Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Welcome to the Block Party addition,
Speaker 1: as we go in depth with Bengals offensive line coach
Speaker 1: Jim Turner. If you have a question about the old line,
Speaker 1: we have it covered, from the return of Jonah Williams
Speaker 1: to the addition of Xavier sua Philo to the status
Speaker 1: of Billy Price. We'll spend nearly forty minutes with the
Speaker 1: former Marine talking about the guys up front. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan,
Speaker 1: travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
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Speaker 1: Latorta Loca. The loose translation of that, by the way,
Speaker 1: is the crazy sandwich. Now, let's get to football. When
Speaker 1: I've asked you to submit questions for this podcast over
Speaker 1: the past few months, the number one topic tends to
Speaker 1: be the offensive line. Well, today we're going to take
Speaker 1: a comprehensive look at that position group and I brought
Speaker 1: in one of the Bengals all time best o lineman
Speaker 1: to lead the discussion. We are excited to have offensive
Speaker 1: line coach Jim Turner on the Bengals Boot podcast this week,
Speaker 1: and rather than having me ask the questions, I thought
Speaker 1: it would be fun and informative to leave those duties
Speaker 1: to an expert on offensive line play. My broadcast partner
Speaker 1: Dave lapoman I might chime in at some point, we'll see,
Speaker 1: but lab for now, the floor is yours. Appreciate it, Dan,
Speaker 1: And that's high praise. Expert. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: I'm no expert offensive line play, but we're talking to one,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Jim Turner, Bengals offensive line coach, And
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us, coach. Really appreciate it. Fired up
Speaker 1: to be here, man, Thanks for having me our pleasure.
Speaker 1: I guess the first thing is looking back to last season,
Speaker 1: one of the I think one of the best coaching
Speaker 1: jobs or coaching moves was the how you adapted and
Speaker 1: adjusted your running game halfway through the season. I know,
Speaker 1: had that game over in Europe and on the trip
Speaker 1: over there, you kind of Zach Turner said that he
Speaker 1: gave Zach Taylor said, he gave you, gives you a
Speaker 1: lot of credit for resurrecting a different approach to the
Speaker 1: running game. How did that evolve? What? What was what
Speaker 1: was in your mind when you when you went about
Speaker 1: that coach. Yeah, I mean he's just doing a great
Speaker 1: job deflecting. It was his decision to make the move.
Speaker 1: And uh, and that's what we did. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm the I'm the line coach, so I'm responsible for
Speaker 1: designing the run game. UM. So initially we used his
Speaker 1: run game from the Rams, and you know, he was
Speaker 1: trying to implement that same system, which is an excellent system.
Speaker 1: And so as we did. You know, I mean, all
Speaker 1: you gotta do is watch us at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the season. You can see that we struggle, and then
Speaker 1: with that struggle comes to the losses and then the
Speaker 1: confidence of the team and so on, and so you
Speaker 1: just get to a point where you just say, hey,
Speaker 1: this is not working okay, and and that being the case,
Speaker 1: you know, got to make a change. So we just
Speaker 1: sat down myself and him and Brian and and we
Speaker 1: just said, hey, we've got to We've got to switch
Speaker 1: it up. And so we just started to do more
Speaker 1: things where the line was going downhill, and we started
Speaker 1: to do a little bit more man stuff, a little
Speaker 1: bit more of the fold scheme, and and then Joe
Speaker 1: started really beginning to feel that and we started to
Speaker 1: be able to run the ball better. So it's like anything,
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, if you're shooting the basketball a
Speaker 1: certain way and it's not going in the hole, and
Speaker 1: you need to change the way you're shooting the basketball.
Speaker 1: So it's real simple if you look at it from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, And so we just changed a couple of
Speaker 1: things in there, Like I just said, we just changed
Speaker 1: the schemes a little bit, a little bit more man
Speaker 1: to fit our guys, a little bit more fold scheme,
Speaker 1: of course, staying with the zone, but but just switching
Speaker 1: it up a little bit and trying to find if
Speaker 1: we actually ran power pretty well at the end of
Speaker 1: the year as well. So we got the fold to
Speaker 1: get the ball outside rand power to get the ball
Speaker 1: inside a little bit, and then we continued with our
Speaker 1: zone stuff and uh, and just continue to mature that
Speaker 1: scheme with our with our players. You finish sixth in
Speaker 1: the NFL and rushing in the second half of the season,
Speaker 1: I mean, the dynamic improvement and Joe Burrow's numbers are
Speaker 1: crazy off play action passing, I mean it's it's it
Speaker 1: completes about three out of every four passes and it's
Speaker 1: touchdown interception ratios off the charts with that, like him
Speaker 1: at quarterback, do you envision the running game kind of
Speaker 1: picking up where it left off last year? Finishing is
Speaker 1: as highly as you did in the second half of
Speaker 1: the season. You know, we need to build on this.
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, we're gonna have a lot of the
Speaker 1: same players inside. You know, Bobby how will still be here.
Speaker 1: Of course, Trey Hopkins will be there, Mike Jordan will
Speaker 1: be there. You know. Now You've got uh, you got
Speaker 1: Alex Redmi coming back. You got Xavier super Felow coming
Speaker 1: in there as part of that guard mix um, and
Speaker 1: then you got Jonah coming back at tackle. Okay, So
Speaker 1: Joan is really the only new player because exam if
Speaker 1: you played, everybody played last year except the Jonah, He's
Speaker 1: really the only new player. But I look at him
Speaker 1: like he's a first round draft pick that got a
Speaker 1: chance to go through mini camp for a year and
Speaker 1: a half, you know, so he obviously knows what's going on.
Speaker 1: He's a brilliant kid. So having Joe fit in with
Speaker 1: a group of experienced guys that we have, you know,
Speaker 1: even considering Mike to at least Mike Jordan have at
Speaker 1: least a year under his belt, not to that's the
Speaker 1: most experience, but he does have a decent amount of
Speaker 1: starts under his belt, and I feel great about him.
Speaker 1: The Joe's ability to move his feet in the pocket,
Speaker 1: I think is really what will what will make the
Speaker 1: change on third down on third and five, on third
Speaker 1: and four, on third and six. You know you can't.
Speaker 1: You're not going to convert every one of those through
Speaker 1: the year. At some point a quarterback has to take
Speaker 1: off and run, and he can do that asleep, hey
Speaker 1: be just his mobility in the pocket. I mean, you
Speaker 1: know lat from playing old line, you know it's about
Speaker 1: their statistics mean a lot to them. You know, they
Speaker 1: don't get the credit that everybody else gets for the success.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, inside their own head until
Speaker 1: their peers, their amount of pressures, their amount of sacks,
Speaker 1: that means a lot to them. And when a quarterback
Speaker 1: gives up a cheap sack, you know, or the scheme
Speaker 1: creates a sack, it really bothers those guys. My point
Speaker 1: is that Joe Burrow, if you watch his games at
Speaker 1: LSU last year, he really cleans up a lot of
Speaker 1: the little dirty stuff in there. You know, a guy
Speaker 1: makes a mistake, I mean you know, I mean, you
Speaker 1: play seventy plays in a game as alignment, you're gonna
Speaker 1: make a couple of mistakes, you know. So so if
Speaker 1: each one of them makes two mistakes, right, that's ten plays,
Speaker 1: you know. So if a quarterback can cover up and
Speaker 1: they're gonna make more than two mistakes piece, Right, they're
Speaker 1: gonna do something wrong at some point, a technique whatever.
Speaker 1: And when you have a guy that can just make
Speaker 1: you right a lot of the time, then it really
Speaker 1: it merely makes a difference in their confidence. Their confidence
Speaker 1: is an individual, the confidences as a unit and so on.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt the offensive line play. I mean, you
Speaker 1: live vicariously through the success of the skill guys and
Speaker 1: the stats and your quarterback. You know, throw us for
Speaker 1: thirty five hundred yards and thirty tight down only five interceptions.
Speaker 1: You feel good as an offensive line. So that's a
Speaker 1: big deal. I mean that that mindset. You don't want
Speaker 1: to be the guy. You don't want to be the
Speaker 1: guy that was the weak link that caused problems to
Speaker 1: your offense. That's that's the whole, uh, the whole core
Speaker 1: of being an offensive lineman. Right, yeah, and that's the
Speaker 1: challenge of last year. Like I think what we all
Speaker 1: went through last year was something that not everybody goes through.
Speaker 1: You you know, you go through once in your career,
Speaker 1: twice in your career at tops. So it was a
Speaker 1: crash course in just that the mentality of a team
Speaker 1: and how it can be adjusted and how it can
Speaker 1: be affected by every little piece that happens in that
Speaker 1: football game and in that football season. And so you
Speaker 1: know last year when when you're at O and Tan,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard, it's hard, and you know, so
Speaker 1: when it comes to that whole mentality, just having him
Speaker 1: and they're like when we handed the ball to Joe
Speaker 1: last year, like Joe Mixon really with the combination of
Speaker 1: the rest of our offense really changed our mentality going
Speaker 1: into the second half of the season. And you could
Speaker 1: see that in London when we were playing the Rams.
Speaker 1: We started to run the ball against a good defense
Speaker 1: and we popped a couple of runs early in that game,
Speaker 1: and you could just see the momentum of that game.
Speaker 1: We had a shot to win that game and we
Speaker 1: didn't get beat up by that team. And that was
Speaker 1: the first game that we really started to pound the
Speaker 1: ball a little bit and we had a little bit
Speaker 1: of balance on offense. And so Joe Mitchen really helped
Speaker 1: with that confidence, you know. So, um, that's all a
Speaker 1: big part of it. And uh and I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to seeing just how the joves fit together back there
Speaker 1: in the backfield with our offensive line. When you evaluate
Speaker 1: offensive Lineman. When you when you're looking at a veteran,
Speaker 1: veteran free agent or a college prospect that you're considering
Speaker 1: drafting or signing as a college free agent, what do
Speaker 1: you look for? What are the trades? What are the
Speaker 1: attributes that Jim Turner has to see in a potential prospect.
Speaker 1: You have to have the talent first. We can all
Speaker 1: say character and all of that, which is true, but
Speaker 1: if you don't have the talent, then forget it. Right, So, uh,
Speaker 1: I mean I can I can work twenty four hours
Speaker 1: a day, seven days a week. I'm dunking of basketball
Speaker 1: and guess what, It's not gonna happen, right, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: not playing for the Celtics anytime soon. Right, So that's
Speaker 1: just the way. So the first thing is talent, right,
Speaker 1: So I look at the talent of the player. I
Speaker 1: look at the body type of the player, the length
Speaker 1: of the player. Like a great example of somebody that
Speaker 1: I'm part of the group that brought in Mike Jordans,
Speaker 1: Like Mike Jordan's a great example. He's got length, he's
Speaker 1: got size, he's got power, right, he's got the talent,
Speaker 1: he's got the like the foot speed. You watch him
Speaker 1: run out on a screen. We watch them the other
Speaker 1: day running out on the screen against the Browns late
Speaker 1: in the season. I mean, it's just freakish, right, They're freaks, right.
Speaker 1: They're big, strong guys that can run. Right. There's lots
Speaker 1: of big, strong guys out there, but these guys can
Speaker 1: move that body. And that's the difference, right. So I
Speaker 1: look for that, that athletic ability, that foot speed. But
Speaker 1: the big thing, like I'll use Mike again, the big
Speaker 1: thing for me is after you find those attributes. So
Speaker 1: every so now you just pull every lineman in the NFL.
Speaker 1: They all have those attributes. They can all do those things. Now,
Speaker 1: what separates them in my mind is their toughness. They're
Speaker 1: want to hate being around anybody that doesn't want to
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl, doesn't want to win the Championship,
Speaker 1: doesn't want to win every game. It just can't live
Speaker 1: with that human being on your field. If you have
Speaker 1: one of them on the field up front, you got
Speaker 1: a problem. And and we had that problem, and so
Speaker 1: that has to be fixed. And obviously with Jonah Williams,
Speaker 1: with Mike, Jordan, Trey Hopkins, Alex Redman, Bobby Hard, Xaviers
Speaker 1: Sua Filo. I mean, you got some guys in here.
Speaker 1: They're gonna make a difference. Freddie Johnson. I really feel
Speaker 1: good about the unit that way. I feel like these
Speaker 1: guys match the attribute that you're talking about. I feel
Speaker 1: like they have the skills. I feel like they have
Speaker 1: the toughness, you know. Like you watch Mike late in
Speaker 1: the season last year and we scored a touchdown against
Speaker 1: the Browns in the last game of the year, and
Speaker 1: he looked like a fifteen year old kid, you know,
Speaker 1: did just you know that clip I'm talking about when
Speaker 1: he he jumps up in the air with both feed
Speaker 1: up in the air, you know, so he and he
Speaker 1: just fired up. And so that emotion to me is everything. Right,
Speaker 1: A guy just loves playing the game. Now, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that I like cheer leaders. I don't like cheer leaders, right,
Speaker 1: I like it when guys are acquired, but that it's
Speaker 1: not that I care. I don't care. You can be
Speaker 1: whatever whatever your personality is. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's just great when you have guys that don't talk
Speaker 1: about it. They just do it and they love doing
Speaker 1: it and they're playing for the right reasons. And that's
Speaker 1: why we brought Xavier here. I mean, we studied the
Speaker 1: tape on Xavier and and when you watch him play,
Speaker 1: you know, and he's not going to show the enthusiasm
Speaker 1: like that because he's an older player. At the same time,
Speaker 1: when you watch him play, the guy loves playing ball
Speaker 1: and and he plays that way, and he's got the power.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I look for in a player
Speaker 1: is just size. Like in the NFL, like it's hard
Speaker 1: to get away with being two hundred and ninety pound
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. In the NFL today, they get hurt, and
Speaker 1: not all of them, but you know, the ones they're
Speaker 1: thrown are an exception. That's why I love the three
Speaker 1: town the three ten, three fifteen, three twenty. Those guys
Speaker 1: don't get hurt as much. I know they can get hurt,
Speaker 1: I get it, but in general, they don't get hurt
Speaker 1: as much. The bigger bodies that don't get hurt. So
Speaker 1: you've talked a little bit a bit about Xaviers Suaphilo.
Speaker 1: Let's let's talk about a little bit more about Jonah Williams.
Speaker 1: What what what he brings to the table. And Dan
Speaker 1: and I were both impressed with man, this guy you
Speaker 1: talked about a kid that's focused, that wants to be great.
Speaker 1: It's going to sacrifice everything to be great. His his
Speaker 1: his focus at practice, when he's standing on the sideline
Speaker 1: during the game, just watching the left tackle and watching
Speaker 1: the defensive at work against a left tackle. This this
Speaker 1: kid mentally, you know, in preparation wise, you know eight
Speaker 1: plus what else about Jonah Williams impressed as you coach? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think you hit the nail on the head um,
Speaker 1: you know, Like Jonah he's out in San Diego working
Speaker 1: out and all that, right, and uh so it's like
Speaker 1: I talked to him on the phone, you know, and
Speaker 1: when I'm talking to him on the phone, I'm like, hey, Jony,
Speaker 1: you know there are nice restaurants and this, you know,
Speaker 1: the girls out there you might want. You know, you
Speaker 1: can go on a date if you want, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like you can you know, you can
Speaker 1: go to an arcade and play video game, you know
Speaker 1: maybe or something, you know what I mean, Like, you
Speaker 1: don't have It doesn't have to be twenty four to
Speaker 1: seven football. It is a great compliment to him what
Speaker 1: I just said, though. He is so focused on being
Speaker 1: great at this game, and to me, it's that commitment
Speaker 1: you know, like what should be the next piece to
Speaker 1: what you're looking for in a player. This total commitment
Speaker 1: to being great and you know, and that's what he has.
Speaker 1: And that's just evident and everything that the kid does.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not gonna greece him too much because
Speaker 1: he hasn't played yet, but I can tell you know,
Speaker 1: like there's a nervousness there in him about playing in
Speaker 1: his first game because now he's been hyped, right, so
Speaker 1: there's a lot to go. You know, there's some pressure
Speaker 1: that goes into that hype, right, And I'm like, hey, Jonah,
Speaker 1: let me tell you something right now, That hype has
Speaker 1: nothing to do. I said, you need to do You
Speaker 1: need to play this game like like you're playing your
Speaker 1: senior year in high school. I said, No one cared
Speaker 1: when you were a senior in high school. I said,
Speaker 1: And in the end, right, Jonah, if you can go
Speaker 1: into the season think in that way, don't put any
Speaker 1: pressure on yourself. And said, let's just start with this.
Speaker 1: You will give up the sack, you will give up
Speaker 1: the pressure. You will make a mistake, all right, And
Speaker 1: I said, and you just come to grips with that.
Speaker 1: Don't try and be perfect you know, and he's had
Speaker 1: the chance to be around Joe Thomas a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I said, Joe Thomas, did Joe Thomas have a
Speaker 1: perfect career? Like did he give up no sacks every? Now?
Speaker 1: Come on, now, I said, You're gonna make some mistakes.
Speaker 1: I said, so just you're gonna have to grind through it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to grind through it like every other
Speaker 1: human being in the world when they still when they
Speaker 1: get their first chance to play. And so, uh, I'm
Speaker 1: excited about the kid, the kids, everything that you said
Speaker 1: he is and and we think he's gonna help us
Speaker 1: win games. You know, I'm confident that he's going to
Speaker 1: be there for Joe Morral a guy that you picked up.
Speaker 1: M Fred Johnson responded to you responded to what you
Speaker 1: were looking for from a technique standpoint, how to play
Speaker 1: the game of football is an offensive lament. What did
Speaker 1: what did you see in Fred Johnson? And how has
Speaker 1: he developed him? What do you expect out of him
Speaker 1: down the road? Okay? And so and you know this, um,
Speaker 1: anybody that's ever been around any teams knows this. I
Speaker 1: was a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, so I dealt
Speaker 1: with all different personalities, all different types when they come in.
Speaker 1: And the one thing I did love as much as
Speaker 1: me and you just said, hey, this is what you
Speaker 1: look for. You know, do you want every single guy
Speaker 1: to be a cookie cutter at all? Right? You want
Speaker 1: them to have their own personalities, right. So and then
Speaker 1: like a lot of times, guys that are opposite it,
Speaker 1: you know, they are guys that you just fall in
Speaker 1: love with. And Freddie's one of those guys. Freddie. Now
Speaker 1: when I say Freddy's opposite, I mean that as a
Speaker 1: compliment in this way. So Freddie, Freddie didn't grow up
Speaker 1: like just being in love with football, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Like Freddie had other things going on in
Speaker 1: his life. And Freddie didn't play football until he was
Speaker 1: in high school. He never played ball until that time.
Speaker 1: And so you know, then he ends up playing his
Speaker 1: senior but because of his size, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think he had a great high school career. If you
Speaker 1: listened to him, he didn't. And so you know, he
Speaker 1: ends up getting a couple of office and then he
Speaker 1: gets a laid offer by Florida, goes to Florida, and
Speaker 1: he wasn't even a standout like player at Florida. He
Speaker 1: was a good player. He was undrafted free agent. But
Speaker 1: when you're around him, there's a reason why all those
Speaker 1: things happen. And Freddie's Freddie's a work in progress when
Speaker 1: it comes to being ready to play. But as you
Speaker 1: can see, like that work in progress. We put it
Speaker 1: to test against the Dolphins last year late in the season.
Speaker 1: He played sixty five plays and then he started against
Speaker 1: the Browns the last game of the year, and I
Speaker 1: told Benny ben Marner said, listen, don't coach him at all.
Speaker 1: Don't coach him this last week going into the game.
Speaker 1: I don't want him to be uptight at all. Just
Speaker 1: let him play. Don't say a word to him about
Speaker 1: technique or anything. I said, because this guy has the
Speaker 1: talent to do a lot without anybody saying a way
Speaker 1: he is. He just naturally big story. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: a monster. I mean you've been around him, you know,
Speaker 1: like when you when you walk into an NFL locker room,
Speaker 1: right and you're just you know, and you you don't
Speaker 1: play ball or anything, you know in the NFL. You
Speaker 1: walk into you like, oh my god, these guys are monsters, right,
Speaker 1: And then Freddie takes that to the next level. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like, all of a sudden, Freddy
Speaker 1: Freddie walks around the corner. You're like, holy smokes, right,
Speaker 1: you know this is stuff you see. I can't say that,
Speaker 1: but this is stuff. You know. It's he's just freakish.
Speaker 1: So when you're around him, Now, this is the thing
Speaker 1: about him that he kind of plays you a little bit, okay,
Speaker 1: because when you're around him, you don't, well, he kind
Speaker 1: of plays it like, hey, you know, this is good stuff.
Speaker 1: I like doing it, you know, but I'm not in
Speaker 1: love with it. Maybe you know what I mean. Like
Speaker 1: he kind of plays that role. But then when you
Speaker 1: ask him a question, this kid as smart as a whip.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, you ask him like I'll install things
Speaker 1: and I'll just come back and I might be talking
Speaker 1: to somebody else, might be talking to Bobby Harten. I'll say, Freddie,
Speaker 1: tell me, explain that to me, and he'll come back
Speaker 1: at you and he'll explain it to you left, He'll
Speaker 1: he'll go rip right through it. And so there's an
Speaker 1: intelligence there that is excellent. And you can see like
Speaker 1: he played in the game against the Browns. He did
Speaker 1: a good job in that game and he did a
Speaker 1: good job. He played well. He played well in both games.
Speaker 1: Did he make a couple of mistakes, yes, okay, but
Speaker 1: the old man mistakes. Um, he looked good and I'm
Speaker 1: very excited about where he's headed as weak. You know,
Speaker 1: you just hit on something, coach, the intelligence, you know,
Speaker 1: Ron intelligence, then football IQ, football intelligence. You know you
Speaker 1: talked about Freddie having it Jonah. Um, Trey Hopkins is
Speaker 1: a menza. I mean, guys, Bobby Hart, I mean, smart
Speaker 1: players like that give you a lot of confidence as
Speaker 1: a coach, don't they. So starting inside with Trey, extremely smart, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, just ridiculous smart right. So um, it's almost
Speaker 1: like you don't want your boss to be around when
Speaker 1: you're coaching him because he's like a half step band
Speaker 1: of you, you know what I mean. So like he
Speaker 1: knows he just knows already, you know. So as soon
Speaker 1: as you say it to him in a game, you
Speaker 1: know he's already there. So you know, Um, he's that way.
Speaker 1: Bobby Hart's brilliant, uh, brilliant. And so Bobby Hart knows, uh,
Speaker 1: he knows the game and and more more than anybody,
Speaker 1: Bobby will study the player that he's playing against, and
Speaker 1: and just figuring out ways for him to use his
Speaker 1: own skills and match his skills against the player he's playing.
Speaker 1: Very smart player as well, Mike Jordan, Jonah Williams, Alex Redman.
Speaker 1: I mean, all of them. I give them all great
Speaker 1: marks for intelligence when it comes to understanding what we're
Speaker 1: trying to do and understanding the importance of figuring out
Speaker 1: what the guy against you is trying to do to you.
Speaker 1: You mentioned, uh the way Fred Johnson. You know you're
Speaker 1: walk in the locker room. It's like, whoa you know
Speaker 1: another kid that you drafted out of Kansas in the
Speaker 1: sixth round, hackem Identagy. He's a guy you want coming
Speaker 1: off the bus early. You know, when you look at
Speaker 1: Hachem Iddentogy, it's like, oh man, this guy, this guy's
Speaker 1: put together down. I mean, tell us about him. What's
Speaker 1: he like as a football player. I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1: When when I went to the combine, you know, you
Speaker 1: sit down and you talk to the players, you know
Speaker 1: as they come by the table, right So you're sitting there,
Speaker 1: you're just grabbing player you can you and you try
Speaker 1: and position yourself to get them. You know, we didn't
Speaker 1: interview him upstairs. But I did get a chance to
Speaker 1: sit down and talk with him on two occasions there,
Speaker 1: and he immediately stands out. Okay. So I watched him
Speaker 1: on tape before I got there, and I'll be honest
Speaker 1: with I grated him as a second round pick. I
Speaker 1: grad with him as a second to third round pick,
Speaker 1: and I really liked him on tape. So then you
Speaker 1: get to the I get to the Senior Bowl, Okay.
Speaker 1: And when I get to the Senior Bowl, I was
Speaker 1: supposed to have him on my team. So I was
Speaker 1: fired up because I said, okay, good, I'm really gonna
Speaker 1: get a chance to evaluate him. By the by the
Speaker 1: time I got to the Senior Bowl, whatever happened there,
Speaker 1: they switched him to another team and then and that
Speaker 1: was it. So I didn't get a chance to spend
Speaker 1: a lot of time with him. But as soon as
Speaker 1: I sat down with him the first time, he separates
Speaker 1: himself from everybody else. He's a Jonah Williams type person
Speaker 1: when it comes to how much he loves football and
Speaker 1: how much he understands commitment and responsibility and you know,
Speaker 1: and so like I got the main thing that I
Speaker 1: try and tell these kids right when they come out
Speaker 1: when they get drafted. I said, this isn't a trophy
Speaker 1: like when you get drafted in the first, second, third
Speaker 1: round or whatever whatever you get drafted or if you
Speaker 1: get drafted. When you get drafted, it's not a trophy.
Speaker 1: It's it's just the beginning. This is your birth into
Speaker 1: the game. This is your birth into the NFL. You're
Speaker 1: you're at the beginning. You haven't done anything yet. Now
Speaker 1: it's time for you to meet those expectations and to
Speaker 1: exceed those expectations if you have character. And he is
Speaker 1: so much that way, he got drafted way behind when
Speaker 1: he should have been drafted. I could not believe that
Speaker 1: nobody else picked him up, like we had other needs.
Speaker 1: So we weren't able to get him in the second, third,
Speaker 1: fourth round, okay, because we had other needs, right, and
Speaker 1: you know how that goes in the draft. That's the
Speaker 1: way it is, right okay. And so I understand that
Speaker 1: when he's still sitting there in the sixth round, like
Speaker 1: you've got to be kidding me, you know. So he
Speaker 1: is way he's much higher than that, okay. And he
Speaker 1: can play tackle or guard. He's an athlete. When you
Speaker 1: talk to him, he separates right away. Because he's not
Speaker 1: phony like a lot of guys when they go to
Speaker 1: the NFL. I'm not calling them all phone, he's either.
Speaker 1: But they do get scripted. And you can see when
Speaker 1: guys a scripted. They spend all this money on these
Speaker 1: agents and they tell them what to say. And as
Speaker 1: soon as I see a guy doing that, I'm like
Speaker 1: this guy, right, So I just ask it. It's not
Speaker 1: that hard, right, I just want to I'm asking you
Speaker 1: a question. Tell me about your family, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not a hard question. And I'm not asking you
Speaker 1: to tell me how to split an atom. Just tell
Speaker 1: me about your family, right. And so just I just
Speaker 1: want to hear some emotion. I want you to talk
Speaker 1: about your mom and you shop with your mom and
Speaker 1: your family and what you went through growing up and
Speaker 1: and a lot of these guys went through things and
Speaker 1: I want to hear it. I want to feel some
Speaker 1: passion from me and know who you are. That's all.
Speaker 1: And this kid, immediately when you ask him a question, Bam,
Speaker 1: he comes out with the answer. There is no hesitation.
Speaker 1: He's not there's no script and I love that about him.
Speaker 1: And then when you talk football, he almost gets insulted,
Speaker 1: like if you said, listen, are you are you gonna
Speaker 1: be like you say you're the hardest working guy on
Speaker 1: your team. Are you really gonna be that when you
Speaker 1: get there? Or I said, are you full of it?
Speaker 1: And he's like insulted, like he's looking at you like,
Speaker 1: are you challenging me right now? Because I will tip
Speaker 1: this table over and knock you out right. So, and
Speaker 1: I love that about the kid, right So, you know,
Speaker 1: you can just tell just the way he talks about
Speaker 1: his parents and and and and his upbringing, and he
Speaker 1: is a a plus when it comes to where we
Speaker 1: got him in the draft and who he is and
Speaker 1: what he's gonna bring to the table. He is going
Speaker 1: to compete and he is going to be able to
Speaker 1: play guard or tackle. I'd rather have him out there
Speaker 1: playing tackle, to be honest with you, And I think
Speaker 1: he can do that. So I'm really excited about that.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about him with respect to the coronavirus and
Speaker 1: the pandemic, unprecedented challenges And you're talking about how smart
Speaker 1: your guys are, and they're rare intelligence football intelligence. So
Speaker 1: I'm sure the virtual meetings have gone exceedingly well. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're gonna they're gonna be able to you know, adjust
Speaker 1: to that, but not being able to get your hands
Speaker 1: on him on the field them taking reps. I remember
Speaker 1: with me it was like, you know, when you're working
Speaker 1: with a guy, you want to see if he sets
Speaker 1: short sets, medium sets deep, you know, get a feel
Speaker 1: for him, a physical repetition read comfort level for me.
Speaker 1: Without that physical repetition with these guys, coach, how challenging
Speaker 1: is it going to be? It's like it's like anything, right,
Speaker 1: So we're all in the same boat, which is what's great. Right.
Speaker 1: It's not like somebody's got the edge over you from
Speaker 1: another team that has more time with them. But it's
Speaker 1: just as far as the development of a player, obviously
Speaker 1: everything's been stunted a little bit because we didn't spend
Speaker 1: time with them like you said we did. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't think any team could have done a better
Speaker 1: job than than Zach Taylor just did. As far as
Speaker 1: how we how we set our meetings up, what we
Speaker 1: did with our meetings in terms of dealing with our players,
Speaker 1: the amount of time we spent with our players. All
Speaker 1: the installation is in so everything is done that way.
Speaker 1: So the mentality of everything that goes to playing in
Speaker 1: playing in the game is there, like they know who
Speaker 1: to block. The team knows who to block. Okay, they
Speaker 1: know where to go. Freddie knows where to go. He
Speaker 1: knows the terminology. We actually went through plays like we
Speaker 1: had Joe Burrow there, we had the whole offense going.
Speaker 1: We put a playoff and they'd actually go through the
Speaker 1: calls and run the play on air. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: they're all sitting in their houses, but they run the
Speaker 1: play with all the communication that goes with death play
Speaker 1: and the receiver. You know, they talk about their routes
Speaker 1: and what they their depth of their route, and so
Speaker 1: everybody's talking about their position. So you do the best
Speaker 1: you can that way. And when it just comes to
Speaker 1: the development, you know, they do the players today as
Speaker 1: you know, you know, like Jonah sitting there working out
Speaker 1: with Joe Thomas, so that's going to help him tremendously.
Speaker 1: And there's things that are veteran like Joe will bring
Speaker 1: to the table. You know, like when you're doing that,
Speaker 1: a guy like that can really help you as far
Speaker 1: as like being in the position that he's in right now.
Speaker 1: You know. So they all work out at different places
Speaker 1: and they all work out with guys, usually with line
Speaker 1: coaches that have been been around and done it. So
Speaker 1: I don't see the development being totally stunted. I see
Speaker 1: them coming in ready to go, and and then we
Speaker 1: just have to gage right off the bat. I think
Speaker 1: the hardest thing for us is when you get them,
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to cram in spring the springtime that
Speaker 1: you missed, and you can't do that because the health
Speaker 1: of the player is number one and so, and my
Speaker 1: biggest thing with these players is and it's like my
Speaker 1: first time coaching in the NFL with the Dolphins, it's
Speaker 1: just the one thing that I start is if you
Speaker 1: treat their body like a college team, you're gonna lose
Speaker 1: because they're gonna get hurt because it's not a college season.
Speaker 1: You've got four preseason games, then you've got sixteen regular
Speaker 1: season games, and then if you get to the playoffs
Speaker 1: and so on, and so it's a lot more grinding
Speaker 1: on the body, and so you have to that body
Speaker 1: has the rest. You cannot just you can't do a
Speaker 1: bazilion reps every day. And I've seen coaches in college
Speaker 1: do it, and I've seen coaches in the NFL do it,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't work. And so I'm not worried about
Speaker 1: their development because every NFL teams in the same shoes
Speaker 1: and and I just I look at our unit. You
Speaker 1: know where do we need to focus And obviously it's
Speaker 1: the Jonah Williams not having any experience. Other than that,
Speaker 1: I don't see an issue. We're gonna just go as
Speaker 1: planned and then when we get on the field, you start.
Speaker 1: This is what I said to the players. I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is like it's like going back to high school.
Speaker 1: It's like you're playing high school season, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're just showing up the ball in August. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited about I'm not worried about that. Final question coach
Speaker 1: for me is is, um, when when you got a
Speaker 1: guy like Joe Burrow, who you've talked about, Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: thousand yard rusher, aj Green Brand thousan yard receiver, one
Speaker 1: healthy highler, boyd uh Te Higgins, John Russell, list goes
Speaker 1: on and on and on. I mean, this is quite
Speaker 1: a quite a litany of skill players there. People are
Speaker 1: gonna put the telescope, microscope, all the scopes on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, so you know there's some pressure that goes
Speaker 1: with that, but you I know, respond to pressure. You
Speaker 1: feel like your group is going to step up and
Speaker 1: respond to the pressure of uh, you know, a performing
Speaker 1: well for these has to show what they can do.
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about that one second. I think that,
Speaker 1: you know, you just look at Trey Hopkins. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: like we played our first game against the Browns last year. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we went down to the goal line and
Speaker 1: we got the ball down to like a two yard
Speaker 1: line down there, and we tried to we had a
Speaker 1: run play call, but we ended up throwing the ball
Speaker 1: and we sputtered down there. We didn't score a touchdown.
Speaker 1: He came over to the sign he was pissed, right
Speaker 1: and h and he let me know it, right, he
Speaker 1: was pissed. And I loved it, right because there's a
Speaker 1: competitive fire there, right, you know, and his leadership. You know,
Speaker 1: he's not a vocal vocal guy, but he's not a
Speaker 1: quiet guy either. Like he he'll say what he needs
Speaker 1: to say. And I loved that about him. And so
Speaker 1: very smart, intelligent, tough, committed, And I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: when it comes to the expectations of the line, I
Speaker 1: think that just his temperament says it all. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't think that they're gonna they're gonna uh waiver
Speaker 1: for one second. As far as feeling pressure to do well, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're gonna If things don't go well right off the bat,
Speaker 1: everything's not gonna go perfect, all right. And as you know,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I was looking at the stats
Speaker 1: of you know, Peyton Manning's first year in the league.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I think he won three games or
Speaker 1: something whatever, right, and and uh you know, different different
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and how it went down for them. And so
Speaker 1: I'm not saying we're gonna win three games either, all right,
Speaker 1: but hopefully we already we went through all that, right.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I think we're gonna play
Speaker 1: really well. I think, uh, I think the line's gonna
Speaker 1: play really well. And as you know, you know, it's
Speaker 1: really comes down to chemistry and how well how well
Speaker 1: the team jels and and a lot and how well
Speaker 1: the offense yells. And I think if you spend any
Speaker 1: time around Joe Burrow, which I've never met Joe Burrow. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I've only met him. I've only seen him through
Speaker 1: the through the Zoom meetings. But when you're around him, right.
Speaker 1: I mean he has a presence already that is incredible, Okay,
Speaker 1: And it's more presence than I've ever been around than
Speaker 1: any football team ever. And I'm not just spilling the
Speaker 1: air right now. I'm telling you when you're there, like
Speaker 1: Zach would give him the play, right, he never hesitated
Speaker 1: for one second. Like his memory. You can tell he's
Speaker 1: got a memory there. Yeah, that's good. And i mean, Zach,
Speaker 1: you lays off these formations and plagues. I'm one of
Speaker 1: the coaches. I couldn't repeat it everywhere, right, I'm like,
Speaker 1: god damn right, when Zach says it right, I have
Speaker 1: my thing on muting him, like god, dog, So how's
Speaker 1: he gonna He ain't gonna get this right, you know.
Speaker 1: But he rips it off and he says it with confidence.
Speaker 1: And then he uh like when he's when he's going
Speaker 1: through the count, the snap count, right, he actually did
Speaker 1: the snap count, you know, like why why did you
Speaker 1: know he does that whole business? Right? Yeah, but he's
Speaker 1: standing up, he's standing up like he's like he's at
Speaker 1: a game and all of our players are looking at him,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this guy is unbelievable. Uh, you know
Speaker 1: where he doesn't care, so obviously doesn't care when anybody
Speaker 1: thinks right and and you could just tell this guy
Speaker 1: wants to win ball games and uh and and he's
Speaker 1: gonna have a huge impact on the chemistry of our
Speaker 1: of our offense and our team and uh, you could
Speaker 1: just see, you know, he he's not like you say,
Speaker 1: pressure on the line. You know, Uh, there's pressure on
Speaker 1: every player at every position. But you know, I think
Speaker 1: it's their job up front to take the pressure off
Speaker 1: of Joe and uh, because Joe Burrow, you know, just
Speaker 1: his name, being a first round pick and all that,
Speaker 1: it's just dudes, pressure and so and I think the
Speaker 1: line has to do a great job at making him
Speaker 1: feel comfortable that he can stand in the pocket and
Speaker 1: throw U. And I know these guys, our guys are
Speaker 1: going to step up to the challenge. I'm really confident
Speaker 1: about this line. I feel good, Jim. I am going
Speaker 1: to chime in with a couple of questions. Number one,
Speaker 1: what's your plan for Billy Price this year? I thought
Speaker 1: Billy did a really good job for us last year,
Speaker 1: considering the situation. And you know, there's no way around uh,
Speaker 1: when you're talking about Billy and where he fits in
Speaker 1: this season, There's really no way around it, you know,
Speaker 1: when when when you talk about his situation last year,
Speaker 1: he went from being the starter and then Trey ended
Speaker 1: up being the starter at center, and then Mike ended
Speaker 1: up being the starter at guard, and then this Mike
Speaker 1: got hurt and we just now I'm actually get hurt,
Speaker 1: but Mike got nicked, and then we decided to move
Speaker 1: Billy in there in front of Mike. And and I
Speaker 1: thought Billy did a great job. Like Billy is a
Speaker 1: tough guy. For him to handle the demotion last year
Speaker 1: not be in the center and then to come in
Speaker 1: and play as well as he did at guard throughout
Speaker 1: the season, I really thought he did a good job.
Speaker 1: So going forward, where does Billy fit in? So right now, right,
Speaker 1: he'd be the next guy on the field at center
Speaker 1: of guard, you know, and and he just brings a
Speaker 1: presence there, and he brings a security there as far
Speaker 1: as having that sixth and that seventh player that can
Speaker 1: just uh, you know, you hit the you hit the
Speaker 1: ground run. And when it comes to your feelings about
Speaker 1: how well this unit can do. Having said that, is
Speaker 1: Billy in the mix to be a starter always always? Right? So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, if Billy's in there with you know, he'll
Speaker 1: take reps with Mike at left guard. M He'll get
Speaker 1: some reps at right guard. He's also get some reps
Speaker 1: at center, of course, So he gives you a he
Speaker 1: gives you some ability inside. Billy's a good player. Billy's
Speaker 1: going to help us win games. Final question for me,
Speaker 1: there are still some well known veteran free agents out there.
Speaker 1: Have you studied those guys closely in case there's a
Speaker 1: financial fit or in case something happens in training camp
Speaker 1: early in the season where you might need somebody else. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so all of that comes directed to me by the
Speaker 1: head coach. Have I looked at players, yes? Would I
Speaker 1: name them right now? No? But of course, you know
Speaker 1: that's part of our job is to keep those guys
Speaker 1: on the back burner and to have somebody in your
Speaker 1: mind that's ready for you to sign, like a John
Speaker 1: Jerry last year. But I love that signing last year.
Speaker 1: We really needed him. You know, he ended up playing
Speaker 1: a lot of football for us last year, right and
Speaker 1: John was at the end of his career. Love him
Speaker 1: to death, love what he did for us. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, yes, there are other free agents that
Speaker 1: if you had an early injury, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: or anything like that. So you gotta be ready to
Speaker 1: go and and grab one of those guys if you're
Speaker 1: in a position to do that, and if you need
Speaker 1: to do that right now. You know, when we went
Speaker 1: into free agency and all that, I'm thinking, like with
Speaker 1: Freddie there, you know, you don't feel like you really
Speaker 1: need anything that way with the team as the draft pick,
Speaker 1: I'm really not worried about that. And then when you
Speaker 1: got Xavier inside right now, with Billy inside, and then
Speaker 1: of course Alex Fredman and U and Mike Jordan, I
Speaker 1: just feel really good about, you know, about where we're
Speaker 1: at that way. And then we also have like Isaiah
Speaker 1: Prince from Ohio State, who's a second year player. Isaiah,
Speaker 1: you know, Isaiah brings a lot to the table. I'm
Speaker 1: very impressed with him. You know, I had had him
Speaker 1: slated as a possible draft pick two years ago, and
Speaker 1: then you got o'she Dugan Shay is a machine. I
Speaker 1: mean you're talking about another massive human being that can move,
Speaker 1: that can play tackle or guard. I really feel good
Speaker 1: that we have some players that can step forward if
Speaker 1: if need be. I don't know, if we need to
Speaker 1: go into free agency. But again, just like I said,
Speaker 1: you know you're always prepared for that and it will
Speaker 1: be prepared for that as well. Coach, you got me
Speaker 1: fired up. I'll give you a couple of snaps. I'll
Speaker 1: give you a couple of goal line stuff. Don't make
Speaker 1: me run anywhere, but I'll give you a couple of
Speaker 1: goal line snaps. And appreciate, appreciate your carbon the time
Speaker 1: that you did for us, and ken't thank you enough.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you, sir. All right, hey, thank you guys. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you and look forward to the season. I thanks
Speaker 1: to Lapan Coach Turner, and that's going to do it
Speaker 1: for this episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast brought to
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Speaker 1: fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast