Speaker 1: Hike and everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals boot Podcast. The I get knocked down, but
Speaker 1: I'll get up again. Addition, as Dave Lapham joins me
Speaker 1: to discuss the Bengals first scrimmage of training camp. With
Speaker 1: no preseason games, NFL teams have to do some tackling
Speaker 1: at practice this year, and we'll tell you who stepped
Speaker 1: up when the Bengals started knocking teammates down. Plus, I'll
Speaker 1: talk to former NFL GM Charlie Casserleigh, now with the
Speaker 1: NFL Network and NFL dot Com. If he had been
Speaker 1: in charge of the Bengals going into this year's draft,
Speaker 1: would he have taken Joe Burrow or traded the pick?
Speaker 1: He'll answer that question. And finally, this week's one on
Speaker 1: one player interview is with c j Uzama, now the
Speaker 1: old man in the Bengals tight ends room. Those were
Speaker 1: his words, not mine. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented
Speaker 1: by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospital fatality
Speaker 1: partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
Speaker 1: delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing
Speaker 1: an Itune, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since a golf lesson. I love golf,
Speaker 1: and at various points in my life I've been a
Speaker 1: decent player, certainly not great, but somebody who could pretty
Speaker 1: consistently shoot in the low eighties with the occasional round
Speaker 1: in the seventies. Well not this year. I stink so
Speaker 1: much so that when I've had the chance to play,
Speaker 1: I've wanted to sell my clubs at the end of
Speaker 1: the round. So this week I broke down and took
Speaker 1: a lesson from my friend Doug Martin, the former PGA
Speaker 1: Tour player who is now the head coach at UC.
Speaker 1: It was awesome and in one hour I felt like
Speaker 1: I was back on track. So if you're a struggling golfer,
Speaker 1: don't give up. Take a lesson. After just one hour,
Speaker 1: I think that I no longer stink. Now, let's get
Speaker 1: to football. On Friday morning, Joe Burrow faced his biggest
Speaker 1: test of training camp to date as the Bengals held
Speaker 1: their first scrimmage. The rookie quarterback even got tackled by
Speaker 1: a Gatorade cooler that Burrow tripped over on a scramble
Speaker 1: out of bounds, Joe cool hopped right up and after
Speaker 1: everybody breathed a huge sigh of relief, the Cooler was
Speaker 1: quickly yanked out of the way. That occurred on the
Speaker 1: third play of an eleven play touchdown drive. Quite a
Speaker 1: start for Joe Burrow, and Dave Lapham joined me to
Speaker 1: talk about it when the scrimmage was finished. Lap at
Speaker 1: the NFL scouting combine, we learned Joe Burrow's hand size. Well.
Speaker 1: Now after seeing them scrimmage for the first time, we
Speaker 1: need his jacket size for the gold jacket that he's
Speaker 1: going to get going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: I'm obviously being facetious, but he was really impressive today.
Speaker 1: He was out there for five drives in the scrimmage.
Speaker 1: The Bengal scored three touchdowns and two field goals on
Speaker 1: those drives. Now, I should point out on the field
Speaker 1: goals he started at the opponent's thirties, so what would
Speaker 1: be known as the red zone. Plus didn't get any
Speaker 1: first downs on those two drives, so those are really
Speaker 1: wins for the defense. But still by my stats, thirteen
Speaker 1: for nineteen overall, a pair of touchdown passes to add
Speaker 1: and Tate and a very impressive showing, very impressive Dan.
Speaker 1: And you know, Zach has got a scoring system on
Speaker 1: these scrimmages where the defense can score points. I mean,
Speaker 1: if they hold the offense to a field goal like
Speaker 1: they did, the offense gets three, the defense gets four.
Speaker 1: So you know, and then if the defense gets to
Speaker 1: takeaway at seven points at the offense touchdown at seven points. Today,
Speaker 1: I think of the letters C or the scrimmage that
Speaker 1: took place. I take the letter C, not meanings. He
Speaker 1: grated to see just the letter C. Because the dude
Speaker 1: had complete command. He was in total control of things.
Speaker 1: He communicated everybody. He did not look like a rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback whatsoever. A couple of defensive coaches that I had
Speaker 1: a chance to speak with like a long distance, you know,
Speaker 1: I said, what's your take on Burrow? A kid can play.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a player, there's no question about it.
Speaker 1: He is. He's impressed everybody. And when you look at it.
Speaker 1: In the scrimmage, Joe Burrow didn't have a lot of
Speaker 1: his weapons. You know, A J. Green was not in
Speaker 1: the mix whatsoever. T Higgins not in the mix whatsoever.
Speaker 1: John Ross not in the mix whatsoever, varying reasons for that.
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon only played in one little part of it
Speaker 1: that was not live tackling. It was thump drill. Giovanni Bernard.
Speaker 1: Didn't see Giovanni Bernard out there very much at all,
Speaker 1: if any that I could recall. So, I mean Tyler
Speaker 1: Boyd and no, no, not gonna play. You know, took
Speaker 1: care of guys on defense too, like you know Geno Atkins,
Speaker 1: he didn't. He didn't see the football field defensive tackles
Speaker 1: he protected. You don't want to lose dj Reader. You
Speaker 1: don't want to lose Daniels. You don't want to lose
Speaker 1: you know, there are no defensive tackles to get anywhere,
Speaker 1: and they've already lost one and Rent. So I think
Speaker 1: they were very smart about the whole thing. But back
Speaker 1: to Burrow with the offense, So what did he do?
Speaker 1: Oddent Tate had a day because Joe Burrow, Alex Ericsson
Speaker 1: had a day. It's like, hey, these guys are NFL players.
Speaker 1: I know they're gonna do their job. I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: my job. Those guys stepped up and when he gave
Speaker 1: them opportunities to make plays, they rewarded them. The thing
Speaker 1: that Odd and Tate showed today Dan, that he's shown
Speaker 1: him forever is his billion to fifty fifty ball. It's
Speaker 1: twenty five at worst. With him, he's like a like
Speaker 1: a tremendous rebounder. I mean he gets position, uses that
Speaker 1: big body and man he and right now Joe Barrow
Speaker 1: already saying if you're I'm going to you if you
Speaker 1: don't catch it, I'm no, you're not gonna let the
Speaker 1: defense make a play on it. The ball is going
Speaker 1: to go on the ground if you don't catch it, Joe,
Speaker 1: the ball is going to hit the dirt. It's not
Speaker 1: going to be in a defensive player's hands for an interception.
Speaker 1: So you can already see the trust and confidence that
Speaker 1: those guys have built up. And you know you mentioned
Speaker 1: it in one of our training camp reports. The dynamic
Speaker 1: between Tyler Boyd and Joe Burrows is building because they're
Speaker 1: taking so many snaps together. I'm excited to see when
Speaker 1: he gets all of his weapons. I mean, you know
Speaker 1: the number ones as such, it wasn't it wasn't the
Speaker 1: number ones really when a lot of the number ones
Speaker 1: projected number ones for Verus and the sundry reasons weren't going.
Speaker 1: Boyd and Bernard were out there on that very opening
Speaker 1: drive with the thumping, not the tackling, but that was
Speaker 1: pretty much it for those two guys. I do want
Speaker 1: to go back to the very first drive of the
Speaker 1: day for Joe Burrow was an eleven play touchdown drive.
Speaker 1: He was six for six, but the first two plays
Speaker 1: were runs by Joe Mixon. They did not pick up
Speaker 1: a first down. So now it's third down. Burrow drops
Speaker 1: back to pass pretty good pass rush, takes off and
Speaker 1: runs for the first down to keep that first drive alive,
Speaker 1: and then methodically marches them down the field. That's another
Speaker 1: aspect of his game that's going to come in very handy.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt, Dan. I mean, you know, Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: was MVP because he could beat you throwing the foot bone.
Speaker 1: He can beat you with his feet, you know, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow it does not have the speed in the athleticism
Speaker 1: of Lamar Jackson. I'm not trying to make a comparison there,
Speaker 1: but what I am saying is when things start to
Speaker 1: break down, he has enough foot speed enough make you miss,
Speaker 1: you know, enough suddenness, enough quick twitch to extend to
Speaker 1: play and extend to drive create plays, and yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Joe Burrow has the ability to make plays with
Speaker 1: his feet as well as his throwing arm and in
Speaker 1: his brain. More importantly, most importantly is he understands the
Speaker 1: game of football. He sees the field so well and
Speaker 1: he diagnoses what he's looking at so quickly. He makes decisions,
Speaker 1: very very sure decisions in a very expedited fashion. Man
Speaker 1: he gets the ball out. He's a very impressive kid
Speaker 1: to watch. He was not perfect. On one drive, he
Speaker 1: had c j Uzama open in the end zone after
Speaker 1: buying a little bit of time and scrambling to his right,
Speaker 1: he missed him when he was open in the end zone.
Speaker 1: On the very next pass, he threw a touchdown to
Speaker 1: Odd and Tate, so no damage done there. But he
Speaker 1: also threw a very dangerous pass at one point, rolling
Speaker 1: out to his left, pointed down field to one of
Speaker 1: his wide receivers, and then tossed a deep ball down
Speaker 1: the middle of the field that'll get intercepted a lot
Speaker 1: in a regular NFL game. And then thirdly, there was
Speaker 1: a deep ball to Alex Ericson who was open and
Speaker 1: Joe didn't really step into it that much, kind of
Speaker 1: floated it down the middle of the field and didn't
Speaker 1: get it out there far enough for Alex Ericson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it didn't lead him quite enough, and it had a
Speaker 1: little bit too hung in the air, a little bit
Speaker 1: a little bit too long. But the thing where I
Speaker 1: think he is, I mean really fun to watch when
Speaker 1: we're watching from behind the offense, like we're allowed to do,
Speaker 1: watch from the end zone, and we're standing on the
Speaker 1: field to play. And I like that because I can
Speaker 1: see the protections, I can see holes develop, you know,
Speaker 1: in the running game and all that. But I can
Speaker 1: also see Joe Burrow, what he's doing when he slidesteps
Speaker 1: and what he's looking at and when he throws that
Speaker 1: football in the intermedi it ranges. It is impressive where
Speaker 1: he's putting that ball. I mean it is tight windows. Man.
Speaker 1: It's like that's the only place he could have put
Speaker 1: it to get their completion he got and he put
Speaker 1: it right there. I mean dime, big time dime. So
Speaker 1: that that part of it is where you make your
Speaker 1: bread and butter in the National Football League, And you know,
Speaker 1: he led the led college football in quarterback rating under
Speaker 1: pressure and completion percentage under pressure and he was second
Speaker 1: in all of college football throws twenty yards and war so,
Speaker 1: I mean he can do both. I mean he can
Speaker 1: hit that short and met it stuff with the best
Speaker 1: of them, but he can he can get those chunk
Speaker 1: plays for you. And on the drives we talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, the numbers that he put up, he chunked him.
Speaker 1: He had a few chunk plays in there. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not like it was screen passes, nickel and dime stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, tight end on a hitch. I mean, he
Speaker 1: chunked him pretty good. I'll tell you where he's especially accurate,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, on those slants like seven to ten
Speaker 1: yards slant he hits the guy in stra He was
Speaker 1: really effective on those, to Mike Thomas and Auden Tate
Speaker 1: and you know, Dan, there's there's a lot of times
Speaker 1: there's going to be traffic there and if your receivers
Speaker 1: like don't throw, don't hang me out to dry, don't
Speaker 1: make me stretch out for that thing. When those guys
Speaker 1: run those routes, they're running them with such confidence that
Speaker 1: Joe's gonna hit me where I know, he's not gonna
Speaker 1: put me in danger. He's going to deliver the ball
Speaker 1: where I can make a catch on it, and I'll
Speaker 1: still be able to protect myself from that from that
Speaker 1: big hit, because you know, all it takes is a
Speaker 1: slant or two were you know, the defensive backs counting
Speaker 1: the receiver's ribs. I think I'll hit him between rib
Speaker 1: three and four on this one, and it come back
Speaker 1: said hell, like, dude, don't do that to me again.
Speaker 1: You know, receivers to a quarterback, and Joe's I think,
Speaker 1: very very aware of that, and he puts the ball
Speaker 1: right where it should be put. For sure. I didn't
Speaker 1: see Geno Atkins at all. Carlos Dunlap and Sam Hubbard
Speaker 1: were out there a decent amount. Carl Lawson played a lot.
Speaker 1: I don't remember seeing DJ reader. Mike Daniels was out
Speaker 1: there a little bit, says Zach Taylor. Obviously a reader
Speaker 1: a little bit too, says Zach Taylor. Was obviously resting
Speaker 1: and protecting some of the big name defensive lineman, particularly
Speaker 1: the veterans. But with all of that in mind, how
Speaker 1: did the offensive line do? In your opinion? I thought
Speaker 1: they did pretty well. And uh, you know, Joe Williams
Speaker 1: to me, it's encouraging to watch him play. He has
Speaker 1: what I call football character, and it's it's not just
Speaker 1: you know what he says, because some guys talk a
Speaker 1: good game, you know, but then can you go out
Speaker 1: and play in the dude? He is. He is a focused,
Speaker 1: you know, dialed in, grinded out guy, and he's he's
Speaker 1: getting his reps against Carlos Dunlap when he's in there,
Speaker 1: or carl Lawson. Pretty good combination. And like we said,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean his first two games, Joey Bosa
Speaker 1: and Miles Garrett. I mean, he was drafted by the
Speaker 1: Bengals to block guys like Miles Garrett one on one.
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett was drafted by the Cleveland Browns to beat
Speaker 1: guys like Jonah Williams one on one. And Miles Garrett
Speaker 1: got a second contract already a biggie and Jonah Williams,
Speaker 1: you know, at the eleventh pick of the draft. Bengals
Speaker 1: are counting on him to be a plug and play
Speaker 1: guy for a decade or more. They're gonna be playing
Speaker 1: against each other a ton. But he gets those two
Speaker 1: guys in one hundred hours, you know, Sunday at four
Speaker 1: o'clock and then you know, Thursday night at eight o'clock, man,
Speaker 1: a chevits that's but I think he's going to be
Speaker 1: able to handle it. And I liken it to the
Speaker 1: first time I played against Joe Green. It was my
Speaker 1: personal Super Bowl. I mean I was so geeked up, man,
Speaker 1: I could have picked the stadium up that night. Joe
Speaker 1: is not the game to Joe is who's this? You know?
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, you know, everybody's expecting Joe to kick
Speaker 1: my butt and if I block him a few times
Speaker 1: and gonna be like, Oh, who's this dude? You know,
Speaker 1: it was easy hung in there with Jonah. Has to
Speaker 1: have that mindset. Everybody's gonna be watching Joonah Williams go
Speaker 1: against Joey Bosa who just got the big deal, and
Speaker 1: then Cha Miles care tops that or vice versa. It's
Speaker 1: like they're They're the two highest paid pass rush edge
Speaker 1: rush in the game. Jony gets to prove himself right away.
Speaker 1: It's a big opportunity. I think he's going to handle
Speaker 1: it that way. And watching him out there in practice,
Speaker 1: he's preparing that way, not just every single day, every
Speaker 1: single snap and a couple of times, you know, I
Speaker 1: saw like an emotional reaction from him. So I'm sure
Speaker 1: on the field he was exulting a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: after touchdowns, and there's nothing wrong with that. He and
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan was doing some of the same thing.
Speaker 1: I think that left side could be pretty decent, I
Speaker 1: really do. I mean they're young, you know, I'm both
Speaker 1: second year guys, but Jone aren't even playing his first
Speaker 1: year and Michael's played some and really grew, and now
Speaker 1: those two could be a nice tandem for a decade plus.
Speaker 1: On that left side. You should have just given me
Speaker 1: and Joe Green a coke. He would have taken it
Speaker 1: easy on you, coking a smile. Following up on the
Speaker 1: old line, they did have some pre snap penalties today,
Speaker 1: so Jim Turner will be barking about that the next
Speaker 1: offensive line meeting. And you know, Dan, it's like Zach
Speaker 1: addressed it when we talked to him after the scrimmage.
Speaker 1: It's like, you're gonna be led in because Michael had
Speaker 1: one early and I could he was so jacked up.
Speaker 1: He came off the ball and tried to knock the
Speaker 1: linebacker into next week. So I mean, that's that's part
Speaker 1: of that is really obviously you have to be you
Speaker 1: have to have a controlled rage. As the way I
Speaker 1: used to describe it, I'd go into a game thinking
Speaker 1: that this guy tried to rob my house and do
Speaker 1: something bad to my family. That's the way I hated him.
Speaker 1: I wanted to destroy the guy. And you're all jacked up,
Speaker 1: geeked up, ready to go. But then you have to
Speaker 1: be controlled enough where you're just not frenzied, you know,
Speaker 1: running around assignment errors bats, you know, not in a snapcount.
Speaker 1: It has to be a controlled rage, a controlled frenzy,
Speaker 1: and sometimes balancing those two things, you know are a
Speaker 1: little different, but yeah, they'll get cleaned up. Those things
Speaker 1: will get cleaned up. Ball can't be on the ground,
Speaker 1: you know. You don't want to see any of that.
Speaker 1: You don't want any assignment errors, any mental errors from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, and Zach initially, I think, was pretty pleased
Speaker 1: with that. I did see a free runner that an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman get taken out of the scrimmage over and
Speaker 1: was replaced. So there's going to be very little tolerance
Speaker 1: for those kind of things because you certainly don't want
Speaker 1: to be the guy who let him inside linebacker with
Speaker 1: a straight be line to your quarterback Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: hit him. Was open up a new canad quarterbacks. You
Speaker 1: don't want to be that guy. You'll never live that
Speaker 1: one down. So at a diner you got the special
Speaker 1: of the day. That's kind of how it feels right now.
Speaker 1: With the Bengals starting linebackers, it's like, all right, who's
Speaker 1: on the menu today? To start a linebacker and for
Speaker 1: the scrimmage with the ones. The first two guys today
Speaker 1: were veterans Josh Bines and Jordan Evans, but after that
Speaker 1: it was shuffle him in and out, mix and match.
Speaker 1: That continues to be the theme so far. Did anybody
Speaker 1: look particularly good to you today? You know I still
Speaker 1: continue to like you know, both Logan Wilson and Davis
Speaker 1: gaitheror I mean they do flash, they can they can
Speaker 1: really run, they can really run around. Now again it does.
Speaker 1: I'm not as tuned in, haven't been a former offensive player.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of tuned into looking at it from an
Speaker 1: offensive linement perspective. Was there in assignment or I'm not
Speaker 1: as in tuned Okay, did he take the proper drop?
Speaker 1: Was he in the right gap? I mean I can
Speaker 1: tell if a guy's on the wrong gap don't And
Speaker 1: I didn't see necessarily any of that. And uh, I
Speaker 1: didn't see any glaring mental errors by those guys. But
Speaker 1: there may have been some some some problems, you know,
Speaker 1: poor angles taking taken, maybe not enough depth on a
Speaker 1: drop on some completion. Who knows what the fine tuning
Speaker 1: part of it is. But but watching those guys play,
Speaker 1: they need reps, you know, they just need snaps. They
Speaker 1: need repetition. Repetition breeds comfort level. And man, if you
Speaker 1: could take uh, you know, suck Josh buying some of
Speaker 1: his brain and injected into the into the rookies, you know,
Speaker 1: and transpose some of the transfer some of that some
Speaker 1: of that gray matter with all of his experiences. And
Speaker 1: there's no substitute for experience, you know. There there's no
Speaker 1: other way to get it other than to go through
Speaker 1: the experience. So, um, it is an interesting mix there, well,
Speaker 1: Josh Finds and those young guys. So after the scrimmage,
Speaker 1: when Zach Taylor did a conference call with all the
Speaker 1: reporters and you know, answered ten questions about how great
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is, he made a point without being asked
Speaker 1: to single out Will Jackson as a player that he
Speaker 1: thought was excellent today. Yeah, Will Jackson, I mean I'd
Speaker 1: have to look at tape to see that. But but
Speaker 1: he like he's a quarterback. Colin plays, so his eyes
Speaker 1: go to the perimeter on the back end, and he
Speaker 1: wants to see coverage and he wants to see who's
Speaker 1: providing tight coverage. And and if Will Jackson kept jumping
Speaker 1: into his eye, into his vision, you know, he's gonna say, hey,
Speaker 1: that guy. He was. He was consistently effective, and that's good.
Speaker 1: That's good to see out of Will Jackson. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean he needs to he needs to have that
Speaker 1: kind of day. But other guys I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: it had pretty solid scrimmages. But but nobody likes Jacques Patrick.
Speaker 1: Jacques was, he was. He was unbelievable. He's a hundred
Speaker 1: yards rushing. It seemed like in one drive. But yeah,
Speaker 1: Florida State kid, big body guy. Um, he does have
Speaker 1: some special teams experience and in college and in the XFL,
Speaker 1: And I asked Zack in the conference called, you know,
Speaker 1: without special teams games where Darren can actually see them
Speaker 1: against other colored jerseys play special teams, you know, does
Speaker 1: that how does that factor in? And they are gonna
Speaker 1: like there's another scrimmer's Dan that we're gonna call on radio,
Speaker 1: by the way, on WLW and uh so they'll have
Speaker 1: special teams periods there that it sounds like you're going
Speaker 1: to be live and part of that evaluation process will
Speaker 1: take place and they're almost going to have to do that,
Speaker 1: you know, see if guys can finish plays, get guys
Speaker 1: on the ground, and um, you know, I remember Paul Brown.
Speaker 1: It was so innovative and so great and such a
Speaker 1: such a inspiration, you know, as a coach, and he'd
Speaker 1: he'd always say, Dan, about this time of training camp.
Speaker 1: You know, we can trick people, we can fool people,
Speaker 1: we can do all that the way, but guys, you
Speaker 1: still have to block and you still have to tackle.
Speaker 1: And that's what today started it off. You still have
Speaker 1: to block lineback, defensive players have to get off blocks,
Speaker 1: have to tackle. And Paul Brown, every single practice in
Speaker 1: training camp we would stretch and then do routine tackling drill.
Speaker 1: Everybody tackled lineman, offensive lineman against offensive linement, quarterbacks against quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: punter against place kicker, and you would line up and
Speaker 1: wasn't live, but it was forty five degree angle at
Speaker 1: a decent little clip, gets your helmet across the battle
Speaker 1: head in front and take on the ground and get
Speaker 1: used to going to the ground tackling people because if
Speaker 1: the defense turns you over, you got to tackle the
Speaker 1: guy will score a touchdown. His big part right at
Speaker 1: the very early stage. As soon as you get loose
Speaker 1: and warmed up routine tackling drill, everybody takes somebody to
Speaker 1: the ground. That was Paul Brown, as innovative and creative
Speaker 1: as he was. The basics man, lock and tackle. That's football.
Speaker 1: Jacques Patrick, the running back you were referring to, had
Speaker 1: a forty yard run and a fifteen yard touchdown run
Speaker 1: on the same drive. I'll tell you another guy who
Speaker 1: had a good day today, Ryan Finlay. Two touchdown passes.
Speaker 1: Both of them came in that red zone plus area
Speaker 1: where they started at the opponent's thirty yard line. He
Speaker 1: threw one to Alex Ericson and the other to Mason
Speaker 1: Shrek wide open running down the seam. And he also
Speaker 1: had a deep ball completion to alex Ericson earlier in
Speaker 1: the scrimmage. Yeah, and this is where you know year
Speaker 1: one to year two. Hopefully, Ryan Finley, he got a
Speaker 1: taste of it, and it was probably a bad taste
Speaker 1: in his mouth. I'm sure he wanted to spit it
Speaker 1: out pretty quickly and use some wealthwashing and start over
Speaker 1: and use it as a learning process, a learning tool.
Speaker 1: He was putting a very very tough situation, There's no
Speaker 1: question about it. He took some knocks. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was very, very difficult and desperate scenario. But you learn
Speaker 1: from it, and I think he's learned from it. He's
Speaker 1: a very intelligent player and he is making some plays
Speaker 1: and that's going to benefit the football team, no doubt
Speaker 1: about it. You have to have more than one at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position, and history has shown that. We talked
Speaker 1: about Drew Sample on a recent UH Bengals training camp
Speaker 1: report video report and about how he has transformed his
Speaker 1: physique going into this camp. Well, he had a huge
Speaker 1: gain on a throw up the seam from Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: and I don't remember him having any catches like that
Speaker 1: last year. Yeah, he did. The run after catch was impressive.
Speaker 1: I mean he got his shoulder pass squared up and
Speaker 1: went north and south like man right now. And I
Speaker 1: thought he was pretty good at the line scrimmage blocking
Speaker 1: to the Bengals. Uh, they had various in a sundry
Speaker 1: schemes utilized today, but one of them was the pin
Speaker 1: and pulled up was so good for Joe Mixon towards
Speaker 1: the end of the year. And Drew Sample had some
Speaker 1: nice pin blocks, you know, and and uh, you know
Speaker 1: he blocked down and pin one time. And Bobby Hart
Speaker 1: came out and had a nice, nice block out in
Speaker 1: space as a pulling lineman led to a you know,
Speaker 1: one of their touchdowns. And it's it's encouraging to you know,
Speaker 1: to see these these young players. I mean, that's who
Speaker 1: that's who the Bengals are. When when you look at
Speaker 1: a lot of the positions that that guys were playing.
Speaker 1: We talked about Jonah Williams, Michael Jordan, Trey Hopkins has
Speaker 1: not been He's not a you know, a grizzle veteran guy,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean that offensive line. Bobby Hart's the
Speaker 1: oldest player that offensive line. He's not, you know, not
Speaker 1: a graybeard, um, Drew Sample, CJ's It's they this roster,
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of guys they're counting on in
Speaker 1: the early stages or in the prime stages of their career.
Speaker 1: Prime for me as a as a foreign player is
Speaker 1: like years four to seven, but now they're playing so
Speaker 1: much longer. It might be four to nine or four
Speaker 1: to ten because they are playing, you know, so much longer.
Speaker 1: But in the way nutrition and weight training on all that,
Speaker 1: the way they're taking care of themselves. Um, and they're
Speaker 1: getting paid so much, do have to worry about offseason jobs.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's a different animal. But they're a
Speaker 1: lot of young players are gonna be given the keys
Speaker 1: to the car as such, and they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: learn to drive quickly, all right. Final thing, T Higgins
Speaker 1: has been going through wide receiver drills prior to this
Speaker 1: scrimmage type stuff at practice for the last few days.
Speaker 1: He'll be back out there soon unless there's a setback,
Speaker 1: and there's no reason to fear that there will be.
Speaker 1: We happen to see AJ Green rehabbing on the Paul
Speaker 1: Brown Stadium field inside of the stadium prior to our
Speaker 1: video report yesterday, so AJ's getting closer. John Ross is
Speaker 1: back in town going back through the COVID nineteen testing protocol,
Speaker 1: so within a few days he's likely to be back.
Speaker 1: So I think sometime next week we're going to see
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow throwing to all of his weapons. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be potentially this next scrimmage
Speaker 1: Priday United Paul Brown Stadium. I think that'll be preseason
Speaker 1: game number three as such, where you know, everybody gets
Speaker 1: quite a few you play first half, who down, warm
Speaker 1: back up, play a series in the third quarter. I
Speaker 1: think that they'll, within reason, they'll they'll play you know,
Speaker 1: quite a few of these guys. I mean, John Ross
Speaker 1: hasn't even been in the facility for a while, but
Speaker 1: they said he was looking really good physically, and he
Speaker 1: knows the offense. I mean, he participated in it last year.
Speaker 1: I mean, Tea Higgins, how quickly do you want to
Speaker 1: get him out there? I'm sure you want to try
Speaker 1: to get it out there as quickly as possible with
Speaker 1: you know, Joe Burrow and get him indoctrinated into the
Speaker 1: tempo and speed of the game in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: And you know, interesting to see how much AJ Green
Speaker 1: will play, you know, if they continue to maybe you know,
Speaker 1: treat him with kid gloves a little bit and make
Speaker 1: sure the one thing I know they want to make
Speaker 1: sure of his AJ Green is available for the opener
Speaker 1: against the Chargers. They all with scrimmages, you know, whatever else.
Speaker 1: Just make sure that you've got him tracking h to
Speaker 1: participate and make plays in that season open against the
Speaker 1: LA Chargers. But you know, Joe Burrow and aj Green,
Speaker 1: they'd like to get some timing, you know, and some repetitions.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited about seeing the true number ones. And
Speaker 1: like we said, you know what, if you're a pro,
Speaker 1: if those guys aren't playing, the thing you have to
Speaker 1: do is take advantage of opportunities presented to yourself. Untake
Speaker 1: Alex Erickson. Good job, You'll sleep well tonight. You took
Speaker 1: full advantage. As Lap referenced, we will be broadcasting an
Speaker 1: upcoming scrimmage on the radio that will be on Sunday night,
Speaker 1: August thirtieth. Before we get to our next conversation, here's
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can take your Bengals pride
Speaker 1: to the next level in twenty twenty with an official
Speaker 1: Bengals fan package from Prime Sport. If you had to
Speaker 1: pick one decision in Bengals history that the team would
Speaker 1: most like to have back, it was probably back in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine when they turned down a bunch of
Speaker 1: draft picks, including multiple first round selections from the New
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints, and drafted achiey Smith number three overall. Washington
Speaker 1: had the fifth pick in that draft and wound up
Speaker 1: making the trade with New Orleans getting six picks in
Speaker 1: the ninety nine draft plus first and third round selections
Speaker 1: in the two thousand draft. In other words, Washington traded
Speaker 1: one pick for eight, including two first rounders. Washington's general
Speaker 1: manager at that time was Charlie Casserley, now an analyst
Speaker 1: for the NFL Network and a columnist for NFL dot Com.
Speaker 1: He joined me for this week's podcast. Charlie, any Bengals
Speaker 1: related interview going into twenty twenty has to begin with
Speaker 1: a discussion about Joe Burrow. What did you think of
Speaker 1: him as an NFL prospect and as a former GM
Speaker 1: would you have drafted him number one overall or look
Speaker 1: to trade the pick from multiple number ones. I would
Speaker 1: have taken him. I thought he was the best quarterback
Speaker 1: in the draft. You know, there's always a risk with
Speaker 1: a rookie whether he's going to develop or not. But
Speaker 1: I liked them. I wouldn't take the chance of multiple picks.
Speaker 1: You don't know what's going to happen with them, and
Speaker 1: if you have a quarterback, you'd like you'd take them.
Speaker 1: That's number one. Number two would I like about him?
Speaker 1: I think intelligence, his study, habits, his field, vision, anticipation,
Speaker 1: poison the pocket. I mean, I saw this guy standing
Speaker 1: there with people coming right at him and he never flinched.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say he has a top arm, but there's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with his arm to make all the throws. So,
Speaker 1: like we're talking to former NFL GM Charlie Castleley, with
Speaker 1: no OTAs or mini camps and now no preseason games,
Speaker 1: what are your expectations for his rookie year. Well, Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton came in without an offseason, but he had preseason
Speaker 1: games and he went on and was I think he
Speaker 1: was twenty touchdown masses over three thousand yards throwing. Those
Speaker 1: are ballpark figures of what he did, but I know
Speaker 1: they're close, but I'm not sure. It's just hard to
Speaker 1: say at this point in time. I think he's smart.
Speaker 1: I think that the offense will grow throughout the season.
Speaker 1: I think that you'll be You'll be putting it in
Speaker 1: as you go and I don't think there's any other
Speaker 1: way to do it. Don't know will load the guy.
Speaker 1: What he can do you execute? You know, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of it's going to depend upon you know,
Speaker 1: does he does he have everybody healthy with him? You
Speaker 1: know when Andy Goldon excelled, AJ Green excelled too. They
Speaker 1: were both rookies at the same point in time. So
Speaker 1: he needs a healthy AJ Green, a healthy Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: and a healthy offensive line. And if he's got everybody healthy,
Speaker 1: I think the offense can grow and he can do well.
Speaker 1: If I'm evaluating him, does he execute the offense? Make
Speaker 1: sure I don't have overloaded. And from his point of view,
Speaker 1: he can't try to make every play a home run.
Speaker 1: He can't run around there forever in the backfield if
Speaker 1: it's not there to throw it away, run even if
Speaker 1: you have to take the sack, live for another day.
Speaker 1: So that's one of the things he's going to have
Speaker 1: to learn, Charlie. As you know, the Bengals have historically
Speaker 1: not been a big spender in free agency, but they
Speaker 1: dove in head first this year. What was your reaction
Speaker 1: and was there an addition or two that you especially liked. Well,
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of a surprise, but you know,
Speaker 1: you have a second year head coach. You're trying to
Speaker 1: win here, and you've got the first pick in the draft,
Speaker 1: and you got a quarterback, so I could see what
Speaker 1: they were doing. I think DJ Reader to me, was
Speaker 1: the best free agents they signed. This is this guy's
Speaker 1: a complete player. Scott can play the run, he's strong inside,
Speaker 1: he can give you a push on the pocket, he's
Speaker 1: got some pass rush ability. You know. He was the
Speaker 1: one guy that that stood out to me that every
Speaker 1: team in the league would have won to have. We're
Speaker 1: talking to former NFL GM Charlie Casserley. You wrote a
Speaker 1: column for NFL dot com about a week ago looking
Speaker 1: at all four teams in the AFC North and it
Speaker 1: included some key position battles. What positions in Cincinnati do
Speaker 1: you have your eyes on. Well, they got to sort
Speaker 1: the offensive line out. I think that that that's probably
Speaker 1: the key one when you look at it, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think the linebacker position, the all three boy of
Speaker 1: positions are wide open. You've got to Jermine, Josh Bines,
Speaker 1: Jordan Evans, and you got the rookies Logan Wilson, who
Speaker 1: I like. I gotta believe he'll find a starting position.
Speaker 1: And then you got a couple of other rookies in there,
Speaker 1: Baylor and Davis Gator. So I think on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: really your center and your left tackle a set, I think,
Speaker 1: and then everything else is up for grafts. So then
Speaker 1: you get that settled in there. Were you a big
Speaker 1: Jonah Williams guy going into last year's draft. I liked them.
Speaker 1: I thought he was an excellent prospect. I thought he
Speaker 1: was a good pick. I thought I had him rated
Speaker 1: in the first round. I thought he was a left tackle,
Speaker 1: and I think that that's a very unfortunately missed his
Speaker 1: rookie year. So again, it's awfully hard to sit there
Speaker 1: and evaluate how these well, these guys who are gonna
Speaker 1: play in September with fourteen padded practices and no games.
Speaker 1: So I think we're all gonna have to be a patient.
Speaker 1: The offensive line is always the slowest group to come together,
Speaker 1: even with a full preseason in September, it's probably the
Speaker 1: lowest performing or at least performing level off a group
Speaker 1: of any on the team, and that especially hurts a
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback. So it's a group that's going to take
Speaker 1: some time to come together, but not unlike many other
Speaker 1: lines in this league. Charlie Joe Mixon is due to
Speaker 1: be a free agent at the end of this year.
Speaker 1: As a former team builder, how do you feel about
Speaker 1: paying running backs? Well, it's one of those things. The
Speaker 1: second contracts always tricky because a lot of them don't
Speaker 1: make it through the second contract. But if you're getting
Speaker 1: a guy that's young and not twenty eight when he
Speaker 1: signs the second contract, I'd absolutely sign him to the
Speaker 1: second contract because the age is in your favor there.
Speaker 1: You know, Mixon is an outstanding player. He's one of
Speaker 1: the better young backs in the league, and you want
Speaker 1: to have him. The problem is, I don't know where
Speaker 1: they are financially or what Mixon wants that that always
Speaker 1: becomes an issue in the thing. But I'm sure they
Speaker 1: want to sign him and be sure that they would
Speaker 1: love to have him because he's an excellent player. We're
Speaker 1: talking to former NFL GM Charlie Casserley. If you were
Speaker 1: running a team under these circumstances, what are some of
Speaker 1: the things you would be worried about going into this year. Well,
Speaker 1: I think it starts with the building. Do we have
Speaker 1: the building safe? And I think teams have done an
Speaker 1: outstanding job with that and and so that's your credit
Speaker 1: to the teams. That's number one. Number two, the players
Speaker 1: when they were away from the facility. Are they going
Speaker 1: to be disciplined enough. We've taken care of one. We
Speaker 1: got them in here and got them out of every
Speaker 1: days safe. Are they going to be safe when they
Speaker 1: go away? And that's going to depend on the character
Speaker 1: of the individuals, the maturity of the team. The team
Speaker 1: that does that the best is going to have a
Speaker 1: decided advantage this year. You can't have any situations where
Speaker 1: you're losing a number of players for a week or
Speaker 1: two at a time, and that's going to kill you.
Speaker 1: I think the other thing is flexibility in scheme and leadership.
Speaker 1: Mental toughness. I don't want to say that. I guess
Speaker 1: a mental toughness might be a right word, but no excuses.
Speaker 1: Mentality by the coaching staff and flexibility otherwise meant we're playing.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm telling the players. The bus is leaving,
Speaker 1: You're gonna be on it. It's your job to be
Speaker 1: on it. That's one. But number two, what I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell the coaching staff, as you know that sixty ninth
Speaker 1: player we have, I expect him ready to start on Sunday,
Speaker 1: because he might have to. So the coaches are gonna
Speaker 1: have to get every player ready and have a plan
Speaker 1: to get every player ready with creative practice schedules. I
Speaker 1: suggested to the teams split up into smaller groups in
Speaker 1: the early part of preseason to get more instruction for
Speaker 1: the bottom level. A lot of times of practice, squad
Speaker 1: players don't get coached and prepared. They have to be
Speaker 1: prepared this week this year because they may have to play.
Speaker 1: You may have some positive tests on Sunday Saturday that
Speaker 1: don't turn around for Sunday, so you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: put some guys on the field. So those are the
Speaker 1: principles and position flexibility. Your linebacker has got to play
Speaker 1: every position. Your defensive backs have to be at playovery position.
Speaker 1: But as a coach, this is my last point. You
Speaker 1: got to be flexible. Now, hey, we lost three wide
Speaker 1: receivers here, Well, maybe we got to play more to
Speaker 1: two tight ends. Maybe we got to use a running
Speaker 1: back at receiver. We lost our tight ends, well we
Speaker 1: better have an offensive lineman or two then go play
Speaker 1: tight end. We've better be able to go four wides.
Speaker 1: We lose our running backs, do we have somebody that
Speaker 1: a wide receiver or tight end. It can play running
Speaker 1: back for one week. You better train these guys to
Speaker 1: do multiple things because you could have that happen to you.
Speaker 1: That's quite a list, and it seems like flexibility. Is
Speaker 1: that the key word in all of that. No, it
Speaker 1: absolutely is. And and smart practicing during the week and
Speaker 1: otherwise socially distancing maybe some of your players. What what
Speaker 1: the experts believe is this is that playing football will
Speaker 1: not transmit the disease U. Contact tracing I was told
Speaker 1: by the CDC begins with fifteen minutes. The NFL is
Speaker 1: beginning in a ten minutes. But it's continuous, is what
Speaker 1: we're being told. There's no continuous contact on the field
Speaker 1: for ten minutes. Now, what the bench do You have
Speaker 1: your bench spread out? You might put people in the
Speaker 1: stands like they do in baseball. I watched some of
Speaker 1: the highlights I watched in practice. I don't see people
Speaker 1: spreading apart the way they should did drills. I know,
Speaker 1: when you get to eleven or eleven, you know you're
Speaker 1: playing football, but you're doing drills, you're not playing football,
Speaker 1: and you're staying on the sideline. You're not playing football.
Speaker 1: So those are the things that you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: be disciplined about through the week. And people talked about
Speaker 1: maybe quarantine the quarterback, the third quarterback. But if you
Speaker 1: do all your meetings virtual and they don't come near
Speaker 1: each other in practice okay, and they wear masks except
Speaker 1: when they don't have to, then it's inexcusable or a
Speaker 1: player to miss. I'm saying this, and I've told some
Speaker 1: teams this. With what you set up and you go
Speaker 1: test during the season, which I think you have to do,
Speaker 1: and what I would do, I put him in a
Speaker 1: hotel on Thursday night, I start a bubble. It's inexcusable
Speaker 1: to miss a game this year. Charlie assess the Bengals
Speaker 1: competition in the AFC North Plus up Division Up Division.
Speaker 1: You know, Baltimore I think is going to be right
Speaker 1: where they were a year ago as a top team. Now,
Speaker 1: whether they have the same record, I don't know. Can
Speaker 1: teams catch up to their offense? Probably hard to do
Speaker 1: it no offseason and limited training camp because that's where
Speaker 1: you spend your extra time on practicing. Defending the Ravens
Speaker 1: option offense, which is unique to the NFL, is the
Speaker 1: only one run like that. I think Pittsburgh will be
Speaker 1: back with Ben a quarterback. All the all reports are good,
Speaker 1: all reports in the off season where they we're going
Speaker 1: to be good. So I expect them to bounce back.
Speaker 1: I mean, they came close last year, so I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be in it. And Cleveland has enough talent
Speaker 1: to win ten games. Now when are they're going to
Speaker 1: do it this year? I don't know, Okay, new coaching staff.
Speaker 1: Offensive lines got some issues right now with the center
Speaker 1: a treader out and the wills of the first pick
Speaker 1: trying to learn left tackle when he played right tackle
Speaker 1: in college, so the offensive line may not be as sharp.
Speaker 1: Linebackers is a question for him. But they're they're good.
Speaker 1: You know, Cincinnati's fourth, but they're not a bad team.
Speaker 1: So I think that it's a very competitive division. That's
Speaker 1: NFL Network analyst Charlie Casserley, who has obviously spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time thinking about what it's going to take
Speaker 1: to play football this year, and according to Pro Football Talk,
Speaker 1: Charlie is going to be part of an eight person
Speaker 1: committee that will be advising NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on
Speaker 1: issues related to the coronavirus. Marvin Lewis is also reportedly
Speaker 1: a member of that committee. Now time for a one
Speaker 1: on one player interview, and early this week I caught
Speaker 1: up with tight end c j Uzoma is he begins
Speaker 1: his sixth year in Cincinnati. It's obviously drastically different from
Speaker 1: the previous five, and I asked CJ if the current
Speaker 1: protocols are starting to feel like the new normal. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think the first the first few days, I mean
Speaker 1: even even now a few of the things that we
Speaker 1: have to do to make sure that we're um, you know,
Speaker 1: staying a safe distance away from one another and working
Speaker 1: out and wiping the bar down after every rep touch
Speaker 1: stuff you kind of forget to do. You're you're trying
Speaker 1: to make sure that you don't forget to do certain things.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, I think this is the new norm,
Speaker 1: and um, we're kind of adapting as best wee king.
Speaker 1: Did you have any reservations about trying to play football
Speaker 1: in a worldwide pandemic? Um? Oh, no, I mean I
Speaker 1: think m being in Nashville and during everything and kind
Speaker 1: of seeing how other cities were dealing with things. It's
Speaker 1: kind of like being in Cincinnati was my best bet
Speaker 1: in terms of, you know, quarantining thing away from people
Speaker 1: just because when people were going crazy just being out,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's kind of fifty fifty whether or
Speaker 1: not you're gonna people were staying home and trying to
Speaker 1: stay safe or going out and just carrying wrong going
Speaker 1: to bars and stuff. So I think, yeah, I was ready. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I was just ready to get back and get started.
Speaker 1: We're visiting me the Bengals tight end c j Uzama.
Speaker 1: Let me ask the question that you probably get from everybody,
Speaker 1: you know, what do you think of Joe Burrow? I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've gotten that a lot. Yeah, I think he's bright.
Speaker 1: You know, we were kind of talking about it today
Speaker 1: w TD AJ Joe Bobby. I mean, a bunch of
Speaker 1: the guys Joe were like, you know, coming in, obviously
Speaker 1: he's a rookie, and we know that we had a
Speaker 1: very successful college career, but you know we're still thinking, man,
Speaker 1: he's a rookie. Yes, run the plays, you know, the checks,
Speaker 1: all these things, and he he is killing it to us.
Speaker 1: You know, I think, um, you know, he's leads and
Speaker 1: bounds what anybody had expected him to be. Um in
Speaker 1: terms of mentally, you know, we knew what he could
Speaker 1: do physically, with don and putting upon certain areas and positions.
Speaker 1: But um, I think mentally he's is what's um been
Speaker 1: the most surprising and in the best way. By the
Speaker 1: time we got to the National Championship game last year
Speaker 1: between LSU and Clemson, it was pretty obvious that Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow was likely to be the number one pick in
Speaker 1: the draft and wind up being your NFL teammate. Did
Speaker 1: you watch him use tight end Thaddeus Moss? I think
Speaker 1: he had two touchdown passes in that game, and get
Speaker 1: excited by his use of the tight end, Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: I did. I think the two things that really excited
Speaker 1: me about tight ends were, yeah, him using Moss and
Speaker 1: then you know, I think then this, uh during or
Speaker 1: when ots be going on and during the off season,
Speaker 1: he was kind of throwing with two hometown tight ends
Speaker 1: that he had, and um, you know, hearing both of
Speaker 1: those things and seeing that happen, I was like, Man,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be this should be fun. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to be sure to keep getting in
Speaker 1: his ear a little bit just to just how he knows. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm we're chatting with c j Uzama. This is the
Speaker 1: first time in your Bengals career. That your buddy Tyler
Speaker 1: Eifert is not part of the tight end room, How
Speaker 1: does that impact you? Yeah, it's it's different it. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously I was, um a critical and crucial
Speaker 1: pardon in the tight end that I've become just because
Speaker 1: I've had a fear too, you know, a person just
Speaker 1: to pick his brain every now and then, and um
Speaker 1: having him around was always amazing. He's He's going to
Speaker 1: be a lifetime, lifelong friend for sure. But UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's put um a different types of you
Speaker 1: know deal on my plate right now. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: being the oldest in the tight end room now and
Speaker 1: um kind of having that weight on my shoulders, I
Speaker 1: kind of like it going out to practice and knowing that, um,
Speaker 1: you know right now I'm that guy. So we have
Speaker 1: a really good tight end room. I'm really excited about
Speaker 1: everyone we have and um yeah, I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: honest I think we have we have a we have
Speaker 1: some we have some good things coming from the Titans. CJ.
Speaker 1: You're only twenty seven. You never have to use the
Speaker 1: word oldest, at least not yet. Wait, No, it's crazy
Speaker 1: to me. I'm thinking to myself. Man, yeah, I'm the
Speaker 1: oldest one in the room, but I'm not old. I
Speaker 1: am convinced. I am telling myself right now, I am
Speaker 1: not old. Um. It is funny to think that I'm
Speaker 1: the oldest one in that room. I tell myself that
Speaker 1: I'm not old all the time, but in my case,
Speaker 1: I am Unfortunately. Let's talk about another guy. That's talk
Speaker 1: about another guy in the room, and that is Drew Sample.
Speaker 1: He missed the second half of the season basically last year,
Speaker 1: his rookie year, but it looks like he's come back
Speaker 1: and in tip top shape, a little bit stronger than
Speaker 1: he was as a rookie to get ready to block
Speaker 1: some of those big defensive ends in backers. What do
Speaker 1: you think of Drew? Yeah, I think, um, you know
Speaker 1: that second years where you make the biggest read in
Speaker 1: terms of um reproduction and kind of slowing down the
Speaker 1: steet of the game. I think so. Um yeah, I've
Speaker 1: been I've been pleasantly pleased with you know, how how
Speaker 1: are he's um the set that he's taken and like
Speaker 1: you said, he's gotten done, stronger, gotten faster. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously we've only had really one day against the defense
Speaker 1: really where we're going full for for an hour and
Speaker 1: a half, but um, the route that he's running are
Speaker 1: more crisp, and UM, yeah, I'm I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: kind of what he has in store when we put
Speaker 1: those full pads on, because I know he's Um, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a force for sure. Spending a few minutes
Speaker 1: with c j Uzama. During your time in Cincinnati, the
Speaker 1: Bengals have historically resigned the best players on the roster,
Speaker 1: and you were a guy that earned a nice second
Speaker 1: contract so far in Cincinnati, but this offseason, the Bengals
Speaker 1: were among the big free agent free agent spenders in
Speaker 1: the NFL, DJ Von Bell, Trey Wayne's, most recently, Mike Daniels,
Speaker 1: What was your reaction to that free agent spending spree.
Speaker 1: I think my reaction was just like everyone else who's
Speaker 1: been here for you know, fifteen fifteen years, so we're
Speaker 1: very surprised in the best way, you know, we're I
Speaker 1: called Geo after one of the days and I was like, Bro,
Speaker 1: what is what's going on? Like this is I didn't
Speaker 1: know this was gonna happen, Like I was. This is
Speaker 1: very unexpected, and um, you know, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: talking to Coach Taylor and the coaching staff. You know,
Speaker 1: they just wanted to get the best guys with the
Speaker 1: best character, and that's what we brought in honest. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know Vaughan has had his interview, and I know
Speaker 1: if you don't know, Vawn wakes up at like four
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning sometimes beforehand because he beats his alarm.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's those kind of guys that I want.
Speaker 1: I want to play next to that that makes me
Speaker 1: want to play harder for the defense and the guys
Speaker 1: across the ball, just because you know they're bringing that
Speaker 1: work ethic and that that killer mentality of you know,
Speaker 1: I want, I want to be the best. I want
Speaker 1: to do every thing I can to make this team
Speaker 1: the best. So, um, I'm I'm high. I mean, we
Speaker 1: we got some good guys in there. Um, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of new faces for shared going into the locker
Speaker 1: room and now getting it being able to interact with
Speaker 1: the guys. But um, I can tell their high quality
Speaker 1: and I mean from what I from what I've seen
Speaker 1: so far, they're really good. You referenced your good buddy
Speaker 1: Giovanni Bernard. Is he still rocking that full mustache. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, we I mean, can we get a petition
Speaker 1: to get that thing removed? What's going on here? He's
Speaker 1: still he's still rocking the mustache. He's gonna rock it
Speaker 1: for a while. I think that's his wife. Chloe likes it,
Speaker 1: so that's the only opinion he cares about. I can
Speaker 1: come in and rag him every day, but so why
Speaker 1: he likes it. He's fun with it, so um, I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna let it rock for a while. Happy wife,
Speaker 1: Happy life. True. Our words were never spoken. C c J.
Speaker 1: You are a world traveler. In a normal year, in
Speaker 1: the off season, you would go see someplace you've never
Speaker 1: seen before, do something interesting in the off season. I
Speaker 1: always always enjoy hearing about your escapades. Were you forced
Speaker 1: to just stay in Nashville this whole off season? So yeah,
Speaker 1: I was actually supposed to go to Australia for a
Speaker 1: little bit, and that trip is now halted until next year. Um,
Speaker 1: but I was actually able to go to Jacksonville, Wyoming,
Speaker 1: and I was able to go to ask you for
Speaker 1: X games, and right when I got back, everything got
Speaker 1: shut down. So I was able to travel twice, and
Speaker 1: then I thought I was grounded in Nashville. Not your
Speaker 1: normal off season, but hopefully you'll be able to get
Speaker 1: to Australia and knock that off the bucket list sometime soon.
Speaker 1: Thanks the c j Uzama, Charlie Casserley and Dave Lapham.
Speaker 1: And that's going to do it for this episode of
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Prime Sport,
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast