WEBVTT - Bengals Booth Podcast: Brick By Brick 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.320 Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.600 the Bengals Booths Podcast. Uh. I want to build you 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:15.600 up brick by brick edition as I discussed the Bengals 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.720 offseason moves with one of my favorite NFL reporters at 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.160 d D King Kabwala from the NFL Network. And then 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:24.840 we're less than a month away from the NFL Draft 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.120 and I'll check in with Land Zerline, a draft analyst 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.280 for NFL Network who has written more than four hundred 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.720 profiles of this year's prospects for NFL dot Com. The 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:40.360 Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.320 Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:48.120 to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.320 Get it now on the App Store and Google Play. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.519 And here's a quick reminder that you can add the 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.880 latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:01.440 or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:07.360 the greatest thing since brown sugar on oatmeal. I've been 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:12.560 on an oatmeal for breakfast kick lately, usually topped with bananas, blueberries, 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:17.000 sliced almonds and some brown sugar, And it occurs to 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.240 me that I don't use brown sugar for anything else. 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.400 My wife tells me it's a common ingredient in baking, 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.600 so maybe I've been enjoying it without knowing it. But 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.720 for me, brown sugar is like a Lugie in baseball, 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:35.679 a left handed, one out guy. Baseball curbed the use 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.679 of Lugi's when it adopted the three batter minimum for 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.320 leaf pitchers a few years ago. But as long as 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.880 there's oatmeal, there's a place in my heart and gut 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:49.560 for brown sugar. Now, let's get to this week's guests. 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.880 If you watch NFL Network, you're familiar with Add Kin Kabwala, 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.840 who does an outstanding job of covering the league in 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.880 general and the four teams in the AFC North in particular. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.040 I caught up with add this week to discuss the 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:08.079 Bengals offseason moves and why she describes last year's Super 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:13.079 Bowl team as infectiously fun. Add what do you think 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.320 of the Bengals offseason moves in free agency, particularly the 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.120 addition of the three offensive line tremendous? Tremendous because we 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:24.200 knew that no matter what Zach Taylor said about giving 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:26.720 his offensive line credit, and it is valid. Of course, 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:28.679 you have two thousand yard receivers, You've got a third 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:30.519 receiver who almost has a thousand yards, You've got a 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.240 thousand yard rusher. Yes, the offensive line was doing a job, 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.840 but clearly that was the upgrade that was necessary, and 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:41.359 to get three starters in there and to not change 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.920 the way that you do business. Remember, the Bengals are 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.120 one of the few teams that doesn't like to guarantee 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.120 money beyond the first year of a deal, and they 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:53.440 didn't have to to get three great players who are 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:55.720 going to step in, who are going to start, who 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.359 have all of the leadership attributes that you want, who 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.800 have long hist is of being great teammates, which is, 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.920 you know, Dan has an incredibly important piece of what 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:07.800 the magic of this pass Bengals team was was having 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.320 that chemistry, I mean tremendous all around. What am I 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:16.600 says to say that's negative? Nothing negative required. Did you 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:20.600 view improving the offensive line, fixing the offensive line, whatever 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:22.760 term you want to use, as kind of a litmus 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.120 test for the Bengals to show that they were committed 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.120 to do whatever it takes. I think that we saw 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.120 a year ago that they were I think we've seen 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.280 over the past few years the way that they have 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:37.800 approached free agency, the successes that they've had in free agency, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:41.560 and their willingness to pay in free agency have all 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.119 indicated that this is a team that recognizes you can't 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.600 keep doing business the same exact way that you always 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.000 have to some degree beyond the way that you write contracts. 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:53.440 And then I think that the success of last year 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:59.640 was so intoxicating, so infectious. You saw the way that 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.080 city was so galvanized by the way that this team played. 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.280 How do you not want more of that? And you 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.720 recognize you can't sit on your laurels and think you're 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.520 going to repeat. That's just not the way the National 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:16.960 Football League works. That's with the way that anything works. 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.279 So it wasn't surprising to me at all that the 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.039 Bengals and Duke Tobin went out there and were indeed aggressive. 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.160 What was maybe a little surprising is how successful they 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.960 were without having to be grossly splashy. You know, there 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.159 was no obsequious moves here. It was just sort of 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.440 like a methodical approach to go and get what you 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.839 want in a very very reasonable way. We're chatting with 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.680 a dd King Kawala from the NFL Network. You just 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:48.080 used the term infectious, and you tweeted after the Super 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.960 Bowl that this team was infectiously fun. What was it 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.320 about this team that made you feel that way. I 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:55.919 think it was the energy. I think a lot of 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.880 it is the youth, quite frankly, you know, and it's funny. Dan. 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:00.960 I'll just say that this is conversation I had with 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.760 Zach Taylor just last week at the Cincinnati Pro Day, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.719 that these guys are kind of too young to get 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.800 big heads, you know, Jamar Chase, t Higgins. They're out 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.520 there and then having a good time. They're not worried 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:18.400 about being divas at this moment. I do think that 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.359 both Jamar Chase and t Higgins are very very strong, 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.279 good young men with good support systems, and I don't 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:27.200 foresee big heads coming in the future. So let me 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.520 at least say that. But I've done this for a 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.359 long time now, more than a dozen years. I have 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.520 covered the National Football League. I've been around incredibly successful teams. 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.480 I've been around not so successful teams. I've been around 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:45.039 teams that really enjoyed each other. And the thing about 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:49.960 this Bengals team was you genuinely felt that they enjoyed 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.000 coming to work, and they enjoyed coming to work with 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:57.040 each other. And as somebody who's spent the last twelve 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.760 years loving going to work, I get it. You see 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.479 it right in, you know, when someone is not going 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.920 through the motions, when someone is not simply connected collecting 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:11.120 a paycheck, but someone likes being around their colleagues. And 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.680 that's exactly what that was. So I think the energy, 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:20.560 the youthfulness, there's always something special when there are no expectations, 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:22.800 and I think that's the big question, you know, And 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.000 we saw this with the Cleveland Browns two years ago. 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.839 The Cleveland Browns in a COVID year, with a new 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.880 head coach in Kevin Stefanski, a new offense, a new defense, everything, 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.279 there really weren't many expectations for them, despite the talent 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.320 on their roster, simply because of how the previous year 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.120 had gone and because you know, they were the Cleveland Browns. 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.880 And so there's a freeness to the way that you 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.880 approach every week when nobody expects much of you. And 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:53.920 then we saw what happened last year with the Browns 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:58.400 when much was indeed expected. So now let's see what 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.919 happens with the Bengals when clearly a lot is expected, 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.520 and how do you follow up the season like last 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:10.200 year in a playoff run like last year without expectation. 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.280 It's interesting that you said that because I say to 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.440 people all the time that rooting for a highly successful 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.960 team is great under any circumstances, but when it's a 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:25.880 total surprise, there's nothing better. That's the best it gets 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:27.960 as a sports fan. When you expect your team to 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.560 be here and it winds up being way up there, right, 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.000 that's as good as it gets. And that's what it is, 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.760 because it's a it's a magical new experience. When you 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.960 ask about being infectious, I think there is a piece. 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.440 You know, you look at guys like Tyler Boyd and 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.800 Jesse Bates and Joe Mixon who put in the time 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:50.160 and they've been there and they have I hate to 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.160 call it suffered, but suffered. You know, they've been through 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:56.640 these terrible losses. They've been the laughing stock, they've been 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.120 kind of the easy win on other teams schedule, and 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:07.200 so for them, there's a great appreciation to every moment 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.720 that's magical and special as opposed to taking it for granted. 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.600 And when you're in a team that wins all the time, 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:15.040 when you're in a team that expects to be in 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.800 the super Bowl every year, then maybe it's just not 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.480 the same. I'd like to find out, But well, you 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.600 can get back to me. Maybe you can let me 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.400 know on that one, no question about it. We're chatting 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.520 with a D D King Kabwala from the NFL Network. 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:36.040 How much do you tribute that Bengals spirit, the desire 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.560 to go to work every day to Joe Burrow? Oh 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.000 my gosh, I think I'm reminded of standing in the 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.400 tunnel the bowels of the stadiums in Kansas City, in 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:48.680 the bowls of the stadium in Kansas City, right after 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.320 the AFC title game, and you know, verybody had been 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.840 smoking cigars, and Brian Callahan, the offensive coordinator, walks out, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.280 and just what a tremendous guy he and I just 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.679 ended up standing there talking for a good fifteen twenty 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.800 minutes before he got on the bus. And Joe Barrow 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:05.840 walked out at one moment and he just looked at 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.600 me and he said, he is the cause of everything, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.600 and it's not just the way he plays, it's his approach. 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.680 This is what they said about Tom Brady for years. 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.120 When your best player is your hardest worker, is your 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.520 most committed, focused guy, that's only a good thing for 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.000 a locker room. And so I think that Joe Burrow 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.960 is the player that makes everybody better. I think Joe 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.640 Barrow not only in the way that he approaches his job, 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:34.600 but what he's able to do on the field. He 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.240 gets the best out of everyone. He is that smart, 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.640 he is that driven. He does indeed have that chip 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:47.440 on his shoulder, and I mean it's everything. I think 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.360 it's everything. And it's interesting too, Dan, because right now 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.720 in the city of Pittsburgh, you have Mike Tomlin kind 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:59.000 of saying, even in this day and age, I think 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:04.040 I can win without a top flight, upper tier quarterback. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.920 I think that I can win with a dominant defense 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.520 and a great run game and a quarterback who does enough. 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.439 But then you've got a whole rest of the league, 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.080 which we've seen in this crazy free agency and this 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.640 whole quarterback carousel, you have a lot of people saying, no, 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.160 you're not going to win unless you have that elite, 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:25.800 upper tier quarterback. And that's why we see all these 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.200 teams kind of mortgaging their futures, let's call it, and 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.080 trading away all these draft picks to go get that 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.000 top flight guy. And so it'll be interesting to see 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.199 how that plays out. And what's the truth. You know, 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:40.480 we heard Eric da Costa the Ravens GM just at 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:42.679 the Combine a few weeks ago. Daniel were there. Eric 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.280 DaCosta said, I don't think that you're going to see 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:49.520 another team like the Ravens in two thousand, when you 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.560 won on the backs of a dominant defense and an 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:59.920 okay quarterback, no offense. Trent Dilfer. Trent Dilfer's got the ring. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.959 He doesn't care what anybody says. I don't think you 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.160 comended that I said that, but I mean, let's be honest. 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.560 Trent Dilfer is not you know anyway, I'm gonna just 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.520 zip it before I have been that. Anybody moving on. Well, 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.600 Mike Tomlin did go eight and eight with Duck Hodges 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.080 as his primary quarterback a couple of years ago, so 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.000 I guess he can win. The question is can you 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.360 win it all? I suspect the Steelers will be in 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.679 the mix to at least possibly break five hundred with 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.680 Mitchell Trubisky as their quarterback. But I'm not sure many 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.040 people think that they're going to bring back a seven 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.880 super Bowl ring. But you never know. With the Steelers, 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.280 that's the thing. And it's such an interesting question, Dan, 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.640 I have this. I have a friend in Cleveland, Ken Carmen, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.120 who has has me on his radio show very regularly, 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.520 and about a year ago I posited this to him 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.520 and to his listeners. Do you want would you rather 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.160 that your team is in it every single year that 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.560 by the time you get to week seventeen, weeks eighteen, 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.960 your team is still alive? Or would you sacrifice a 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:11.400 few horrible, awful, irrelevant years just to get to that 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:13.680 promised land? You know? Are you the Eagles and you 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.480 win a super Bowl and then you're kind of irrelevant 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:18.520 for a period of time. Or you're the Bengals and 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.240 you've suffered and you've suffered, but you get to go 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.720 to the super Bowl and then who knows what happens 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.800 the Steelers. Let's that Duck Hodges year or two and 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:31.080 nineteen Ben Roethlisberger gets hurt Week two, it's Mason Rudolph 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.400 and Duck Hodges, Dug Duck Hodges, who couldn't make a 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:39.120 single roster in the spring. When a thousand players are 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:43.040 on the NFL rosters, Duck Hodges almost gets them into 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.320 the playoffs. It goes down to the last week of 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.079 the season. And that's what Mike Tomlin teams are. Mike 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:50.440 Tomlin teams haven't won a playoff game and I don't know, 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.679 five six years, they haven't been back to the Super 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.880 Bowl in ten a dozen years. You know, they haven't 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:03.520 been an elite team in the sense of being playing 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.400 in February in a long time. But they're always a 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.679 part of the conversation in December. Is that what you want? 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.960 Do you want a team that always competes? Or are 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.160 you okay if your team is really crappy for a 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:16.640 few years, but hey, you got to go to the 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.960 super Bowl. I guess it would be the length of 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:25.760 the crappy period. If it's two or three years of 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.240 crappy football for the chance to win a Super Bowl, 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.840 I think probably most people would take that. Who do 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.520 you think's winning the off season in the AFC North? 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.760 This is so funny because I you know, the older 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.440 you get, the more you kind of rely on these 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.880 cliches so you get cynical and so like I love 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.280 in the spring this say, it's football in shorts. Like, 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.120 don't ask me who looks good at OTAs, Please don't 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.440 ask me who looks good at Rickey Minicamp. It's football 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:59.000 in shorts. So similarly, who's winning the off season is? 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:03.400 I mean, it's like a paper champion. I love that 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.160 the Bengals really had only one major area of need 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.800 and they addressed it, and they addressed it so well. 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.520 I still sort of have a question about Jesse Bates. 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.880 I'd like to see you speaking to members of the 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:23.200 Bengals organization. Nobody seems to think that it is a 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.160 non negotiable deal breaker if Jesse Bates has to play 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.040 on the tag. At least what I've been told is 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.760 that they have heard nothing from Bates or his camp 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.960 that he wouldn't play on the tag. But I think 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:34.440 it would be nice to lock him up. I think 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.680 everybody always feels good to feel that there's a commitment 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.040 to them, and you just get more out of somebody 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.240 in that way. So I'd like to see that piece 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.040 of business done. The Browns, Oh boy, let's come back 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:51.040 to the Browns. The Steelers. I really like this quarterback pickup. 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:52.960 We knew that the Steelers weren't going to trade a 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:54.840 ton of draft picks. We knew they weren't going to 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.480 be in some crazy sweepstakes right now. The Steelers do 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.720 need a starting strong safety. They would like to lock 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.320 up Fitzpatrick. They're in the process of that. The Steelers 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.880 needed to upgrade their offensive line. They did. You'd still 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:12.960 like to see who else the Steelers could bring in 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:18.360 at receiver perhaps, but it's a well built roster, you know, 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:23.720 and it's a little bit older on defense, especially up front. 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.240 So that's a situation where I expect these players to 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.800 play a certain way. But again, what happens at the 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.160 age of thirty four, I don't know. So Okay, that's 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.280 the Steelers. I think so far, it's been a good offseason. 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.160 Let's see what they do in the draft, especially since 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:41.000 the Steelers generally that's where they like to build their team. 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:46.400 The Ravens well, the Ravens are healthy. The port Ravens 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.760 last year, we're missing twenty starters and key contributors. I 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.920 think that that's all really good. The Ravens still need 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:59.560 another pass rusher, and the Browns well, Deshaun Watson is 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:04.880 a is a very very very loaded topic, and if 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.360 we just take it from an availability standpoint, we don't 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.240 know what Deshaun Watson's availability will be, and so that 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.400 clearly impacts what he is able to give them. So, 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.400 having run through all of that at this current moment, 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.320 knowing that this is just a paper certificate and doesn't 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:23.520 necessarily mean anything, I would say the Bengals won the offseason. 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.280 A couple more questions for dit King Kabwall and I'll 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.640 let you go. You attended you sees Pro day last week? 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.800 They had eight players at the combine, they had six 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:36.760 invited to the Senior Bowl. What or who stood out 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.840 to you from being at that pro day? Okay, so 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:44.000 everybody was so nice, including the head coach. It was 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:50.040 just this pleasure to be around a group that again, 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.000 it's the same thing to the Bengals a little bit 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.520 wide eyed. You know, they had never had a Pro 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:56.520 day like this. I don't think they never had. They 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.400 haven't even had a pro day. You would know better 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.160 than me. Did they have one every year? But I'm 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.480 going to say that more NFL personnel attended last week's 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:07.919 Pro Day than all of the other ones combined that 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:12.520 I've ever been to well, I really really really loved 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:18.479 Desmond Ritter's demeanor. I loved how take charge he was. 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:23.919 I loved his confidence. I loved how when a receiver 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.920 dropped a ball, he immediately ran to the receiver and 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:31.520 patted him on the back and said that's okay. It 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.720 again recalls a story that Zach Taylor told me. Zach 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.600 Taylor was the Bearcat's offensive coordinator who ultimately worked out 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.720 Desmond Ritter and kind of got him his first offer, 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:43.919 got him the one of two Division one offers that 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:47.800 he had. And what Zach told me is that that 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.080 year he worked out probably about twelve to fifteen quarterbacks 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.320 all over the country. Every single one of them had 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:59.480 a quarterback coach who ran the workout. But Desmond Ritter 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.080 was sort of a very late workout, you know. As 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:03.960 you know, he got the offer a while during the 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.040 Kentucky Derby, so it was a late workout. It was 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.600 sort of last minute. It was almost like Taylor was 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:11.720 doing it as a favor to somebody else on the 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.000 staff who said, maybe you should check him out, and 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:15.640 so he said, okay, okay, I'll do it. At six 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:20.320 am and Desmond Ritter had no quarterbacks coach, and Desmond 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:26.160 Ritter gathered a group of his teammates and friends, convinced 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.280 these seventeen year old kids to show up on a 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.920 field at six am, and then he ran them through 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:37.359 the entire workout. And Zach told me that he was 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.640 the only quarterback that did that. And when you're looking 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.480 for all those intangibles, you're looking for those leadership traits, 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:44.680 you're looking for the guy who's going to be kind 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:48.320 of the face of your outfit, that's everything that you want. 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.200 I thought that he was quite frankly, a little bit 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.920 stiff when he had a straight drop back. If you 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:55.879 look at the way he holds the ball, it just 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.480 doesn't seem as relaxed in his hand. And I thought 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.560 that he looked better when he was actually in motion 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:06.639 when he was having to I don't want to even 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:08.800 call it scramble, but maybe roll out a little bit 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.560 or roll right and then throw a left. That almost 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.640 looked a little bit more natural. So I think that 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:16.679 that's interesting. I talked to quite a few coaches that 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.320 day who are much smarter than me of figuring out 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:23.080 footwork and mechanics and things like that, and several felt that, 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.200 you know, his inaccuracy is a little bit confusing because 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:28.920 there's nothing very obviously wrong. There's nothing in his footwork 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.160 that screams, hey, this is a glitch we can fix. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.040 And then several said it's really not a big deal 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.679 and they think it's something they can work with. So again, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.679 I think it's sort of unless you're a Joe Burrow, 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:41.879 you're often beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.280 He told me. Desmond told me that he is expecting 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.000 to be a first round pick and if he is not, 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.000 he would be really disappointed. And so we'll see what 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.800 comes of that. And then of course, I you know, 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.560 I loved the corners, love the safety, just good kids, 0:19:57.600 --> 0:19:59.800 good kids all around, and even the running back room forward, 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.760 very quiet but nice, nice young man. Were you charmed 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.960 by Sauce Gardner like the rest of us, it was. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:08.960 I was a little disappointed that he didn't work out, 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:13.639 but he just was very, very friendly. We talked about 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.120 the suit that he wore to the combine, and I 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:20.520 said that I live by the idea that you dressed 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:22.440 for the job you want, not the one that you have. 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:27.639 And I also really really live by look good, feel good, 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:31.960 feel good, playing good. And so we communed over that. Yeah, 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.119 very great young man. And you know he got to 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.520 go to dinner twice that night. He went out with 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:39.920 the Saint Sam the Giants the night before at least, 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:44.080 so crafty move. Yeah, serious, very crafty move. And it 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:45.600 was the last time you got two people to buy 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.840 you dinner in the same night. And that has never 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:51.480 happened yet, but I remain hopeful. Maybe the next time 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.720 I'm in town day I can do that. We'll tell 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:55.840 Duke Tobin to take you out. I'll take you for 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.600 the appetizers. He can buy you to dinner a deity. 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.679 This is and awesome and we appreciate your time. Thank you, 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.679 thanks so much, Dan, I appreciate it. Okay, Duke Tobin, 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:10.040 you heard it from Adity. She's getting the appetizers and 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:14.240 you are buying dinner. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.520 by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game. 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.080 This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.320 the course of the year with tickets, autograph merchandise, and 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:28.560 money can't buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:32.640 Bengals in the App Store and Google Play. Now we 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:36.480 turn our attention to the draft. The NFL Network will 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:39.320 provide live coverage of the draft from Las Vegas on 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:42.840 April twenty eighth, twenty ninth, and thirtieth, and this week 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:47.800 I spoke to draft analyst lanzerline Ranch. You'd done a 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.840 couple of mock drafts in early February. You had the 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:55.160 Bengals selecting Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum. In early March, Tulsa 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.479 offensive liman Tyler Smith. Now that the Bengals have signed 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:03.480 three offensive linemen in free agency, are you still thinking 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:07.920 offensive line? No. I do think that the Bengals could 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:10.600 could take a look at the offensive line for more 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:15.160 competition at the you know, potentially draft for more depth. 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:17.440 You know, a guy who can play center guard, maybe 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:22.159 a guy like Luke Gayticky out of Central Michigan. But no, 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.400 it's not an immediate need for the team right now, 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.960 so I don't expect them to use, you know, one 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:31.280 of their first couple picks on offensive line. I think 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:34.520 they've done a pretty good job, definitely a serviceable job. 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:38.160 I mean they're better along the interior. Jackson Carman needs 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:40.639