Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Boot Podcast. UH with MS wide open. Addition,
Speaker 1: as we speak to a guy that the Bengals certainly
Speaker 1: hope will be wide open for many years to come.
Speaker 1: Second round draft pick Te Higgins. Then after I chat
Speaker 1: with t it's forty five quality minutes with my broadcast
Speaker 1: partner Dave Laplam, including a new round of ask Lap
Speaker 1: questions that you submitted on Twitter. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and
Speaker 1: hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
Speaker 1: subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since Peyton's Places. Last year, Future
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame Corps back Peyton Manning hosted a thirty
Speaker 1: episode documentary series in conjunction with a celebration of the
Speaker 1: NFL's one hundredth season. The series looks at key moments
Speaker 1: in NFL history through conversations with former players, coaches, and
Speaker 1: other key figures. I've only recently started watching Peyton's Places
Speaker 1: on ESPN Plus and they are awesome. Manning is extremely
Speaker 1: likable as a host, and his appreciation for the history
Speaker 1: of the game shines through in every episode. You have
Speaker 1: to pay for a subscription to watch on ESPN Plus,
Speaker 1: but I've noticed that ESPN has been running episodes for
Speaker 1: free on its various channels due to the absence of
Speaker 1: live sporting events. So if you don't have ESPN Plus,
Speaker 1: I recommend searching for Peyton's Places and setting up your
Speaker 1: DVR to record any episodes that run on TV. I
Speaker 1: promise you won't be sorry. Now let's get to this
Speaker 1: week's guests. My first conversation this week is with the
Speaker 1: Bengal second round draft pick Te Higgins, the six four,
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixteen pound wide receiver out of Clemson
Speaker 1: with great hands and a ridiculous catch radius thanks to
Speaker 1: his eighty one inch wingspan. Higgins was the seventh wide
Speaker 1: receiver taken in what was considered to be one of
Speaker 1: the deepest pools of wide receivers in the history of
Speaker 1: the NFL draft, and the Bengals obviously hope that he
Speaker 1: will be one of Joe Burrow's top targets for many
Speaker 1: years to come. See, we learned on draft night that
Speaker 1: you are a Bengals fan and an AJ Green fanatic.
Speaker 1: Four years ago you tweeted, I will meet AJ Green
Speaker 1: one day. Have you had any contact with AJ since
Speaker 1: the draft? We talked over the phone, but I haven't
Speaker 1: met him at first yet. Now, were those phone conversations interesting?
Speaker 1: You know, it was just, you know, more of a
Speaker 1: congratulations and can't wait to get the work type phone call.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't too much. We're chatting with T Higgins.
Speaker 1: AJ is your favorite wide receiver, but you will wear
Speaker 1: the uniform number of another Bengals legend, Chad Johnson. Did
Speaker 1: I read correctly that you reached out to chat about
Speaker 1: wearing eighty five? Yeah, I definitely did. You know, just
Speaker 1: how to respect, you know, what he's done with the
Speaker 1: organism for the organization, and you know, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to reach out to him before I even you know,
Speaker 1: told to you know, the equipment guys that I wanted
Speaker 1: to wear eighty five. Obviously I wanted to keep my
Speaker 1: college number was in my number, whether it was either
Speaker 1: fifteen or eighty five. You know, fifteen was already taken,
Speaker 1: so eighty five was the only other option. But you know,
Speaker 1: I had asked him and he was okay with us.
Speaker 1: It sounds like he was more than okay with it.
Speaker 1: He tweeted basically that he's honored that you wanted to
Speaker 1: wear it. Just something that I gotta I gotta keep
Speaker 1: the tradition going with that number, so hopefully I can't.
Speaker 1: T You were born in nineteen ninety nine, two years
Speaker 1: before Chad was drafted. How much do you know about
Speaker 1: his NFL career. I just know he was well, they say, hey, kn'
Speaker 1: guard eighty five, so that's that's and he was real
Speaker 1: quick with his feat. He was just unguardable. Ironically, you
Speaker 1: have trained with his former college and NFL teammate TJ.
Speaker 1: Hushman Zada, who recommended you to Bengal Scouts. What were
Speaker 1: some of the biggest things you took away from training
Speaker 1: with TJ? Just like the basic stuff, really, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: at the top of routes, you know, releases and really
Speaker 1: the knowledge of the game. You know, he's a really
Speaker 1: great guy and he's a great coach, and you know,
Speaker 1: I look forward to working to him in the future
Speaker 1: more and more so we're chatting with t Higgins, what's
Speaker 1: your schedule like these days? You know, obviously we have
Speaker 1: you know, team meetings and stuff, but you know, other
Speaker 1: than that, you know, I'm I'm on the field or
Speaker 1: you know, in a workout room getting my grind on,
Speaker 1: you know, that's what I do best, and just working
Speaker 1: on my draft, trying to get better and better each
Speaker 1: and every day. What's been the best part of those
Speaker 1: teams zoom meetings? Just getting to meet all the new teammates,
Speaker 1: you know, all my new coaches, and really just learning
Speaker 1: in the new playbook. Where you're living, have you been
Speaker 1: able to do football activities? Yeah, definitely. You know, we
Speaker 1: have a few quarterbacks out here and James is open now,
Speaker 1: so definitely have that. How much interaction have you had
Speaker 1: with Joe since the draft? Oh, you know, we've talked
Speaker 1: a few times. We talked over to over zoom. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, so we've been talking. What did it mean
Speaker 1: do ut when Joe was among the first NFL quarterbacks
Speaker 1: to show his support for the black community after the
Speaker 1: death of George Floyd. You know, it means a lot.
Speaker 1: You know, it's the guy with his platform. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just showing that he really cares and and that, uh,
Speaker 1: this is the guy that is showing his true colors.
Speaker 1: You faced him and LA in the National Championship Game
Speaker 1: last year. What stood out about his performance in that game?
Speaker 1: You know, he's guy that's never gonna give up. He
Speaker 1: was obviously up on him and you know you can
Speaker 1: see that he plays some poys and he brought his
Speaker 1: team back and you know, one of the biggest game
Speaker 1: shoot in college. Have you set any goals for your
Speaker 1: rookie year, Oh, that's you know, obviously every rookie wants
Speaker 1: to be Rookie of the Year, but you know that's
Speaker 1: one of my goals. And really just go out there
Speaker 1: and just you know, help my team come out with
Speaker 1: a better season than we did, you know, the past
Speaker 1: few years, and just contribute the best way I can.
Speaker 1: You were the first pick of the second round, number
Speaker 1: thirty three overall, but I read that you have a
Speaker 1: bit of a chip on your shoulder from not being
Speaker 1: selected in the first Is that accurate? You can say that,
Speaker 1: but you know, with me, I just wanted to be
Speaker 1: drafted no matter where I went. But you know I
Speaker 1: can use that as a chip on my shoulder, So
Speaker 1: I guess that's all I'm gonna do TJ hood Shmnzata
Speaker 1: was a seventh round pick, and I remember that he
Speaker 1: used to be able to recite every wide receiver selected
Speaker 1: before him in the NFL draft? Are you motivated by
Speaker 1: the guys that were selected ahead of you? You know,
Speaker 1: I know those guys really well because you know, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm real good friends with him, but you know those
Speaker 1: guys deserved to be when they got picking. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: happy for him, and you know, so just how I
Speaker 1: go about it? Tell you what I watched footage of
Speaker 1: you at Clemson. I see you running away from defenders,
Speaker 1: but you didn't run a great forty yard dash time
Speaker 1: before the draft? Did you have an injured hamstring? I
Speaker 1: wasn't running that. But you know there's there's no excuses. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys see my game film. The Bengals
Speaker 1: organizations trusting me and they believe in me, so they're
Speaker 1: gonna get the hundred. So Jerry Rice ran a four
Speaker 1: point seven one forty and he's the best wide receiver
Speaker 1: of all time. Michael Thomas and a four point five
Speaker 1: seven and he might be the best current wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Do we put too much emphasis on the forty yard dash? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I really don't think, you know, because a lot of
Speaker 1: football guys don't run track, so they don't they would
Speaker 1: have like two to three months to say stance and
Speaker 1: starts right. So I mean forty times really don't matter
Speaker 1: to me, obviously, the guy the organizations want to see
Speaker 1: if you're fast or not. But you know your game film,
Speaker 1: it just takes you to a whole another level, you know,
Speaker 1: so because it's actually competition on the field with you
Speaker 1: and you can see how you separate from defenders and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So how eager are you to get
Speaker 1: up to Cincinnati and have some sort of practicing with
Speaker 1: your teammates? Can't wait. So it's gonna be fun. Just
Speaker 1: can't wait to go out there and compete with those guys. Hey,
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to seeing you here. Congratulations on a
Speaker 1: tremendous college career, and I look forward to meeting you
Speaker 1: in person soon. Thank you. See at fifty nine catches
Speaker 1: for one hundred and sixty seven yards and thirteen touchdowns
Speaker 1: at Clemson last year, and according to Pro Football Focus,
Speaker 1: Higgins is probably the most complete big wide receiver we've
Speaker 1: seen come into the league in quite some time. Before
Speaker 1: we get to Dave Lapham. Here's a quick reminder that
Speaker 1: you can take your Bengals pride to the next level
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan package from
Speaker 1: Prime Sport. I'm posting this podcast on Friday, June fifth,
Speaker 1: the first day that NFL coaches have been allowed back
Speaker 1: into their team facilities since mid March when the league
Speaker 1: shut things down due to the coronavirus. Zach Taylor and
Speaker 1: most of his staff were back at Paul Brown Stadium
Speaker 1: on Friday morning. A few coaches are still out of
Speaker 1: town and we'll return next week. It's a hopeful sign
Speaker 1: that the league will be able to begin on schedule
Speaker 1: this season, and that was my first topic of conversation
Speaker 1: this week with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Lap it's
Speaker 1: the first week of June. How confident are you that
Speaker 1: there will be an NFL season. Well, I'm confident there'll
Speaker 1: be an NFL season in some way, shape or form,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not I'm not confident that the early
Speaker 1: stages of it will be played in front of crowds.
Speaker 1: Um and if it is played in front of crowds,
Speaker 1: that they'll be sparse, to say the least. And I
Speaker 1: just wonder about the preseason. I mean, you know, if
Speaker 1: it would not surprise me, would not shock me if
Speaker 1: they lost a couple of preseason games in the process
Speaker 1: of all this and had a couple of preseason games
Speaker 1: to tune up and and and get ready for the season,
Speaker 1: And you know, at that point you wonder, is it
Speaker 1: doesn't even make sense to have ninety guys in training Canadon.
Speaker 1: I mean, how you're going to be able to make
Speaker 1: a truer evaluation. You haven't You haven't been able to
Speaker 1: watch them in OTAs, in mini camps where you make
Speaker 1: your first and probably most important decision on guys on
Speaker 1: the field, watching them run, watching them, do they take
Speaker 1: proper angles? Are they coachable? And you think they have
Speaker 1: a chance, and then and then it's it's solidified by
Speaker 1: action in the games. But a lot of times, you know,
Speaker 1: decisions are made on guys during OTAs and mini camps
Speaker 1: or good percent decision is made there. And they're absolutely
Speaker 1: this season. So it's going to be very, very tough
Speaker 1: for guys that you know, are just coming out of
Speaker 1: college and haven't transitioned to the NFL at all, and
Speaker 1: you're trying to decide can they and you don't really
Speaker 1: have a measuring stick. I get signing veteran free agents.
Speaker 1: You already know that, all right, I get taped them.
Speaker 1: I can see how they performed at the NFL level,
Speaker 1: but not so with the college kids. You mentioned the
Speaker 1: possibility of games being played in front of no fans
Speaker 1: or a limited number of fans, particularly early in the season.
Speaker 1: How much would that negate home field advantage tremendously, you know,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I guess, I guess you try
Speaker 1: to take every advantage you possibly can. And the schedule
Speaker 1: first came out, I mean four of the six four
Speaker 1: of the first six games for the Bengals are on
Speaker 1: the road, and you know, in boisterous places, vociferous crowds. Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: and the Dome. Those are the four road games and
Speaker 1: their first six games of the season. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I think if there are are limited crowds or no
Speaker 1: crowd at all, man, that that that's a that's a big,
Speaker 1: big difference maker, particularly offensively. I mean, that's where you
Speaker 1: know you have to go with silent counts and hand
Speaker 1: stignals and there's no verbal communication, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a real good chance for false starts
Speaker 1: and guys not being on the same page, and all
Speaker 1: those kinds of things where nearing those in those environments,
Speaker 1: and I've been in those environments, it is very difficult. Uh,
Speaker 1: you eliminate the reason that it becomes difficult in those environments,
Speaker 1: that being the rabid fan base, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: what could have been a difficult start seems to be
Speaker 1: a lot easier with respect to the conditions and environment
Speaker 1: that you're planning. Would you enjoy being able to hear
Speaker 1: everything being said on the field as an announcer I
Speaker 1: worked because I remember back in the day there was
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff being said. Uh, some of it
Speaker 1: you could hear and some of it you couldn't. But um,
Speaker 1: that would that would be interesting, and you know a
Speaker 1: lot of it would obviously be x rated. It have
Speaker 1: to be for mature audiences only. Uh that that would
Speaker 1: be The problem that I could see is is some
Speaker 1: of these young kids' heroes just cuts them up a
Speaker 1: blue street. You know, it's like mom and Dad are like,
Speaker 1: you know, we don't want you can you can respect athletes,
Speaker 1: but don't make them your heroes. Well, if they listen
Speaker 1: to one football game. They may not be as big
Speaker 1: a hero as they might have been before they listen
Speaker 1: to them participate in that football game, because I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's obviously raw and emotional, and you know a
Speaker 1: lot of things are said, that's for sure. Um, but
Speaker 1: it would it would be interesting, you know, and you
Speaker 1: really have to I think, um, it would add an
Speaker 1: extra burden to both sides of the football in terms
Speaker 1: of changing signals every week because you get you get
Speaker 1: a tape of that of that game and you you
Speaker 1: just take the TV tape and you get all the
Speaker 1: audio and you can match up alignment's configuration. Blitz is
Speaker 1: to calls. You know, the guys are making an adjustments
Speaker 1: they're making and audibles they're making all that sort of thing,
Speaker 1: and uh, that makes it, that makes it very interesting,
Speaker 1: That makes it very intriguing. So you know, um, that
Speaker 1: might add another layer to preparation during the course of
Speaker 1: the week. You know, not having the same the same trigger,
Speaker 1: the same uh color keyword that you know, right after
Speaker 1: I say in my cadence the lave color this week
Speaker 1: is black. Well the following week it's on the week
Speaker 1: got that it's going to be white. We got that
Speaker 1: it's going to be perful. You know, you have to
Speaker 1: change it up for sure, because teams will get a
Speaker 1: you know, beat on it, no doubt about that. With
Speaker 1: h you know, with with having no trout boys to
Speaker 1: impede what they might be hearing on the audio part
Speaker 1: of their tape. It seems like a strong possibility at
Speaker 1: this point that there isn't going to be an off
Speaker 1: season program, that the first time the team's practiced together
Speaker 1: would be training camp. If that's the case, is there
Speaker 1: a position group that would suffer the most, or a
Speaker 1: particular type of player that would suffer the most from
Speaker 1: no off season program? Well, I think I think, you know,
Speaker 1: the young player obviously probably suffer the most trying to
Speaker 1: make that jumped to the National Football League. I can remember,
Speaker 1: you know, and back in nineteen seventy four when I
Speaker 1: was a rookie deal and we only had like like
Speaker 1: a four week called mini camp as such after the draft.
Speaker 1: Then there was nothing until training camp. Now mighty training
Speaker 1: camp was nine weeks long. It was ridiculous. There were
Speaker 1: six preseason games, you know, right out to the fourth
Speaker 1: of July. We were in Willikee College. Until you know,
Speaker 1: it seemed like Labor Day. I mean there's crazy after
Speaker 1: Labor Day. It was it was nuts but gotten and
Speaker 1: guys literally played themselves into shape. Um. But so this dynamic,
Speaker 1: the way the guys take care of themselves. You're around
Speaker 1: guys don't necessarily have off season jobs like veteran players
Speaker 1: had to have back then, and you know, work out
Speaker 1: at lunch time and try to catch a workout and
Speaker 1: keep yourself in shape and nutrition. And I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's such a different game now that was back then.
Speaker 1: But I do think that they'll show that. Okay, just
Speaker 1: if you get the training camp and get plenty of
Speaker 1: reps and somehow scheduled practices where you try to catch
Speaker 1: up on reps. That's the thing that you're that you're
Speaker 1: missing is the physical repetition, repetition breachs comfort level. You
Speaker 1: can talk to your blue in the face about when
Speaker 1: this defense has been penetration, this tackle loops around them
Speaker 1: all right, right, tackle you you got to stop the penetrator.
Speaker 1: Make sure you stop and pass them off to your
Speaker 1: guard and then you know, take a drop step and
Speaker 1: take the looper. And you can talk about that all
Speaker 1: you want to go out there and do it physically
Speaker 1: and get some kind of muscle memory, repetition of doing
Speaker 1: it over and over again. Because tackle step differently. One
Speaker 1: guy you work with might set a little deeper than
Speaker 1: the other guy who sets more shallow. At the last scimes,
Speaker 1: you have to get a feel for all of your teammates.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think offensive line play dan Honestly,
Speaker 1: it's the it's the biggest number of players in a
Speaker 1: position group. There are five players, and I always talk
Speaker 1: about you know, solid offensive line players, like making a
Speaker 1: fist becomes an involuntary reaction. You curl four fingers and
Speaker 1: wrap your thumb and you don't even think about it.
Speaker 1: It's just involuntary. Well, when an offensive line has been
Speaker 1: working together and understands each other and all the repetitions,
Speaker 1: all the muscle memory, all the being on the same
Speaker 1: page mentally, that's that's how it plays. It's almost like
Speaker 1: making a fist. But when it's not, you know, then
Speaker 1: if one's just joining it, you can't make a strong
Speaker 1: fist and the line player suffers, you know, as a
Speaker 1: results of that from an analytic being an analogy there,
Speaker 1: so you know, it's it's that that position group takes
Speaker 1: a lot of repetition camaraderie, understanding each other, you know
Speaker 1: in the meeting room. On the football field even more
Speaker 1: so than in the meeting room might be. So i'd
Speaker 1: say offensive line players is a big, big part of it.
Speaker 1: And um, you know, quarterbacks and receivers obviously timing, timing
Speaker 1: things out. It's uh. Sometimes you'll see receivers that quarterback
Speaker 1: throws the football, it's like, why, how do you know
Speaker 1: to throw it there? And when he threw it and
Speaker 1: how he threw it and where he put it. Well,
Speaker 1: it's because they've done it a million times. And you know,
Speaker 1: if you haven't had that dead luxury, Um, you know
Speaker 1: that all of it, all of it's going to suffer
Speaker 1: a little bit. It'll be interesting to see how quickly
Speaker 1: you know, guys can come up to speed and uh
Speaker 1: and and make the game. Look, I'm I'm not saying
Speaker 1: the game is gonna look terrible, But if there's only
Speaker 1: a couple of preseason games, they go to training camp
Speaker 1: later and there are a couple of preseason games and
Speaker 1: then they get into started the regular season. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna take a well a little bit before
Speaker 1: the product gets up to what you know, up to
Speaker 1: stuff to what people are used to seeing, you know,
Speaker 1: so many years and quality NFL line play and and
Speaker 1: football in general. Do you think it's important for Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow to get together with the wide receivers before training camp?
Speaker 1: I do? I do? You know? I know? Uh, I
Speaker 1: mean you look at two thousand and eleven though, that
Speaker 1: was such an aberration in such a such a you know,
Speaker 1: a difference. That was a lockout. So Andy Dalton couldn't
Speaker 1: he couldn't get together with his teammates. The first time
Speaker 1: you get together is you know, um, when they when
Speaker 1: they basically um called practices. You know they basically I
Speaker 1: shouldn't say couldn't get together because Andrew worked on the
Speaker 1: top packle those guys put together practices offense against defense
Speaker 1: and and and I think that was very very very instrumental,
Speaker 1: very very major. And Andy Dalton, you know, being ready
Speaker 1: when training camp unfolded. Um, you know he's a intelligent guy,
Speaker 1: and he is, and he picked up the offense very quickly.
Speaker 1: The word is Joe Burrow is at least that and
Speaker 1: maybe one. I mean he's a Menza, he's a football savant,
Speaker 1: picks things up extremely quickly. But again, the physical repetition
Speaker 1: you know, you can talk about him. You can talk
Speaker 1: about and look at tape and say, oh yeah, when
Speaker 1: the safety does this, you know, you have to look here,
Speaker 1: or when they line up in this configuration, you have
Speaker 1: to check to this. You can talk about it all
Speaker 1: you want, but you have to go out and wrap
Speaker 1: it and everybody has to be on the same page
Speaker 1: and hear the quarterback do it and see him execute it,
Speaker 1: you know, and and then start to get a feel
Speaker 1: for where he likes to put the football. If I
Speaker 1: have a defensive player in this position, I know he's
Speaker 1: going to back shoulder me, or he's gonna high point me,
Speaker 1: or he's going to do this, or he's going to
Speaker 1: do that. Those kinds of things happen, you know, just
Speaker 1: over time, you know, getting used to each other and
Speaker 1: realizing each other's strengths and weaknesses and and you know,
Speaker 1: proceeding accordingly with with how they're going to you know,
Speaker 1: play and how they're gonna execute against various coverages, various techniques.
Speaker 1: And you people think it's so simply you just go
Speaker 1: out there, and hey, you know, just go like out
Speaker 1: in the backyard. It's pitching catch. You know, you're just
Speaker 1: playing catch out there. That's it's so much different than that.
Speaker 1: It's you know, it's it's a it's a very complicated
Speaker 1: puzzle that has to be put together. For sure, the
Speaker 1: NFL is going to have a loss of revenue this year,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about that. And that will affect the
Speaker 1: salary cap next year since it is based on the
Speaker 1: percentage of revenue. Is that going to impact extensions for
Speaker 1: aj Green and Joe Mixon? Boy, you know you have
Speaker 1: to you have to wonder about that. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at it and you say, all right, well,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a massive TV contract. It's going to
Speaker 1: be done here shortly, and that's going to be a huge,
Speaker 1: huge influx into salary cap um splitting the revenues and
Speaker 1: there's no question about that. But you know it's there.
Speaker 1: There is going to be a diminished revenue, there's no
Speaker 1: question about it. If they play without without saying ends um.
Speaker 1: And I think right now no rookies have been signed,
Speaker 1: no veteran free agency or very few veteran free agency
Speaker 1: see signing. I mean, it's it's it's an impact in
Speaker 1: all this the stars rookies are concerned. You can come
Speaker 1: to an agreement but they can't. It can't. It's not
Speaker 1: going to be debstituted, and they're not going to get
Speaker 1: any money until they past physical and the same with
Speaker 1: you know, with and Joe Mixon, and I mean, there's
Speaker 1: got to be the doctors have to get their hands
Speaker 1: on these guys to make sure there isn't anything that's
Speaker 1: cropped up and anything that they've had in their past
Speaker 1: is not going to be an issue in the future
Speaker 1: and all those kinds of things before you make those investments. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's it's slow. I mean, there's no reason to no
Speaker 1: reason to hurry anything. If you can't, you can't get
Speaker 1: your money, you know, until until things start to start
Speaker 1: to wind back up again. Um. Then when they do
Speaker 1: start to wind back up again, the second phase is
Speaker 1: like you're talking about, is what's the what's the money
Speaker 1: going to look like? I mean, what what are we
Speaker 1: going to have in terms of our pot? And until
Speaker 1: we know what the pot is on our comfortable divide it,
Speaker 1: until we know what we've got as a whole, and
Speaker 1: then we can start given out pieces of the pies.
Speaker 1: Paul Brown used to saying, Mike Brown says, now you
Speaker 1: know your piece of the pie. Is this. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna be any more than that. So until you can
Speaker 1: find out how big that pie is? Is that pie?
Speaker 1: You know? Is that pie just a tiny little uh
Speaker 1: you know, eskimo pire? Is it a big old pie?
Speaker 1: What is that pie? You used to love that piece
Speaker 1: of the pie discussion in your playing days, didn't you.
Speaker 1: Oh lordy, I used to have nightmares about that, that
Speaker 1: phrase to just keep I'd hear it over and over
Speaker 1: and over again, just you know, when in the chambers
Speaker 1: of my empty head, your piece, your piece of the pie.
Speaker 1: Is this? So the NFL talked about it and then
Speaker 1: elected not to add the option of having a fourth
Speaker 1: down and fifteen play from the twenty five yard line
Speaker 1: as a post ability instead of an on side kick.
Speaker 1: Do you like that idea? You know, part of me,
Speaker 1: part of me does like it. But honestly, I mean,
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of fourths and fifteen. They say
Speaker 1: the conversion rate is like less than twenty percent, or maybe,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe closer to fifteen percent or even less
Speaker 1: than that. I don't know. I mean I've seen a
Speaker 1: bunch of I've seen a bunch of third and fifties converted. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: here in the past few years, you know, So fourth
Speaker 1: and fifteen though it's fourth and fifteen, it's it's one down,
Speaker 1: it's one play, so you don't you don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about you know, if you can make a play
Speaker 1: that it's all over with. You can descend the stooks
Speaker 1: and don't let anything get behind you and rally up
Speaker 1: and trying to make a tackle. You get beaten over
Speaker 1: the top on a fourth and fifteen, I mean, that
Speaker 1: would be uh, that would be devastation for sure, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure, I'm sure it would happen. I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: going to happen. I think they probably feel like the
Speaker 1: fourth and fifteen is too easy, you know, and ch
Speaker 1: donal a couple of scores go uh, you convert a
Speaker 1: fourth and fifteen and you can you can get right
Speaker 1: back in the football game. It's a one score game.
Speaker 1: I think that's probably their reaction is, um, the onside
Speaker 1: kick is a tougher thing to convert, but it's a
Speaker 1: lot more dangerous, you know, and they're trying to eliminate
Speaker 1: those kind of things. I mean, when you're talking onside
Speaker 1: kick and involved in a couple of those over the years,
Speaker 1: I mean, you talk about a mask humanity that goes
Speaker 1: inst that pile, you know, full contact. I mean it's
Speaker 1: like it's like a mass uh, a mass vehicle um
Speaker 1: accident on the year state. You know, when everybody's going
Speaker 1: at uh, you know, at at the speed limit. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's there's some serious potential contact in there when
Speaker 1: you're when everybody's diving for that football and you can
Speaker 1: have your you know, your foot plan and then you
Speaker 1: you knee mangled in an awkward position. That's the only
Speaker 1: time I had injuries to my knees was in a
Speaker 1: pile of people. It's you know, when when you're not
Speaker 1: in spate, so you're working, you know, and nothing, there's
Speaker 1: nothing in hipping your lower extremities, you're fine. But when
Speaker 1: you have you know, a body laying on the ground
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, and then you're you're taking over
Speaker 1: the top of it and you're needing torchs and bens
Speaker 1: in a way that it's not supposed to. That's when
Speaker 1: you have these big injuries as lineman, more so than
Speaker 1: you know, just like running backs will plant, they'll have
Speaker 1: non contact injuries lineman, that's that's more rare. Usually you
Speaker 1: have injuries when you're you're gnled up and part of
Speaker 1: the master humanities and a big old human human beach
Speaker 1: ball lap. Joe Burrow showed empathy for people in needing
Speaker 1: his Heisman speech, and he did it again after the
Speaker 1: murder of George Floyd. He tweeted, the black community needs
Speaker 1: our help. Open your ears, listen and speak. This isn't politics,
Speaker 1: this is human rights. What did Joe show you when
Speaker 1: he did that? And what do you think it meant
Speaker 1: to his teammates? He showed me. I think everything that
Speaker 1: everything that everybody hoped that that he's going to be.
Speaker 1: And I think it meant a lot to his teammates. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's no question about it. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jill Burrow Um has talked about, he talked about during
Speaker 1: his his Hysman speech that he grew up in an
Speaker 1: area where there wasn't a lot of money, you know,
Speaker 1: and people were trying to figure out how to feed families,
Speaker 1: you know, white, black, whatever color you're you're talking about.
Speaker 1: And uh so, I think I think he feels like
Speaker 1: he's got maybe a little bit more empathy, um, but
Speaker 1: not like you know, problems and issues that that the
Speaker 1: black racists had to deal with um, you know, during
Speaker 1: their during their lifetime, in lifetimes of many generations. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's weird, Dan. It's my situation is. I
Speaker 1: grew up in a in a in a town Wakefield, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: was was basically white and we had one black family, uh,
Speaker 1: come to Wakefield when I was in junior high school,
Speaker 1: and the two kids, Larry and Lewis Roberts, were exceptional,
Speaker 1: exceptional people not just you know, I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: care how what, what race, religion, whatever. I mean, these
Speaker 1: guys were both highly intelligent, incredibly successful athletically. I mean,
Speaker 1: my exposure to black people was I aspired to be
Speaker 1: Larry Roberts, who was a year ahead of me. He
Speaker 1: was president of my brother's class, National honor society, went
Speaker 1: to Darkness. He was you know, all state across country.
Speaker 1: Um he played uh basketball, he was you know all
Speaker 1: league basketball and then rain track and field. His brother
Speaker 1: was like that. I mean, that was my exposure. I
Speaker 1: wanted to be Larry Roberts. I mean he was he
Speaker 1: was somebody that he was my role model. And you know,
Speaker 1: and I had some success in high school, and you know,
Speaker 1: Larry Roberts graduated and on top ten of his class.
Speaker 1: I wanted to graduate in the top ten of my
Speaker 1: class and ended up doing it. Ended up, you know,
Speaker 1: having an opportunity to go to Avonlea school like uh,
Speaker 1: like Larry Roberts did. And I mean that was my
Speaker 1: exposure to uh, you know, to the black race. And
Speaker 1: then I go to UH Syracuse my freshman year, we
Speaker 1: have a black boycott benchwarsball the College Football Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame head coach m didn't have minority enough minority members
Speaker 1: on his coach and staff, and the blacks players decided
Speaker 1: a boycott. And you know, I had never been exposed
Speaker 1: to anything like that, so that was an education process.
Speaker 1: And we had one black player, Ronnie Page, decided to
Speaker 1: stay with the team, and you know, I got to
Speaker 1: be pretty good friends with Ronnie Page and how courageous
Speaker 1: that guy was, and you know, all the things that
Speaker 1: he had to deal with. And then I saw all
Speaker 1: the racial unrest in Syracuse, and I was I was
Speaker 1: part of part of some things that weren't that were
Speaker 1: very very ugly. Witnessed some things and one of our quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: who was a good high school basketball player, went down
Speaker 1: to the down to the basketball courts in the city
Speaker 1: to play pick up basketball, and he was the only
Speaker 1: white player on the court. And he he did in
Speaker 1: a situation where he was beating up and they had
Speaker 1: to reconstruct his stays and put the others cheap bones
Speaker 1: surgery up through his mouth at me. He was saw
Speaker 1: some unbelievable stuff. So, you know, I started in one
Speaker 1: way and then kind of get educated at the other.
Speaker 1: And they come to the National Football League and have
Speaker 1: teammates like Archie Griffin, Isaac Curtis, these guys. If if
Speaker 1: I had no family members to raise my kids, something
Speaker 1: happened to me. I want those guys to raise my kids.
Speaker 1: I mean, just unbelievable people. You know. And h Vernon Holland,
Speaker 1: who I played next to in the offensive line, we
Speaker 1: got to be so close. When he turned thirty years old,
Speaker 1: he invited me to his part. I was the only
Speaker 1: white person at at this party, and he was taking
Speaker 1: me around to his friends and family members like I
Speaker 1: was a family member, you know. And it's I mean,
Speaker 1: it's gone. It's been an up and down, big range
Speaker 1: of experiences and education in terms of you know, racism
Speaker 1: or lack thereof, or understanding the differences. And there are
Speaker 1: there are huge differences. I mean, until you've walked in
Speaker 1: the series of somebody that has had to deal with
Speaker 1: all the things that you know, some of these uh
Speaker 1: you know, black people have had to deal with their
Speaker 1: entire lives and multiple generations. You can't, you have no
Speaker 1: right to, you don't have a reference point. But all
Speaker 1: I can say is my experiences over the years I've done.
Speaker 1: They're they're unbelievable white people, you know, just role modeled
Speaker 1: white people. They're jerks. They're unbelievable people. Role model Black
Speaker 1: people and they're jerks. Now, don't care what color they are.
Speaker 1: They're good people and they're bad people. And what we
Speaker 1: have to do is just just uh, you know, just
Speaker 1: trying to understand understand each other's flights a little bit,
Speaker 1: you know. And because I've got I've got a granddaughter
Speaker 1: who has uh you know, one of her best friends
Speaker 1: in her class at school, preschool as a young black kid,
Speaker 1: and she loves the guy. So I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's all about experiences right now. She has it's Christine.
Speaker 1: She has no you know, there's no opinions trying to
Speaker 1: sway her one way or the other. And that's the
Speaker 1: way so you start out that way, don't get poisoned.
Speaker 1: And you know, and if you do have bad experiences,
Speaker 1: I hope that you're going to have some good experiences,
Speaker 1: you know, so you can understand the total picture. And man,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you it is. It's it's it's just a
Speaker 1: matter of everybody trying to understand, you know, the other
Speaker 1: person's plight, the other person's person's problems. You know, like
Speaker 1: like Rodney King said so many years ago, can't we
Speaker 1: all just get along? That's some that's somes the whole
Speaker 1: thing up in a nutshell, open your ears, listen and speak.
Speaker 1: I thought that was that was perfect from Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: All right, no doubt. Let's get to some ask Lap
Speaker 1: questions that were submitted on Twitter. We start with Joe
Speaker 1: Joe Jammer. Here's this question. Over the years, what rule
Speaker 1: change has helped offensive lineman the most? Being able to
Speaker 1: use your hands, you know, extend your arms and use
Speaker 1: your hands. Um, you know, you can lock your arms
Speaker 1: out and uh and as long as you're inside the
Speaker 1: framework of the body. I said, you can't put your
Speaker 1: arms around defensive players and bear hug them, but you
Speaker 1: know you can, you can even grab you can grab
Speaker 1: cloth if you're inside the flamework of the of the
Speaker 1: of the body of the person you're trying to block.
Speaker 1: And I mean, I've been on both sides of that.
Speaker 1: When I first started playing, it was you had to
Speaker 1: keep your hands and you had to keep them buy
Speaker 1: your chest and you you could throw a forearm type thing,
Speaker 1: but you could never extend your arms and open your
Speaker 1: hands and grab people. There's no way any of that
Speaker 1: can happen. Uh. And we were human punching bags, There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. Defensive players could head slap, they
Speaker 1: could do everything. I mean, they just tee off on you,
Speaker 1: and you know, you're you're you're just uh, you're just
Speaker 1: an instrument to absorb, you know, punishment. It was crazy.
Speaker 1: Now allowing offensive lineman to do that, I think it
Speaker 1: has changed the game unbelievably because part of the reason
Speaker 1: that it's it's a it's a better passing it's a
Speaker 1: passing game now is because offensive linement can you know,
Speaker 1: can pass protect so much easier. You can do so
Speaker 1: much more in terms of trying to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: prevent defensive players from getting your quarterback in a heartbeat,
Speaker 1: and that allows the field to open up, and so
Speaker 1: I think that was a major major rule change, big
Speaker 1: time question from Lockey, who does not have the glass
Speaker 1: half full based on this question, If God forbid, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow suffers a season ending injury and the Bengals earn
Speaker 1: the number one overall draft pick again, would they take
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence or trade down? Wow, it's not gonna happen, Lockey,
Speaker 1: don't worry, buddy, Lockey. That is about as dark as
Speaker 1: it gets. Man, have an adult bet it's loosen up
Speaker 1: a little bit, my man. Oh goodness, Yeah, that's nothing.
Speaker 1: I don't even want to think about that. Um, that
Speaker 1: would be that would be tragic, you know, but it's
Speaker 1: it's um, it's funny. You're not funny. It's sad. Really.
Speaker 1: I mean, Kenny Anderson got his opportunity because Greg Cook,
Speaker 1: who was the greatest going to be the greatest quarterback
Speaker 1: in Bengal's history, if not amongst the best in NFL
Speaker 1: history at the University of Cincinnati, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: he just this guy was a freak freak athlete and
Speaker 1: he had that terrible shoulder injury and then um, you know,
Speaker 1: eventually they drafted Key Anderson. So I mean it happens. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it happens. You do have the injuries. I don't hate
Speaker 1: to think about career ending injuries, but sepe of injuries,
Speaker 1: they're going to put people on on a shelf. I
Speaker 1: mean that that would be, you know, something that it
Speaker 1: certainly didn't want to contemplate happening after you draft somebody,
Speaker 1: you know, the first pick in the entire draft. Um,
Speaker 1: it would have to be I think for them to
Speaker 1: go quarterback again, they would have to be a debilitating,
Speaker 1: almost career ending injury. Um. And we're not talking about
Speaker 1: somebody who's drafting in the top ten. You know, we're
Speaker 1: not We're not talking about that. We're not talking about
Speaker 1: like what happened in Arizona where they draft a quarterback
Speaker 1: in the top ten and then you know he's traded
Speaker 1: away and then they draft a quarterback number one and
Speaker 1: Tyler Mars. It's it's not we're not talking about that
Speaker 1: type of situation. UM. So I think, to me, I
Speaker 1: think the odds are introtestinably small, not gonna happen. Lockey,
Speaker 1: don't worry about her buddy Yep from Cornelius, who is
Speaker 1: up to battle for the kicker job or do the
Speaker 1: Bengals think they're set. There are no other kickers on
Speaker 1: the roster right now, so that would seem to indicate
Speaker 1: their set, right. Yeah, I think they're I think they're
Speaker 1: pretty pretty pretty well set. I think they're um. They
Speaker 1: feel like they've got you know, people that they can
Speaker 1: count on, uh in terms of getting things done when
Speaker 1: when the press is on and and trying to you know,
Speaker 1: make a big play to win a football game. And
Speaker 1: you I know they I know they like every phase
Speaker 1: of it. You know, Harris as a snapper has been
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl. Huber as a punter has been
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl. They don't have a Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: plays clicker, but you know, they feel like they've got
Speaker 1: somebody that can can handle the task issue. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, again with the coronavirus though, I mean, everything
Speaker 1: is so stalled, you know, I don't think there's any
Speaker 1: rush to do anything right now. And honestly, like we're
Speaker 1: talking about earlier, it would not shock me if a
Speaker 1: ton of teams around in the league end up having
Speaker 1: far fewer than ninety players, you know, nineties number that
Speaker 1: the NFL allows to come to camp. It would not
Speaker 1: stun me if teams have fewer fewer players than that,
Speaker 1: you know in training camp, it would not stun me whatsoever.
Speaker 1: And and you know, how do you how do you
Speaker 1: give a kicker? You want to look at him for
Speaker 1: a long period of time. You want to set up
Speaker 1: as many multiple competitions as you can to see, you know,
Speaker 1: who is who is the guy? You haven't had time
Speaker 1: to do that, And I don't know. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is such an unusual year in terms of evaluating players.
Speaker 1: If if, if you are somebody looking to earn a
Speaker 1: spot somewhere in some way, shape or form, whatever that
Speaker 1: may be, this might be the toughest year to try
Speaker 1: to get that done. If you're established, you might feel
Speaker 1: a little bit more comfortable. But if you're not, man,
Speaker 1: it's a tough year to try to start a start
Speaker 1: a career out when you're you know, you're totally unestablished
Speaker 1: and you're not a high draft pick and you're not
Speaker 1: a sought after veteran free agent. I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a very very tough year for that for sure.
Speaker 1: Question from Scott is the current offensive line personnel good
Speaker 1: enough to protect Joe Burrow and allow him to have
Speaker 1: a season comparable to Andy Dalton and AJ Green's rookie year. Well,
Speaker 1: the one commonality that hopefully he has is a healthy
Speaker 1: AJ Green and you know, not a rookie AJA Green.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow will have an AJ Green that was a
Speaker 1: perennial Pro Bowl player unhealthy and has proven himself to be,
Speaker 1: you know, among the top worst case scenario when healthy,
Speaker 1: top five, top handful, maybe top three, you know, when
Speaker 1: totally healthy in the NFL. So that would be a
Speaker 1: huge advantage for Joe Burrow and Joe Burrow I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot of similarities and with the learning capacities
Speaker 1: and mindsets and mentalities of Joe Burrow and Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: I think in a very very positive way. So the
Speaker 1: question is, you know, Joe Burrow is going to know
Speaker 1: what he's looking at. He's gonna know where to throw
Speaker 1: the football, how to throw the football, and when to
Speaker 1: throw the football, and you know he's gonna get them
Speaker 1: out of bad plays into better plays. The key component
Speaker 1: is will the offensive line given time to op given
Speaker 1: time to do all those things? And that's that's the
Speaker 1: that's the million dollar question. I think potentially, you know,
Speaker 1: there are some guys up there that have skill sets,
Speaker 1: you know, Jonah Williams from what I'm watching him on
Speaker 1: tape in college. He's got a great skill set and
Speaker 1: it's at the SEC level, which is the highest level
Speaker 1: you can face in college football. But it's not the
Speaker 1: National Football League. And you know, there have been I
Speaker 1: don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I've seen many
Speaker 1: first round draft picks not be able to cut the mustard.
Speaker 1: I've seen many first round draft picks able to cut
Speaker 1: the mustard. So I think I think he'll cut the mustard.
Speaker 1: You know, I think Michael Jordan has untapped potential. Trey
Speaker 1: Hopkins got themselves an extension and earned it and deserved
Speaker 1: it um physically and mentally. He's he's a he's a
Speaker 1: hell of a football player, Uh, sue A fee level. Uh.
Speaker 1: You knows does an NFL experience. But when you have
Speaker 1: forty percent of the offensive law has not taken a
Speaker 1: snap as the Cincinnati Bengal and Michael Jordan's snaps are
Speaker 1: you know, minimal? Bobby hard at right tackle Fred Johnson
Speaker 1: in a fight there, Isaiah Prents me. They've got bodies,
Speaker 1: They've got people. The question is, like the talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: will they play like a fifth. Will they play as one?
Speaker 1: Will they play cohesive? Will they play as a unit?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I always like to use this number.
Speaker 1: Offensive line play can be summed up like this. You
Speaker 1: throw the ball twenty times in a game. You're an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. You blocked your guy nineteen times out of twenty.
Speaker 1: He beats you once, maybe for a pressure, hopefully not
Speaker 1: a stack, but you grade ninety five. Everybody in the
Speaker 1: offensive line blocks their guy nineteen times out of twenty,
Speaker 1: and they all grade in eight ninety five. Problem is,
Speaker 1: they all get beaten on different snaps. So instead of
Speaker 1: grading ninety five as a group, you grade seventy five,
Speaker 1: five of the twenty times you were beaten as a group.
Speaker 1: So you greatly see so individually everybody. And I had
Speaker 1: a game. I got my chest pumped out. You know,
Speaker 1: I blocked my guy. I blocked at an a level
Speaker 1: and now, well we all did, but the quarterback it
Speaker 1: hit five times. And as a group, you guys will see.
Speaker 1: To me, that is the epitome of teamwork. The offensive
Speaker 1: line is the epitome of teamwork. And until those guys
Speaker 1: prove that they can, you know, work together like that
Speaker 1: and be make all the components. When you add everybody's
Speaker 1: talents and abilities up, you have, you know, a sooner
Speaker 1: justic effect. One plus one equals three, not just two.
Speaker 1: Because they're playing so well together and we can hide
Speaker 1: each other. If there's a weakness, they configure out a
Speaker 1: way to hide it by making a call and giving
Speaker 1: some help here, doing whatever. That's that's the key to
Speaker 1: offensive line play. It's how are you performing as a unit?
Speaker 1: How are you performing as a group? One more follow
Speaker 1: up to that last question. Andy Dalton obviously led the
Speaker 1: Bengals to nine wins his rookie year and a spot
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, but statistically he wasn't great as a rookie.
Speaker 1: He was good twenty touchdown passes, thirteen picks, passer rating
Speaker 1: of eighty point four by Justin. Following up on that
Speaker 1: last question, I think Joe Burrow stands a very good
Speaker 1: chance of surpassing those numbers. The hard part will be
Speaker 1: matching the nine wins. All right, question from Brian Man
Speaker 1: and others, why not make a run at free agent
Speaker 1: offensive lineman Larry Warford, the three time pro bowler out
Speaker 1: of UK who was recently released by the Saints. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think there are a lot of people
Speaker 1: that are trying to determine around the league, trying to
Speaker 1: determine whether they make a run out him or not.
Speaker 1: I think part of the right now is economics. You know,
Speaker 1: That's why he's not a New Orleans Saint anymore. And
Speaker 1: in the Bengals are like we're talking about not only
Speaker 1: trying to sign all their rookies and you know what
Speaker 1: you're spending from a cap standpoint, I mean, everything is uh,
Speaker 1: you know, is basically predetermined. The Bengals know exactly what
Speaker 1: they have to spend on rookies based on the number
Speaker 1: that they've they've they've drafted you know seven, I mean
Speaker 1: New England drafted fourteen. They know what they have to spend.
Speaker 1: The Bengals know what they have to spend. It's all
Speaker 1: predicated on slotted where they're drafted, and Bengals have some
Speaker 1: high draft pick picks everywhere else. They're going to be
Speaker 1: spending some money on their rookies in their in their
Speaker 1: salary job. They have to just need to. And then
Speaker 1: you want to extend agree and you want to extend
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon. You know, it's it's where your priorities and
Speaker 1: how far along are you in the process of all
Speaker 1: those things and what might be left over, and then
Speaker 1: you make a determination based on you know who, how
Speaker 1: many people are are competing for the services of Warford,
Speaker 1: where's that contract going to end up? And I'll guarantee
Speaker 1: if it's been discussed that there's there's not one of
Speaker 1: the Saints made their decision. Thirty one of the teams.
Speaker 1: They all have to just the Saints have decided. But
Speaker 1: maybe not. Maybe if Warford is out there and there's
Speaker 1: not the dollars out there that he thinks may he
Speaker 1: may come back to the Saints and saying what about this,
Speaker 1: and maybe the Saints saying hello, Yeah. So I mean
Speaker 1: there's a lot to a lot to play out in
Speaker 1: terms of what's going on with him. And there's no
Speaker 1: way in my mind the Bengals having kicked the tires,
Speaker 1: you know, thought about that, that that that process. But
Speaker 1: there's a lot of a lot of variables in the equation.
Speaker 1: And you know, that's the way it is when a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of teams around the league on
Speaker 1: top of the game, you know, the coronavirus, and he
Speaker 1: can't get your hands on him and give him a
Speaker 1: physical and all the things I mean, he's played a
Speaker 1: lot of snaps in the National Football League at the stage,
Speaker 1: and so you want to make sure that that there
Speaker 1: are no surprises there physically as well. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's all a slow, slow process. He reportedly wants
Speaker 1: seven million a year. He's a big man, three hundred
Speaker 1: thirty pounds plus. And I read one story out of
Speaker 1: a New Orleans outlet that said there was a significant
Speaker 1: drop off in his play last year even though he
Speaker 1: was a pro bowler, and he had weight and conditioning issues.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if that's true. I haven't studied
Speaker 1: it enough, but I did read that, and I wonder
Speaker 1: based on that, if you've really got to get your
Speaker 1: hands on that guy before you commit that kind of money. Well,
Speaker 1: if he um and that does happen, guys will decline
Speaker 1: and still make the Pro Bowl best based on reputation.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes it becomes a popularity contest and it
Speaker 1: doesn't catch up as a guy to he you know,
Speaker 1: he has another year that's not maybe as good as
Speaker 1: it was when he was a pro bowler, And if
Speaker 1: he had weight and conditioning problems last year, this year
Speaker 1: with the coronavirus, and you have to be a self
Speaker 1: starter in terms of working out and finding a place
Speaker 1: to work out, and you have to really commit yourself
Speaker 1: to your profession. And he had problems last year in
Speaker 1: that regard. Boy, he'd be radioactive until I can at
Speaker 1: least see him, you know, and see you know, is
Speaker 1: he a hot mess or is he in some kind
Speaker 1: of a monicuma condition to that you can work with
Speaker 1: where you know he might be able to get back
Speaker 1: to playing at his at his form, his prior form.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe he had a wake up call and
Speaker 1: he's in great shape, or maybe you know he's down
Speaker 1: down the dumps because of what happened last year and
Speaker 1: he's in worse shape, And you don't know until you
Speaker 1: work them out and you see him right, all right.
Speaker 1: Question from Matthew with Burrows accuracy, do you see pass catchers,
Speaker 1: especially wide receivers, having an easier time boosting stats? This
Speaker 1: question comes from Matthew Heitzman, not fantasy football guru Matthew Barry,
Speaker 1: because it sounds sounds kind of like somebody who's interested
Speaker 1: in those fantasy numbers for the Bengals wide receivers in
Speaker 1: the Joe Burrow era. You know, I do think that
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks that have uncanny accuracy can improve the numbers
Speaker 1: for their receivers on a yards per catch basis totally
Speaker 1: yards as a result of that, and everything goes along
Speaker 1: with it because there's completions and then there's completions. By that,
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, you can put the ball on him
Speaker 1: and complete it and you make him stop to make
Speaker 1: the catch and he's tackled. Or I'm talking about a
Speaker 1: guy that's on a slant and he's running open, but
Speaker 1: you make him stop to catch the football and he
Speaker 1: gets me built. Or a guy that's on a slant,
Speaker 1: he's open and you lead him where he doesn't break stride.
Speaker 1: He catches the football and he catch he's in full
Speaker 1: stride when he catches it and takes for a seven
Speaker 1: yard touchdown all at John rosterd when he went up
Speaker 1: to up to see him up the gut, you know
Speaker 1: in score. So quarterbacks that have that uncanny innate ability
Speaker 1: to to put it to spots where you know the
Speaker 1: receiver can catch the football in full stride, those are
Speaker 1: the guys that are gold. And I think Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: does have that ability. I think he showed that kind
Speaker 1: of ability. You know at LSU. The other thing, you know, simple,
Speaker 1: You see completions work. The quarterback makes the receiver work
Speaker 1: too hard and he falls to the ground. You know,
Speaker 1: in college they're down. Now you can get back up
Speaker 1: and run in the NFL, but HeLEX they're on the ground.
Speaker 1: You ain't getting up and run it too far. In
Speaker 1: the NFL, You're gonna get destroyed. You're gonna get smoked
Speaker 1: while you're on the ground. Probably, So you want to
Speaker 1: keep people on their feet and if possible, you want
Speaker 1: to hit them in stride. And that's where numbers increase.
Speaker 1: For receivers and quarterbacks that can you know, yeah, execute
Speaker 1: that type of a completion accuracy. Those are the ones
Speaker 1: that are you know, amost the best in the league
Speaker 1: for sure. Question from Big Mike, what's the plan for
Speaker 1: Billy Price? Is he going to compete for a starting
Speaker 1: a starting spot or is it safe to say he's
Speaker 1: going to be a backup? Well, I think I think everybody.
Speaker 1: The one thing that that I will sell the offensive
Speaker 1: line coaches mindset is it's meritocracy. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: if you earn the job, you're going to get the job.
Speaker 1: And that's why I mean, you have to pencil somebody
Speaker 1: in as a starting line as you know, as a
Speaker 1: starter in your line. And I do think, you know,
Speaker 1: the starting five would probably be Jonah Williams at left tackle,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan left guard, Trey Hopkins at center, Davie sue
Speaker 1: A Filo at right guard, and Bobby Hart initially at
Speaker 1: right tackle and then compete best man wins. So I
Speaker 1: don't think that Billy Price is necessarily penciled in as
Speaker 1: a starter, but you know, if he has a has
Speaker 1: a very strong performance, you know, in again, now we're
Speaker 1: talking about a potentially shortened training camp, but if he
Speaker 1: goes out and performs well in preseason games, performs well
Speaker 1: in the early stages of regular season games, and you know,
Speaker 1: if guys good line coaches I play for, if guys
Speaker 1: have shown that they can play, you might have seven guys.
Speaker 1: You may have seven guys that you feel like could
Speaker 1: start rotate them. I mean you rotate. You rotate defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: Why they he'll not rotate offensive lineman. You're rotating defensive
Speaker 1: lineman to keep him fresh. You can play more than
Speaker 1: you know, five offensive lineman if you feel like you're
Speaker 1: not gonna drop off in terms of performance and keep
Speaker 1: guys fresh and play guys at multiple positions. And you
Speaker 1: know I experienced that. I mean, the more positions you
Speaker 1: can play, the more valuable you are. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Billy Price, if he shows he's the equally effective at center, right, left,
Speaker 1: right or left guard, he's got some value. Um, you know.
Speaker 1: And if he if he shows, he should get some snaps,
Speaker 1: you know, some snaps. So and I'm you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about every other series, you know, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about you know, maybe rolling a guy in their period
Speaker 1: just to keep them shop and uh, you know, and
Speaker 1: to keep other guys fresh. And so I mean, in
Speaker 1: a perfect world, you've got eight offensive linemen. It's you
Speaker 1: don't really like. I mean, there's there's a whisker difference
Speaker 1: between the talents and the performance potential production, you know,
Speaker 1: of all of them. And then then it starts to
Speaker 1: get into the other things. Uh, the intelligence factor. Coaches
Speaker 1: are confident with smart players. If the other guy that is,
Speaker 1: you know, one percent guy never makes any mental mistakes,
Speaker 1: that's a tiebreaker. Now that's a tiebreaker. So there are
Speaker 1: a lot of things you evaluate, but you want to
Speaker 1: have you don't want to have just five quote five
Speaker 1: starting offensive libin you want to have you know, seven
Speaker 1: or eight as you possibly can. All right, final ask
Speaker 1: lap question. This one comes from Jim and I'm shocked
Speaker 1: that I have never asked you this question. Here goes,
Speaker 1: what's the most you ever benched, squatted and deadlifted? Whoa?
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's interesting because I was in the
Speaker 1: era of Nautilus with the Bengals. We didn't use free weights.
Speaker 1: So in a Syracuse, I mean, the most eye benched
Speaker 1: was four ten. I can't remember when I squatted. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, it got to the point where they were
Speaker 1: very very uh nervous about you know, letting you load
Speaker 1: up and squatting ridiculous amount of weights to max and
Speaker 1: so we would we would use you know, significant amount
Speaker 1: of weight and try to rep rep that weight in
Speaker 1: terms of squatting and deadlifting. Man, you know, I never
Speaker 1: did that deadlift either, you know, being in that in
Speaker 1: that era that I was in. But I will say
Speaker 1: one thing our work construction, um concrete forms and UM.
Speaker 1: I remember picking up some concrete forms that had you know,
Speaker 1: dried concrete in them and you pick them up off
Speaker 1: the ground and it's like, I don't know how much
Speaker 1: a weight. But boy, that was that was a big
Speaker 1: old deadlift. And I remember the ones that weren't quite
Speaker 1: as filled with as much concrete, you know, let's stick,
Speaker 1: you know, pressing them over my head and try. I
Speaker 1: was trying to get a workout doing the construction job,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of curling some of these concrete forms
Speaker 1: if I could grab them well enough. And then I
Speaker 1: also moved furniture as well, did the construction job in furniture.
Speaker 1: And remember, you know, taking a refrigerator, putting it on
Speaker 1: my back with the strap and going up three flights
Speaker 1: of stairs to an apartment and delivering a refrigerator. That's
Speaker 1: a squad. That's a good thing. That was. That was.
Speaker 1: I remember my legs were quivering. Men I got I
Speaker 1: got to that third floor and I was like, whoa,
Speaker 1: put that thing down, and my legs were like shaken.
Speaker 1: But that was, you know, that was great work. So um.
Speaker 1: But you know, Kim Wood was was a strong coach
Speaker 1: and he P Brown were partners in Nautilus and the
Speaker 1: Bengals were huge Nautilus disciples. Uh that's what that's what
Speaker 1: we worked out was mostly. Well, your four ten bench
Speaker 1: press is currently the lead in the Bengals Booth. You've
Speaker 1: got You've got me beat for now, but now I
Speaker 1: have a target. If I can double my all time high,
Speaker 1: I have a chance. All Right, you're off the hot seat.
Speaker 1: Appreciate the information as always. Hope to see you soon.
Speaker 1: All right, damn the man, I have a great one.
Speaker 1: Here's one final note before we wrap things up. I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, I'm recording this on Friday, June fifth, and
Speaker 1: tonight at eight o'clock Eastern time, NBC Sports Network is
Speaker 1: airing Super Bowl twenty three in its entirety. I plan
Speaker 1: to watch before turning it off after Jim Breach's game
Speaker 1: winning field goal with three twenty to go. In my
Speaker 1: family room tonight, there will be no such thing as
Speaker 1: Montana to Taylor. That's going to do it for This
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by
Speaker 1: Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
Speaker 1: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast,