Speaker 1: Hike and everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The more addition a little nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy six disco for you there as we bring you
Speaker 1: more and more and more about the player who is
Speaker 1: widely expected to be the number one pick in the draft,
Speaker 1: LSU quarterback Joe Burrow. I'll ask draft expert Dane Brugler
Speaker 1: if selecting Burrow number one overall is a no brainer.
Speaker 1: It also gets some names that he thinks could be
Speaker 1: there when the Bengals are scheduled to make the first
Speaker 1: pick in the second round. Plus who knows a quarterback
Speaker 1: better than one of his offensive linemen. I'll talk to
Speaker 1: LSU guard Damian Lewis and find out what Burrow is
Speaker 1: like in the huddle, and you'll want to hear his
Speaker 1: prediction for the Bengals future if they select his college quarterback.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the
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Speaker 1: If you would like to learn and more, just go
Speaker 1: to the Throwback League dot com. Now let's get to football.
Speaker 1: Every year before the draft, I wind up buying a
Speaker 1: few draft guides, and my favorite in recent years has
Speaker 1: been Dane Bruglers. He's currently the NFL Draft guru for
Speaker 1: The Athletic and I recently sat down with him at
Speaker 1: the NFL Scouting Combine to discuss Joe Burrow, the Bengals
Speaker 1: track record in the draft, and how he became a
Speaker 1: draft expert. Is Joe Burrow number one overall a no
Speaker 1: brainer in your opinion, absolutely coming off one of the
Speaker 1: best seasons we've ever seen for a quarterback. When you
Speaker 1: list the traits that you look for at the quarterback position,
Speaker 1: it starts with mental processing, leadership, accuracy, the composure, pocket awareness.
Speaker 1: He checks all those boxes. And you know, we can
Speaker 1: talk about how he does not have the greatest arm.
Speaker 1: We can talk about his nine inch hands or whatever.
Speaker 1: That's that's fine, and that's that matters, but they just
Speaker 1: don't don't overthink this. Um. Yes, he had did it
Speaker 1: in one season, but I think the context is required
Speaker 1: when you talk about him transferring into LSU, a brand
Speaker 1: new program, brand new system, learning the coaches, learning the teammates.
Speaker 1: We started to see this at the end of his
Speaker 1: junior season him he was the MVP at the Festival
Speaker 1: the last four games of his junior year. We started
Speaker 1: to see this. Now, no one expected this, um, but
Speaker 1: you know, I think we saw him working towards this
Speaker 1: and when he became more comfortable within that program. Obviously
Speaker 1: the adding Joe Brady and you know, some wrinkles of
Speaker 1: the passing games surely helped. But Joe talked about yesterday
Speaker 1: here at the combine how just giving him more freedom
Speaker 1: at the line of scrimmage was the biggest difference with
Speaker 1: with Joe Brady coming in and between his junior year
Speaker 1: and senior year. He is incredibly confident and that shows
Speaker 1: on the field. Off the field, Uh, they do not
Speaker 1: need to overthink this. He is in the one pick.
Speaker 1: How does his LSU offense from last year transfer to
Speaker 1: the NFL. Well, I think the fact that they let
Speaker 1: him do a lot of things that the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: You see that he does look to the sideline and
Speaker 1: all that, but he's making those pre snapper reads based
Speaker 1: off of what he's seeing. He's reading the safety. He
Speaker 1: understands where to go with the football, and it's the
Speaker 1: thing I was most impressed with. When you watch this film.
Speaker 1: He's under constant pressure, but no matter what, he's calm
Speaker 1: composed there and he always knows where his out He
Speaker 1: knows where his outlets are because he's just so comfortable
Speaker 1: within that system. And so I think he always knows
Speaker 1: what the defense is trying to do, where his receivers
Speaker 1: are going to be, and where he can find his
Speaker 1: open receivers. And that's something that's going to translate from
Speaker 1: that LSU offense to the pros no matter where he goes,
Speaker 1: no matter what system they want to run. That confidence,
Speaker 1: that composure, I think is something that he really developed
Speaker 1: at LSU and that's going to show in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I saw you wrote recently, are projecting immediate NFL starter
Speaker 1: with Pro Bowls Gills. That's setting the bar very high.
Speaker 1: It is. But when you draft a player number one
Speaker 1: overall or consider him number one overall, um, that's what
Speaker 1: you're expecting, you know, and especially for a red shirt senior. UM,
Speaker 1: this isn't you know, last year we saw a guy
Speaker 1: like Dwayne Haskins, who um, you know for the Redskins,
Speaker 1: went first round, didn't play until the end of the season.
Speaker 1: He was a red shirt sophomore and he came out,
Speaker 1: so he should have been a junior. UM. Really last
Speaker 1: year in college, Joe Burrow, even though he doesn't have
Speaker 1: that experience in terms of on the field, only two
Speaker 1: years of starting experience. He's a red shirt senior, an
Speaker 1: older guy. He's ready for this. Um, this isn't something
Speaker 1: where it's going to be a learning curve. He's gonna
Speaker 1: come in from day one. He's gonna work his tail off.
Speaker 1: You know he Drew Brees is kind of his guy.
Speaker 1: That's that's his mentor, that's that's who he learned, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of watched throughout over the years, and
Speaker 1: that's I think the work ethic that Drew Brees approaches
Speaker 1: the game with. That's that's the way Joe Burrow does
Speaker 1: as well. And so I don't I don't think there's
Speaker 1: any question he is going to be the start for
Speaker 1: whoever drafts him in twenty twenty. And you know they're
Speaker 1: gonna be some bumps along the way with any rookie quarterback,
Speaker 1: but he absolutely has Pro Bowl potential. We're talking to
Speaker 1: Dane Broglar, draft analyst for the Athletic. Let's move to
Speaker 1: the thirty third overall pick, first pick in the second round.
Speaker 1: I am predicting that the Bengals are going to trade
Speaker 1: down to get more picks in the second round. But
Speaker 1: if they don't give us a few names that you
Speaker 1: think might be there that would be a good fit
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, well, I think that's you get your quarterback.
Speaker 1: On offense. I think they could go not I mean
Speaker 1: not one of two ways, but two options that really
Speaker 1: make a lot of sense to me. Receiver to help
Speaker 1: out your help out your quarterback. I think you can
Speaker 1: say three ways receiver to help out your quarterback, offensive
Speaker 1: line to help out your quarterback, and then finding your quarterback.
Speaker 1: On defense, especially at linebacker. It'll be interesting to see
Speaker 1: which linebackers end up going in the first round. You know,
Speaker 1: we know Isaiah Simmons will be a top ten pick.
Speaker 1: I think Patrick Queen is going to be a top
Speaker 1: twenty pick. Is he's just too good to fall. But
Speaker 1: you know, guy like Kenneth Murray from Oklahoma, a guy
Speaker 1: like Zach Bond from Wisconsin. Could one of those two
Speaker 1: guys fall to the thirty third pick. If that's if
Speaker 1: they do, then I think that would be really intriguing.
Speaker 1: Two guys that play with a lot of speed. They
Speaker 1: very diverse with what they offer. Um, Zach Bond being
Speaker 1: more of a pass rusher in college, who's going to
Speaker 1: be more of an off ball guy in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But you know we've seen him, you know, watching his film,
Speaker 1: you see him carry wide receivers deep. He'll he'll stay
Speaker 1: hip to hip with a running back on the wheel route. Um.
Speaker 1: You know he looks just fine when moving in reverse.
Speaker 1: Kenneth Murray, Um, he's a little late to sort things
Speaker 1: at times, but the place be the competitive toughness off
Speaker 1: the charts. Um, he's a really fun player to watch.
Speaker 1: If they do go on offense wide receiver, it's really
Speaker 1: interesting because you know, we know this is has the
Speaker 1: potential to be a historic class. And it's not just
Speaker 1: you know, first round, but it's the second round, the
Speaker 1: third round, and so on and so on. We're going
Speaker 1: to see some guys at the receiver position be drafted
Speaker 1: later than they should just because teams are going to say,
Speaker 1: in the first round, yeah, you know, we really like uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Labiscos Chanald or t Higgins, but we need
Speaker 1: a tackle and if we don't get a tackle now,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna get them later. So we're gonna go
Speaker 1: ahead and take Josh Jones from Houston here or Austin
Speaker 1: Jackson from USC And we still feel great about our
Speaker 1: wide receiver options in the second, third, even the fourth,
Speaker 1: fifth round, and so I think they're going to be
Speaker 1: some interesting wide receiver options. They're at thirty three. They're
Speaker 1: gonna make the Bengals think, you know, could they go
Speaker 1: with a Justin Jefferson, reunite him with Joe Burrow? Could
Speaker 1: one of those two guys that just mentioned Higgins or
Speaker 1: Chennault still be on the board for them. Jalen Rager
Speaker 1: from TCU another one. They're going to have some options
Speaker 1: at receiver if that's a direction they want to go.
Speaker 1: And then on the offensive line, um, you know, they
Speaker 1: we know they need depth. You know, all thirty two
Speaker 1: teams need depth on the offensive line. So I think
Speaker 1: they could go tackle, they could guard on the interior,
Speaker 1: and you know that that would certainly help, you know,
Speaker 1: their young quarterback. They're you know, kind of getting two
Speaker 1: first round picks with Jonah Williams coming back from last
Speaker 1: year hopefully healthy, So boosting an offensive line certainly makes sense.
Speaker 1: You gave some linebacker names that are likely or possibly
Speaker 1: could go in the first round. Does it get pretty
Speaker 1: thin after that at that position, because obviously that's a
Speaker 1: weakness for Cincinnati a little bit. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: we're there are a few options on Day two that
Speaker 1: I like a lot. Malie Harrison from Ohio State is
Speaker 1: one of those former high school quarterback who he wanted
Speaker 1: to play offense in high school or in college. He
Speaker 1: wanted to play receiver. They moved a linebacker, and I
Speaker 1: think that that was kind of the smart thing. He's
Speaker 1: a big guy, he's a tremendous run defender, but he's
Speaker 1: also athletic enough, and I think he'll show that here
Speaker 1: at the combine that you know, it's just more of
Speaker 1: a comfort level in terms of coverage. He has the
Speaker 1: athleticisan would do it. He just needs to get comfortable
Speaker 1: with his reads and moving in reverse and that type
Speaker 1: of thing. So I think MALIEK. Harrison in the second
Speaker 1: round makes sense. When you get to the third round,
Speaker 1: A Keen Davis Gaither from app State is a name
Speaker 1: to know. He's he's kind of the the third round
Speaker 1: version of Isaiah Simmons. You know, he's that, he's long,
Speaker 1: he's a lean athlete. You can do a lot of
Speaker 1: things with him with how you line them up off
Speaker 1: the ball. You can play him deeper, you can play
Speaker 1: him as a blitzer off the edge. Just a really
Speaker 1: versatile chess piece. And so this linebacker class, I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna see three, maybe four guys going to first round,
Speaker 1: and then maybe three four guys on Day two, second,
Speaker 1: third round, so it does thin out a little bit.
Speaker 1: A couple more questions for draft expert Dane Brugler. From
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine to twenty fourteen, the Bengals drafted
Speaker 1: extremely well. They had a run of six straight good drafts,
Speaker 1: and then since twenty fifteen not so much, partly because
Speaker 1: their first round pick seems to get injured every year
Speaker 1: and missus Allah or part of the rookie year. As
Speaker 1: you evaluate the Bengals draft over the years, is there
Speaker 1: anything in particular that stands out bad luck? And you
Speaker 1: know it's some of that injury stuff you can't really
Speaker 1: I mean, Jonah Williams was you know, not someone that
Speaker 1: had an injury history at Alabama. I mean he was
Speaker 1: a reliable starter and just you know, same thing with
Speaker 1: Billy Price. You know, how do you how do you
Speaker 1: predict that stuff? And obviously Billy Price, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he his injury stuff started here at the combine unfortunately
Speaker 1: with his bench price when he partially towards peck Um
Speaker 1: and then getting that that's been a little bit of
Speaker 1: a surprise seeing him struggle as much as he had. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, coming from a bigger program like Ohio State,
Speaker 1: starting fifty plus games for the buck Eyes, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he seemed you know, there's he's kind of the reminder
Speaker 1: that there's no such thing as a sure thing when
Speaker 1: it comes to the draft, going to the NFL level,
Speaker 1: when you're facing bigger, faster guys, it's just there is
Speaker 1: a little bit of unknown there. And for a guy
Speaker 1: like Billy Price like that, that's been part of the
Speaker 1: learning curve for him. Um. But I am eager to
Speaker 1: see Joe Williams back on the field. UM, see what
Speaker 1: he can do. I think he was. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: whether he ends up being a tackle or guard long term,
Speaker 1: he is a guy that's going to be as long
Speaker 1: as he stays healthy. I mean, he has the talent
Speaker 1: to be a starter in this league for a long time.
Speaker 1: Hopefully he is just able to stay healthy. I've enjoyed
Speaker 1: your guides for years. How did you become a draft guru?
Speaker 1: How did this become so interesting to you? Well, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm an Ohio guy. I grew up in Northeast Ohio,
Speaker 1: and when the Browns came back in ninety nine, I
Speaker 1: was what probably thirteen years old. I just I became
Speaker 1: enamored with the process, you know, what made a good
Speaker 1: college player into a good NFL prospect. And that was
Speaker 1: the year with rookie Williams and Edrin James and Donovan
Speaker 1: McNabb and Tim Couch and just working through these guys,
Speaker 1: I was just I was so enamored with the process,
Speaker 1: and so it turned into a hobby. And then I decided,
Speaker 1: you know what, there's nothing I want to do the
Speaker 1: rest of my life but just study these guys and
Speaker 1: figured it out and I love it. And I was
Speaker 1: able to if you want to go to if you
Speaker 1: want to be a doctor, you go to medical school.
Speaker 1: If you want to be a lawyer, you go to
Speaker 1: law school. If you want to be a scout, you
Speaker 1: know what do you do? There's no direct path, and
Speaker 1: so I just kind of forged my own way doing
Speaker 1: my my draft guide that was able to open some
Speaker 1: doors for me. UM. I went to Mount Union College
Speaker 1: UM and in Northeast Ohio, and my senior year I
Speaker 1: worked for the football team and we had a pretty
Speaker 1: good player named Pierre Garzon, and we had a lot
Speaker 1: of scouts come through Alliance UM checking them out, and
Speaker 1: so it was up to me working for the team
Speaker 1: to show these scouts around, take them to practice UM
Speaker 1: and that really started my networking UM getting to know
Speaker 1: those guys. They were able to mentor me. They're still
Speaker 1: mentors to this day. Um. I thankfully they opened doors
Speaker 1: for me to to kind of learn the business and everything.
Speaker 1: And um, it's been really fun being on the media.
Speaker 1: I never thought I'd be on the media side of things,
Speaker 1: but I've enjoyed it because I get to you know,
Speaker 1: I don't work for one team. I kind of work
Speaker 1: for you know, every team because I get to, you know,
Speaker 1: scout all these guys and you know, trying to figure
Speaker 1: out where they fit best, and you know, their their
Speaker 1: their future. And I'm not going to get everyone right.
Speaker 1: I'm not delusional to think that, you know, I'm going
Speaker 1: to nail all these guys, but um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think I feel good about my batting average. And my
Speaker 1: draft guide has been something that has really been kind
Speaker 1: of the backbone of my work, and it's I dare
Speaker 1: anybody to find a more thorough draft guide out there,
Speaker 1: because I put it a lot of work into it.
Speaker 1: And it's not just the analysis and with you know,
Speaker 1: strengths weaknesses. It's it's the background and you know, what
Speaker 1: kind of family does he come from? Um? You know
Speaker 1: that to me, that's the best part of this is
Speaker 1: the journey that you know, because there's three hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty seven guys here at the combine. Not there aren't
Speaker 1: two of these guys that had the same journey, you
Speaker 1: know it from elementary school to high school to college.
Speaker 1: There's something going on in their lives, whether it's adversity
Speaker 1: or maybe they you know, we're a basketball player that
Speaker 1: I became a football player. Whatever it is, it's it's
Speaker 1: just it helps shape who they are and it helps
Speaker 1: tell you where they're going and protect their future. And
Speaker 1: so I really try to put all that into the
Speaker 1: draft guide. And you know, it's my goal is to
Speaker 1: paint a picture. If you know nothing about the player,
Speaker 1: after reading my my write ups and my reports and
Speaker 1: my draft guide, um you know who he is and
Speaker 1: you have a pretty good feel for the player that
Speaker 1: he is. That first draft that you mentioned was also
Speaker 1: the Achille Smith draft. That one hurts. Yeah. I didn't
Speaker 1: mention him on purpose. I mentioned everyone in the top
Speaker 1: five except for him. That was by design. That's a
Speaker 1: painful memory. Your guide is awesome. Appreciate the time. Thanks
Speaker 1: very much, and so thank you. Dane published a three
Speaker 1: round mock draft for the Athletic on March fourth. He
Speaker 1: obviously had the Bengals taking Joe Burrow number one overall,
Speaker 1: then had them selecting Baylor wide receiver Denzel Mims with
Speaker 1: the first pick in the second round and Auburn offensive
Speaker 1: tackle Prince Tegawan Nogo at the top of the third. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get to the latest Bengals news. The team announced
Speaker 1: on Friday that it has released offensive lineman Cordy Glenn.
Speaker 1: No surprise there. The Bengals reportedly tried to trade him
Speaker 1: but found no takers. Releasing Cordy freeze up nine point
Speaker 1: five million dollars that can be used in free agency.
Speaker 1: As of this recording, The free agent negotiating period begins
Speaker 1: on Monday, and then teams can start signing players on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: The deadline for franchise tagging players is also on Monday,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals are expected to use the tag to
Speaker 1: retain aj Green. They would then have until July fifteenth
Speaker 1: to work out a long term extension with the wide receiver,
Speaker 1: who turns thirty two at the end of July. The
Speaker 1: deadline for players to vote on the new collective bargaining
Speaker 1: agreement is Saturday at eleven fifty nine pm. If the
Speaker 1: players approved the proposal, it would mean labor piece between
Speaker 1: players and owners through the year twenty thirty. Before we
Speaker 1: get to our next guest, 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. Like Joe Burrow, offensive lineman Damian Lewis spent
Speaker 1: the last two years at LSU. He was a JUCO
Speaker 1: All American at Northwest Mississippi Community College before heading to
Speaker 1: Baton Route, and this past season he was the starting
Speaker 1: right guard for the undefeated national champs. Lewis was one
Speaker 1: of sixteen LSU players invited to the scouting combine and
Speaker 1: I spoke to him about his quarterback Describe Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: in the huddle for me, Joe real funny, you know,
Speaker 1: guy who like real calm out deb but he funny
Speaker 1: how you know, He'll get us going and we're doing
Speaker 1: something that we don't need to be. He'll joke around
Speaker 1: to everybody. Hood up, we don't got to go, but
Speaker 1: we did a lot of temple. He's just a guy
Speaker 1: who just keep the energy going, just gonna get people going.
Speaker 1: If it hadn't to work, you know, he'll click it
Speaker 1: out and said let's go to work. The sixty touchdown
Speaker 1: passes speak for themselves, but how important was his leadership
Speaker 1: and the intangibles and leading you guys to a perfect season.
Speaker 1: It always started with the leaders you know, we watched him.
Speaker 1: He get us going and started in two and eighteen
Speaker 1: when he came we transferred together and it really just
Speaker 1: started up Jo know that what he came here to do,
Speaker 1: and just winning championships and ball game and the exactly
Speaker 1: what he did. I felt like he was locked in
Speaker 1: from day one and he was ready to go. A
Speaker 1: lot of people have wondered why he jumped so much
Speaker 1: in terms of his play from his junior year to
Speaker 1: his senior year. Obviously there is a different scheme with
Speaker 1: coach Brady coming in. If I wish there anything other
Speaker 1: than that, in your opinion, Joe always been a great player.
Speaker 1: You can't take that from you know, some stuff make
Speaker 1: people stand out more, But I feel like that Joe
Speaker 1: I always had where to take for the you know,
Speaker 1: just be a one of the great quarterback, elite quarterback.
Speaker 1: So I feel like they're coming in the all season
Speaker 1: he worked. He was working real hard all the old
Speaker 1: days and long night that he put in. It's just
Speaker 1: like all the stuff he took in. He was hearing
Speaker 1: the media and said, I don't beyond I'm thinking he
Speaker 1: would care about the media, like listen to the media
Speaker 1: that much. But he just did what he had to
Speaker 1: do for his family and nor that way it state
Speaker 1: for him. So he just went out there with the
Speaker 1: chip on his show old and knowing what we had
Speaker 1: to do, and we told each other that we want
Speaker 1: to win a national in an SEC championship, and then
Speaker 1: exactly what we did. We went't coming here to lose.
Speaker 1: Seeing the footage from the Central Florida game in the
Speaker 1: bowl game the previous year where he gets drilled and
Speaker 1: then pops right up, the man seems to get better
Speaker 1: after that. What did that moment say? They were really started.
Speaker 1: They're right there when he got hit, took that big
Speaker 1: hit everybody and he jumped right back up. Everybody on
Speaker 1: that sideline look up and said, that's our quarterback. They're
Speaker 1: toughness and up and they had great over there. Joe
Speaker 1: jumped right back up and he went right back to
Speaker 1: work and the next play throw the what for the
Speaker 1: yoord tasdown? For the yoord tasdown? And everybody like, there's
Speaker 1: a quarterback we want to follow behind. They got he
Speaker 1: gonna lead us to the National and he gonna lead
Speaker 1: us to the SEC Championship, and the exactly what he
Speaker 1: did when fifteen, they know, so he goes number one overall,
Speaker 1: whether the Cincinnati thing goes getting they getting a hard
Speaker 1: working guy who love his job, who love to compete,
Speaker 1: who's gonna have fun. Danzi really enjoins it. Help to
Speaker 1: the net, help them to the super Bowl. If the
Speaker 1: Bengals select Burrow, Let's hope that Damian Lewis is like
Speaker 1: Nostradamis in predicting that Burrow will lead the Bengals to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. 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
Speaker 1: subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a
Speaker 1: rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans
Speaker 1: find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth Podcast.