Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The It's been a hard days night. Addition,
Speaker 1: as the NFL Draft comes to an end after three
Speaker 1: days and two hundred and fifty nine picks, coming up,
Speaker 1: we'll hear from members of the coaching staff on the
Speaker 1: five players selected by the Bengals on Saturday, and then
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the final day of
Speaker 1: the draft and how it impacts the current roster. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paycorp. More
Speaker 1: than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorp to help them recruit,
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Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
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Speaker 1: the greatest thing, saying vents the ESPN Draft chimes. I
Speaker 1: don't know the name of it, and I don't know
Speaker 1: how long ESPN has been using it, but I do
Speaker 1: know this. When you hear the following sound, you know
Speaker 1: the pick is in. And by the way, that also
Speaker 1: makes a great ring tone. Now let's get to Day
Speaker 1: three of the draft. For the second straight year, Cincinnati
Speaker 1: used its first three picks on defense. After not having
Speaker 1: the opportunity to discuss offensive players with reporters prior to
Speaker 1: Day three, offensive coordinator Brian Callahan jokingly wore a hello,
Speaker 1: my name is Brian nametag to a news conference following
Speaker 1: the fourth round selection of Purdue wide receiver Charlie Jones.
Speaker 1: Jones led all FPS receivers last year with one hundred
Speaker 1: and ten receptions and broke the Purdue record for receiving
Speaker 1: yards with oney three hundred and sixty one. He finished
Speaker 1: twelfth in the country in touchdown catches with twelve. Jones
Speaker 1: is five to eleven, one hundred and seventy six pounds
Speaker 1: and ran a four four three forty at the combine.
Speaker 1: He primarily played outside receiver at Purdue, but he has
Speaker 1: the profile of a slot receiver in the NFL. Here's
Speaker 1: receivers coach Troy Walters.
Speaker 2: And has great ball skills. Anytime he's in a fifty
Speaker 2: to fifty contested catch situation, he seemed to come down
Speaker 2: with him and so really everybody on our roster all
Speaker 2: the receivers that we have have great ball skills, and
Speaker 2: so he adds to that as a guy that no
Speaker 2: matter where you throw the ball, he's gonna make the play.
Speaker 3: He's a he's a.
Speaker 2: Technical route runner, and so if it's a fifteen yard route,
Speaker 2: he's gonna run fifteen.
Speaker 3: If it's you.
Speaker 2: Know, twelve yards, and he's gonna get twelve. He knows
Speaker 2: how to manipulate coverages, the defenders at the top of
Speaker 2: his routes. He just knows how to get open. He's
Speaker 2: a football player and that's what we need. And you know,
Speaker 2: very similar to when I was in Indianaupse with Peyton
Speaker 2: Manning with Joe. You know, Joe, he wants you to
Speaker 2: be in the right spot at the right time, and
Speaker 2: that's what Charlie does. He's going to be in the
Speaker 2: right spot. He's someone that Joe can count on. He's
Speaker 2: going to be able to count on. And all the
Speaker 2: receivers we have are those type of guys that Joe
Speaker 2: counts on. He has confidence in. He knows they're going
Speaker 2: to run the right routes, do the right things, and
Speaker 2: so we're excited to have him.
Speaker 1: Since the Bengals have one of the NFL's best wide
Speaker 1: receiver Trios and Chase Higgins and Boyd Jones's biggest opportunity
Speaker 1: to contribute right away could come as a return specialist.
Speaker 1: He had a kick return touchdown and a punt return
Speaker 1: touchdown in his college career. Here's Brian Callahan.
Speaker 4: I think he was the twenty twenty one Big Ten
Speaker 4: Special Teams Player of the Year. He can kick return,
Speaker 4: he can punt return. He's got versatility to play all
Speaker 4: three positions for us on offense, So a ton of
Speaker 4: value in what he can bring to us, particularly early on.
Speaker 4: He's got a path to see the field potentially in
Speaker 4: competition as a returner at both returner spots. He's got
Speaker 4: flexibility as a receiver, and he's got a ton of
Speaker 4: production in a good conference. And so he was at
Speaker 4: the spot that we were at in the fourth round.
Speaker 4: Felt like he was a no brainer AD with a
Speaker 4: guy that's got a lot of ability to help us
Speaker 4: down the road.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have not returned a punt for a touchdown
Speaker 1: in the last ten years. The Bengals Booth podcast is
Speaker 1: brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're
Speaker 1: free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs.
Speaker 1: Find both inside the Bengals app. In the fifth round,
Speaker 1: the Bengals chose a running back, Chase Brown from Illinois.
Speaker 1: He's a shorter back with four to four to three
Speaker 1: speed who averaged twenty seven carries a game last year
Speaker 1: while rushing for one thousand, six hundred and three yards.
Speaker 1: He had ten touchdown runs and added three touchdown catches.
Speaker 1: Here's Zach Taylor on the state of the running back
Speaker 1: room after adding the five nine, two hundred and nine
Speaker 1: pound Chase Brown.
Speaker 5: I feel like you got a good mixture.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 5: We we got three known quantities there with with mixing
Speaker 5: Trevion and Chris, and they all know the expectations there.
Speaker 5: And now you get a chance to add another one,
Speaker 5: Chase to the mix. Just you know, tremendous college career
Speaker 5: two years, over one thousand yards, almost led DNCA and
Speaker 5: rushing this year she just came up shy, you know.
Speaker 5: So again he's he's carried the load for those guys.
Speaker 5: We feel like he's got great vision and balance as
Speaker 5: a runner and patience, and so I like, I like
Speaker 5: what he's going to bring to the room as well.
Speaker 5: And then we'll just see how it all shakes off
Speaker 5: from there.
Speaker 1: Well, the first of two picks in the sixth round,
Speaker 1: the Bengals took a lottery ticket of sorts in Princeton
Speaker 1: wide receiver andre Yosi Vosh. He's six ' three added
Speaker 1: an incredible as athlete, earning first team All American honors
Speaker 1: in the seven event heptathlon. He has four to four
Speaker 1: speed and a thirty nine inch vertical But yo see
Speaker 1: Vosh isn't a track star trying to play football. He
Speaker 1: had sixty six catches for nine hundred and forty three
Speaker 1: yards in a ten game IVY League season. Here again,
Speaker 1: his wide receivers coach Troy Walters.
Speaker 2: We're we're excited upstairs to have a guy like this
Speaker 2: with so many, so much upside, the traits, physical tools,
Speaker 2: and then he's just a he's a good kid and
Speaker 2: a hard worker, and so the sky's the limit and
Speaker 2: we're gonna bring it out of him. And that's my job.
Speaker 2: My job is developed. Whether it's a first round pick,
Speaker 2: a sixth round pick, a free agent. I treat them
Speaker 2: all the same.
Speaker 3: When they get here.
Speaker 2: You're gonna learn to playbook and we're gonna go out
Speaker 2: there and we're gonna work, We're gonna learn and develop,
Speaker 2: develop fundamentals, and the expectations don't change, you know. I
Speaker 2: expect him to come in, both of those guys, him
Speaker 2: and Charlie to come in and learn to playbook when
Speaker 2: they get on the field to produce. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a challenge, but you want to guys that You
Speaker 2: want a guy that's willing to work, and he's willing
Speaker 2: to work. He's willing to put into work. He knows
Speaker 2: how good he wants to be, and so that's always
Speaker 2: fun to have a guy that is ready to work.
Speaker 1: Bengals brought Yo C. Bosh to town for a Top
Speaker 1: thirty visit, and we're the only NFL team to do so,
Speaker 1: although after playing at Princeton, Andre had local visits with
Speaker 1: the Jets, Giants, and Eagles. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
Speaker 1: brought to you by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet
Speaker 1: capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business,
Speaker 1: and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber by trading back three spots in the third round,
Speaker 1: The Bengals received the final pick of the sixth round,
Speaker 1: and they used it on Michigan punter Robbins after taking
Speaker 1: over for Kevin Huber last year.
Speaker 3: Drew Crisman started.
Speaker 1: Well but faded down the stretch. Robbins was picked to
Speaker 1: compete for the job, and as a drafted player, will
Speaker 1: likely be considered the favorite to win it. Here's special
Speaker 1: teams coordinator Darren Simmons.
Speaker 6: You know, he brings something different that we haven't had
Speaker 6: here in a bit. He's a hangtime guy. He loves
Speaker 6: get the ball up and does a really good job
Speaker 6: of getting great hang time. I think he led college
Speaker 6: football the last two years in hang time. So this
Speaker 6: guy really gets the ball up in the air really well,
Speaker 6: you know. And obviously there is something to playing in
Speaker 6: this you know climate in the country that that does
Speaker 6: matter to me some.
Speaker 3: He's obviously played a lot of big games at AD Michigan.
Speaker 6: The other attractive thing too is he held, you know,
Speaker 6: for Jake Moody, who was a third round pick this
Speaker 6: year too, So I feel really good about you know
Speaker 6: the other half of his job, which is holding. So
Speaker 6: I feel very confident in Brad's ability to come in here.
Speaker 6: Do we need him to do to be an effective
Speaker 6: pun in this Division.
Speaker 1: The bengals seventh round pick was cornerback dj Ivy out
Speaker 1: of the University of Miami. He's six feet tall with
Speaker 1: long arms and four four six speed, but had inconsistent tape.
Speaker 1: Here's Zach Taylor.
Speaker 5: Yeah, DJs guy we get to know in the pre
Speaker 5: draft process. He came through here in a top thirty visit,
Speaker 5: so again he's got good measurables and was a starter
Speaker 5: this year in Miami down there, so we feel like
Speaker 5: in the seventh round that provided good value for us.
Speaker 5: We got to know him as he came through the building,
Speaker 5: really liked what he was about, and so we felt
Speaker 5: like they're in the seventh round. That was a good
Speaker 5: fit for us.
Speaker 1: Ivy has certainly experienced. He played in fifty eight games
Speaker 1: at Miami and started thirty three. The Bengals Booth podcast
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare
Speaker 1: provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health
Speaker 1: is committed to guiding you to your best health. Is
Speaker 1: at ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now time for
Speaker 1: a draft wrap up with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the five picks the Bengals made on
Speaker 1: Day three in the fourth round, Wide receiver Charlie Jones.
Speaker 1: I should say wide receiver slash return specialist, because I
Speaker 1: think the latter half of that is probably his role
Speaker 1: to begin with five' eleven one seventy six. So he's
Speaker 1: smaller than you'd like, but incredibly productive. Ran a four
Speaker 1: four three forty had one hundred and ten catches to
Speaker 1: lead college football last year. He's got a couple of
Speaker 1: return touchdowns. One is a punt returner, one is a
Speaker 1: kick returner in his career. What'd you think of the
Speaker 1: addition of produced Charlie Jones.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think he's uh, he's going to be a
Speaker 7: nice addition. A guy like that that's got short space,
Speaker 7: quick news, can sink his hips and then not a
Speaker 7: cut precise route runner. You know, if Joe Burrow is
Speaker 7: expecting him to run a fifteen yard hook pattern in,
Speaker 7: pattern in and out or whatever, he's not going to
Speaker 7: break it off at thirteen.
Speaker 3: He's not going to take it out to sixteen or seventeen.
Speaker 7: He's going to be right at fifteen and the ball
Speaker 7: is going to be in the air before he comes
Speaker 7: out of.
Speaker 3: That break, and that's that's what makes the passing game go.
Speaker 7: So I think that Joe Burrow will establish a real,
Speaker 7: real significant trust level with this guy in the early
Speaker 7: stages of training camp when you have a route runner
Speaker 7: like he is, and he's got, you know, speed, very
Speaker 7: good speed to go with it. Man, some guys can
Speaker 7: really almost when they're running their route, they look like
Speaker 7: they're covered. They sink their ips and they break so
Speaker 7: quickly they put their foot in the ground and they
Speaker 7: get such quick separation.
Speaker 3: That you know they're gonna get they're going to.
Speaker 7: Pull away from defensive backs because of that ability to
Speaker 7: get in and out of in and out of their cuts,
Speaker 7: that short space quickness.
Speaker 3: So he's he's really got it all. The other thing
Speaker 3: is that he's very very sure handed.
Speaker 7: You know, he's got sticky fingers, sticky hands, and he
Speaker 7: set records.
Speaker 3: He was very very very diligent.
Speaker 7: And transferring a couple of times, then finally ends up
Speaker 7: at Purdue and has a record setting season. And I
Speaker 7: think that on top of the special team's return capabilities,
Speaker 7: that will help Darren Simmons, He's going to have some
Speaker 7: value as a rookie. If he does win the return job,
Speaker 7: I think that he will be the fourth receiver that
Speaker 7: will get him a few snaps a game, and that
Speaker 7: those snaps could increase as he posts results during doing
Speaker 7: those in the early stages of that role, that role
Speaker 7: could expand.
Speaker 3: I think he's a great pick. I really do.
Speaker 7: I think that they got themselves somebody. He reminds me
Speaker 7: of a guy. It sounds like anyway that that he's
Speaker 7: a lot like a guy by the name of Charlie
Speaker 7: Joiner that Kenny Anderson had with the Cincinnati Bengals in
Speaker 7: the early stages of my career. Just a just an
Speaker 7: extremely effective route runner that catches everything.
Speaker 3: That's I praise.
Speaker 1: Charlie Joyner wound up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: It's interesting with Charlie Jones, the player the Bengals selected.
Speaker 1: I was looking back at some of his games last
Speaker 1: year when they faced the best competition on their schedule.
Speaker 1: He had thirteen catches for one hundred and sixty two
Speaker 1: yards against Michigan, hopefully not against DJ Turner at coverage.
Speaker 1: He had twelve catches for one hundred and fifty three
Speaker 1: yards against Penn State, so hopefully that was with Joey
Speaker 1: Porter Junior in coverage. But to me, that's pretty telling
Speaker 1: when you have performances like that against really good competition.
Speaker 7: Couldn't agree more. Dan, You know, the great ones, the
Speaker 7: bigger the stage, the better they perform. And you know,
Speaker 7: it seems to be the case with this young man.
Speaker 7: I mean, he rises to the occasion. There's there's no
Speaker 7: question about it. And now he's going to be challenged
Speaker 7: on a on a regular basis, on a week to
Speaker 7: week basis in the National Football League.
Speaker 3: But it seems like you know he.
Speaker 7: Is, that's in his DNA. He just wants to compete.
Speaker 7: He wants to compete at an extremely high level. He's
Speaker 7: got the ability to to diagnose coverages on pre snap reads.
Speaker 3: He's not surprised by things.
Speaker 7: I think that you know, he's gonna he's gonna pick
Speaker 7: this offense up very quickly. Purdue had a very sophisticated
Speaker 7: passing attack. I don't think that the Bengals route tree
Speaker 7: is going to surprise him. I think that the route
Speaker 7: tree that that they ran at at Purdue is very extensive.
Speaker 3: These days.
Speaker 7: It's not rowt tree, it's route forest. There's multiple trees.
Speaker 7: I mean there's there's a lot of things that they
Speaker 7: ask receivers to do, and uh, fortunately for him and
Speaker 7: he gets some great preparation for what you know, Zach
Speaker 7: Taylor and the Bengals coaching staff, Coach Callahan and everybody
Speaker 7: else is gonna ask him to do in the Bengals
Speaker 7: passing attack.
Speaker 1: You reference the possibility of him being the four to
Speaker 1: receiver this year. I brought up the AFC Championship game
Speaker 1: and we were talking to Brian Callahan and Troy Walters
Speaker 1: because when Tyler Boyd got hurt on the Bengals for
Speaker 1: a scoring drive, there was a big drop off offensively
Speaker 1: after that injury happened. Do you think that Charlie Jones
Speaker 1: is potentially ahead of Trenton Irwin on the on the
Speaker 1: totem pole and and anybody else they have in that
Speaker 1: room after the Big three?
Speaker 3: Well, I think he's going to earn it.
Speaker 7: But I think that that the vision is that that
Speaker 7: he could really kill two birds with one stone and
Speaker 7: you know, be the return guy as well as the guy.
Speaker 3: That assumes those snaps as the fourth role, so as
Speaker 3: the fourth receiver.
Speaker 7: So potentially you know that he could he could assume
Speaker 7: a couple of very important roles for the Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 7: and maybe free up a roster spot and so doing
Speaker 7: and having instead of having two guys filling those roles,
Speaker 7: you know, maybe take keep one less receiver. But that
Speaker 7: might not make a whole lot of sense, honestly, because,
Speaker 7: like you say, the injury factor, and it's a wide
Speaker 7: receiver centric offense, and you certainly don't want to be
Speaker 7: in a situation where you're shorthanded halfway through the season
Speaker 7: because of an injury and you have to go out
Speaker 7: and hit the streets and there might not be anybody
Speaker 7: out in the streets that has any idea of what
Speaker 7: the Bengals offense is all about. So you know, you'll
Speaker 7: keep from your practice squad obviously, but you definitely don't
Speaker 7: want to shorthand yourself at that wide receiver position in
Speaker 7: case disaster strikes. Injury wise, that's the one area of
Speaker 7: being wide receiver centric you want to make sure that
Speaker 7: you've covered every way you can possibly cover it.
Speaker 1: Let's move the fifth round draft pick, Chase Brown, the
Speaker 1: running back out of Illinois. He's not huge, but he
Speaker 1: tested well a four four three forty a forty inch vertical,
Speaker 1: which is outstanding ten foot seven inch broad jump. That's
Speaker 1: terrific as well highly productive at Illinois, ran for more
Speaker 1: than sixteen hundred yards last year, and I was stunned
Speaker 1: lap when I saw his work life. He averaged more
Speaker 1: than twenty seven carries a game, with a high of
Speaker 1: forty one. So Illinois just kept feeding him the ball.
Speaker 1: A total of three hundred and twenty eight rushes last
Speaker 1: year plus twenty seven catches, you know, and and.
Speaker 3: The knock on him his ball security.
Speaker 7: He had five fumbles. Well, that's a lot of handling
Speaker 7: in the football. I mean, I'm not saying that five
Speaker 7: fumbles isn't something to be concerned about. He's going to
Speaker 7: have to work on, like he talked about, keeping the
Speaker 7: ball higher and tighter on his body, making sure that
Speaker 7: he doesn't lose that football when you're touching it.
Speaker 3: As much as he.
Speaker 7: Is, Man's that's a that's a low percentage of you know,
Speaker 7: not having ball security when you consider the significance of
Speaker 7: the number of times he had the ball in his hands.
Speaker 7: I mean, he was he was a work horse to
Speaker 7: say the least, and he's he's got you know, a
Speaker 7: low center gravity contact balance. He'd let I think he
Speaker 7: was amongst the league leaders, if not leading the country,
Speaker 7: in rushes between ten and fifteen yards. So that's significant.
Speaker 7: You know, you're not necessarily going to the house.
Speaker 3: You move the chains, you.
Speaker 7: Know, and when you move the chains on one carry,
Speaker 7: I guess the offensive lineman is just pumped up a
Speaker 7: little bit. It gets the defense excited. You know, your
Speaker 7: ball controlling people's not three yards in a cloud of dust.
Speaker 7: I mean you're chunking them when you're carrying the football
Speaker 7: for ten to fifteen yards a pop like that. So yeah,
Speaker 7: he's a very very interesting, interesting pickup for sure. I
Speaker 7: think he's going to be a good addition. He brings
Speaker 7: something a little bit different to the running back room
Speaker 7: and it's going to be interesting to see that competition.
Speaker 1: I think everybody figured the Bengals would draft at least
Speaker 1: one running back. Well they didn't take one until the
Speaker 1: fifth round. And as accomplished as Chase Brown was at Illinois,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor made it abundantly clear in his remark after
Speaker 1: the draft that Joe Mixon is still the number one
Speaker 1: back on this team.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And uh, you know the thing is Joe.
Speaker 7: Mixon, He's He's proven himself over over the test of
Speaker 7: time and what you have to do as a running
Speaker 7: back in this offense, you have to be able to catch.
Speaker 3: The football as well.
Speaker 7: He wasn't asked to do that much at Illinois, and
Speaker 7: he definitely is his self admittedly, and he needs to
Speaker 7: work on his blitz pick up. So you know, you
Speaker 7: don't want to be in a situation out there when
Speaker 7: you're out on the football field as a running back.
Speaker 7: Defensive coordinators and defensive players, No, they're not throwing the
Speaker 7: football because this dude can't pass protect. You know, it's
Speaker 7: every time he's out on the football field, if if
Speaker 7: if you know, it's a it's a run play. I
Speaker 7: mean that that's not that's not the greatest thing in
Speaker 7: the world. So he's going to have to work on
Speaker 7: the blitz pick up, make sure that he's got everything
Speaker 7: down in terms of being able to run the route,
Speaker 7: secure the football in the past game, catch ball, and
Speaker 7: I provide in all around back. You know, they can
Speaker 7: perform equally well in the in the running game in
Speaker 7: the passing attack, because certainly don't want to be one dimensional.
Speaker 1: If the Bengals are able to re sign Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: or extend Joe Burrow, and extend t Higgins and extend
Speaker 1: Logan Wilson like they would like to. Many people have
Speaker 1: assumed at that point they can't afford Joe Mixon at
Speaker 1: his current price and would have to ask him to
Speaker 1: take a pay cut. I'm thinking Joe Mixon just gained
Speaker 1: a little leverage by the fact that they did not
Speaker 1: add a running back until round five.
Speaker 3: Am I wrong? No?
Speaker 7: I think, you know, I think that that Joe Mixon
Speaker 7: and the coaching staff and the organization are still on
Speaker 7: very good terms.
Speaker 3: You know, there's there's there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 7: But with that said, I think they can absorb that
Speaker 7: salary as of right now, But depending on what contracts
Speaker 7: are done in the next two to four weeks.
Speaker 3: That could change quickly.
Speaker 7: Right right now, it's a you know, it's one vision
Speaker 7: and that vision should have a different lens if there's
Speaker 7: a couple of changes in terms of what takes place
Speaker 7: with negotiations with other players.
Speaker 1: On to the sixth round, where the Bengals had two
Speaker 1: picks and the first was a wide receiver from Princeton
Speaker 1: andre Yo sivash Yo. Sivash I believe is how it said.
Speaker 1: He is a lottery ticket tremendous size, sixty three two
Speaker 1: hundred pounds, crazy good athlete. He is first team All
Speaker 1: American in the heptathlon. So he can sprint, he can
Speaker 1: do the long jump, the high jump, the shot put,
Speaker 1: the pole vault. He can run one thousand meters. So
Speaker 1: he's a crazy good athlete. But he played in the
Speaker 1: Ivy League. He needs refinement at the wide receiver position,
Speaker 1: but there's obviously some interesting clay to try to mold there.
Speaker 7: Yeah, there's no question. I mean, in that ten taf on,
Speaker 7: I mean he's got the fastest sixty meter time that.
Speaker 3: Was ever ever run. So this guy is explosive.
Speaker 7: I mean when he puts his foot in the ground
Speaker 7: and and accelerates, it is a burst. And that that's
Speaker 7: the thing. His explosiveness is acceleration. All of those kind
Speaker 7: of things, you know, show themselves. And when you're competing
Speaker 7: in all those events that you're competing in, your overall
Speaker 7: body strength is incredible.
Speaker 3: Your overall endurance, you know, is incredible.
Speaker 7: Plus the fact that you know he's educated at Princeton,
Speaker 7: so he's intelligent. He's not going to be the playbook
Speaker 7: is not going to overwhelm him.
Speaker 3: There's no question about that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he's he's somebody that is like, Wow, we have
Speaker 7: a diamond in the rough. You're listen if we can
Speaker 7: polish this up and uh and and see.
Speaker 3: See what we get. Uh.
Speaker 7: He he is very very intriguing. There's there's no doubt
Speaker 7: about it. But it sounded like he's still pretty raw
Speaker 7: in terms of route running, the nuances of route running,
Speaker 7: change speed, you know, lowering his sinking his hips and
Speaker 7: and and getting in and out of cuts with with.
Speaker 3: With some vigor, you know, and get some separation.
Speaker 7: I'm sure with his athleticism, he's just out athlete. The
Speaker 7: IVY leagues outruns them, out jumps them out. Everything's well.
Speaker 7: In the National Football League, you have to have a
Speaker 7: lot more nuance and a lot more polished to your game.
Speaker 7: And I think that's what that's what's going to have
Speaker 7: to take place. And I think that they're excited about
Speaker 7: doing that with this guy because he's a willing worker.
Speaker 7: There's no question about that. There's there's no doubt that
Speaker 7: he's going to give it everything that he's got. He
Speaker 7: he was very, very excited about being drafted by the
Speaker 7: Cincinnati Bengals. When we did the conference call with him,
Speaker 7: and he's thrilled that he's got a guy like Joe
Speaker 7: Burrow that is going to be delivering him the football.
Speaker 7: And I think that he's going to make sure that
Speaker 7: he does everything to not disappoint Joe Burrow and make
Speaker 7: sure that Joe Burrow feels good about throwing.
Speaker 3: Him the football.
Speaker 1: On Friday Night, in the third round, the Bengals drafted
Speaker 1: back three spots. They moved back three spots from ninety
Speaker 1: two to ninety five. They wound up with an extra
Speaker 1: sixth round pick, the last pick of the sixth round,
Speaker 1: and they might have picked up their starting punter with
Speaker 1: that pick. They drafted Brad Robbins from Michigan. He will
Speaker 1: obviously be in a training camp battle with Drew Chrisman,
Speaker 1: and Brad Robbins had a track record at Michigan of
Speaker 1: great net punting. He's not a guy that's gonna rip
Speaker 1: at sixty yards, but he's going to have great hang time.
Speaker 1: He's going to place the ball well and try to
Speaker 1: eliminate the types of returns that cost Cincinnati or helped
Speaker 1: cost Cincinnati the AFC Championship Game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no question about it. I mean, I think.
Speaker 7: He's a very unique punter in that he just doesn't
Speaker 7: try to, you know, punt it eighty five yards. He
Speaker 7: understands directional kicking, he understands placement. He talked about the
Speaker 7: fact that he's got multiple drops for different situations.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 7: He he can really, uh, you know, manipulate the football
Speaker 7: to his advantage.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 7: He's He's an artistic punter. There's no two ways about it.
Speaker 7: He's not He's not back there just trying to you know,
Speaker 7: uh kick it the length of the football field. He
Speaker 7: wants to help his team as much as he possibly
Speaker 7: can by shrinking the field horizontally. You know, the worst
Speaker 7: thing in the world is that the punt team expects
Speaker 7: the punters to directly kick it to the punt team's right.
Speaker 7: He kicks it down the middle or even shades it.
Speaker 3: To the left.
Speaker 7: There's nothing worse than you're running in the wrong direction
Speaker 7: covering a punt, and then couple that with no hangtime.
Speaker 3: Man, you're in You're in trouble.
Speaker 7: And that's where Brad Robbins excels. You know, he has
Speaker 7: tremendous hangtime. He puts it exactly where he's supposed to.
Speaker 7: His coverage team can trust the fact that he's going
Speaker 7: to put it exactly supposed to. He takes great that
Speaker 7: It's going to be very interesting to see that that
Speaker 7: battle take place. I think obviously, you draft a guy
Speaker 7: he's he's got the inside track. You don't want to
Speaker 7: waste have wasted. Even though it was the last pick
Speaker 7: of the sixth round, it was a sixth round draft choice,
Speaker 7: so they think a lot of him, and uh, he
Speaker 7: and Darren Simmons seemed to be on the same wavelength
Speaker 7: in terms of expectations from their punter, and it's going
Speaker 7: to be very, very interesting to see him perform.
Speaker 1: I think the Bengals thought that there were two really
Speaker 1: good punters in this draft and a third who is
Speaker 1: a possibility. Well, the Michigan State punter was already gone, yep.
Speaker 1: So the Bengals used that draft pick on Brad Robbins,
Speaker 1: and then the third punter went just a few picks later.
Speaker 1: So chances are if the Bengals had not used that
Speaker 1: draft pick on Robbins, the team that took the third
Speaker 1: punter probably would have taken him just a few picks later.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, And you know the other thing that Robins has
Speaker 7: done so well, as he's an outstanding holder and the
Speaker 7: kicker that he helped for in Michigan get drafted in
Speaker 7: the third round, so he was part of a very
Speaker 7: successful operation and he talked about that how important that.
Speaker 3: Is as well. So you got you know, Ata Mitas.
Speaker 7: And you know Brad Robbins will be the be the
Speaker 7: holder for Evan McPherson and hopefully that is a is
Speaker 7: a combination. That's a young group right there, and hopefully
Speaker 7: they'll be working together, you know, for an extremely long
Speaker 7: time if in fact it works out that way. So
Speaker 7: you know, Darren Simmons has got that.
Speaker 3: To look forward to as well.
Speaker 1: The final player the Bengals selected in the seventh round
Speaker 1: was a cornerback name d j Ivy. Pretty good size,
Speaker 1: six feet tall, one hundred and eighty nine pounds, His
Speaker 1: arms are nearly thirty three inches long four four six
Speaker 1: forty time. He played in fifty eight college games, so
Speaker 1: he's got experience. From everything I've read, he struggled early
Speaker 1: in his career and then finished up pretty well. So
Speaker 1: you know, you're never going to get expected pro bowler
Speaker 1: in the seventh round, but it sounds like this guy
Speaker 1: at least has a chance to possibly contribute to an
Speaker 1: NFL team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was one of the first two picks
Speaker 3: in the draft.
Speaker 7: You know, you went edge rush and then corner, and
Speaker 7: you doubled down on the cornerback position. You know, obviously
Speaker 7: the back end of the Bengals defense is being reworked,
Speaker 7: being rebuilt, no two ways about it. They drafted a safety,
Speaker 7: they drafted two corners. You know that they may not
Speaker 7: be done. Eli Apple may come back into the into
Speaker 7: the fold. I think the relationship but he has with
Speaker 7: Muana Rumo is probably going to be something that goes
Speaker 7: in that direction. I wouldn't be surprised. So, yeah, it's
Speaker 7: this this guy. He's maybe a poor man's Joey Porter
Speaker 7: in terms of very long arms at big hands.
Speaker 3: And that's what was so.
Speaker 7: Intriguing about Joey Porter, that that he had the ability
Speaker 7: even if he was like right there in terms of
Speaker 7: coverage that you know, inspector gadget length and those big
Speaker 7: old buckers made it made a big difference.
Speaker 3: Now he's been penalized quite a bit.
Speaker 7: He done a little gravy and that's that's the one
Speaker 7: thing that you know you have to watch out for
Speaker 7: if in fact you're you have that that type of
Speaker 7: skill set.
Speaker 3: You don't want to You don't want to take that that.
Speaker 7: For advantage and have a boy, uh take it for
Speaker 7: granted to have it work against you. But they obviously
Speaker 7: like his size, speed ratio and going to take a
Speaker 7: good look. You never know, you may have drafted somebody
Speaker 7: that is going to really be a job dropper when
Speaker 7: training camp on folds.
Speaker 1: All right, a couple of big picture topics before we
Speaker 1: wrap it up. Let's talk tight end. The top three
Speaker 1: tight ends on the depth chart, Erth Smith Junior, Drew Sample,
Speaker 1: Devin Assi Assi are only signed through this coming season.
Speaker 1: Considering that this was thought to be one of the
Speaker 1: great tight end classes in the draft in the last
Speaker 1: ten years, was it a bit of a failure not
Speaker 1: to come away with a tight end.
Speaker 7: You know, they feel pretty good about the tight end room.
Speaker 7: It doesn't mean that they can't extend.
Speaker 3: Uh. You know, those those.
Speaker 7: Tight ends, the ones that go out and perform. It's
Speaker 7: a show me situation right now. Everybody's everybody's in the
Speaker 7: same boat. Who's going to go out and perform? Who's
Speaker 7: going to go out and have the have the big year.
Speaker 7: They feel like earth Smith Junior is as good a
Speaker 7: receiver as as they would have gotten in the draft.
Speaker 7: I think you know, he came out as a second
Speaker 7: round draft pick himself by another organization. Drew Sample was
Speaker 7: the second round draft pick by the Bengals organization, and
Speaker 7: Asiassi is either a second or a third.
Speaker 3: I believe when he came into the league.
Speaker 7: So they feel they've that that they've got guys that
Speaker 7: were highly rated coming out of college and now have
Speaker 7: some pro experience to go along with it. So there's
Speaker 7: there's a little bit of a proof that they can
Speaker 7: perform kind of scenario.
Speaker 3: Along with the fact that they were high draft choices.
Speaker 7: So again, like we've talked about, it's it's such a wide.
Speaker 3: Receiver centric offense. Uh.
Speaker 7: They felt like, you know, if you draft a draft
Speaker 7: a tight end high, it's it's not it's not a
Speaker 7: necessary thing to do. It wasn't It wasn't something if
Speaker 7: they had another position group that was equal in terms
Speaker 7: of the talent on the board. Need is gonna over
Speaker 7: overrule the day. It's going to determine the outcome of
Speaker 7: the decision. Everybody's structure of offense and defense is different.
Speaker 7: Everybody's board looks different. As a result of that, the
Speaker 7: Bengals are more you know, three receiver sets as much
Speaker 7: as anybody in the National Football League. They don't put
Speaker 7: a premium on tight ends as much as they do
Speaker 7: wide receivers. So it's uh, I guess when they made
Speaker 7: those two signings Dan right before the draft, when they
Speaker 7: signed Sample and they signed Earth Junior, they felt like
Speaker 7: they took care of took care of any problems that
Speaker 7: there might be. Maybe they'll bring another one in for
Speaker 7: you know, during training camp, in college free agency or
Speaker 7: a veteran free agency as it gets closer to training camp,
Speaker 7: if there's anybody still out there that they feel can
Speaker 7: can compete. They didn't want to expend one of their
Speaker 7: draft picks on a tight end. They felt they had,
Speaker 7: you know, other fish to fry.
Speaker 1: My final topic is offensive line. The Bengals did not
Speaker 1: draft any offensive linemen, no tackles in particular. They can't
Speaker 1: trade Jonah Williams, now, can they?
Speaker 3: I don't think so. No, I really don't. You know.
Speaker 7: I think I think that they're also that the time
Speaker 7: will heal wounds. He's he feels you know, he's uh,
Speaker 7: he has to get over the the shot and uh,
Speaker 7: you know, it's just just it's it's.
Speaker 3: One of those things where you feel like you.
Speaker 7: Were knocked down. You got to get back up, dust
Speaker 7: yourself off, and go peat. And I think ultimately that's
Speaker 7: what that's what's going to happen. I think they still
Speaker 7: like Jonah Williams as a football player. They want to
Speaker 7: see him go and go out and compete at that
Speaker 7: right tackle position. And I think that's the way it's
Speaker 7: gonna it's gonna shake down. Jackson Carmon is going to
Speaker 7: get his opportunity as well. You know, they've got other
Speaker 7: candidates at the right tackle position. I think it was
Speaker 7: like during the course of the draft when offensive lineman,
Speaker 7: when there were runs on offensive lineman, the Bengals had
Speaker 7: other players rate it ahead anyway, so they addressed those positions,
Speaker 7: and when offensive line was maybe a consideration with other positions,
Speaker 7: they thought.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, at this point in the draft, is this
Speaker 3: is this guy? Is he going to roster? Is he
Speaker 3: going to make the football team?
Speaker 7: They get some depth in the offensive line already, and
Speaker 7: I'm not saying that they don't need more bodies to
Speaker 7: go into training camp with, but they will.
Speaker 3: They'll sign a college free agent tackle, and.
Speaker 7: They'll sign college free agent interior guy as well, uh,
Speaker 7: they'll go to training camp with plenty of bodies to
Speaker 7: get through training camp.
Speaker 3: But I feel like they they they like what they've
Speaker 3: got going on.
Speaker 7: The offensive line in terms of the overall depth. And
Speaker 7: I really can't say that I blame him. I mean,
Speaker 7: you know, there's they've they've they've got eight people that
Speaker 7: if they went into uh that they have to play
Speaker 7: a game next week. I think they feel pretty good
Speaker 7: about the eight guys that they'd have active on a
Speaker 7: roster to go on and play in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Lap the draft has finished, our work for the weekend
Speaker 1: is done, and mel kiper can go into hibernation.
Speaker 7: Mel kiper Man, I'll tell you, you talk about a
Speaker 7: guy that created an industry, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3: He was. He was one of the one.
Speaker 7: Of the the forefathers of it, that's for sure.
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not.
Speaker 7: Sure he was the first, but he certainly, uh, he
Speaker 7: certainly was the biggest ar earlier.
Speaker 3: There's no question.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it. For this episode of the
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hord, and thanks for listening to the Bengals
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