Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Hit the Road Jack addition,
Speaker 1: as we take you to Chicago for an extended preseason
Speaker 1: road trip as the Bengals practice and then play against
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears. Coming up, I'll talk to first round
Speaker 1: draft pick of Marius Mims about the pectoral injury that
Speaker 1: has temporarily stalled his rookie season. Dave Lapham joins me
Speaker 1: to discuss the latest training camp news and compare notes
Speaker 1: about Thursday's joint practice with the Bears. And finally, it's
Speaker 1: the latest edition of my five Questions interviews as we
Speaker 1: get to know seventh round draft pick Dejon Anthony. The
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Speaker 1: the possibility of an upset stomach. Now let's get to football.
Speaker 1: This is my fourteenth years the Bengals radio play by
Speaker 1: play announcer, and in that time period, the team has
Speaker 1: had some great rookies, but the two who have impressed
Speaker 1: me the most in training camp are Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: a Marius Mims. We knew that Mims looked like an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman built in a lab, but what we didn't
Speaker 1: know is how coachable he is, how smart he is,
Speaker 1: and how well he fits in with coaches and teammates.
Speaker 1: That's why it was so disappointing to learn after the
Speaker 1: first preseason game that A Marius has a strained pectoral
Speaker 1: muscle that is going to keep him out of action
Speaker 1: for several weeks. Hopefully he'll be back in time for
Speaker 1: the season opener on September eighth, A Marius sat down
Speaker 1: with me to discuss the injury and the impressive weeks
Speaker 1: of training camp that preceded it. All right, A Marius,
Speaker 1: You've had a little time to process the pectoral strain
Speaker 1: that's going to keep you out of action for a
Speaker 1: few weeks. Are you bummed? Are you disappointed? What word
Speaker 1: would you use to describe your emotions? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was definite saying I low disappoint it just
Speaker 2: because I had auto momentualm you know, just going into
Speaker 2: you know, the preseason games and you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: just sharpening my tool box every week, trying to you know,
Speaker 2: get better, and then just bombed a you know, an
Speaker 2: injury halted that. But all I can do right now
Speaker 2: is you know, rehab and you know, make sure my
Speaker 2: mental is good and like I said, stick keep sticking
Speaker 2: the trend Orlando and making sure, you know, I just
Speaker 2: you know, my mom stays sharp with the playbook and everything,
Speaker 2: and you know, hoping I can get back soon as possible.
Speaker 1: I watched every snap from that first preseason game. I'm
Speaker 1: sure your standards are different from mine just watching it,
Speaker 1: but I didn't really see a bad one. How did
Speaker 1: you feel you played?
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, it's it's more like I said, I take
Speaker 2: pride on myself, like like suffering, like my game and
Speaker 2: the small stuff. You know, some people might think it's
Speaker 2: a perfect game, but me after, I think it's an
Speaker 2: okay game. I felt like that was an okay game
Speaker 2: to me, just from like a technique standpoint and just
Speaker 2: just like my standard. I know I can do better
Speaker 2: because you know, that's just just hard on myself and
Speaker 2: it's like you gotta be you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: because I want to be a great I want to
Speaker 2: be a great football player. So I just kind of
Speaker 2: critique myself on the small things and you know, how
Speaker 2: can I come back in next to the next day
Speaker 2: and the next weekend, you know, not make those mistakes
Speaker 2: and you know, how can I, you know, make my
Speaker 2: technique more sharper.
Speaker 1: One of the things you learn as a rookie is
Speaker 1: to communicate with the training staff and if you're feeling
Speaker 1: a little something, tell them exactly what it is. So
Speaker 1: they can advise you how to treat it. And it
Speaker 1: sounds like you maybe tried to push through a little
Speaker 1: pectorial strain that it maybe would have been wise to
Speaker 1: take a day off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely would have. But like I said, you know,
Speaker 2: just a recking mistake by me. And you know, right
Speaker 2: now that's a learning process and from now, you know,
Speaker 2: just like I said, just rehab hard. You know, try
Speaker 2: to get back to one hundred percent as fast as possible.
Speaker 1: We just walked out of the locker room where your
Speaker 1: locker is next to Orlando Brown Junior. I'm sure you're
Speaker 1: trying to be a sponge around a veteran who's been
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl four times. Is there anything specific
Speaker 1: that you've learned already from Orlando that resonates with you?
Speaker 2: Oh man, May Orlando will talk a lot, not even
Speaker 2: about like football all the time, just about life. You know,
Speaker 2: you know, I said, things aren't gonna go my way
Speaker 2: all the time. You know, just knowing that, you know,
Speaker 2: you know every day's not gonna be perfect, but you know,
Speaker 2: just as you take there like a step forward each day,
Speaker 2: you know, and you know, trying to not make the
Speaker 2: same thing like trying to make the same stake over again.
Speaker 2: So he's definitely He's definitely helped me out in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways. And I appreciate Orlando for that.
Speaker 1: You've had an excellent camp and you've almost made it
Speaker 1: look easy. I'm sure it's not. But do you feel
Speaker 1: like things have gone about as smoothly as they could
Speaker 1: up until the pectoral injury?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 4: Like I said, I have.
Speaker 2: I said, I have like different expectations for myself and
Speaker 2: like it's different than everybody else's eyes. But you know,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of stuff I needed to work on,
Speaker 2: you know, just being a guy, you know, out of
Speaker 2: college who didn't have as many reps as everybody else.
Speaker 2: I wanted to take these practices and all that and
Speaker 2: these preseason games to you know, make sure you know
Speaker 2: I got over that hump, and I wanted like to
Speaker 2: put that out of everybody's like out of everybody's brain, honestly.
Speaker 2: But like I said, and the reps that I did
Speaker 2: get and the reps that I give in the future,
Speaker 2: it will definitely keep building because right now, like I said,
Speaker 2: I'm just really mentally locking in on just like a
Speaker 2: sign of the place, keeping my mental strongs. Right now,
Speaker 2: it's being easy time for like some people you know
Speaker 2: who aren't mentally strong to just like you know, shut down.
Speaker 2: And that's one thing you know, I refuse to do,
Speaker 2: you know, because I know my team's gonna count on
Speaker 2: me when I come back, and you know, I'm just
Speaker 2: trying to keep myself in the right handspace and just
Speaker 2: like I said, stay stay physically ready, and you know,
Speaker 2: so keep my body in the shape so where I
Speaker 2: can come back and I can perform at the top
Speaker 2: of my my game.
Speaker 1: Honestly, football's a violent game. Injuries happen. I know you
Speaker 1: had an ankle injury last year. What else have you
Speaker 1: had in your lifetime that you've had to overcome?
Speaker 2: It's crazy because I haven't had anything like like, I've
Speaker 2: had a knee, and I had a knee in my
Speaker 2: freshman year of arm of high school. And I had
Speaker 2: an ankle in college. So that's not that's all I like,
Speaker 2: that's all I had. And then I just this this recently,
Speaker 2: a peck. That's all like the main the main things
Speaker 2: I ever.
Speaker 1: Had, So not much of an injury history.
Speaker 2: Nah, I don't know where that narrative came from, but
Speaker 2: you know, I let people run with it. If they
Speaker 2: want to.
Speaker 1: Does it annoy you that that's out there?
Speaker 2: I don't matter, I don't, I don't really care. I know,
Speaker 2: I know, I know what I can do. I know
Speaker 2: what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: So Trent Brown was available to step back in and
Speaker 1: take reps as the first team right tackle yesterday. He
Speaker 1: looks like a guy that almost could roll out of
Speaker 1: bed and block guys. How impressed have you been by him?
Speaker 4: I knew he can do it.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I know, I know what kind of
Speaker 2: player Trending is, no matter what, no matter what anybody
Speaker 2: else says about them, no matter what anybody think about him,
Speaker 2: I know, I know what kind of player he is.
Speaker 2: I watch I watch transfilm like you won't. You won't
Speaker 2: find that much bad fend that's out there on him.
Speaker 2: And like I said, I mean, I'm Tom. Tom Ain't
Speaker 2: know everybody take its competition, no competition. I'm literally trying
Speaker 2: to learn from this guy. I'm trying to be I'm
Speaker 2: trying to have a long career like him. So I'm
Speaker 2: gonna I'm going I'm gonna stick to him on Orlando side,
Speaker 2: no matter what eather, whether it's me starting or him starting.
Speaker 2: So like I said, I'm glad.
Speaker 4: I'm glad.
Speaker 2: I'm glad I get to watch him every day in
Speaker 2: practice and him like him and Orlando and practice and
Speaker 2: just learn from those guys and get better. Like I said,
Speaker 2: I'm glad they're here. And like I said, they pushed
Speaker 2: me and I pushed them, so we just pushing each other.
Speaker 2: And like I said, all three of us together you
Speaker 2: know it can help us win. So I'm thankful for
Speaker 2: both of them being here.
Speaker 1: I ask offensive Cordner Dan Picture about you recently. I
Speaker 1: may get the quote a little bit wrong, but he
Speaker 1: said something like you've got the perfect blend of confidence
Speaker 1: and humility, which is kind of a hard balance to find.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that that's a good description.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think culture, like I said, I love,
Speaker 2: I love co fit good people. But like I said,
Speaker 2: I just try to, you know, like stay confident because
Speaker 2: this is a game of confidence. Like if you don't
Speaker 2: have any self confidence in yourself in this game, you
Speaker 2: will not last. And like I said, it just comes
Speaker 2: from like taking reps over and over and over, agains
Speaker 2: the same reps a thousand times the same thousand times time.
Speaker 2: That's how you get confidence in this league, Like I said,
Speaker 2: if you don't have that confidence, then you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's good, it's gonna be it's gonna be a long
Speaker 2: ride for you. So I just try to, you know,
Speaker 2: I said, stick to guys like Trenton Orlando who've been
Speaker 2: here and done that, and like I said, try to
Speaker 2: model my game after them, mold my technique after them,
Speaker 2: and you know, try to ask as many questions as possible, because,
Speaker 2: like I said, I'm new to it. I'm not familiar
Speaker 2: with the game of the NFL yet. But like I said,
Speaker 2: stick them to like too, those guy sides gonna help
Speaker 2: me to become, you know, a master. Every one has
Speaker 2: all said.
Speaker 1: And it's been really fun to watch you so far.
Speaker 1: Look forward to seeing you back on the field soon.
Speaker 1: Thanks for the time, Yes, I appreciate you. Now time
Speaker 1: for some observations from Thursday's joint practice against the Bears.
Speaker 1: The weather was miserable. It rained pretty much throughout and
Speaker 1: at times came down hard. The Bears do have an
Speaker 1: indoor facility, but in one of these joint practices, two
Speaker 1: fields are in constant use because the Bengals offense faced
Speaker 1: the Bears defense on one field, while the Bears offense
Speaker 1: faced the Bengals defense on the other Moving indoors where
Speaker 1: there's only one field would have meant getting in half
Speaker 1: of the work or practicing for more than four hours.
Speaker 1: So the two teams practiced in the rain, and Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor said that was a good thing. It helps them
Speaker 1: know what plays probably won't work under those conditions, and
Speaker 1: there were plenty that didn't work for both teams. On Thursday,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow through a pair of red zone touchdown passes
Speaker 1: to Trenton Irwin and another TD to mikea Sicki, but
Speaker 1: he also threw three interceptions. Caleb Williams, the number one
Speaker 1: overall pick in this year's draft, had his first pass
Speaker 1: of the day picked off by Jermaine Pratt, but later
Speaker 1: hooked up for red zone TD strikes to DJ Moore
Speaker 1: and Keenan Allen. What you hope to avoid in joint
Speaker 1: practices are injuries, and unfortunately two Bengals left the field
Speaker 1: on carts with apparent knee injuries, running back Chris Evans
Speaker 1: in offensive tackle Deontay Smith. The Bengals are running into
Speaker 1: depth issues at tackle. Smith is now out, Amarus Mimms
Speaker 1: has the pectoral strain and Trent Brown exited Thursday's practice
Speaker 1: with lower back tightness. Since starters Orlando and Trent Brown
Speaker 1: aren't expected to play on Saturday, the available tackles for
Speaker 1: the preseason game are Cody Ford, who's played more guard
Speaker 1: than tackle in his NFL career, Jackson Karmen, and two
Speaker 1: undrafted players, Jackson Kirkland, who's had a good camp at guard,
Speaker 1: and Devin Cochrane. Fingers crossed that they stay healthy on Saturday.
Speaker 1: For more on the joint practice, here's my broadcast partner,
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham lab we are drying out after a rainy
Speaker 1: day in Chicago and the Bengals joint practice against the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. The setup for us was such that we
Speaker 1: really could only focus on one side of the field.
Speaker 1: The defense was in action quite a distance from us,
Speaker 1: so we mostly watched the offense, and honestly, it was
Speaker 1: a tough day. The ball was slick. Joe Burrow had
Speaker 1: some difficulty on some of the longer throws. Outside the numbers,
Speaker 1: there were a ton of drops. It might have been
Speaker 1: double digit drops. It was difficult playing conditions, and the
Speaker 1: Bears defense played well.
Speaker 3: They did. The Bears defense played well, and we heard
Speaker 3: celebrations on the other field, and with their offense, Caleb
Speaker 3: Williams making some plays. So you know, I think that
Speaker 3: Chicago had a pretty decent day, it seemed like overall.
Speaker 3: But you know, Zach Hald talked about I'd like to
Speaker 3: have a rainy practice, rainy workout. There's something to be
Speaker 3: said for that. Remember the Cleveland game last year, how
Speaker 3: brutal it was, and just did not handle the elements whatsoever,
Speaker 3: and so they got their wish. I mean, the hardest
Speaker 3: part of the rain occurred in the critical parts of practice,
Speaker 3: So it was it was a day to learn from
Speaker 3: for sure. And everybody has to I mean handle in
Speaker 3: the football is one thing. You have to make adjustments
Speaker 3: with your footing, even as alignment. You have to kind
Speaker 3: of put yourself over your feet a little bit more.
Speaker 3: You know, you have to basically make sure that your
Speaker 3: balance is such that you know you're not It's difficult,
Speaker 3: it is, it's difficult transition to make. So I think
Speaker 3: everybody went through that process and and learned a lot today.
Speaker 3: And again I think, yeah, you name it, anything and
Speaker 3: everything that could go wrong in a what condition did
Speaker 3: including injuries, you know, and I mean with the injuries
Speaker 3: because of the you know, the wet fields, but have
Speaker 3: two offensive players card off the field, you know, with
Speaker 3: air casts on their legs. So you're thinking, gosh, is
Speaker 3: that stabilizing your knee as that are broken? What are
Speaker 3: we looking at here? But you know, you lose Chris
Speaker 3: Evans and you lose Deontay Smith, guys that we're fighting
Speaker 3: for spots on the football team, if not that worst
Speaker 3: case scenario practice squad. So it was a tough day
Speaker 3: for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 1: And that is the risk of these joint practices. Obviously
Speaker 1: you're trying to get good work against a different team,
Speaker 1: but there is a little more contact and unfortunately, injuries
Speaker 1: are probably more likely.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right, and I think they did get a
Speaker 3: lot of good work and situational stuff, you know, second
Speaker 3: and five, third and different distances, you know, third down,
Speaker 3: if you convert, find if you don't, fourth down, two
Speaker 3: minute drill, red zone, low red zone, you know, move
Speaker 3: the ball from the thirty yard line. I mean, everything
Speaker 3: and anything that you could think of going against another
Speaker 3: team giving you different looks with different techniques, different personnel.
Speaker 3: So you have to you know, you have to make
Speaker 3: adjustments out there and that's all. That's all really good work,
Speaker 3: you know. And the other thing is the entire scouting
Speaker 3: department basically for the Bengals are up here looking at
Speaker 3: the Bears players. The Bears personnal people looking at the
Speaker 3: Bengals players. So it's you get a chance to show
Speaker 3: people live what you're about another team and how you
Speaker 3: hit umself on the field, your you know, your overall decorum,
Speaker 3: and you know body language and how you react with teammates,
Speaker 3: how coachable are you, all those kind of things. So,
Speaker 3: I mean, there's there's good reasons for players to put
Speaker 3: forth as much effort as they possibly can in days
Speaker 3: like this, and.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't make it seem like it was all bad
Speaker 1: for the offense. Trenton Irwin had a couple of touchdown catches,
Speaker 1: Mike Casecki had a TV catch, and they broke off
Speaker 1: some really good runs. Zach Moss had a long run
Speaker 1: and Chase Brown essentially went in untouched in the red zone.
Speaker 3: He did, and Jackson had a pretty good day making
Speaker 3: making plays as well. So you're right, it's it's never
Speaker 3: you know, like all one way in these in these
Speaker 3: type of scenarios, but you know, there's good tape to
Speaker 3: look at. There's no question about it. And I think
Speaker 3: the I think the Bengals coaches are anxious to take
Speaker 3: a look at it tonight and and see what see
Speaker 3: what's what there? And it was it was a long day, Dan,
Speaker 3: I mean they were out there from one o'clock to
Speaker 3: three twenty so and a good part of it was
Speaker 3: dealing with the elements. Mother nature wasn't kind, so it
Speaker 3: was it was taxing, you know, in a lot of ways.
Speaker 3: And again, honestly, I've been there when a guy goes down.
Speaker 3: I mean Deontay Smith went down, and I mean you
Speaker 3: could just hear, you know, every emotion come up out
Speaker 3: of them literally, and you know he's been injured a
Speaker 3: lot during the course of his career, unfortunately, and probably frustration, pain,
Speaker 3: a bunch of things. And you know, it's sad listening
Speaker 3: to him, you know, And then you know you have
Speaker 3: to experience something like that as teammates. And now, okay,
Speaker 3: let's go right back in huddle up here we go.
Speaker 3: You know, that makes it difficult too, when you lose
Speaker 3: a couple of guys that you know, you respect and
Speaker 3: trust and their teammates and they're going down with injury.
Speaker 3: I mean that makes it a tough part of the
Speaker 3: day as well.
Speaker 1: And the Deontae Smith injury is significant with two preseason
Speaker 1: games to go, because a Marius Mims is obviously out,
Speaker 1: they're not anticipating the starters playing, certainly in the next
Speaker 1: game against the Bears, and I wouldn't think against the Colts.
Speaker 1: I guess maybe that could change. But now you've only
Speaker 1: got so many backup tackles available on the roster.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and this is where you know, guys like Ford
Speaker 3: the can can go out there. Kirkland is going to
Speaker 3: have to, you know, make be abandoned the guard deal
Speaker 3: and go out to tackle some and that was I mean,
Speaker 3: he's like riding a bike for him. Played left tackle
Speaker 3: at Washington and so yeah, I think it's time for
Speaker 3: guys to step up and show, hey, I do have
Speaker 3: position versatility. I do have the flexibility you're looking for.
Speaker 3: You don't want it to be at the at the
Speaker 3: cost of an injury to a teammate, but you're gonna
Speaker 3: have to have other guys step up and show that
Speaker 3: they can handle the extra work.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about some training camp news from the last
Speaker 1: few days. Jeffrey Gunter announced his retirement. Apparently, he plans
Speaker 1: to finish his college degree and move on to his
Speaker 1: life's work. As Ball Brown used to say, a guy
Speaker 1: that had moments in preseason games didn't have huge contributions
Speaker 1: in regular season games. But again, he would have played
Speaker 1: a lot in the preseason games. And now the defensive
Speaker 1: ends are gonna have to be out there for some
Speaker 1: more snaps.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and you know, I think he was going to
Speaker 3: be practice squad worst case scenario. It wasn't like he
Speaker 3: was gonna to be, you know, not part of the organization.
Speaker 3: But again he's he's fighting a knee issue again, and
Speaker 3: he seems to have that kind of a problem. I
Speaker 3: think after a while it becomes wear and tearing the
Speaker 3: mind and body. And at this point in time, he
Speaker 3: wasn't into it mentally. He kind of was in funk
Speaker 3: my understanding the last couple of weeks, and you know,
Speaker 3: had made a decision, I'm gonna go get my degree,
Speaker 3: and good for him. If you're not, if you're not
Speaker 3: in the right frame of mind to play football, it
Speaker 3: can be a brutal thing to do uh to your
Speaker 3: mind and your body. So you know, will will he reconsider?
Speaker 3: Who knows? But as of right now, he's made a
Speaker 3: decision he thinks is the best for him in the
Speaker 3: long run.
Speaker 1: Jake Browning has a rib injury. Doesn't sound like it's
Speaker 1: too serious, But in the meantime, Logan Wilson's going to
Speaker 1: be the starting quarterback in the second preseason game against
Speaker 1: the Bears. Rocky Lombardi will see some action in that
Speaker 1: game and probably the final game as well. You know,
Speaker 1: Jake proved what he could do in the final seven
Speaker 1: games of the year last year. But knowing that Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow is going to get the bulk of the work
Speaker 1: with the first team, I'm sure Jake would have loved
Speaker 1: as much preseason action as he could have received.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you wonder when did the injury occur. You know,
Speaker 3: he probably is not satisfied about the performance he had
Speaker 3: in that first preseason game. Was he fighting it there,
Speaker 3: because you know, it's very possible that he was, and
Speaker 3: it was sucking it up and wanting to get snaps
Speaker 3: because they are precious and they are limited in terms
Speaker 3: of how many times he will be I'm able to
Speaker 3: actually go under center and read defenses and get the
Speaker 3: ball out of his hand the right place and all
Speaker 3: that everything that goes along with it, So I hope
Speaker 3: you know, rib can be a lot of things, don't
Speaker 3: you know. I don't know if it's the rib injury,
Speaker 3: if it's a you know, maybe a car listening and
Speaker 3: there's there's muscles in there, there's you know, muscles on
Speaker 3: your entire side that connect to your rib. I mean,
Speaker 3: there's all kinds of things that go on there. But
Speaker 3: it doesn't sound like it's severe, so best thing to
Speaker 3: do is shut it down and heal it up.
Speaker 1: It did give me a thought, maybe far fetched, but
Speaker 1: toward the end of last year, when Jake Browning was
Speaker 1: playing really well, we would hear a lot of Bengals
Speaker 1: fans say they should look to trade him. He will
Speaker 1: never have value this high. And I said, that's the
Speaker 1: last thing you want to do. And inexpensive backup quarterback
Speaker 1: is incredibly valuable to have. But what if Logan Woodside
Speaker 1: goes out in these final two preseason games and lights
Speaker 1: it up. At that point, would it become a remote
Speaker 1: possibility to consider.
Speaker 3: Well, you wonder, you know, obviously he played so well
Speaker 3: last year and he earned himself a new contract. But
Speaker 3: the worst case scenario if for Logan Woodside is there'd
Speaker 3: be another team in the NFL if it's not the
Speaker 3: Bengals that are gotten in. Look at the tape that
Speaker 3: That's the thing that guys have to remember, is you're
Speaker 3: not just competing with the quarterbacks in the room with
Speaker 3: the Cincinnati Bengals. You're competing with quarterbacks in the room
Speaker 3: with thirty one other teams. And you know, the more
Speaker 3: good tape you put on that's circulating around the National
Speaker 3: Football League, the better chance you have continued to collect
Speaker 3: the paycheck in the National Football League. So, whether it
Speaker 3: be here in Cincinnati or elsewhere, Man Logan Wilson, you
Speaker 3: get to love the guy. Every every seems like every
Speaker 3: opportunity he gets, he steps up and capitalizes. You know,
Speaker 3: that's all you can ask for. So I know, I
Speaker 3: know his teammates have a ton of respect for him too.
Speaker 1: This is our first conversation for this podcast since the
Speaker 1: Amarus Mims injury. What's he gonna miss while he's out
Speaker 1: with this strain pectorial?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean missed a lot of a lot of
Speaker 3: reps today, you know, valuable.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, Joe Burrow was talking after the game about
Speaker 3: how starting as a rookie the Bengals drafted him and
Speaker 3: he was told by Zach Taylor's gonna be the starting
Speaker 3: quarterback instead. Those reps. Reps are invaluable, and you know
Speaker 3: he's talking about in the regular season obviously, but the
Speaker 3: reps that you get in press are invaluable to get
Speaker 3: you ready for that first regular season game. He's immensely talented,
Speaker 3: there's no question about it. And I mean watching him,
Speaker 3: you can project it. Yeah, he can play in this league,
Speaker 3: and he can play well, and he's gonna play for
Speaker 3: a long time, but you still like to have that repetition.
Speaker 3: Repetition breeds comfort level, and uh, you know he's gonna
Speaker 3: miss He's gonna miss a ton of reps and he's
Speaker 3: gonna have a potentially a short period of time to
Speaker 3: get ready for the New England Patriots, who you know,
Speaker 3: there's solid defense lay. I mean, that's not gonna be
Speaker 3: a it's not gonna be an easy challenge for him.
Speaker 3: I think because of the amount that you have to
Speaker 3: get ready for. I mean, there's so much to prepare
Speaker 3: for with an NFL defense, and particularly in Week one,
Speaker 3: you don't know exactly what kind of wrinkles they're gonna
Speaker 3: throw out there. You know, they haven't shown anything in
Speaker 3: the preseason, so there's a lot of factors in there
Speaker 3: for him.
Speaker 1: Bengals and Bears will meet again Saturday afternoon. Let's hope
Speaker 1: the weather is much much better because my feet are soaked.
Speaker 3: I'm telling you, man, it was moist out there.
Speaker 4: To say the least.
Speaker 1: I realized after the fact that each of us called
Speaker 1: Logan Woodside Logan Wilson once during that conversation. We'll try
Speaker 1: to get it right on Saturday. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be
Speaker 1: the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future
Speaker 1: proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and
Speaker 1: community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the
Speaker 1: best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the
Speaker 1: official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time for the
Speaker 1: latest edition of Five Questions with a Rookie as we
Speaker 1: get to know a seventh round draft pick who is
Speaker 1: having an outstanding training camp. Time for five Questions with
Speaker 1: Rookie desjn Anthony. Question number one the Bengals. All I
Speaker 1: always post video of Zach Taylor calling the draft picks
Speaker 1: to let them know that they're about to be selected,
Speaker 1: and your call was the most entertaining one this year.
Speaker 1: Describe the scene in the background because it sounded like
Speaker 1: there was a serious party going on.
Speaker 5: My family kind of set up my draw party to
Speaker 5: whoever came to one of my games college games, they
Speaker 5: could come to my draw party. So I had a
Speaker 5: lot of I used to have like fifty people at
Speaker 5: every Liberty game, so I had like one hundred people there.
Speaker 5: And my agent just called me literally like a minute ago,
Speaker 5: and he was like, the Bengals or Dallas rather, they
Speaker 5: gonna get you in the seventh round, And literally I
Speaker 5: got out the phone with him.
Speaker 4: I was getting nervous, so I was sitting down.
Speaker 5: I got up and went outside with the rest of
Speaker 5: my family because it was like a big cookout and
Speaker 5: I was just chilling. And next thing you know, I've
Speaker 5: just seen cincinn out of the Ohio go across my
Speaker 5: phone and I answered it and everybody just started yelling,
Speaker 5: and it was just one of the most amazing experiences
Speaker 5: I ever felt in my life.
Speaker 1: You might have set the record for the most time
Speaker 1: saying the word yes sir, her words. I guess when
Speaker 1: you were talking to Zach.
Speaker 5: I couldn't I couldn't hear them, so I knew the
Speaker 5: right answer is, yes, sir, I couldn't hear nothing.
Speaker 4: Coach Taylor was saying. All I could hear was.
Speaker 5: My people streaming, people crying, my auntie, and like, you know,
Speaker 5: my grandmother passed and that was one of her biggest
Speaker 5: dreams for me, Like, Dejon, just stay locked into football
Speaker 5: and get to the NFL because that's your dream and
Speaker 5: that's how bad I wanted for you. So I just
Speaker 5: could just feel her energy in the room. So I
Speaker 5: really couldn't hear nothing. Coach Taylor said, Now, one time,
Speaker 5: I didn't hear nothing. All I was just yes, sir,
Speaker 5: and then I just said I love you, coach.
Speaker 1: All right, that's a great segue. Question number two for
Speaker 1: Dejon Anthony. Your grandmother whom you mentioned, literally dreamed that
Speaker 1: you would be an NFL draft pick. How long ago
Speaker 1: did she have that dream and did it make it
Speaker 1: a more of a goal for you?
Speaker 5: So Grandma, she was like always supportive of everything I did.
Speaker 5: So when I left Division two and I went to Liberty,
Speaker 5: and that's when she kind of found out she had
Speaker 5: stage four cancer. So while I was at Liberty my grandma.
Speaker 5: I used to drive home every day after practice because
Speaker 5: it was only an hour and thirty minute drive, I
Speaker 5: used to drive home to go see her. And I
Speaker 5: drove home and she kind of she seeing all the campuses.
Speaker 5: She seen how good Liberty did the COVID year against
Speaker 5: Coastal winning the Bowl, finishing seventeen. She was like when
Speaker 5: I got there, she was like, days, I had a dream.
Speaker 5: And I was like about what. She was like, you
Speaker 5: got drafted to the command like the Redskins, And I
Speaker 5: was like, no, I hope that's not right. But she
Speaker 5: was like, you're doing to the NFL, and she was
Speaker 5: like she kept every day I came home, she was like,
Speaker 5: she couldn't dream of nothing else of me going.
Speaker 4: To the NFL.
Speaker 5: So she had probably like teen dreams of just me
Speaker 5: going to the NFL and getting drafted. So it was
Speaker 5: that was a super super cool and it was a blessing.
Speaker 1: And you're from Richmond to Washington would be the near
Speaker 1: NFL team.
Speaker 4: Last ten was the news.
Speaker 5: But my whole family dollars Cowboy fans, So that's why
Speaker 5: it was like funny at the time because everybody liked
Speaker 5: the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Question three for Dejohn Anthony. Your path to the NFL
Speaker 1: is amazing. You started your college career at Shepherd University,
Speaker 1: a Division two school in West Virginia. Why didn't you
Speaker 1: have any scholarship offers?
Speaker 4: Just in high school?
Speaker 5: I was always kind of like a good football player
Speaker 5: playing dB, but I played receiver my first three years,
Speaker 5: and then I had this transfer stuff, so I tried
Speaker 5: to go from Hermitis to Holland Springs, and they found
Speaker 5: out I didn't live in that school district. So I
Speaker 5: ended up missing the first five games of my senior
Speaker 5: year and I ended up going to Henriiko High School.
Speaker 4: And I caught like.
Speaker 5: Six interceptions in five games, four picks in one game,
Speaker 5: and I still didn't get no offers, so only to
Speaker 5: had two offers, Virginia State and Shepherd University.
Speaker 1: You had non usual way to get ready for training
Speaker 1: camp this year. This is question number four. You practiced
Speaker 1: against high school kids. How did that come about? And
Speaker 1: describe what you did.
Speaker 5: So my trainer was like, you know, running, you need
Speaker 5: to run a lot when you're getting ready for conditioning,
Speaker 5: But one thing that's going to prepare you the most
Speaker 5: is football conditioning. And I do a lot of stuff
Speaker 5: for the kids and high schoolers and middle school like
Speaker 5: out here, I did a back to school drive, took
Speaker 5: kids to the mall shopping spree.
Speaker 4: So I love doing stuff for the kids.
Speaker 5: So my trainer was like, we need to do some
Speaker 5: football conditioning instead of just running all the time because
Speaker 5: we was running so much. He was like, man, I'm
Speaker 5: gonna get them to stay out the weight room and
Speaker 5: we're gonna get on the field and do football conditioning
Speaker 5: with the high schoolers.
Speaker 4: He was like, it would be super cool for you
Speaker 4: to come out there.
Speaker 5: So I went out there and we did like at
Speaker 5: least three sessions with them guys, and we were just working.
Speaker 1: Fifth and final question for Dayjon Anthony, tell us something
Speaker 1: about you that not many people now.
Speaker 5: Every thing I do is like for my family, Like
Speaker 5: I love my family so much.
Speaker 4: I had it.
Speaker 5: I had a hard time growing up, and I fully
Speaker 5: changed because growing up I was grew up in hard
Speaker 5: parts and now like I just fully changed and trust
Speaker 5: God and my faith with God that have grew so much.
Speaker 4: And I really just love playing football.
Speaker 5: That's something that like I would down thefield if I could, Like,
Speaker 5: I love football so much and I'm just super blessed
Speaker 5: to be here, so but do it.
Speaker 4: That would be the thing.
Speaker 5: I'll tell people like, I love my family a lot
Speaker 5: and I'll do anything for him.
Speaker 1: You're off the hot seat, appreciate your time. Best the
Speaker 1: fuck this year. That's going to do it for this
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Speaker 1: find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast