of four. You want
Speaker 1: to at least double it in year three the eight.
Speaker 1: So you're you're you're at the over and under. I guess, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I think rather than just putting
Speaker 1: a number of wins out there, because you never know
Speaker 1: the reason for the wins and losses, Like we talked
Speaker 1: about Pittsburgh starting out eleven and all and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden they're in time. You know, they had
Speaker 1: some significant defensive injuries, you know, and you can never
Speaker 1: you can never m four cast the injuries that might
Speaker 1: take place during the course of the season, and they
Speaker 1: can cripple a football team, particularly injuries to the wrong people.
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to say unilaterally, no matter what,
Speaker 1: Zach has to win more than eight football games, because
Speaker 1: you don't know what's going to transpire during the course
Speaker 1: of that season. But with that, if he leaves training
Speaker 1: camp with the team that is going to be hopefully
Speaker 1: so much different than last year's team that won four
Speaker 1: games in terms of what they're going to be able
Speaker 1: to get in created see in another draft and developed
Speaker 1: last year's draft class. I mean, everybody would hope that
Speaker 1: you're gonna win at least eight, maybe more, but you
Speaker 1: don't know how the season's going to unfold in terms
Speaker 1: of injury and other things that may be involved. You'll
Speaker 1: also have one extra game. It would appear it looks
Speaker 1: like the NFL's on the verge of going to seventeen,
Speaker 1: and it would be a home game against the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers for Cincinnati, which would be interesting. Next question
Speaker 1: comes from Ryan if Panay Sewell and Jamars are both
Speaker 1: god at number five. What should the Bengals do? And
Speaker 1: he goes on to say, I think trading back would
Speaker 1: be ideal, But if they don't, who should they take. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the first thing that came to my mind. Trade back,
Speaker 1: you know as well? Um, yeah, that's a that's a
Speaker 1: good one. If they're both there at five and they
Speaker 1: can't they can't find a trade partner and Chase is gone.
Speaker 1: And I mean, obviously everybody's saying it's like, well, if
Speaker 1: you don't take Pitts, you know, it's it's ridiculous. Pits
Speaker 1: and Pits is shown up and everybody's and every every
Speaker 1: mock draft. I see, now he's not going any lower
Speaker 1: than seven, you know. I mean, he's He's up there,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. And I do agree that he is.
Speaker 1: He's a he's a talent that people have to He's
Speaker 1: a matchup problem. That's and what you're trying to cause.
Speaker 1: Every game in the National Football League is matchup problems.
Speaker 1: And some it's hard for a coach do it by scheme.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna scheme guys open all the time.
Speaker 1: Shanahan has got a reputation and deservedly so. For scheming
Speaker 1: guys open as well as any coach in the National
Speaker 1: Football League. That's hard to do on a snap by
Speaker 1: snap basis. You know, as we've seen Dan, windows are
Speaker 1: tight in the NFL. That's the biggest adjustment for college quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: You know, a guy's yard open in college, you don't
Speaker 1: throw that in the NFL. That's as good as a guess.
Speaker 1: You're gonna fire that sucker in there. So you know,
Speaker 1: when you have a mismatch guy, you know, like Pits,
Speaker 1: that's uh. You know, that's that's something to take into consideration.
Speaker 1: You know, the Bengals, though, Dan, over the years, they
Speaker 1: value corners as well. They've taken cornerbacks in the first
Speaker 1: and second round. You know, may they may be the
Speaker 1: one to take a cornerback with that with that pick
Speaker 1: in the draft if they don't like any of the
Speaker 1: other receivers, or they may have a cornerback rated higher
Speaker 1: than they have Pits or or you know whoever else
Speaker 1: that's left at number five when they when they do
Speaker 1: their board, when they evaluate their board. I think there's
Speaker 1: one other thing to keep in mind where Kyle Pitts
Speaker 1: is concerned. I think people might be underestimating how the
Speaker 1: Bengals feel or felt about c j Uzama working with
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. He was off to a great start last
Speaker 1: year two games, eight catches, eighty seven yards in a touchdown. Now,
Speaker 1: admittedly that's a small sample size, but that projects to
Speaker 1: sixty four catches for six hundred ninety six yards in
Speaker 1: a season, Andy tores Achilles. So you know, there's definitely
Speaker 1: a red flag there in terms of coming back. But
Speaker 1: I really think they expected that combination to produce big things,
Speaker 1: and I think that I would be I'd feel very
Speaker 1: safe and saying I have not studied Pits that much
Speaker 1: in terms of blocking. I've seen them. He is a
Speaker 1: contested catch full I mean, he's a he's a great player.
Speaker 1: He is an offensive force, there's no question. But I
Speaker 1: would stake at stake my reputation and probably at this
Speaker 1: point cj Zama's or capable blocker, you know, than than
Speaker 1: Pitts is as well. And that's that's a factor, you know,
Speaker 1: when you get to this Leaguelet I do know one thing.
Speaker 1: Pitts is not Kittle. He's not gonna block like like
Speaker 1: George Kittle. I mean he's not He's not that type
Speaker 1: of guy, I think, and he doesn't block as well
Speaker 1: as Kelsey. I think, you know, that's an underrated part
Speaker 1: of Kelsey's game. I hear all these comparisons to Kelsey.
Speaker 1: I don't think he blocks like Kelsey. Kelsey's a block.
Speaker 1: Its Kelsey a block for him, and he really will.
Speaker 1: Next question comes from Jim. Is there an offensive lineman
Speaker 1: and free agency that the Bengals could sign that would
Speaker 1: be better than drafting Sewell? Or is Sewell a lock
Speaker 1: if available at number five? Well? I think, I think
Speaker 1: if you have have a chance to to sign like
Speaker 1: a I know Trent Williams is on the on the
Speaker 1: back nine. He's thirty two years old, but the dude
Speaker 1: is a player. Pro Football Focus rated him the number one.
Speaker 1: He was the highest rated offensive tackle in football. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you can get a proven commodity like that to
Speaker 1: line up at left tackle, he'd be able to play.
Speaker 1: You know, he's not done. He's on the back nine
Speaker 1: for sure, but he's not done, obviously. And whenever you're
Speaker 1: taking somebody from the college level to the to the
Speaker 1: national football level, there's already always a question about that transition.
Speaker 1: And you know, the knock on sulas Organs the finesse offense,
Speaker 1: and you know it's it's not it's not NFL piped
Speaker 1: stuff all the way and from top to bottom in
Speaker 1: terms of what they asked him to do. So, in
Speaker 1: my mind, if you've got a proven commodity, um and
Speaker 1: you know, or even if you could sign a gun, well,
Speaker 1: it would have to be a tackle obviously for them
Speaker 1: not to draft soul in my opinion, but it'd be
Speaker 1: a guy like that. Darryl Williams had a great year
Speaker 1: with the Buffalo Bills. I mean, if I if I
Speaker 1: were able to sign Daryl Williams, even one of the Williams,
Speaker 1: I'd be I'd be fine with they could sign him,
Speaker 1: I'd be okay with him. And he's he's a little
Speaker 1: bit younger too. I believe he's like twenty eight, twenty
Speaker 1: nine years old. Yeah, he's twenty eight yep, and uh so, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean ta Taylor Molten's the other one, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Molten would be the other one. Um. But at my level,
Speaker 1: I guess from the Williams brothers standpoint, my Trent Williams
Speaker 1: would be level one guy. Darryl Williams will be an
Speaker 1: upper or level two guy, you know, for me, I
Speaker 1: don't think Daryl Williams would cost as much as Trent Williams.
Speaker 1: And maybe you could, you know, get a little more
Speaker 1: bang for your buck with Daryl Williams, because you'd be
Speaker 1: able to go out and get somebody else as well.
Speaker 1: But if you're trying to solve your biggest need, man,
Speaker 1: go out and get Trent Williams, man and thinking get
Speaker 1: him somehow you can get that done. All right, Next
Speaker 1: question comes from Tyler. Here's how Here's what he writes.
Speaker 1: It goes Jamaar Chase, Kyle Pitts, and Tanay Sewell in
Speaker 1: that order. Tell me why I'm wrong? Well, if Tyler
Speaker 1: is going by alphabetical order, he's right, it would be Chase, Pitts,
Speaker 1: Sewell in that order. But he's obviously not intending it
Speaker 1: to be alphabetical. So tell Tyler, is he wrong Chase,
Speaker 1: Pitts Sewell in that order? Well, you know, to me, Tyler,
Speaker 1: Chase and Pitts are great players. But if Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: doesn't have time to get the ball to Chase and
Speaker 1: Pitts to moot point, you know that's why you know.
Speaker 1: To me, all we've talked about is the number one
Speaker 1: priority is protecting Joe Burrow. It was tragic how Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow threw the ball so much last year and took
Speaker 1: a beating. So the best way to solve that problem
Speaker 1: on Joe Burrow coming back from an ACL injury is
Speaker 1: to make sure that he's got people up front that
Speaker 1: are going to do a hell of a job protecting them.
Speaker 1: Give him that much more time ability to operate, and
Speaker 1: let those skilled people operate down the football field. I
Speaker 1: mean a lot of these all these guys were on
Speaker 1: good college football teams who had good offensive lines and
Speaker 1: good quarterbacks that could get them the football. So they
Speaker 1: may come into the NFL and it's like it doesn't
Speaker 1: even look like the same guy. Well it doesn't because
Speaker 1: the offensive lines, you know, getting taken advantage of more
Speaker 1: than the offensive line that he played with in college,
Speaker 1: and the quarterbacks not having time to operate. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's why we were talking about before Mike Brown, it's
Speaker 1: the ultimate team game. It is. I mean in first
Speaker 1: and foremost, you know, you do have to have an
Speaker 1: offensive line that is going to give Joe Burrow time
Speaker 1: and confidence. I think confidence is going to be a
Speaker 1: big thing. I think Joe Burrow is a very confident guy.
Speaker 1: But man, after going through what he went through, the
Speaker 1: traumatic hit in every sense of the word that he
Speaker 1: took in the traumatic injury that resulted from it, you
Speaker 1: got you gotta help it. You gotta make you gotta
Speaker 1: make him not You're gonna make him right away feel
Speaker 1: as comfortable as he did before the injury in that pocket.
Speaker 1: The best way to do it is to get big
Speaker 1: beasts up front. Question from Drew are there any under
Speaker 1: the radar offensive line prospects or free agents that we
Speaker 1: should keep an eye on? Huh? Under the radar? I
Speaker 1: haven't really studied it the draft that far too. I
Speaker 1: don't know how far into the radar that you're that
Speaker 1: you might be talking about, but I get I think
Speaker 1: the guy that that that I would maybe the level
Speaker 1: two guy that may not get as much answers or
Speaker 1: he might because he's a level two guy that dispersatile.
Speaker 1: This Feeler from Pittsburgh, I think I think Matt Feeler
Speaker 1: would be somebody that that Frank Pollock would do a
Speaker 1: good job with. I really do. I think that I
Speaker 1: think that that could that could potentially be, you know,
Speaker 1: somebody that uh that they might might be able to
Speaker 1: target a little bit um as a tackle or a
Speaker 1: guard because he's played both. What do you like him at? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would see him. I would try him at both
Speaker 1: and see where he fit in terms of working with
Speaker 1: other guys. You know, I'm going to get my best
Speaker 1: five guys out there, no matter what the situation is.
Speaker 1: And if he if he ends up being you know,
Speaker 1: in that mix at tackle, so be it. If he's
Speaker 1: in that mix at guard, so be it. I mean
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people, uh, you know that
Speaker 1: are really good lineman. I you know, um Jackson Carman,
Speaker 1: a kid from from Clemson. I mean he's not under
Speaker 1: the radar, but Fairfield High School, YEP. I wouldn't mind
Speaker 1: having local boy. I wouldn't mind having that big old man,
Speaker 1: uh in the offensive line. I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the under the radars meaning you know,
Speaker 1: the guys that are talking about for top five picks
Speaker 1: or guys that are later in the draft. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: But I haven't really studied, you know, all of those
Speaker 1: guys that are going to be later in the draft.
Speaker 1: At this point, question from coach k all Day, I
Speaker 1: don't think this is Mike Chaschevski who could be some
Speaker 1: potential replacements in free agency if Will Jackson leaves, well,
Speaker 1: let's start with the notion of Will Jackson leaving. Do
Speaker 1: you think they'll resign him or tag him? That's I mean,
Speaker 1: I think I think they have the money to resign
Speaker 1: Lawson and Will. I really do, and I'd make every
Speaker 1: effort to do that. I think. You know, Karl Lawson
Speaker 1: obviously is still an as sending player twenty five years old. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's obviously he's got power, he's be sudden,
Speaker 1: he's got that really unusual first step quickness, explosiveness. He
Speaker 1: didn't have length. That's the only thing about Karl Lawson
Speaker 1: to me that you know, is the one trait that
Speaker 1: you'd like to see that he doesn't have his length. Um,
Speaker 1: but he's got he's got everything else. And then obviously,
Speaker 1: I mean Will Jackson is when you look at the
Speaker 1: top fifty players, both of those I show up in
Speaker 1: the top fifteen, you know, on a league wide basis.
Speaker 1: So if that's what you know, all the evaluators are thinking, um,
Speaker 1: you know, why not why not make sure you get
Speaker 1: your own resigned? You know, if they're you've got a
Speaker 1: couple of top fifteen free agents out there, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and and
Speaker 1: you know what you need to work with them to
Speaker 1: improve upon, and so I try to I try to
Speaker 1: get them both signed. So that would be, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: that would be my first answer obviously would be you know,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't necessarily let him, let him take a walk.
Speaker 1: I try to try to get him under contract. I think,
Speaker 1: getting back to what we were talking about earlier with
Speaker 1: Gino and Bobby Hart, if they were to make those
Speaker 1: moves to create more space, I think they would have
Speaker 1: room for lossing Jackson and an offensive lineman. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: they created more space, I agree. Next question comes from Man.
Speaker 1: This is an interesting one. There's been speculation that Kevin
Speaker 1: Zeitler could be available. That would mean he was getting
Speaker 1: cut by the Giants. Would the Bengals consider bringing him back?
Speaker 1: I would think that from an organizational standpoint, they would
Speaker 1: consider it, but it'd be at the right price. Again,
Speaker 1: Kevin Zeitler would be out there because he'd be a
Speaker 1: cap casualty, but he's still operating at at an efficient level,
Speaker 1: but not at the dollars that he's you know, he'd
Speaker 1: be currently making would he come back to Cincinnati for
Speaker 1: a haircut. I don't know. I mean, I think I
Speaker 1: think that both all parties parted ways on good terms.
Speaker 1: I don't think there was any bitterness. I think that
Speaker 1: Kevin Zeitler felt like he was treated well when he
Speaker 1: was here with the Cincinnati Bengals, being a first round
Speaker 1: picked out of Wisconsin. And I think they liked his
Speaker 1: work ethic, They liked everything about Kevin Zeidler. They had
Speaker 1: no problems with him whatsoever. Good locker room guy. Everything
Speaker 1: was positive about Kevin Zeitler. So I don't think there'd
Speaker 1: be any hesitation on their end. Now as far as
Speaker 1: Kevin Zeiler's concerned, I don't remember Kevin Zieler's voicing. He
Speaker 1: was not a very you know, somebody that would tell
Speaker 1: you things were bothering him. He wasn't that type of player.
Speaker 1: But I think that he was pretty satisfied with the
Speaker 1: Bengals from an organizational standpoint. To me, that's not a
Speaker 1: thing that's beyond the realm of possibility whatsoever. I think
Speaker 1: they were a playoff team every year he was here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was here during the height of the Marvin Lewis era.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt and he was a really good player.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's just solid player. There's no question. He's
Speaker 1: made a lot of money. So the decision would be,
Speaker 1: if you're going to play for less money, would you
Speaker 1: come back to Cincinnati or would you go elsewhere to
Speaker 1: play for less money. If it's a team that's close
Speaker 1: to the playoffs and his estimation that does need an
Speaker 1: interior offensive lineman, he might choose that over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 1: Can you give me your impression of him breathing after
Speaker 1: things did not go well on a particular play man
Speaker 1: he was Jean. He was a deep breather man. All right.
Speaker 1: Final ask lap question this week comes from Dalton, who
Speaker 1: does an incredible job of posting Bengals graphics on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Here's his question. He would love to hear if you
Speaker 1: have any stories about Jim Leclair boy. Jim Leclair guy
Speaker 1: I played with for a long time. We were teammates
Speaker 1: with the Bengals, then teammates with the Generals. Both went
Speaker 1: to New Jersey at the same time and played a
Speaker 1: couple of years there. And Jim Leclair I can tell
Speaker 1: you a personal story my rookie year. We're doing interior
Speaker 1: line drills, and it's interior running game, so there's really
Speaker 1: no secret as to what's happening. I mean, all it
Speaker 1: is is like a nutcracker drill that's expanded to like
Speaker 1: about to entail. You know, six players, three on offense,
Speaker 1: three on defense, a couple of guards in the center,
Speaker 1: too defensive tackles, and an inside linebacker. So, um, we're
Speaker 1: running the drill and one play called for a double
Speaker 1: team on the defensive tackle and I was supposed to
Speaker 1: rub off to Jim mclair to the next level, get
Speaker 1: up to that next level on the double team, we
Speaker 1: doubled the defensive tackle. I get a pretty good release
Speaker 1: and I'm up up to the next level and I
Speaker 1: start peeking to try to locate Jim mclair. I mean
Speaker 1: I got hit. He put a forum on my forehead, man,
Speaker 1: and I had the yellow flash, and you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: the birds were circling and there was a long distance
Speaker 1: phone call ringing. Nobody was picking up on the other end. Man,
Speaker 1: I was, I was literally rung, and I thought, wow,
Speaker 1: I mean, Jim McClair had an unbelievable forearm. So I
Speaker 1: come back to the back to the huddle and Stan
Speaker 1: Walter's a fellow Syracuse offensive lineman. He kind of peaks
Speaker 1: his head into me. He goes, you okay, I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, he goes. Let me give you a tip, rookie,
Speaker 1: don't be peaking when you're looking for Jim Leclair. I said,
Speaker 1: I found that out on my own. Man. That dude,
Speaker 1: he could come downhill and he would just try to
Speaker 1: drive your head into your shoulders and you know, make
Speaker 1: him no neck. He was something. And another thing I
Speaker 1: remember doing is going, uh to watch Jim Leclair wrestle Victor,
Speaker 1: the wrestling bear that would tour the cities. And Jim
Speaker 1: Leclair was a wrestling champ in college. He was he
Speaker 1: was a great wrestler. And this dude had broad shoulders,
Speaker 1: man like coat hanger shoulders and you know, tapered down
Speaker 1: to no waste, and he was he was just really strong.
Speaker 1: And Victor had a muzzle and they declawed him, so
Speaker 1: he had taken to his teeth. Would put a muzzle
Speaker 1: on him and declawed him. But it is a big
Speaker 1: old bear. Well nobody you know, penned Victor and uh,
Speaker 1: but Jim Leclair he starts starts going after Victor like
Speaker 1: he's like he's wrestling in a college man. He shoots
Speaker 1: a leg and he's trying to Victor down, you know,
Speaker 1: and crisis swap. He got Victor on his back, and
Speaker 1: the guy who handled Victor said it had never happened before,
Speaker 1: and as soon as he got Victor on his back,
Speaker 1: he just the guy like waved it off ended the match.
Speaker 1: I mean, in my mind, he pinned Victor the wrestling bear.
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, that's unbelievable, because Victor was They had
Speaker 1: it. It It was at an outdoor camping show and they
Speaker 1: had big swimming pools around the ring, and Victor was
Speaker 1: backhanded people into the swimming pools. You know. Claire goes
Speaker 1: up there and I couldn't believe it. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Leclair. And one other final story on Mclair. This
Speaker 1: one's not quite as pretty, but this guy cuts him
Speaker 1: off when he's driving the practice and just you know,
Speaker 1: almost causes an accident. So, you know, the guy. Leclair
Speaker 1: drives up next to the guy and the guy's got
Speaker 1: like two other guys within the car and he signals
Speaker 1: for Leclair to pull over. So Leclaire in this car
Speaker 1: pull over and Leclair gets out of the car and
Speaker 1: the guy. The guy and his two friends get out
Speaker 1: of the car. They start getting after Leclair and he's
Speaker 1: innocent and they cut him off and the one guy
Speaker 1: takes a swing at him. Jim Leclair one punch of
Speaker 1: three guys, three knockouts, out cold. Police come. They're like
Speaker 1: trying to you know what went down here? And Jim says, look,
Speaker 1: he said, there's one of me, there's three of them.
Speaker 1: You know, what do you think happened here? And he
Speaker 1: was late for practice and when he asked him what
Speaker 1: happened he told him and I'm like, man, those guys
Speaker 1: bad decision to challenge Jim Leclair. I'm telling you that
Speaker 1: that guy, pound for pound, might have been the toughest
Speaker 1: human being alive. He shot the leg on Victor. The
Speaker 1: bear got the leg. Man. He's trying to do the takedown.
Speaker 1: He's throwing moves on him. He's doing the escape move.
Speaker 1: He was wrestling his tail off his classic. Did he
Speaker 1: ever share how Victor's breath was? He did, in fact,
Speaker 1: then he said the worst part of the Victor could
Speaker 1: get the tongue out of that mask. Victor's tongue was
Speaker 1: about three feet long. The Victor was wrapping the tongue
Speaker 1: around Leclair's head and he said that tongue smell to
Speaker 1: the high heavens. Boy, it's stunk like nothing he'd ever
Speaker 1: smelled in his life. And Victor, it was all over
Speaker 1: Jimmy's head. Yeah, he needs a shower after that minute. Dalton,
Speaker 1: I bet you're glad you asked for stories about jim Leclair.
Speaker 1: That was the perfect capper to this week's or this
Speaker 1: version of Ask Lap Partner. Thank you so much, awesome
Speaker 1: stuff as I always look forward to doing this again
Speaker 1: sometime soon. My pleasure, Dan feel the same, have a
Speaker 1: good one that's going to do it. For this episode
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Speaker 1: for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast