Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The come On, Let's Sweat babebe addition,
Speaker 1: as Dave Laplam joins me to review the first week
Speaker 1: of the training camp, grind and react to some of
Speaker 1: the most interesting comments from players and coaches, plus my
Speaker 1: five Questions with the Rookies. Series continues as we get
Speaker 1: to know six round draft pick Cedric Johnson. The Bengals
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Speaker 1: greatest thing since Magicians. At the recent Jungle Jam hosted
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Speaker 1: the way, there was a Cincinnati based magician in attendance
Speaker 1: named Keith Mohler, and he's fantastic. His specialty is close
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Speaker 1: dot Com. Now let's get to football. I'll be discussing
Speaker 1: training camp with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham on a
Speaker 1: regular basis, but rather than simply sharing our observations, I
Speaker 1: thought it might be fun to add some of the
Speaker 1: most interesting things we've heard coming out of the locker room.
Speaker 1: All right, lap, We're going to do something a little
Speaker 1: bit different. As we discussed the first several days of
Speaker 1: training camp, I've compiled some of my favorite comments from
Speaker 1: players and coaches that we are going to drop in
Speaker 1: as we discuss some of the big stories so far.
Speaker 1: So let's start with the biggest story of all, and
Speaker 1: that is Joe Burrow as he returns from risk surgery.
Speaker 1: They gave him day three off, but they certainly haven't
Speaker 1: babied him On the first couple of days, he threw
Speaker 1: to all levels of the field. His passes had zip.
Speaker 1: I think everybody agreed that he looked pretty darn good.
Speaker 1: Here are t Higgins and andre Yosi Vash describing Joe's throws.
Speaker 2: He threw me a ball so deep today. I was like, man, man,
Speaker 2: he looked good. Man, he looked good and excited for him.
Speaker 2: He looks like, you know, did Joe?
Speaker 3: We went, Joe. They'll see in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Run is a burrow overthrow a good thing at this point,
Speaker 1: just seeing him married out like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, that's what I like.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: I was, I had to get my legs back. Man,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna put that one on me. He put it
Speaker 2: out there where I can go get it, and I
Speaker 2: just sure I couldn't get there.
Speaker 3: But man, it's nice to see. Every ball was very catchable.
Speaker 3: He was launching that thing down the field.
Speaker 4: You've seen it a couple of times, so I think
Speaker 4: that you know that that period after Ota is really
Speaker 4: just chilled and rehabbed, and he came back fiery for sure.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 1: Lap Joe says his passes are basically going where he
Speaker 1: wants them to. Sometimes they don't spin quite the way
Speaker 1: he wants them to, at least not yet, but overall
Speaker 1: he's very happy. How would you describe the Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: that you've watched so far?
Speaker 6: I describe him as the ball's come out coming out
Speaker 6: of his hand exceptionally well, and it's coming out accurately.
Speaker 6: I do agree with him. I think he's putting the
Speaker 6: ball exactly where he wants to. I think he's putting
Speaker 6: the ball uh there with power and velocity. I do
Speaker 6: think the workouts that he that he had where he's
Speaker 6: put on ten or fifteen pounds of muscle, has definitely
Speaker 6: shown in not only his physical stature and maybe ability
Speaker 6: to absorb kind intact and all that sort of thing,
Speaker 6: but in a strowing arm. I think I think he's
Speaker 6: just he's stronger, and I think he's I think he's
Speaker 6: ready for a big season. I do agree with Tea.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think his deep ball is deeper and
Speaker 6: and he's he's added some added some length to that
Speaker 6: deep ball for sure. And I do agree with t
Speaker 6: that wide receivers now are getting their football legs back
Speaker 6: because he can run sprints all day, but getting in
Speaker 6: and out of cuts and doing football things are are
Speaker 6: a little bit different, and tracking deep balls, you know,
Speaker 6: takes a little bit of time as well. It doesn't
Speaker 6: just happen overnight. But I'm I'm encouraged by what I
Speaker 6: see with Joe and his receivers. And I mean Jamar
Speaker 6: hasn't even hit the field yet, and Tea has been
Speaker 6: you know, on and off the football field, and then
Speaker 6: Joe himself has been off the football field. So it's
Speaker 6: a small sample size. There's miles to go before everybody rests,
Speaker 6: but the initial stages of the journey looked pretty good.
Speaker 1: While most of the world is focused on Burrow for
Speaker 1: obvious reasons, I know you paid a lot of attention
Speaker 1: to first round draft pick of Marius Mims. He's wearing
Speaker 1: the number seventy one. He told me he chose it
Speaker 1: because that was Willie Anderson's number when he played for
Speaker 1: the Bengals, the most dominant right tackle in team history.
Speaker 1: Here's Big Willie on what he saw the first time
Speaker 1: he watched a Marius Mims.
Speaker 5: The tall, big guy with great feet, basketball player, feats
Speaker 5: strong ass hands. I mean he put his hands on
Speaker 5: you can either stop or you go backwards, which is
Speaker 5: always a good thing. At tackle. But the most impressive
Speaker 5: thing I like about him is his athletic ability to
Speaker 5: be that big. You can see his legs, its athletic legs.
Speaker 5: It's impressive to watch.
Speaker 1: Here's my take on a Marius Mims. He was the
Speaker 1: eighteenth pick in the draft. Six quarterbacks went in the
Speaker 1: top twelve. There were eight offensive tackles taken in the
Speaker 1: first round. In a normal year, Marius Mims looks like
Speaker 1: a top ten, maybe even top five pick. To me,
Speaker 1: do you agree totally?
Speaker 6: I mean, his size and movement skills are almost beyond words.
Speaker 6: Can't find right words to describe it. It is ra
Speaker 6: It is so unique. I mean, his his skill set
Speaker 6: is off the charts. He has he has traits that
Speaker 6: could lead to greatness for a number of years. I
Speaker 6: mean this, this guy is so special physically, it's remarkable.
Speaker 6: And we've talked about this many times before. In any
Speaker 6: athletic endeavor, it starts with your feet and ends with
Speaker 6: your hands. And like Willie says, he's he's got like
Speaker 6: dancers feet. He called it basketball feet. I mean he
Speaker 6: is he is so light on his feet, but not
Speaker 6: light to the point where he can't get that foot
Speaker 6: in the ground and anchor on you right now, he's
Speaker 6: just gifted. And then when he when he that's that's
Speaker 6: to start the process. And then to finish it. You
Speaker 6: have to have strong hands, and he will finish you
Speaker 6: with those big old myths. Man. When he clamps on you,
Speaker 6: you're done. It's it's like he's got you. He's you're
Speaker 6: as prisoner. Man.
Speaker 1: You see things when you watch offensive line drills that
Speaker 1: I would never possibly see. Is there anything in particular
Speaker 1: with him that you just say wow? That is on you?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: For a guy his size Dan, you know, six eight
Speaker 6: plus or whatever, for him to be able to bend correctly,
Speaker 6: you know, bended his knees, not bended his waist to
Speaker 6: get that body down and get the pad level down
Speaker 6: is pretty spectacular, you know. And yeah, and has change
Speaker 6: the direction again. He did get Sam beat him inside.
Speaker 6: And it's not like, you know, every single time he's
Speaker 6: not going to get beaten inside.
Speaker 3: It will happen.
Speaker 6: But boy, can he change direction and get inside as
Speaker 6: well as just about anybody. And and the other thing
Speaker 6: about him, those are all the physical things. The other
Speaker 6: thing about him, he's a sponge man. He's he's right
Speaker 6: on with his eyes are locked in on his coaches.
Speaker 6: He's asking questions to the veterans, And when I asked
Speaker 6: the veterans, what kind of questions? Really good questions? Man,
Speaker 6: It's obvious that he's been studying and he's asking, you know,
Speaker 6: advanced questions, advanced plays, some questions, not you know, questions
Speaker 6: like what that's a dumb ass question, you know, not
Speaker 6: that type of thing.
Speaker 1: So he's getting rapped with the first team at tackle
Speaker 1: because Trent Brown is on the non football injury list.
Speaker 1: He's been working out on the reheab field every day.
Speaker 1: What's your concern level there, if there's any concern at all.
Speaker 6: I don't. I don't think there's a huge amount of
Speaker 6: concern missing. What he's missing isn't isn't pivotal. He's going
Speaker 6: into his tenth year. He's the only guy in the roster,
Speaker 6: by the way, that is going into his tenth year.
Speaker 6: Everybody else is a single digit player on this football team.
Speaker 6: Is a young football team that's got a lot of talent.
Speaker 6: Duke Tobin and his folks are put together another very
Speaker 6: very good roster. There's no question, but he knows what
Speaker 6: he needs to do. It's early and I don't have
Speaker 6: any huge concern right now. Worst case scenario for him,
Speaker 6: he's an insurance policy. I mean, if Mims comes on
Speaker 6: and plays really well and they decide to start him
Speaker 6: the last tackle to start his first game as rookie,
Speaker 6: as the legendary Anthony Munoz. If Mims is that good
Speaker 6: and he can start at the tackle position in the
Speaker 6: NFL his first, you know, regular season game as a rookie,
Speaker 6: you got a heck of an insurance policy there. And
Speaker 6: you know, and Trent Brown can still play at a
Speaker 6: high level. So I think they're in a pretty good,
Speaker 6: pretty good situation. They're at that right tackle position.
Speaker 1: After the third practice of camp, I tweeted out that
Speaker 1: my most impressive players so far, admittedly in a tiny
Speaker 1: sample size, has been wide receiver Andre Yosi Vash. He's
Speaker 1: been spending a lot of time in the slot. He's
Speaker 1: been making catches all over the field. Here's Jake Browning
Speaker 1: comparing Yosi Vosh's year two jump to t Higgins.
Speaker 7: I see a guy that's going to do a second year,
Speaker 7: and it's a really hard worker. And so I wasn't
Speaker 7: here for Tea's first year or second, But I don't know,
Speaker 7: a lot of people have said like his whatever development
Speaker 7: from year one to year two is really big, and
Speaker 7: so you know, I wasn't here for that, but I
Speaker 7: would say it's something that where you have a guy
Speaker 7: that played in IVY League kind of gets thrown in
Speaker 7: there good amount, probably more than you would have anticipated.
Speaker 7: Plays well as battling, but then he gets a whole
Speaker 7: offseason to go train like a pro, and you know,
Speaker 7: he's not worrying about his forty time, he's worrying about releases,
Speaker 7: not worrying about a shuttle, He's worrying about receiver training. Look,
Speaker 7: and so you know it is it's just day three,
Speaker 7: but he has had a very good camp up till now,
Speaker 7: and I'm excited to see what he can do.
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd has gone, Jamar Chase hasn't practiced yet. What
Speaker 1: have been your impressions of Yosi Vash and the other
Speaker 1: receivers that have been out there.
Speaker 6: I think very impressive. Yosi Vash to me, like you know,
Speaker 6: Jake's talking about from year one to year two, particularly
Speaker 6: going from the IVY League competition to the National Football League,
Speaker 6: that had to be like WHOA. That had to be
Speaker 6: a big adjustment, even for a guy as smart as
Speaker 6: Yosi and he he is extremely intelligent, not just raw
Speaker 6: intelligence Princeton, but I mean he's got very good football
Speaker 6: like you as well. And two guys that I thought
Speaker 6: have really done a really big time job in the
Speaker 6: off season improving their route running, Chase Brown and Yosi,
Speaker 6: and I think it's showing. And I think he sees
Speaker 6: things faster. He's running very very good routes. He's always
Speaker 6: been an incredible athlete. He's got six for three inch height,
Speaker 6: long arms, he can high point a ball contested catch,
Speaker 6: he can separate, he can run after catch. I mean,
Speaker 6: there's really not much that he can't do. So I
Speaker 6: think that as a as a football player, year one
Speaker 6: to year two, you look to make big gains. I
Speaker 6: mean that's when, man, I didn't know what I didn't
Speaker 6: know last year. Look at it in the offseason, when
Speaker 6: you're looking at a tape, when you're thinking back on things,
Speaker 6: you're like, oh my gosh, man, what was I doing?
Speaker 6: What was I thinking?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 6: I really didn't know what to think. And now you
Speaker 6: come back in year two, you have all those experiences
Speaker 6: under your belt and you go through another off season
Speaker 6: where you're not training to get drafted and all that
Speaker 6: sort of thing. It's a much different offseason, the pace
Speaker 6: of it, everything. You can just settle into your work
Speaker 6: routine and he worked. Chase Brown worked a lot of
Speaker 6: these first year guys going into the second year worked man.
Speaker 6: And it's it's shown your.
Speaker 1: Mention if Chase Brown is the perfect segue because he
Speaker 1: and andre Jo Sivas trained with the same well known
Speaker 1: wide receivers coach in the offseason. Chase Brown is obviously
Speaker 1: a running back. Here's Chase on the benefits of that training.
Speaker 4: Went all in on, you know, trying to be the
Speaker 4: best version of myself as far as receiving.
Speaker 3: The ball and protection.
Speaker 4: And you know, I really want to upgrade in that
Speaker 4: aspect of my game, especially if I want to take
Speaker 4: a step forward in this offense in this league. So
Speaker 4: that's where I focus on this entire offseason, dedicated.
Speaker 3: Countless hours to it, and you know, I'm just looking
Speaker 3: forward to putting in on.
Speaker 1: Chase averaged four yards per carry as a rookie, more
Speaker 1: than eleven yards per catch as a rookie. Where do
Speaker 1: you see that improvement after his work with the wide
Speaker 1: receivers coach.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean his his route running ability is much improved.
Speaker 6: Markedly improved. You know, he's always been a burner. I
Speaker 6: mean he can just he can outrun anybody, but changing speeds,
Speaker 6: you know, accelerating, decelerating at the proper time, seeing your
Speaker 6: hipskin and then out of cuts, getting separation. And he's
Speaker 6: always been a decent catch of the football. I don't
Speaker 6: think people really knew or expected that. But I like
Speaker 6: the other thing he talked about, let's pick up. I mean,
Speaker 6: he's five to eleven, well over a two hundred pounds.
Speaker 6: He can. He's a stout guy.
Speaker 3: He can.
Speaker 6: It's it's you can't have a situation where every time
Speaker 6: he's on the football field. Oh, they're never gonna ask
Speaker 6: him to pick up blitzes. You know, that's that's not
Speaker 6: part of his game. All he's going to do is
Speaker 6: get out of the backfield and run routes. You might
Speaker 6: as well just line him up on the slot at
Speaker 6: that point, you know. So I think I think he
Speaker 6: has the proper mindset to attack everything and improve on
Speaker 6: your strengths and make your weakness's strengths. That's what you
Speaker 6: try to do as a professional athlete, and I think
Speaker 6: he's really done a pretty good job of it. His
Speaker 6: first off season.
Speaker 1: Let's turn to defense and another member of last year's
Speaker 1: draft class, DJ Turner. He had three pass breakups on Friday.
Speaker 1: I heard some of his teammates calling him mister PBu.
Speaker 1: Now that's not necessarily a compliment, because they'd like to
Speaker 1: see him intercept some of those passes and not just
Speaker 1: break them up. But in any case, here's Mike Hilton
Speaker 1: on the improvement that he sees in DJ Turner a.
Speaker 8: Year two jumping that people expect it, you know, year
Speaker 8: one being a rookie houstone to substituations. Obviously, Chido comes
Speaker 8: back from his injury and him pretty much starting his
Speaker 8: whole rookie year and it's took but he that was
Speaker 8: great experience of for him and now he's going to
Speaker 8: year two with a lot more confidence and belief in itself.
Speaker 8: So we expect him to be on our top guys.
Speaker 1: As we do this interview, Cam Taylor Britt hasn't practiced
Speaker 1: yet after having his tonsils taken out. DJ Turner has
Speaker 1: made a bunch of plays he has.
Speaker 6: I mean he's taken advantage of advantage of his opportunities,
Speaker 6: and I mean when when a guy is out for
Speaker 6: an extended period and he's like the number one corner.
Speaker 6: And that's what Cam Taylor brid is going into this
Speaker 6: training camp. When you're number one guy is out, everybody
Speaker 6: else ratchets up. I mean, it's next man up. So now,
Speaker 6: not only additional reps come additional reps against a higher
Speaker 6: caliber player, also comes from a matchup standpoint. So when
Speaker 6: you get that opportunity, you want to capitalize, you want
Speaker 6: to make good on it. And he is I mean,
Speaker 6: he's he can, he can put his foot in the ground,
Speaker 6: change direction. I mean, he's a burner. I mean, he's
Speaker 6: one of the fastest guys in the league probably, but
Speaker 6: he can also you know, change direction. That that's that's
Speaker 6: that's a rare combination. And you know, it's interesting you
Speaker 6: look at contested catches. Well, every time there's a contested catch,
Speaker 6: that means the defender covered him pretty damn well. There's
Speaker 6: no separation. So in the contested catch situation, what's happening
Speaker 6: is the receiver high point making a play on ball. Now, now,
Speaker 6: now you got to work on something to get the
Speaker 6: ball off of them. Are you getting you're sure of
Speaker 6: past breakups?
Speaker 3: Which he is.
Speaker 6: Okay, that's the next step. The final step is catch
Speaker 6: the bad boy yourself, you know. So he understands that
Speaker 6: and when when he's in those kinds of situations, he's
Speaker 6: come down with some of those some of those takeaways,
Speaker 6: some of those turnovers, Louis and Arrumo, all his defensive
Speaker 6: buddies will be carrying them off the field on their shoulders.
Speaker 1: DJ is competing with Dax Hill for the starting outside
Speaker 1: corner spot on the opposite side of Cam Taylor Britt.
Speaker 1: Dax played slot corner at Michigan. He rarely played outside corner.
Speaker 1: Here's lou Ana Arumo on why they are trying him
Speaker 1: in that spot.
Speaker 9: Well, I think he's got traits that some of the
Speaker 9: best that have ever done it have. And then when
Speaker 9: I say that, I mean length, speed, athleticism. You know,
Speaker 9: if you're gonna draw up an outside corner he had.
Speaker 9: He hits all the check marks on the on the dimensions.
Speaker 9: Now going to do it playing and play out as
Speaker 9: you know, as you said, he played slot corner in
Speaker 9: at Michigan. But you know, I'm really anxious to see
Speaker 9: him do it, and he's embraced it. He's a great,
Speaker 9: great guy and wants to do well, and so we're
Speaker 9: excited to see him, It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: There's a pretty strong words from lou Ana Romo. I
Speaker 1: think Dax can always move inside. Maybe he will eventually
Speaker 1: replace Mike Hilton as the slot corner, hopefully somewhere down
Speaker 1: the road, quite a bit down the road, because Mike's
Speaker 1: got a lot of good football left in him. But
Speaker 1: if Dax Hill proves to be good on the outside,
Speaker 1: that is such a valuable spot that it would be
Speaker 1: an enormous positive for the team. That's why they're playing
Speaker 1: him outside.
