Speaker 1: Hi, can everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Hi My Name Is edition,
Speaker 1: because we take a look that the two players selected
Speaker 1: by the Bengals on Day two of the draft, Plums
Speaker 1: and wide receiver T Higgins and Wyoming linebacker Logan Wilson.
Speaker 1: You'll learn about them from two people that know them well.
Speaker 1: And then Dave Lapham joins me to discuss those picks
Speaker 1: and look ahead to the final four round to the
Speaker 1: draft on Saturday. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
Speaker 1: Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write
Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the TV
Speaker 1: coverage of this draft, all things considered, it's been remarkably smooth,
Speaker 1: and that's a miracle in my opinion. They've bounced around
Speaker 1: to hundreds of locations all over the country, between the
Speaker 1: commissioner's basement and the homes of players, coaches, and gms,
Speaker 1: and they've done it all with very few glitches. I
Speaker 1: learned very quickly in my days as a TV sports
Speaker 1: anchor that it is truly a team effort and everybody
Speaker 1: involved in putting on the coverage of this draft has
Speaker 1: done an incredible job. Now let's get to the newest Bengals.
Speaker 1: With the first pick in the second round, the Bengals
Speaker 1: chose six foot four inch two hundred and fifteen pound
Speaker 1: Clemson wide receiver T Higgins, who left school after his
Speaker 1: junior year and had a first round grade on the
Speaker 1: Bengals board. He had twenty seven career touchdown catches to
Speaker 1: tie for the most in school history with Tigers legends
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins. And here's the first thing
Speaker 1: that T said when he did a zoom call with
Speaker 1: Cincinnati area reporters, quote in just getting the call from
Speaker 1: my favorite team in the NFL, It's just surreal. Yep.
Speaker 1: Higgins is a Bengals fan because his favorite player is
Speaker 1: a j Green. To learn more about T Higgins, I
Speaker 1: spoke to the radio voice of the Clemson Tigers, Don Munson.
Speaker 1: First and foremost, they're getting a young man who is
Speaker 1: going to do a lot for the franchise there. He's
Speaker 1: not going to be a problem off the field. He
Speaker 1: is very coachable. He likes to go and work. He's
Speaker 1: not afraid of going out there and work, and he's
Speaker 1: not afraid of going out there and earning, you know,
Speaker 1: his spot on the field. You know, he's he will
Speaker 1: step on the practice field once we get going again
Speaker 1: here and he'll go out there and try to compete
Speaker 1: for a starting job. And I think that he's a
Speaker 1: guy that that can win it. Now. I think he
Speaker 1: needs to pick up a little bit more strength, to
Speaker 1: be real honest with you, Dan, I think that that's
Speaker 1: you know, when you draft a kid that's that hasn't
Speaker 1: gone through four years of school, and I think that
Speaker 1: you know, you're drafting a little bit of a younger guy.
Speaker 1: So people need to I think understand that a little bit.
Speaker 1: That he still has some maturing to do as far
Speaker 1: as his body is concerned. But man, I'm telling you
Speaker 1: two three years from now, I think that te Higgins
Speaker 1: is going to be just an all world kind of player.
Speaker 1: We had the opportunity to visit with him on a
Speaker 1: zoom type conference a few minutes ago. The kids got
Speaker 1: a megawatt smile. He seemed like he had a very
Speaker 1: engaging personality. What was he like with his teammates. Oh,
Speaker 1: he was like that from the time that he set
Speaker 1: foot here on the on the Clemson campus. I mean
Speaker 1: that was that's just who he is. And you know
Speaker 1: that that was the other thing was to watch his
Speaker 1: leadership ability grows as he went along here in his
Speaker 1: Clemson career. You know, there there are certain kids that
Speaker 1: you can just tell from the moment they sit on
Speaker 1: step foot on campus that they're going to be an
Speaker 1: impact in their group and then also in the locker room.
Speaker 1: And and T was certainly able to do all of that.
Speaker 1: We are visiting with the voice of the Clemson Tigers,
Speaker 1: Don Munson. T did not knock it out of the
Speaker 1: park in his pre draft testing. Does he play faster
Speaker 1: than he ran? Yeah, I believe that that he does.
Speaker 1: I mean if he's a very good route runner. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't see that that often with guys that are
Speaker 1: big wide receivers. And that's what you're getting obviously. You know,
Speaker 1: he's got size to him, he's got length, he's um,
Speaker 1: he's got you know, really good hands that I think
Speaker 1: that the basketball side of him also comes. You know,
Speaker 1: he was a he was an all star basketball player
Speaker 1: in high school and coach Sweeney and coach Scott at
Speaker 1: the time when he was here as wide receivers coach.
Speaker 1: They love those kind of guys, guys that are multiple
Speaker 1: sport athletes. And he is a guy that you know,
Speaker 1: he competes at high points for the ball, not afraid
Speaker 1: to go out there and mix it up. Um. So
Speaker 1: you know, I think you look at all those variables,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think that if you're if you're
Speaker 1: a Bengals fan right now, you got a smile on
Speaker 1: your face. Yeah, and I do. I can tell you
Speaker 1: that I believe he has an eighty one inch wingspan.
Speaker 1: Catch radius, I guess is the hot phrase these days
Speaker 1: when it comes to wide receivers and tight ends, and
Speaker 1: it looks like that's one of his biggest strengths. And
Speaker 1: he's a guy also yards after catch dan, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's a guy when you go back and you
Speaker 1: really watch what he did on film, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of times he may be catching something that's only
Speaker 1: six eight yards down the field, but then he's able
Speaker 1: to shed tacklers and then go get extra yards. And
Speaker 1: he's got enough speed where he can take at the distance.
Speaker 1: I mean, he really can. So those are things that
Speaker 1: T is just going to continue to improve upon. Again,
Speaker 1: is he gets more physically mature than that part of
Speaker 1: his game, I think grows even more so. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this ever came up in one of your
Speaker 1: conversations with T, but he is apparently an AJ Green
Speaker 1: fanatic and a Cincinnati Bengals fan. Yeah, he was a
Speaker 1: huge Bengals fan growing up as a kid, Bengals or
Speaker 1: his favorite as his favorite team as well. You know,
Speaker 1: he grew up right outside of Knoxville, so you can
Speaker 1: kind of understand that that you know, really not that
Speaker 1: far and probably in that market, got got some Bengals games,
Speaker 1: and also you know, go back to the days when
Speaker 1: the Bengals were successful. That's that's kind of in his
Speaker 1: youth era. So you know he's he's used to, you know,
Speaker 1: seeing some of those things. So, um, you know all
Speaker 1: of that. I think, you know, Bodswell, whenever you draft
Speaker 1: a guy that all of a sudden that that was
Speaker 1: their favorite team as well, I think there's there's a
Speaker 1: little bit more from that fellow to go into the
Speaker 1: franchise and say, Okay, I'm you know, I'm not scared
Speaker 1: to be here. I'm not I'm not upset that you
Speaker 1: drafted me. I'm actually enthused that you drafted me. And
Speaker 1: you know, anytime that you can get that, then man,
Speaker 1: you lay hold of that and you run with it.
Speaker 1: One more topic for Clemson broadcaster Don Munson. You called
Speaker 1: the National Championship game last year. Unfortunately that one didn't
Speaker 1: turn out well for the Tigers, largely because of Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: Share with us what the Clemson coaches were talking about
Speaker 1: as they studied him going into the game, and then
Speaker 1: your impressions of what Joe did in that National Championship game. Well,
Speaker 1: i mean the talk of Joe Burrow going into the
Speaker 1: game certainly was one was his accuracy and two was
Speaker 1: a way that he extended plays. And then those two
Speaker 1: actually actually melded to be perfect because he would extend
Speaker 1: plays and he would still make throws where he was
Speaker 1: you know, dropping the ball into a bucket. Well, we
Speaker 1: saw that obviously against Clemson there and they're in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: I mean, he came out and just absolutely put on
Speaker 1: a show. Things did not go well for him, you know,
Speaker 1: first fifteen, seventeen, eighteen minutes of the game, but he
Speaker 1: was able to shake all of that stuff off, and
Speaker 1: you know, that's that's something that you know as a
Speaker 1: as a quarterback, you love, I mean just absolutely love.
Speaker 1: We saw some of that from our own quarterback. Obviously
Speaker 1: in the semifinal game against Ohio State. Things weren't going
Speaker 1: Clemson's way and still Trevor Lawrence stayed right in it. Well,
Speaker 1: that's what that's what Joe Burrow did. And then you
Speaker 1: know the way they came out and finished off the
Speaker 1: second quarter, particularly scoring that that touchdown right before the
Speaker 1: end of the first half, and that was a little
Speaker 1: bit of a dagger that they were able to throw
Speaker 1: at Clemson. A lot of that was because of Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow and just the confidence that he had in that game.
Speaker 1: He's this is a guy with a lot of swag.
Speaker 1: He has a lot of confidence when he steps on
Speaker 1: the field. I don't think that there's many throws that
Speaker 1: he does not feel like that he can make. I
Speaker 1: think he's got a better arm. Probably the most people
Speaker 1: expect h you know, for being the number one overall
Speaker 1: pick of the draft. He's he's got to come and
Speaker 1: perform because it is a game of performance. But I
Speaker 1: fully expect Joe Burrow to do exactly that. Burrow to
Speaker 1: Higgins could be interesting. Yes, I am. I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to to that, to that combination. I think that that's
Speaker 1: going to go very very well. You know, as long
Speaker 1: as everybody can stay healthy, then those things will go
Speaker 1: very very well for the Cincinnati Bengals. Don thanks for
Speaker 1: hopping on the phone on short notice. I appreciate the
Speaker 1: time absolutely, and good luck to all the Bengals fans up.
Speaker 1: There'll be a lot of fun and watching you. I'll
Speaker 1: play here in the coming year. Te Higgins was ranked
Speaker 1: twenty fifth overall on the Pro Football Focus Draft board,
Speaker 1: and they wrote that he is probably the most complete
Speaker 1: big receiver to come into the NFL in some time.
Speaker 1: In the third round, the Bengals addressed their most pressing
Speaker 1: need by selecting linebacker Logan Wilson from Wyoming, a six
Speaker 1: to two hundred and fifty pounder who was a one
Speaker 1: hundred ninety five pound defensive back in high school. He
Speaker 1: was a four year starter and a three time captain
Speaker 1: at Wyoming who was not only a tackling machine for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, but finished with ten career interceptions. To learn
Speaker 1: more about Logan Wilson, I spoke to Wyoming's radio color
Speaker 1: commentator Kevin McKinney. Well, number one, we're really thrilled for him. Dan.
Speaker 1: He's a great, great guy. Of course, he's a Woming native,
Speaker 1: highest draft pick for a Woming nat ever to play
Speaker 1: for Wyoming. So that's a piece of news in itself.
Speaker 1: Came one as a walk on from Casper, and you
Speaker 1: know it just worked so hard to make himself what
Speaker 1: he is. He's wounding through and through. In fact, the
Speaker 1: team calls him the governor and a very popular guy.
Speaker 1: Of course, a team captain and all those things that
Speaker 1: are intangible. But on the field, he is number one.
Speaker 1: He can run, he's about two forty and he can fly.
Speaker 1: That was a sideline, the sideline guy that we were
Speaker 1: always impressed by, and I think from the very beginning
Speaker 1: it was his speed that caught everybody's attention. He worked
Speaker 1: hard to get himself to the size he is, but
Speaker 1: he could always run, and obviously that was a big
Speaker 1: attribute for him through his career. We're visiting with Woming
Speaker 1: broadcaster Kevin McKinney. The Bengals saw him at the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: Cincinnati coached the South team and Logan played for the
Speaker 1: North team and the observation that we've heard is that
Speaker 1: he was all business while he was there, immobile. Is
Speaker 1: that a good description of his personality? It totally is.
Speaker 1: He Uh, he comes to play, He's always ready to play,
Speaker 1: and if you're not playing at his level, he's not
Speaker 1: happy with you. So he's one of those guys that
Speaker 1: just motivates everybody and he raises your level of play.
Speaker 1: And I think that's always impressive for a guy. But
Speaker 1: he's uh, he's kind of a quiet guy, but uh
Speaker 1: just really does such a great job of leading by example.
Speaker 1: Looking at his career statistics, I see ten interceptions. What
Speaker 1: does that say about his ability and pass coverage? Well,
Speaker 1: I think Dan number one. He's a great student of
Speaker 1: the game, and so nobody was any more prepared to
Speaker 1: take the field than Logan, and so he always seemed
Speaker 1: to be in the right place at the right time,
Speaker 1: you know, that coach on the field type thing. And
Speaker 1: a lot of it really was his experience. I mean,
Speaker 1: he played four years and he told me one day,
Speaker 1: he says, sometimes I feel like I know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen before it happens, and that's just because I've
Speaker 1: played a lot and have been around so he has
Speaker 1: seen a lot of football and studying as he does
Speaker 1: and being prepared as he is. He always seemed to
Speaker 1: be in the right place fifty two consecutive starts, which
Speaker 1: speaks to his durability. Did he play through a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff? Is he one of those guys that just
Speaker 1: no matter what bumps and bruises he might have had,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't come off the field. Yeah, And that's exactly
Speaker 1: what it was Dan. He had. He didn't have any
Speaker 1: major injuries knock on wood. He was very fortunate there.
Speaker 1: But you know he had a hand injury and he
Speaker 1: at this injury and he had that injury, but nothing serious. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's very sturdy, but he is durable.
Speaker 1: He would not miss a start. He would play no
Speaker 1: matter why. I think he played with a brace on
Speaker 1: his hand in a couple of games. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna he wasn't gonna come out of the lineup,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. And and just a great team leader
Speaker 1: because of that, Because of that kind of mentality. First
Speaker 1: picking the third round, what was your anticipation for where
Speaker 1: he might go, not in terms of team, but where
Speaker 1: in the draft he might go. Going in. Well, I
Speaker 1: think we honestly felt Dan that he would be a
Speaker 1: third round guy, maybe late second round if things fell right,
Speaker 1: But we were gonna be I think a little bit
Speaker 1: disappointed if he didn't go in in the third round,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know it was. It was one of
Speaker 1: those deals that got it out of the way right away,
Speaker 1: and I think that was good for him. You can
Speaker 1: enjoy the evening, but we felt like from what we
Speaker 1: had heard and from what teams were saying, that he
Speaker 1: would be a high third round pick. The Governor is
Speaker 1: coming to Cincinnati and we're excited about it. Kevin, I
Speaker 1: appreciate the information. Thanks your time, you bet, Dan my pleasure,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna be Bengal fans in Wyoming. Now. Now
Speaker 1: time for a Day two recap and we'll look ahead
Speaker 1: to the final day of the draft with my broadcast
Speaker 1: partner Dave lapham Lap. When we spoke last night after
Speaker 1: the first round of the draft, I asked you for
Speaker 1: your prediction for the Bengals at the top of round
Speaker 1: two and your answer was the top wide receiver on
Speaker 1: their board. Well, we learned who that was a little
Speaker 1: bit after seven pm. Clemson's t Haggins a long time
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals fan, AJ Green fanatic, and a guy with
Speaker 1: an AJ Green physique, six four long arms, good leaping ability,
Speaker 1: and obvious lee. Somebody that the Bengals hope to pair
Speaker 1: with Joe Burrow for a long time. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think he's the type of guy that's likes to utilize
Speaker 1: the middle of the football field. You know, they raved
Speaker 1: about the coaches raved about it as did. He kind
Speaker 1: of not brag about it, but listed it as one
Speaker 1: of his strengths as his toughness and ability to catch
Speaker 1: the football sacrifice his body over the middle of the
Speaker 1: football field. You know, he's one of He averaged over
Speaker 1: eighteen yards per per reception. He's only twenty one years
Speaker 1: old as well, So I mean, here's another guy that
Speaker 1: from a culture standpoint in in the free agency, every
Speaker 1: single player they signed, all eight players came from playoff programs,
Speaker 1: playoff teams. So this kid, he's been in the College
Speaker 1: Football Championship Series every year, playing for national championships at Clemson,
Speaker 1: so he's he knows what it's supposed to look like.
Speaker 1: And I think they're looking for him to have some
Speaker 1: energy and in stet a temple for the receiver physician,
Speaker 1: even though he's on the younger end of things. I mean,
Speaker 1: he seems to be a very competitive guy, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he plays for championships, so he plays for keeps.
Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with that. Bring as many of those guys
Speaker 1: into the culture of the locker room as you possibly can.
Speaker 1: The kids got a mega watt smile. I don't know
Speaker 1: who his dentist is, but he's done a wonderful job,
Speaker 1: but a very engaging personality, much like Joe Burrow. Last night,
Speaker 1: I thought he showed himself extremely well in his zoom
Speaker 1: call with Cincinnati area reporters. I agree with you, Dan,
Speaker 1: And it's interesting that you know, Aj Green is the
Speaker 1: guy that that he kind of has looked up to
Speaker 1: and became a Bengal fan because of Aj Green. AJ
Speaker 1: Green was the number one basketball player in the state
Speaker 1: of South Carolina, and this young man, he Higgins, was
Speaker 1: an accomplished basketball player as well, and his junior year
Speaker 1: he decided to special and just football and gave up
Speaker 1: the basketball dreams and hopes he had some basketball opportunities.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was probably a tough decision for him
Speaker 1: to make. So there's a commonality there, you know, of
Speaker 1: the athleticism, and um, I'm a g I think I
Speaker 1: think a J. Green ish. I think he's definitely faster,
Speaker 1: um but you know, as AJ ages, maybe not a
Speaker 1: whole lot faster. But I do think that everybody, everybody
Speaker 1: in the wide receiver corps has got their niche John
Speaker 1: Royers unhealthy take the top off the T Higgins can
Speaker 1: work the middle of the football field. AJ Green can
Speaker 1: do everything. You can line him up anywhere and let
Speaker 1: him do anything. And I think the thing they liked
Speaker 1: about te Higgins is he's got some position versatility as well,
Speaker 1: um Donald Clemson. They felt that they could line him
Speaker 1: up anywhere and try and strive to find the best
Speaker 1: match out that he wasn't limited. You know, it's just
Speaker 1: the split end position only, or the flank position only,
Speaker 1: or the slot received for position only. So having as
Speaker 1: many guys you possibly can being able to line up
Speaker 1: anywhere puts a lot of pressure on defenses and in
Speaker 1: trying to match up properly. So T Higgins did not
Speaker 1: knock it out of the park when it came to
Speaker 1: testing in the run up to the draft, ran a
Speaker 1: four or five four forty at the combine, just a
Speaker 1: thirty one inch vertical leap. His one point six six
Speaker 1: ten yards split was especially poor. Now, apparently he was
Speaker 1: dealing with a groin issue at the time, so that
Speaker 1: may have influenced those numbers. It probably did. But then
Speaker 1: I look at his career statistics average twenty yards. It
Speaker 1: catches a freshman sixteen yards. It catches a sophomore twenty
Speaker 1: yards to catch as a junior, So his big playability
Speaker 1: was there even though his testing numbers were a bit
Speaker 1: of a head scratcher. Yeah, he's he's got a big
Speaker 1: catch radius, you though. He's he's a big kid, tall,
Speaker 1: excellent hands, probably too good size hands, and any presents
Speaker 1: himself as a you know, as a viable target for sure.
Speaker 1: He's I think he's going to find that, um, you know,
Speaker 1: contested catch is going to be a big deal and
Speaker 1: for him, and I think he'll probably win his share
Speaker 1: of those. So it's it's gonna be interesting to see how,
Speaker 1: in fact, everybody's roll of balls because the wide receiver position,
Speaker 1: I guess. You know, you draft a guy like Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow with the first pick in the draft, the first
Speaker 1: thing you want to do is give him as many weapons,
Speaker 1: as many opportunities as possible. I don't know. Maybe the
Speaker 1: way that you know they spread the football field down
Speaker 1: there at LSU, maybe the Bengals should um see if
Speaker 1: they can get a rule change in the NFL and
Speaker 1: allow the Canadian Football League and twelve players use as
Speaker 1: many receivers as possible and spread the stield even more. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I do think that that's Joe Borrow strength,
Speaker 1: you know, is uh just you know, spread it out
Speaker 1: and just rip you apart, and as many many quality
Speaker 1: people as you can't get that done, I mean, act
Speaker 1: this is John Ross top ten pick, AJ Green top
Speaker 1: five pick. Now T Higgins first round draft choice, basically
Speaker 1: first pick of the second round. So you know it's
Speaker 1: they've they've got they've got some talent. You know, you
Speaker 1: get tylert Boyd second round pick, not just high it
Speaker 1: second round pick as T Higgins, but you've got you
Speaker 1: got some pretty darn good, pretty darn good talent going there.
Speaker 1: And the wide receivers kept flying off the board in
Speaker 1: the second round of the draft. T Higgins first pick
Speaker 1: of the second round, Michael Pittman out of USC second
Speaker 1: pick of the second round, then in order, Leviscus Channault,
Speaker 1: kJ Hammler, Chase Claypool, Van Jefferson, and eventually, close to
Speaker 1: the end of the second round, Denzel Mims, a player
Speaker 1: that had frequently been mocked draft, is a possibility to
Speaker 1: the Bengals at the top of round two. Well, and
Speaker 1: you look at him, U he led the country with
Speaker 1: twenty contested catches. He had the best three cone times
Speaker 1: six point six six of any wide receiver. So obviously
Speaker 1: you can go up and fight for the contested ball,
Speaker 1: the fifty fifty ball, and you know he can change direction,
Speaker 1: sink his hips, get in and out of cuts with
Speaker 1: that three cone drill. So I mean, he tested extremely well.
Speaker 1: And he's a good size, good sized guy as well.
Speaker 1: So honestly, I think too. That's why you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of general managers and scouts around
Speaker 1: the league would say with the wide receiver position, you
Speaker 1: may get the same guy at sixty four as you
Speaker 1: got at thirty two. There's very little difference between those
Speaker 1: guys because it's so deep wide receiver position. I mean,
Speaker 1: six were taken in the first round and at least
Speaker 1: the HACO doesn't hear it sounds like in the second round,
Speaker 1: and you know, I know there's at least forty that
Speaker 1: people feel are going to be draftable. In thirty three
Speaker 1: of those forty may go in the first four rounds
Speaker 1: to the draft, So it's only just one. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was seven in the second round. To be specific, Why
Speaker 1: do you think Josh Jones and Zach Bond were not
Speaker 1: taken in the first two rounds. I think Josh Jones
Speaker 1: um his length of his arms, it's it's not proportionate
Speaker 1: to his to his body. I mean, he's a he's
Speaker 1: a big man. He's six six sixty seven, three hundred
Speaker 1: and ten pounds, thirty thirty two and eighth inch arm.
Speaker 1: So I think people thought Jee might have to play
Speaker 1: him at guard, you know, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's That's something that Billy Price is struggling with a
Speaker 1: little bit, I think is the arm length. And in
Speaker 1: the NFL you can lock arms out. And if somebody's
Speaker 1: got a thirty two and eighth innch arm and then
Speaker 1: the other guy's a thirty five inch arm, he's getting
Speaker 1: to the back cannle leaver your shoulder pad pretty durn quickly.
Speaker 1: And if you bend over trying to lengthen your candle
Speaker 1: lever a little bit more by leaning, so worsting him
Speaker 1: do it now you're exposing in your shoulders. So I
Speaker 1: think I think he probably you know, he did get
Speaker 1: drafted in the second round, but a lot of people,
Speaker 1: almost every Monk drafts had him as a first round guy.
Speaker 1: But he went, you know, in the back third of
Speaker 1: the second round. And I think it was probably because
Speaker 1: of the length of his arms, because everything else. When
Speaker 1: I watched him at the senior ball, I mean, he
Speaker 1: had good feet from himself in great position to block,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't noticeable. You know, I'm not saying it
Speaker 1: was t routs noticeable, but it was you know, he
Speaker 1: did he did definitely have short arms. He went to
Speaker 1: the in the third round. Josh Jones, Okay, third round, yeap,
Speaker 1: about the eighth pick of the third round of the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: So he lasted until the third. Yeah, I think that
Speaker 1: was to me, that's gotta be. The biggest thing is
Speaker 1: that arm length. I think people are a little apprehensive
Speaker 1: about because the rest of his game, you know, I
Speaker 1: thought it was pretty good. One more thought on t
Speaker 1: Higgins before we turned to the Bengals third round draft pick.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have drafted seven wide receivers in their history
Speaker 1: in the second round. Ready for this list, Yeah, Tyler Boyd,
Speaker 1: Jerome Simpson, Chad Johnson, Darnay Scott, Carl Pickens, Chris Collinsworth. Honestly,
Speaker 1: around the league, teams seem to put their bat on
Speaker 1: the ball a little bit better in the second and
Speaker 1: third round in a lot of positions than the first
Speaker 1: round for another reason. I don't know exactly why, but
Speaker 1: and it really really doesn't seem like it, honestly. I
Speaker 1: mean a lot of Bill Belichick trades out of the
Speaker 1: first round whenever he can. I mean a lot of
Speaker 1: people around the league think that rubber hits the road second, third,
Speaker 1: and fourth round of the second round draft, and they
Speaker 1: try to load up as much as they possibly can
Speaker 1: with multiple second, third and fourth round picks, almost unilaterally.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. So I think, now, you know, with with
Speaker 1: tonight's action ending here second and third round, you're you're
Speaker 1: in the meet and heart of the draft, and you
Speaker 1: know tomorrow's important fourth round, fifth round as well, and
Speaker 1: then you know, then the odds I think changed dramatically.
Speaker 1: But it is remarkable. They've had a heck of a
Speaker 1: run and uh, you know, look at the running backs.
Speaker 1: They could Corey Dillon and Joe Mixon the last two
Speaker 1: number twenty eights, both second rounders, you know, and there's
Speaker 1: reasons for that, you know, it's it's not a lot
Speaker 1: of it's not physical. A lot of it can be
Speaker 1: you know, intangibles or problems or troubles that guys had
Speaker 1: in various way shapes or formed. But telling you, the
Speaker 1: Bengals have put their bat on the ball in the
Speaker 1: second round regularly. Let's hope that te Higgins is another
Speaker 1: one that they hit out of the park. Let's turn
Speaker 1: to the Bengals third round draft pick, linebacker Logan Wilson
Speaker 1: out of Wyoming. When we did our podcast prior to
Speaker 1: the draft, you mentioned him as at least a possibility
Speaker 1: to be taken by the Bengals at the top of
Speaker 1: the second round to fill that critical linebacker need and
Speaker 1: they need a stack backer and Logan Wilson kind of
Speaker 1: fit that. You know, Zach Bond went shortly after Logan
Speaker 1: Wilson did in the draft. But Zach Bond is more
Speaker 1: of a you know, outside linebacker round in the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmags, you know, rush guy from you know, he
Speaker 1: was number two in the in the Big ten in
Speaker 1: terms of sacks and taker for loss too, and a
Speaker 1: guy that went number two in the draft. So I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously he's got some ability. But you know, Locan Wilson
Speaker 1: is an off the line of scrimmage stack linebacker and
Speaker 1: I think he can play three downs in that area.
Speaker 1: And it's because he started out as one hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety five pound wide receiver defensive back that understands, you know,
Speaker 1: route concepts and reading the quarterback's eyes. And his ball
Speaker 1: skills are good as a result of that. Ten interceptions,
Speaker 1: you know, reading and reacting to what he sees out
Speaker 1: in the football field. A couple of them he took
Speaker 1: back to the house pick sixes. So I think I
Speaker 1: think that the guy that you know goes at one
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety five pounds and now he's between two
Speaker 1: forty five and two fifty and was there for five
Speaker 1: years with the Retchard. He's twenty three years old, you know,
Speaker 1: so both the first and the third round pick for
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. There are not kids, you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're twenty three years old. They've they've they've seen a
Speaker 1: little bit, played a lot of football. Um, So I
Speaker 1: think I think it's a it's a tremendous pick. It
Speaker 1: went down to the Senior Bowl and I did notice
Speaker 1: this kid, and I just noticed. I mean when I
Speaker 1: don't know what you're feeling, is when I when I
Speaker 1: met when I saw him down there, shook his hand,
Speaker 1: looked at him, and I said, this is a Norman
Speaker 1: Rockwell portrait of a linebacker with the square job. He
Speaker 1: reminded me of Brian Bosworth. And looking at him tonight,
Speaker 1: you know again, I'm like teeth that guy. He kind
Speaker 1: of looks a little bit like bos you know, or
Speaker 1: he looks like cho and laukee Field. He's one of
Speaker 1: these square jobs, you know. He definitely he definitely looks
Speaker 1: the part. And uh he's he's really worked hard, changed
Speaker 1: his body obviously tremendously and he's, um. I think he's
Speaker 1: going to surprise a lot of people. I think when
Speaker 1: all of a sudden done, when a year or two
Speaker 1: down the road and you reflect back and you say,
Speaker 1: oh boy, how how have they doing this draft? What
Speaker 1: picks panned out? I have a feeling this kid's going
Speaker 1: to pan out, and he's going to pan out a
Speaker 1: big time. Just watching really hitting his business down at
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl. He wasn't down there to have fun.
Speaker 1: He wasn't down there messing out with people trying to
Speaker 1: make friends. He was early, never, never even worrying about
Speaker 1: trying to be their own time. He was, you know,
Speaker 1: his watch was ten minutes early all the time, and
Speaker 1: he was he was very very serious about the whole thing.
Speaker 1: He realized the importance of it, and he was going
Speaker 1: to take full advantage of it. And I really I
Speaker 1: admired the way he carried himself down there, and I
Speaker 1: asked him about that, and he said, you know, that's
Speaker 1: just it, just the way I do it. You know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't any different than way I carried myself at Wyoming.
Speaker 1: And it was interesting too, he said. The biggest honor
Speaker 1: he received in his football career so far as being
Speaker 1: elected a three time captain. That's that is pretty impressive,
Speaker 1: you know, a bunch of different players. Um was a
Speaker 1: three year time frame. I'm just gonna be some some
Speaker 1: coming and going amongst your teammates and to continue to
Speaker 1: lect you to that that type of position and speaks
Speaker 1: volumes to what you are. He has certainly seen a
Speaker 1: lot on the football field. Fifty two consecutive starts, three
Speaker 1: thousand six hundred and eighteen defensive snaps in his college career.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of football. First time All Americans since
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, first time they've had an All Americans
Speaker 1: since then at one moment. A tackling machine, you know,
Speaker 1: over four hundred career tackles. He's a you know, he'll
Speaker 1: come downhill, he'll he'll go sideline to sideline when you
Speaker 1: watch him. You want linebackers to impact the game. You
Speaker 1: want there to be a contact ratio that is that
Speaker 1: is you know, a big plus, and his is and
Speaker 1: you know it's not just okay, first and second down,
Speaker 1: maybe just first down, only the second and long. He
Speaker 1: hank that guy out of the game. That's all he
Speaker 1: can do is come down hill and smoke the run.
Speaker 1: This guy's a three down guy, you know, and he's
Speaker 1: obviously like we talked about earlier with is, why did
Speaker 1: you see your defensive back skill set? Let's stay on
Speaker 1: the football field and play. He'll probably be nickel the
Speaker 1: din backers he'll be he'll be a whole thing. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Nick Vigil was killing that role and then
Speaker 1: it's open. Now it's charger. So this guy, I think
Speaker 1: he's going to play a lot of football right away.
Speaker 1: And you know, if he doesn't play as enough football
Speaker 1: as anticipated, Darren Simmons is gonna love to have him
Speaker 1: on special teams. But I don't think he's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to play many special teams if he's done the
Speaker 1: football field for lou and UMU. Three staffs, three downs,
Speaker 1: every single series of the season. All right, let's look ahead,
Speaker 1: final work day of the draft coming up on Saturday
Speaker 1: beginning at noon. What spots are the Bengals likely to address?
Speaker 1: And do you anticipate a trade down to begin the
Speaker 1: fourth round since teams will again reorganize their board at
Speaker 1: the end of the night. And see, guys, boy, we'd
Speaker 1: love to have him. I mean, the Bengals have been
Speaker 1: trading up in recent years at this point, is this
Speaker 1: the year they trade down? Well? You know, za Zach
Speaker 1: has he said to end today's pressor that the draft
Speaker 1: has worked out perfectly because they had the first pick
Speaker 1: of the draft obviously, and they knew what they were
Speaker 1: going to do there with Joe Brow. The second pick
Speaker 1: of the draft was basically like a late first round pick.
Speaker 1: It's like when the first round ended. Okay, who was
Speaker 1: the who was the guy that said, who's the guy
Speaker 1: on your board that gave the most value? Te Higgins Boom.
Speaker 1: Now I know that that they got phone calls and
Speaker 1: they initiated phone calls. I mean they were proactive, not
Speaker 1: just reactive. And honestly, you know, if the Bengals had
Speaker 1: five guys, they felt comfortable with a thirty three. So
Speaker 1: did a lot of other people. And it's probably like,
Speaker 1: why should I move up to give you draft capital
Speaker 1: for somebody that you know, I can wait to sit
Speaker 1: tight here and I've got one of five options. I
Speaker 1: feel good about two. And you know, everybody's board is different, Dan.
Speaker 1: You know people will say, oh, they just list of
Speaker 1: best players. The best players are always influenced by your
Speaker 1: need if you have if you have a needed offensive tackle,
Speaker 1: your seventeenth player on your board is going to be
Speaker 1: an offensive tackle instead of a cornerback that other people
Speaker 1: who have a needed cornerback on their board, they're gonna
Speaker 1: have that cornerback at number seventeen. So I mean it's
Speaker 1: kind of a you know, let's let's be honest. There's
Speaker 1: always need, and it's the needs the tiebreaker. So there's
Speaker 1: not any board in the NFL that is similar that
Speaker 1: it is identical to two teams. You know, just don't
Speaker 1: have twin boards anywhere for that, for the reason of need,
Speaker 1: and for the reason of difference in scheme and uh
Speaker 1: and what type of players need to execute those schemes.
Speaker 1: So um, you know it's the draft fell perfectly in
Speaker 1: terms of Zach saying, you know, having that first pick,
Speaker 1: we had Wilson, uh, you know, greater than the high
Speaker 1: high in the second round. We got them with the
Speaker 1: first pick in the third round. Had team rated as
Speaker 1: a first round wide receiver, gonna with the first pick
Speaker 1: of the second round. So that's the advantage of having
Speaker 1: that first pick of every round because you get first DIBs.
Speaker 1: When you take a look at your board and somebody,
Speaker 1: whoever it is on your board, that's a boy. What
Speaker 1: is he still doing there? If you can't work out
Speaker 1: a trade, if nobody's going to give you anything of
Speaker 1: enough value, just pluck it, you know, And in so
Speaker 1: far it's working out for him. The other thing that
Speaker 1: was encouraging with the selection of Wilson is dividends for
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl already paying off. I mean, we talked
Speaker 1: about the fact that a great year to be involved
Speaker 1: with the Senior Bowl, Detroit coaching staff in the Bengals
Speaker 1: coaching staff, and with the sixty fifth pick in the draft,
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's pretty early in the draft. It
Speaker 1: was the time spent at the Senior Bowl that turned
Speaker 1: the tide on Logan Wilson, not just the tape, but
Speaker 1: having meetings with them and spending time with them during
Speaker 1: the course of the week. So the Senior Bowl already
Speaker 1: paid and I think the Senior Bowl is going to
Speaker 1: pay dividends and may be every single pick from this
Speaker 1: point on. I mean, I could see the Senior Bowl
Speaker 1: being a factor if the Bengals decide they want to
Speaker 1: go linebacker again. To me, a team, a Gaither Davis
Speaker 1: is the is a guy that you know, he's every
Speaker 1: bit worthy of a fourth round pick, Davis Gaither. Davis
Speaker 1: gaitheror a Keen Davis Gaither. Yeah, from Appalachia, steady six
Speaker 1: to two, can really run. His dad's a wide receiver
Speaker 1: coach at Western Michigan. So he's a you know, he's
Speaker 1: a football lifer. He's a will linebacker, you know, on
Speaker 1: the line of Scrimmons kind of guy. Special teams guy.
Speaker 1: I know the Bengals are very impressed with his learning ability,
Speaker 1: how he absorbed things, how he could retain and recite
Speaker 1: it back, and um felt like, uh, you know, he
Speaker 1: was he was a leader amongst teammates. He wasn't a
Speaker 1: follower during the course of the week, so they liked
Speaker 1: a lot of things about him. If he's there, you know,
Speaker 1: I think for a fourth round? Is it Richard? Fifth round?
Speaker 1: But that's another senior Bowl guy that you say, well,
Speaker 1: you know, and that that could pay some dividends. Logan Stenberg.
Speaker 1: You know an offensive lineman from Kentucky, Ben Bartch, This
Speaker 1: kid from Saint John's. He just located his kneecap. I
Speaker 1: don't know what his physical status is. Obviously with the
Speaker 1: coronavirus problems, you don't even get a chance to have
Speaker 1: your doctor's put your hands on him and take a
Speaker 1: look at MRIs and all that things. So I mean,
Speaker 1: he may be, uh, you know, he may be in
Speaker 1: limbo at this point in time. But you know, some
Speaker 1: of the offensive lineman that I think the Bengals are
Speaker 1: going to be contemplating, not just the ones that they coach,
Speaker 1: the ones that they that they played against as well.
Speaker 1: You know, I think, you know, I think the reason
Speaker 1: that Josh Jones. They saw Josh Jones, they saw him
Speaker 1: up close and personal, and maybe they didn't like what
Speaker 1: they saw with in terms of the length of his arms.
Speaker 1: And so you know, it's it's good. I think the
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl is going to pay serious dividends to this
Speaker 1: football team down the stretch and almost every round left.
Speaker 1: Last thing, the fact that they did not take an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman in the second or third round suggests that
Speaker 1: they feel better about that group than others. Is do
Speaker 1: you think that's fair to say? I think it is.
Speaker 1: I do think that you know that they've they've they
Speaker 1: addressed it with uh, with free agency a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, even last year, um taking picking up Fred Johnson. Um.
Speaker 1: You know when from the Pittsburgh Steelers off off the
Speaker 1: wave wire and Fred Johnson he made himself some money.
Speaker 1: I mean he went out there and he played his
Speaker 1: tail off down the stretch of the season and uh
Speaker 1: and you know, really really put himself in position to to, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, have some success in the league. You know,
Speaker 1: there's there's no question about it. You know, I think
Speaker 1: that at this point in time, you just let him
Speaker 1: go compete. He and Bobby Hard I think you're you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, who who's the best man? And I
Speaker 1: do think they'll they'll draft somebody. I still think they'll
Speaker 1: they'll draft to tackle at some point in time. Jonah
Speaker 1: Williams will be lining up with you know, Isaiah Prince
Speaker 1: probably behind him. Bobby Harden will be lining up with
Speaker 1: Fred Johnson behind him. Zaia Sua Flow will be starting,
Speaker 1: you know, lining up as a starter right guard, but
Speaker 1: Alex Redmond will be pushing them. And you know, Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan will probably line up as a starter left guard.
Speaker 1: But Alex Redmond, you know, is a factor at the
Speaker 1: guard position. Trey Hopkins graded out the best of all
Speaker 1: the centers. UH. Now it's an interesting dynamic, Dan. Overall,
Speaker 1: there's there's three pots or three you know doors to
Speaker 1: the personnel. Uh. With respect to this football team, there's
Speaker 1: the injured veterans returning, Jonah Williams, um Drew sample. They
Speaker 1: lost a lot of Drew sample's time, you know, to
Speaker 1: to injury uh from John Ross once again, Jay Green
Speaker 1: didn't take a snap, you know, Jonah Williams didn't take
Speaker 1: a snap. So you have these injured players that are
Speaker 1: going to be returning to the mix. Then you have
Speaker 1: your your free agents, you know, Xavier Sua flow like
Speaker 1: like we said, Trey Wayne's McKenzie, Alexander von Bell, Josh Bines,
Speaker 1: DJ Reader. I mean a lot of these guys that
Speaker 1: are projected starters. Drew Sample throwing that injury mix as well.
Speaker 1: They lost him, you know, early, pretty early in the season.
Speaker 1: And then the draft Joe Burrow, you know, to start
Speaker 1: starter at quarterback, te Higgins, depending on what kind of
Speaker 1: a package you have, he could be a starting wide
Speaker 1: receiver out there and taking the looks right here at Wilson,
Speaker 1: you know, he's going to be a three down linebacker.
Speaker 1: And I'm very important for this defensive football team. So
Speaker 1: then there they're overhauling this bad boy. It's going to
Speaker 1: be more than half of the starting lineup that started
Speaker 1: that started the season last year, never mind finished the season.
Speaker 1: It's going to be flipped over. There's going to be
Speaker 1: a lot of new look to this football team next season.
Speaker 1: I think Round four starts in about five minutes, more
Speaker 1: like twelve hours, but we look forward to it and
Speaker 1: we will talk again after the draft is finished. Sounds
Speaker 1: like a plan, sir. Get a good night's sleep, you two.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Prime Sport, the
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.