Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 1: B My Opinions.
Speaker 2: Addition, has seven Bengals Beat reporters tackle five questions about
Speaker 2: training camp and the upcoming season, followed by my opinions
Speaker 2: on the same topics. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
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Speaker 2: provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that
Speaker 2: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
Speaker 2: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since randomly
Speaker 2: watching Super Bowl fifty I was going around the horn
Speaker 2: with my TV remote the other night when I stumbled
Speaker 2: upon a replay of Super Bowl fifty six on the
Speaker 2: NFL network. Now, I know that some of you find
Speaker 2: it too painful to watch. I get it, but not me.
Speaker 2: I found it fun to relive the highlights and be
Speaker 2: reminded of some of the things that were seemingly insignificant
Speaker 2: at the time that had a big impact on the game.
Speaker 2: And if you do find it too painful, my recommendation
Speaker 2: is to shut it off with five minutes to go,
Speaker 2: just before Cooper cup seven yard run on fourth and
Speaker 2: one that kept the Rams game winning drive alive. Now,
Speaker 2: let's get to this week's guests. Since the draft, every
Speaker 2: episode of this podcast has included an interview with one
Speaker 2: of this year's draft picks, where I asked them five
Speaker 2: offbeat questions. Well, I'm sticking with five questions on this
Speaker 2: episode of the podcast, but the concept is a little different.
Speaker 2: I spoke to seven Bengals Beat reporters and ask them
Speaker 2: the same five questions about the upcoming season. We start
Speaker 2: with one of ESPN's NFL Nation reporters. We are going
Speaker 2: alphabetically in our visits with Bengals Beat reporters. So Ben
Speaker 2: Baby from ESPN is up first. All of your takes
Speaker 2: are going to be fresh in comparison to your fellow
Speaker 2: Beat reporters. So are you ready for five questions about
Speaker 2: the upcoming season?
Speaker 3: I think Dan, you know me well enough. I've always
Speaker 3: got some good takes loaded in the chamber.
Speaker 2: For you, I would expect nothing less. Question number one,
Speaker 2: what is your biggest question going into training camp?
Speaker 4: I think the biggest question for me.
Speaker 3: I know that there's going to be the offensive line
Speaker 3: a lot of concerns, or how well they're going to play,
Speaker 3: you know, potentially throwing two new starters into the mixed
Speaker 3: rookie Dylan Fairchild who seems to be doing a good
Speaker 3: job of transitioning to left guard in the NFL, and
Speaker 3: then that right guards battle between Lucas Patrick Cody Ford,
Speaker 3: can Cordell Volson maybe throw his name in the hat?
Speaker 3: I think that's interesting. But for me, I think the
Speaker 3: biggest thing is how well can.
Speaker 4: The secondary play?
Speaker 3: And you know, I fear that I may be harping
Speaker 3: on the secondary a lot between now and the end
Speaker 3: of our conversation, but I think it's the most important
Speaker 3: thing because had they been a little bit better, had
Speaker 3: they you know, played to the level I think a
Speaker 3: lot of people thought they were capable of last year.
Speaker 3: I think last season looks vastly different than it did.
Speaker 3: And so if they can find, you know, the if
Speaker 3: those experienced corners of Dax Hill can come back healthy
Speaker 3: after his injury last season, If Cam Taylor Brick can
Speaker 3: perform well, DJ Turner, Josh Newton stepping up, I think
Speaker 3: if those players can really bounce back and that unit
Speaker 3: take a big step, I think this group can be
Speaker 3: in for a really good, good season, and I think
Speaker 3: it's going to dictate how this whole team really operates
Speaker 3: and performs in a very I think the stakes, as
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow said earlier this offseason, the stakes are always high,
Speaker 3: but they feel especially high going into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Judging by the names you just ran off, it sounds
Speaker 2: like you think that there is at least enough talent
Speaker 2: to potentially be good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely think so.
Speaker 3: And talking to guys in the building over the course
Speaker 3: of the offseason, I know that when Al Golden came in,
Speaker 3: they were pleasantly happy with what they had back there,
Speaker 3: and you look at what they did last year.
Speaker 4: I know that there's been so much talk between the.
Speaker 3: Talking heads and everybody kind of analyzing how that Bengal
Speaker 3: season looked last year. And what I like to point
Speaker 3: out to folks is you go look at the last
Speaker 3: five games of the season, I think that was probably
Speaker 3: more indicative of how that team should have played the
Speaker 3: whole year, and I don't think it really had anything
Speaker 3: to do with the personnel that was on the field.
Speaker 3: I think when you look at it, I think there
Speaker 3: were some schematic issues from time to time that really
Speaker 3: popped up. I think there's a reason why I think
Speaker 3: loui an Arumo did a really really good job over
Speaker 3: his six.
Speaker 4: Years here in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: But I think that I understand why they went to
Speaker 3: Al Golden and understand what he brings to the table.
Speaker 4: I think Al's gonna have.
Speaker 3: A very similar challenge that lou did and making sure
Speaker 3: that you can maximize a lot of young players without
Speaker 3: having the luxury of having really high priced defensive.
Speaker 4: Players at your disposal.
Speaker 3: We'll see what happens with Trean Hendrickson when training camp
Speaker 3: rolls around. But I do think that there are some
Speaker 3: really good pieces there. I think that they've used high
Speaker 3: draft picks over the years, and you expect them to
Speaker 3: play it that way. I know that when Dax got hurt,
Speaker 3: they felt he was probably the best quarterback that they had,
Speaker 3: and I think that DJ Turner and Camp Taylor Britna
Speaker 3: have shown.
Speaker 4: Some really good flashes.
Speaker 3: You know, Safety's probably the spot where we're looking at saying, Okay,
Speaker 3: what can these guys you know bring to the table.
Speaker 3: I've always liked Jordan Battle, not just because he's one
Speaker 3: of the best locker room personalities in there.
Speaker 4: I was giving him a hard time last year about
Speaker 4: whether or not.
Speaker 3: I think he had a little competition with Jermaine Pratt
Speaker 3: on how many turnovers he'd be able to force, and
Speaker 3: I think it extrapolated out to all the defensive backs.
Speaker 3: They didn't end up getting as many turnovers as they'd like.
Speaker 3: We could never figure out who two interceptions, three interceptions
Speaker 3: of what have you to. We're practic and maybe treat
Speaker 3: some of the younger defenders, But I think Jordan Battle,
Speaker 3: you know, the more that he's in, I think if
Speaker 3: he's in, you know, the closer replace of the box,
Speaker 3: he can be a boundary safety as well. But I
Speaker 3: like that partnership with Geno Stone. I think that if
Speaker 3: they're able to get some time together, that unit really
Speaker 3: doesn't have a lot of moving parts. The more they
Speaker 3: can play with each other, I think you're gonna see
Speaker 3: a better product than they put on the field last season.
Speaker 2: We move on to topic number two. Who is Ben
Speaker 2: Baby's breakout player in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: You know, I've thought about this a good amount. I
Speaker 3: think that there are.
Speaker 4: Some very good candidates. I will go with Josh Newton.
Speaker 4: I think him sliding in Again.
Speaker 3: I apologize for the defensive back theme here, but I
Speaker 3: do think that that probably is one of the best
Speaker 3: and most pivotal pivotal groups in this whole on this
Speaker 3: whole roster, and Josh s Newton when they drafted him.
Speaker 3: I know that assistant coach Chuck Burks really like the
Speaker 3: mentality that Josh had, and you know, it's hard to
Speaker 3: come in and unseen a guy like Mike Hilton. But
Speaker 3: I think, you know, Josh might not has been been
Speaker 3: as entrenched as he was last season. Maybe there might
Speaker 3: have been a little bit more competition to put Josh
Speaker 3: on the field. Obviously, you know some Rooie mistakes from
Speaker 3: time to time, but I think when you look at
Speaker 3: a guy and how successful he has the chance to
Speaker 3: be as a pro, the mentality makes up such a
Speaker 3: big aspect of it. And I remember one of the
Speaker 3: things that stuck out is that when when Chuck would
Speaker 3: go back and talk to Josh about certain plays from
Speaker 3: previous years that had nothing to do with the Bengals.
Speaker 3: Josh Newton had already studied that because he wants to
Speaker 3: go out and understand what it takes to be a
Speaker 3: great defensive back.
Speaker 4: And I think people.
Speaker 3: Who are wired that way have a great chance of
Speaker 3: being successful, not just in football, but whatever it is.
Speaker 3: If you're willing to be a student of the game,
Speaker 3: you're willing to understand.
Speaker 4: What it takes to be good at your craft.
Speaker 3: Put in time when nobody's telling you to do so,
Speaker 3: which is such an underrated skill, you are able to
Speaker 3: be increase your odds.
Speaker 4: Of really being good.
Speaker 3: I think Josh being in that slot right there. I
Speaker 3: think having stability at outside corner, Josh has a really
Speaker 3: big I think he's got a high ceiling and can
Speaker 3: play at a really high level. Cam Taylor Britt would
Speaker 3: be my other option. I've been burned in the past
Speaker 3: on my Cam Taylor Britt hype. However, I still think,
Speaker 3: in my heart of hearts, I do believe he can
Speaker 3: be a Pro Bowl caliber cornerback and I think that
Speaker 3: if he has a really strong season, I think it's
Speaker 3: gonna make the conversation about a second contract, and either
Speaker 3: in Cincinnati or elsewhere, it's gonna make it a very
Speaker 3: appealing And then if I had to take a third
Speaker 3: one a non defensive player, I think Andrea Yoshovas could
Speaker 3: have a really really strong year. You go look at
Speaker 3: the number of touchdowns he has. It's disproportionate to the
Speaker 3: number of receptions he has. I believe it's ten touchdowns
Speaker 3: on fifty one receptions, which is very strong. It could
Speaker 3: be awful little bit on those numbers. But Andre, and
Speaker 3: it's not just you know how well he does and
Speaker 3: scramble drills with Joe Burrow, how good he is in
Speaker 3: the red zone.
Speaker 4: But I think you go and.
Speaker 3: Watch the tape, he does a really good job of
Speaker 3: creating separation, having the understanding of how to win on
Speaker 3: routes at any other place, and people in the building
Speaker 3: will say this as well. Andre would be a number
Speaker 3: two somewhere else. So I think the Bengals have had
Speaker 3: a really strong luxury of drafting very well deep in
Speaker 3: the draft to find a guy like Andre and I
Speaker 3: think if he gets more targets, he could have a
Speaker 3: really nice year.
Speaker 2: We playfully spar in the Bengals media room, but I
Speaker 2: think Josh Newton and Andre Yosi Vash are great calls
Speaker 2: great calls for breakout players. In twenty twenty five question
Speaker 2: number three, the Bengals defense will be better if.
Speaker 1: Dot dot dot, Well, I.
Speaker 3: Will, first of all, I want to make sure we
Speaker 3: go back to that previous point you just said, we
Speaker 3: don't always see eye to eye, so what we do
Speaker 3: that's a very good thing, Dan. And then going back
Speaker 3: to your question and instead of picking all the same
Speaker 3: canary again, let's switch it up a little bit. I
Speaker 3: think that the key maybe to everything when you talk
Speaker 3: about the defense, maybe one of the more underrated guys
Speaker 3: we aren't talking about is TJ. Slayton, and I think
Speaker 3: the fact that they identified him, and when you look
Speaker 3: at that front seven and how they underperformed last year,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of conversations about did the linebackers not
Speaker 3: play all that well? What was wrong with the front
Speaker 3: I think when you look at the defensive line, there
Speaker 3: are a lot of injuries that they had to battle with.
Speaker 4: You know, Chris Jenkins playing with the club was big.
Speaker 4: BJ Hills banged up from time to time. That was
Speaker 4: a big issue.
Speaker 3: But when you look at how they attacked free agency,
Speaker 3: that always tells you what a front office thinks of
Speaker 3: its current roster and not just how it attacks, but
Speaker 3: who would attacks and how much money they invest in
Speaker 3: certain positions. And I thought the fact they went out
Speaker 3: and got TJ. Slayton was very big. You get a
Speaker 3: big body that you can't really move in the middle.
Speaker 3: You want somebody who can eat up those gaps inside.
Speaker 3: And it's not gonna be something that we talk about
Speaker 3: a lot. It's not gonna be something you're gonna see
Speaker 3: on each and every play. But if that interior defensive
Speaker 3: line can do a good job of being better against
Speaker 3: the run, which was something they were really bad at
Speaker 3: last year, and letting your linebackers trigger downhill really be
Speaker 3: free to make plays, that is something that's going to
Speaker 3: really help this defense because you can't be sitting here always.
Speaker 3: Even in second and seven, second and five, second and six,
Speaker 3: you open up too much of the playbook to the
Speaker 3: opposing offense. If teams are able to get a good
Speaker 3: amount of yards on first down, that makes it really
Speaker 3: hard for any coordinator to go out and scheme things
Speaker 3: up for this For second down and third down. You
Speaker 3: want to try to get teams and third and long
Speaker 3: that allow you to put yourself in advantageous positions. To
Speaker 3: get off the field if you're not able to be
Speaker 3: good in the front seven. I think that's huge, and
Speaker 3: you've heard Al Golden and Zach Taylor talk about that
Speaker 3: a good amount of this offseason. I know Zach is
Speaker 3: very very high on what Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson can.
Speaker 4: Bring in year two.
Speaker 3: I think the reason they went out and drafted them
Speaker 3: they needed them to play a little bit better. They
Speaker 3: go out and invest the money in BJ Hill, I
Speaker 3: thought for me was the most one of the more
Speaker 3: telling moves of the offseason that they said, Hey, this
Speaker 3: is a guy that we really want to continue to
Speaker 3: reward where he brings a lot to our locker room.
Speaker 3: And I think, and Dan, you know this, and not
Speaker 3: just what he brings on the field, but that leadership
Speaker 3: quality that he has off the field something you can't
Speaker 3: really put a price on it. And so if TJ
Speaker 3: can come in help solidify that run defense, those other
Speaker 3: defensive tackles can play well. I think that defense can
Speaker 3: help that secondary and work in tandem, which was something
Speaker 3: that those two sides or two units talked about a
Speaker 3: lot as to why they made they weren't playing as
Speaker 3: well as they could have last season.
Speaker 1: I've been saying about TJ.
Speaker 2: Slayton, he will not have a lot of sacks, but
Speaker 2: he might help the team have a bunch by getting
Speaker 2: the opponent into second and third and long. So I
Speaker 2: think those were really good points, all right. Topic number
Speaker 2: four is Taylor made for ESPN's Ben Baby, give me
Speaker 2: your hot take about training camp and or the upcoming season.
Speaker 3: I think that Joe Burrow will probably have the most
Speaker 3: camp interceptions he's ever had.
Speaker 4: That's it if we're going hot time.
Speaker 3: But I don't think it's going to matter because number one,
Speaker 3: I think we need a preface.
Speaker 4: Training can't buy, and large does not matter.
Speaker 3: Stats people who if you if you ever find a
Speaker 3: reporter taking stats at a practice, make sure you hold
Speaker 3: them immediately because it is a practice situation. And I
Speaker 3: think that what you saw on OTAs and and Joe
Speaker 3: at an interesting point, and that he was, you know,
Speaker 3: and I he was talked about, you know why he
Speaker 3: was out there throwing for so long. He says, you know,
Speaker 3: I want to get to get get in a good rhythm,
Speaker 3: getting a good feel of things, And that kind of
Speaker 3: prompted me to ask him. I said, well, do you
Speaker 3: feel like it's your risk is back to where it was,
Speaker 3: and he says essentially, not necessarily. And I think there's
Speaker 3: always gonna be questions about if that's ever going to happen.
Speaker 4: And I think that's what made last.
Speaker 3: Year so spectacular, the fact that he looked like he
Speaker 3: did in the spring, didn't look great early in the season,
Speaker 3: and then a was able to put together an MVP
Speaker 3: caliber season. I think, quite frankly, does not get talked
Speaker 3: about enough, and he deserves a ton of credit. I
Speaker 3: had to eat crow. I told him, Joe, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: be honest with you. I did not expect you to
Speaker 3: look like this when I saw you in the summer.
Speaker 3: But I think for Joe, you saw him tweaking with
Speaker 3: things a little bit, working on the spin rate, working
Speaker 3: on his mechanism, and I think maybe looking at how
Speaker 3: aggressive he can be in windows and we're writing about
Speaker 3: that right now on ESPN. I thought he had a
Speaker 3: great ball on a hole shot down the middle of
Speaker 3: Andrea Yoshabaz and a seven on seven Drew And I
Speaker 3: think that aggressiveness.
Speaker 4: The more he can push that, the more he can
Speaker 4: get out of this offense.
Speaker 3: I think that's something he's always trying to make that
Speaker 3: calculation in his mind at all times. Joe's always trying
Speaker 3: to think about the risk reward of how he plays
Speaker 3: the game. And I think training camp is the perfect
Speaker 3: time to go out test your defense, give them good
Speaker 3: opportunities to go out and create turnovers, but see what
Speaker 3: you feel like you might be able to get away with.
Speaker 3: Especially early, that may the biggest thing to help them
Speaker 3: get off to a fast started. Joe was playing like
Speaker 3: he does week seven and week eight, and he's feeling
Speaker 3: in tune with his receivers. I think that is going
Speaker 3: to be a really good thing for this team, but
Speaker 3: also might lead to some more turnovers. And I think
Speaker 3: we've learned and we should not overanalyze what we see
Speaker 3: in training camp.
Speaker 2: So if Joe Burrow throws training camp picks, don't panic.
Speaker 2: According to Ben Baby, our fifth and final topic the
Speaker 2: upcoming season and your prediction for how the Bengals will do.
Speaker 2: What will their record be and where will they finish
Speaker 2: in the AFC North.
Speaker 3: I think that they end up going back to win
Speaker 3: the North. As we know, nobody's won the North three
Speaker 3: years in a row. It's something that everyone would like
Speaker 3: to do. It makes it one of the toughest divisions
Speaker 3: of football. That was something when I came from Dallas
Speaker 3: six years ago really underestimated just how good this division is,
Speaker 3: the quality of the defenses, how hard it is to
Speaker 3: win week in and week out, and really just the
Speaker 3: passion that you have with the fan base is how
Speaker 3: well these franchises operate. I think that is something that
Speaker 3: you know, pound for pound across the league. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you have another division that's really as sound
Speaker 3: as this one.
Speaker 4: And so it is so difficult to win.
Speaker 3: And when you look at what the Bengals have, I
Speaker 3: think that if the offense can play well, I think
Speaker 3: the defense will take a step. When they figured things
Speaker 3: out at the end of last year, they were five
Speaker 3: to zero, and had they played just slightly better, they're
Speaker 3: able to beat Baltimore maybe one of those times. And
Speaker 3: there were just situations last season where they let winning
Speaker 3: positions just slip out of their grasp, and I think
Speaker 3: the fact that they still finished nine to eight, you know,
Speaker 3: is pretty impressive in that regard, and I think everybody
Speaker 3: inside the building knows after you don't make the playoffs
Speaker 3: for two years, the stakes have never been higher for
Speaker 3: I think everybody there that to really go out and produce.
Speaker 3: The one thing that I give Zach Taylor so much
Speaker 3: credit for it even when he was two and fourteen
Speaker 3: and you know, four eleven and one. I think after
Speaker 3: twenty I think the demeanor in which he carries himself,
Speaker 3: how he handles pressure and doesn't ever change the way
Speaker 3: he operates is probably one of the most unique and
Speaker 3: valuable traits as a head coach. Oftentimes when I've covered coaches,
Speaker 3: that's something that really separates good coaches from I think
Speaker 3: exceptional coaches is the ability to internalize and handle pressure
Speaker 3: and make sure that the team doesn't feel that and
Speaker 3: they're able to go out and operate at a high level.
Speaker 3: We saw that in twenty twenty one when the Bengals
Speaker 3: would lose a couple games and they were able to
Speaker 3: go back win when they needed to answer the bell,
Speaker 3: and I think that really is what you need if.
Speaker 4: You want to go out and chase championship.
Speaker 3: So I have them going twelve and five winning the
Speaker 3: division and we'll see how this looks. I think probably
Speaker 3: an AFC divisional loss is where I have things I
Speaker 3: don't know. When you look at where they stand between
Speaker 3: Kansas City and Buffalo and we'll see who else pops
Speaker 3: up in a very crowded conference. I think when you
Speaker 3: look at it, it's just so the depth is incredible.
Speaker 3: I think quarterback play across the NFL has never been better.
Speaker 3: So we'll see how far they're able to go. But
Speaker 3: I think getting in is the tough part.
Speaker 4: Once you're in.
Speaker 3: You know, had the Bengals made it in last year,
Speaker 3: we could have been having a very different offseason because
Speaker 3: when they have a tendency to get hot at the
Speaker 3: right time, really figure things out. And when you put
Speaker 3: Burrow in the postseason, he finds a way to get
Speaker 3: things done. So I've will bet against him until I
Speaker 3: see for otherwise. I feel like I'm already out on
Speaker 3: a limb saying they're going to go out and win
Speaker 3: the division. I think it's just just me being on
Speaker 3: the pod. Dan is rubbing off on me slightly. But
Speaker 3: you know, if I say something, I have conviction behind it,
Speaker 3: and I do think this can be a very good
Speaker 3: team that makes a run at winning the AFC North again.
Speaker 2: All right, our conversations with Bengals beat reporters is off
Speaker 2: to a great start. You have set the bar very
Speaker 2: high for the next six to come.
Speaker 1: Ben Baby, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Speaker 4: Always a pleasure, Dan, thank you.
Speaker 1: It is always.
Speaker 2: Delightful to visit with Kelsey Conway from the Cincinnati Inquirer.
Speaker 2: Are you ready to tackle five questions here on the
Speaker 2: Bengals Booth podcast.
Speaker 5: I'm so ready and thank you so much for having
Speaker 5: me on. I think this might be my first appearance
Speaker 5: on your podcast.
Speaker 1: I think it is.
Speaker 6: Does that mean I've made it?
Speaker 2: It means something, but I don't know if that's it
Speaker 2: all right? Question number one, what is your biggest question
Speaker 2: going into training camp?
Speaker 5: Are they going to have their entire team on the
Speaker 5: practice field, meaning all of their contract stuff is resolved.
Speaker 5: I think that I've been asked that a bunch the
Speaker 5: last two weeks, and I'm at a point at this
Speaker 5: point in June where it's just really hard to say.
Speaker 6: One way or the other.
Speaker 5: So I think that's my biggest question heading into camp.
Speaker 5: Heading into the season, I would have a different answer,
Speaker 5: but camp, all I want to know is is Shamar Stewart.
Speaker 6: Going to be on the field, Trey Hendrickson going to
Speaker 6: be on the.
Speaker 5: Field, and what does that look like with a healthy
Speaker 5: Burrow Chase with no contract drama.
Speaker 2: Do you think Shamar and Trey will eventually be in
Speaker 2: training camp, even if it's not in day one?
Speaker 5: Yes, I think I actually think Trey Hendrickson it feels
Speaker 5: like that situation is closer than Shamar Stewart.
Speaker 6: And that's crazy to say because I.
Speaker 5: Never would have thought that, Like a month ago, I
Speaker 5: kind of thought Trey might take it through camp, but
Speaker 5: it just really seems like, I mean, you've seen the
Speaker 5: pictures of him training at Black Sheep this week, and
Speaker 5: knowing Trey, I mean, both of us know like his
Speaker 5: work ethic, Like I think Trey would have a really
Speaker 5: hard time not practicing.
Speaker 6: I think maybe if it comes down to him having
Speaker 6: to do it.
Speaker 5: For a day or two, I just I have a
Speaker 5: feeling he's going to be like, you know what, this
Speaker 5: is the most important thing to me. I've got to
Speaker 5: get on the field. I can't stand watching anymore. Whereas
Speaker 5: Schamar's not under contract. So I think based off what
Speaker 5: I what I've heard and learned about that situation is
Speaker 5: it would be completely almost embarrassing for his side if
Speaker 5: they didn't get anything in return at this point, Like
Speaker 5: if they're just gonna now accept the Bengals terms after
Speaker 5: all of the public comments and everything, it just kind
Speaker 5: of seems like they're gonna be more dug in and
Speaker 5: he's not under contract, so I think I do think
Speaker 5: schmar Sewer is going to play. I don't think it's
Speaker 5: gonna be one of the things where it go back
Speaker 5: goes back into the draft. I just think that they
Speaker 5: are not going to cave, and I don't know if
Speaker 5: the Bengals are gonna cave on their side either.
Speaker 2: Right before camp, all right, who is Kelsey Conway's breakout
Speaker 2: player in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 6: Chris Jenkins.
Speaker 5: I think that he's gonna get a lot of playing
Speaker 5: time just because of the depth and the numbers at
Speaker 5: the interior defensive line room.
Speaker 6: And I think that he's got a new position coach.
Speaker 5: I think he's the type of person that is going
Speaker 5: to get better with more reps and he'll be healthy,
Speaker 5: and so I think I'm gonna put Chris Jenkins as
Speaker 5: my breakout player.
Speaker 2: It's interesting because I think it's almost forgotten that the
Speaker 2: dude was a second round.
Speaker 5: Pick, right right, yeah, I you know, I know they're
Speaker 5: excited about McKinley Jackson too, but like I just kind
Speaker 5: of look at what Jenkins' skill sets were when when
Speaker 5: he was drafted, they viewed him more as like the
Speaker 5: pass rusher. I think that the Bengals don't really have that,
Speaker 5: and you know, BJ like they're not. They got to
Speaker 5: regulate his snaps because he's older. So I just think
Speaker 5: Chris Jenkins is going to see the field a lot more.
Speaker 5: He's going to not have his you know, hand injury.
Speaker 7: So I think that let's just say this, it'll be
Speaker 7: it'll be disappointing, and it'll be nobody's swall but Chris
Speaker 7: Jenkins if he doesn't break out this year, because he's
Speaker 7: going to get the opportunity.
Speaker 2: If that makes sense, and he won't have a giant
Speaker 2: pad and club at the.
Speaker 6: Club club on his hands. So let's go with a
Speaker 6: big year from Chris Jenkins.
Speaker 2: All right, Conway says Jenkins question number three. The Bengals
Speaker 2: defense will be better if dot dot dot.
Speaker 5: Their corners stay healthy throughout the rest throughout the entire year,
Speaker 5: which I know is a tall task because injuries happen especially.
Speaker 6: I truly think that.
Speaker 5: If Cam Taylor, Britt DJ Turner and Dax Hill are
Speaker 5: your mix of your three healthy outside.
Speaker 6: Corners, and you have Josh Newton.
Speaker 5: As you're starting, Nickel, I think people are not talking
Speaker 5: about the potential of that group being maybe the Bengal's
Speaker 5: biggest strength on defense. Talking about two second round picks
Speaker 5: in DJ Turner, Cam Taylor brit then a first round
Speaker 5: pick in jaxx Till, and a hungry Josh Newton.
Speaker 6: Who last year you could argue was after memes.
Speaker 5: Some people say like their favorite pick of the Bengals
Speaker 5: just because of the potential in what he showed. I
Speaker 5: think if they can stay healthy, they might be a
Speaker 5: sneaky good unit that's hungry and has some talent. But
Speaker 5: it's hard to It's hard to project that because I mean,
Speaker 5: DJ Turner's talked about it. He's got to stay healthy
Speaker 5: and he's got a lot to prove from a consistency standpoint.
Speaker 5: Cam Taylor Britt is a complete you know, we don't
Speaker 5: know what to expect, but when he's on, he can
Speaker 5: be really good.
Speaker 6: So I'm excited.
Speaker 5: I'm really excited to watch that battle in camp. I'm
Speaker 5: excited to watch it in preseason, and I'm I'm thinking
Speaker 5: that the Bengals. I'm not in love with the past
Speaker 5: rush situation. I true, I don't think it's semed enough
Speaker 5: to make that unit better. But if they are better
Speaker 5: on the back end, right, it will help take off
Speaker 5: some of that pressure. So I'm going to go with
Speaker 5: the Bengals defense will be better their corners stay healthy
Speaker 5: and play up to the level that they were drafted
Speaker 5: to play at.
Speaker 2: I often say that cornerback is the position that has
Speaker 2: the highest injury rate because they're little guys tackling big guys.
Speaker 2: They're sprinting up and down the field on every snap.
Speaker 2: But at least in this case, you've got four really
Speaker 2: talented guys for three spots. So sure guys will miss games.
Speaker 1: Here and there.
Speaker 2: Hopefully you don't have season ending injuries or things that
Speaker 2: you know, wipe out multiple guys for extended periods of time.
Speaker 1: And I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I think talent wise, that's a good group and hopefully
Speaker 2: they stay on the field for most of the action
Speaker 2: this season. Question number four, give us Kelsey Conways hot
Speaker 2: take about training camp or the upcoming season.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm not much of a hot take artists,
Speaker 6: so this might be a little bit of a challenge
Speaker 6: for me. My hot take is more about the season
Speaker 6: and that it.
Speaker 5: Is arguably the most important season of Zach Taylor's career.
Speaker 5: I think that this season has been the one that
Speaker 5: people have been waiting on right like and you saw
Speaker 5: the clip from the fanatics Fest this past weekend with
Speaker 5: that little kid saying jobur or like make the playoffs?
Speaker 6: Like this isn't it's no, the playoffs is the bare minimum.
Speaker 5: I think that it is time for the Bengals to
Speaker 5: make the jump of not being ten and seven, Like,
Speaker 5: what does twelve and five.
Speaker 6: Look like for this team, you know? Or thirteen and four?
Speaker 5: Like, in my opinion, if it's an another middling season
Speaker 5: and they make the playoffs and get bounced in the
Speaker 5: first round, it's hard to you know, discount a coach
Speaker 5: when that happens.
Speaker 6: They make playoffs. They cannot not make the playoffs.
Speaker 5: With Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and t Higgins making the
Speaker 5: money that they are, it's go time.
Speaker 6: They cannot have another slow start.
Speaker 5: And so, in my opinion, this is and I don't
Speaker 5: think it's much of a hot take, but this is
Speaker 5: the most important season of Zach Taylor's career as the
Speaker 5: coach of the Cincinnati Bengals because there's no excuses for him.
Speaker 5: He has all of his guys healthy. You know, knock
Speaker 5: on wood that everybody stays healthy. But I think they
Speaker 5: got to like step on the gas pedal here because
Speaker 5: you know, you saw.
Speaker 6: The clip for Netflix's promo.
Speaker 5: I'm sure where Burrow said like he blinked and he
Speaker 5: had been in the league for five years and then
Speaker 5: he's going to blink again and you know, be ten
Speaker 5: and like he's closer to thirty then he is twenty one.
Speaker 5: So and I'm not trying to, you know, say like
Speaker 5: he's near the man of his career. But you know
Speaker 5: what I'm saying, like how many more years do you
Speaker 5: think that you'll have these elite receivers the same continuity
Speaker 5: on the coaching staff? Like, I just think it's time
Speaker 5: for the Bengals to really like make a run at
Speaker 5: the number one, number two overall seed, and in my opinion,
Speaker 5: that falls directly on Zach Taylor.
Speaker 1: Pretty hot take.
Speaker 4: I like it.
Speaker 1: Maybe not maybe not sizzling hot.
Speaker 5: I prefer to.
Speaker 1: Hot, not not surface of the sun, but pretty hot.
Speaker 1: I liked it all right.
Speaker 2: Fifth and final question for The Inquirer's Kelsey Conway. What
Speaker 2: will the Bengals record be and where will they finish
Speaker 2: in the AFC North.
Speaker 5: Holy Moly, is the AFC North going to be a
Speaker 5: gauntlet with Aaron Rodgers now in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think a.
Speaker 5: Lot of people are just writing the Steelers off and
Speaker 5: it's like a two person to like debate in the
Speaker 5: AFC North with Baltimore and Cincinnati. But I gotta tell you,
Speaker 5: I think the Steelers will be right with those with
Speaker 5: those two teams. Yeah, I think the Steelers have a
Speaker 5: good team around Rogers and if he can just like
Speaker 5: I don't think he wants to end his career playing
Speaker 5: like garbage. So I think I think the Steelers are
Speaker 5: gonna and you know, they're always a difficult matchup for
Speaker 5: the Bengals with high Smith and what. But I think
Speaker 5: that's what makes my overall record projection hard for me
Speaker 5: with the Bengals, because I just have a feeling they're
Speaker 5: gonna split with Baltimore and they're gonna split with Pittsburgh,
Speaker 5: and so where does that leave them? And I want
Speaker 5: to be more than ten and seven, but I cannot
Speaker 5: get there. So I'm ten and seven and hoping that
Speaker 5: they prove me wrong. And it's a you know, a
Speaker 5: twelve win season, and what we were talking about they're
Speaker 5: making a run for the one or two seed. But
Speaker 5: I just think the NFC North really good teams Packers, Detroit, Chicago.
Speaker 5: I expect to be better, Minnesota to be good, like
Speaker 5: for that to be their crossover division. I think that
Speaker 5: it's challenging and there's not you know, a ton of
Speaker 5: games where shoot, I mean, we all thought the.
Speaker 6: Game against Patriots is gonna be lay up for the
Speaker 6: Bengals last year and it was not.
Speaker 5: So I'm gonna stick with ten and seven, and I'm
Speaker 5: I'm picking ten and seven because I'd rather be under than.
Speaker 6: Pick them to go of fifteen and two.
Speaker 5: Like a friend of ours that will probably pick them
Speaker 5: to go fifteen and two on your podcast when he
Speaker 5: appears on later.
Speaker 6: But I'm sure he will reveal his identity.
Speaker 5: But I'm gonna go with ten and seven, and I
Speaker 5: am gonna have them finish second in the division behind
Speaker 5: the Ravens. I the Jayre Alexander moved for me in
Speaker 5: Baltimore kind of put them, in my opinion, like a
Speaker 5: head of Cincinnati, just because they got some dogs over there,
Speaker 5: and I was kind of hoping Bangals make a run
Speaker 5: for that guy. But so let's go with ten and seven,
Speaker 5: second in the division.
Speaker 1: And make the playoffs and make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: All right, Kelsey Conway has spoken, I appreciate your time
Speaker 2: and your sizzling hot take. Look forward to seeing in
Speaker 2: training camp.
Speaker 1: Thanks kel thanks so much for having me on the athletics.
Speaker 2: Paul Danner Junior has promised spicy takes, and I have
Speaker 2: no doubt he will deliver on this little exercise.
Speaker 8: So here we go.
Speaker 2: Question number one, Paul, what is your biggest question going
Speaker 2: into training camp?
Speaker 9: It's going into training camp, it's going into the season.
Speaker 9: It's how are we talking about this?
Speaker 4: In week eight?
Speaker 9: Can Miles Murphy make the most of his opportunity? We
Speaker 9: heard Al Golden right, it's time. It's time. The Bengals
Speaker 9: have promised everywhere we have talked to the personnel department,
Speaker 9: to Zach Taylor. It has been Miles Murphy's getting this opportunity.
Speaker 9: He needs snaps, he needs to play. But yet we
Speaker 9: haven't seen the production when he has had that opportunity.
Speaker 9: Now it has to happen. There's others potentially in line,
Speaker 9: there are other options. How long can you hang with
Speaker 9: somebody and wait? Year three? The time is over to
Speaker 9: wait because you can sit here and say, hey, I
Speaker 9: did one little quick stat dive on Miles Murphy for
Speaker 9: you here. We know that some of his pressure rates
Speaker 9: have been okay, like he's been solid, But when you
Speaker 9: have put him into third and long third and five
Speaker 9: or more, he's had fifty nine opportunities. Of all those
Speaker 9: in his draft class, he's dead last three point four percent,
Speaker 9: Lucas van Ness next six point three, everyone else over
Speaker 9: eleven percent. In those times, you have to make the
Speaker 9: most of the opportunities you're given. If you want more,
Speaker 9: they're gonna give him more. He has to prove that
Speaker 9: he has taken a leap this year to make the
Speaker 9: most of those.
Speaker 2: I have heard you on your podcast and in other
Speaker 2: appearances express some optimism about this. You are cautiously optimistic
Speaker 2: that he can deliver correct I see it like.
Speaker 9: I think a guy can learn to finish that more
Speaker 9: reps can get you there. I think you've seen it
Speaker 9: in flashes. But you only get so many opportunities, and
Speaker 9: at some point you have to prove that you can
Speaker 9: do it or they have to move on. You know,
Speaker 9: we've seen that, whether it's gonna be Joseph Osai or
Speaker 9: Shamar Stewart or Cam Sample or Trey Hennett, whoever it is.
Speaker 9: At some point you have to prove that you're better
Speaker 9: than those guys. And year three for a first round pick.
Speaker 8: That's win.
Speaker 2: Question number two for the Athletics, Paul Dater Junior, who
Speaker 2: is your breakout player in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 9: I don't know if this is unfair to say this,
Speaker 9: but I'm gonna say because I think he's been my
Speaker 9: breakout player before and he's kind of broken out and
Speaker 9: then regressed. Cam Taylor Bred, I'm buying Cam Taylor brit.
Speaker 9: I felt like I remember talking to him multiple times
Speaker 9: last year between the benchings and then coming back. He
Speaker 9: admitted he was just in his own head so much
Speaker 9: last year and it was part of what was going wrong.
Speaker 9: But when we've seen him play clearheaded, confident, I mean
Speaker 9: no one's louder or more confident out there on the
Speaker 9: football field or in OTAs or in training camp. When
Speaker 9: we see that, he looks like he can be a
Speaker 9: number one corner. He looks like he can live up
Speaker 9: to that role. I'm still buying that that's in him
Speaker 9: because we have seen it for stretches, and I think
Speaker 9: Al Golden can come in and whether it's simplification or
Speaker 9: just playing more to his strengths or you know, he
Speaker 9: looked like in mini camp and during the OTAs of
Speaker 9: a guy who had that confidence back. You saw that
Speaker 9: in him, you heard it from him. So I'm buying
Speaker 9: Cam Taylor Britt has that back can stay on the
Speaker 9: right track and become the number one corner we've seen
Speaker 9: those flashes of in his first few.
Speaker 2: Years, Alice moving him around in the many camps. Do
Speaker 2: you think that happens the season or were they just
Speaker 2: cross training guys and experimenting because it didn't matter.
Speaker 9: I think that it's probably less in the season. But
Speaker 9: I think there's a lot that we don't know about
Speaker 9: what's gonna happen in the season with Al Golden in
Speaker 9: terms of how much they're going to lean into certain things.
Speaker 9: I think trying guys out, seeing how they react, and
Speaker 9: if you want to learn about how a guy reacts,
Speaker 9: how about having to cover Mikeasicki in the slot and
Speaker 9: pulling off interception of Joe Burrow. That'll do in an
Speaker 9: ability to handle whatever Al Golden's gonna throw at him.
Speaker 2: Time for question number three, The Bengals defense will be
Speaker 2: better if dot dot dot.
Speaker 9: I don't know if this is an easy out because
Speaker 9: it's a little too general, but I can't get past it.
Speaker 9: Al Golden has to live up.
Speaker 8: To his reputation.
Speaker 9: He built a reputation on developing young players, whether it
Speaker 9: be what he did in the college ranks Temple Miami
Speaker 9: as a linebackers coach here, what he did with that
Speaker 9: young group, notre dame we saw, that's his reputation. That's
Speaker 9: why he's here right now is because there are currently
Speaker 9: nine top one hundred picks on rookie deals in major
Speaker 9: roles here, all of which have questions and have had
Speaker 9: up and down starts to their careers or our rookies,
Speaker 9: Miles Murphy, Schamar Stewart, Chris Jenkins, McKinley Jackson, Dimitrious Knight,
Speaker 9: Junior Jordan Battle, DJ Turner, Cam Taylor, Britt Dax Hill,
Speaker 9: all of these guys have questions and feel like are
Speaker 9: capable of taking a step. That's what this defense is
Speaker 9: gonna be. Those young guys are either gonna come along
Speaker 9: because Al Golden can create an environment where they do so,
Speaker 9: which has been what he's done throughout his career, or
Speaker 9: they're not good enough and Al Golden wasn't able to
Speaker 9: get that out of him, which is kind of the
Speaker 9: biggest question around maybe this entire team's title hopes, because
Speaker 9: this defense has to get to a level of serviceability
Speaker 9: and that starts with those nine guys.
Speaker 2: It's what Kansas City has done so well. Yep, they
Speaker 2: have developed young guys, not necessarily top one hundred picks,
Speaker 2: but they just keep oh over turning young guys that
Speaker 2: can continue to keep that defense at a championship level.
Speaker 9: And I felt like the way the process that Duke
Speaker 9: Tobin and the personnel department have approached this was the
Speaker 9: right one, right, But the only thing that ends up
Speaker 9: at the end is their process can be great, but
Speaker 9: if the results don't hit, it doesn't matter if you
Speaker 9: did it the right way, you still end up with
Speaker 9: what you've had in the last couple of years. And
Speaker 9: obviously that was part of the disconnect last year when
Speaker 9: things went south for lou Anarumo in that side of
Speaker 9: the ball and some in twenty twenty three, was something
Speaker 9: was not connecting there with these young players in his system.
Speaker 9: Maybe the new system and what Al Golden is good
Speaker 9: at brings it out of them, and then then the
Speaker 9: process can be proved a little more right, and you
Speaker 9: can replicate some of what Kansas City has done opposite
Speaker 9: their high paid stars on offense.
Speaker 2: You promise, spicy, So here we go give us Paul
Speaker 2: Danner Junior's hot take about training camp for the upcoming season.
Speaker 9: Chase Brown leads the team in yards from scrimmage and
Speaker 9: does something only two other running backs in the NFL
Speaker 9: have done in the last five seasons. One thousand yards rushing,
Speaker 9: five hundred yards receiving. Okay, Christian McCaffrey and Jamier Gibbs
Speaker 9: are the only other two to do that since twenty twenty.
Speaker 9: The last week's nine to seventeen. Last year, when the
Speaker 9: offense evolved, he was fifth in the NFL in yards
Speaker 9: from scrimmage, narrowly behind Jamar Chase, who was third. Dan
Speaker 9: Pitcher has kind of gotten his hands around the running
Speaker 9: game now a little bit more and distributed that. They're
Speaker 9: changing that with Frank Pollock out and now you have
Speaker 9: a new idea around that. Well, last year they were like,
Speaker 9: what is this run game? They're trying to build this thing,
Speaker 9: Zach Moss, how much will Chase Brown play? They are
Speaker 9: tweaking and kind of recentering this running game around Chase
Speaker 9: Brown's skill set now and so you take what he
Speaker 9: did so well. One of the most impressive things I
Speaker 9: saw last year was his growth and instant chemistry with
Speaker 9: Joe Burrow in the passing game as a protector sure
Speaker 9: the off script plays when the play broke down, his
Speaker 9: ability to get in phase with Joe and create explosives
Speaker 9: was remarkable and such a big part of the offensive
Speaker 9: explosion in the second half of the season. He'll only
Speaker 9: average four point two yards per carry that point, that's
Speaker 9: far lower than some of the premiere backs. Dan Pitcher
Speaker 9: says to me, Hey, look, we have a guy, we
Speaker 9: have a top ten back, and we're gonna base things
Speaker 9: around him. If you can get that four point two
Speaker 9: to four point four to four point five and he
Speaker 9: still does the things he does in the passing game,
Speaker 9: and defenses are like Triple Crown winners not beating us today.
Speaker 9: And you're getting more into the decoy game around Jamar,
Speaker 9: which I think will be part of this season storyline.
Speaker 9: Give me all the Chase Brown stock, give me that
Speaker 9: and have him become the guy who gets a lot
Speaker 9: of the volume yardage here, even with him getting more
Speaker 9: breaks and not being in there one hundred percent of
Speaker 9: the snaps nearly this year. I still think it adds
Speaker 9: up to a massive season for Chase Brown.
Speaker 2: So more than a thousand rushing yards and more than
Speaker 2: five hundred receiving yards. I just busted out my calculator
Speaker 2: to do a little math. If you go by what
Speaker 2: he averaged over the last eight games last year, that's
Speaker 2: more than twelve hundred rushing yards and more than six
Speaker 2: hundred receiving yards. So yes, he demonstrated the ability to
Speaker 2: do it. We'll see if he can do it over
Speaker 2: a seventeen game season. But I love that hot take.
Speaker 2: Here's our fifth and final question. What will the Bengals
Speaker 2: record be and where will they finish in the AFC North.
Speaker 9: I don't know why you do this to me, Dan,
Speaker 9: Why do we do this?
Speaker 1: Why do we help it?
Speaker 9: Why do we have to predict records on June twenty
Speaker 9: whatever we're at right? I hate doing this because I
Speaker 9: think that we are gonna obviously learn so much. But
Speaker 9: if y'all I'm here to play, I'm here to play.
Speaker 9: Your appreciate here for it. I'll say eleven and six
Speaker 9: second in the AFC North. I like the team and
Speaker 9: where they're at gotta see it defensive, you know, pass rush,
Speaker 9: the young secondary. Can both of those come through? What
Speaker 9: level will that surface that I'm concerned about the lack
Speaker 9: of interior pass rush and what's gonna happen in general
Speaker 9: with the pass rush, and that makes me reticent up
Speaker 9: against what Baltimore has. I think it's a two team race.
Speaker 9: I think this is gonna come down to yet again.
Speaker 9: Those two games, I think Thanksgiving Night in December fourteenth
Speaker 9: are gonna be the defining games of the season the
Speaker 9: same way.
Speaker 8: They were last year.
Speaker 9: And if the Bengals would have gotten the kick and
Speaker 9: the two point conversion last year, they would have been
Speaker 9: the third overall seed and won the AFC North and
Speaker 9: have won five straight going into the playoffs. The margins
Speaker 9: are so thin in between Baltimore and the Bengals and
Speaker 9: the elite quarterbacks in those games. It's gonna be thin again,
Speaker 9: That's what it is. It's those margins in those two
Speaker 9: games that will probably decide whether the Bengals are hosting
Speaker 9: a playoff.
Speaker 8: Game or in the playoffs.
Speaker 9: But I don't see a world catastrophic injury situations that
Speaker 9: the Bengals aren't making the playoffs this year. I do
Speaker 9: think they have put together a roster and a team
Speaker 9: and an energy that you feel around them right now
Speaker 9: that is of a real championship contender.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you clarified Baltimore number one, because when you
Speaker 2: said eleven and six second in the AFC North, I
Speaker 2: assumed Cleveland ysh, You're champions.
Speaker 9: The year of Kenny Pickett storyline in the NFL is
Speaker 9: what it's gonna be.
Speaker 8: There's no question.
Speaker 1: All right, you promise spicy takes. He delivered.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time, Paul, look forward to seeing.
Speaker 1: Your camp anytime.
Speaker 3: Dan.
Speaker 1: Jay Morrison is next on the list.
Speaker 2: I don't know if Jay will have stats in this
Speaker 2: particular exercise. I guess we will find out. But let's
Speaker 2: start with question number one. Jay, your biggest question going
Speaker 2: into training camp.
Speaker 10: I think everybody's is gonna be win. Is Trey Henderson
Speaker 10: going to show up? When was first practice be I
Speaker 10: don't want to be repetitive. I'm guessing you've probably already
Speaker 10: heard that from some other guys, So I'm gonna say,
Speaker 10: will Dylan Fairchild be ready? I think that's maybe the
Speaker 10: only thing that can derail this offense. If they've got
Speaker 10: a hole on that offensive line. And it's nothing against Dylan,
Speaker 10: but this team has struggled to draft offensive linemen, and
Speaker 10: in the last decade they've had failures with Paul Alexander,
Speaker 10: They've had failures with Jim Turner, They've had failures with
Speaker 10: Frank Pollack. So the one consistent is the people evaluating
Speaker 10: them and drafting them, and so I just I think
Speaker 10: it's reasonable to question that because if he's not ready,
Speaker 10: you're talking about what Lucas Patrick and Cody Ford most likely,
Speaker 10: or a reclamation project with Cordell Volson. I just think
Speaker 10: as soon as they drafted Dylan, they pretty much said
Speaker 10: he's our guy. We're sticking him in there as the starter,
Speaker 10: and that's a great plan, but if it goes awry,
Speaker 10: they don't really have a great backup plan.
Speaker 2: And obviously an injury could factor in there as well.
Speaker 2: I would say that if he doesn't pan out in
Speaker 2: training camp, or if he got hurt, it seems to
Speaker 2: me that Cordell Vohlson back on the left side would
Speaker 2: likely be the backup and you'd still have that Lucas
Speaker 2: Patrick Cody Ford battle on the right side. I feel
Speaker 2: a little bit better at least about Cordell. Have him
Speaker 2: heard him talk about his relationship with Scott Peters and
Speaker 2: how much he thinks Scott is going to help him.
Speaker 10: I agree, And just his admission that, you know, he
Speaker 10: wasn't defiant like, oh, I don't think I played that.
Speaker 10: He knew he didn't play well last year, and he's
Speaker 10: excited about learning new things and trying to get better
Speaker 10: and embracing the new. So I agree with you just
Speaker 10: his comments this year, because it was right after he
Speaker 10: was asked to take the pay cut, and we a
Speaker 10: couple of us approached him and it's like, oh, how's
Speaker 10: this going to go? And he sat there and answered
Speaker 10: every question and they weren't short, and it wasn't just
Speaker 10: about the pay cut. It was about everything in general,
Speaker 10: his play, And so I agree with you there. I
Speaker 10: think there's some cause for optimism there. Sometimes the coaching changes,
Speaker 10: you see it, a change of scenery helps a player.
Speaker 10: Sometimes change of coaching can help a player as well.
Speaker 2: Who is your breakout player in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 8: I'm gonna go Cam Taylor Britt.
Speaker 10: I don't know if he's been picked, but I think
Speaker 10: there was a heavy, a healthy level of respect between
Speaker 10: he and Lou. But I also think there's a nice
Speaker 10: strong dose of frustration there, and I think he's the
Speaker 10: one that kind of was hamstrung the most by how
Speaker 10: much Lou was putting on their plays. He's such an instinctual,
Speaker 10: twitchy guy and it just seemed like he was out
Speaker 10: there thinking too much and getting himself in bad positions.
Speaker 10: And if Al Golden can find a way to just
Speaker 10: let him go out there and play and trust his instincts,
Speaker 10: I mean, he's done it before. It's not like it's
Speaker 10: a guy you're waiting to break out. He was really
Speaker 10: good as a young player, and you don't You don't
Speaker 10: typically see that arc where they start good and then
Speaker 10: just fall off immediately. So I think that the talent's there,
Speaker 10: and I think he's a guy that it means a
Speaker 10: lot to him. He really wants to be good. And
Speaker 10: anytime the discussion comes to breakout players, you start with
Speaker 10: is it a contract year? And it's a contract year
Speaker 10: for Cam Taylor.
Speaker 2: Britt Al Golden played a lot of pressman at Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's the simple fix for Cam. Assign him to
Speaker 2: a guy and let him be athletic and trust his instincts.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and then he is athletic.
Speaker 10: We see it on the football field, and I've talked
Speaker 10: about this on our podcast where I went to the
Speaker 10: Logan Wilson softball game, and it's so funny watching those
Speaker 10: guys because they look totally out of place on a
Speaker 10: softball field, the way they swing the bat, the way
Speaker 10: they throw a ball. And he was making leaping catches
Speaker 10: of line drives, and he's just a great athlete. And
Speaker 10: I think that's the way to go is just let
Speaker 10: him rely on that athleticism.
Speaker 2: We are visiting with Jay Morrison from Bengals Talk dot com.
Speaker 2: Question number three, The Bengals defense will be better if
Speaker 2: dot dot dot.
Speaker 8: The world keeps spinning.
Speaker 10: I mean, it can't get much worse, right, So, so
Speaker 10: I do have some stats, and this is where I
Speaker 10: think is there's some reason for optimism there, even beyond
Speaker 10: the Al Golden arrival. As bad as this defense was
Speaker 10: last year, it took a considerable step in what was
Speaker 10: maybe what was its biggest issue in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 10: and that was given up all those explosive plays they
Speaker 10: ranked twenty ninth and explosive passes in twenty twenty three
Speaker 10: and twenty eighth and explosive runs they climbed last year
Speaker 10: to fifteenth and passes in eighteenth and runs that was
Speaker 10: a sizeable advantage. What was the problem was red zone defense.
Speaker 10: It's like, yeah, you can say you can't give up
Speaker 10: the chunk plays. You got to make a team drive
Speaker 10: the length of the field. Well, they weren't getting the
Speaker 10: stops in the red zone. They had the worst the
Speaker 10: league started tracking red zone percentage in two thousand. It
Speaker 10: was the worst red zone percentage of any Bengals team
Speaker 10: since two thousand and There's been some bad teams over
Speaker 10: that time. And if they can just find a way
Speaker 10: to get better in the red zone and turn some
Speaker 10: of those touchdowns they were thirtieth and touchdown percentage across
Speaker 10: the league in the red zone just six seven eight
Speaker 10: of those turn those into field goals and instead of touchdowns.
Speaker 10: I think that makes a really big or will make
Speaker 10: a really big difference.
Speaker 2: All Right, Jae, I don't necessarily think of you as
Speaker 2: a hot take artist, but that is the assignment here.
Speaker 2: Give us your hot take about either training camp or
Speaker 2: the upcoming season.
Speaker 10: Yeah, so, what kind of piggybacks on the last question?
Speaker 10: I will say the Bengals will lead the league in
Speaker 10: takeaways this year. I think we're going to see a
Speaker 10: jump from Cam Taylor, britt Gino. Stone's done it before.
Speaker 10: It's not like you're asking him to do something he's
Speaker 10: never done. He had a seven interception season.
Speaker 1: And even in a bad year last year, he had four.
Speaker 8: Right exactly, and it came on late. The momentum is there.
Speaker 10: They get Tray and Shamar Stewart figured out, the pass
Speaker 10: rush gets better. The big thing here is I think
Speaker 10: this offense is really going to hit the ground, run
Speaker 10: and break out of the gate fast. And I don't
Speaker 10: expect them to be playing catch up and back and
Speaker 10: forth a lot. I expect them to be leading a
Speaker 10: lot of games in the second half, and that's where
Speaker 10: a lot of those turnovers come from, where the other
Speaker 10: team is forced to throw. You know what they're gonna do.
Speaker 10: And as bad as this defense was last year, they
Speaker 10: were seventh in the league in takeaways, So it's not
Speaker 10: a big leap to go from seventh to first, and
Speaker 10: I think they've got the makings to make.
Speaker 8: That happen, all right.
Speaker 2: Our fifth and final question is what will the Bengals
Speaker 2: record be and where will they finish in the AFC North.
Speaker 10: So right now, until I see Dylan Fairchild, until I
Speaker 10: see this defense, I'm gonna go eleven and six. I
Speaker 10: think they could be better, But right now I'm gonna
Speaker 10: go eleven and six and second in the North. They
Speaker 10: have to prove they can beat Lamar, and I think
Speaker 10: all those close losses against the Ravens, it's almost more
Speaker 10: of a hurdle than if they were getting blown out
Speaker 10: by them and you're like, Okay, we're gonna flip it.
Speaker 10: It's definitely in their head, and they won't say it's
Speaker 10: in their head, but it is a mental thing. And
Speaker 10: just the fact of the they are justified and correct
Speaker 10: and complaining about four straight primetime games at Baltimore but
Speaker 10: grousing about it publicly.
Speaker 8: It just shows that it is in their head a
Speaker 8: little bit.
Speaker 10: And if they can find a way to just beat
Speaker 10: the Ravens once this year, they only need a sweep
Speaker 10: beat them once, I think they've got a really good
Speaker 10: shot to win the division. But until we see it happen,
Speaker 10: I'm going to go eleven and six, second place wild Card, make.
Speaker 2: An overtime field goal at home, convert a two point
Speaker 2: conversion at the end of regulation on the road, they
Speaker 2: would have had at least one win over Baltimore last year,
Speaker 2: but they got to go out and do it. We'll
Speaker 2: see if they can. Jay, appreciate your time, great stuff
Speaker 2: and look forward to seeing you at camp.
Speaker 8: All right, thanks Dan.
Speaker 2: Mike Petrelli is up next. But first here's a quick
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Speaker 1: We are joined now by my.
Speaker 2: Pal, Mike Petrelia aka Trags, host of the Jungle Roar podcast.
Speaker 2: You can read his work at CLNS Media. Are you
Speaker 2: ready to tackle five questions on the Bengals Booth Podcast? Shoot?
Speaker 2: Dan O, All right, here we go. What is your
Speaker 2: biggest question going into training camp?
Speaker 11: I think who is going to step forward on the defense,
Speaker 11: specifically on the defensive edge and provide more pressure on
Speaker 11: the quarterback. That is the biggest question I have I
Speaker 11: think it's a question that most Bengal fans have had
Speaker 11: this offseason. It's why they went out and drafted Shamar
Speaker 11: Stewart in the first round with some of their pick
Speaker 11: seventeenth overall, they are trying to obviously bring more to
Speaker 11: the quarterback and I think that's the biggest question I have.
Speaker 11: Obviously people are wondering about Trey Hendrickson and that's understandable,
Speaker 11: but there are other people that have to be able
Speaker 11: to step forward on the edge to provide more production,
Speaker 11: Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai for two. And I think
Speaker 11: to me that's the biggest question going into camp. Where
Speaker 11: will the extra pressure come from the Bengals pass rush.
Speaker 2: Do you expect Shamar Stewart to be signed by the
Speaker 2: start of camp or at some point during camp.
Speaker 11: I expect him to be signed right before camp begins.
Speaker 11: I think you know, both sides know what they want.
Speaker 11: Both sides have made their positions well known about the
Speaker 11: moral high ground if you will, that they want to
Speaker 11: stand and that they want a stake, and they both
Speaker 11: feel it's very important. But to me, in the end,
Speaker 11: this does not feel like a protracted situation. This feels
Speaker 11: like in situation where both sides wanted to make a statement,
Speaker 11: draw the line in the sand. They've done that, and
Speaker 11: at the end of the day, I think Shamar Stewart
Speaker 11: wants to be on the field playing football, and I
Speaker 11: think that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 2: All right, Trags, who is your breakout player in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five?
Speaker 11: Boy, there's so many ways I could go on this Dan,
Speaker 11: and I'm going to go offense, and I was going
Speaker 11: to go Chase Brown, but I'm going to go andre
Speaker 11: Yosivash because I think the Bengals have made him a
Speaker 11: bigger and bigger role, made a bigger role for him
Speaker 11: in the offense, and he's actually physically bigger. When I
Speaker 11: think we saw him in the OTAs in the mandatory
Speaker 11: mini camp, he looks stronger to me, and I think
Speaker 11: if he already has the size, Dan, he already has
Speaker 11: the length, he has the physical gifts of being a
Speaker 11: former track star in college. I think he is and
Speaker 11: he's I really think he is going to pick up
Speaker 11: the offense at a level that we haven't seen in
Speaker 11: the previous two years. I'm pretty excited about what he
Speaker 11: can do. I think Joe Burrow is too so he
Speaker 11: would be my.
Speaker 8: Choice for breakout player on the Bengals.
Speaker 2: I think T Higgins might agree based on his comments
Speaker 2: during the mini camps. Bigger, faster, stronger, twitchier was what
Speaker 2: t Higgins had to say.
Speaker 1: So I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I think andre Yosibosh is going to take a big
Speaker 2: step forward. We'll see how many opportunities he gets with
Speaker 2: the other weapons that they have, but I would expect
Speaker 2: him to take advantage of those opportunities. Question number three,
Speaker 2: The Bengals defense will be better if can I answer
Speaker 2: this with two not just one, Lily, Okay? If they
Speaker 2: stop the run better.
Speaker 11: The last couple of years, it's not any coincidence, Dan
Speaker 11: that they have allowed explosive plays in the run game,
Speaker 11: especially on second and third down. That can't happen anymore.
Speaker 11: They've got to be able to stop the run. I
Speaker 11: think certainly TJ. Slayton is a step in that direction.
Speaker 11: You know they have been looking for somebody to really
Speaker 11: fill the voids and DJ Reader left and I think
Speaker 11: bringing in TJ. Slayton is a terrific step forward in
Speaker 11: that regard. They've got to be able to stop the run.
Speaker 11: The second is, as I mentioned earlier, they've got to
Speaker 11: be able to get to the quarterback and provide some pressure.
Speaker 11: They have got to be able to do that, because
Speaker 11: what happens when you bring pressure, you create turnovers, and
Speaker 11: I guess I could say is a third part of that.
Speaker 11: If you allow me to do that, they've got to
Speaker 11: be able to turn the opposition over and get the
Speaker 11: ball back in the.
Speaker 8: Hands of Joe Burrow a few more times a game.
Speaker 2: You know, one and two are not necessarily separate, because
Speaker 2: if you stop the run better and you get teams
Speaker 2: into second and third and long, right now, you can
Speaker 2: pressure the quarterback better, so they're actually tied together.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 11: You know, I know that Al Golden has spent a
Speaker 11: lot of time this offseason trying to craft that defense
Speaker 11: into his own image. But part of that image has
Speaker 11: to be stopping the run.
Speaker 2: I know that.
Speaker 11: I mean, every defensive coordinator knows that you've got to
Speaker 11: be able to stop the run, but it's how they
Speaker 11: go about it. I think we're going to see, and
Speaker 11: we already saw this in some of the offseason practices,
Speaker 11: Dan that he's going to use players along the defensive
Speaker 11: line more versatile. He's going to use them in more positions,
Speaker 11: and I think that's one way the Bengals are going
Speaker 11: to go about giving offenses different looks along the defensive front.
Speaker 2: Now give us Mike Petrellia's hot take going into training
Speaker 2: camp for the twenty twenty five season, all right, I.
Speaker 11: Think that Joseph Osai is going to wind up in
Speaker 11: double digits in sacks.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 11: I think he is going to come out of nowhere,
Speaker 11: and I think he is actually going to respond to
Speaker 11: that one year prove it to me deal that he
Speaker 11: received from the Bengals, and he's got the physical ability.
Speaker 11: He stays healthy and he plays consistently. And I've said
Speaker 11: this on my own podcast a couple of times. We've
Speaker 11: seen in twenty twenty two, and we saw it last year,
Speaker 11: like the last five to six games of the season,
Speaker 11: he turned it on. I mean, he was a different player,
Speaker 11: explosive player. We've got to see that from the start
Speaker 11: of the season from Joseph Osai. I think we do
Speaker 11: this year, and that's why I'm going to go with
Speaker 11: this hot take. I think we see it from the
Speaker 11: beginning of the year. I think he winds up in
Speaker 11: double digits in sacks and becomes a big, big part
Speaker 11: of what we've been talking about, and that is a
Speaker 11: bigger and better and badder.
Speaker 8: Pass rush for the Bengals.
Speaker 2: All right, that's a clip, and save for Joseph Osai,
Speaker 2: we get to our fifth and final question. I'm going
Speaker 2: to turn the clock back a little bit here. I
Speaker 2: had the honor of being the first ever guest on
Speaker 2: the Jungle Roar podcast. This was prior to the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one seasons Super Bowl fifty six season, and we
Speaker 2: did a predict the record for the upcoming season. You
Speaker 2: said thirteen wins, and while they didn't get the thirteen wins,
Speaker 2: they did go to the Super Bowl. I remember thinking
Speaker 2: that you were nuts at the time, and clearly you
Speaker 2: were not.
Speaker 8: So here we go.
Speaker 2: What will the Bengals record be and where will they
Speaker 2: finish in the AFC North.
Speaker 11: I think they will finish eleven and six, Dan, I
Speaker 11: think they will win the AFC North. I obviously think
Speaker 11: there were two strutches of this season that will be
Speaker 11: the telltale of what the Bengals wind up towards the
Speaker 11: end of the season and at the end of the season.
Speaker 11: But I think this time they get the hole. Let's
Speaker 11: start the season hot, Let's start the season better. I
Speaker 11: think they get that right this year. But the four
Speaker 11: games right after Jacksonville are going to tell me a
Speaker 11: lot about where this team is going. I think they
Speaker 11: figured some things out. I think Al Golden is going
Speaker 11: to bring a difference on that defense, a different look.
Speaker 11: And then certainly when they start with that stretch beginning
Speaker 11: with Pittsburgh, New England and then Baltimore and Buffalo, Baltimore
Speaker 11: twice and Buffalo once in seventeen days, to me, that's
Speaker 11: where the season is going to be made. But I
Speaker 11: think the Bengals will be prepared to handle that stretch
Speaker 11: with an improved defense and the best offense.
Speaker 8: I think it's going to be the best offense in
Speaker 8: football this year.
Speaker 2: So eleven wins first place in the AFC North, that
Speaker 2: probably means they are not the number one seed and
Speaker 2: not getting a playoff by but it would mean a
Speaker 2: home playoff game at pay Course Stadium and hopefully the
Speaker 2: start of another nice long postseason run. Trags, appreciate your time,
Speaker 2: appreciate the takes.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining me on the pod.
Speaker 8: Dan, always a pleasure. Thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2: Nobody cranks out more Bengals content than my buddy James Rapeens.
Speaker 2: So I'm sure these five questions are going to be
Speaker 2: a breeze for you. Are you ready to tackle these
Speaker 2: five issues on the Bengals Booth podcast?
Speaker 8: Absolutely, I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you are.
Speaker 2: Question number one, what is your biggest question going into
Speaker 2: training camp?
Speaker 12: There are a bunch of questions, right, and I think
Speaker 12: that the good news is as you're starting from a
Speaker 12: good spot where you're not asking about quarterbacks like other
Speaker 12: teams in the division or in the league that the
Speaker 12: Bengals are going to be competing with. But to me,
Speaker 12: it's high level. Did the Bengals do enough to address
Speaker 12: their obvious weaknesses? The weaknesses that you've been discussing for months,
Speaker 12: whether it's at the combine or a head of free agency,
Speaker 12: all the way now through the draft, in mini camp,
Speaker 12: when training camp is looming and we're still talking about
Speaker 12: the pass rush. Will they have enough pass rush? Did
Speaker 12: they do enough to protect Joe Burrow from an interior
Speaker 12: offensive line standpoint? And so those are the the major
Speaker 12: weaknesses that we've spent so much time talking about. You
Speaker 12: mentioned the content. I mean, I think everything I've talked
Speaker 12: about has had to do with protecting Joe or something
Speaker 12: with Al Golden's defense, and I think it starts with
Speaker 12: the pass rush.
Speaker 1: So did they do enough in.
Speaker 12: Those two areas to get by, not only get by,
Speaker 12: but be much better in both spots this season?
Speaker 1: All Right? Topic two?
Speaker 2: Who is James Rapines breakout player in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 12: I don't think this is going to surprise many people,
Speaker 12: but I might be the biggest Dax Hill stand outside.
Speaker 1: Of maybe a few people in the front office.
Speaker 12: And I don't think he would even be eligible for
Speaker 12: this had he not gotten hurt last year because he
Speaker 12: was breaking out and it was it was happening right
Speaker 12: before our eyes. And the fact that this team picked
Speaker 12: up his fifth year option something that I'm not sure
Speaker 12: I would have done, honestly, and I'm I'm a big
Speaker 12: because it's just a lot of money to commit to
Speaker 12: and you don't have an extension in place, And yet
Speaker 12: I think that tells you exactly how they feel. You
Speaker 12: talk to the coaching staff and they're will really bullish
Speaker 12: on Dax. So I would expect Dax Hill to break
Speaker 12: out this year and be a big part of not
Speaker 12: just the twenty twenty five Bengals, but their future.
Speaker 1: And if it's up to you, is he playing on
Speaker 1: the outside or is he playing in the slot.
Speaker 12: I would play him on the outside some and then
Speaker 12: I would kick him into the slot some and I
Speaker 12: would put him on the edge and have him blitz,
Speaker 12: and I would use him as this versatile weapon that
Speaker 12: can do a little bit of everything, because I'm not
Speaker 12: expecting him to be a shutdown number one corner, not
Speaker 12: that he can't be your number one corner, but I
Speaker 12: don't know if he's going to be Drell Reevis, but
Speaker 12: I think he can be a really high end player
Speaker 12: in your secondary that does a bunch of different things.
Speaker 12: And so hopefully that's what they can do, is get
Speaker 12: the most out of him, whatever that is. And maybe
Speaker 12: that is just playing outside. I think it's doing a
Speaker 12: little bit of a few different things.
Speaker 2: Al Golden was moving corners around a lot during the
Speaker 2: OTAs and the mini camp practices that we saw. Can
Speaker 2: you do that in games?
Speaker 8: I think so with a guy like Dax, you definitely can.
Speaker 12: I think the thing that impresses me most about him,
Speaker 12: as much as it's the athleticism and all of those things,
Speaker 12: it's he never gets too high or too low. Didn't
Speaker 12: really get rattled when they moved him from safety to corner.
Speaker 12: Has handled all these situations he's been put in pretty well,
Speaker 12: I think, and it hasn't really impacted his confidence much.
Speaker 12: So I think, yeah, you could put him on the outside,
Speaker 12: kick him inside, move him all over, and if you
Speaker 12: have a guy that can do that well, then it's
Speaker 12: going to allow you to move some of those guys
Speaker 12: around as well. And I think Cam Taylor BRIT's another
Speaker 12: one that we saw in mini camp move around and
Speaker 12: that's certainly noteworthy in something I'll behind going into training camp.
Speaker 2: All right, We are visiting with the president of the
Speaker 2: Dax Hill Fan Club, James Rapine, also from bengkalstalk dot
Speaker 2: com and the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Topic number three is
Speaker 2: the defense. It will be better if.
Speaker 12: God dot God Al Golden is who Zach Taylor thinks
Speaker 12: he is, and based on all my interactions with Al,
Speaker 12: Zach is going to be right. But that's what the
Speaker 12: Bengals are saying, That's what Zach Taylor is saying is
Speaker 12: Al Golden is going to be a difference maker on
Speaker 12: defense for us. It's going to be a lot of
Speaker 12: the same faces, but we are going to get more
Speaker 12: out of these guys. We're going to put them in
Speaker 12: position to succeed. We're also going to get a big
Speaker 12: nose tackle in TJ.
Speaker 1: Slayton.
Speaker 4: That is going to matter.
Speaker 12: Having a guy like that is going to impact things
Speaker 12: and change the way you have some of those lineups
Speaker 12: in the trenches.
Speaker 4: But that's it.
Speaker 12: That's what it's going to come down to, is Al
Speaker 12: Golden being exactly who Zach thinks he is. And I
Speaker 12: think Zach thinks he's one of the best defensive minds
Speaker 12: on the planet, and so we'll see if it rings
Speaker 12: true this season.
Speaker 2: I respect it, Admirer lou Anarumo. I'm sure you do too,
Speaker 2: But it seems to me that Al Golden is the
Speaker 2: right guy for what the Bengals have to be on
Speaker 2: defense with the amount of money they're spending on offense.
Speaker 8: No doubt.
Speaker 12: And I think that when you look at a guy
Speaker 12: like Dax Hill or Miles Murphy or whoever else, it's
Speaker 12: finding how they fit in making sure you get something
Speaker 12: out of them. You can't go two years, Let's use
Speaker 12: Shamar Stewart for as an example, two years and not
Speaker 12: really know what Shamar is. And we're kind of that
Speaker 12: way with Miles Murphy and hopefully we get some answers
Speaker 12: this year.
Speaker 1: But I think that's it is.
Speaker 12: Al Golden isn't going to look around and say, well,
Speaker 12: why is my cupboard empty? He's going to say, all right,
Speaker 12: this is what's in the cupboard. Let's try to make
Speaker 12: the best meal possible.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: You have jokingly been referred to from time to time
Speaker 2: as hot take James, So this question is ideally suited
Speaker 2: for you. Give us James Rapine's hot take about training
Speaker 2: camp or the upcoming season.
Speaker 12: So in typical hot take James fashion, I have two,
Speaker 12: So I'm I'm bringing the flamethrower one that yeah, might
Speaker 12: not be that taky for those that believe in T Higgins,
Speaker 12: but I think T Higgins is about to have the
Speaker 12: best year of his career. And he had ten touchdowns
Speaker 12: last year I think twelve hundred plus yards. I think
Speaker 12: by the end of the season we're talking about him
Speaker 12: as a top ten wide receiver. My biggest fear last
Speaker 12: year at this time, or one of them, at least
Speaker 12: from a Bengals standpoint, is letting T Higgins walk after
Speaker 12: the twenty twenty four season and then watching him play
Speaker 12: his best football elsewhere. I think that's what would have
Speaker 12: happened had they let him leave.
Speaker 1: They didn't. They paid him.
Speaker 12: I think they'll reap the rewards of that and see
Speaker 12: them this year. Obviously, health is a factor, but I
Speaker 12: think he's going to maybe have the healthiest season of
Speaker 12: his career. Knock on wood. The other one in this
Speaker 12: I think is going to be considered the hot take.
Speaker 12: Shamar Stewart is going to have more sacks as a
Speaker 12: rookie than he did in his entire college career.
Speaker 1: It now, that's not setting the bar all that high,
Speaker 1: but still I like it.
Speaker 12: So if he ends up with five sacks and it's disruptive,
Speaker 12: and you know, I think what's interesting is the dialogue
Speaker 12: about everything contract wise, and I can't wait to see
Speaker 12: him on the field because he is going to matter.
Speaker 12: And I do think he's still going to be the
Speaker 12: favorite to start alongside Trey Hendricks and not that that matters,
Speaker 12: but yeah, I think five plus sacks and maybe I'm
Speaker 12: going a little light there, maybe he gets to seven
Speaker 12: or eight.
Speaker 1: You never know. Well, I really like that take.
Speaker 2: Joseph Osai expects to be the guy that starts on
Speaker 2: the opposite side of Trey Hendrickson, and that might be
Speaker 2: the case because of his because of his experience, but
Speaker 2: Shamar Stewart is certainly going to play a lot, and
Speaker 2: I'm with you, I expect him to have a very
Speaker 2: productive season. Hopefully he's practicing from day one of training camp,
Speaker 2: which would help. I don't know if that'll be the
Speaker 2: case or not, but I do think that he is
Speaker 2: going to be a significant part of this defense from
Speaker 2: day one.
Speaker 12: Yeah, and they need him to be. And that's when
Speaker 12: they drafted him. The first hour or two it's like, man,
Speaker 12: is he going to be ready? Can he contribute? And
Speaker 12: the more I looked at that room and looked at
Speaker 12: what he brought, he's going to give them something that
Speaker 12: these other guys have pieces of. But he's just such
Speaker 12: a freak and he's so physically imposing, and I think
Speaker 12: he's going to matter. Even if he doesn't start, that
Speaker 12: to me doesn't matter. You know, as long as he's
Speaker 12: getting twenty five naps or something like that a week,
Speaker 12: you're going to notice him on the field.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: Our fifth and final question has to do with your
Speaker 2: prediction for the upcoming season. What will the Bengals record
Speaker 2: be and where will they finish in the AFC North.
Speaker 12: When the schedule came out, you always play the schedule game,
Speaker 12: and I did, and I'm sure everyone did, and you
Speaker 12: look at it, you go win loss loss, win, win loss.
Speaker 12: And i'd been in Those that have followed me know
Speaker 12: that I've been a bit underwhelmed with what the Bengals
Speaker 12: have added from a talent standpoint this offseason and have
Speaker 12: questions about the pass rush and offensive line and things
Speaker 12: like that. And yet when I played the schedule game,
Speaker 12: and I look at prime Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase
Speaker 12: and I'm expecting Trey Hendrickson, and I mentioned how bullish
Speaker 12: I am on T Higgins. I got to twelve wins.
Speaker 12: I got to a team that is going to be
Speaker 12: in the thick of it, not just in the AFC North,
Speaker 12: but in the AFC. And part of it is because
Speaker 12: I think the defense is going to be better with
Speaker 12: Al Golden, better with what they have, and I think
Speaker 12: Joe Burrow is just that darn good that even if
Speaker 12: the offensive line on the interior isn't above average, he's
Speaker 12: going to be able to make it work. We've seen that,
Speaker 12: we know what Jamar and t bring and heck Mike
Speaker 12: Gasicki in his second season, Chase Brown settling in as
Speaker 12: he enters his prime. I think that this offense has
Speaker 12: more to it and it's not just about the defense.
Speaker 12: I expect them to be really darn good. And so
Speaker 12: I got to twelve and five, first in the North
Speaker 12: and probably battling for a one seed. If they're winning
Speaker 12: twelve games.
Speaker 2: I like the sound of that finishing a game ahead
Speaker 2: of Baltimore a couple of games, winning a tiebreaker. What
Speaker 2: do you think in terms of that first place in
Speaker 2: the division?
Speaker 8: Pick?
Speaker 12: I had them sweeping Baltimore both. I think they're I
Speaker 12: think they're due. Everyone's talking about, oh, Thanksgiving and Thursday
Speaker 12: Night in one. I think Joe, yeah, he wants one
Speaker 12: of those here, but he's going to love that on
Speaker 12: that that that wins. Like the mindset of going in
Speaker 12: there and trying to slay the Ravens in Baltimore. He's
Speaker 12: played really well there over the past couple of years,
Speaker 12: so I obviously the one year he got hurt but
Speaker 12: was playing well and they had the lead when he
Speaker 12: did get hurt. So I think that they they could
Speaker 12: absolutely sweep them.
Speaker 8: We'll see if they do.
Speaker 12: But there's a reason teams haven't won the division three
Speaker 12: straight years, and I think it's Bengal and Ravens clearly
Speaker 12: ahead of the Browns and the Steelers in the North
Speaker 12: from a talent standpoint, and so I think the Bengals
Speaker 12: get it done and make sure that the Ravens don't
Speaker 12: make history in the North.
Speaker 2: Great stuff, no surprise from James Rpaine. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: Look forward to seeing the en camp of course. Thanks
Speaker 2: Dan Richard Skinner. Are you ready to tackle five.
Speaker 1: Questions on the Bengals Booth podcast?
Speaker 13: I'm honored to tackle five questions, Dan Horden.
Speaker 2: That is overstating it, but I appreciate your time. Here
Speaker 2: we go, Question number one, what is your biggest question
Speaker 2: going into training camp?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 13: As we record this, it has to be what's gonna
Speaker 13: happen with Tray Anderson and Shamar Stewart. I mean, I
Speaker 13: think until that gets resolved, that's going to hang over
Speaker 13: everything in camp, and we'll continue to hang over everything.
Speaker 13: So as you record this, my hope would be it's
Speaker 13: who becomes the two starting guards, because then we're talking
Speaker 13: about what's happening on the field and not what's going
Speaker 13: on off the field. So as you record this, there's
Speaker 13: no doubt in my mind it's the contract issue with
Speaker 13: Trey Henderson and Jamar Stewart. But if they get resolved,
Speaker 13: then it would be who evolves as the starting guards,
Speaker 13: and the hope would be who takes the reins and
Speaker 13: takes the job at starting guards, not that they have
Speaker 13: to give two guys starting spots.
Speaker 2: Before I move on to any of the other questions,
Speaker 2: and you may tackle this in questions to come, but
Speaker 2: is it your feeling that Stuart and Hendrickson will ultimately
Speaker 2: participate in camp and or play.
Speaker 13: Stuart seems awfully dug in that he won't participate until
Speaker 13: he gets that contract sign and it doesn't sound like
Speaker 13: he's gonna get that contract signed until they change the
Speaker 13: language to the way he wants it. I can also
Speaker 13: see Trey not participating in camp, but I'll save one
Speaker 13: of my takes for down the road here, I think.
Speaker 8: All right.
Speaker 2: Question number two, who is Richard Skinner's breakout player in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five.
Speaker 13: I'm gonna go Chase Brown based on that great finish
Speaker 13: from last year. He had nine hundred yards from scrimmage
Speaker 13: in the last eight games. If he keeps that pace up,
Speaker 13: and I think he actually add to that because I
Speaker 13: think they're gonna try to find ways to get him
Speaker 13: even more touches in dynamic ways. I mean, Dan, he
Speaker 13: could approach two thousand yards from scrimmage, that's probably a reach,
Speaker 13: but based on what he averaged last year over a
Speaker 13: seventeen gamespan, that's that's almost nineteen hundred yards. So I
Speaker 13: don't think that's all that far fetched. And if I
Speaker 13: go one guy on defense and you're asking for one
Speaker 13: guy overall, I know that. But I think Joseph Osai,
Speaker 13: I mean what he did down the stretch of last
Speaker 13: year a half a sack and six of the last
Speaker 13: seven games five sacks overall in that span, he just
Speaker 13: seemed to finally get it, and I would think the
Speaker 13: double digit sack season is in the realm for him.
Speaker 1: Hello, that would be significant.
Speaker 2: And as for Chase Brown, if you go back over
Speaker 2: those last eight games, as you mentioned, that computes to
Speaker 2: one nine hundred and seventy six yards combined rushing and receiving.
Speaker 2: So saying two thousand as a possibility is certainly not
Speaker 2: far fetched, all right. Question number three for Local twelve's
Speaker 2: Richard Skinner, the Bengals defense will be better if dot
Speaker 2: dot dot.
Speaker 13: Mar Stuart and Trey Henderson's sign. I mean, I think
Speaker 13: it'll be better if they if they signed for sure,
Speaker 13: and if Al Golden does things tactically to get some
Speaker 13: strengths out of guys that needed seasons last year they
Speaker 13: didn't have. I mean, get more out of Geno Stone,
Speaker 13: get more out of the corners. You know, you saw
Speaker 13: the up and down play of Cam Taylor Britt. I'm
Speaker 13: not asking to come into a schematic genius. I mean,
Speaker 13: there's only so much you can do schematically. It's still
Speaker 13: I mean, sports all across the board is about the
Speaker 13: Jimmies and Joe's and so I just want to see
Speaker 13: if he can get more out of those guys. I mean,
Speaker 13: he certainly was optimistic the day we talked to him
Speaker 13: at the end of mini camp. It's kund of like
Speaker 13: this defense had no cares in the world. They were
Speaker 13: all world players. But I think, to me, it's if
Speaker 13: Al Golden can get more out of some guys that
Speaker 13: he needs to get more out of.
Speaker 2: Give me Skinny's hot take about training camp or the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 13: We will say this, and I guess I'll tie to
Speaker 13: Trey Henderson at the moment. I will say that Trey
Speaker 13: will hold out if he doesn't have an extension, But
Speaker 13: I don't think he misses a single solitary game check.
Speaker 13: I think when push comes to the shove, he is
Speaker 13: going to capitulate and un nderstand that he has to play.
Speaker 13: He has to play well. He has to put up
Speaker 13: sack numbers if he wants to get paid next year.
Speaker 13: You know, Other than that, there's not much to be
Speaker 13: hot taking on. To be honest with you, Dan, I mean,
Speaker 13: I guess I could say a hot take would be
Speaker 13: we're gonna see a cam Taylor Britt blossom into the
Speaker 13: player we think he can be in his bin. He
Speaker 13: had that obviously, that flash moment the one day during
Speaker 13: OTAs or that diving interception along the sideline. He seems
Speaker 13: to be rejuvenated, refresh and rate a role. But to me,
Speaker 13: the hot take would be Trey Andandrickson will sit in
Speaker 13: camp if he doesn't have an extension, but he ain't
Speaker 13: missing a game check.
Speaker 2: Joseph o Side double digit sacks was already fairly hot
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 4: That's pretty close.
Speaker 1: That's a good point, all right.
Speaker 2: Our fifth and final question for Richard Skinner from Local twelve,
Speaker 2: the host of the Skinny podcast, what will the Bengals
Speaker 2: record be and where will they finish in the AFC North.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 13: When the schedule came out, we all do this exercise, right,
Speaker 13: we picked the record of we just go down the
Speaker 13: list of why it's a win. I always put games
Speaker 13: in three categories, likely wins, likely losses, and swing games.
Speaker 13: Every year I've done that exercise, likely win turns into
Speaker 13: a loss, a likely loss becomes a win, and really
Speaker 13: the season is always decided by the swing games. Of
Speaker 13: the last year, a lot of likely win categories like
Speaker 13: New England and Washington turned into losses that you didn't expect.
Speaker 4: I went eleven and six when they did it. I'll
Speaker 4: stick with that for right now.
Speaker 13: I can see more if Al Golden does get some
Speaker 13: more out of the defense, if the Trey Hendricks and
Speaker 13: Shamar Stewart thing is into distraction, if the two starting
Speaker 13: guards are guys that actually can play and are capable
Speaker 13: and perform well, Dylan Fairchild Lucas Patrick the front runners there.
Speaker 4: I'll go eleven and.
Speaker 13: Six, and they finished second in the division, because I
Speaker 13: think twelve and five still wins this division. I still
Speaker 13: think it's Baltimore until you knock Baltimore off. But I
Speaker 13: can be talked into twelve and five once we get rolling.
Speaker 13: But I went eleven and six. I'll stick with eleven
Speaker 13: and six.
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh third, Cleveland fourth.
Speaker 13: Pretty simple and for the first time and the Mike
Speaker 13: Tomlin era of Pittsburgh losing record.
Speaker 1: Oh well, there we go.
Speaker 2: Let's add one final hot take before we wrap things up. Skinny,
Speaker 2: I appreciate your time, see it camp.
Speaker 4: Thanks Dan.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be.
Speaker 2: Fair to ask my friends and colleagues to answer those
Speaker 2: questions without sharing my answers, So here goes. My biggest
Speaker 2: question going into training camp is about camp itself. What
Speaker 2: exactly is going to be different in hopes of avoiding
Speaker 2: another slow start. The Bengals have started zero to two
Speaker 2: in each of the last three years and in five
Speaker 2: of Zach Taylor's six years as head coach. The record
Speaker 2: in September under Zach is seven fifteen and one. We
Speaker 2: already know some of the things that will be different
Speaker 2: this year. For example, they're practicing in the morning instead
Speaker 2: of the afternoon. It should be a little cooler, and
Speaker 2: hopefully that will lead to crisper practices. We also know
Speaker 2: that the starters are going to play more in the
Speaker 2: preseason games. Zach has been reluctant to risk injuries and
Speaker 2: games that don't count, but at some point you have
Speaker 2: to try something different if what you're doing isn't working.
Speaker 2: So the question is what else will be different. The
Speaker 2: practices during mini camp were more physical than in recent years,
Speaker 2: particularly when it comes to line play, and I expect
Speaker 2: that to continue in training camp. But will we see
Speaker 2: periods with actual tackling? Will there be more scrimmaging. How
Speaker 2: they changed things up in hopes of getting off to
Speaker 2: a better start is my biggest question going into camp.
Speaker 2: My breakout player in twenty twenty five is a Marius Mims,
Speaker 2: and I'm surprised that nobody else picked him as a
Speaker 2: rookie with limited college snaps. So Marius started thirteen games
Speaker 2: and played well. And that's despite the fact that he
Speaker 2: suffered a pectoral injury in the preseason opener that caused
Speaker 2: him to miss about a month, and then he dealt
Speaker 2: with ankle and hand injuries late in the season. His
Speaker 2: eight hundred and thirty four snaps were about thirty more
Speaker 2: than he had in his career at Georgia, and there's
Speaker 2: no doubt that he has all pro potential. In the
Speaker 2: words of Bengals scout and Andrew Johnson, Amrius has a
Speaker 2: chance to be as special as anybody I've seen. I
Speaker 2: expect a big step in that direction for a Marius
Speaker 2: Mims this year. The next question is the Bengals defense
Speaker 2: will be better if dot dot dot, and my answer
Speaker 2: is you name it. Last year was rough, as the
Speaker 2: Bengals lost four times when they scored thirty three or
Speaker 2: more points and gave up twenty five and a half
Speaker 2: per game. This might sound like a cop out, but
Speaker 2: the law of averages tells us that it's bound to
Speaker 2: be better, right. I always remember something Marvin Lewis told
Speaker 2: me years ago, you need young legs on defense. Well,
Speaker 2: last year, Sam Hubbard, Von Bell, Sheldon Rankins, and Jermaine
Speaker 2: Pratt started to show their age. Fortunately, the Bengals have
Speaker 2: young legs waiting in the wings, and they're going to
Speaker 2: get every opportunity to shine under Al Golden, new defensive
Speaker 2: line coach Jerry Montgomery and new linebackers coach Mike Hodges.
Speaker 2: Young players will make some mistakes that comes with the territory,
Speaker 2: but you can't be afraid to play them. Al Golden
Speaker 2: isn't and the Bengals defense will be better as a result.
Speaker 2: Now time for my hot take. Ready, the Bengals will
Speaker 2: have at least two players on the NFL's All Rookie Team.
Speaker 2: They had one last year in punter Ryan Rico, but
Speaker 2: the last time the Bengals had two they went to
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl when Jamar Chase and Evan McPherson were
Speaker 2: honored in twenty twenty one. Right now, it appears highly
Speaker 2: likely that second round pick Demetrius Knight and third rounder
Speaker 2: Dylan Fairchild are going to be Day one starters, and
Speaker 2: sooner or later, hopefully sooner, Shamar Stewart will sign his
Speaker 2: rookie contract and play a big role even if he
Speaker 2: isn't a starter right away. So my hot take is
Speaker 2: that at least two of those guys will make the
Speaker 2: All Rookie Team. Finally, it's my turn to predict the
Speaker 2: record and finish in the AFC North. I've gone game
Speaker 2: by game through this year's schedule and come away at
Speaker 2: twelve and five with losses at Denver, Green Bay, Baltimore, Buffalo,
Speaker 2: and Miami, and I have the Bengals winning the AFC
Speaker 2: North by one game over the Ravens, thanks in large
Speaker 2: part to the difference between Baltimore's first place schedule and
Speaker 2: Cincinnati's third place schedule. Each team has one game against
Speaker 2: the team from the AFC South. The Ravens play the
Speaker 2: first place Texans, the Bengals play the third place Jaguars.
Speaker 2: Advantage Cincinnati. They each play one game against the NFC West.
Speaker 2: For the Ravens it's the Rams. For the Bengals it's
Speaker 2: the Cardinals again advantage Cincinnati, and each team also plays
Speaker 2: one game against the AFC West. For the Ravens it's
Speaker 2: on the road at Kansas City. For the Bengals, it's
Speaker 2: on the road at Denver. Both tough games, but again
Speaker 2: I think you would agree advantage Cincinnati. That's going to
Speaker 2: do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast,
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Speaker 2: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horden. Thanks for
Speaker 2: listening to the Bengals Booth podcast