Speaker 1: Higa and everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I said, Hey, let's go
Speaker 1: in on audition as Dave Lapham joins me to discuss
Speaker 1: the end of the pre training camp practice schedule and
Speaker 1: answer the ask lap questions that you submitted on Twitter. Plus,
Speaker 1: we'll hear from Frank Pollack on the return of Jonah
Speaker 1: Williams and I'll talk to undrafted rookie wide receiver Shdrick Jackson.
Speaker 1: I believe you've heard of his uncle bo. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the
Speaker 1: official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers.
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
Speaker 1: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now, here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
Speaker 1: thing since good neighbors. One of the nicest features of
Speaker 1: our house is a big outdoor deck and there are
Speaker 1: tall thick trees that provide a wall of privacy between
Speaker 1: the deck and our neighbor's house. Every year, those trees
Speaker 1: grow to the point where the branches become obtrusive and
Speaker 1: begin to hang way over the deck. Thankfully, my neighbor
Speaker 1: Frank is kind enough to come over and trim them
Speaker 1: as needed. And this year it was a bigger project
Speaker 1: than usual that required some pretty significant sawing of big branches.
Speaker 1: God loved Frank. He was scaling ladders that were perched
Speaker 1: against trees. He was dangling on the railing of the
Speaker 1: deck to get to certain limbs. All I had to
Speaker 1: do was take care of the cleanup. It's been said
Speaker 1: that good neighbors make a huge difference in the quality
Speaker 1: of life, and I've got an excellent one in Frank.
Speaker 1: Now get to football. As you undoubtedly know by now,
Speaker 1: Jonah Williams is back. He reported on time for the
Speaker 1: mandatory mini camp and explained why he requested a trade
Speaker 1: after the Bengals signed to Orlando Brown Junior as a
Speaker 1: free agent. The former first round draft pick, who became
Speaker 1: a dad in March, was upset that he did not
Speaker 1: get a heads up from the team before the Brown
Speaker 1: signing became public, but Jonah's come to grips with it
Speaker 1: and is ready to make the move from left tackle
Speaker 1: to right tackle.
Speaker 2: There's sixty four tackle spots in the league. To have
Speaker 2: any of them is a crazy, amazing opportunity. I'm super grateful,
Speaker 2: you know, for the chance. So, you know, playing display
Speaker 2: Matt right tackle, I'm fired up to do it. Let's go.
Speaker 2: Like I'm working my knee. I think I'm gonna be
Speaker 2: cleared soon. I feel great moving around. And so that
Speaker 2: was never the issue. I know, that's kind of how
Speaker 2: it was made out to be, and it was never
Speaker 2: like a personal thing. I love all my teammates, love
Speaker 2: all my coaches, love the team fans, Like the last
Speaker 2: couple of years have just been amazing, you know, for
Speaker 2: me personally and for and for the city, and we've
Speaker 2: really felt that. So yeah, that's that's most of the
Speaker 2: points I just wanted to clear up about it. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm back now, mandatory mini cam. I'm gonna be back
Speaker 2: day one to training cam. Before day one a training camp,
Speaker 2: one hundred percent, ready to grind, ready to roll, and
Speaker 2: you know, ready to play where the team needs me.
Speaker 1: You played the right side as a freshman at Alabama,
Speaker 1: do you anticipate that this should be a relatively smooth
Speaker 1: move from left to right.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make it one. Whether it is or is,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make it one. I'm gonna be out there
Speaker 2: every day doing sets, and then you know, I've got
Speaker 2: I think I'll have about a month before training camp
Speaker 2: but being cleared, and then I'll have all of training
Speaker 2: camp to get acclimated and get moving there. So, uh,
Speaker 2: it's just you know, I played left tackle for six
Speaker 2: whole seasons, like it's it feels everything there feels natural
Speaker 2: to me. I've just done it so much, so I
Speaker 2: have to just retrain everything. But this is my job.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I'm a dad, and I'm gonna take
Speaker 2: sets every single day.
Speaker 3: That's all.
Speaker 2: That's my plan for the next you know, however long,
Speaker 2: so I'll be ready to go.
Speaker 1: Jonah dislocated his kneecap in the fifth game of the
Speaker 1: year and gutted it out without missing a start for
Speaker 1: the rest of the regular season, before suffering a similar
Speaker 1: injury in the opening round playoff win over Baltimore that
Speaker 1: caused him to miss the next two playoff games and
Speaker 1: led to offseason surgery. He looked good doing rehab work
Speaker 1: for three days this week and should be good to
Speaker 1: go for the start of training camp. For more on
Speaker 1: Jonah's return and the state of the old line, I
Speaker 1: caught up with offensive line coach Frank Pollock.
Speaker 3: Jonah's a pro.
Speaker 4: He's been busting his ass out there in California.
Speaker 3: He looks fantastic.
Speaker 4: I've seen a couple of videos of him working out
Speaker 4: in the weight room and doing some agility drills out there,
Speaker 4: so I've been really excited about getting him here in person.
Speaker 4: He looks fantastic and he's a He's a good, solid
Speaker 4: football player as a professional, and I expect nothing, nothing
Speaker 4: but great things from him.
Speaker 1: Flipping from one side to the other isn't easy. But
Speaker 1: he did play right tackle as a freshman at Alabama.
Speaker 1: How significant is that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean he's got some experience there, but he
Speaker 4: hasn't played it in a while, so I'm not gonna
Speaker 4: short change that. And he's also been rehabbing, so I'm
Speaker 4: not going to short change that. But he's, like I said,
Speaker 4: he's a pro. I love how he works, he knows
Speaker 4: how to prepare, and he takes pride into being a technician.
Speaker 4: So I know he's going to do what it takes
Speaker 4: as far as the extra amount of work or film
Speaker 4: study to hone his comfort level and his ability to
Speaker 4: perform and accelerate on the right side.
Speaker 1: While he's been rehabbing, Jackson's been getting a lot of
Speaker 1: those opportunities on the right side. How does he look.
Speaker 3: He looks good.
Speaker 1: He looks good.
Speaker 4: He's still trying to sharpen his story, if you will,
Speaker 4: as far as the technique's concerned out of the tackle spot.
Speaker 4: And he's a guy that's so athletic that he naturally
Speaker 4: plays well in space. But he's still honing his skills
Speaker 4: on what it means to play offensive lineman and be athletic,
Speaker 4: not just being athletic, being in a good posture and
Speaker 4: demean throughout.
Speaker 3: But he's a smart football player.
Speaker 4: He's been studying his ass off as well, and I'm
Speaker 4: excited about him as well.
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown's track record speaks for itself. But I've been
Speaker 1: amazed by the person. He might be the friendliest, most
Speaker 1: amiable guy I've ever met. How has that impacted the groups?
Speaker 4: He's friendly off the field, but he clearly shows some
Speaker 4: nasty on it. So that's just how we like him
Speaker 4: in the line room. But he's been fantastic in the room.
Speaker 4: He's got great leadership qualities, and I really like his
Speaker 4: workmanlike business approach coming here being an established vet in
Speaker 4: the league, still open to learning some new tricks and
Speaker 4: having new tools in his toolbox and having a new
Speaker 4: coach coaching some different things and maybe he's done in
Speaker 4: the past. I love his attitude as approach to It's
Speaker 4: been fantastic and extremely excited to.
Speaker 1: Have Elsie's here rehabbing. It looked like he was almost
Speaker 1: serving as an extra coach during the drills today. What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on him and his prospects of coming
Speaker 1: back now.
Speaker 4: Elsie is great that way. He likes to share his
Speaker 4: experience and knowledge with the younger guy. He's always trying
Speaker 4: to help everybody out. So it's a great vibe that
Speaker 4: we got in our room in that regards, and he
Speaker 4: loves to do that and help the guys out. Having
Speaker 4: being around me with my time in Dallas, he knows
Speaker 4: what I'm looking for and what I'm teaching.
Speaker 3: He's a fun guy to coach.
Speaker 4: He is strong, he is nasty, and he's doing a
Speaker 4: great job getting his knee ready. Just a matter of
Speaker 4: time when he needs to go through that process. He
Speaker 4: had a significant injury, so when that exactly is going
Speaker 4: to be is up to the trainers and the doctors obviously,
Speaker 4: but he's doing a great job getting himself ready mentally
Speaker 4: right now and as and physically as best he can
Speaker 4: with throughout his rehab.
Speaker 1: Team's added a lot of pieces on the line the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. How do you feel about the
Speaker 1: depth of your group.
Speaker 4: Yeah, our depth has really improved since the first time
Speaker 4: I came back here a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3: So it's that's been great. You need it in this league.
Speaker 4: It's kind of a little bit of a luxury in
Speaker 4: this league as well, so, but it's.
Speaker 3: Been nice that we're able to improve.
Speaker 4: The room is getting elevated, and that's what you want
Speaker 4: every year, constantly elevating the room.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Bengals
Speaker 1: Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play, with tickets
Speaker 1: and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the
Speaker 1: Bengals app. The Bengals drafted two wide receivers this year.
Speaker 1: Charlie Jones aka Chuck Sizzle in the fourth round, and
Speaker 1: the heptathlete andre Yosi Vash in the sixth. They also
Speaker 1: signed three undrafted college receivers, including Shedrick Jackson out of Auburn.
Speaker 1: If you do a Google search for Shedrick jackson forty
Speaker 1: yard dash, you can watch footage of him supposedly running
Speaker 1: a four to two five at his Auburn pro day.
Speaker 1: I talked to him about his speed, his first two
Speaker 1: weeks with the Bengals, and his famous uncle bo. I
Speaker 1: want to start with your forty yard dash time. I've
Speaker 1: seen four to two five on the internet. I've seen
Speaker 1: four three one on the internet. What's the true story?
Speaker 5: Definitely four two five.
Speaker 6: Oh, you know they were throwing a different stuff out there,
Speaker 6: But yeah, I'm gonna go that four to two five.
Speaker 1: Well, I would expect you to go with that four
Speaker 1: to two five. But if that's accurate, that would be
Speaker 1: like the fourth fastest recorded, at least going by the combine.
Speaker 1: Did you know you were gonna do it? Were you
Speaker 1: surprised by that number? No, it did not surprise me.
Speaker 6: I always been a fast guy growing up, and I
Speaker 6: trained really hard for it. I had a great trainer
Speaker 6: down the Temple, Florida at athlete innovations, So we worked
Speaker 6: for that and I went out there and got it.
Speaker 1: You also had Cam Newton throwing to you at your
Speaker 1: Auburn Pro pro day. What was that like?
Speaker 6: It was good to have a pro quarterback coming there
Speaker 6: and you know, get a feel for his verbiage, the
Speaker 6: way he talked about routes, talked about the details of
Speaker 6: the routes, and just seeing a touch he has on
Speaker 6: his ball.
Speaker 5: So that was a great experience too.
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Srederick Jackson. Tell me about being here
Speaker 1: and how your first few weeks have been. It's a
Speaker 1: bangle of.
Speaker 5: Gaun It's going really smooth. The transition has been great.
Speaker 6: The guys are great in the locker room, the coaches
Speaker 6: detailing everything up on the field so that I can
Speaker 6: get the playbook down quickly.
Speaker 5: So it's been a great time of loving Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Are you like a sponge watching Jamaar t Tyler, etc.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, for sure. Those are.
Speaker 6: I mean, you can say the best receivers in the
Speaker 6: league really, So being at practice with them and watching
Speaker 6: the film on them is incredible. It's a great learning
Speaker 6: experience for me and just see what the standard is
Speaker 6: and trying to match up to it.
Speaker 1: Give me one thing that stands out about Jamorrow the year.
Speaker 6: Just really smooth receiver. Really all those routes. I haven't
Speaker 6: seen a route that he can't run. So great hands,
Speaker 6: just great athlete.
Speaker 1: Why did you elect to sign with Cincinnati?
Speaker 5: Just a winning culture.
Speaker 6: I feel like they had a great vibe around here
Speaker 6: and that's something I want to be a part of.
Speaker 5: Obviously, I love winning.
Speaker 6: Talking to the receiver coach coach Troy Waters before, just
Speaker 6: had a great conversation and just went from there.
Speaker 1: He's a great attention to detail kind of coach. Do
Speaker 1: you already feel yourself benefiting from his guidance?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure. A lot of things I didn't.
Speaker 6: Wasn't exposed to in college or didn't pick up on
Speaker 6: at college, he's giving it right to me. So I've
Speaker 6: been learning with him, you know, taking in everything he's
Speaker 6: saying and taking it to the field and just learning
Speaker 6: and doing it and has helped me tremendously.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be gone for about six weeks before training
Speaker 1: camp begins, but that's not a vacation time. That's the
Speaker 1: time to get better. What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 6: I'll be trying to go on to my spot, and
Speaker 6: I'm gonna be working my butt off taking these details
Speaker 6: down on my spot, and you know, getting to work.
Speaker 1: For people that don't know. You have a very famous uncle,
Speaker 1: Bo Jackson, arguably the greatest all around athlete of all time.
Speaker 1: How often did you see him? Was it a relationship
Speaker 1: where you were nearby and had a lot of contact
Speaker 1: growing up?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Second greatest athlete all the time, behind me. But
Speaker 6: but yeah, that's just a religious I'm the type of
Speaker 6: guy like to keep up my relationships where they are.
Speaker 6: So with him, if we want to talk about football,
Speaker 6: we can. But at the end of the day, he's
Speaker 6: my uncle, So you know, call me to congratulate me,
Speaker 6: give me game on stuff.
Speaker 5: But other than that, you know, keep it, keep it normal.
Speaker 1: Have you seen footage of his exploits?
Speaker 6: Uh, yeah, I'll see you know, I've seen the highlights
Speaker 6: on TV thirty for thirties and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: But I'm sure I have some better ones coming up soon.
Speaker 1: I like the way you think, appreciate your time.
Speaker 5: Thank you appreciation.
Speaker 1: It's obviously going to be tough for Schderick to make
Speaker 1: the fifty three man roster at wide receiver. The Bengals
Speaker 1: have the Cincinnati three way of Chase Higgins and Boyd,
Speaker 1: plus veterans Trenton Irwin, Trent Taylor and special teams a
Speaker 1: Stanley Morgan and the previously mentioned draft picks Jones and
Speaker 1: Yosi Vash. But the practice squad is a possibility. Here's
Speaker 1: wide receivers coach Troy Walters a.
Speaker 8: Lot of side, a guy that's still learning, still developing,
Speaker 8: but like the other guys, he wants to be he
Speaker 8: wants to be good. He picked up the offense very well,
Speaker 8: very quickly, so you don't have to worry about him
Speaker 8: not knowing what to do.
Speaker 5: And uh, you know he.
Speaker 8: Has four to two speed, good size, good bulk, good strength.
Speaker 8: So he's a guy that kind of like Clay, you
Speaker 8: just continue to mold develop and uh, I think he
Speaker 8: can be he can be good. He can be a
Speaker 8: factor in this in in the NFL.
Speaker 1: That four to is legit.
Speaker 2: It's legit, it's legit.
Speaker 3: Man can run.
Speaker 2: And uh and now.
Speaker 8: It's just being able to take that speed and use
Speaker 8: it to your advantage and and which he's still learning
Speaker 8: how to how to how to play at a four
Speaker 8: to two speed, but when he when it clicks and
Speaker 8: he finally you know, develops into what I think he
Speaker 8: can become.
Speaker 5: He's gonna be he's gonna he's gonna have a hell.
Speaker 8: He's gonna have a say on this roster, and he's
Speaker 8: gonna he's gonna make it, make uh make some plays
Speaker 8: in this league.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by paid Corps.
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Speaker 1: them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at
Speaker 1: paycorp dot com. Before we get to my final guest,
Speaker 1: here's a quick invitation to grab your yoga Matt and
Speaker 1: join who Day this Saturday, June seventeenth at nine am
Speaker 1: for Namas Day Yoga on the field at Paycoorp Stadium.
Speaker 1: Register now at Bengals dot com Slash Yoga. It's presented
Speaker 1: by you Buy Cotechs in partnership with Kroger and Title
Speaker 1: Babe Period Supply Bank. The Bengals summer practices are finished.
Speaker 1: The players are officially on their own until training camp
Speaker 1: begins on Wednesday, July twenty sixth. It's time to check
Speaker 1: in with Dave Lapham as we share our observations following
Speaker 1: this week's mandatory mini camp and answer the ask Lap
Speaker 1: questions that you submitted on Twitter Lap as you predicted
Speaker 1: on this podcast. Last week, Jonah william showed up for
Speaker 1: the mandatory mini camp and said he is willing to
Speaker 1: play right tech. Well, what did you think of his
Speaker 1: remarks on Tuesday?
Speaker 9: Honest, you know, I think pulled off the band aid,
Speaker 9: you know, I mean, and dealt with whatever was going
Speaker 9: to come from a pain standpoint, I guess. You know,
Speaker 9: obviously his feelings are hurt, bottom line. That's what That's
Speaker 9: what we talked about. It's just you have to get
Speaker 9: over that. And you know, everybody looks at these professional
Speaker 9: athletes and football players, Oh you're so big, and the
Speaker 9: human beings with feelings are you know, emotion all of that.
Speaker 9: So he had to come to grips with all of that,
Speaker 9: and I think he has and he seems to be
Speaker 9: in a pretty good frame of mind now. He's moving
Speaker 9: really well, and I think there's no doubt in my
Speaker 9: mind that he's going to be there from Jump Street
Speaker 9: from day one a training camp, competing as hard as
Speaker 9: he possibly can.
Speaker 1: He's always been a hard worker, a very studious, conscientious
Speaker 1: short Do you anticipate the move from left to right
Speaker 1: for him is going to be relatively seamless.
Speaker 9: I do you know, if you've played for which he has,
Speaker 9: you know there is some muscle memory that you're going
Speaker 9: to be able to draw upon. And he is athletic,
Speaker 9: you know, I mean, he does have athleticism for for sure,
Speaker 9: or so, like you said, this offensive line group is
Speaker 9: a big body group that is athletic and has an intelligence.
Speaker 9: You know, he's excited about what's going on with the
Speaker 9: offensive line. He wants to be part of it, and
Speaker 9: I think that he'll make that transition pretty down effectively.
Speaker 1: My biggest takeaway from watching these practices for the last
Speaker 1: several weeks is that this team is deep. Every team
Speaker 1: in the NFL is going to have injuries that is
Speaker 1: inevitable in the sport of football, But other than an
Speaker 1: injury to Joe Burrow, I'll find some wood to knock on.
Speaker 1: I think they've got quality depth everywhere to be able
Speaker 1: to survive some of those injuries.
Speaker 9: Agree with you one hundred thousand percent, Dan, I mean,
Speaker 9: I think they've done an unbelievable job of assembling a
Speaker 9: football team, and I think it's a hell of an
Speaker 9: accomplishment to roster on this team to make the fifty
Speaker 9: three man roster is a hell of a deal because
Speaker 9: there's competition, you know, I mean, you got starters you
Speaker 9: have you know, you have your burrows, you chase it,
Speaker 9: you have your starter starters. But then there's gonna be
Speaker 9: other starters. They are going to be trying to fight
Speaker 9: people off, and there's nothing wrong with that. Competition breeds
Speaker 9: excellent performance. And then from a backup standpoint and special
Speaker 9: team standpoint, there's gonna be battle royales. I mean, Darren
Speaker 9: Simmons is going to control the fate of a lot
Speaker 9: of guys, uh, which which you always is the case
Speaker 9: with regard to special teams. But you've got position coaches
Speaker 9: that are going to say, I really like this guy,
Speaker 9: you know as my additional linebacker. You know, can you
Speaker 9: deal with him on special teams? Can you can you
Speaker 9: keep him as opposed to an extra corner or I
Speaker 9: mean that that that scenario when you're cutting that roster
Speaker 9: down to make that final fifty three man roster, it's
Speaker 9: it's going to be extremely competitive, and I would not
Speaker 9: be shocked if there's a trade. You know that there's
Speaker 9: there's some discussions with other teams and somebody might if
Speaker 9: a guy really shows out in training camp and the
Speaker 9: preseason games and you know he's kind of like locked
Speaker 9: out from from a roster standpoint, he's not going to
Speaker 9: make the fifty three men roster. Could be a trade.
Speaker 9: It's it's unusual, but there might. There might be one
Speaker 9: who knows get picks.
Speaker 1: You're gonna need picks in the future with some of
Speaker 1: these guys commanding the salaries they're going to command.
Speaker 9: And when you look at all the guys like you
Speaker 9: talk about Dan, everybody belongs. You know, there's nobody like,
Speaker 9: what the hell is this guy doing here? You know
Speaker 9: they to sixth, the seventh, you know they but they're
Speaker 9: bat on the ball with every round. And honestly, it's
Speaker 9: not shocking to be because I mean the draft when
Speaker 9: I was draft, we had seventeen rounds and we had
Speaker 9: seventeenth round guys, you know, make football teams. So it's
Speaker 9: no stunner to me when a seventh round guy makes
Speaker 9: the team and show he can play. College free agents
Speaker 9: now it's not stunning when a guy geez, he didn't
Speaker 9: get drafted for whatever reason. Sometimes it's just you can't
Speaker 9: even figure out why the guy didn't get drafted. I mean,
Speaker 9: you look at the college free agent the Bengals signed
Speaker 9: from Washington, Jackson Kirkland, six and twenty eight pounds, and
Speaker 9: he can move, and I'm like.
Speaker 7: Why the hell didn't this guy get drafted?
Speaker 9: Oh, some injuries and all that sort of thing, and
Speaker 9: just sometimes it's just the way it unfolds. You don't
Speaker 9: don't anticipate. But he sure looks the part. I mean,
Speaker 9: put pads on and see what he can do. But
Speaker 9: wouldn't stun me if that guy makes the football team.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor both did news conferences this week,
Speaker 1: and they basically said the same thing. We are ahead
Speaker 1: of where we have been in the past because nearly
Speaker 1: everybody's been in this system. Do you remember times like
Speaker 1: that in your playing career where you had this great
Speaker 1: continuity and when you showed up on day one, it
Speaker 1: was like you just picked up where you left off.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and it, you know, ironically to no surprise. Really,
Speaker 9: you know, the Super Bowl team I played on, everybody
Speaker 9: in the offensive line had been together. You know your
Speaker 9: unit first, and first of all, having continuity is big.
Speaker 9: And then when every unit has that continuity, it's it's
Speaker 9: like you have such a confidence going into the football
Speaker 9: game that you know exactly what guys can do, what
Speaker 9: they can't do, what they like, what they'd like to
Speaker 9: stay away from. I mean, it's it's it's just a
Speaker 9: feeling that you can't describe, and it beats no other
Speaker 9: there's no question about it. And then you get in
Speaker 9: the huddle and that's I'll guarantee you all the guys
Speaker 9: if we asked all these guys what it's like on
Speaker 9: game day. I remember when we're in that situation of
Speaker 9: being around guys and knowing guys so well and almost
Speaker 9: feeling like these aren't just teams, these are friends. These
Speaker 9: are my buds, man, these are my guys. And you're
Speaker 9: in that huddle and you're looking into other guys eyes
Speaker 9: and you know that dude is going to do everything
Speaker 9: he possibly can. Can't let that guy down, can't let
Speaker 9: that guy down, because I know he's not going to
Speaker 9: let me down. When you start getting that kind of
Speaker 9: a dynamic, that kind of a relationship with guys, that's
Speaker 9: when it gets really powerful.
Speaker 7: Man. This synergy is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Following up on that, you asked Joe Burrow a question
Speaker 1: the other day about reaching out to Jonah Williams while
Speaker 1: he was not here with the team, and his answer
Speaker 1: was profound. He spoke of the true love that you
Speaker 1: have for your teammates. Is this team unusual in that respect?
Speaker 9: I think it's special. And I mean I was looking
Speaker 9: at Joe as he was saying it, and I could
Speaker 9: almost feel my eyes filling up. And I can almost
Speaker 9: sense his eyes were starting to fill up a little bit.
Speaker 9: I mean, as a former player, I could just totally
Speaker 9: relate to what he was talking about. You know that,
Speaker 9: and people like, oh, that's cornball. You know, you don't
Speaker 9: love you know, people like it. It's because they're a team.
Speaker 3: You know what.
Speaker 9: Man, It's like it's not like you love your wife
Speaker 9: or your son or your daughter or whatever. But it's
Speaker 9: like the next thing. It's the next level. It's like
Speaker 9: as close as you can get to, you know, not family,
Speaker 9: but the next tier. You know, it's like it's special.
Speaker 9: It's one of a kind of and I think part
Speaker 9: of it. I've used the analogy. And I don't mean
Speaker 9: to disrespect the military. I mean, God, there's no comparison
Speaker 9: between playing football and defending your country. Believe me, I
Speaker 9: understand that fully. But it's like you're so co dependent.
Speaker 9: On a much smaller scale, It's like, I'm no good
Speaker 9: if this guy doesn't have my back, you know. I mean,
Speaker 9: I might play a great game not make any mistake.
Speaker 9: I get to make sure my guy is trying to
Speaker 9: do the same thing. All that. You know, you're so
Speaker 9: dependent on other people for your existence in the military survival,
Speaker 9: and it's not obviously to that extent, but your future
Speaker 9: wins and losses. You know, how long you might play
Speaker 9: in the league. A lot of things are codependent with
Speaker 9: guys around you and being in the right environment, the
Speaker 9: right combination of players. There's a lot of luck involved.
Speaker 9: But man, when you find it and you get there,
Speaker 9: you don't want to lose it. You want to keep
Speaker 9: it at all costs.
Speaker 1: So it's been a while since we have taken ask
Speaker 1: lap questions. So I pointed the lap signal into the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati sky, and here's what we got. Question number one
Speaker 1: comes from Marty. Is Drew Sample someone that could surprise
Speaker 1: us with a decent season reception wise or is he
Speaker 1: strictly a blocking tight end?
Speaker 9: Yeah, Drew Sample has been amazing in his recovery. He's
Speaker 9: ahead of schedule, you know, You and I have both
Speaker 9: watched him go out there and try to do everything
Speaker 9: on a full speed basis for quite a while and
Speaker 9: maybe had a little hitching to get along and so doing,
Speaker 9: but he was bound and determined to get out there
Speaker 9: and not fall behind, and he wanted to be in
Speaker 9: tune and in step with everything that they were doing offensively.
Speaker 9: It's important to this guy, I mean playing in the
Speaker 9: National Football League, specifically playing for the Cincinnati Bengals with
Speaker 9: Joe Borrow at quarterback and everything that they got going
Speaker 9: on with this football team. He's the kind of guy
Speaker 9: that feels a tremendous amount of loyalty to the franchise
Speaker 9: they give him the opportunity drafting him in the second
Speaker 9: round out of college. He thinks the world of his position, coach,
Speaker 9: thinks the world of the head coach, thinks the world
Speaker 9: of his teammates. Yeah, it would not shock me if
Speaker 9: Drew Sample had a significantly sound bounce back year, you know,
Speaker 9: in terms of complete tight end. I'm not saying go
Speaker 9: out and catch seventy balls, you know, but I'm saying
Speaker 9: a guy that you know, when he's in the two
Speaker 9: tight end package, we don't need to worry about him.
Speaker 9: He's just a third tackle.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 9: It's like Earth Smith Jr. To make sure we tilt
Speaker 9: our coverage here. I mean he could, he could, you know,
Speaker 9: be a guy that sneaks up on people and it
Speaker 9: would be well deserved, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: He had forty catches in Joe Burrow's rookie years, so
Speaker 1: there is a bit of a track record there. But
Speaker 1: his targets will depend on IRV Smith Junior. If Irv
Speaker 1: Smith Junior is healthy, he's going to project a fifty
Speaker 1: to sixty catches something like that, similar to Hayden Hurst
Speaker 1: and cj Uzama. And if that's the case, then there
Speaker 1: are only so many balls to go around, and Andrew
Speaker 1: Sample will not be targeted all that often.
Speaker 9: Absolutely. And the thing, the great thing, or one of
Speaker 9: the great things about Drew Sample, He'll be fine with that.
Speaker 9: He's a total team guy. You know, it's not about
Speaker 9: Drew Sample. It's about the tight end position, and it's
Speaker 9: about the Cincinnati Bengals offense, and it's about the Cincinnati
Speaker 9: Bengals football team winning football games. And you know, you
Speaker 9: can't have enough of those of those kind of guys
Speaker 9: for sure. But like you said, Irv Smith junior. He's
Speaker 9: he's a pretty good athlete, and he runs good routes.
Speaker 9: He gets in and out of his cuts. He's very
Speaker 9: very fluid with there's movements. He's a very smooth operator.
Speaker 9: They could have a pretty good one two punch at
Speaker 9: that tight end position.
Speaker 1: The next question comes from Jason. How did DJ Turner
Speaker 1: and Jordan Battle look during mini camp? The second and
Speaker 1: third round draft picks.
Speaker 9: Jordan Battle really impressed me with his not only his
Speaker 9: physical ability, and that's hard to tell because you know
Speaker 9: they don't have shoulder pads on and at the safety position,
Speaker 9: you know that's where you've got to come downhill and
Speaker 9: dislodge people and all that.
Speaker 7: Sort of thing. But is he where he's supposed to
Speaker 7: be when he's supposed to be there? Yes?
Speaker 9: Does he understand the scheme and the responsibility within that
Speaker 9: scheme that lou Anerilmo was asking him to do.
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 9: Does he recognize things offensively and communicate with his teammates
Speaker 9: like a veteran already? Yes, that's what you and I
Speaker 9: talked about it more than once as we were watching
Speaker 9: him out on the football. If you look at this guy,
Speaker 9: you know, reading it, communicating it to his corners. It's like, man,
Speaker 9: he looks like he's very very comfort well, he's a
Speaker 9: quick processor. He understands what lou Ann Rumo's installing very
Speaker 9: very quickly assimilates it. Can take it from the board
Speaker 9: to the field. A lot of guys can do a
Speaker 9: great job. And you know, rewriting it on the board,
Speaker 9: they get on the field and all of a sudden,
Speaker 9: it's one hundred miles an hour. It's the auto bond
Speaker 9: and it's like, eh, doesn't translate. His translates big time
Speaker 9: and it translated right away. So that's the thing that
Speaker 9: I'm very impressed with about him. He's ready to go.
Speaker 9: I mean he's he's up to speed. It's not like
Speaker 9: waiting for Jordan Battle to catch up. He's like, what
Speaker 9: do you got from me? Now, coach? I'm ready, you
Speaker 9: know I'm ready. I'm ready to roll. What's the adjustment
Speaker 9: to this? And what's the wrinkle on that? What's the
Speaker 9: tweak here? He's he's I think he's very very impressive turner.
Speaker 9: To me, he's a blur. He's fast and he can
Speaker 9: flip his hips and run. I want to see him
Speaker 9: a little utilize has to speed a little bit more
Speaker 9: recognizing and having the confidence to break on the route,
Speaker 9: break on the ball. That's what Jordan Battle's doing. He's
Speaker 9: so sure he's almost there before it happens. Turner's not
Speaker 9: quite there in that part of it yet. But when
Speaker 9: he gets up on a receiver's hip and he has
Speaker 9: to flip his hips and run with him, no problem.
Speaker 9: But you know a route like where he has to
Speaker 9: slam on the brakes and then decide to break on
Speaker 9: the ball, come back and get after it. Little hesitant
Speaker 9: there from what I've seen. And it's not like it
Speaker 9: can't you know, it can't be corrected or improved upon
Speaker 9: or whatever. But and he's got potential. He's a player.
Speaker 9: They're not going to run by you. And that's the
Speaker 9: biggest fear, as Oh Jesus every time he's out there
Speaker 9: throwing over said, that's not going to happen. So it's
Speaker 9: much easier to make adjustments to things in front of
Speaker 9: you than saying, Okay, you got to get faster and
Speaker 9: or you have to have a better your hips have
Speaker 9: to be more fluid. You gotta flip your hips on
Speaker 9: and get get out of that and run down the
Speaker 9: football field. He can do that and that's the primary
Speaker 9: requisite I think to being able to play corner in
Speaker 9: the NFL.
Speaker 1: I'll throw something else in that. I like about Jordan Battle.
Speaker 1: He is thick in all the right places. I mean,
Speaker 1: as a safety, you've got high speed collisions in the secondary,
Speaker 1: you've got to take on running backs who already have
Speaker 1: a head of steam built up. It's big in the
Speaker 1: lower body, big on the back side. He looks like
Speaker 1: a guy who's going to be able to weather the
Speaker 1: violent hits that you take at the safety position.
Speaker 9: Right, And I think he's going to be a thumper.
Speaker 9: I think he'll be the hitter and not the hit
Speaker 9: he you know, he's the guy that's going to deliver
Speaker 9: the punishment. I agree with you, Dan, I think, and
Speaker 9: he's not going to be the least bit hesitant to
Speaker 9: do it. Like we talked about before, Saban talked about
Speaker 9: this guy like, you know, he's the best football player
Speaker 9: on the defensive side of the ball that he's had.
Speaker 9: And when you have Saban being that effusive in his praise,
Speaker 9: you've done something right. You've done a bunch of things right.
Speaker 9: You've checked a lot of boxes for coach Saban.
Speaker 7: There's no question.
Speaker 1: Here's an interesting question from Wyatt. Did you consider the
Speaker 1: white uniforms in the snowy playoff game against Buffalo to
Speaker 1: be an unfair advantage? I'm going to editorialize here and
Speaker 1: even remove the word unfair. Was it even an advantage
Speaker 1: white unis in a snowy game?
Speaker 9: No, I don't think so, I really don't. I really don't.
Speaker 9: I mean to me, it's like, okay, well, what would
Speaker 9: the advantage for the ball's dark on a white background?
Speaker 9: The ball shows up that it's easier to follow the ball.
Speaker 9: Where is the ball? Where's he holding the ball? I'm
Speaker 9: just trying to think of the advantage. You mean, It's
Speaker 9: like the Bengals with the invisible men, and all of
Speaker 9: a sudden they appear out of the snow because of
Speaker 9: the white uniforms, and they're blasting the Buffalo Bills. It's
Speaker 9: like they disappeared.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 9: I think we're I think we're going into a little
Speaker 9: bit of a stretch there, I do think, and we
Speaker 9: commented about it right away. Dan and I remember talking
Speaker 9: about it multiple times during the course of the game.
Speaker 9: The Bengals traction they were on the feet and the
Speaker 9: Buffalo Bills with slip sliding away. You know, and they
Speaker 9: they're the team that's been in the snow. It's their field.
Speaker 9: I was I was surprised that from a footing standpoint,
Speaker 9: the Bengals seemed to handle it a little bit better.
Speaker 9: That's the thing that struck me during the course of
Speaker 9: the game, and when I thought about the game in retrospect,
Speaker 9: I thought that was a big deal. I thought that,
Speaker 9: for whatever reason, the traction differential was the was the
Speaker 9: big difference in net football game.
Speaker 1: Kudos to Adam and everybody in the Bengals equipment room
Speaker 1: for getting the Bengals in the right shoes. Bengals Bubbs
Speaker 1: has the next question, where the heck does Cody Ford
Speaker 1: fit on this offensive line?
Speaker 9: Yeah, he's a position versatility. He's played tackling guard, so
Speaker 9: you know that's that's a plus for him. I think
Speaker 9: he is going to be in the free for all
Speaker 9: at right tackle. I think he wants to throw his
Speaker 9: hat in the ring there. Collins, I mean, you don't
Speaker 9: know when he's going to be available. Elsie will not
Speaker 9: be there from Jump Street. I think Jonah Williams will
Speaker 9: be there from Jump Street. Jackson Carmen is going to
Speaker 9: get a shot at that at that right tackle position,
Speaker 9: and I think I think Cody Ford will as well.
Speaker 9: I think that's where he'll compete. And then his ability
Speaker 9: to kick inside and play either guard and maybe be
Speaker 9: able to play either tackle. Again, like we talked about depth,
Speaker 9: not only the starters, but depth in the in the
Speaker 9: backups in the offensive line, and if you're a depth
Speaker 9: player in the offensive line, you have to be able
Speaker 9: to play more than one position. He has shown that
Speaker 9: he can play more than one position at the NFL level,
Speaker 9: So he's got he's got a definitely shot to be
Speaker 9: a factor with the old line.
Speaker 1: We started out talking about Jonah Williams. Here's a question
Speaker 1: from Michael. What's the difference between left tackle and right
Speaker 1: tackle and would Jonah find it easier to play left
Speaker 1: guard if Collins is healthy and could play right tackle.
Speaker 9: Yeah, you would think that it would be an easier situation.
Speaker 9: I can tell you from experience that kicking inside to
Speaker 9: left guard after having played some left tackle, it is
Speaker 9: now you're used to, you know, the left handed techniques,
Speaker 9: being you're in a left handed stance and everything goes
Speaker 9: along with a hand placement wise and all that sort
Speaker 9: of thing and moving your feet in that left handed stance.
Speaker 9: The biggest adjustment is exactly that. You know, it's like
Speaker 9: you've written your entire life right handed and then you
Speaker 9: try to write left handed. It's not that extreme because
Speaker 9: it's not the fine muscles of you know, being able
Speaker 9: to write into a short space. But I mean you
Speaker 9: have to be able to move your feet. You're just
Speaker 9: flipping everything in your mind. So some people cannot do that.
Speaker 9: Some people just are right side minded and some are
Speaker 9: left side minded and can't flip flip back and forth.
Speaker 9: If you can, and Jonah obviously has shown that he
Speaker 9: can because he did it in college. He played the
Speaker 9: right side, he played the left side. So he has
Speaker 9: a history where at a very good level in the
Speaker 9: SEC at a very good program Alabama, he played both
Speaker 9: both tackles. Uh, and that that is the biggest thing.
Speaker 9: It's just okay, and I remember when I was playing
Speaker 9: all the positions that this sounds dumb, but it's like, okay,
Speaker 9: remember not okay, it's left guard, all right? Make sure okay,
Speaker 9: left guard is Simon, Okay, left guard. Here's the footwork is.
Speaker 9: You're going through all that in your head and just
Speaker 9: in the beginning, it's almost like you have to take
Speaker 9: a step by step and then after you do it
Speaker 9: for a while, it becomes, you know, second nature. You
Speaker 9: don't have to go through the step by step process.
Speaker 9: But I think he'll adjust. I think he'll adjust well.
Speaker 9: And really, in the past, left tackle was all right, Well,
Speaker 9: the most athletic quickness off the ball guy as a
Speaker 9: pass rusher is gonna be over there at right defensive end.
Speaker 9: In today's NFL, they're everywhere. They're everywhere. So it used
Speaker 9: to be, you know, Anthony Munhos, that's the best pass rusher,
Speaker 9: we got the best tackling football. We're racing your best
Speaker 9: pass rusher. And not only that, we don't have to
Speaker 9: help him to a race. He's gonna race him by himself.
Speaker 9: We're gonna help all these normal guys, you know, are
Speaker 9: gonna help block these other normal guys inside. So it
Speaker 9: has turned into a league that they throw it so
Speaker 9: much and the pass rush has become such a huge factor. Still,
Speaker 9: do you have your most dominant pass rusher at right
Speaker 9: defensive end. Probably, but it's not like there's a big
Speaker 9: drop off, And you know, other guys are just guys.
Speaker 9: They're all quality pass rushers now and usually you know,
Speaker 9: it used to be. The left tackle is the athletic guy,
Speaker 9: and the right tackle is maybe a guy with a little.
Speaker 7: More girth, a little more power, a.
Speaker 9: Little more thump. And that's not necessarily the case anymore either.
Speaker 9: So I think I think Jonah he'll be fine. I mean,
Speaker 9: Jonah's a smart guy that has good technique fundamentals, he's sound,
Speaker 9: you know, now he's committed. And now that he's committed,
Speaker 9: once a guy like that is on that page, I
Speaker 9: think he's gonna play well.
Speaker 1: As you describe the difference between playing the left side
Speaker 1: and the right side, in my mind, I'm picturing like
Speaker 1: the feet on the ground and Arthur Murray Dance studio
Speaker 1: that shows you know, where every step has to go.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what it sounded.
Speaker 9: Like exactly it is. It's like, okay, now I'm just inverting.
Speaker 9: You know, my my kickstep is now my post foot,
Speaker 9: and now my old post foot is now my kickstep.
Speaker 9: You're just reversing everything. And you know, as I say,
Speaker 9: some guys, it's it's more of a more of a task,
Speaker 9: a task to get done that it is for others.
Speaker 1: J E writes, how are andre Yosi Bosh and Charlie
Speaker 1: Jones looking out there.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Andre is uh has got a skill set. I
Speaker 9: mean he's a he's a big, strong tight end excuse me,
Speaker 9: wide receiver that runs runs really good routes, can catch
Speaker 9: the football. I think he's extremely physical. I think he's
Speaker 9: going to be a guy that's going to be tough
Speaker 9: to tackle. Uh, it's going to be interesting to watch him.
Speaker 9: Obviously being the pentathlete, he's he's got immense athletic ability
Speaker 9: for a guy with his body type.
Speaker 1: Heptathlete, don't gyp him out of two events.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's right, heptathlete. My bad, my bad, heptathlete. Uh,
Speaker 9: He's he's like a rare athlete. You know, he's an
Speaker 9: unusual guy obviously. Charlie Jones is a guy that you know,
Speaker 9: Jamar Chase was talking about as the mini camp, the
Speaker 9: mandatory mini camp was winding down about how he's putting
Speaker 9: different wrinkles in his routes and and running routes differently.
Speaker 9: But he's got to be at a certain spot in
Speaker 9: a timely fashion because Borrow's getting the ball there and
Speaker 9: up to him to get there. So in his head
Speaker 9: he has a clock. But like Fred Blittnikoff, is a
Speaker 9: guy that back.
Speaker 7: In the day.
Speaker 9: This dude ran a nine yard out route nine different ways.
Speaker 9: I mean, he come off the ball and it's like,
Speaker 9: is he gonna run a slams, He's gonna run a post.
Speaker 9: I mean he looked he was doing the same thing
Speaker 9: and at the top of his route, everything was still
Speaker 9: in play. And that's what made Blittan a cough great.
Speaker 9: And I think that's what Jamar is trying to get to.
Speaker 9: It's like, Okay, well they're not going to just be
Speaker 9: able to read my shoulders and hips and know that
Speaker 9: I'm you know, I'm gonna run an in cut now.
Speaker 9: So Charlie Jones has a lot of that. Charlie Jones,
Speaker 9: I think has h has some innate ability to make
Speaker 9: the same route look different. He's a really good route runner.
Speaker 9: He gets in and out of his cuts, sinks his
Speaker 9: hips well, and you know he's he's got good hands.
Speaker 9: That's going to be the key is will he catch
Speaker 9: the ball? Because he can run. He can run some
Speaker 9: sub four or five He's a four to fours guy,
Speaker 9: and he can run routes. I think that anybody that
Speaker 9: catches over one hundred balls for over thirteen hundred yards
Speaker 9: doing something right.
Speaker 7: In the season.
Speaker 1: JB sent a few questions. We've covered some of it.
Speaker 1: I've picked out this question though, Will Chase Brown be
Speaker 1: running back.
Speaker 9: To that's gonna be? That's interesting. I think he's He definitely,
Speaker 9: in my mind, has the physical attributes to be that way,
Speaker 9: and it seems like he has the makeup. He just
Speaker 9: some guys you can tell right away, this guy gets it.
Speaker 9: This guy will have no problem understanding what's to be
Speaker 9: asked of him, you know, and no problem delivering. His
Speaker 9: track record shows success, no doubt about that. As a
Speaker 9: big time ball carrier. I think it's going to depend
Speaker 9: on you know, he can run the football, he can
Speaker 9: catch the football. How will he block? How will he
Speaker 9: handle protection? Because with number nine, I don't care who
Speaker 9: the running back is. Whatever running backs on the football field,
Speaker 9: when they come with an all out blitz and that
Speaker 9: running back's responsible for somebody, you got to make sure
Speaker 9: you execute your assignment and that guy has not hit
Speaker 9: Joe Burrow. That is a big, big requirement and prerequisite.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt from Bengals and Bruce. With l Collins
Speaker 1: seemingly ahead of schedule, the Bengals most likely to put
Speaker 1: him on the pup list for six weeks and then
Speaker 1: if he's ready for week one, would they pay the
Speaker 1: right tackle spot twenty two point five million to keep
Speaker 1: him and Jonah Williams.
Speaker 9: That's that's what they're mulling over as we speak. I
Speaker 9: mean that that's some of the things they're thinking about.
Speaker 9: I mean he In fact, I was just talking with
Speaker 9: him today, Dan ironically out on the practice field and
Speaker 9: Anthony Munoz and I were asking him about because he's
Speaker 9: moving pretty well, and I said, to you, do you
Speaker 9: consider you're still ahead of schedule? And he said I do,
Speaker 9: And I said, well, you know, my advice is don't
Speaker 9: do too much too quickly. You don't want to have
Speaker 9: a setback. You don't want to have a you know,
Speaker 9: a deal where all of a sudden, man, it was
Speaker 9: going so well, and now you know, I have to
Speaker 9: go through the mental anguish of I'm back where I
Speaker 9: was like a month and a half two months ago.
Speaker 7: You don't want to do that. And he's like, no, no,
Speaker 7: I get that.
Speaker 9: So it is obviously he's not going to be ready
Speaker 9: for training camp. What at what point in the regular
Speaker 9: season will look like he'll be ready? And you know,
Speaker 9: they're so far away from being able to determine that
Speaker 9: right now. But these are the things that you have
Speaker 9: to think about. These are the things that you have
Speaker 9: to ponder in your mind. And you know, will would
Speaker 9: he be able to return before week six? How far
Speaker 9: before week six? You know, would you would you make
Speaker 9: that move put him on the pub list? You know,
Speaker 9: would you say, geez, I think he might be ready
Speaker 9: after week two. You know, he may be ready to go,
Speaker 9: you know, in the third game. Those are those those
Speaker 9: are things to be determined, I guess.
Speaker 1: I also don't think that twenty two point five million
Speaker 1: dollar figure is accurate. Joana is going to make twelve plus,
Speaker 1: but a lot of Elsie's money was tied into playing time, starts,
Speaker 1: things like that. So I don't think he's Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't think he's getting ten if he's not the starting
Speaker 1: right tackle. I think his situation depends partly on who
Speaker 1: else they're able to sign. I mean, you don't want
Speaker 1: to let the guy go until you have to. You
Speaker 1: never know who might get hurt. I mean, knock on wood.
Speaker 1: But if tackles were to go down, it's a nice
Speaker 1: luxury to have a really solid player in Lael Collins.
Speaker 1: But if Burrow signs, if to Higgins signs, if Logan
Speaker 1: Wilson signs, then the reality kicks in where somebody might
Speaker 1: have to go and he would logic be a candidate.
Speaker 1: If he's not the starting right tackle.
Speaker 9: Right then then you're going from you know, the luxury
Speaker 9: department store to Walmart, you know, I mean it's like
Speaker 9: the budget changes. So yeah, it's there's there's always it's
Speaker 9: never just cut and dried one thing. There's always a
Speaker 9: bunch of you know, extraneous factors that are big time
Speaker 9: variables that are going to control your future.
Speaker 1: Here's a question from Willie, who aren't we talking about enough?
Speaker 1: Is there a key player that fans should be paying
Speaker 1: more attention to. We talk quite a bit about Jordan Battle.
Speaker 1: He's kind of the first guy that comes to mind
Speaker 1: for me, anybody else, for you.
Speaker 9: You know, there's there's so many guys. You know, it's like,
Speaker 9: all right, Jordan Battle at the uh at the at
Speaker 9: the safety position, and you know then you uh, then
Speaker 9: you think, all right, Nick Scott, how is he? How
Speaker 9: is he going to pan out at the safety spot.
Speaker 9: That's when when you think the biggest thing to me
Speaker 9: with okay loss, you lose two starting safeties. What do
Speaker 9: you have at the safety position? Well, you draft Jordan
Speaker 9: Battle and you know you've got you got nick Uh,
Speaker 9: You've got other players that you know are gonna are
Speaker 9: gonna line up in Battle at that at that spot
Speaker 9: as well. So to me, Tyson Anderson is going to
Speaker 9: be interesting to watch Dax Hill. How much improvement will
Speaker 9: there be with Dax Hill? One of my focuses is
Speaker 9: probably going to be the safety position because that's where
Speaker 9: you know that the most damage was done in free agency.
Speaker 9: So how how is that gonna sort itself out?
Speaker 7: You know? I think the back end, you.
Speaker 9: Know, as a whole is uh is something to watch
Speaker 9: because you know you've got guys recovering from from surgery
Speaker 9: and injury on the on that back end, you got
Speaker 9: young guys competing. Uh, you know Cheeto. How How how
Speaker 9: will Cheato be from from day one at training camp? Well,
Speaker 9: who knows? Would don't exactly know yet. So to me,
Speaker 9: I think one of the the way everybody throws the
Speaker 9: football in the National Football League, I think that back
Speaker 9: end is going to be the biggest question that I have,
Speaker 9: Not that they don't have players, but who are the
Speaker 9: guys that are going to step up and really grab
Speaker 9: hold of those roles and excel.
Speaker 1: I'll throw another name in there for somebody that I
Speaker 1: don't think people are talking about enough. Zach Carter, DJ
Speaker 1: Reader and DJ Hill are going to get the bulk
Speaker 1: of the snaps inside, but you need somebody to rotate
Speaker 1: in there. He looks good to me.
Speaker 7: He does.
Speaker 9: He does, and I think you know he's a young
Speaker 9: guy that you know it's like all right from you
Speaker 9: know Jeff Gunter too. He's had some injury issues, but
Speaker 9: from year one to year two is when you usually
Speaker 9: make your biggest jump. And Zach Carter year one to
Speaker 9: year two he made big contributions. He was a definite rotation,
Speaker 9: a valuable rotational player as a rookie. I agree he
Speaker 9: understands what it takes now he could he could very
Speaker 9: well be a guy that makes makes a bigger impact
Speaker 9: on a game by game basis.
Speaker 7: For lou Ana Rulan Company.
Speaker 1: Here's an interesting question from Brent. Toward the end of
Speaker 1: your career, what was your main reason for retirement? Was
Speaker 1: it physical, mental, family related, or other? And did you
Speaker 1: dream you would still be broadcasting in twenty twenty three?
Speaker 9: Will I will say that the back to back season
Speaker 9: at age thirty two and thirty three when I played
Speaker 9: a full slate for the Bengals in nineteen eighty three,
Speaker 9: took two weeks off, then went to the USFL and
Speaker 9: went to training camp and played a full slate of
Speaker 9: twenty plus games counting playoffs and a pre season games
Speaker 9: there at the age of thirty two turned, you know,
Speaker 9: working into the thirty third year.
Speaker 7: That was.
Speaker 9: Taxing scenario. I mean you talk about Riga Mortis man,
Speaker 9: I mean I would literally come home from practice and
Speaker 9: I had a very old school offensive line coach by
Speaker 9: the name of Bill Austin BA, and he was the
Speaker 9: line coach for Vince Lombardi when he was coaching with
Speaker 9: the Washington Redskins. And BA was an old offensive lineman himself.
Speaker 9: So back in those days, you didn't practice, you didn't play.
Speaker 9: So it's like, yeah, you know, I know, you stiff,
Speaker 9: I know you got to practice because if you don't,
Speaker 9: if you missed this practice today, you ain't playing this Sunday, okay.
Speaker 9: So it was unbelievable. And I remember just shuffling up
Speaker 9: the stairs, you know, during the week after a tough
Speaker 9: practice and laying on the couch and you know, my
Speaker 9: wife Lynn would serve dinner on it. Coach I was,
Speaker 9: I was there for the night. I mean, I'd fall
Speaker 9: asleep there and sleep there all night. I mean, it
Speaker 9: was unbelievable. It was a survival getting through that season
Speaker 9: and then had had an NFL off season to recover
Speaker 9: a little bit and then play that final year, and
Speaker 9: it was just yeah, I was, I was beating up
Speaker 9: at that point. I was like, oh man, I need
Speaker 9: uh oilain. So I think that was the biggest factor.
Speaker 9: And then and then, did I ever think that I'd be,
Speaker 9: you know, going into the year number thirty eight as
Speaker 9: a as a color analyst on the Bengals radio network. No,
Speaker 9: never never thought that. I mean I honestly, and we've
Speaker 9: talked about this before, I really thought I might coach.
Speaker 9: But going to Syracuse versus like we both did in
Speaker 9: the New House School of Communications. My you know, my
Speaker 9: backup plan was to do something in the broadcast world,
Speaker 9: potentially print or electronic media, you know, And I knew
Speaker 9: I wanted to stay with the game of football in
Speaker 9: some way, shape or form. I just like I like
Speaker 9: the life, I like the people, I like everything about
Speaker 9: you know, football, and to be able to say, you know,
Speaker 9: I was able to do it pretty much in some way,
Speaker 9: shape or form. You know, almost my entire life from
Speaker 9: like high school on.
Speaker 7: It's crazy crazy.
Speaker 1: Our friend James Rapine has a question. Podcaster, writer, YouTube star,
Speaker 1: et cetera. We all saw the footage of Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: going deep in batting practice before Cincinnati Red's game recently.
Speaker 1: Here's this question, which of your former teammates would have
Speaker 1: won a home run derby Anthony Munyos No hesitation none.
Speaker 9: Anthony was a relief pitcher third basement on the USC
Speaker 9: National Championship baseball team. So I mean I played in
Speaker 9: a celebrity softball game with ant and it was the
Speaker 9: Corps Light All Stars and we were in that game together.
Speaker 9: He was playing third base and the ball's hit in
Speaker 9: the hole. He cut the short stuff off, which you know,
Speaker 9: third base I was supposed to do if he can,
Speaker 9: and then he just opened up his hips and shoulders
Speaker 9: and threw across you know, the diamond. The thing started
Speaker 9: out by second base and I was playing first base.
Speaker 9: I stretched, it hit me right in the stone of
Speaker 9: the hand, right under the index. My index finger, middle
Speaker 9: finger and thumb all went numb immediately like the umpire
Speaker 9: of singles calls out and I throw the glove and
Speaker 9: the ball off my hand. I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 9: He threw a seed and then the field was pretty significant.
Speaker 9: But then there were woods, like a very good distance.
Speaker 9: He put one in the trees. Man, I'm like, big boy,
Speaker 9: here we go. Yeah, Anthony, unbelievable athlete. Unbelievable athlete. Now
Speaker 9: that's not to say that, you know, there were a
Speaker 9: lot of other guys that got drafted out of high school,
Speaker 9: and there were there were many. I mean, it's you
Speaker 9: get to this level you have you have guys that
Speaker 9: very strong high school baseball players that were drafted in
Speaker 9: Major League Baseball but decided to go to college to
Speaker 9: play football and and maybe football and baseball and decided
Speaker 9: to stay on the football path. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 9: I take I take big number seventy eight. He gets
Speaker 9: a he gets a full cut at one. I'm saying
Speaker 9: it's going away, it's going a distance.
Speaker 1: Our final question comes from Leona, and let me say
Speaker 1: in advance, I like the way Leona thinks. Here's the question,
Speaker 1: where will the organization put the Lombardi Trophy when the
Speaker 1: Bengals hoist that baby high. And then seriously, is there
Speaker 1: an area in the stadium where fans will be able
Speaker 1: to view it?
Speaker 9: You know, they do have an area in the stadium
Speaker 9: where they display you know, throughout the stadium with the
Speaker 9: display like ASC Championship trophies and and all that sort
Speaker 9: of thing. But yeah, interesting, you want the fans to
Speaker 9: be able to experience that. I honestly think that that
Speaker 9: the AFC Championship Trophies trophies, even though it's not the
Speaker 9: big prize, it's a good consolation prize, and I think
Speaker 9: the fans would appreciate being able to being able to
Speaker 9: see it. I don't know, maybe maybe on game day
Speaker 9: you have, uh, you know, an area where you can
Speaker 9: put those kind of trophies and then put them back
Speaker 9: where they are the rest of the rest of the
Speaker 9: week and the rest of the year and so forth.
Speaker 9: But yeah, I don't see anything wrong with allowing the
Speaker 9: fans to celebrate in the in the pure joy of
Speaker 9: those trophies.
Speaker 7: There's no doubt.
Speaker 1: I gave this some thought. Here's how you do it.
Speaker 1: You take out a wall or a chunk of a
Speaker 1: wall on the back side of the Bengals Pro shop
Speaker 1: and so it's got bulletproof glass or some impenetrable glass
Speaker 1: on both sides so that as you go into the
Speaker 1: Pro Shop, you know you can view it from that angle.
Speaker 1: And then on the other side, it's exposed to the
Speaker 1: concourse of the stadium, so you can view it from
Speaker 1: that angle. So a real good opportunity to get up
Speaker 1: close and see the Lombardi Trophy when the Bengals earn
Speaker 1: it this coming February.
Speaker 9: Good call, And boy will there'd be a logjam. There'll
Speaker 9: be a bunch of cars, a bunch of a bunch
Speaker 9: of people, the traffic back there at the Pro Shop.
Speaker 9: And it's a good, good idea, Dan, good marketing move too,
Speaker 9: because yeah, while we're here looking at South, we might
Speaker 9: as well go in.
Speaker 7: The Pro shop.
Speaker 9: What the heck, particularly if you have your kids, grandkids
Speaker 9: with you, It's like, come on, let's go, let's go
Speaker 9: inside and see where going. What can we get to
Speaker 9: commemorate the occasional looking at the Super Bowl trophy? Good call,
Speaker 9: good call all the way around, my.
Speaker 1: Man, another successful ask lap session. So happy that I
Speaker 1: pointed that lap signal into the Cincinnati sky.
Speaker 9: My pleasure, sir. I can't think of a better way
Speaker 9: to spend some time than with my man Dan.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it. For this episode of The
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast