Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. When You Wish Upon a Star
Speaker 1: edition as we devote an entire episode of the podcast
Speaker 1: to a player that many of you are wishing for
Speaker 1: with a fifth overall pick in this year's draft, LSU
Speaker 1: wide receiver Jamar Chase. You'll hear from his high school
Speaker 1: coach back home in New Orleans, the voice of the
Speaker 1: LSU Tigers, NFL Draft expert Daniel Jeremiah, and Sam Munson
Speaker 1: from Pro Football Focus, who has Chase ranked as the
Speaker 1: best wide receiver in the last two NFL drafts, and
Speaker 1: we know how good last year's class was. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light. Seltzer Refreshed the Game,
Speaker 1: and here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since Mick Cronan
Speaker 1: taking UCLA to the Final four. Mick has been my
Speaker 1: friend for roughly twenty years as the Bearcat's radio announcer.
Speaker 1: During his thirteen years as Cincinnati's head coach. We celebrated
Speaker 1: memorable wins together, shared a ton of laughs, enjoyed great meals,
Speaker 1: and traded parenting tips. Since my son Sam and his
Speaker 1: daughter Sammy were born about five months apart. I am
Speaker 1: thrilled that Mick is getting praise from coast to coast
Speaker 1: for the incredible job he's done with this UCLA team
Speaker 1: and is finally being recognized as one of the top
Speaker 1: coaches in college basketball. Furthermore, I couldn't be happier for
Speaker 1: his dad, hep, his right hand man Darren Savino, and
Speaker 1: all of the UCLA folks with Cincinnati ties. You know
Speaker 1: the old saying good things happen to good people. Well,
Speaker 1: Mick Cronan is good people, and mark my words, this
Speaker 1: is his first trip to the Final Four and it
Speaker 1: won't be his only. Now time to turn our attention
Speaker 1: to twenty one year old Jamar Anthony Chase. Jamar attended
Speaker 1: Archbishop Rummel High School in Metory, Louisiana, a suburb of
Speaker 1: New Orleans, and played for a coaching icon named Jay Roth,
Speaker 1: who led the school to twelve league championships in his
Speaker 1: twenty four years as head coach. Jay, do you remember
Speaker 1: when you first became aware of Jamar and what your
Speaker 1: initial impressions of him were. Yes, I do his first
Speaker 1: game as a sophomore, he said a school record with
Speaker 1: four touchdown receptions over a two hundred yards receiving as
Speaker 1: his first game as a receiver, and I knew we
Speaker 1: had some special It sure sounds that way. Did you
Speaker 1: adjust your style of play to take advantage of his ability? Yes,
Speaker 1: Going into his junior year, we went to a spread offense,
Speaker 1: a no huddle spread offense after what I saw he
Speaker 1: did as a sophomore, and it's like, you know, seeing
Speaker 1: that you have a thousand and two thousand yard running back,
Speaker 1: saw that we had a receiver there was one of
Speaker 1: the best athletes has ever come to the school, and
Speaker 1: we literally changed our offense. Yes, what was he like
Speaker 1: to coach? He was like every other young man, except
Speaker 1: he was a star in his own right, but a
Speaker 1: humble star. He never once knocked on the throwing the
Speaker 1: coach and one more touches, or never had dad come
Speaker 1: in and complain about anything. I mean, he was all
Speaker 1: the receiving records at Rummel, but he's just a team player.
Speaker 1: I mean he I mean one catch and he was
Speaker 1: blocking his butt off whatever we needed he did. He
Speaker 1: was just a pleasure to be around. And you know,
Speaker 1: in this day and age of athletes being where they
Speaker 1: concentrate on one sport, Jamar came into Rommo. He played football, basketball,
Speaker 1: and the state champion track you know, long jump, triple
Speaker 1: jump guy. So I mean he was, he was. He's
Speaker 1: a true athlete. We're talking to Jay Roth, who was
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase's high school coach. What do you consider his
Speaker 1: best trait to be his strong hands and his physical Actually,
Speaker 1: he's just a physical strong weight room and strong hands.
Speaker 1: I mean he could just grab a football and latch
Speaker 1: onto it. He could take somebody and block him and
Speaker 1: just barry him in the ground if he wanted to.
Speaker 1: And you know, people had trouble pressing him at a
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage because he was just so quick and
Speaker 1: so strong, and he at receiving speed. You know, I
Speaker 1: never saw him get caught. People always might have said,
Speaker 1: you know, he's not a four to two four three guy.
Speaker 1: Well that's fine, but the nobody ever caught him more.
Speaker 1: His days at Romo n L. Shoe was recruiting insane. Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, he committed. Poor guy he was
Speaker 1: committed to maybe two or three schools. You know, he
Speaker 1: started as a junior and he was Kansas and you
Speaker 1: know Florida, and Florida had a coach and change. You know,
Speaker 1: Auburn quartered him hard and then you know, Ella Shoe
Speaker 1: got their man in the end. We're talking to Jay Roth,
Speaker 1: who coached Jamar Chase in high school. I know you
Speaker 1: coached him great players there. He won multiple state titles.
Speaker 1: I think former Bengal Sephan Carter was one of your
Speaker 1: former players. Where does Jamar rank among the great guys
Speaker 1: that you coached. He's in the top two, top two
Speaker 1: or three. We had Kevin Steltz was a Krik Stelts
Speaker 1: was an All American Lashoo third round draft to get
Speaker 1: the Bears. And you know, Jamar is going to go
Speaker 1: down as the greatest, to be honest, because he's being
Speaker 1: top five, top seven picks in the NFL draft. You know, Bulting,
Speaker 1: the Cough Award winner, So he's gonna be He'll be
Speaker 1: up there. He'll be the greatest. I'll say that. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you watched a lot of the Joe Burrow to
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase connection a couple of years ago at LSU.
Speaker 1: What did you think when you watch those two play. Well,
Speaker 1: he had a guy at quarterback that knew how to
Speaker 1: get rid of the football and knew he was thrown too.
Speaker 1: And I heard he's just a fantastic teammate and the
Speaker 1: receivers just loved being in the game with him because
Speaker 1: everybody had to pay attention. You didn't know who was
Speaker 1: getting the ball. You know, Joe was going to throw
Speaker 1: it to the person who was open as the person
Speaker 1: and he just didn't have favorites. So watching them execute
Speaker 1: and had that great year at LSU was a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Obviously a lot of Bengals fans are intrigued by the
Speaker 1: notion of reuniting those two at the NFL level. Did
Speaker 1: you see any sort of special connection when you watch
Speaker 1: them play. I just saw two guys that were NFL ready,
Speaker 1: to be honest with which I mean, that's what I saw,
Speaker 1: which is the offensive numbers they put up there year
Speaker 1: at Las Shoe to Alabama's last team last year, which
Speaker 1: is a phenomenal for a college football team, And that's
Speaker 1: what I saw. Guys, You're just gonna be on the
Speaker 1: same page at all times. How do you think Jamar
Speaker 1: will adjust to NFL life, not only on the field,
Speaker 1: but off it. To be honest, I think the year
Speaker 1: offer does just me my opinion. I think the year
Speaker 1: off he took has prepared him. You know, he's been
Speaker 1: away from home, he's been training as a professional. You know,
Speaker 1: he's been training for the NFL Draft. So I think
Speaker 1: the year offers prepared him and giving him tom to
Speaker 1: get rights to his NFL life he's about to take on.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite memory, a favorite game, anything
Speaker 1: else that specifically comes to mind when you think of
Speaker 1: the time you spend coaching him. Well, probably his last
Speaker 1: year he played his senior year. It was a playoff
Speaker 1: game against Bird High School Street Port Louisiana. He caught
Speaker 1: four touchdown passes and he hurt his knee and we
Speaker 1: went to the semifinals. He gotta beat fourteen seven, knowing
Speaker 1: that if we probably would have had you more healthy,
Speaker 1: we would probably advanced the state championship in Hotel what
Speaker 1: would have happen? But he was injured the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: But we actually used him one I've ever used. We
Speaker 1: put him at a wildcat. He scored a touchdown running
Speaker 1: the ball. So it's like it took it took me
Speaker 1: three years to realize, you know what, you better put
Speaker 1: the ball in his guy's hand as much as you can.
Speaker 1: And in that game he got hurt and he wasn't
Speaker 1: there for the state state semifinal game. So with the
Speaker 1: trade that was made last week with the forty nine
Speaker 1: ers moving up to the third pick in the draft,
Speaker 1: it looks like the top three picks are going to
Speaker 1: be quarterbacks. Atlanta goes forth, the Bengals go fifth. If
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase is there at number five, what would you
Speaker 1: advise Cincinnati to do. I'd advise anybody to take him off.
Speaker 1: Talking about the number one draft, to really take a
Speaker 1: first five days of quarterback, take Jamar. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: From Rummel High School, it was on to LSU, where
Speaker 1: Chase's two seasons in Baton Rouge were also Joe burrows
Speaker 1: two seasons with the Tigers. As a true freshman, Jamar
Speaker 1: had modest stats twenty three catches, including three for touchdowns,
Speaker 1: but as a sophomore he had one of the best
Speaker 1: seasons in college football history with eighty four catches for
Speaker 1: one thousand, seven hundred eighty yards. That's more than twenty
Speaker 1: one yards per catch and Chase hauled in twenty of
Speaker 1: Joe burrows sixty touchdown passes in the National Championship win
Speaker 1: over Clemson. Jamar had nine grabs for two hundred twenty
Speaker 1: one yards and a pair of touchdowns in what turned
Speaker 1: out to be his final college game, as Chase elected
Speaker 1: to opt out last season due to COVID nineteen and
Speaker 1: began preparing for the NFL Draft. This week, I spoke
Speaker 1: to the radio voice of the LSU Tigers, Chris Blair. Yes,
Speaker 1: our timing is perfect. We are speaking a few hours
Speaker 1: after Jamar Chase wowed the scouts at his pro day today,
Speaker 1: particularly by running a four point three eight forty yard dash.
Speaker 1: What's the reaction in Baton Rouge to what Jamar did
Speaker 1: this morning? Well, number one, nobody seems to be surprised,
Speaker 1: an at number two, it's just boil boy. What could
Speaker 1: he have done had he decided to play for the
Speaker 1: Bengal Tigers of LSU this past ball, of course, opting
Speaker 1: out for his junior campaign. But you know, he's a
Speaker 1: favorite son of Louisiana, and of course what he was
Speaker 1: a part of in twenty nineteen will always etch his
Speaker 1: name very close and very fun by Tiger fans so
Speaker 1: and impressive showing. But again, I guess the first takeaway
Speaker 1: is you're you're excited he comes out performs that way
Speaker 1: in front of the scouts, and again I think the
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway is nobody's surprised at all. They expected him
Speaker 1: to show up and show up well, Chris, you were
Speaker 1: behind the mic two years ago for Joe Burrows Heisman
Speaker 1: Trophy season and that also saw Jamar Chase when the
Speaker 1: Bullin Nikoff Award is the nation's best wide receiver. What's
Speaker 1: top of mind when you think about that Burrow to
Speaker 1: Chase connection a couple of years ago. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting Dan that you know, you guys, we're getting
Speaker 1: together and talking again this year. Last year prior to that,
Speaker 1: we were talking about Joe Burrow so far on one
Speaker 1: for one with fingers Fan so good. But you can
Speaker 1: feel that way when you're talking about Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: then following it up with Jamar Chase. Those two were
Speaker 1: certainly lined up together. You know. It's one of the
Speaker 1: things that Joe talked about going into that twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: season was again arriving in twenty eighteen is the transfer
Speaker 1: quarterback he went immediately to his skilled players on offense
Speaker 1: along with his offensive line, and they had to bond.
Speaker 1: And the receiving group in twenty nineteen, which Jamar was
Speaker 1: a part of, and Joe Burrow, they just seemed to
Speaker 1: be almost using telepathy. They were always where they needed
Speaker 1: to be ran Chris Browse. Jamar was certainly a very
Speaker 1: good route runner, but when plays would break down and
Speaker 1: Joe would be able to an extended play and move
Speaker 1: the pocket, it was justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase who
Speaker 1: who just knew where to be, knew where to find
Speaker 1: the crease and and Joe knew where to go with
Speaker 1: the football, and those guys more times than not we're there.
Speaker 1: So the relationship, I know a lot of people have
Speaker 1: been having fun on social media, but Joe really pulling
Speaker 1: to the Bengals to bring Jamar Chase. It's not only
Speaker 1: because I think they're very good friends. I think it's
Speaker 1: because he understands the type of weaponry that Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: would have add, not only to Cincinnati but really to
Speaker 1: any team. He's just that type of player and his
Speaker 1: background and his work at the show, the numbers bear out.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that is just who he is. We
Speaker 1: are talking to the voice of the LSU Tigers, Chris Blair.
Speaker 1: Those numbers speak for themselves, but what can you tell
Speaker 1: us about Jamar as a person, a teammate, a leader, etc.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's interesting. Just a couple of weeks ago, obviously,
Speaker 1: the spring football getting underway here at LSU, the receiving
Speaker 1: core room already talking about their plans for the summer
Speaker 1: of ten thousand passes and Jamar Chase and that's one
Speaker 1: of the traditions, very new traditions at LSU, and it
Speaker 1: was created by Jamar Chase along with help from Terrace Marshall,
Speaker 1: who will also be going into the draft this year
Speaker 1: at Justin Jefferson, who, by my humble opinion, was robbed
Speaker 1: a Rookie of the Year from Minnesota last season. But
Speaker 1: those three guys got together in the time they could
Speaker 1: work just individually and got out the jugs gun and
Speaker 1: they up the velocity on the footballs and they took
Speaker 1: ten thousand passes over the course of the summer. And
Speaker 1: you know, it was an attempt to make sure that
Speaker 1: if the ball was within grass, they had a good
Speaker 1: chance of hauling it in. And when you look at
Speaker 1: how that translated number one to Joe Burrows accuracy number
Speaker 1: two to the number of catches and touchdowns and yards
Speaker 1: that Jamar Chase had along with Justin Jefferson and Terrorist Marshall,
Speaker 1: it kind of set the bar now for LSU receivers.
Speaker 1: So I think when you talk about looking at him
Speaker 1: coming out of high school one of the top prospects
Speaker 1: in the state of Louisiana a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: rated a four star prospect, his work ethic took him
Speaker 1: from being a four star, which again is very very
Speaker 1: good to be in the top of the class and
Speaker 1: a bullet Nikoff winner. So it's a lot in the
Speaker 1: same conversation you and I had about Joe Burrow, it's
Speaker 1: his approach to the game and the preparation of the
Speaker 1: game has been pro l really since twenty eighteen, and
Speaker 1: certainly he ramped that up in twenty nineteen. But you know,
Speaker 1: he kind of was the architect of the Summer of
Speaker 1: ten thousand passes. And you know when LSU's coaching staff
Speaker 1: and the other younger receivers who were coming up in
Speaker 1: the program, they look at how that type of dedication,
Speaker 1: not with the coaches, not with the staff, all on
Speaker 1: their own time led to a phenomenal year as far
Speaker 1: as offense and receiving offense in twenty nine. So, you know,
Speaker 1: ten years from now, when they're talking about the Summer
Speaker 1: of ten thousand passes, everybody can think Jamar Chase. He's
Speaker 1: kind of the father of that. That is awesome, the
Speaker 1: Summer of ten thousand passes. It's like Malcolm Gladwell's ten
Speaker 1: thousand hours, but ten thousand passes instead. Chris, do you
Speaker 1: have a favorite Jamar Chase moment and or story anything
Speaker 1: along those lines. Yeah, I think it was. It was
Speaker 1: coming off the Old Miss game. You know, several teams,
Speaker 1: you know, once we got about mid season in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: they spent the entire week the opponent of that is
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, Okay, which poison are we going
Speaker 1: to take away? And more times than not, it was
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase. And I had a chance to talk with
Speaker 1: him do a couple of interviews throughout the season, and
Speaker 1: I asked him following the Old Miss game where he
Speaker 1: didn't have a great game, it's because they really put
Speaker 1: bracket coverage on him for the entire game. They just said,
Speaker 1: we're going to take Jamar Chase away, and nobody was
Speaker 1: more thrilled for the performance that both just Jefferson had
Speaker 1: in single coverage. Also, Marshall had a pretty big game
Speaker 1: in the slot, and then Clyde Edwards E. Lair was
Speaker 1: able to really pick up some solid running yards that
Speaker 1: really allowed LSU to come out on top in Oxford
Speaker 1: on that Saturday. And when I was talking about Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase and talking to him, I was asking him about
Speaker 1: what it's like when you know a team's gonna try
Speaker 1: to take you away, and he really didn't even go
Speaker 1: into that. He talked about how everybody gets a chance
Speaker 1: to eat on this LSU team and they're so talented
Speaker 1: that he just sat back and laughed that they were
Speaker 1: going to put all this emphasis on him and LSU
Speaker 1: still was going to eat them up, rack up a
Speaker 1: bunch of yards and go on to victory. And I'll
Speaker 1: never forget after we were done, I told you, mar
Speaker 1: I said, you know what, that's a very I'm impressed.
Speaker 1: That's a very mature way of looking at things, because
Speaker 1: at that point of the season, he already was on
Speaker 1: the bullet Nic coof list, and so was Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 1: So for him to be able to say, hey, we
Speaker 1: knew we were gonna win because my guys are going
Speaker 1: to pick up the slack and if they get bracket
Speaker 1: coverage next week, then it's my time to step up.
Speaker 1: And he certainly did when that would have happened. So
Speaker 1: I was just impressed with his maturity at that age
Speaker 1: with so much of the spotlight on him. But yet
Speaker 1: he knew this is a team effort, and we got
Speaker 1: our eyes on going undefeated at winning the National Fitle,
Speaker 1: and anything less than that wasn't going to be satisfactories.
Speaker 1: We are talking about Jamar Chase with the Voice of
Speaker 1: the Tigers, Chris Blair. This is a podcast about Chase,
Speaker 1: but let's talk briefly about Terris Marshall because he also
Speaker 1: ran a four three eight forty this Pro Day on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: He's six three. How good of an NFL prospect? Is
Speaker 1: Terris Marshall an excellent prospect? You know? In twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: he was injured and missed I think three and a
Speaker 1: half games to start the season, and he was well
Speaker 1: on his way again. Jamar Chase would go on to
Speaker 1: be second in sec receiving yards in a season at
Speaker 1: second in touchdowns and at the beginning of the twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen season, it looked like Terris Marshall he had not
Speaker 1: scored a touchdown in twenty eight team. He got his
Speaker 1: first career touchdown in the first game against Georgia Southern
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, and then for the next two games
Speaker 1: became a touchdown machine. And then when he returned and
Speaker 1: was healthy again, he was certainly one of the focuses
Speaker 1: of every defensive coordinator. Is okay, which guy we take away?
Speaker 1: And what do we do if we have to believe
Speaker 1: Terris Marshall on an island? And you know, it's interesting
Speaker 1: in that twenty nineteen season, justin Jefferson was kind of
Speaker 1: pegged as a slot receiver, which I remember talking to
Speaker 1: Joe Brady who's now at the Panthers, talking to stevens Minger,
Speaker 1: who was the offensive coordinator at LSU, and they all
Speaker 1: laughed and they said, we could put Marshall on the slot,
Speaker 1: we could put Chase in the slot, we could move
Speaker 1: each of them to the outside. They just had that
Speaker 1: type of skill set and Marshall with his size, And
Speaker 1: again earlier today at Pro Day, just watching those numbers
Speaker 1: from carry Vincent from Jamar Chase from Terris Marshall. All
Speaker 1: of those sub four numbers was really incredible to see
Speaker 1: when you look at the size and I go back
Speaker 1: to the Summer of ten thousand passes because Marshall was
Speaker 1: a part of that, and he's got such good hands.
Speaker 1: I have watched Jamar Chase and Terrace Marshall. Everybody in
Speaker 1: the stadium knows they need two yards and they're going
Speaker 1: to go for the quick slant and they'll have a
Speaker 1: linebacker hanging off of him, a corner will try to
Speaker 1: cheat up and jump the lane, and they have such
Speaker 1: strong hands that if the pass is anywhere near their body,
Speaker 1: they pull it in and nobody can deflect it. And
Speaker 1: that's to me what stands out about Marshall's He's got
Speaker 1: good soft hands to make the catch, but he's got
Speaker 1: strong hands once he has the grasp. And again, when
Speaker 1: you're that big and you've got that type of speed,
Speaker 1: it's really going to allow teams to put him out
Speaker 1: there and one on one coverage and stretch the field.
Speaker 1: So I think he's got an excellent toolkit to have
Speaker 1: a successful career in the NFL. Chris and Cincinnati, we
Speaker 1: were obviously heartbroken when Joe Burrow suffered his d injury
Speaker 1: last season, I'm interested to hear what the reaction was
Speaker 1: like in Baton Rouge. Oh, it was the same. It
Speaker 1: was absolute heartbreak. I mean, you know, considering a kid
Speaker 1: that grew up in Ohio and means so much to
Speaker 1: his hometown, it is the same in the short period
Speaker 1: he's been in Baton Rouge. That's the way everybody feels
Speaker 1: about him here. I mean, I would love I'm sure
Speaker 1: Cincinnati has the numbers on where their jerseys were sold
Speaker 1: going into the twenty twenty season, and I guarantee, if
Speaker 1: there's a giant spike when you look in Louisiana, were
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow Cincinnati jerseys all over the place here? People
Speaker 1: were watching. I dare I say, if the Saints and
Speaker 1: the Bengals were playing at the same time on TV,
Speaker 1: you had you had a lot of homes that were
Speaker 1: watching Cincinnati and they would catch up with New Orleans
Speaker 1: later because they wanted to watch Joe Burrow play. So
Speaker 1: when he went down, it was devastating. But I remember
Speaker 1: talking to a number of people, in fact, my neighbors,
Speaker 1: who said, you know, the work ethic he's shown, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be back. He's gonna be stronger, he's gonna be better,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be smarter, having gone just through that short
Speaker 1: stint of the NFL, and so to see those videos
Speaker 1: of him getting back working out, had a chance to
Speaker 1: see him in Indianapolis covering the NCAA tournament a week
Speaker 1: before last. He looks good, he looks excited. So everybody's
Speaker 1: going to be right back on the Bengals training again
Speaker 1: when football comes around this vault. All right, final question
Speaker 1: for the voice of the LSU Tigers, Chris Blair. If
Speaker 1: you pulled Cincinnati Bengals fans right now on who the
Speaker 1: team should select number five overall, you'd probably get a
Speaker 1: pretty even split between Oregon offensive lineman Piney Sewell and
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase. You are obviously not a neutral party in
Speaker 1: this debate, But what do you think selecting Jamar and
Speaker 1: reuniting him with Joe would do for the Bengals. Oh?
Speaker 1: I think it would be a shot in the arm offensively.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no question about it. I mean, knowing
Speaker 1: enough about football, no expert by any stretch of the imagination. Also,
Speaker 1: watching Joe, I can lean a little bit towards you know,
Speaker 1: peeping up that offensive front to protect Joe back there
Speaker 1: so he can do and use his skill set. But
Speaker 1: without question, I think, you know, just in the same
Speaker 1: way Justin Jefferson, you're talking about a young man who
Speaker 1: maybe was a three star in a couple of evaluations
Speaker 1: coming out of high school. Those two remind me of
Speaker 1: each other and simply the way they attack the game
Speaker 1: and prepare for the game. And you look at the
Speaker 1: natural born talents that Jamar Chase possesses, which again he's
Speaker 1: a little head of the game than Justin Jefferson. I
Speaker 1: think he's the type of player whether he's in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: or wherever he goes, is going to be an impact
Speaker 1: player in year number one. So if I'm Cincinnati looking
Speaker 1: to really boost that offense and add another tool to
Speaker 1: the weaponry, I think at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I probably go ahead and say, maybe we can use
Speaker 1: other avenues to beep up the offensive line, But to
Speaker 1: miss and pass on bringing Jamar Chase, who in twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen was by far the best receiver in college football,
Speaker 1: I'd go with Jamar Chase. Chris, this is becoming a
Speaker 1: fun tradition. I look forward to reaching out next March
Speaker 1: and quitting you about the Tiger's top prospects next year.
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. They certainly have a great program here.
Speaker 1: They get some great talent. All you have to do
Speaker 1: is watch Sundays in the fall and you'll see tons
Speaker 1: of former LSU players. So it's been a pleasure. Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me on again, and best of luck in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. With jokes. Before we continue with our
Speaker 1: deep dive look at Jamar Chase, we remind you that
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer.
Speaker 1: It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor.
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago, I devoted an episode of this
Speaker 1: podcast to Oregon offensive lineman Pinney sewell, if you haven't
Speaker 1: listened yet, it's the bad case of loving you. Addition,
Speaker 1: and as I stated then, interviews from his high school
Speaker 1: and college connections weren't likely to include many criticisms. In
Speaker 1: the final two interviews on this podcast, we get a
Speaker 1: pair of unbiased opinions. Up First, NFL Network Draft expert
Speaker 1: Dan Jeremiah, in his most recent list of the top
Speaker 1: fifty prospects in order, he has Chase rated third behind
Speaker 1: Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.
Speaker 1: For what It's worth, Daniel Jeremiah has sewell ranked twelfth.
Speaker 1: I recently took part in a zoom call with Jeremiah
Speaker 1: where a reporter from Detroit, the team of a seventh
Speaker 1: overall pick, asked Daniel to identify the top wide receiver
Speaker 1: in this year's draft. To me, it would be Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase just because of everything he can do. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of times when you're watching receivers, you see
Speaker 1: guys with you, guys that can win with separation and quickness,
Speaker 1: and you see guys that can win with physicality, you know,
Speaker 1: and kind of contested catches. And when you watch him
Speaker 1: at LSU in twenty nineteen, you see examples of both
Speaker 1: where he can separate from people off the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: he can separate at the top of his route. He
Speaker 1: plays big to go up and get the football, and
Speaker 1: then after the catch, he gives you that strength as
Speaker 1: a calid break tackle. So he's to me, the best
Speaker 1: receiver in the draft. I can't imagine he would be there,
Speaker 1: but man, that would be a home run pick for
Speaker 1: the Lions if he was, and then I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: any issues with the other two either. From Alabama. Man,
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of a flavor thing with Waddle
Speaker 1: on Davante Smith. Waddle gives you a little bit more juice,
Speaker 1: but DeVante Smith plays plenty fast as well. DeVante Smith
Speaker 1: is a pristine route runner. He's obviously everybody knows, is
Speaker 1: real thin, but man, he's really long armed. He can
Speaker 1: go up and get it as well. I just thought,
Speaker 1: you know what you get after the catch with some
Speaker 1: of the shiftiness and then just to home run speed
Speaker 1: from Waddle is why I ended up with Waddle over Smith.
Speaker 1: And you know, GPS stuff is gonna be big this
Speaker 1: year because you know, we haven't had as much verified numbers,
Speaker 1: and talking to some teams around the league, Waddle had
Speaker 1: had the fastest GPS of any receiver in the country.
Speaker 1: So it's not just your eyes aren't receiving you when
Speaker 1: you watch him. He's he's freaky fast. In his most
Speaker 1: recent mock draft, Jeremiah had Chase going number three overall,
Speaker 1: but that was before Miami traded the pick to San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Now it looks like the top three picks are likely
Speaker 1: to be quarterbacks. Atlanta picks fourth and Matt Ryan turns
Speaker 1: thirty six next month. Will the Falcons also go for
Speaker 1: a QB if so the Bengals could have their choice
Speaker 1: of Chase Sewell or any non quarterback in this year's draft.
Speaker 1: Our final conversation is with Pro Football Focus analysts Sam Munson,
Speaker 1: who recently published a detailed profile of Chase for PF. Sam,
Speaker 1: let's start with the data and then get to your
Speaker 1: film study of Jamar Chase. What do the PF numbers
Speaker 1: tell us about his play at LSU and his chances
Speaker 1: of excelling in the NFL? Yeah, I mean the numbers
Speaker 1: are as you would expect. That season that he had
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen was absolutely incredible just from a raw
Speaker 1: box score number or standpoint, and it was equally as
Speaker 1: impressive whenever you dive further. It was a phenomenal PF grade.
Speaker 1: He showed some incredible play after the catch, some incredible
Speaker 1: play at the catch point as well. It was a
Speaker 1: season every bit as good as it looked just from
Speaker 1: the role numbers of the various things that PF grades
Speaker 1: where wide receivers are concerned, is there anything in particular
Speaker 1: that best projects to the NFL really what you would
Speaker 1: like to see as a guy getting it done against
Speaker 1: NFL competition. I don't know if there's one specific area
Speaker 1: or subset of play that indicates, you know, greater transition.
Speaker 1: If you've got guys who a huge percentage of their
Speaker 1: production come from kind of scheme touches, whether it's screens
Speaker 1: or those kinds of things, maybe that would give you pause.
Speaker 1: But I don't know if there's a general subset that
Speaker 1: is dramatically more predictive. But I do like to see
Speaker 1: if a guy has done well against a league competition
Speaker 1: and guys who are going to be playing in the
Speaker 1: NFL and that season that Jamar Chase and absolutely qualifies
Speaker 1: for that. If you actually look at the sequence of
Speaker 1: cornerbacks that guy played that year, it's stocked full of
Speaker 1: NFL talent. A bunch of guys that were in the
Speaker 1: draft last year, Patrick Certan, who's going to be in
Speaker 1: the draft this year, and like he didn't slow down.
Speaker 1: If anything, he beat up on those guys harder, and
Speaker 1: he beat up on just regular college cornerbacks. We're talking
Speaker 1: to Sam Hudson from Pro Football Focus. Let's turn to
Speaker 1: your film study. What were your biggest takeaways from watching
Speaker 1: all of the Jamar Chase footage that you did, the
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway really is that there aren't weaknesses. I mean,
Speaker 1: he doesn't really have any negatives. And even when you're
Speaker 1: actively looking for them just to try and nitpick, it's
Speaker 1: difficult to find anything to have a real problem with.
Speaker 1: And you know, we're reaching the stilly season of the
Speaker 1: draft evaluation period where everybody is pulling apart any possible
Speaker 1: prospect and coming up with reasons to dislike them, and
Speaker 1: you know you're going to hear that the Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: can't separator, that he doesn't win with out running, and
Speaker 1: I don't think it's true. I think occasionally you're going
Speaker 1: to find a play where somebody gets his hands on
Speaker 1: him a little bit too easily, and occasionally you're going
Speaker 1: to find a play where he doesn't separate the way
Speaker 1: you would like. But it's not like it's a regular recurrence.
Speaker 1: It's everybody has flaws. You know, Randy Moss was criticized
Speaker 1: for taking plays off and in between the plays where
Speaker 1: he was lighting you up for an adr touchdown. So yeah,
Speaker 1: like there's some plays on Jamar Chase's tape that are
Speaker 1: not phenomenal but the body of work is incredible. The
Speaker 1: biggest knock on Joe Burrow is a rookie was the
Speaker 1: lack of deep ball success that he had. How much
Speaker 1: difference do you think Jamar Chase would make Their connection
Speaker 1: that year was incredible and really it wasn't even a negative.
Speaker 1: Just one of the things you did notice when you
Speaker 1: were going through Jamar Chase's tape is how many of
Speaker 1: these passes from Joe Burrow were absolutely just ridiculous, like
Speaker 1: placed into where they should be, to the point where
Speaker 1: despite not having great separation on the play, it didn't
Speaker 1: matter because the ball just landed in his hands in
Speaker 1: a way that didn't even require adjusting from Chase. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of times you can deal without great separation
Speaker 1: if the receiver makes a better adjustment at the cash
Speaker 1: point in the corner instead of gets himself a little
Speaker 1: half yard of space to make the catch. But Chase
Speaker 1: wasn't even needed to do that. He was just sticking
Speaker 1: his hands out and the ball was dropping in them.
Speaker 1: So it did make part of his evaluation a little
Speaker 1: bit tricky because Burrow was just dropping in so many incredible,
Speaker 1: perfect passes. But now that's a great thing, right, if
Speaker 1: they have that kind of connection, if that wasn't just
Speaker 1: a fluke that year, you pair the two of them
Speaker 1: up again and suddenly you might have a giant jump
Speaker 1: forward and Burrow's deep production. Or talking to PFF analyst
Speaker 1: Sam Munson, you've got Jamar ranked as the number one
Speaker 1: wide receiver in this year's class. How close is it
Speaker 1: with the other top guys, Davante Smith and Jalen waddle
Speaker 1: I do think it's very close between Chase and Devon
Speaker 1: Day Smith. I think those two guys are one and
Speaker 1: two for me. The PFF Draft guide actually has wadlefe
Speaker 1: think still ahead of Davante Smith. I haven't checked the
Speaker 1: update as of yesterday, but I think it's really close
Speaker 1: between Chase and Davante Smith. But Davante Smith has that
Speaker 1: issue of you know, he plays at one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy pounds and tells everybody he's playing at one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy pounds, like this is not a guy who's
Speaker 1: going to come in at twenty pounds of muscle in
Speaker 1: an NFL weight program and be one hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: and you can deal with it. He's going to be
Speaker 1: playing at one hundred and seventy and believes that the
Speaker 1: tape speaks for itself for him in that regard, and
Speaker 1: I think he's right, But that has to be a
Speaker 1: little bit scary. And in particular, when you have a
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase in this draft class, you know, you're not
Speaker 1: left with he's head and shoulders the best receiver in
Speaker 1: this class. We don't have any choice but to overlook
Speaker 1: the fact that he's one hundred and seventy pounds because
Speaker 1: nobody else comes close. You know, Jamar Chase is right there,
Speaker 1: They're very very close together. So the fact that you
Speaker 1: have this little unknown, this little area of being scared
Speaker 1: of that weight for Davante Smith, I think would make
Speaker 1: you default to Jamar Chase. You know, pretty much every
Speaker 1: time the Bengals were able to pick up t Higgins
Speaker 1: in the second round last year, how deep is the
Speaker 1: wide receiver pool if they don't use a pick on
Speaker 1: a wide receiver at number five? Overall? I think it's
Speaker 1: a lot like last year. I think it's really deep.
Speaker 1: I think it's really talented. There's a lot of incredibly
Speaker 1: good wide receivers in this draft as well, And interestingly,
Speaker 1: you know, you start thinking about what kind of receiver
Speaker 1: Cincinnati would like, and given the guys they already have,
Speaker 1: I think they would like somebody that does bring a
Speaker 1: slightly different skill set. Now, Jamar Chase is good enough
Speaker 1: at everything that he's it doesn't matter like he qualifies
Speaker 1: across the board. But you know, maybe in the top
Speaker 1: of the second round, I think there's a lot of
Speaker 1: wide receivers that are more skewed towards that speed and
Speaker 1: potential vertical skill set that isn't necessarily there in the
Speaker 1: group that right now. So actually the top of the
Speaker 1: second round is potentially a great place to get one
Speaker 1: of these wide receivers and concentrate on, you know, somebody
Speaker 1: like a Pine sul in the first Who are some
Speaker 1: of the vertical guys that you like that would be
Speaker 1: available in the second I'm really intrigued by somebody like
Speaker 1: Rondel Moore, And I think that the classes still are
Speaker 1: the jury still add on exactly where he's going to go.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people still have him as
Speaker 1: a first rounder, a lot of people are a lot
Speaker 1: of other people are dropping him below the likes of,
Speaker 1: you know, some of the other wide receivers that are
Speaker 1: popping up. And but if He's been a very interesting
Speaker 1: evaluation because he's a very gimmick type of receiver. He
Speaker 1: didn't really run an NFL rout tree at all in college.
Speaker 1: Almost everything he did was screens or just ways of
Speaker 1: getting the ball in his hands in space. But he
Speaker 1: has the ability to run that vertical rout tree, particularly
Speaker 1: from the slot. You know, if you're going to use
Speaker 1: him in the slot the way the Chiefs use tyreeek
Speaker 1: Hill and just run him at safeties and terrify defense
Speaker 1: is because of it. I think he's potentially a much
Speaker 1: scarier prospect for defense to contend with, and guys like
Speaker 1: Elijah Moore from All miss who are potentially jumping in
Speaker 1: him on some draft boards right now. Months ago, I
Speaker 1: would have said the vast majority of Bengals fans we're
Speaker 1: hoping that Pine Suel would be the Bengals pick at
Speaker 1: number five. Now it seems like it's a pretty even split.
Speaker 1: Sewel or Chase with a few people is holding out
Speaker 1: for Kyle Pitts. Where are you right now, a little
Speaker 1: less than a month away from the draft. I think
Speaker 1: it's pretty close. I don't know that it's one of
Speaker 1: those great positions to be in where I don't think
Speaker 1: you're wrong either way. You know, if you pick a
Speaker 1: Pinay Suel or Jamar Chase or even a Kyle Pitts,
Speaker 1: I don't think you can be criticized for the move.
Speaker 1: I think either way, you're getting one of the three
Speaker 1: or four blue chip prospects in this draft that aren't quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and I don't think any of them necessarily prohibit you
Speaker 1: from coming back in the second round and getting a
Speaker 1: good player as well. There's only one on Kyle Pitts,
Speaker 1: and I think there's a steper drop off a tight
Speaker 1: end than in the other positions. But you know, if
Speaker 1: you I would default to taking a Pina Sul because
Speaker 1: I think the gap between him and he's a potentially
Speaker 1: generational tackle prospect and that term he gets thrown around
Speaker 1: all the time, but I think he might honestly be that.
Speaker 1: What he did at nineteen years of age with his
Speaker 1: size in college was just ridiculous, Like you don't see
Speaker 1: tackles doing that, So I would grab him. I think
Speaker 1: the second round is a great place to be for
Speaker 1: wider stever help as well. I think he can come
Speaker 1: back and get a player that will be an impact
Speaker 1: guy in the second round. And have a great draft
Speaker 1: that way. Kyle Pitts would be intriguing one because you
Speaker 1: know whatever about Pena sul being a generational player, like,
Speaker 1: we have not seen a player like Kyle Pitts hit
Speaker 1: the NFL maybe ever. I mean, he might be genuinely
Speaker 1: special in terms of being able to play tight end
Speaker 1: or x wider receiver both to an extremely high level
Speaker 1: and anything in between. I can see a good case
Speaker 1: to say, look, you're never going to find another Kyle Pitts,
Speaker 1: so we take this guy and deal with the other
Speaker 1: positions later on. But it's a smaller need, I think
Speaker 1: than the other two. For people that are interested in
Speaker 1: learning more about Jamar Chase. You wrote an awesome scouting
Speaker 1: report about him based on your film study. I highly
Speaker 1: recommend it for everybody that's trying to make up their
Speaker 1: mind between Chase, Sewell or Pitts. The debate will continue,
Speaker 1: Sam Moudson, thanks very much, appreciate your time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me. I've now devoted entire episodes of this podcast
Speaker 1: to Piney Sewell and Jamar Chase. Have you made up
Speaker 1: your mind or are you hoping for an episode devoted
Speaker 1: to Kyle Pitts. We'll see. I hope you enjoyed this
Speaker 1: week's episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you
Speaker 1: by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe, and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: or Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and
Speaker 1: thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast