Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Boots podcast. The Sweet homem Alabama addition, as
Speaker 1: we head to Mobile, Alabama, where my broadcast partner Dave
Speaker 1: Lapham is spending the week covering the Senior Bowl, where
Speaker 1: the Bengals coaching staff is in charge of the South roster.
Speaker 1: I'll spend about thirty five minutes with lap discussing the
Speaker 1: prospects who have impressed him the most, and he'll share
Speaker 1: what he's hearing from NFL people about a prospect who
Speaker 1: is not Inmobile this week, quarterback Joe Burrow. Lap will
Speaker 1: also discuss Andy Dalton's future in Cincinnati, the Bengals approach
Speaker 1: to free agency this offseason, and answer questions you submitted
Speaker 1: on Twitter. All of that is straight ahead, but first,
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, your Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since fun daily calendars.
Speaker 1: We've had a bunch of these over the years. There
Speaker 1: was the Thousand Places to See calendar with a different
Speaker 1: cool picture every day, and I've had Sports Trivia daily calendars,
Speaker 1: which are always fun. This year we have the New
Speaker 1: York Times Daily Crossword Puzzle, which has become a great
Speaker 1: family activity. So here's to fun daily calendars. And hey,
Speaker 1: it's late January, so you can probably get a twenty
Speaker 1: twenty version really cheap. Now let's get to football. After
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine Ers beat the Packers last
Speaker 1: week to advance to the Super Bowl, several members of
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers coaching staff could be seen holding
Speaker 1: interesting T shirts in the locker room after the game
Speaker 1: that said the following Mobile to Miami. That's a reference
Speaker 1: to the fact that the forty nine Ers staff coached
Speaker 1: in the Senior Bowl in Mobile at the start of
Speaker 1: the year, and we'll coach in the Super Bowl in
Speaker 1: Miami to end the year. I'm not predicting that the
Speaker 1: Bengals coaches will be wearing Mobile to Tampa T shirts
Speaker 1: at the end of next season, but it does show
Speaker 1: you that quick turnarounds do happen in the NFL. The
Speaker 1: last time the Bengals coached in the Senior Bowl was
Speaker 1: January of two eleven, after going four and twelve in
Speaker 1: two ten. A few months after the All Star Game.
Speaker 1: The Bengals drafted AJ Green in the first round, Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton in the second round and began a streak of
Speaker 1: five straight playoff appearances. My broadcast partner, Dave Lapham has
Speaker 1: been in Mobile all week and join me on Friday
Speaker 1: morning to share his observations. Lap You played in the
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl in nineteen seventy four. How much has it
Speaker 1: changed A ton? I mean, it's a Broadway production now
Speaker 1: is prepared to nineteen seventy four when you can that
Speaker 1: or you know, no ESPN, no NFL network, no cell phones, uh,
Speaker 1: no equipment to video tape practices. You know the game
Speaker 1: was on a sixteen millimeter film projector it's a totally
Speaker 1: different dynamic. There are obviously a lot of people in attendance,
Speaker 1: but back then and sent me for the only way
Speaker 1: they could see what they wanted to see was to
Speaker 1: get down there. And I remember, you know, past protecting
Speaker 1: h against Carl Barzeloscis and two tall Jones, and it's
Speaker 1: like there were a big circle of people like ten deep,
Speaker 1: and you could literally reach out and touch an owner
Speaker 1: or a GM or a head coach or a line coach.
Speaker 1: It was crazy, it was you know, and you're thinking, well,
Speaker 1: I hope I I've blocked somebody because I'm either going
Speaker 1: to have validation or elimination here today it's day, It's time.
Speaker 1: Who were the coaches in seventy four? I was the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagle staff Mike McCormick's staff. So my infensive line
Speaker 1: coach was John Sandusky, who was a great offensive lineman
Speaker 1: with Mike McCormick with the Cleveland Browns and John Sandusky
Speaker 1: that my most vivid memory of him was we had
Speaker 1: a banquet the night before the Senior Bowl and he
Speaker 1: was an accomplished ballroom dancer, and John Sandusky get up
Speaker 1: there and started cutting a rug and it was impressive.
Speaker 1: I mean, the big man was like a dancing bear.
Speaker 1: And conside why he was such a good player with
Speaker 1: the body size that he had, in his ability to
Speaker 1: move his feed so adroitly. I mean, he was really
Speaker 1: a good coach. I was very fortunate and special teams coach,
Speaker 1: and that in that team was Dick Leboie, just retired
Speaker 1: from playing with the Detroit Lions with a Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame career as a player, soon to be a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame coach as well. But that was his first
Speaker 1: introduction as a coach in the NFL as a special
Speaker 1: teams coach with the Eagles, and special teams was interesting
Speaker 1: when there's like sixty guys pro roster. Gosh, I think
Speaker 1: we were like in the mid to high thirties. We
Speaker 1: didn't have that many players. And special teams was none
Speaker 1: of the guys that played special teams in college. They
Speaker 1: were all their better players on their teams. So special
Speaker 1: teams is very interesting and just cobbling things together. And
Speaker 1: he said to me, big fella, you ever covered a
Speaker 1: kick before? I said, no, sir, every in my life.
Speaker 1: He said, you're about to. He said, you're one of
Speaker 1: our faster line. You're gonna run down on kickgous Okay,
Speaker 1: so he said, just you know, stay in your land
Speaker 1: and get your head on a swivel. First kickoff. I
Speaker 1: get down there, I'm like, man, I might make a play.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm getting close here. And I get within like
Speaker 1: a couple of arms lengths and boom, I get ear
Speaker 1: holed by a defensive tackle out of the wedge. And
Speaker 1: I thought, oh boy. So I come to the sideline
Speaker 1: and Butpo's, like I told you, big fella, on a swivel,
Speaker 1: keeping on a swivel. I said, yes, there, it was
Speaker 1: a learning experience, but yeah, it was, it was. It
Speaker 1: was just a it was a great the difference then
Speaker 1: in seventy four, though, we get fifteen hundred dollars as
Speaker 1: a winner. We won the Senior Bolt. David James hit
Speaker 1: lyn Swan with a game winning touchdown passed for us,
Speaker 1: and I loved lyn Swan for a moment, and then
Speaker 1: I learned not to like him as much when he
Speaker 1: got the pits for a bit. He got his fifteen
Speaker 1: hundred to the winner, seven fifty to the the loser. So
Speaker 1: I go back to Syracuse nineteen seventy four, fifteen hundred bucks,
Speaker 1: and I thought I was a gazillionaire. It was. It
Speaker 1: was great. Fifteen hundred back then was you know, significant,
Speaker 1: significant money. But they don't. They don't do that anymore,
Speaker 1: but I did. I called the athletic director before taking
Speaker 1: the check because I thought, well, I know I don't
Speaker 1: have any eligibility left, but my forfeiting a scholarship opportunity
Speaker 1: here in the NCAA wasn't a stranger obviously back then.
Speaker 1: And he's like, no, you're fine, you can go ahead
Speaker 1: and take that. You've only had, you know, a few months,
Speaker 1: a couple of months left for graduation. I go, okay,
Speaker 1: you could do some damage on Marshall Street with fifteen
Speaker 1: hundred bucks. Oh, I'm telling you, man, yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: We used to gather it could comes to club Key
Speaker 1: Sees was big hangout after I got the golf course
Speaker 1: in the country club after games and man, h I
Speaker 1: bought many around to TCAs with that fifteen hundred doubt.
Speaker 1: All right, I want to talk about the guy who
Speaker 1: is not there, Joe Burrow. I'm sure you've been talking
Speaker 1: to people about him. What have you learned that you know?
Speaker 1: The consensus on Joe Burrow obviously is he had the
Speaker 1: greatest season college quarterback has ever had. UM, and that's
Speaker 1: you know, that's just obvious by the numbers. But when you,
Speaker 1: you know, you deep dive into him, there's not a
Speaker 1: box that he doesn't check and um, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of the people that I've talked to, it's it's
Speaker 1: very important with the you know, off the field beyond
Speaker 1: the field stuff everybody can see, but the off the
Speaker 1: field stuff. It's like I was talking to a few
Speaker 1: people who said, you know, I always go and ask
Speaker 1: these these coaches who is this player of friends with?
Speaker 1: And if a which has to stroke his chin and say,
Speaker 1: let me think about that, well maybe this guy. Maybe
Speaker 1: that guy's like, you know with Joe Burrow, You say,
Speaker 1: who who's whose friends with Joe Burrow? Everybody, whether it's
Speaker 1: on the football team not on the football he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys that is just I mean, a natural
Speaker 1: born leader. Everybody gravitates toward. Um. He's got that in factor,
Speaker 1: you know, that that personality uh stuff, you know, the
Speaker 1: boomeris Hiasin type stuff where you know, he's's kind of
Speaker 1: a magnet and everybody loves the guy. And I'm I
Speaker 1: started watching a little bit more of of of Borrow,
Speaker 1: and the thing with him dan to me all the things.
Speaker 1: You know, he throws into such tight windows. He's so
Speaker 1: accurate with football. But and and two things. His um
Speaker 1: quick twitch, his short space quick twitch is very underrated.
Speaker 1: I mean, this guy's making sec athletes. He's got him
Speaker 1: in space, you know, like a good athletic linebacker or
Speaker 1: even a defensive back. And he's putting the wiggle on him,
Speaker 1: making him so. I mean, this guy's athleticism, I think
Speaker 1: is not talked about as much as it could be.
Speaker 1: And then he's got in the pocket. He's got that
Speaker 1: innate ability to feel pressure. A lot of times when
Speaker 1: guys feel pressure, they start looking down, looking around, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to protect their legs and worried about where it's
Speaker 1: coming from. Borrow has that ability to kind of sense
Speaker 1: it and step up and slidestep and avoid and escape
Speaker 1: the pocket. The whole time. His eyes are down the
Speaker 1: field and he sees the field and he's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: downfield the whole time, and boom he'll make a throw.
Speaker 1: And that's that's I think, something that really separates him
Speaker 1: from from a lot of guys. Uh. And then obviously
Speaker 1: he's got the football acumen and I mean he processes
Speaker 1: things so quickly. And um, you know the slow start
Speaker 1: that LSU had, Uh they ran out. Clemson comes out
Speaker 1: with through a three down lineman, a linebacker and seven
Speaker 1: defensive backs. Basically quarter coverage. You know, it's not dime sits.
Speaker 1: It's quarter coverage. Nickel, not dime go to a bigger coin.
Speaker 1: You know, it's quarter coverage. And it's like, oh, they
Speaker 1: got off their slow start. Well, he had a thirty
Speaker 1: five yard completion and he had a blindman down field ineligibly.
Speaker 1: He had two drops. So I mean it was a
Speaker 1: combination of adjusting set scheme plus an execution. And you
Speaker 1: know they go hand in hand because when you see
Speaker 1: something for the first time, you know, it's maybe a
Speaker 1: little apprehension, a little bit. I was gonna, boy, I
Speaker 1: gotta get something done here kind of mentality, not just
Speaker 1: a quarterback but everybody. But once they settled down, he
Speaker 1: ripped it up, ripped it apart. In fact, they had
Speaker 1: to get out of it. So I think in my mind, Dan,
Speaker 1: you know, I would I would say, hey, Joe, you're
Speaker 1: my guy. You know, don't don't overthink it. Somebody's gonna
Speaker 1: try to find something to rip them. You know, they're
Speaker 1: gonna try to find the negative during this draft process.
Speaker 1: You know, he had a pimple in the seventh grade,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, and they're gonna try to make a
Speaker 1: big deal out of it and be satisfied that your
Speaker 1: evaluation processes there. Don't worry, be happy, take them. And
Speaker 1: I would declare it. I'd say Joe early on, I'd said, Joe,
Speaker 1: you're our guy. I remember when they drafted Carston Palmer,
Speaker 1: they signed him before they drafted them three days before
Speaker 1: they drafted them. And I'm not quite sure about the
Speaker 1: rules now and if you can do it, and if
Speaker 1: you do it, you decide to go public with it
Speaker 1: or whatever. But I would say to him, Look, you
Speaker 1: don't have to go to all these other team visits,
Speaker 1: you don't have to go to the combine, you don't
Speaker 1: have to go and burn your arm out, you don't
Speaker 1: have to do all this wrong. A lot of these
Speaker 1: quarterbacks don't really have a better year until their second
Speaker 1: year because they do so much of that before they're
Speaker 1: even drafted. By the end of October, beginning in November,
Speaker 1: they've got a dead arm. So I would I would
Speaker 1: definitely say, Joe Chill, you're our guy. Don't feel pressure
Speaker 1: that you have to go everywhere and do everything for everybody.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the reason, the biggest reason he's
Speaker 1: not here dan as he had a fifteen game season
Speaker 1: and an NFL season basically, and he knows what's coming.
Speaker 1: So I think he just said I need a little
Speaker 1: bit of time to kick back with family and girlfriend
Speaker 1: all those kinds of things, and totally understandable, um, but
Speaker 1: but I would even you know, lessen the burden on him.
Speaker 1: Mentally and see, Joe, you don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: all that stuff. We've made the decision. You're our guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: nothing else. Say to the agent, Hey, if he wants
Speaker 1: to throw it his pro day, go ahead, but don't
Speaker 1: do anything beyond that. Yeah. I mean, you know you
Speaker 1: go to these workouts, private workouts. They wear you out,
Speaker 1: you know at these at these uh you know, each club.
Speaker 1: You know, you go for interview and then they'll go on,
Speaker 1: let me go down and see him throw. I just
Speaker 1: want to see your throw all time. Let me just
Speaker 1: see your throw one more. You know. It's like, man,
Speaker 1: I'd avoid all that, I really would. I'd let it
Speaker 1: be known at least to him and his agent for
Speaker 1: sure that you know you are going to be our guy.
Speaker 1: Don't feel like you have to do anything else. We
Speaker 1: are making the maybe to you. We want you to
Speaker 1: be as ready for us as we are to take you.
Speaker 1: We want you to be ready to um you know,
Speaker 1: be with us physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, every way possible.
Speaker 1: We don't want you worn out. We want Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: We already have full fledged Burrowmania. In Cincinnati. He gets
Speaker 1: spotted getting chicken wings and TV News cruise show up.
Speaker 1: Would you be shocked at this point if he's not
Speaker 1: the guy? I would, I really would. I will say
Speaker 1: though Herbert has put on a show with his arm.
Speaker 1: I mean he has got arm talent, there's no question
Speaker 1: about it. Um. And and he'll probably he'll go to
Speaker 1: the combine and he'll run probably in the to meet Dana.
Speaker 1: Looks like he's a high four sixes guy. And um,
Speaker 1: you know, but when I watch him and this is
Speaker 1: just practice now, you know, so it's not a game. Um,
Speaker 1: but when when I when I've seen him like I
Speaker 1: saw him in the in the in the Big twelve
Speaker 1: championship stuff, and he's he's more methodical, I guess is
Speaker 1: a polite way to put it, or mechanical would be
Speaker 1: more impolite. First read secondary, okay, now tuck it, you know,
Speaker 1: now I'm going to do this. He doesn't have them.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about about Joe Burrow, you know,
Speaker 1: having that short space suddenness and you know, quick twitch.
Speaker 1: He takes him two or three steps to get going,
Speaker 1: and once he gets going, he goes. But he's not
Speaker 1: like a short you know, He's not one of those
Speaker 1: explosive kind of guys. But his arm is unbelievable. And
Speaker 1: the thing about him. Two things I respect about him
Speaker 1: is he could have come out last year and made
Speaker 1: a lot of money. He would have been a first rounder.
Speaker 1: But he went back to Oregon. He felt like, all right,
Speaker 1: you you made a commitment to me. I'm going to
Speaker 1: fulfill my obligation to you. And he stayed for another year.
Speaker 1: You know, he wanted to win Big twelve championship, get
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and try to try to make a run.
Speaker 1: So that tells me something about his character. Plus the
Speaker 1: other thing is he was not going to come to
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl unless he was on the South and
Speaker 1: he said, I want to compete for the number one
Speaker 1: spot in the draft. I want to go down there,
Speaker 1: and just knocked the socks off of the Bengals organization.
Speaker 1: So he's got that. You know, he's got that competitive
Speaker 1: drive and everything. I respect that about his character. But
Speaker 1: I think he's he's more one of those guys where
Speaker 1: he's very, very bright. He won the academic Heisman. But
Speaker 1: I bet if you go to his coaches, you know,
Speaker 1: so who's justin hanwith Who's who are his guys? I
Speaker 1: bet there'd be you know, a laborious list of a
Speaker 1: few people. I'm not sure he's one of those guys
Speaker 1: that everybody gravitates toward. You know what I liked about
Speaker 1: Joe barrow after the game, sitting back smoking the cigar.
Speaker 1: I could just see him smoking a cigar, having a
Speaker 1: beer with his old lineman. That's my guy. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like just a regular dude, Joe barrow Man. That's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I love that. It's just yeah, well, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna I'm just gonna chill out and enjoy this moment. Boy,
Speaker 1: these things have come hu and far between. And then
Speaker 1: as a former lineman, when he get up at that
Speaker 1: Heisman presentation and the first thing he did was thank
Speaker 1: his boy's upfront, Like, oh man, this guy gets it,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean his dad coach for solo. He
Speaker 1: just like I said, Dan, I don't think there's a
Speaker 1: box the dude doesn't check. You can try to create boxes.
Speaker 1: I think he's still checks. One more Joe Burrow question
Speaker 1: and then we'll move on. In nineteen ninety nine, the
Speaker 1: Bengals famously turned down the Saints offer of all of
Speaker 1: their draft picks that year, including number twelve overall plus
Speaker 1: their first rounder in two thousand, plus their first rounder
Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, plus their second rounder in
Speaker 1: two thousand and two. They turned all of that down
Speaker 1: because of a quarterback and drafted Achille Smith. If there
Speaker 1: was an offer out there close to that magnitude three
Speaker 1: number one picks because somebody is just smitten with Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: would they take it? I really, honestly, I think the
Speaker 1: lesson of that is, if somebody wants to offer you there,
Speaker 1: you know, mortgage their whole draft. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you don't take a whole draft for a player I
Speaker 1: don't care who the damn player is. Means It's like,
Speaker 1: I don't think I don't think there's gonna be anything
Speaker 1: quite like that. Obviously, the Miami Dolphins with three number ones.
Speaker 1: I mean, if they if they say, we'll give you
Speaker 1: all three number ones this year, number one next year
Speaker 1: and a number two next year and whatever, I mean,
Speaker 1: if they start coming up with something crazy like that,
Speaker 1: you at least have to contemplate it. But you know,
Speaker 1: as it turns out, this ends up not being a
Speaker 1: bad year to have an off year with these quarterback options.
Speaker 1: You know, it really isn't, So you know, the fact is, yeah,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow I think deserves to be the first one picked.
Speaker 1: But that's not to say that Herbert wouldn't have a
Speaker 1: brilliant career. So you know, if you're going to get mortgage,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're going to get somebody's future and
Speaker 1: brighten near future, you might think about it a little bit.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are three quarterbacks projected to go in
Speaker 1: the first round. Love Kid quarterbacks in to the North
Speaker 1: as the third one projected to go in the first round.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you watching Jalen Hurt. If Jalen hurts, he
Speaker 1: could be the way the way that this game shaping
Speaker 1: up Dan. The Bengals have the better quarterbacks. They have
Speaker 1: the best offensive player I think in the game in Herbert.
Speaker 1: I think he's the best offensive player. They had the
Speaker 1: best defensive player on their roster, and list kid in
Speaker 1: the one on ones. Oh my god, four hands, four
Speaker 1: eyes on Javon Kinla. They never walked him in the
Speaker 1: one on one drills. I mean, he's to me, he's
Speaker 1: he's top fifteen pick. If he's not top fifteen, I'll
Speaker 1: be stunned. South Carolina. But he nipped himself up in
Speaker 1: the last day of the heavy contact one on one,
Speaker 1: so he didn't practice ester. I think his agent is
Speaker 1: going to stay. Look, if you play, you're you're ignorant,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, you get nicked up a little bit.
Speaker 1: People couldn't believe even came to the senior ball, And
Speaker 1: I think it shows his character. He was taking every
Speaker 1: rep that he was supposed to take in those one
Speaker 1: on ones and exposed himself to you know, potential injury.
Speaker 1: That told me a lot about him. But oh my god,
Speaker 1: is he a beast. I mean he's stidy. You weren't
Speaker 1: getting as the best first when you're on the road,
Speaker 1: he's he's an intuminating dude. But um, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's I think they've got the better quarterbacks, but
Speaker 1: the North has better offense and defensive lineman, so it's
Speaker 1: gonna be all right, Well, will the quarterback have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to function? So we'll see about Herbert, you know,
Speaker 1: creating plays because I think the North the defensive and
Speaker 1: offensive lines are pretty good. So I think the battle
Speaker 1: and the pit pits could tilt towards the North. But
Speaker 1: if Herbert shows he can create an extent. If he can't,
Speaker 1: I think incomes hurt can and he could potentially be
Speaker 1: MPP if he makes plays and they win the football game,
Speaker 1: and you know, then everybody'd be like, wow, what about
Speaker 1: Jaylor this maybe he should be a number one first
Speaker 1: round pick. But you know, the practices in the Senior
Speaker 1: Bowl are more important than the game because you know,
Speaker 1: they're these coaches are living with these guys all week
Speaker 1: long in the classroom, on the football field, seeing how
Speaker 1: they interact with their teammates, seeing what they're like when
Speaker 1: the cameras are on them, you know, I mean they're
Speaker 1: living with them for a week. So all of that
Speaker 1: is much more valuable than you know, the game, the
Speaker 1: actual game tape, because they're you know, so many things
Speaker 1: can happen with respect to you know, not your your performance,
Speaker 1: other people perform well enough around you, and all those
Speaker 1: kind of things, and it's it's very very vanilla again.
Speaker 1: I mean, they can't twist and stunt upfront with defensive line.
Speaker 1: They can't blitz for man pressures backs, you know, no
Speaker 1: zone blitz stuff. Nope, buzz coverages were linebackers and defensive
Speaker 1: backs interchange responsibilities, I mean safety in the middle of
Speaker 1: the football field when they're playing press man it's all elements.
Speaker 1: I could play quarterback and make reads and this football
Speaker 1: This is not going to challenge any of these guys mentally.
Speaker 1: But you know, if somebody gets dominated physically, then these
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are gonna have to, you know, run around and
Speaker 1: make some plays and we'll see how all that unfolds.
Speaker 1: Duke Tobin, the Bengals director of player personnel, doesn't do
Speaker 1: interviews during the season. They allow the head coach to
Speaker 1: be their singular voice. But he's been talking to everybody
Speaker 1: in Mobile I know, and I know you were in
Speaker 1: on a group session with him. What did you make
Speaker 1: of his comments about Andy Dalton where he said we
Speaker 1: want to be there to Andy. Yeah, that tells me
Speaker 1: that they appreciate the career that he's had. You know,
Speaker 1: what he represents, and once he has mentioned the franchise
Speaker 1: both on and off football field. He's had Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: seasons and you know, he's had seasons that haven't been obviously,
Speaker 1: but on balance that, the entire body of work has
Speaker 1: been impressive and the organization thinks extremely highly of Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton as a football player, as a human being obviously,
Speaker 1: So I think that if they do, you know, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna He wasn't going to declare that, yeah, we're
Speaker 1: trading any because they still don't know exactly what's happening yet.
Speaker 1: He didn't want to declare anything at that oppressive. But
Speaker 1: my feeling is that if they do draft Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: number one, they're going to make every effort to trade
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. But I don't think they're going to give
Speaker 1: him away because they do value him. So it's going
Speaker 1: to be interesting because it's going to be a tug
Speaker 1: of war. We want. We know Andy deserves to be
Speaker 1: a starter. We know he is starting caliber quarterback in
Speaker 1: the NFL. We feel we get a young guy that
Speaker 1: can take us to a higher level, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: diminish the fact that Andy can play in this league
Speaker 1: and we feel like we owe him that opportunity, but
Speaker 1: we're not going to give him away. So it's gonna
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very interesting. Somebody's gonna have to come
Speaker 1: to the table or something. And you know, we both
Speaker 1: feel like you know, everybody, everybody overvalues their own, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals overvalue of their own big time. So is
Speaker 1: it gonna be one of those deals where man, you know, man,
Speaker 1: maybe we aren't being a little unrealistic. Nobody's coming close
Speaker 1: to what we're asking. Do we say, all right, we're
Speaker 1: gonna keep Andy Dalton. He's gonna be a bench jockey,
Speaker 1: you know, to our to our number one guy. And
Speaker 1: you know what, knowing Andy Dalton, he would eventually accept
Speaker 1: it and do a great job of it. But in
Speaker 1: trying to be fair to Andy Dalton, I would bend
Speaker 1: over backwards to make sure I could make some kind
Speaker 1: of a dealing at something for him. When I asked
Speaker 1: about free age and see Duke said you don't want
Speaker 1: to force it. Does that mean business as usual in
Speaker 1: your mind? Yeah, it's you know, that's that's the interesting
Speaker 1: uh that that phraseology jumped out of me. There's no
Speaker 1: doubt about that. You know, it's uh, you know, Bengal
Speaker 1: fans are just they're they're just lusting for something, you know,
Speaker 1: give us, give us some kind of uh something we
Speaker 1: can hang our hat on, something to get excited and
Speaker 1: enthused about. And you know, the Bengals their business model
Speaker 1: is like, no, we're gonna be very you know, we're
Speaker 1: going to go through the process and we're not gonna
Speaker 1: we're not going to overpay for somebody, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: you can look at the statistics, it's you know, free agents,
Speaker 1: it's it's a fifty fifty deal, just like the draft,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's, uh, it's a matter of you
Speaker 1: don't hit on. It's fifty fifty with the first pick
Speaker 1: of the draft, fifty fifty with the first round. There's
Speaker 1: fifty fifty everywhere in in and free agency as well.
Speaker 1: And again, like we just mentioned to talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: over were sometimes over evaluating, you know, over saying ounk
Speaker 1: our guys are worth more than the rest of the league.
Speaker 1: Feels like they're worth. But then you look at um
Speaker 1: you know, at the beginning of the year, more more
Speaker 1: guys they were drafted by the Bengals are playing in
Speaker 1: the NFL than anybody. And as a season wears on,
Speaker 1: it's like they're still number two, still number three, and
Speaker 1: they finished the season times a third or whatever. That
Speaker 1: tells you that they're putting the bat on the ball.
Speaker 1: But then is it a question of does it fit right?
Speaker 1: Is to developmental process, you know, working well enough, It's
Speaker 1: not like they're they're you know, totally missing on um
Speaker 1: on a higher percentage of players and other teams in
Speaker 1: the league are. But we're so tunnel visioned on the
Speaker 1: Bengals that every miss is you know, it's like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, the worst mistake in the history of football.
Speaker 1: Every franchise has their missus. Believe me. I mean that's
Speaker 1: what people down here are talking about. It's like being
Speaker 1: the drafts are such a crapshoot. Everything is such a crapshoot.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's the most it's the more non scientific
Speaker 1: thing that there isn't the history of mankind. All Right,
Speaker 1: you gave us your best offensive player you've seen down there,
Speaker 1: quarterback Justin Herberge. You gave us your best defensive player,
Speaker 1: defensive lineman, Javon ken Law from South Carolina. What's been
Speaker 1: the most impressive position group? Well, that's that's I don't
Speaker 1: think that. I don't think the offensive line for the
Speaker 1: South is anything to you know, write home about. But
Speaker 1: fortunately Dan when we looked at Fred Johnson and made
Speaker 1: himself some money in Isaiah Prince and they want to
Speaker 1: take a long look at and Jonah Williams. That's three
Speaker 1: guys that they're gonna have it next year's training camp
Speaker 1: that they didn't have it this year's training Jenner and
Speaker 1: you know, They're hopeful that Jonah. They know what he
Speaker 1: is prior to injury. They hope he's the same guy
Speaker 1: post surgery. Laboring surgery, Fred made himself some money doing
Speaker 1: what he did at the left tackle position. He started
Speaker 1: against Cleveland, played well to finished the season with his
Speaker 1: first start, and then Isaiah Princess then interesting guy from
Speaker 1: Ohio State to take a look at. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's three guys on the on the exterior, you know,
Speaker 1: at the tackle position that that you're going to be.
Speaker 1: It's it's a much different dynamic. So I'm kind of
Speaker 1: focusing on the inside guys. Um, And you know, I was.
Speaker 1: I was real excited to see Logan Stenberg the first
Speaker 1: day of one on ones and he's malling people nasty.
Speaker 1: Then I'm watching them in protection and the next day
Speaker 1: of one on one and he's getting beaten a lot
Speaker 1: by my gang. So there's an interesting guy, his kid
Speaker 1: named Ben Bartch from Saint John's Division three kid and um,
Speaker 1: you know at six six three five three or five
Speaker 1: three ten something like that, good looking kid. And I'm thinking, okay,
Speaker 1: well here he is going against some SEC guys. Let's uh,
Speaker 1: let's take a look. And he belongs. He belongs. It
Speaker 1: is not too big for him. He's an interesting guy
Speaker 1: you know that you've worked with maybe later, I think
Speaker 1: later in the draft kind of thing. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I do think that that the North has has the
Speaker 1: better players. I think Jeremy Jackson from Ohio State is
Speaker 1: a guy. I think he's a day one starting guard
Speaker 1: type guy. I think been greatest in from Michigan is
Speaker 1: a day one starting guard type guy. You know inside, um,
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting that this kid, Matt Hennessey from Temple
Speaker 1: Is is a really good run blockers, pass protection to
Speaker 1: me is a little is a little bit shady. Josh
Speaker 1: Jones his kid from Houston. Everybody's going nuts on him
Speaker 1: down here, and he's he's seeing him get six seven
Speaker 1: three ten, but his arms measured thirty two and eight
Speaker 1: a little t Rex action. You know, he's got short arms.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering, is this guy a guard because you
Speaker 1: know what those short arms. But I'll tell you when
Speaker 1: you watch him, he's got very very patient, quiet feet
Speaker 1: and violent hands. I mean he's got exactly what you
Speaker 1: want from a technique standpoint to go at that long body.
Speaker 1: So I mean there are there are some lineman. And
Speaker 1: you know, probably one of the strongest positions is wide
Speaker 1: receiver position because the strongest position in the draft, and
Speaker 1: there is a trickle down there. Um. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, you know, if healthy, how many wide
Speaker 1: receivers are the Bengals looking at potentially. But one of
Speaker 1: my more interesting conversations was with Mike Mayock because the
Speaker 1: Raiders coaches are coaching staff had this last year. They
Speaker 1: drafted six players from their senior Bowl, four they coached
Speaker 1: and two they coached against. And what the Bengals having
Speaker 1: the first thirty three, thirty third, sixty ninety seven, four
Speaker 1: of the top one hundred fix Heck, you know, I
Speaker 1: Borrow obviously isn't here. He's maybe gonna be the number one,
Speaker 1: the thirty three, sixty five ninety seven, they could all
Speaker 1: be here. They could be coaching them. There's a I
Speaker 1: got this this line. You know, I'm looking at linebackers
Speaker 1: and the Bengal the Bengal South team has more outside
Speaker 1: linebacker prospects. The North has more inside linebacker prospects. So
Speaker 1: some guys to watch, I think, you know, as as
Speaker 1: as the game unfolds. Logan Wilson, a kid from Wyoming
Speaker 1: inside linebacker number thirty for the North six two, two
Speaker 1: fifty man. He looks good. I mean, tackling machine. Somebody
Speaker 1: that people are talking about. This Evan Weaver from California
Speaker 1: sixty three two thirty five two forty an insidebacker. To me,
Speaker 1: he looks a little stiff. I'm not. I don't as
Speaker 1: if I were blocking an inside linebacker. I look forward
Speaker 1: to blocking Weaver more than I look forward to blocking
Speaker 1: Logan Wilson. I think he's just got a little bit
Speaker 1: more to him in terms of total package outside linebacker
Speaker 1: in my opinion, to Bengals half the best outside linebacker.
Speaker 1: Let's let's call him an edge rush sam. You know,
Speaker 1: strong side outside linebacker prospect in Terrell Lewis out of
Speaker 1: Alabama six five, two fifty two, and he doesn't look
Speaker 1: two fifty two and men he was wanting to do
Speaker 1: one on one pass rush. He's he's been the edge
Speaker 1: rush guy that they've had the most trouble with. His
Speaker 1: problem is he's had a big injury history. He's durability issues.
Speaker 1: That's why he's here because you know this kid, Dan,
Speaker 1: A lot of these guys will line up wide and
Speaker 1: then rush wide. They just run up the field and thinking,
Speaker 1: what the hell, I don't even have to really block.
Speaker 1: You're taking yourself out of the pass rushing. This kid
Speaker 1: don't line up wide and take a perfect rush lane.
Speaker 1: I mean, he gets football. He's been coached really well,
Speaker 1: obviously by Alabama coaching staff. That kid, I would I
Speaker 1: would be all over him at thirty three. If he's there,
Speaker 1: I would jump on Lewis and I'd sprint to the podium. Um.
Speaker 1: A linebacker from Appalachian State that sa Keem Davis Gaither
Speaker 1: what's that little yeah six two two fifteen and run.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Darren Simmons, I've bet is in
Speaker 1: love with this dude. He plays some special teams for him.
Speaker 1: But he's one of these guys that you know, we're like,
Speaker 1: we're we need we need a linebacker. They can cover
Speaker 1: these people that when we getting these nickel and dime packages.
Speaker 1: You know, somebody in space boom this guy, this guy
Speaker 1: can fit the bill. Watching him, Um, I think I
Speaker 1: think he's an interesting guy to look at. There's another
Speaker 1: outside linebacker, like a combo type guy from from Colorado,
Speaker 1: Davion Taylor six two two twenty five type guy. He's
Speaker 1: a he's a will will backer as well, can run,
Speaker 1: you know, I like him. Um. And then there's the
Speaker 1: combination I was talking about outside backer maybe can rush
Speaker 1: from Cam Brown out of Penn State six five, two
Speaker 1: thirty five, you can put on a ton of more way,
Speaker 1: a big frame, very versatile. He's played he played Mike,
Speaker 1: he played Sam, He's played Will. He's a edge rushman.
Speaker 1: When I watched him, he's a little high, his pad
Speaker 1: levels high, you know, as a former alignment, I'd like
Speaker 1: to stroke him because he's he's uh, he plays, He's
Speaker 1: gonna get that pad level down or or get bigger,
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's he's long and very lean, and
Speaker 1: he's got he's got a lot of position versatility. But
Speaker 1: I'm not as I'm not as totally keen on him
Speaker 1: as maybe some people are because of watching his style
Speaker 1: of play, the way he plays. But it's been it's
Speaker 1: been fun. It's been fun, you know, taking a look
Speaker 1: at these guys in the Bengals positions of need and
Speaker 1: seeing what might you know, what might match up and uh,
Speaker 1: and the fact that they get to spend the whole
Speaker 1: week with him is just a huge advantage. There's another
Speaker 1: Um there's a defensive lineman, a couple of defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: Kenny Willikies from Michigan State, sixty four two sixty pass
Speaker 1: rush guy, he looks like you know, he's he's somebody
Speaker 1: that that can play in the league and get out
Speaker 1: of Utah. And a Bradley Um he's he's sixty three,
Speaker 1: two sixty five type guy. Another linebacker, dan Zach Bond
Speaker 1: out of out of Wisconsin six three, two thirty five.
Speaker 1: Very that's another look. Look look at the kid from Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: the kids from Wyoming looks the edge guy from Alabama.
Speaker 1: You know, I think with that thirty third pick, it
Speaker 1: would not stun me if they feel it's worthy that
Speaker 1: the linebacker position might be it. But I think they
Speaker 1: take the best defensive player on the board, regardless of
Speaker 1: position at number thirty three, because, like Dutop was saying
Speaker 1: at the pressor um, they could use an infusion at
Speaker 1: all three position group levels of their football. All right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna wrap this up with a few questions from
Speaker 1: Twitter followers. I added these down to think to what
Speaker 1: I think is possible for you to answer. Here we
Speaker 1: go from Stephen if Burrow is the pick and Dalton
Speaker 1: is traded, is Finley the backup or what a veteran
Speaker 1: be signed? I would I would think they try to
Speaker 1: get some sort of veteran presence in there. Um that
Speaker 1: would not would not surprise me whatsoever. And there are
Speaker 1: there are guys that that will be out there that
Speaker 1: do have some kind of NFL exposure, and um, I
Speaker 1: almost think that you'd have to do that to have
Speaker 1: a complete quarterback room. I'd be surprised if they didn't
Speaker 1: do that. From Greg, could a wide receiver go as
Speaker 1: early as round two? Yeah, I mean the way you
Speaker 1: look at it, if if that wide receiver, if somebody
Speaker 1: that they have rated as a bid first round pick
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, slides to the beginning of the second round,
Speaker 1: they'll pounce. They'll pounce. You know, they're not going to
Speaker 1: reach for it wouldn't be a reach. They're not going
Speaker 1: to say, we'll take the guy that we have rated
Speaker 1: very high in the in the second round at number
Speaker 1: thirty three. If they have a mid first round guy
Speaker 1: that they could get late in the first round, which
Speaker 1: is basically what the thirty third pick is, you know,
Speaker 1: my mind is like another late first round pick. So
Speaker 1: I think that whoever they have that they had rated
Speaker 1: in that middle of the first round. If somebody's there
Speaker 1: at thirty three, you gotta you gotta reshuffle. I mean,
Speaker 1: at that point you have to say, let's let's take
Speaker 1: that player, because you know there was a two and
Speaker 1: fourteen mark. They just want to get the best football
Speaker 1: players they can possibly get from Christopher. Your thoughts on
Speaker 1: Fred Johnson's performance in the last few games of the year, Uh, impressed.
Speaker 1: You know, Fred. Fred's a big goode obviously. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: he's he played basketball, initially, only played one year in
Speaker 1: high school football. He gets a scholarship to Florida so
Speaker 1: and then now he's in the nation, all the Steelers
Speaker 1: bringing the National Football League, And I mean he's long.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, he's He's a big, big dude, very athletic,
Speaker 1: has plenty of smarts to be able to handle it.
Speaker 1: He's got a he wants to finish people. He's got
Speaker 1: a little bit of a street to him, got a
Speaker 1: little meanness to him. I mean, he's very competitive, very physical.
Speaker 1: I like him. I mean I think that, like I
Speaker 1: said earlier, it's he's playing in a mindset. He really
Speaker 1: doesn't know what he doesn't know yet, But boy, worked
Speaker 1: with him developing him. I think he's I think he's
Speaker 1: got some potential. I think he has not come close
Speaker 1: yet to hit this ceiling. And what's you're seeing already's
Speaker 1: pretty good from Jason. How far is the offensive line
Speaker 1: from being good? Is it a couple of draft picks?
Speaker 1: Is it a free agent or two? How far away? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean John Williams comes back and he's the guy
Speaker 1: that they thought he was going to beat before injury.
Speaker 1: That kind of solves that problem. M But you know,
Speaker 1: like we saw they want to They played four or
Speaker 1: five guys at left tackle last year. I mean it
Speaker 1: was a it was a game of musical chairs. I
Speaker 1: mean it was a merry go round at that depth position.
Speaker 1: So you can never have enough good ones. Um, So
Speaker 1: you know, like I'm saying, Fred Johnson, Isaiah Prentzill's guys
Speaker 1: end up in the mix. Now you're talking about a
Speaker 1: couple of tackles to evaluate the process. You didn't even
Speaker 1: have last year, you know, a training camp, and I
Speaker 1: think I think that there you have. You have to
Speaker 1: have seven. You have to have seven in today's NFL
Speaker 1: because a lot of games last year the Bengals only
Speaker 1: activated seven offensive line. So with that said, the two
Speaker 1: guys that aren't starting, they're gonna be able to play
Speaker 1: multiple positions. So how many how many players that the
Speaker 1: Bengals have that fits that bill? They've got, They've got,
Speaker 1: you know, some to get some. But I do to
Speaker 1: answer the question, Yeah, if there's somebody out there in
Speaker 1: free agency, an interior player that can play you know,
Speaker 1: center on both guards, and there's a tackle out there
Speaker 1: that is a swing tackle, has proven he can play
Speaker 1: both tackle spots, they can get either either or of
Speaker 1: those two in free agency, get the other one in
Speaker 1: the draft, you know, and attack if, however, free agency unfolds,
Speaker 1: if they don't get any in freecy, try to attack
Speaker 1: both of them the draft. They get one in free
Speaker 1: to attack the other one in the draft. That's a
Speaker 1: natural segue to this question from Chris. Any chance that
Speaker 1: Andrew Whitworth would come back to play guard and finish
Speaker 1: his career as a Bengal, Well, I think there's a
Speaker 1: It would be a long shot because wits compensation is
Speaker 1: at the point where you know, he's being compensated for
Speaker 1: a left tackle, has been in the league for a
Speaker 1: big number of years, and I mean that was the
Speaker 1: issue basically when he left that you know, they offered
Speaker 1: him what they thought was a fair deal and you
Speaker 1: got a lot more to go, so you know, I
Speaker 1: guess it's also applying demand though, if there's not other
Speaker 1: opportunities out there. And what's always had a good relationship
Speaker 1: with the Cincinnati Bengals in there, you know, management people
Speaker 1: in the Brown family. So I guess I guess you
Speaker 1: never say never, but I would say highly unlikely. All right.
Speaker 1: Final question from a Twitter follower. This is from Marty.
Speaker 1: When are you going on Twitter or getting a blog? Anything?
Speaker 1: Hearing from you once a week isn't enough? Sorry to
Speaker 1: disappointment at Yeah, I don't want to. I don't want
Speaker 1: to complicate my life like I admire in respect the
Speaker 1: heck out of you guys that are just are just
Speaker 1: so diligent at it. I mean, man, if I were,
Speaker 1: if I were, you know, a few years younger, I
Speaker 1: might think about it. But I'm like, get off my lawn, bro,
Speaker 1: all right, lap, I asked you for twenty minutes to
Speaker 1: a half an hour. I think we're at thirty six
Speaker 1: minutes now, so I overdid it. But I'll tell you
Speaker 1: i'd come back to town and I'll compensate you by
Speaker 1: taking you out to the precinct and getting you a
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow steak. How's that sad? That's awesome? In case
Speaker 1: you haven't seen it, the steak Borrow at Jeff Ruby
Speaker 1: Steakhouse is a sixteen ounce blackened prime rib i with
Speaker 1: Creole crawfish sauce. Yum. It isn't cheap. It goes for
Speaker 1: sixty five bucks, but nine dollars of every steak Burrow
Speaker 1: sold goes to the Athens County Food Pantry in honor
Speaker 1: of Burrow's uniform number at LSU. That's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, don't forget to subscribe wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, and if you have a minute, please give
Speaker 1: it a rating or share a comment. Five star ratings
Speaker 1: help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde
Speaker 1: and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth podcast