Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. Uh good, good, good good vibrations. Addition,
Speaker 1: as we talk to the author of a recent Bengals
Speaker 1: State of the Franchise story, Adam Rank from NFL dot Com,
Speaker 1: he writes that the Bengals are quote a team on
Speaker 1: the rise, potentially heading for unprecedented levels of success. Adam
Speaker 1: will explain why. He also picks the team's breakout star
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty and it's not Joe Burrow or T
Speaker 1: Higgins or DJ reader. I will talk to the player
Speaker 1: that Adams selected. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
Speaker 1: Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you
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Speaker 1: Father's Day. My love of sports came from my dad.
Speaker 1: Like many fathers and sons, we bonded while talking about sports,
Speaker 1: and his favorite teams became my favorite teams. Between the NFL, NBA,
Speaker 1: NHL and Major League Baseball, those teams have combined for
Speaker 1: one championship. So thanks Dad for passing down a lifetime
Speaker 1: of frustration. Just kidding, I think in any case, as
Speaker 1: the son of Larry Horde, the stepson of Jack Bailey,
Speaker 1: and the father of young Sam, I hope you and
Speaker 1: your family have a wonderful Father's Day. Now let's get
Speaker 1: to this week's guests. Recently, NFL dot com has been
Speaker 1: posting state of the Franchise stories about every NFL team,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals version was extremely positive. The title was
Speaker 1: Bengals trending up with Joe Burrow and I am going
Speaker 1: to read the second paragraph here goes, It's an exciting
Speaker 1: time to be a Bengals fan. This is a team
Speaker 1: on the rise, potentially heading for unprecedented levels of success,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals are a proud franchise if they have
Speaker 1: a history filled with some of the greatest innovators in
Speaker 1: the game and some of the best who ever played it.
Speaker 1: The only thing missing is a championship. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to sugarcoat it and say that a title is within
Speaker 1: reach this season, but the Bengals are putting together the
Speaker 1: building blocks to get there one day. The person who
Speaker 1: wrote that is Adam Rank, and he joins me on
Speaker 1: this week's podcast. Adam, your first beer is on me
Speaker 1: if we ever meet. But in all seriousness, is the
Speaker 1: optimism you expressed mostly due to Joe Burrow. Well, I
Speaker 1: gotta be honest with you. I have great editors, apparently
Speaker 1: because I'm not that eloquent, so I appreciate them and
Speaker 1: all the hard work that they do for that. But really,
Speaker 1: you know, I, you know, is somebody who was a
Speaker 1: huge fan of Carson Palmer growing up and everything like that.
Speaker 1: I really follow the Bengals for quite some time. Obviously
Speaker 1: I follow every team, but this is a time where
Speaker 1: I look at it and I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: just because of Joe Burrow and his arrival, but I
Speaker 1: look at what the Bengals have going on and I
Speaker 1: just feel really good about it. And I, you know,
Speaker 1: and I talk about it in a piece, and I
Speaker 1: know we can de dive into it a little bit more.
Speaker 1: But I know it's hard to believe that, you know,
Speaker 1: just one player can come in and change in an
Speaker 1: entire organization, but I believe that he can't. And I'm
Speaker 1: just a huge believer in Joe Burrow, and I love
Speaker 1: everything that he's bringing to the Bengals, and so if
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of the team, I would be fired up.
Speaker 1: And again, like I said, I don't want to say
Speaker 1: that you're going to be in the playoffs or you
Speaker 1: know now that you wouldn't want to be in the plaff,
Speaker 1: but you know they got the franchise moving in the
Speaker 1: right direction for the first time what feels like a
Speaker 1: while we are chatting with Adam Rank from NFL dot com.
Speaker 1: I only have one quibble with your article. You wrote
Speaker 1: that the Bengals have had some great quarterbacks, but have
Speaker 1: never had one who was the dude, a guy that
Speaker 1: exerted confidence. I think Boomer Assiasin was actually the epitome
Speaker 1: of that, and that's one of the reasons why I'm
Speaker 1: so excited about Joe Burrow. I think he's the first
Speaker 1: guy since Boomer that has what you're talking about. You
Speaker 1: know what, I hear what you're saying. I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I might have meant a little bit mistaken because you know,
Speaker 1: you think it back to the super Bowl and pad
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers on the ropes ropes, excuse me,
Speaker 1: and if they would have been able to win that one, then,
Speaker 1: you know, I think that Boomer's career would be looked
Speaker 1: at differently. So I would agree with you, and I
Speaker 1: think I might have might have missed miss spoke, but
Speaker 1: I was thinking of more of the recent quarterbacks and
Speaker 1: guys who I really loved it, guys who I thought
Speaker 1: are good quart like they're great quarterbacks. Like you look
Speaker 1: at him and you're like, this is a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: But the example that I used, and this would be
Speaker 1: lost on anybody who doesn't like wrestling, but there's a
Speaker 1: difference between a guy like the Rocks and a guy
Speaker 1: like Roman Graine. So both are very good, but the
Speaker 1: Rock is another level. And I have Joe Burrows that
Speaker 1: kind of player that is on another level. I think
Speaker 1: that going to LSU and doing everything that he did
Speaker 1: that really helped him, you know. And if you're at
Speaker 1: quarterback after there and thinking about going back to college,
Speaker 1: if you can use college the way Joe Burrow did,
Speaker 1: because I believe that he walks into the building right
Speaker 1: now ready to go, and I will agree with you,
Speaker 1: he is the best quarterback. He's got the best demeanor,
Speaker 1: the best swagger, the best confidence of any quarterback since
Speaker 1: Boomer size. If I apologize to Boomer, a fellow leftie,
Speaker 1: might I might have missed the boat on that one.
Speaker 1: Apology accepted on Boomer's behalf. We're talking to Adam Rank
Speaker 1: from NFL dot com aside from Joe Burrow. What did
Speaker 1: you think of the Bengals draft? Oh? I loved it.
Speaker 1: I you know what, I really love the idea of
Speaker 1: having a young quarterback and saying, you know, we should
Speaker 1: do we should surround him with some really good players.
Speaker 1: It's the opposite approach of what the Packers did, where
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers were like, hey, we've got a great quarterback,
Speaker 1: let's draft his replacement for three years down the road.
Speaker 1: So I love when they drafted t Higgins. You know,
Speaker 1: you know, you're thinking about it. You're just kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what are they gonna do here? They're gonna go defense,
Speaker 1: they could address the secondary, and they brought in Kei Higgins,
Speaker 1: who to me was a first round talent and a
Speaker 1: who was not a surprise because there was a lot
Speaker 1: of good receivers in the draft, but it was, you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit of a shock that he was still
Speaker 1: available day two and the Bengals took him and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know what, this is what I like. This is
Speaker 1: what I like to see. They're committed to going out
Speaker 1: there and winning and giving. And you know, you look
Speaker 1: at the receiver room as it is right now, there's
Speaker 1: some pretty good guys in there. You know, a J Green,
Speaker 1: assuming he comes back and is healthy and ready to go,
Speaker 1: and Tyler Boyd has put together back to back thousand
Speaker 1: yard seasons. We like all it, and take John Ross
Speaker 1: when he's available, But then you bring in a guy
Speaker 1: like te Higgins and I'm like, this is it. They're
Speaker 1: gonna go out there and they're going to give it
Speaker 1: a go, and this is what I think the Bengals
Speaker 1: need to do. So I'm getting fired up just talking
Speaker 1: about it, and we are getting fired up listening to
Speaker 1: you talking about it. Adam Rank wrote the Bengal State
Speaker 1: of the Franchise story on NFL dot Com this past Wednesday.
Speaker 1: It's a great read. I highly recommend going back and
Speaker 1: checking it out if you didn't read it already. Among
Speaker 1: other things, you've got some great analogies in there, including
Speaker 1: one where you compared Zach Taylor to TV chef Gordon Ramsey.
Speaker 1: Explain why, well, I think that you know, it's one
Speaker 1: of those things that you notice in television that when
Speaker 1: there's a successful TV formula where you're having a like
Speaker 1: Gordon Ramsey goes out and does rest for Kitchen Nightmares,
Speaker 1: and he goes out there, and then every other networks like,
Speaker 1: we need our own version, and sometimes they work out,
Speaker 1: sometimes they don't. And you know, last year, Jack Taylor,
Speaker 1: to my conjecture, was hired because of his association with
Speaker 1: Sean mcveay and that was a selling point and I
Speaker 1: don't disagree with it, but okay, he was kind of inexperience,
Speaker 1: but okay, so let's see how this goes. And after
Speaker 1: one season, I don't think we got a good read
Speaker 1: on what Zack Taylor is all about. I don't think
Speaker 1: it was any fault of his own. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of things that were going wrong, and I wouldn't
Speaker 1: pin it on him, but we want to know, like,
Speaker 1: what is his deal going to be? Like is he
Speaker 1: going to be the guy who steps up? And you're like, yes,
Speaker 1: this is a great spinoff. This is better than what
Speaker 1: Robert Irvine did with his life. I think his was
Speaker 1: Kitchen Nightmare, And so you want him, You want Zack
Speaker 1: to take a step up and I again, and I
Speaker 1: put this at the end of the piece. It's like,
Speaker 1: I'm willing to say last year never happened. I would
Speaker 1: not pulled last year against him anything like that. They've
Speaker 1: now put together a pretty good deal. There's still some
Speaker 1: issues on the offensive line and things like that, but
Speaker 1: I think now that they've given him a pretty good
Speaker 1: a pretty good template to work with, and now it's
Speaker 1: it's up to him to take a step forward. He
Speaker 1: even admitted I was reading an article on Don Bengel
Speaker 1: dot com where he was like, we need dudes who
Speaker 1: have a little bit of an edge, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a swagger, and even some of the teams with
Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis had that defensively. I would like to see
Speaker 1: that on the offensive side, and I think Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: could do it. And it's up to Zach Taylor right
Speaker 1: now to kind of harness that. I'm embarrassed to admit
Speaker 1: that I watched that Robert Irvine show once. Not my
Speaker 1: proudest moment. We're visiting with Adam Rank. You can follow.
Speaker 1: I like Robert Irvin, but yeah, that was a misstep,
Speaker 1: terrible show. I don't know enough about him other than
Speaker 1: that show, but that show was awful. You can follow
Speaker 1: Adam Rank on Twitter at Adam Rank. You pick second
Speaker 1: year tight end Drew Sample to be the Bengals breakout
Speaker 1: star this year. Why Drew Well? I believe that it's
Speaker 1: a position that could flourish for the Bengals when you
Speaker 1: bring in a lot of guys who stretched the field
Speaker 1: and can get after it. Obviously, we just talked about
Speaker 1: the receivers a moment ago. I do believe that a
Speaker 1: guy like Drew can make a step forward this year
Speaker 1: with a young quarterback who's going to target is tight
Speaker 1: ends underneath. If if the lanes are opened up for him,
Speaker 1: I think he can make kind of a step forward.
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of people were upset last
Speaker 1: year because it only seems weird when you draft the
Speaker 1: tight end in the second round and a lot of
Speaker 1: people are you know, I'm a Bears fan, so they
Speaker 1: grafted Cole Commit this year and I'm like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is kind of a tough one to sell. But I
Speaker 1: do believe, and I watched him at Washington. I think
Speaker 1: he's he's a good player. I think that's a he's
Speaker 1: a good blocker. That was his calling card. So Number
Speaker 1: one he's going to help out of the running game.
Speaker 1: You know, we're looking for Joe Mixon to breakout, like
Speaker 1: really breakout this season, and he's going to help in
Speaker 1: the running game, but he can also be one of
Speaker 1: those pass catchers and they need somebody to step up
Speaker 1: down to Tyler e. Birts down in Jacksonville, So you
Speaker 1: know he's going to be one of those guys. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's going to go out there and be
Speaker 1: the second coming of Robert Kronkowski, but I think he's
Speaker 1: going to go out there and sneakily to put together
Speaker 1: a number of touchdowns. And I know if you're a
Speaker 1: fantasy player, you'll be upset because you're starting Tyler Boyd
Speaker 1: or Tee Higgins and they're gonna be like, oh, touchdown,
Speaker 1: who wasn't too and gonna be Drew Sample and you're
Speaker 1: gonna be great. Nobody has them on their roster, but whatever.
Speaker 1: But for Bengal fans, I think they will enjoy him
Speaker 1: taking that leap forward this year. All right, Adam, you've
Speaker 1: been doing the state of the franchise stories on every
Speaker 1: team in the AFC North. Where do you think about
Speaker 1: the division as a whole? I have a good division.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a lot tougher this year. Obviously,
Speaker 1: with the Steelers getting back Ben Roethlisberger, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: huge for them. They had a top five defense last year.
Speaker 1: They're eight nights with absolutely dreadful play at the quarterback position. Now,
Speaker 1: if Ben Roethlisberger can return and he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be the guy who's throwing for forty five hundred yards,
Speaker 1: but if he can be a little bit productive, just
Speaker 1: better than Mason Rudolph level, I think that's a very
Speaker 1: good team. The Ravens obviously, not only are a good team,
Speaker 1: they got better with Kalis Campbell and the Browns. You know,
Speaker 1: it's unfortunate that they got Kevin Stefanski because I'm sure
Speaker 1: you guys all enjoyed Freddie Kitchens and what he did.
Speaker 1: I wanted a lifetime contract for Freddie Kitchens. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: like bring them back him another year. You get rid
Speaker 1: of them so quickly. Yeah, that's that's the unfortunate thing.
Speaker 1: So I think for the Bengals that they'll be improvement.
Speaker 1: And it's going to be hard to really register because
Speaker 1: these those other three teams in the division are so good.
Speaker 1: But I think they're going to come out and I
Speaker 1: think this division is going to be one of the
Speaker 1: best in football, that's your question. But I think the
Speaker 1: Bengals are going to be good. But it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: if you were in another division, you would have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to maybe make a little bit of a rhyme.
Speaker 1: But I think being in the AFC North is going
Speaker 1: to be tough. It is challenging, but that's the way
Speaker 1: it is. You are predicting a victory for the Bengals
Speaker 1: in Week one against the Chargers, and it was an
Speaker 1: excellent read. You did a great job of the state
Speaker 1: of the franchise story. And I don't only say that
Speaker 1: because it was optimistic. In general, it was very well done,
Speaker 1: a fun read as well, and I enjoyed it very much.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Let's do this again sometime and I look
Speaker 1: forward to you buying me that there. I'll buy Adam
Speaker 1: sever role if the Bengals reach the heights that he
Speaker 1: thinks are possible under Joe Burrow. And just so we
Speaker 1: have our TV cooking shows straight. Gordon Ramsey did Hell's
Speaker 1: Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares Robert Irvine did restaurant impossible. Before
Speaker 1: we get to our next conversation, here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can take your Bengals pride to the next
Speaker 1: level in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan package
Speaker 1: from Prime Sport. As we heard in my conversation with
Speaker 1: Adam Rank, his pick for the Bengals breakout star in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, his tight end Drew Sample, the Bengals second
Speaker 1: round draft pick last year out of the University of Washington.
Speaker 1: Drew had five catches for thirty yards last year before
Speaker 1: missing the final seven games of his rookie season with
Speaker 1: an ankle injury. Now that Tyler Eifford has gone to
Speaker 1: Jacksonville as a free agent, Drew as likely to play
Speaker 1: a much larger role in twenty twenty. And I caught
Speaker 1: up with a twenty four year old tight end this week, Drew.
Speaker 1: I saw some footage of you on the local news
Speaker 1: recently working out at his Cincinnati are A fitness facility.
Speaker 1: Did you stay here in the off season? Uh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I took after after the season, I went home for
Speaker 1: a little bit. I think it was about two weeks
Speaker 1: and then we were back here and then we had
Speaker 1: a few trips. Uh went to Pebble Beach for my
Speaker 1: dad's fiftieth birthday. But we've been back since basically the
Speaker 1: fault before all the coronavirus stuff hit. We were back
Speaker 1: at the beginning of March and the February, I believe,
Speaker 1: and we've been We've been here ever since, so it's
Speaker 1: been nice to kind of have a home base now
Speaker 1: as a golf lover. How was Pebble Beach? It was amazing,
Speaker 1: it was It was definitely an awesome experience, and we
Speaker 1: played pretty much all the major courses down there, and
Speaker 1: we ended with Pebble and it was It was tough.
Speaker 1: It was tough for us, obviously, but it was as
Speaker 1: gorgeous as advertised, and it was it was awesome. Worth
Speaker 1: turning fifty for your daddent got I got one birdie,
Speaker 1: So I was tapping with that. There you go, Drew,
Speaker 1: and that the TV story that I referenced. You were
Speaker 1: working out with Sam Hubbard. Have you guys been pushing
Speaker 1: each other in the off season. Yeah, definitely, we've been
Speaker 1: working out a black Feet performance. It's kind of it's
Speaker 1: up in Blue Ash And Sam was the one that
Speaker 1: introduced me to Pat who's our trainer. I think last
Speaker 1: offseason for kind of a after a pah stuff, and
Speaker 1: I really like everything that he's been about, and it's
Speaker 1: it's been nice to go to work out with someone
Speaker 1: like Sam who, like you said, we can really push
Speaker 1: each other. I think we compliment each other well, like
Speaker 1: in workouts and stuff, and then obviously on the field
Speaker 1: going into show a lot of practice and stuff. I
Speaker 1: think it's a it's a nice competition. It's a good
Speaker 1: little rivalry. We are talking to Bengals tight end Drew
Speaker 1: sample For many of us, Drew the one bright spot
Speaker 1: during the coronavirus shutdown has been spending more time with
Speaker 1: our families. Your first child was born last August, you
Speaker 1: have another one on the way. How has this time
Speaker 1: been for you and your wife? It's been amazing, Like
Speaker 1: you know, obviously ups and downs being quarantined, but I think,
Speaker 1: you know, both of us just tried to make the
Speaker 1: best of it. I mean, we were able to have
Speaker 1: spend so much time with Olivia, and you know, she's grown.
Speaker 1: She's at the age where she's grown so much. Even
Speaker 1: though the past like two weeks, you know, she just
Speaker 1: started crawling about a month ago and now, you know,
Speaker 1: Nastal standing up. Like, there's just so many different things
Speaker 1: that you know, probably without the coronavirus, I would have
Speaker 1: probably missed or at least not been there to see
Speaker 1: you know, her first time crawling, her first time standing
Speaker 1: and things like that. So, you know, definitely just finding
Speaker 1: the positive things. And as a dad, you know, I
Speaker 1: was really happy I was able to put him that
Speaker 1: time and spend time with you know, my wife obviously
Speaker 1: and Olivia. So it's I think it's been good. Obviously
Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff going on in the world,
Speaker 1: but I think, you know, you just gotta take pausits
Speaker 1: from it, and it was definitely one of them. It's
Speaker 1: definitely a good silver lining. Let's go back to last year.
Speaker 1: You suffered suffered a high ankle sprain and missed the
Speaker 1: final seven games of the season. How bad was it
Speaker 1: and how are you doing now? Um, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: this was an ideal, you know, getting rolled up on
Speaker 1: trying to rehab back again of the season, but it
Speaker 1: just wasn't just wasn't progressing, and so um it was actually,
Speaker 1: you know, I was I would say I was fully
Speaker 1: healthy probably you know, a month a month or so
Speaker 1: after the season. Um, So I was kind of able
Speaker 1: to come into this offseason pretty much fully healthy. So
Speaker 1: give me, gave me a full offseason plus this you know,
Speaker 1: obviously had a lot of extra time with the coronavirus,
Speaker 1: and so I feel really good, you know, uh, rehabbed
Speaker 1: as much as I can, you know, strengthening that type
Speaker 1: of thing. And so you know, I felt like I've
Speaker 1: had a really good off season and I'm definitely sadder
Speaker 1: for this season coming up. We're catching up with du sample.
Speaker 1: The coaches said, you were really coming on at the
Speaker 1: point where you got injured. How did you feel you
Speaker 1: were doing at that point. I think that's fair. I
Speaker 1: think I was starting to really adjust to it. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it's you know, a big jump, um, you know, from
Speaker 1: college to NFL, and so you know, I was definitely
Speaker 1: getting more comfortable just seeing things games starting to kind
Speaker 1: of slow down a little bit. Um. So, obviously I
Speaker 1: was pretty bob not being able to play the rest
Speaker 1: of the year, but you know, I just try to
Speaker 1: take everything learned last year and put it into this
Speaker 1: offseason and put it in this season. Um. So you know,
Speaker 1: whenever we get going, I'm really excited to go out there.
Speaker 1: And show what I could do. Discussing that college to
Speaker 1: the NFL jump that you reference, was there anything specific
Speaker 1: that was a real eye opener for you? I mean
Speaker 1: I kind of knew and you know, you you know
Speaker 1: that that obviously everyone there's no there's no bad players.
Speaker 1: Everyone was at the top of their level. Um and
Speaker 1: you know, in the first ten or so games, I
Speaker 1: mean every week, you know, you play against really good
Speaker 1: players that you've either grown up watching or you or
Speaker 1: you've heard of, or you know, just just people that
Speaker 1: have been in the league for a long time. And um,
Speaker 1: so you just know, there's no there's no weeks off.
Speaker 1: Every game is a battle. Every plays a battle, and
Speaker 1: that's what's fun about it. You get to compete against
Speaker 1: the best of the best. And I think that's you
Speaker 1: know that with the speed of the game, I mean,
Speaker 1: like just because everyone's so good. I think those are
Speaker 1: just the main things. And you know, once you kind
Speaker 1: of there's so much information without learning a new offense,
Speaker 1: everything that goes into it's you know, it's hard to
Speaker 1: just play free. And so um, I felt like I
Speaker 1: was starting to do that, you know, towards the end
Speaker 1: and there so I'm excited for I'm excited to get
Speaker 1: things to go on this year. Have you tweeked anything
Speaker 1: about your off season prep based on that experience? No?
Speaker 1: I mean I think this is an interesting year because
Speaker 1: everyone says, you know, the best off season is you know,
Speaker 1: or the hardest off season I should say is after
Speaker 1: you're a year, because you rookie year, you know, you
Speaker 1: commea and train everything, and then this is this year
Speaker 1: has been kind of an interesting challenge because obviously it's
Speaker 1: longer than normal. We didn't go at protas and so um.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been working with Sam and Pat and
Speaker 1: I think we've we've been able to navigate it really well.
Speaker 1: So I feel like I haven't had a true, you know,
Speaker 1: normal off season by NFL standards yet. But this year
Speaker 1: has been great just because we really stepped back and
Speaker 1: looked at the details of everything and a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of us a lot of time into the
Speaker 1: things that you know, maybe might get overlooked by some people.
Speaker 1: So I feel really really happy with the work we
Speaker 1: put in this off season and I'm excited for the season.
Speaker 1: We're talking to tight Endrew Sample. A key member of
Speaker 1: the group is gone. Is Tyler Eifford left as a
Speaker 1: free agent, it's likely to mean more snaps for you.
Speaker 1: Does that affect your mindset going into next season? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, losing a good player like that, you know,
Speaker 1: someone that has been here a long time and did
Speaker 1: a lot of good things for us is tough. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think we got a lot of good
Speaker 1: guys in the room, and you know, I'm excited to
Speaker 1: help contribute in any way can I Obviously I want
Speaker 1: to come in and I want to play as much
Speaker 1: as I can. I want to help this offense. Um.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's obviously hard. He's been here so long,
Speaker 1: he's done a lot of things. Um, you know for
Speaker 1: the organization and being able to watch him work for
Speaker 1: a year was fun. But now I'm definitely excited just
Speaker 1: to kind of take that jump and for our room
Speaker 1: to try and take that next step. Drew, have you
Speaker 1: enjoyed Team Zoom meetings and do you think they've been productive? Yeah?
Speaker 1: For sure. I think I think Zac did a really
Speaker 1: good job of just kind of keeping everyone together, all
Speaker 1: the all the coaches and um just really you know,
Speaker 1: there's you know, there's some days we have a little
Speaker 1: more fun than others, but obviously overall, you know, we
Speaker 1: got we got through a lot of installs. You know,
Speaker 1: we had um, you know, offensive offensive meeting, special teams meetings.
Speaker 1: It was really nice to kind of just get back
Speaker 1: into things, you know, go over the play look, um,
Speaker 1: you know, new stuff, old stuff, just really refreshing all
Speaker 1: of it and you know, be able to watch you know,
Speaker 1: stuff from last year and and just really look at
Speaker 1: ways to get better. And I think play stay coach
Speaker 1: Jerry did a great job of making sure everyone was
Speaker 1: you know, locked in, and so I think, um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think we just were able to make the best
Speaker 1: of it, and um, I think it's definitely gonna pay
Speaker 1: off come season. And as a veteran or as a
Speaker 1: returning player, you are done with that this week, correct, Yeah,
Speaker 1: today it was our last day. So um just you
Speaker 1: know they're letting us get out really focused on you know,
Speaker 1: getting football shaped, getting back into things and basically getting
Speaker 1: ready for camp whenever, whenever that may be. We are
Speaker 1: catching up with Drew sample Drew his last season wound down,
Speaker 1: it seemed like a strong possibility that the Bengals would
Speaker 1: wind up drafting Joe Burrow, and obviously they did. Did
Speaker 1: you watch him in the college football playoff games with
Speaker 1: that in mind, I mean I did obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously he was a great player, and you know, we
Speaker 1: we a lot of people to talk about that. So
Speaker 1: but I have definitely watched a couple of games, and
Speaker 1: you know, seeing the type of player that he is,
Speaker 1: and um, just to kind of mindset and everything that
Speaker 1: he had in his zoom meets and everything is has
Speaker 1: been fun to watch. So, you know, I haven't actually
Speaker 1: met him out, but I'm excited to meet him. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I know he's he's putting a lot of
Speaker 1: work in this offseason two, so we're we're hopefully going
Speaker 1: to start building something special here. Did anything stand out
Speaker 1: when you watched him in those games at the end
Speaker 1: of the year. I think it's just poise and you know,
Speaker 1: stay calm. I mean, he made a lot of plays
Speaker 1: off script plays. He made a lot of great throws.
Speaker 1: I think, um, you know, as a quarterback, being able
Speaker 1: to make the right throws, get out, you know, get
Speaker 1: out of things and make plays. I think that's I
Speaker 1: think that's really all you can ask a lot of
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the league. You see it with a lot
Speaker 1: of the top guys just to be able to make plays,
Speaker 1: and I think that's something that he was able to
Speaker 1: do and big reason why they had such good season.
Speaker 1: So you're getting ready for a year number two? Do
Speaker 1: you feel like you have anything to prove in year two?
Speaker 1: You know, for me, I just always feel like I
Speaker 1: just want to go out and and play my game
Speaker 1: and show people the type of player that I know
Speaker 1: I am. Um, you know, I don't think necessarily I
Speaker 1: mean you always, I just think I want to play
Speaker 1: for the team. You know, obviously we didn't have a
Speaker 1: great season last year, and so I know all the
Speaker 1: guys in our room, in our offense, just on our
Speaker 1: team want to, you know, show everyone that that we
Speaker 1: didn't you know, put our best foot forward. And so
Speaker 1: I think guys are really excited to go out and
Speaker 1: show show the type of players we are and show
Speaker 1: the type of team we are. This year, you weren't
Speaker 1: able to have OTAs or mini camps, but training camp
Speaker 1: at least for now, seems to be on schedule. How
Speaker 1: confident are you that everything is going to proceed on
Speaker 1: schedule or close to it in the fall? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I can't really I can't really say I really hope.
Speaker 1: So you know obviously, um, you know, as sports to
Speaker 1: slowly started to come back, he realized when there are done,
Speaker 1: how big of you know, even for me, you just
Speaker 1: watched another sports and everything when there's nothing, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's kind of hard. So, um, you know, I know
Speaker 1: we just want to get back. You know, we want
Speaker 1: to play a season obviously, and you know, hopefully they
Speaker 1: you know, come out with the guidelines and we'll be
Speaker 1: able to follow that because I know guys, you know,
Speaker 1: I know guys want to play it. But also you know,
Speaker 1: you have to be safe with everything going on, so
Speaker 1: you know, I know the PA and stuff won't won't
Speaker 1: agree to anything that doesn't you know, protect us as players.
Speaker 1: You know, every wants to flip football. So whatever that
Speaker 1: looks like this year, hopefully hopefully this happened and what
Speaker 1: it does, I know we're exciting about it. Sounds good
Speaker 1: to me. Good to hear that your ankle is back
Speaker 1: to normal. Congratulations again on that second baby on the way,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate your time. Look forward to seeing you
Speaker 1: when that's allowed again. Awesome. Yeah, I appreciate you having
Speaker 1: me on. Thank you. I thanks to Adam Rank and
Speaker 1: Drew Sample and that's going to do it for this
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by
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Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
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Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast.