Speaker 1: Hi, Get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast, The Times They Are a change. In addition,
Speaker 1: coming up an in depth conversation with my broadcast partner
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham as we discuss an unusually active offseason for
Speaker 1: the Bengals. Lapp will tell us how good he thinks
Speaker 1: left tackle Cordy glenn is, why he considers Preston Brown
Speaker 1: to be one of the biggest steels in free agency,
Speaker 1: and why he was right and I was wrong when
Speaker 1: it comes to Tyler Eifert. Plus, as a former offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: Lapp will explain how a Frank Pollock coached OH line
Speaker 1: is likely to be different from a Paul Alexander coached
Speaker 1: OH line. We'll hit those topics and many more in
Speaker 1: a thirty minute conversation, and in a new edition of
Speaker 1: Fun Facts, we'll get to know new middle linebacker and
Speaker 1: Cincinnati native Preston Brown. Preston, by the way, is his
Speaker 1: middle name. His given name is Mike Brown. All of
Speaker 1: that is coming up at first, Here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
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Speaker 1: I am a big band all right. Time to discuss
Speaker 1: a highly productive offseason to date with my broadcast partner
Speaker 1: Dave Lappholm Lap. The Bengals have been uncharacteristically aggressive this offseason,
Speaker 1: trading for a guy with a big contract like Cordy Glenn,
Speaker 1: signing free agents like Preston Brown in the prime of
Speaker 1: his career. Why do you think they're behaving this way?
Speaker 1: That's a good question, Dan. I guess only they can
Speaker 1: answer that. I'm glad to see it, though. You know,
Speaker 1: when the season ended wrote down some needs left tackle,
Speaker 1: defensive tackle, linebacker, safety, center, and they've they've addressed, you know,
Speaker 1: quite a few of them in free agency. So I guess, um,
Speaker 1: when a guy like Corty Glenn became available, I think
Speaker 1: that was a big surprise to even them. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't think that they anticipated a guy that caliber
Speaker 1: being being available in a trade because, honestly, you know,
Speaker 1: looking at him when he's healthy he's he's he's upper crusted.
Speaker 1: I mean he's he's a good player. Big body guy,
Speaker 1: long arms, can really move and you know you say, okay,
Speaker 1: big body guy, longs Cedric awayhy, Well, what this guy
Speaker 1: has is a lot more ballast. He's got anchorability. You know,
Speaker 1: he's got the athleticism that you have to have to
Speaker 1: play left tackle, but he doesn't have the anchorability. And
Speaker 1: talk about you know, straight a quarterback throw with accuracy
Speaker 1: and anticipation. Straight a tackle is athleticism and anchorability, and
Speaker 1: you got to have both. And you know everybody sees
Speaker 1: the Cedric's deficient in that anchorability aspect. This guy's not
Speaker 1: when they guy sits that people don't move him, he's
Speaker 1: you know, he's a guy that will move people, and
Speaker 1: people don't move him very easily. So I think I
Speaker 1: think it's uh, you know, knock on wood. The health factor.
Speaker 1: If he's one hundred percent healthy, they got themselves, you know,
Speaker 1: a special player at the left tackle position. That's big.
Speaker 1: He's three hundred and forty five pounds, so he's big.
Speaker 1: Who benefits more? Andy Dalton or Joe Mixon. I think
Speaker 1: they both do. Really, you know, I think that. I
Speaker 1: think he's he's a very aggressive, you know, blocker in
Speaker 1: the running game and athletic can get to the next level.
Speaker 1: He can pull, he can run, he can do all
Speaker 1: the things that you need to have done. You know,
Speaker 1: he's good in space, uh, you know, and obviously with
Speaker 1: the Andy Dalton's blind side, you know, being a big deal.
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes that's even a little overrated now
Speaker 1: in today's NFL. I mean, you look at the last
Speaker 1: couple of Super Bowls. The players that were made to
Speaker 1: determine Super victories came right off the front side of
Speaker 1: a quarterback, you know, forcing fumbles, pressuring and causing turnovers.
Speaker 1: So I think you have to be strong across the
Speaker 1: board in today's football in terms of protection. But I
Speaker 1: think they both benefit. And you know, the other thing is,
Speaker 1: you know you mentioned Joe Mixon. Everybody's looking for the
Speaker 1: running back now they can not only run the football,
Speaker 1: but catch it. You know, everybody wants that complete guy.
Speaker 1: They you know, they want the bell guy, the bell cow.
Speaker 1: You know, like Pittsburgh has, well, Bengals have two, they
Speaker 1: have two, No ten, how many teams in the NFL
Speaker 1: can have a one show a one two punch like
Speaker 1: the Bengals due with Joe Mixon and you know Giovanni Bernard.
Speaker 1: They both are excellent running the football between the tackles
Speaker 1: and outside. They both run routes like receiver, and they
Speaker 1: both catch a ball like a receiver. So I mean
Speaker 1: there's a lot of benefit there. We know the Bengals
Speaker 1: left tackle Cordy Glenn, we know the left guard Clant Bowling.
Speaker 1: Who's going to line up at the other three spots?
Speaker 1: What's your best guess? That's a great question. You know,
Speaker 1: the draft obviously hasn't taken place yet. I'm sure they'll
Speaker 1: they'll address, you know, all those spots in the draft.
Speaker 1: I know they'll address tackling center in the draft. They
Speaker 1: have to. Um, you know, they'll they can line up though,
Speaker 1: you know at the center position. Trey Hopkins could could
Speaker 1: play that spot. T J. Johnson would be the guy
Speaker 1: to line up at it right now. But Trey Hopkins
Speaker 1: with long arms, I mean, I look at Trey Hopkins.
Speaker 1: Uh Dwight Stevenson the best center I ever saw play
Speaker 1: one of the reasons and Tim crum Right, who played
Speaker 1: against them, said that he was unbelievable. One of the
Speaker 1: big things. Long arms that that big long leverage at
Speaker 1: the center position is huge. Something as simple as moving
Speaker 1: the ball out a little bit further because of those
Speaker 1: long arms and establishing a neutral zone that's bigger a
Speaker 1: short arms center. All of a sudden you crowded the ball.
Speaker 1: You're right under the right under his face mask. You know,
Speaker 1: the center can at least gives himself a little bit
Speaker 1: more space even with the lineman getting over the football.
Speaker 1: Pouncy the Pouncy brothers are like that, a long arm center.
Speaker 1: There's some advantages too, and there's advantages you know, in
Speaker 1: leverage and pass protection, run blocking at the center position too.
Speaker 1: Dwight Stevenson was great with, you know, with that leverage,
Speaker 1: and I see Trey Hawkins is maybe doing you know,
Speaker 1: some of that sort of thing with some of these
Speaker 1: centers that are long armed, you know. But and T. J.
Speaker 1: Johnson is very, very smart. He can make every call
Speaker 1: there is to make. So and then obviously there's there
Speaker 1: could be rookie candidates involved there, and personally I'd line
Speaker 1: Redman up at right guard and see what he can do,
Speaker 1: because then you talk about another guy that moves people
Speaker 1: and doesn't get moved. A big deal now, in today's NFL,
Speaker 1: as we know, Dan is that interior pass protection keeping
Speaker 1: giving the quarterback not only time but space. Quarterbacks hate
Speaker 1: people in their face. I don't care who it is,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady all the way down to whoever. If you
Speaker 1: can maintain a pocket that has some depth to it
Speaker 1: and give the quarterback space and time. And I think
Speaker 1: Redman's that kind of guy. I don't think they'll bull
Speaker 1: rush him, and I think he'll move people inside. I'd
Speaker 1: i'd kind of like to see how he would do
Speaker 1: out there. And honestly, I watched a little tape of
Speaker 1: Heart playing right tackle for the Giants before he got hurt.
Speaker 1: He's playing pretty darn well. You know, he's another guy
Speaker 1: that this guy's got some size to him, six five,
Speaker 1: three hundred and thirty four pounds. I mean, he's he's
Speaker 1: he's a big guy. And obviously the Bengals thought a
Speaker 1: lot of them, and I would think Frank Pollock being
Speaker 1: in that division, you know, so I him played twice
Speaker 1: a year, so I'm sure he was probably okay with
Speaker 1: probably had a lot to do with with signing the kid.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Frank Pollock before we move on to
Speaker 1: other topics from the offensive line. How will a Frank
Speaker 1: Pollock coached offensive line look different from a Paul Alexander
Speaker 1: coached offensive line. I think it'll be a lot more
Speaker 1: aggressive in terms of capturing the line of scrimmage, you know,
Speaker 1: with with both attitude and technique. We witnessed it down
Speaker 1: in Dallas when we went down there, and they just
Speaker 1: they manhandled the Bengals inside everywhere side outside. I mean
Speaker 1: there weren't holes, there were canyons, you know to run through.
Speaker 1: And Ezekiel Elliott, you know, had had a big day,
Speaker 1: but it all started with what that offensive line was doing.
Speaker 1: And um, you know I was interested to watch them.
Speaker 1: You know, there's horizontal splits and then there's vertical splits.
Speaker 1: You know, and you take a horizontal split. You'll change
Speaker 1: your splits depending on what the players trying to influence
Speaker 1: the defensive player, whether they're split. There's you know traditional
Speaker 1: two foot split, three foot split garden center two foot
Speaker 1: three foot between garden tackle. Well, then you can get
Speaker 1: off the ball, you know, you can crowd the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, you can get back. You have to have
Speaker 1: your helmet at the numbers of the center when he's
Speaker 1: over the football. You can't get too far back or
Speaker 1: the officials will penalize you when you You'll hear every
Speaker 1: once in a while seventy seven wasn't on the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, wasn't close enough to line of scrimmage. If
Speaker 1: the guard, you know, sets too far back and then
Speaker 1: the tackle sets broke it back from him, you can't
Speaker 1: set up like an umbrella. But if you all set up,
Speaker 1: you know, to the center's number, that's legal. And they
Speaker 1: would play with those vertical splits when they were double
Speaker 1: team and to come downhill instead of sidestepping drop stepping,
Speaker 1: and they would come downhill they take a little bit
Speaker 1: of a deeper set at the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 1: even run plays they'd line up off the ball a
Speaker 1: little bit more so. I mean, I think we're going
Speaker 1: to see them attacking um you know, that line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: My philosophy is that way. I mean, you can't you
Speaker 1: can't win the line of scrimmage, you can't capture unless
Speaker 1: you attack it. I think we're going to see that.
Speaker 1: I think I think we're gonna see tackles jumping um
Speaker 1: showing if they have the athleticism to do it, jump
Speaker 1: defensive ends and not set so deep and catch, you know,
Speaker 1: jump them in stemium pretty quickly at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: Anthon Winniels was as good as I ever seen doing that.
Speaker 1: He's in the Hall of Fame for a reason. But
Speaker 1: there are there are guys in this football team, in
Speaker 1: this locker room that that are capable of jumping people
Speaker 1: at the line of scrimmage. And I think we're gonna see,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully farmer pockets for Andy Dalton and and
Speaker 1: in that running game be a little bit more aggressive.
Speaker 1: All right, Let's move on to middle linebacker. Preston Brown
Speaker 1: signed to a one year deal for about five million bucks.
Speaker 1: He's twenty five years old, led the NFL and tackles
Speaker 1: last year. Played in one thousand and ninety eight of
Speaker 1: one thousand, one hundred and eight snaps for the Bills
Speaker 1: on defense, so he never came off the field. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit shocked he was available for a
Speaker 1: one year deal. I'm stunned. I mean to me that
Speaker 1: that has to go into the category of one of
Speaker 1: the biggest steals a free agency. It really does. I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy's what fifty pounds plus and can run you
Speaker 1: know he's on the field in the nickel and dime
Speaker 1: sub packages. That's that's a remarkable, uh remarkable thing. I
Speaker 1: mean you're on the field all those snaps. You're going
Speaker 1: to have a chance to lead the league in tackles.
Speaker 1: And he did, you know, one hundred and forty four tackles.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes tackles can be a little bit dicey.
Speaker 1: Some organizations give tackles if within an arm and making
Speaker 1: them in the in the pile of bodies, there's an assist,
Speaker 1: there's another assist. But say say twenty of those occurred,
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty four, twenty five tackles. Still amazing,
Speaker 1: But you're on the field a lot of all those snaps,
Speaker 1: you can you can rack those up. And he runs
Speaker 1: the field. I mean he'll run it sideline to sideline,
Speaker 1: he'll come downhill, stuff the running game. He's you know,
Speaker 1: really good with his drops. He's a complete linebacker. And
Speaker 1: to get him for a one year deal for five
Speaker 1: million dollars, I think when all of a sudden done,
Speaker 1: when the season starts, people are going to say wow
Speaker 1: that and then as it unfolds and see the contribution.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to make to this defense. I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be one of the major steals
Speaker 1: of free agency. I was stunned a big deal when
Speaker 1: they made it, and then it got even bigger when
Speaker 1: we learned the news that Vontz Berfect has his annual
Speaker 1: beginning of the season suspension PEED related this time around,
Speaker 1: and unless it's reduced, he's out for the first four games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's going to be interesting to see what happens there.
Speaker 1: I know he's got an appeal, you know that's going on.
Speaker 1: I know back in the day, and this is way
Speaker 1: back now, when Lyle Alzado and how he Long we're
Speaker 1: playing together with the Raiders in the NFL. I remember
Speaker 1: how he Long mentioned to me that Zato was trying
Speaker 1: to talk him into using something to expedite his healing,
Speaker 1: you know, like between games or even in the off season,
Speaker 1: particularly after surgery. So it's you know, guys take different
Speaker 1: things for different reasons. And you know, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know what Vontes did, if anything, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes guys think, all right, well, if I'm not playing,
Speaker 1: my season's over, I might want to try to heal
Speaker 1: up as fast as I can get into a good
Speaker 1: workout routine and pattern. Sometimes mistakes can be made. Who knows,
Speaker 1: who knows what took place, But there's there's stuff that
Speaker 1: needs to be reviewed by the league, and hopefully, hopefully
Speaker 1: Vontes is a strong case. But those peed suspensions aren't
Speaker 1: overturned regularly. It has to be a very, very strong
Speaker 1: extenuating circumstance. So we'll see how it unfolds for Vontes.
Speaker 1: On the Tyler Eiffort next late in the season last year,
Speaker 1: I said to you, you know what, Lap, he's going
Speaker 1: to sign with the Rams. His buddy Whitworth is going
Speaker 1: to talk him to coming out to La the weather.
Speaker 1: It will be nice. You're a good looking cat. We'll
Speaker 1: get your TV ads and commercials and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And you said, no, I don't think so. I think
Speaker 1: Tyler Eiffort's the kind of kid, the way he was raised,
Speaker 1: that he's going to feel some loyalty for the Bengals
Speaker 1: for not being able to play very much the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. That's exactly the way it played out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, once the Bengals matched what the Rams and
Speaker 1: forty nine ers, and you know what was involved in
Speaker 1: that Rams deal. You know, he had had an opinion
Speaker 1: in a voice in it and the forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: I mean, Jimmy Garoppolo having Tyler Eiffert in the red
Speaker 1: zone and even as a security blanket, so you knew
Speaker 1: what they were thinking. Two young quarterbacks that are on
Speaker 1: the uptick. You know their graph is going up. Both
Speaker 1: organizations said. Tyler Eiffert is a scoring machine. I mean
Speaker 1: touchdown makers have value, particularly red zone touchdown makers, to
Speaker 1: the level that he is able to produce. So, once
Speaker 1: all things being equal, Tyler Eifert did stay with the
Speaker 1: Bengals like I hope he would think, And it's incentive.
Speaker 1: Leyden could be as much as eight million, but it's
Speaker 1: going to be a you know, at least five million
Speaker 1: dollars could creep up to eight eight a little over
Speaker 1: eight million dollars, and it's gonna my opinion is probably
Speaker 1: based on playing time alone, you know. I mean, if
Speaker 1: you get him out there, he's gonna put numbers up.
Speaker 1: So the question is you're gonna get him out there,
Speaker 1: So if he's out there, he's gonna put numbers up. Pam,
Speaker 1: it's fair. It's a fair, fair deal for everybody else
Speaker 1: sides involved. And he has a one year show, and
Speaker 1: he's got a bet on himself and hopefully the football
Speaker 1: God's cooperator. He stays health and he puts up crazy numbers.
Speaker 1: I go into it thinking, all right, if he somehow
Speaker 1: played sixteen games, fantastic. I'm not even gonna hope for that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hope he's healthy enough to play three quarters
Speaker 1: be on the field for twelve games. If he does,
Speaker 1: there'll be a very productive twelve game. I was thinking
Speaker 1: the same thing, Dan, I was thinking twelve to fourteen.
Speaker 1: You know, if he misses a couple, I mean they should.
Speaker 1: Tyler Croft has proven that he's capable. And the thing
Speaker 1: is now with Tyler Croft development, you have two tight
Speaker 1: ends that can produce in the red zone. I mean
Speaker 1: a two tight end package. Everybody. For a while that
Speaker 1: was the hot thing. You know, the Patriots had the
Speaker 1: two tight ends set with Gronk and Hernandez, and you
Speaker 1: know then Baltimore tried to get a ton two tight ends.
Speaker 1: It does a lot of things. It makes the defense
Speaker 1: even things up in terms of how they line up.
Speaker 1: From a formation standpoint. You balance things, you can be
Speaker 1: balanced offensively. You make the defense balance themselves. As a
Speaker 1: result of that, I mean, there's a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of good reasons to have a two tight end,
Speaker 1: two capable tight ends set available to you to mix
Speaker 1: into your personnel groupings. And the Bengals have that. Now,
Speaker 1: the Chris Baker's signing isn't one that has people doing
Speaker 1: cart wheels, but for a stretch of four years I
Speaker 1: guess in Washington, and he was highly productive. Got the
Speaker 1: big deal last year with Tampa Bay three years on
Speaker 1: nearly sixteen million dollars, and it didn't go well with
Speaker 1: the Bucks. So the Bengals get him on the cheap
Speaker 1: one year, three million bucks. And if the coaches that
Speaker 1: he played for in Washington, Jim Haslett and Jacob Bernie
Speaker 1: can get him back to the level that he played
Speaker 1: for with the Redskins, it could turn out to be
Speaker 1: a great move, no question. And I think that's you know,
Speaker 1: that's a big factor is he's got a relationship and
Speaker 1: you trust. There's trust both ways, not just player to coach,
Speaker 1: but coach the player as well. There's trust on all levels.
Speaker 1: And you know, you hear glowing, effusive praise back and
Speaker 1: forth when you hear Jim Haslet, Jacob Bernie and Chris
Speaker 1: Baker all talk about each other, so you hope that
Speaker 1: that synergy is going to be big. The other thing
Speaker 1: is a former player you made You worked hard to
Speaker 1: get the big deal. You make the big deal, then
Speaker 1: you're humbled. What do you do it didn't work out?
Speaker 1: You know you didn't get all the money. Okay? Are
Speaker 1: you going to assume the fetal position and say you
Speaker 1: know that's it? Or you're gonna have a bounce back
Speaker 1: season prove that you know what. It didn't work in Tampa.
Speaker 1: But that's not me. I'm who you saw in Washington,
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to assume the fetal position. I'm
Speaker 1: going to bounce back and show everybody this is Chris Baker.
Speaker 1: So hopefully there's some of that going on in his
Speaker 1: mindset too as he gets ready in the offseason. And
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be comforting to him as
Speaker 1: he attempts to have that bounce back year with familiar
Speaker 1: people that he had success with. I think that all
Speaker 1: that's up to potential success again. The Bengals signed a
Speaker 1: veteran backup quarterback candidate, and Matt Barkley. I remember them
Speaker 1: having a second round grade on him when he came
Speaker 1: out of USC turned out to be a fourth round
Speaker 1: draft pick by the Eagles, but obviously he's the leader
Speaker 1: in the clubhouse right now to be Andy Dalton's replacement.
Speaker 1: They're hoping a Jeff Driscoll comes back healthy after breaking
Speaker 1: his left arm. But the question is, after all of that,
Speaker 1: how high do they draft a quarterback with eleven picks? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a great question. Um, you know, are
Speaker 1: they going to draft a quarterback that that if there's
Speaker 1: one that they maybe had as a second round grade
Speaker 1: that's there in the fourth round, they may say, you
Speaker 1: know what, he's going by their board, this is a guy.
Speaker 1: How can we not take this guy that's the best
Speaker 1: player available as this quarterback? Here we are in the
Speaker 1: fourth round. We had him as a as a two
Speaker 1: A in the early part of the second round. What
Speaker 1: about the third Then they've got two third round picks.
Speaker 1: Could they even take the plunge that early? They could?
Speaker 1: They could maybe the second third round pick, um, you know, potentially, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it all It all depends on how you know. There's
Speaker 1: going to be an early run on quarterbacks. There always is,
Speaker 1: And now they're saying that, you know, in the first
Speaker 1: five picks could be four quarterbacks who knows, but there
Speaker 1: it could be Uh, it could be interesting to watch
Speaker 1: that all unfold. But then how far down will the
Speaker 1: next tier or slide, you know, um, and will there
Speaker 1: be one that just falls for no real good reason
Speaker 1: other than you know, everybody else's needs and just decisions
Speaker 1: made prior. So yeah, I mean I do think that
Speaker 1: they will. They will draft one. It's a question of
Speaker 1: how high. I think they'll be true to their board.
Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to reach for anybody at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position, but I think they'll be true to
Speaker 1: their board and see how it all pans out. Talk
Speaker 1: about some guys that aren't back, beginning with Russell Bodai
Speaker 1: and the Bengals apparently tried to sign him to a
Speaker 1: long term deal. He elected to take a shorter deal
Speaker 1: with the Buffalo Bill so he is essentially betting on himself.
Speaker 1: What did you make of the Bengals interest. I think
Speaker 1: it was based on a lot of things that Marvin
Speaker 1: Lewis talked about. The biggest being the available He never
Speaker 1: missed a game. You know, he was durable and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, availability and accountability or two big abilities to
Speaker 1: have in any position in the National Football League. And
Speaker 1: he provided that. So, you know, I think that's the
Speaker 1: one thing that every week, you know, as an offensive
Speaker 1: line coach or as an offensive coordinator, we don't have
Speaker 1: to worry at the center position. We got Russell Bodine,
Speaker 1: and I gave him a certain level of comfort for sure. So, Uh,
Speaker 1: there's you know, there's there's that question, whoever takes over
Speaker 1: the center position, will that guy take every snap for
Speaker 1: four years? Russell Bodine? You know, it's everybody has opinions
Speaker 1: on player's level of play, no matter who the player is.
Speaker 1: They're Russell Bodine fans, Russell Bodine. Uh. People that weren't
Speaker 1: as happy with his play, But the one thing they
Speaker 1: all had to agree on he played hurt, he played hard,
Speaker 1: he played every snap, and there's something to be said
Speaker 1: for that. I think that's why they were thinking the
Speaker 1: way they were thinking. The Bengals did not pick up
Speaker 1: Adam Jones's option of five point three million bucks. They
Speaker 1: have publicly said they're interested in bringing him back for
Speaker 1: a cheaper price. What do you think the odds are
Speaker 1: of him being back again? Um, we'll see how you know,
Speaker 1: the draft goes. You know, it's it's Uh, I do
Speaker 1: think obviously they've got a role in mind for him
Speaker 1: as a returner and is a sub package corner. If
Speaker 1: in fact, he feels like he's capable of more than
Speaker 1: that and there's a team out there other degrees, you know,
Speaker 1: that's probably where he'll go. I'm not sure what the
Speaker 1: market is showing him right now. Obviously he hasn't signed
Speaker 1: anywhere as of the time we're doing this podcast, so
Speaker 1: I would think that if he were still available, it
Speaker 1: would have to be the right kind of a price.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's going to be dramatically reduced. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's going to be NFL veteran minimum,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be dramatically reduced from where he was,
Speaker 1: and at that point in time, you know, decisions are
Speaker 1: going to have to be made on both sides. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to the draft. With the Cordy Glenn deal,
Speaker 1: the Bengals moved from having the twelfth pick in the
Speaker 1: first round down to the twenty first pick in the
Speaker 1: first round. Do you think that that drastically changes what
Speaker 1: they are likely to do? I guess by having Cordy Glenn,
Speaker 1: they're no longer really focused in on Okay, we've got
Speaker 1: to find ourselves a left tackle. Right if they you know,
Speaker 1: if they they feel like a kid from Notre Dame
Speaker 1: who's everybody feels like it could be a decade long starter.
Speaker 1: Clinchy that if Nelson's there, they jump on a hard beat,
Speaker 1: they'll do cartwheels. Yeah, if they he should be long gone.
Speaker 1: If he's there, I mean they better take him. Um.
Speaker 1: But if mcclenchy's there, you know, now you got to think, okay, well,
Speaker 1: would he I think he's a right tackle. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's a left tackle, but I do I do
Speaker 1: think he could play probably a decade at right tackle.
Speaker 1: Do you say, all right, well, at twenty one, let's
Speaker 1: let's draft him. Because this draft supposedly is you better
Speaker 1: go early in the tackle position. There's other options available
Speaker 1: in the interior alignment. Uh, it's it's deeper from more
Speaker 1: rounds than it is in terms of excellence at the
Speaker 1: offensive tackle position, which is kind of the reverse of
Speaker 1: the norm a little bit. So you know, they make
Speaker 1: a decision there. If mcglinchey's on the board, Um, if
Speaker 1: if one of the one of the three centers, there's
Speaker 1: three centers that everybody likes if one of them is gone,
Speaker 1: Is that center a better Is he rated higher on
Speaker 1: the Bengals board that McGlinchey is as a tackle? Where
Speaker 1: is there a bigger need? Is there a big gonna
Speaker 1: need a right tackler at center? You've got your left tackle,
Speaker 1: You've got your backup left tackle, which I think that's
Speaker 1: what cedrical Way is going to be as a backup
Speaker 1: left tackle. I don't think they're gonna mess with him
Speaker 1: at right tackle anymore. I think they're gonna say you're
Speaker 1: going to one position, You're gonna work at that one position,
Speaker 1: and then let's see what happens. Maybe Frank Pollack can
Speaker 1: bring something out of him that Paul Alexander wasn't able to.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking from a technique standpoint, he's a guy,
Speaker 1: he's he's a jump candidate. In my mind, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that's athletic enough to go jump people and separate
Speaker 1: and not give him a running start and try to
Speaker 1: catch him and absorb him as body. You know, he
Speaker 1: can't take that that bullrush. So yeah, I mean center.
Speaker 1: You know, if the Hernandez kid is there, people say
Speaker 1: maybe he could even play center or guard. So you
Speaker 1: know there's some options there at twenty one. They could
Speaker 1: go offensive line, they might go safety. You know, they
Speaker 1: had some serious conversations with Coleman before he signed with
Speaker 1: the Saints. I think it was he took a big
Speaker 1: deal with the Saints. So they're obviously not real happy
Speaker 1: at this point. You know, with the ability to turn
Speaker 1: people over at the safety position, they want a playmaker
Speaker 1: back there. So is there a playmaker If one of
Speaker 1: the safeties that they have rated on their board as
Speaker 1: a top ten is there at twenty one, they may
Speaker 1: jump at that safety. If one of the corners that
Speaker 1: they've got rated highly for some reason slides because of
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks or whatever the case may be, you know,
Speaker 1: they may go there again. Maybe there's a maybe there's
Speaker 1: a corner slash safety that will play more safety than
Speaker 1: he does corner that they currently have on the roster. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, defensive tackle. Do they go defensive tackle at
Speaker 1: twenty one? All depends on who it is, you know,
Speaker 1: if it's a guy again, it's it's a guy. At
Speaker 1: twenty one, they're in a spot to They're in a
Speaker 1: position that they can wait and see if somebody slides,
Speaker 1: you know, they may have more options available to them.
Speaker 1: They've traded down from twenty one to twenty seven before
Speaker 1: to pick up additional picks they already have eleven. I'm
Speaker 1: not really sure they do that. How many do you need?
Speaker 1: But I think the fact is they're really really wide
Speaker 1: open at twenty one, even more wide open than they
Speaker 1: were at twelve. Get an extra third for losing Kevin Zeitler,
Speaker 1: an extra fifth for losing Andrew Whitworth. They pick up
Speaker 1: a fifth in the Corty Glenn deal and he's a sixth.
Speaker 1: They get a couple of extra sevenths. As we said,
Speaker 1: a total of eleven picks. Hard to keep them all,
Speaker 1: but in any case, you get a bunch of potential talent,
Speaker 1: and with between the roster and the practice squad, you've
Speaker 1: got a chance to add some good, young potential stars. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you do. I mean I think I think, you know,
Speaker 1: everybody's like, you know, fifth round, having three fifth round picks.
Speaker 1: There's value there, you know, And who's to say that
Speaker 1: they may not bunch some of those and move up,
Speaker 1: you know. I think I think there's more potential for
Speaker 1: that this year than trading back. I think that we're
Speaker 1: there a pixel positioned. I think they can they can
Speaker 1: package and make a move up if they feel like, well,
Speaker 1: this guy has slid to this point, I don't know
Speaker 1: how much more he's going to slide. We really like them,
Speaker 1: let's go get them kind of thing, no matter what
Speaker 1: round it is. I mean, they've talked about doing that
Speaker 1: even in the fourth round. The last two drafts, they've
Speaker 1: talked about trading up for Bodine. They talked about trading
Speaker 1: up for Shaw. You know, Shaw's a guy that might
Speaker 1: play safety rather than you may play more safety than
Speaker 1: the corner this year. So there's there's always guys that
Speaker 1: there's there's good value in the fourth, fifth, in the
Speaker 1: sixth round, and the Bengals have put their bat on
Speaker 1: the ball and those rounds very very well as an
Speaker 1: organization led by Duke Tobin. All Right, a couple more
Speaker 1: topics before we wrap this up. The next thing is
Speaker 1: the catch rule, which is being fixed, I guess is
Speaker 1: the best way to describe it by the NFL. Now,
Speaker 1: it sounds like if you catch the ball what we
Speaker 1: have historically thought of as a catch, and take a
Speaker 1: couple of runnings strides and then go to the ground
Speaker 1: and it trickles loose, that's a catch, as it should be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think now we're back to the old.
Speaker 1: If you're sitting in a bar and you're watching the
Speaker 1: game on a big screen TV and everybody looks at
Speaker 1: each other, that's a catch. I think the NFL is
Speaker 1: going to agree that it's a catch. The interesting thing
Speaker 1: to me is going to be, you know, I can
Speaker 1: remember in Baltimore in two occasions that Jermaine Gresham catch
Speaker 1: was overturned. That Tyler Effort catch was overturned, both in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: I understanding is what this new rule. They're both catchers,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like that it's going to be closer
Speaker 1: to the same. If a running back crosses the plane,
Speaker 1: it's a touchdown, and if he gets hit and loses
Speaker 1: control of the football after he breaks the plane, it's
Speaker 1: a touchdown. Sounds like that's going to be the same
Speaker 1: way in football. If he breaks the plane with control
Speaker 1: of the football, it's a catch. If he goes to
Speaker 1: the ground loses or whatever, or even if he gets
Speaker 1: hit after taking a step, we're making a football move,
Speaker 1: you know, it's going to be a touchdown. I think
Speaker 1: that was one of the biggest inequities or whatever in
Speaker 1: the rule book is for a run and a touchdown catch,
Speaker 1: the goal line was two different things. For a run,
Speaker 1: the goal line basically ended it all. You had to
Speaker 1: do the point of the football, the front tip of
Speaker 1: the football. It's crossed the front tip of the goal line, touchdown,
Speaker 1: no matter what not. So for a catch a touchdown catch, well,
Speaker 1: now it's back to the way it was. It sounds
Speaker 1: like Which Johnson the crazy catch he made for the
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. He catches the ball
Speaker 1: and as he's doing a somersault, loses control of it
Speaker 1: and it was a catch. Then went in and catching today.
Speaker 1: So now it sounds like it might be a catch again.
Speaker 1: So they're going back to. Honestly, Dan, everything they've done
Speaker 1: in the past decade plus has been to spur more offense.
Speaker 1: People want to see thirty eight, thirty five. They don't
Speaker 1: want to see ten seven. Well, the catch rule started
Speaker 1: making it tougher to goal points, started to affect the
Speaker 1: outcome of offenses. Fans want to see the big play,
Speaker 1: Fans want to see the big score. So I think
Speaker 1: that's why the NFL realizes we better go back to
Speaker 1: the old way of the catch rule. Final question, who
Speaker 1: has a bigger year next year, Buffalo Bill's quarterback AJ
Speaker 1: McCarron or in New England Patriots running back Jeremy Hill.
Speaker 1: Oh man, you know, I think that I really think
Speaker 1: that a J mccaren is gonna grab hold of an
Speaker 1: opportunity here and they'll probably Buffalo take a quarterback very high,
Speaker 1: there's no question about that. But I do think that
Speaker 1: that I think they're looking at AJ McCarron as as
Speaker 1: being the guy this year, you know, you know, on
Speaker 1: all probability, and I think that he'll he'll take a
Speaker 1: strangle hold of it. I really do. I think Jeremy
Speaker 1: is going to be in a rotation of It's interesting
Speaker 1: now Jeremy Hill goes to the New England Patriots, they
Speaker 1: just resigned Rex Burke had do a big contract and
Speaker 1: Jeremy goes there for a bargain basement price of a
Speaker 1: million bucks for a year. So now they've flipped roles basically.
Speaker 1: And I know, I know that that the coach Belichick
Speaker 1: loves him some Rex burkhead, and it'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: see what he thinks of Jeremy Hill. So you've got
Speaker 1: to think that Jeremy will be just he won't be
Speaker 1: the bell cow. There's never really any bell cow in
Speaker 1: New England. It's usually a since Corey Dillon, right, So
Speaker 1: it's a combined effort, you know, and everybody's got their role,
Speaker 1: and be interesting what the role Jeremy Hill takes on.
Speaker 1: I think a j has a much bigger role this
Speaker 1: year in Buffalo than than Jeremy may have in New England.
Speaker 1: Lap excellent stuff. You are now free to resume playing
Speaker 1: with your grandkids. Thanks, Dan, appreciate that. And it's there's
Speaker 1: nothing like being a grand dad. You just wait and see, Dan,
Speaker 1: just wait and see. I hope I'm waiting a long time.
Speaker 1: Since Sam Horde is eleven. Now time for a new
Speaker 1: fun facts segment as we get to know the person
Speaker 1: under the pads, in this case, a recently signed free
Speaker 1: agent who was born in Cincinnati and is fired up
Speaker 1: to play for his hometown team. Time for some fun
Speaker 1: facts with Bengals linebacker Preston Brown, a Cincinnati native and
Speaker 1: somebody who was almost destined to be a Bengal in
Speaker 1: my opinion, because your initials are PB, as in Paul Brown,
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium, your dad's name is Mike Mike Brown,
Speaker 1: and furthermore, you were a die hard Bengals fan growing up. Correct, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: And technically my real name is Mike Brown as well,
Speaker 1: but my middle name is Preston, so that's what I
Speaker 1: go by, all right. So if I'm doing the math correct,
Speaker 1: you would have been about thirteen years old when Carson
Speaker 1: Palmer blew out his knee in that playoff game against
Speaker 1: the Steelers. How devastated was young Preston Brown? Pretty mad?
Speaker 1: I mean throwing stuff at the TV. Everybody down in
Speaker 1: the basement going crazy because that was the year we
Speaker 1: were supposed to win a Super Bowl. I mean, everybody
Speaker 1: was feeling it. First play, long long pass, We're like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, here we go. Then you look back at
Speaker 1: the line of Scrimmas and he's laying there, rolling around him.
Speaker 1: I still can see it pretty vividly, and it's not good.
Speaker 1: So you got the details down so I know you're legit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember that one. That one was tough. There's a
Speaker 1: Chad Brown or Chad Johnson fathead in your basement still, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's still down there. It's still down there next to
Speaker 1: the Marvin Lewis bobbleheads and the t J. Husmin's out
Speaker 1: of all of them up there all right, Preston, you
Speaker 1: come from a football background. Your dad played college football
Speaker 1: at Ball State. He was in training camp with the
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos. How early did the football bug bite? You
Speaker 1: think when I was like four, I wanted to start playing,
Speaker 1: but he wouldn't let me. So I started playing when
Speaker 1: I was six with Hilltop in the College Shield. Then
Speaker 1: I think I try to retire at age ten, but
Speaker 1: they taught me out of retirement. Your dad told me
Speaker 1: that he had to carry your birth certificate around when
Speaker 1: you played games out of town because, you know, fans
Speaker 1: from other communities thought you were too old. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean every time we went down to Avondale or
Speaker 1: somewhere there, saying where's his birth certificated? Get the girl
Speaker 1: man off the field. I mean everywhere we went. That's
Speaker 1: how it was. And I was just I was younger
Speaker 1: than most of them, but they always like like I
Speaker 1: was an old guy. We're doing fun facts with Preston.
Speaker 1: I read at age six that you actually studied game
Speaker 1: film or video of your peewee games with your dad.
Speaker 1: He had you great in tape at age six. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean my mom would record it and then we
Speaker 1: would sit down in the basement and just critique what
Speaker 1: I was doing wrong and what I did right. I
Speaker 1: mean it was for real film study with him. I
Speaker 1: mean it was he just wanted me to get used
Speaker 1: to it. So after that I would watch what he
Speaker 1: was coaching an aken or what word or with or
Speaker 1: I would sit down and watch his tape, just trying
Speaker 1: to find any tendencies that I thought was something that
Speaker 1: was going on and somebody's stands like a little weird.
Speaker 1: I would tell him something. I don't know if he
Speaker 1: was paying attention, but I definitely picked up some stuff
Speaker 1: to help me out. Today we talked to some guys
Speaker 1: that really don't learn how to study the tape until
Speaker 1: they get to the NFL. It sounds like that's something
Speaker 1: that you had a pretty early grasp of. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I just love learning about the opponent. I
Speaker 1: mean I know everything. And we played the Bengals. I
Speaker 1: had everything written down about those guys. I mean I
Speaker 1: had anything you can think of, the Instagram name, how
Speaker 1: many kids they got, what they what they major. I
Speaker 1: mean I knew I wanted to know more just the player.
Speaker 1: I also read that when you were young, you and
Speaker 1: your dad would get out at like five to thirty
Speaker 1: in the morning and go for runs in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1: Is that true? And what were some of the other
Speaker 1: things that he had you do to develop your athleticism. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We would definitely run through those college neighborhoods that five
Speaker 1: six in the morning, people honking at us and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. I mean, it was just fun for me.
Speaker 1: It was never something that he was forcing me to do.
Speaker 1: I always say, hey, Dad, can we go for a run?
Speaker 1: And he was like, all right, I'll be up at
Speaker 1: five And we just went for runs and we would
Speaker 1: do drills after practice or just anything I felt I
Speaker 1: could get better by doing a little bit extra. So
Speaker 1: he went to Northwest High School, had a great career there.
Speaker 1: When you're a junior in high school, UC goes to
Speaker 1: the Orange Bowl. When you're a senior in high school,
Speaker 1: UC goes to the Sugar Bowl. You were all set
Speaker 1: to go to UC and then Brian Kelly left for
Speaker 1: Notre Dame. Yah. Yeah, Brian Kelly left me. Never heard
Speaker 1: from again at Notre Dame Bush Joees came in. I
Speaker 1: went on to visit. It just didn't feel the same anymore.
Speaker 1: And then I remember Solomon, ten of them from Roger
Speaker 1: Bakers said, I was scared of competition, so I was
Speaker 1: scared to go there. So I ended up going to
Speaker 1: Louisville and tried to beat them every time. But it
Speaker 1: was definitely it was well, you had a great career
Speaker 1: at Louisville. You went there at the same time as
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater. He guys went to the Sugar Bowl and
Speaker 1: beat Florida. Sounds like, you know that decision worked out
Speaker 1: as well as it possibly could have. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it was a good decision for me. I just saw
Speaker 1: the defense what they had. I saw Brandon Spikes in
Speaker 1: the way they had linebackers at Florida and what they
Speaker 1: did to Cincinnati that game. I was like, well, I
Speaker 1: want to be a part of that. One more dad
Speaker 1: related questions. So you're at Louisville, he's teaching up in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: and I understand you guys would meet halfway between in
Speaker 1: a Burger King parking lot to do drills. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that was the only place where it was like
Speaker 1: a little grass area. We would go over there and
Speaker 1: do some drills or put cones on the asphalt and
Speaker 1: just find a way to get better. Because that was
Speaker 1: a year I switched to mic linebacker, and he thought
Speaker 1: it was gonna be differ from the playing outside on
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and things like that. So we
Speaker 1: did a lot of things, just trying to make sure
Speaker 1: I come downhill and take on blogs so get out
Speaker 1: of the play action pass and just things that he
Speaker 1: felt I needed to do at the middle linebacker spot.
Speaker 1: So after a great career at Louisville, you were a
Speaker 1: third round draft picked by the Buffalo Bills. Describe your
Speaker 1: draft experience. It was fun. I mean I went around
Speaker 1: telling everybody I was going in the third round. Before
Speaker 1: I even was projected third round. I spoke it into existence.
Speaker 1: I think should have said first round, but I mean
Speaker 1: I said a third round, and I was just happy.
Speaker 1: When I got the call, I saw it was a
Speaker 1: New York number. I didn't know which New York team
Speaker 1: it was, but then I realized there's only really one
Speaker 1: team in New York, so it was Buffalo. I mean it.
Speaker 1: We was excited. We ran up and down the street
Speaker 1: and had a good time. You spend four years in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: Bills fans are crazy. They call it the Bills Mafia.
Speaker 1: Do you have a good Bills Mafia story? Oh? Shoot?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean I've seen videos, but I
Speaker 1: haven't seen it in person. I'm seeing them jumping off
Speaker 1: a table, tables lit on fire tables, and throwing girls
Speaker 1: on tables. I mean they all really involved something with
Speaker 1: a table breaking them in parking lots. So last year,
Speaker 1: you're part of that Buffalo team that ends the longest
Speaker 1: playoff droute in the four major sports. They hadn't gone
Speaker 1: for seventeen years, and people they reacted like they had
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl. Right, Yeah, it was. It was crazy.
Speaker 1: I mean you could hear a big roar from the
Speaker 1: fans down in Miami and everybody was going crazy. It
Speaker 1: was the locker room was going crazy, throwing water and
Speaker 1: everybody crying and stuff, and it was it was a
Speaker 1: big moment for that city. A few more fun facts
Speaker 1: with Preston Brown. So you've signed with your hometown team
Speaker 1: as a free agent. Is it true that you could
Speaker 1: have taken more money elsewhere? Um, technically, I mean longer
Speaker 1: deals and stuff like that would have been more money.
Speaker 1: But I mean I felt like this was the best
Speaker 1: situation for me, So it wasn't really about the money.
Speaker 1: I mean, no matter where I signed, it was gonna
Speaker 1: be more money I've ever seen in my life. So
Speaker 1: I still get excited when we get pretty m on
Speaker 1: the plane. So I'm not leends and spending all type
Speaker 1: of money like that. I just wanted to be where
Speaker 1: I could be happy, So this was the best spot
Speaker 1: for me. You live in downtown Cincinnati. You'll be within
Speaker 1: walking distance of Paul Brown Stadium. How do you like
Speaker 1: city life? It's fun, I mean now that I worked
Speaker 1: down here, it's even cooler. I mean so, but I
Speaker 1: would just walking around different spots, just finding different things
Speaker 1: because there's so many different things in Cincinnati that people
Speaker 1: don't know are down here. I mean I just showed
Speaker 1: my mom the Abraham Lincoln Statute that she didn't know
Speaker 1: was down there. So there's a lot of stuff down
Speaker 1: here that people don't know about. Have you been on
Speaker 1: the street car? Yeah, I've been on there a couple
Speaker 1: of times. I wrote it around. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I paid for a ticket, but I was. I was
Speaker 1: on there. Your secrets safe with me and everybody else
Speaker 1: listening to this interview. I've asked you several questions about
Speaker 1: your dad. But your mom's interesting too. A certified NFL agent. Correct, Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's she gets one point five percent, So everybody, I
Speaker 1: got my dad a big TV just a couple of
Speaker 1: days ago, and it's like, what did you get your mom?
Speaker 1: I was like, she got one point five percent, so
Speaker 1: she could get whatever she wants. That's a very good answer.
Speaker 1: It's great to have you in Cincinnati, look forward to
Speaker 1: watching you play. Best of luck, and thanks for the time.
Speaker 1: Thank you. That's Preston Brown. Published reports say that Brown's
Speaker 1: one year contract with the Bengals was for four million dollars.
Speaker 1: If my math is correct, one point five percent of
Speaker 1: four million is sixty thousand bucks. Not too shabby. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe
Speaker 1: on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and give it a
Speaker 1: rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been very
Speaker 1: helpful and five star ratings help more Bengals fans find
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast.