Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast,
Speaker 2: the I Want to Know edition as we get impartial
Speaker 2: analysis of the Bengals draft class from one of the
Speaker 2: best in the business, Greg Cosel from NFL Films and
Speaker 2: the NFL Matchup show on ESPN plus one on one
Speaker 2: conversations with first round draft pick Miles Murphy and one
Speaker 2: of his new teammates, Joseph Osai, who tells us how
Speaker 2: fans at a UC basketball game boosted his confidence after
Speaker 2: that costly penalty in the AFC Championship game. The Bengals
Speaker 2: Booth Podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and
Speaker 2: Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed
Speaker 2: merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app.
Speaker 2: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 2: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 2: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 2: the greatest thing since the birthday boy. My son Sam
Speaker 2: turned seventeen this week. When you become a parent for
Speaker 2: the first time, every other parent that you talk to
Speaker 2: tells you to savor it because time will fly by. Well,
Speaker 2: they weren't lying. It seems like only yesterday I was
Speaker 2: reading Sam bedtime stories. Now I'm tossing him the keys
Speaker 2: to the car. In any case, Peg and I are
Speaker 2: very proud parents of a great kid and one of
Speaker 2: the world's biggest Bengals fans. In fact, one of his
Speaker 2: birthday wishes this year was one of those garish necklace
Speaker 2: chains with a big Bengals logo on the end that
Speaker 2: will be part of his game day attire at Peikor
Speaker 2: Stadium next year. Now, let's get to my first guest.
Speaker 2: Everywhere you look these days, folks are breaking down NFL
Speaker 2: game video, from former players to knowledgeable fans. It's helped
Speaker 2: all of us better understand a complicated sport. Greg Cosell
Speaker 2: was one of the first people to study the tape
Speaker 2: and share his observations publicly. Nearly forty years ago, he
Speaker 2: helped NFL Films create the NFL Matchup Show, and for decades,
Speaker 2: Greg has been one of the most respected analysts in
Speaker 2: the game. One of his annual tasks is to study
Speaker 2: draft prospects. He looks at more than two hundred each year,
Speaker 2: and he joined me this week to discuss the Bengals
Speaker 2: picks and their moves in free agency. It is always
Speaker 2: a treat to talk football with my friend Greg Cosell,
Speaker 2: especially less than a week after the NFL Draft, because
Speaker 2: I know how much tape you have been studying to
Speaker 2: be informed about these guys. Let's start with the Bengals
Speaker 2: first pick, Miles Murphy, the defensive end from Clemson. He's
Speaker 2: roughly six five to seventy nearly thirty four inch arms.
Speaker 2: He ran a four five forty. What did you see
Speaker 2: on tape when you watched Miles Murphy?
Speaker 3: Yeah, this guy looks the part Dan. I actually watched
Speaker 3: him last summer with his twenty twenty one tape, and
Speaker 3: of course watched him this year with his twenty twenty
Speaker 3: two tape. I thought he actually improves meaningfully this year
Speaker 3: from last year. He showed a little bit more bend
Speaker 3: in flexibility. But what his signature really is is speed
Speaker 3: to power with an outstanding one arm stab. That's really
Speaker 3: his game, and the one big key for him is
Speaker 3: really timing the snapcount because when he could get off
Speaker 3: the ball right away, he was explosive with his acceleration
Speaker 3: and challenging the offensive technique. The technique of offensive tackles,
Speaker 3: you must be able to challenge the high side, you know,
Speaker 3: meaning the outside arc. If you can't do that as
Speaker 3: a pass rusher, it's very hard to be a good
Speaker 3: pass rusher. And he showed better ability to do that
Speaker 3: in his last year at Clemson than he did in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. But he is ultimately a speed to
Speaker 3: power rusher. He's also really good with secondary movement. He
Speaker 3: can redirect, he can retrace, he's he's a very competitive player.
Speaker 2: I have seen some people have this criticism that the
Speaker 2: production doesn't quite match the physical gifts. Yep, his single
Speaker 2: season high for sacks with seven. Is that a concern
Speaker 2: in your mind?
Speaker 3: It's a concern in the sense that at this moment
Speaker 3: in time, he does not really have counters. And that's
Speaker 3: why the production doesn't match the physical traits because once
Speaker 3: if the speed to power did not work, there wasn't
Speaker 3: much more for him to do at this moment. That's
Speaker 3: going to have to be worked on through the OTAs,
Speaker 3: through training camp, and obviously, as you well know you've
Speaker 3: been doing this a long time, one move is not
Speaker 3: enough in the National Football League to be a quality
Speaker 3: edge pass rusher.
Speaker 2: That sounds to me like something that a good defensive
Speaker 2: line coach can teach.
Speaker 3: And I would agree with that, which is why he's
Speaker 3: a first round pick. Because the size, the length, and
Speaker 3: the overall traits are there. You just need to expand
Speaker 3: the arsenal.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: There were several good cornerback prospects in this draft. The
Speaker 2: Bengals picked the fastest of the bube unpick DJ Turner
Speaker 2: out of Michigan. Did you have him ranked among the
Speaker 2: upper tier of cornerbacks in this year's class?
Speaker 3: Upper tier? How do you want to define that? He
Speaker 3: was not among my first three or four, But that's okay.
Speaker 3: It was a very good cornerback draft. Obviously, as you said,
Speaker 3: he ran a four to two six at the combine.
Speaker 3: You know, he's five eleven in a quarter. He's light,
Speaker 3: he's one seventy eight, So now you're dealing with a
Speaker 3: frame that's a little smaller than ideally desired. He's not
Speaker 3: really a physical player, but he's unbelievably good at mirror
Speaker 3: match press man, and by mirror match, I mean you
Speaker 3: play press, you wait for the receiver to declare his
Speaker 3: release off the line of scrimmage, and then you react
Speaker 3: to him. It's taught either getting in his hip pocket,
Speaker 3: reacting to his shoulder, it doesn't matter. You react to
Speaker 3: the release. And he has quick, explosive feet. He's got
Speaker 3: really loose fluid hips, and boy does he have the
Speaker 3: easy deep speed dan to run with receivers in mirror match.
Speaker 3: I mean, so many times guys would try to run
Speaker 3: vertically and it looked like he was just out there
Speaker 3: jogging and he was running with him. So his speed
Speaker 3: really does show up on film. Now. One thing that
Speaker 3: is a little bit of a concern. Sometimes fast guys,
Speaker 3: and I learned this from an old friend of yours
Speaker 3: who I've gotten to Noel TJ. Huschman Zada, Sometimes fast
Speaker 3: guys struggle to stop. So sometimes when he would be
Speaker 3: running with what appeared to be a vertical route and
Speaker 3: it would end up being a curl or a comeback,
Speaker 3: it took him too many steps to stop. That's a
Speaker 3: common issue for guys that are really fast, and that's
Speaker 3: going to have to be worked on.
Speaker 2: It was interesting after the pick Bengals defensive coordinator lou
Speaker 2: Anarumo spoke about his recovery speed. To Lou that was
Speaker 2: the key to alf four to two six, not looking
Speaker 2: good at the Combine. But if he makes a mistake,
Speaker 2: and they all do at some point, the ability to
Speaker 2: recover because of his natural gifts.
Speaker 3: And it looked so easy. Believe me, it really looked
Speaker 3: like it was a walk in the park for him.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move to the third round. I'm really
Speaker 2: interested to get your thoughts on third round pick Jordan Battle,
Speaker 2: the safety out of Alabama. The Bengals met with him
Speaker 2: at the Combine. They put on the tape and they
Speaker 2: said his understanding of football was as good as anybody
Speaker 2: they've ever interviewed at the combine. Does that show up
Speaker 2: when you watch him on tape.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. This guy started forty five games at Alabama and
Speaker 3: when I and keep in mind he's not a great athlete,
Speaker 3: so when you watch his tape, his game is built
Speaker 3: on Here's what I type, just, you know, talking about
Speaker 3: the Bengals, and I guess we see things the same way.
Speaker 3: I get lucky once in a while, Dan, you know, so,
Speaker 3: I said his game is built on high level mental
Speaker 3: acuity with a full understanding of both his assignments and
Speaker 3: opposing offenses. That's exactly what I said about Jordan Battle.
Speaker 3: That's what he is He's an incredibly smart, aware, intuitive player.
Speaker 3: The reason he's a third round pick and not higher
Speaker 3: is because he's not a high level athlete. So now
Speaker 3: you have to think, what does that mean in the
Speaker 3: context of your defense? You know, can he match up
Speaker 3: to tight ends? He's probably not a post safety, even
Speaker 3: though he played a ton of post safety at Alabama.
Speaker 3: But that's college football, you know. I don't think he's
Speaker 3: a replacement for Bates, not in my mind anyway, but
Speaker 3: you know, maybe I'll be wrong, but this guy is
Speaker 3: incredibly intelligent, the way in which he plays the game.
Speaker 2: Is his skill set more of a replacement for von Bell?
Speaker 3: Yes, I would say for sure it would be more
Speaker 3: of a replacement for von Bell.
Speaker 2: Absolutely following the pick. Quite honestly, the more I learned
Speaker 2: about him, the more I watched, the more I thought
Speaker 2: von Bell. Yeah, does he remind you of von Bell?
Speaker 3: I don't know if he reminds me, you know, apples
Speaker 3: to apples, But he's that kind of player. And I
Speaker 3: got to know Bryce Young a little bit, and I
Speaker 3: saw him at an event last year and we were
Speaker 3: actually talking about Jordan Battle. I said, hey, I was
Speaker 3: surprised he decided to come back and Bryce Young said
Speaker 3: to me, he said, hey, we're so glad he did
Speaker 3: because he is he is the team. He said, he's
Speaker 3: the guy at Alabama, you know, so he's that kind
Speaker 3: of guy. He's super intelligent. He controls everything in a
Speaker 3: good way. That's the kind of player he is.
Speaker 2: We are visiting with a great Greg Cosel from NFL
Speaker 2: Films in the NFL Matchup Show. In the fourth round,
Speaker 2: the Bengals took wide receiver and return specialist Charlie Jones
Speaker 2: from Purdue. He led the nation and catches last year
Speaker 2: with one hundred and ten. He had a couple of
Speaker 2: return touchdowns in his college career. He's got four four
Speaker 2: to three speed, so he is significantly faster than the
Speaker 2: Bengals depth receivers like Trent Irwin and Trent Taylor. What
Speaker 2: do you think of Charlie Jones.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Charlie Jones, I think we'll have to move into
Speaker 3: the slot in the NFL. You know, he's one hundred
Speaker 3: and seventy five pounds. He's a little more straight linish.
Speaker 3: You know, he's got really good straight line speed. He's
Speaker 3: not a shifty, sink your hips in and out of
Speaker 3: breaks kind of route runner. He kind of needs free access,
Speaker 3: which is another reason I think he'll move inside. Those
Speaker 3: guys more often than not can be used as motion
Speaker 3: movement receivers. As you know, you want do you want
Speaker 3: him to generate some velocity into his routes because he's
Speaker 3: much more, as I said, a speed cut receiver than
Speaker 3: he is as a sink your hips guy, you know,
Speaker 3: And that also minimizes the press coverage, because that's a question,
Speaker 3: you know, can he beat pressman coverage consistently? But he
Speaker 3: can run, and you know he has. He had a
Speaker 3: really big day against Garrett Williams, who was a corner
Speaker 3: from Syracuse who was a draft choice and is a
Speaker 3: really good corner prospect, So you know, he's an interesting
Speaker 3: guy that but there's reasons he's drafted in the fourth round,
Speaker 3: and it has to do with the fact that he's
Speaker 3: even though he can run, he's pretty straight linish.
Speaker 2: In the fifth round, the Bengals took running back Chase
Speaker 2: Brown out of Illinois, another guy with four to four
Speaker 2: speed and in his case of forty inch verticals, so
Speaker 2: he's got some explosiveness. He was third in the country
Speaker 2: last year in rushing yards per game. What are his
Speaker 2: strengths and weaknesses.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I liked him. I mean, he's got a compact frame,
Speaker 3: he's got a very low center of gravity. He was
Speaker 3: used last year as a volume runner at Illinois. You're
Speaker 3: dealing with a guy that's tough, competitive urgent. He's got
Speaker 3: strong downhill trades. He's got a sustaining mentality, which is
Speaker 3: different than saying that he's a powerful runner, because he's
Speaker 3: not a powerful runner. Even though he runs hard and
Speaker 3: runs physically and competitively tough, he's not really powerful or strong.
Speaker 3: So he does have really good speed. He can take
Speaker 3: it to the house. I think he's got great vision
Speaker 3: once he gets to the second and third levels of
Speaker 3: the defense. He's got a natural feel for where pursue
Speaker 3: who is coming from. He can, you know, as I said,
Speaker 3: he can take it the distance, so he does bring
Speaker 3: an explosive dimension. I think for the Bengals he's a
Speaker 3: really good pick because this is not a team. Number one,
Speaker 3: they don't play at a base personnel hardly at all.
Speaker 3: They play out a three wide, so the defense is
Speaker 3: a little more spread. And number two, they don't really
Speaker 3: ask their back even with Joe Mixon, as you know,
Speaker 3: to carry twenty times every week. There may be a
Speaker 3: week that that happens, but that's not really the way
Speaker 3: their offense is structured.
Speaker 2: They lost so much Jp Ryan to free agency to
Speaker 2: the Denver Broncos. He was getting a lot of third
Speaker 2: down snaps last year. Do you think that Chase Brown
Speaker 2: is a likely guy to get some of those snaps
Speaker 2: or what could his role.
Speaker 1: Be as a rookie?
Speaker 3: He could? I mean, he showed excellent hands as a receiver.
Speaker 3: He was used at Illinois. He ran a lot of
Speaker 3: wheel routes out of the backfield, which are our real
Speaker 3: routes as opposed to check downs or flat route So
Speaker 3: he did run those kinds of routes. He caught the
Speaker 3: ball very easily. Could he be a third down back?
Speaker 3: You and I both know there's many factors that are
Speaker 3: involved with that, but if you're just talking about the hands,
Speaker 3: he could do that all right?
Speaker 2: Onto the sixth round and I imagine you were really
Speaker 2: interested when you studied this guy. Andre Yosi Vash the
Speaker 2: wide receiver out of Princeton an All American hetathletes, so
Speaker 2: he know he can sprint and pull, vault and do
Speaker 2: the shot. But how good is he as a wide
Speaker 2: receiver prospect.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was an interesting watch because obviously he played
Speaker 3: at Princeton, and you know, his athletic profile is elite,
Speaker 3: no question about it. But you know what was interesting
Speaker 3: to me watching his tape is I expected him to
Speaker 3: run by corners in the IVY League much more than
Speaker 3: he did. I don't think he played to his time speed,
Speaker 3: you know, but his short shuttle time was ridiculously good.
Speaker 3: I mean, the traits, the testing traits are ridiculous. But
Speaker 3: there'll be a developmental curve for this guy. How do
Speaker 3: you use him? He's probably an outside receiver. He certainly,
Speaker 3: if he makes the team. It's not as if he's
Speaker 3: going to get meaningful snaps on the outside. He certainly
Speaker 3: has good size to you know, to be a boundary
Speaker 3: X type receiver in the league. But it's gonna take
Speaker 3: time for him. He needs more route running detail and nuance.
Speaker 3: I think he has to learn how to use his
Speaker 3: speed better than he did in college. So, you know,
Speaker 3: again you're dealing with a smaller school guy who has
Speaker 3: a developmental curve to him.
Speaker 2: So those are the first six players that Cincinnati selected.
Speaker 2: Does anything stand out to you about the group as
Speaker 2: a whole?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Tough question. I mean, obviously there was some need involved
Speaker 3: here because they they needed to deal with corner and
Speaker 3: they needed to deal with safety. So I think that that,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, the way the draft works now,
Speaker 3: you draft the best player at a need position. That's
Speaker 3: normally the way it works now, because you know, you
Speaker 3: have to line people up. I mean, people forget that.
Speaker 3: You know, it's easy to say, take this guy, take
Speaker 3: that guy. But you know, they lost to safeties. They
Speaker 3: got to line people up in safety. Obviously at corner
Speaker 3: they need they needed a corner. So you know, I
Speaker 3: think that they addressed need with quality players at the
Speaker 3: time that they drafted. You know. So I'm very curious
Speaker 3: to see Jordan battle because I love watching him play.
Speaker 3: I just kept thinking to myself, God, is he a
Speaker 3: good enough athlete? But he's really a good football player.
Speaker 2: All right. We are chatting with Greg co Sell from
Speaker 2: NFL Films in the NFL Matchup show. We spoke at
Speaker 2: the combine that was just before the start of free agency.
Speaker 2: What does the addition of Orlando Brown Junior mean to
Speaker 2: the Bengals offensive line?
Speaker 3: They still needed to address the old line, and I
Speaker 3: think you would agree. I mean, even with the changes
Speaker 3: that were made a year ago. It was still up
Speaker 3: and down. I think that's a fair statement when you
Speaker 3: agree it was still up and down in terms of protection.
Speaker 3: So it was necessary to address it. And when you
Speaker 3: can go out and get someone who's played in the
Speaker 3: league and been a good player, won a Super Bowl,
Speaker 3: you know, he's been with two quality organizations that you
Speaker 3: have one games a lot of games with different style
Speaker 3: offense is obviously you know. I think that all that's
Speaker 3: really really important. I assume he's going to play left
Speaker 3: tackle correct.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. He would not have signed with Cincinnati
Speaker 2: if they did not essentially promise him that he would
Speaker 2: be the left tackle.
Speaker 3: So I guess the question is, is Jonah Williams is
Speaker 3: he going to I know he's probably not happy about it,
Speaker 3: but is he now going to be the right tackle?
Speaker 2: That is my assumption. You're right, he's not happy about it.
Speaker 2: He has requested a trade, but I don't expect that
Speaker 2: to happen for a number of reasons, not the least
Speaker 2: of which is he's guaranteed twelve million dollars this year,
Speaker 2: and I suspect he'll want to make those twelve million dollars.
Speaker 2: So most of us assume that after cooler heads prevail,
Speaker 2: he'll show up in training camp and play right tackle
Speaker 2: and probably move on at the end of the year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he'll probably be fine at right tackle. It'll
Speaker 3: probably be a little bit of an upgrade, and you know,
Speaker 3: so it'll really help their own line. We know how
Speaker 3: good Burrow is. I mean, Burrow is a master before
Speaker 3: the snap of the ball. He knows where everybody is.
Speaker 3: You know, he's not phased by pressure. So, you know,
Speaker 3: I think that's a clear upgrade and I think they
Speaker 3: needed to do that.
Speaker 2: Prior to last year, the Bengals lost cj Uzama, they
Speaker 2: replaced him with Hayden Hurst. They got similar results. Now
Speaker 2: they've lost Hayden Hurst, they've replaced him with Irv Smith Junior.
Speaker 2: What do you think of earth Smith Junior.
Speaker 3: I always liked him a lot. He's just been injured
Speaker 3: a lot. I think a healthy Erv Smith Junior is
Speaker 3: actually a pretty dynamic weapon as a tight end because
Speaker 3: he's a three level player. He's a seam stretcher. He
Speaker 3: can run crossers. You know, he can line him, you
Speaker 3: can line him up outside and he can run go routes.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's a really, really good athlete for a
Speaker 3: tight end, and every year I kept hoping, Man, I
Speaker 3: hope he's healthy this year because I think there's a
Speaker 3: lot there in his body. There's a lot of traits
Speaker 3: there as a receiving tight end. So we'll see how
Speaker 3: it plays out. The number one thing is can he
Speaker 3: stay healthy and on the field.
Speaker 2: No question about it. The Bengals are banking on that.
Speaker 2: I guess the good news with Irv Smith Junior as
Speaker 2: he entered the NFL when he was twenty He's still
Speaker 2: only twenty four. I now be a lot of football left.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's just staying healthy. Who's the second tight end
Speaker 3: right now?
Speaker 2: They brought back Drew Sample, Yeah.
Speaker 3: But he's more of a blocker and so they have
Speaker 3: a good combination there. But you know Erv Smith is
Speaker 3: he's a really intriguing player in the context of this
Speaker 3: offense because he can detach from the formation and run
Speaker 3: wide receiver type routes.
Speaker 2: So, Greg, when I asked you at the combine about
Speaker 2: the Bengals internal free agents, you said that you thought
Speaker 2: retaining Jermaine Pratt was important, and the Bengals obviously agreed.
Speaker 2: What was your reaction when you saw that they reached
Speaker 2: an extension with Jermaine Pratt.
Speaker 3: Not surprised Dan because I really, you know, understanding that defense,
Speaker 3: and obviously over the last number of years, because the
Speaker 3: Bengals have become a very good team. I've seen a
Speaker 3: ton of the Bengals defense, and I thought he was
Speaker 3: a really important players. I told you at the combine.
Speaker 3: So again, I never get involved with money in what
Speaker 3: guys are asking for. But it did not surprise me
Speaker 3: at all because I think the way in which they
Speaker 3: played defense and what they asked their linebackers to do,
Speaker 3: it's important Wilson and Pratt, as you well know, are
Speaker 3: important pieces to that defense. Some teams view, you know,
Speaker 3: stackbackers in an important way, others don't. I'm in the
Speaker 3: Philadelphia area Hawie Roseman and the Eagles, the way they played,
Speaker 3: they don't view stackbackers as that important within the context
Speaker 3: of their defense. But you know, there's ten different ways
Speaker 3: to do things in this league, as you know, and
Speaker 3: clearly the Bengals view Wilson and Pratt as really important
Speaker 3: pieces to that defense. So I wasn't surprised at all
Speaker 3: when they re signed him.
Speaker 2: Final thing for Greg co Selm, my broadcast partner Dave
Speaker 2: Lapham reached out to a lot of his contacts around
Speaker 2: the league prior to the draft, and one of the
Speaker 2: questions he was asking was where do you have the
Speaker 2: Bengals ranked among talent in terms of talent on the roster,
Speaker 2: and Lapp said everybody he talked to had the Bengals
Speaker 2: ranked in the top three, top three. Feel that the
Speaker 2: Bengals have a top three roster or something like that,
Speaker 2: top to bottom.
Speaker 3: I would probably have to say no, But I think
Speaker 3: that Joe Burrow factor makes everybody believe that. And there's
Speaker 3: nothing wrong with that because Joe Burrow is pretty damn good.
Speaker 3: But you know, again, it's hard for me to think
Speaker 3: of every roster now given that where you know, in
Speaker 3: early May, and I haven't been studying rosters the way
Speaker 3: I do during the season. So but my initial thought
Speaker 3: would be no. And I don't want people to hear
Speaker 3: that and think, oh, you think they stink.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 3: You know you're asking me top three. There's thirty two teams.
Speaker 3: That's that's that's high level. Certainly there are top ten,
Speaker 3: for sure, but I don't know if they're top three.
Speaker 3: If you look at the overall roster, you know, I
Speaker 3: think the quarterback can always make up for any potential
Speaker 3: deficiencies offensively and can compensate for anything. He's so good
Speaker 3: and so incredibly smart and aware, and I think defensively
Speaker 3: they have some good players and some underrated players, probably
Speaker 3: by media people. But I don't know if overall you'd
Speaker 3: say top three, it might be. I just my initial
Speaker 3: thought was not to say, yes, it's definitely top three.
Speaker 2: Which is why I love talking to you. Somebody else
Speaker 2: would have said, oh, sure, top three. You're giving your
Speaker 2: honest opinion, very good, top ten, just not necessarily top three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely top ten, but I just top three. I
Speaker 3: would have to look in detail at rosters, you know.
Speaker 3: And obviously I didn't know you were gonna ask me
Speaker 3: that question, so I didn't do that. But you know,
Speaker 3: I'd have to look at I'd have to look at
Speaker 3: rosters to answer that truly correctly.
Speaker 2: Dave Lappham will not be offended just because some of
Speaker 2: his contacts, Oh differently. This is always a treat. I
Speaker 2: don't want to take too much of your time. Appreciate
Speaker 2: the visit as always, Greg, thank you.
Speaker 3: Dan, No, thank you. I always appreciate it.
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Speaker 2: had my first opportunity for a one on one interview
Speaker 2: with Miles Murphy when he came to town a couple
Speaker 2: of days after the draft. I think you're going to
Speaker 2: be wowed by him, much like Jackson Carmen was. When
Speaker 2: Murphy left high school midway through his senior year and
Speaker 2: enrolled at Clemson in January of twenty twenty. He said,
Speaker 2: Miles Murphy is the truth. Yes, as good as anyone
Speaker 2: that you've ever faced.
Speaker 1: Yes, he's so gifted, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: When he gets to the league, he's going to that
Speaker 5: understanding is gonna take over, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Because when you in college, everyone's talented, but there's a
Speaker 5: certain there's a system in college, you know what I mean,
Speaker 5: And so you get to the lead, all that information
Speaker 5: just gets dumped on you.
Speaker 1: And so a guy like Miles he's going.
Speaker 5: To figure out those pathways to be able to transition himself.
Speaker 1: It's a credible player. Like when he gets better as
Speaker 1: just like his.
Speaker 5: Body Awarenes's like his flexibility, mobility, his energy transfer, his
Speaker 5: technique like predetermined techniques, like when you're in college, you're
Speaker 5: thinking about techniques. When you're doing you're thinking like long
Speaker 5: arm and then go like when you get to the league,
Speaker 5: you kind of can feel like as soon as his
Speaker 5: shoulder moves, I'm already doing that because I know his
Speaker 5: hand's gonna be like stuff like that, Miles is gonna
Speaker 5: take into his game.
Speaker 1: He's gonna really just blossom. So I'm scited for my miuse.
Speaker 2: At any point in the draft process, did you think
Speaker 2: man Miles Murphy would be a great pick at twenty eight?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I thought he would have went higher, honestly,
Speaker 5: but I'm glad he's here real the moment I want
Speaker 5: and gets in the first time, Like, oh, he's gonna
Speaker 5: get drafted the first round.
Speaker 1: I'm like I've literally thought that. I'm like, yeah, this
Speaker 1: guy's this guy's it, Like it's great.
Speaker 5: He's strong, he's fast, he's smart, he's humble, Like, well
Speaker 5: more could you ask in the player?
Speaker 2: So he comes in early, he's seventeen years old or whatever,
Speaker 2: and you say, this guy is the first draft.
Speaker 5: Yes, I told him that. You know, guys, kids in
Speaker 5: college is doing whatever. Practice can't wait to go home.
Speaker 5: You feel me. Me and Miles are working. He's seventeen,
Speaker 5: I'm a junior, and we're going at it. I'm throwing
Speaker 5: him around and then he I can see he's starting
Speaker 5: to kind of get like frustrated because I'm beating him.
Speaker 5: So he comes off with a different movie than he did,
Speaker 5: Like he's flashing me a long arm. He just disappears
Speaker 5: with it, and I was like, and I flip ran
Speaker 5: them by. But that was the first like real like
Speaker 5: feeling of.
Speaker 1: Like, oh my god, Like that was yeah, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So, and then from there it just compiled.
Speaker 2: He seems like a very I don't know if the
Speaker 2: intellectual is the wrong word, but you know he's he's
Speaker 2: not it's cerebra, thank you. He's not a for lack
Speaker 2: of a better expression, like mead heead.
Speaker 5: No, he's not at all, very very god feeling, very humble,
Speaker 5: very sensitive, like in a good way, you know what
Speaker 5: I mean.
Speaker 1: Strong. He's a great kid, bro, I love mine.
Speaker 2: Sounds like he'll fit right in.
Speaker 1: You're gonna do more than that and go dominate.
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps.
Speaker 2: More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorp to help
Speaker 2: them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at
Speaker 2: paycorp dot com. It's customary for the Bengals first round
Speaker 2: draft pick to fly to town a day or two
Speaker 2: after the draft to do a news conference and then
Speaker 2: a series of interviews with local reporters. Perhaps you've already
Speaker 2: watched one or more of the interviews that Miles Murphy did.
Speaker 2: That's why when we sat down, I tried to dig
Speaker 2: a little bit deeper into Miles the person instead of
Speaker 2: the football player. Miles, based on everything that I've read,
Speaker 2: you take great pride in being more than just a
Speaker 2: really good football player. You studied engineering, you love to draw.
Speaker 2: Is all of that other stuff important to you?
Speaker 6: I think it is important to me, honestly, because let's
Speaker 6: say it makes me kind of the person who I am.
Speaker 4: It's probably it's part more personality. More. I am more
Speaker 4: than just a football player. Fly us I should be.
Speaker 6: I should be every football player's mission to find you
Speaker 6: know something outside of football that you're interested in, whether
Speaker 6: it be cars, architecture, anything, so yeah, just you know what,
Speaker 6: find find that niche whatever it is.
Speaker 2: Do you love math or you just good at it?
Speaker 4: I'm just good at it, honestly.
Speaker 6: Yeah, like Matt, math and science I always came easy,
Speaker 6: always came kind of easy to me putting together just physics,
Speaker 6: and I always saw it as you know, plugging in formula.
Speaker 4: So I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: We're chatting with Miles Murphy. Is the truth that you
Speaker 2: have an interest in stadium designed?
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 6: I'm about to say, I've been watching I live in Atlanta,
Speaker 6: So I watched the Mercedes Benz Stadium from the ground
Speaker 6: up and the Georgia Dome come crashing down, and then
Speaker 6: Sofi Stadium. I've been, you know, all all into that project.
Speaker 4: Honestly.
Speaker 6: Uh watched watching that, watching that stadium be built, the Raiders,
Speaker 6: the Raiders Stadium with just a beautiful stadium. Been watching
Speaker 6: that STEDDI and been being built. So I I kind
Speaker 6: of am a nerve when it comes from when it
Speaker 6: comes to that.
Speaker 2: You love to sketch them.
Speaker 6: From what I've read, Yeah, that was I was being
Speaker 6: on sketching those stadiums more so when I was once.
Speaker 6: So when I was when I was in high school. Uh,
Speaker 6: in between classes and whennot so I just kind of
Speaker 6: being my own's own, listen to my music and my.
Speaker 4: Headphones and just kind of draw a little bit.
Speaker 2: So you fly into Cincinnati on Saturday morning, you make
Speaker 2: that drive from the airport in northern Kentucky down the hill,
Speaker 2: you start to see the skyline. Did you see the
Speaker 2: stadium and kind of take a look at Okay, that's
Speaker 2: gonna be my new home.
Speaker 4: Yeah. But I'd say kind of kind of a surreal feeling.
Speaker 6: Uh, just great, honestly, Uh, I would say, just love, love,
Speaker 6: love love the city of Cincinnati.
Speaker 4: It's a beautiful just the beautiful spot, honestly.
Speaker 2: So you went to Clemson, which is obviously one of
Speaker 2: the great programs in college football. But I'm amazed by
Speaker 2: your high school, Hill Grave or hill Grove High School,
Speaker 2: which is not too far from Atlanta. The alums include
Speaker 2: Bradley Chubb from the Dolphins, Evan Ingram from the Jags,
Speaker 2: You and Drake who's had a long NFL career. Did
Speaker 2: the fact that those guys went to your high school
Speaker 2: make the NFL dream seem attainable to you?
Speaker 4: For sure? Uh?
Speaker 6: And honestly, a big part of that just comes from
Speaker 6: the work ethic from the guys. Honestly, Uh, that work,
Speaker 6: that work ethic is instilled at Hill Grove of just
Speaker 6: you know, coming in every day, going all out because
Speaker 6: it's you know, it's competitive Georgia's seven and football. But
Speaker 6: I said, you're not gonna get wins easy. You're not
Speaker 6: just gonna walk into an accidental when you know the
Speaker 6: that's that mentality of day in, day in and day.
Speaker 4: Out work starts there.
Speaker 2: Really, you were one of the top five recruits in
Speaker 2: the country. That's a crazy process. When you were ranked
Speaker 2: that highly, did you enjoy it or was it overwhelming?
Speaker 6: It was never overwhelming? Uh not, never made an overwhelming
Speaker 6: because I'm not I'm not the biggest social media guys,
Speaker 6: so I kind of I kind of keep my personal
Speaker 6: life to myself. Honestly, honestly, was exciting. I never I
Speaker 6: never talked about I played football. I was a five starlists.
Speaker 6: I was asked about it, so as that's really how
Speaker 6: I'm moved with it.
Speaker 2: We're chatting with Miles Murphy, the Bengals first round draft pick.
Speaker 2: I am a sucker for a great draft party video,
Speaker 2: and it looked like you had a heck of a
Speaker 2: time back home, with roughly one hundred and seventy five
Speaker 2: people in attendance, you could have gone to the draft,
Speaker 2: I'm sure in Kansas City. Why was it important to
Speaker 2: you to be around friends and family?
Speaker 4: One hundred and seventy five sounds like a lot.
Speaker 6: But about to say, every single one of those people
Speaker 6: that can't well that was in that building had had
Speaker 6: something to do with where I am now.
Speaker 4: You know, has touched has touched some part of my.
Speaker 6: Life that has shaved me into having the discipline that
Speaker 6: I have, having any anything.
Speaker 4: This is something that saved me to the presime today.
Speaker 2: In the pre draft process, you ran a four five
Speaker 2: three forty. I'm sure people told you it's important to
Speaker 2: run a great time if you can. What was it
Speaker 2: like to cross the finish line and realize that you
Speaker 2: had run a time.
Speaker 4: Like out of your size.
Speaker 6: Honestly, when I was there and I ran across, I
Speaker 6: didn't know what I had run until I had to
Speaker 6: walk all the way back, and then my agent and
Speaker 6: coach Sweeney had walked up to me and they were like, yeah,
Speaker 6: all the scouts got between a four four eight and
Speaker 6: a four five two four five three, and I was like,
Speaker 6: oh well, my little.
Speaker 4: Just stop right there. That's a good time. I'll end
Speaker 4: with that. But yeah, it was fine.
Speaker 2: So some guys actually had you below four or five.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and they every single Scott there said if I
Speaker 6: were to run straight, it would it would have easily
Speaker 6: been like a four four six, four four nine at
Speaker 6: the highest, And I knew that was the case.
Speaker 4: But I'll take a four five three.
Speaker 2: You seem like you have a very calm and mellow disposition.
Speaker 2: Do you flip a switch on game day and become
Speaker 2: like an alter ego on the football field?
Speaker 6: This is one of those things that you gotta make
Speaker 6: a choice. Uh, you gotta dominate. But once that once
Speaker 6: that helmet comes on, once once put the cleats on,
Speaker 6: you gotta you gotta tap into that, you know, that
Speaker 6: different mentality of you know, we're going to dominate.
Speaker 4: So I guess it is a flip that is switched
Speaker 4: every day.
Speaker 2: The Bengals have a road game in Jacksonville this year.
Speaker 2: Your former college teammate Trevor Lawrence is the quarterback obviously
Speaker 2: for the Jags. I'm guessing you weren't allowed to get
Speaker 2: near him at practice. You'll get your chance.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I'm gonna get my chance, and I about
Speaker 6: to say, yeah, if you remember my freshman year, if
Speaker 6: you if you got too close to him, if you
Speaker 6: reached an arm out to him, it just wasn't a
Speaker 6: good thing. H Coach Sweene was not too keen of that.
Speaker 6: So now now that he's on the other team that
Speaker 6: I'm able to do that, it's it's.
Speaker 4: As I got to take that chance.
Speaker 2: But I think you had two sacks in your first
Speaker 2: college game. When that happens, are you like, what's the
Speaker 2: big deal?
Speaker 4: This is easy?
Speaker 6: I think it was like a setur they kept where
Speaker 6: I was the first person since Dexter Lawrence do that,
Speaker 6: and no, that's great, great football player right there. So
Speaker 6: it was one of those thing, like you know, you said,
Speaker 6: you celebrate those small things.
Speaker 2: So we're spending a few minutes with Miles Murphy. Your
Speaker 2: family's had Falcon season tickets for many years, So you
Speaker 2: went to NFL games as a kid. Did you look
Speaker 2: at the field and picture yourself in an NFL uniform?
Speaker 6: I for sure did, especially what was the last time.
Speaker 6: I think the last time I went to a Falcons
Speaker 6: game was right before I went to Clemson, So it
Speaker 6: was for sure one of those things, like I feel
Speaker 6: like I can see myself out there on the field
Speaker 6: playing with those guys and let's see here I am.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about your relationship with your
Speaker 2: older brother Max, because he played college football at Worcester
Speaker 2: Polytechnic the Engineers. He's an engineer. Now, he wasn't blessed
Speaker 2: with your size and athletic ability, but it sounds like
Speaker 2: he loved the game. Share what what you got from
Speaker 2: your older brother.
Speaker 6: All of the things that I that I do or
Speaker 6: did was because of him. Following this was as started
Speaker 6: playing football because of him, went into that engineering kind
Speaker 6: of pathway because of him. He went in, like you said,
Speaker 6: WPI as a mechanic engineer. And I know just naturally
Speaker 6: good at math and science, love to draw. So I
Speaker 6: put those together architecture, engineering, and.
Speaker 4: Why I say he loves to work out, I love
Speaker 4: the workout. That a lot of the things that he
Speaker 4: that he does I kind of got from memor.
Speaker 2: Really final thing, your dad shared a picture with me
Speaker 2: of you playing baseball when you were I think in
Speaker 2: seventh grade. You look like you're twice as big as
Speaker 2: the kid on the other team. It's a very amusing photo.
Speaker 2: Were you always the giant in comparison to your peers?
Speaker 6: I was always a giant growing up, and I think
Speaker 6: that kind of plays into why my demeanor is what
Speaker 6: it is now, because I guess naturally, when you're always
Speaker 6: just the abnormally larger guy growing up, they parents expect
Speaker 6: you to be a little bit more, a little bit
Speaker 6: more mature. So I guess I kind of that kind
Speaker 6: of plays until why I'm man while they are today.
Speaker 2: Turned out pretty well, I think, and you look impeccable,
Speaker 2: by the way in that three P suit. That's a
Speaker 2: very impressive fit. As the kids say, congratulations on being
Speaker 2: a first round draft pick. The Bengals are delighted to
Speaker 2: have you, and we look forward to getting to know
Speaker 2: you better in the weeks and months to come appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Miles and his brother Max weren't the only members of
Speaker 2: the family to play college football. His dad, Willard, was
Speaker 2: a standout linebacker for Chattanooga and had a tryout with
Speaker 2: the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL. Had he made the roster,
Speaker 2: he could have played against my broadcast partner Dave Lapham,
Speaker 2: who spent two years with the New Jersey Generals. The
Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health,
Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers.
Speaker 2: Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
Speaker 2: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Last season ended
Speaker 2: in heartbreaking fashion. With seventeen seconds to go and the
Speaker 2: score tied in the AFC Championship Game, Patrick Mahomes scrambled
Speaker 2: out of bounds to pick up a first down at
Speaker 2: the Bengals forty two with eight seconds remaining. From there,
Speaker 2: it would have been a sixty yard field goal try
Speaker 2: under tough weather conditions in Kansas City, probably would have
Speaker 2: had to run another play in hopes of getting a
Speaker 2: little bit closer. But on the Mahomes scramble, Joseph Osai
Speaker 2: hit him late as he was going out of bounds,
Speaker 2: and the fifteen yard penalty allowed Harrison Butker to boot
Speaker 2: a forty five yard field goal to win the game.
Speaker 2: To make matters worse, Osai injured his knee on the play.
Speaker 2: After hurting his shoulder in mid December, He had shoulder
Speaker 2: surgery in February this week I spoke to Osai for
Speaker 2: the first time since that game. We are in the
Speaker 2: locker room with Joseph Osai working hard at rehab. It's
Speaker 2: unfortunately become an off season norm for you. But how
Speaker 2: are things coming around? Coming along this year?
Speaker 7: Things are good. Thankfully we got it, got the surgery
Speaker 7: done right after right after the season, so I have
Speaker 7: a great amount of time to take the rehab slowly
Speaker 7: and come back right before the season started, before we
Speaker 7: start putting any putting in any physical work on the field.
Speaker 4: So everything's coming great.
Speaker 2: Obviously, not as serious as what you had to rehab
Speaker 2: from last year.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, that was a double whammy with the
Speaker 7: with the knee and the wrist. But this is a
Speaker 7: routine shoulder shoulder work. Surgery went well. He was able
Speaker 7: to put enough stitches in there keep the labeling stable,
Speaker 7: you know what I mean. I probably could have went
Speaker 7: without the surgery, but long term wouldn't be the best
Speaker 7: for me my health, so and then my performance will
Speaker 7: obviously tank from that. So it was just to go
Speaker 7: ahead and get it done.
Speaker 4: Now. It wasn't anything you know, I mean.
Speaker 7: Pressing, but it was a it was a good surgery
Speaker 7: to get done, and glad it's done.
Speaker 2: We are speaking the day after or two days after
Speaker 2: the draft came to an end. The Bengals obviously added
Speaker 2: a pass rusher in the first round in Miles Murphy.
Speaker 2: Your thought on adding strength to your group.
Speaker 7: Great addition and a great, great weapon for Marion Hobby.
Speaker 7: You know what I mean, he's gonna he's gonna love
Speaker 7: the dude and he's gonna, I'm sure he's going to
Speaker 7: find a way for each and every one of us
Speaker 7: to to get on that field and perform. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 7: he's a great guy. Watched a little bit of his tape.
Speaker 7: Great addition for sure. I can't wait to get to
Speaker 7: work and work with a.
Speaker 2: How much does coach Hobby help a guy improve from
Speaker 2: the college level to the NFL level?
Speaker 7: Helps you, and he's well rounded coach, and he's a
Speaker 7: web rounded guy. And coaching with off the field stuff too.
Speaker 7: It's very important with the mental aspect of the preparation,
Speaker 7: the making sure you know your opponent because at this level,
Speaker 7: everybody's strong, everybody's fast, everybody has a skill set. But
Speaker 7: he does a good job of heapeness baked on that
Speaker 7: that specific guy, and he's a great coach.
Speaker 2: I think Bengals fans are interested to know how you're
Speaker 2: doing emotionally after the heartbreak of the AFC Championship game
Speaker 2: and obviously the way that ended.
Speaker 7: Still processing, still processing a bit, but I know you
Speaker 7: gotta let that go. You know, there's a there's an
Speaker 7: opportunity to keep going, There's an opportunity to put another
Speaker 7: foot in the front of the other.
Speaker 4: And you just gotta look forward. You can't look back.
Speaker 4: Look at the things.
Speaker 7: We we the the potential we have to achieve this year,
Speaker 7: and just go from there.
Speaker 2: It was an unfortunate play, mistakes happened. You played a
Speaker 2: great game until that play. Does that offset it at all?
Speaker 2: Knowing that if not for what you had done, that
Speaker 2: you might not have even been in that play.
Speaker 7: Not for me, it doesn't it. You know, I paid
Speaker 7: the ultimate prize, you know what I mean. But yeah,
Speaker 7: it doesn't. It doesn't offer it because at the end
Speaker 7: of the day, the agenda, the objective is to win,
Speaker 7: nothing else. It's not the stats, it's not how you look,
Speaker 7: it's not how bad. It's to win wins and losses.
Speaker 7: That's what gets coaches fired, That's what gets coaches hired.
Speaker 7: So that's it.
Speaker 2: You came to a UC basketball game near the end
Speaker 2: of the Bearcats season, they showed you on the video
Speaker 2: board and the crowd went bananas. It was a all
Speaker 2: out show of love from about twelve thousand people. What
Speaker 2: did that say to you?
Speaker 1: I appreciated that.
Speaker 7: That that booses my confidence a little bit, you know,
Speaker 7: because I was going through a rough patch after their game.
Speaker 7: But no, the filler left in the city was dope,
Speaker 7: and yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about what objectives you have
Speaker 2: going into year three and your second year on the field.
Speaker 7: Staying healthy, staying healthy. You know, it's always been the same,
Speaker 7: impacting this team in a positive manner, not bringing any
Speaker 7: negative light to this team, and just winning games. Man,
Speaker 7: we got to keep winning. It's the fun is in
Speaker 7: the winning. My college course, you sed say all the time,
Speaker 7: the fun is in the winning. And you saw the
Speaker 7: team last year morning win and you've been I'm sure
Speaker 7: you've been around the team. When we're losing, it's not
Speaker 7: as fun as are. People aren't as happy, you know
Speaker 7: what I mean. So it's a direct correlation. So if
Speaker 7: you want to be happy, we got to win. So
Speaker 7: the most important thing is to win.
Speaker 2: I say all the time, the radio broadcasters sound good
Speaker 2: when they win.
Speaker 1: Of course, of course, of course.
Speaker 2: For sure, always great to visit. Best of luck to
Speaker 2: seeing you brother. The thank you that's going to do
Speaker 2: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought
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Speaker 2: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horden. Thanks for
Speaker 2: listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.