Speaker 6: Right absolutely and DJ Turner one year difference at Michigan.
Speaker 6: I mean, there were teammates in that back end at Michigan.
Speaker 6: So when you're playing with a guy that you played
Speaker 6: with in your collegiate career, there's just a the familiarity
Speaker 6: aspect of that is something that shouldn't be discounted. I
Speaker 6: mean that that's a that's a scenario I think that
Speaker 6: people take for granted or don't even really think about.
Speaker 6: But it just gives your comfort level and your surroundings
Speaker 6: kind of thing. But he has all the traits. I mean,
Speaker 6: he can flip his hips. That's what I was wondering about.
Speaker 6: I wanted to see him, you know, on a deep ball, backpedal,
Speaker 6: flip his hips and rum guy man smooth, very smooth transition.
Speaker 6: I think he's making now, you know. Will there be roadblocks? Yeah,
Speaker 6: I mean everybody, everybody has problems. Everybody, you know, nobody's
Speaker 6: perfect doing anything in this game of football. The key
Speaker 6: is when something does go wrong, the guys that have
Speaker 6: successful long period of time can compartmentalize it, learn from it,
Speaker 6: get over it, and move on. And and at that position,
Speaker 6: at the cornerback position, like they say, one trait you
Speaker 6: have to have is amnesia. I mean, if you do
Speaker 6: get beaten badly, you can't harbor it. You can't you know,
Speaker 6: dwell on it. You can't wallow in it, because then
Speaker 6: one bad play will turn into two, R three or
Speaker 6: four and at that point it's over.
Speaker 1: Defensive line is one of the key positions we're all watching.
Speaker 1: They signed Sheldon Rankins, They drafted Chris Jenkins and McKinley
Speaker 1: Jackson in the second and third rounds. But the guy
Speaker 1: who's caught my eye and the early portion of camp
Speaker 1: has been Sam Hubbard. He had ankle surgery just days
Speaker 1: after the season ended. He looks reinvigorated. He would have
Speaker 1: had a sack of Joe Burrow the other day. If
Speaker 1: you're allowed to hit the quarterback. Here's Sam and being healthy.
Speaker 3: I'm feeling great, you know.
Speaker 10: I just being an athlete again, moving how I want
Speaker 10: to move, running at top speed and cutting. You know,
Speaker 10: Joe got out of the pocket and I was chasing them,
Speaker 10: you know, making cuts and tracking his hip like I
Speaker 10: couldn't in the past. And it just feels good. You know,
Speaker 10: you never know how it's gonna feel until you get
Speaker 10: out there doing football full speed again. And with two
Speaker 10: of days under my belt, I'm really feeling great, getting
Speaker 10: confidence and you know, looking good on film, which is excited.
Speaker 10: But I want to have the best year of my
Speaker 10: career this year, so I'm just getting started.
Speaker 1: Was it hard to watch film when you worked yourself
Speaker 1: trying to gut it out last year?
Speaker 10: Yeah, no doubt. I don't want to watch that. You
Speaker 10: can't protect yourself. So I was just getting thrown around
Speaker 10: out there. But you know, when you're on one leg,
Speaker 10: you do what you can, and I think I fought
Speaker 10: pretty well. But I want to play at a high
Speaker 10: level at all times, and that's what I'm going to
Speaker 10: get back to.
Speaker 1: Sam says his goal is ten plus sacks. Can you
Speaker 1: see it?
Speaker 6: Yes, I can, I can see it. I have the
Speaker 6: utmost amount of respect for Sam Harvard because what he
Speaker 6: did last year is so hard, not just physically and
Speaker 6: during the pain mentally saying I suck and I can't
Speaker 6: do anything, you know, But I know I want to
Speaker 6: do this because I want to help my football team.
Speaker 6: I'm an unselfish guy, and if there's anything I can do,
Speaker 6: if I'm out there on one leg or out there
Speaker 6: on a half a leg or whatever it is, I'm
Speaker 6: going to go out there and do it for my
Speaker 6: football team. I can't tell you how much respect I
Speaker 6: have for Sam Hubbard doing that, because there's a lot
Speaker 6: of people out there that don't know what Sam Hubard
Speaker 6: was going through an experience and that were probably ripping
Speaker 6: his tail, you know. I mean, you put yourself in
Speaker 6: situations like that, you know, when you decide to do
Speaker 6: what Sam did. But Sam's like, you know what, so
Speaker 6: be it. I'm going to go out there and play
Speaker 6: for my teammates. And I thought he played at a
Speaker 6: very good level. I mean, Sam's obviously got a tremendous
Speaker 6: amount of personal pride. He is very very hard on himself.
Speaker 6: I didn't see him getting thrown around. I mean, you know,
Speaker 6: I mean everybody is every once in a while, it
Speaker 6: happens to everybody. But for him to play like that
Speaker 6: was extraordinary. Now he's back physically, and you know I
Speaker 6: would have six and a half sacks on one leg
Speaker 6: I think something like that last year. Yeah, I can
Speaker 6: see him getting ten on two healthy legs. And that
Speaker 6: deal with Joe Burrow. I remember, we used to do
Speaker 6: this drill called Mirrow dodge. You know, it was a
Speaker 6: shadow drill between cones like maybe eight yards and we
Speaker 6: do it against defensive line and they try to like,
Speaker 6: you know, fake us out. You know, it's almost like
Speaker 6: you're playing tag in a very short space. And that
Speaker 6: was a tough drill to do against these edge rushers
Speaker 6: when I was playing. You know, they're quick and smaller
Speaker 6: and all that. He's doing it against a quarterback that's
Speaker 6: a hell of an athlete, and he's mirroring every move
Speaker 6: Like wow, I mean that is an athlete, an incredible athlete.
Speaker 6: I mean this guy we know lacrosse, defensive back, linebacker,
Speaker 6: defensive line and his career at Moler. I mean, he
Speaker 6: is an athlete and what he is more than anything.
Speaker 6: He is a tough, minded, competitive team football player. Love
Speaker 6: Sam Harbard.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Rankins, Jenkins, and Jackson. Joseph Osai is another
Speaker 1: player that we are all focused on this camp. What
Speaker 1: have you seen so far out of Joseph Osai?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think Joseph Osai has taken advantage of the
Speaker 6: opportunity with the h Boys out a little bit. You know,
Speaker 6: Sam had had a veteran day, and Trey's missed a
Speaker 6: couple of days due to getting nicked up a little bit.
Speaker 6: And you know, I think Osai has done a nice
Speaker 6: job taken advantage of additional snaps that have been presented
Speaker 6: to him, you know, at the edge position. I think
Speaker 6: Joseph Si and Keem Davis gather have said, you know what,
Speaker 6: got a chance here? You know, guys are down. You don't,
Speaker 6: you don't want it, you don't, you don't look for it.
Speaker 6: Is it a veteran day, is it an injury, is
Speaker 6: it con selectomy, you know, whatever the heck it is.
Speaker 6: But when those when those snaps present themselves, you want
Speaker 6: to capitalize. You want to take advantage of the opportunities.
Speaker 6: And that's what these guys are doing. And again, you
Speaker 6: know there are number of snaps ratchet up and the
Speaker 6: people that are going against become even more favor or
Speaker 6: a matchup that if I do well against this guy,
Speaker 6: I'm really gonna get noticed by the coaching staff. I mean,
Speaker 6: it's all about gaining the trust of your teammates, your
Speaker 6: coaches if you're going to make this football team. And then,
Speaker 6: like we talked about Dan, you know there's thirty one
Speaker 6: other teams got tape, and there's other leagues. You know,
Speaker 6: I'm not saying a guy like Joseph I have to
Speaker 6: worry about playing and you know, not an NFL team,
Speaker 6: but you want to maximize those reps when they present themselves.
Speaker 6: He's doing it.
Speaker 1: We are going to hear one more SoundBite. I've been
Speaker 1: watching Mike Asiki pretty closely. He's made some nice catches
Speaker 1: so far in camp. So I asked Jake Browning about him,
Speaker 1: but I didn't get the answer I was expecting. Here's Jake.
Speaker 7: Between him and Tanner, I think we got two of
Speaker 7: the better, you know, receiving tight ends in the NFL.
Speaker 7: I think Mike's obviously a name everybody knows, but I
Speaker 7: think Tanner, you know, every time, he's kind of one
Speaker 7: of those other guys that kind of bounces around early
Speaker 7: in his career, kind of fighting to make a team.
Speaker 7: But then all of a sudden, he plays and it's like,
Speaker 7: you know, I had all the confidence in the world
Speaker 7: on to him because it's just like, I don't know
Speaker 7: what's going to happen. By no Tanner is going to
Speaker 7: be open, and so that makes it feel a goad.
Speaker 7: And he's I think he played a little quarterback at
Speaker 7: some point, So he's really a really good body language
Speaker 7: and I always feel like I'm on the same page
Speaker 7: with him, even if I haven't had a ton of
Speaker 7: reps with him, because he's just you know, he tells
Speaker 7: you what he's doing with his hands and little things
Speaker 7: like that that are really friendly for a quarterback.
Speaker 1: I asked about Mike Kasicki. Jake made a point of
Speaker 1: praising Tanner Hudson. Are we sleeping on Tanner Hudson too much?
Speaker 6: Man? You're talking Tanner Hudson six ' five, Kasicki sixty
Speaker 6: six and run very good routes. I mean they're they're
Speaker 6: exceptional with their rout running ability and contested catch and
Speaker 6: you know, they can high point a football. They get
Speaker 6: a big catch radius and with those body types, and
Speaker 6: they're very intelligent in terms of their route running. They're
Speaker 6: always where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to
Speaker 6: be there, and they're a quarterback's best friend. And we've
Speaker 6: talked about it before. Guys like this, you can put
Speaker 6: them out in the football field at the end of
Speaker 6: the line of scrimmage and present a too tight information
Speaker 6: and motion them out, put them in the slot, and
Speaker 6: you can go from twelve personnel to ten personnel without
Speaker 6: a substitution, and that puts an immense amount of pressure
Speaker 6: on a defensive football team. You're going to create a
Speaker 6: mismatch there somewhere, and I think that the thing that
Speaker 6: Jake talked about. Yeah, I don't know exactly what's gonna unfold,
Speaker 6: but Tanner Hudson is always open. I think they feel
Speaker 6: that way about Gasticky as well. But both of these
Speaker 6: guys understand defense, understand leverage, understand coverages. They've got themselves
Speaker 6: a couple of really good receiving tight ends there that
Speaker 6: have versatility to do other things.
Speaker 1: A couple more topics before we wrap this up. The
Speaker 1: Bengals drafted Brad Robbins last year. He had an inconsistent
Speaker 1: rookie year obviously, so they signed undrafted free agent Austin
Speaker 1: McNamara to compete with him at training camp. This Friday,
Speaker 1: they added an undrafted punter, Ryan Rico out of BYU,
Speaker 1: who had originally signed with Kansas City before they let
Speaker 1: him go. What do you make of having three punters
Speaker 1: in camp at this stage?
Speaker 6: I think that Darren Simmons, you know, I said. I
Speaker 6: asked him about that. I said, boy, you brought a
Speaker 6: third into the mix. He goes, I've always liked three
Speaker 6: someome three ways. Whatever you want to however you want
Speaker 6: to tournament, he said, I love that number three. I
Speaker 6: think it's just okay, competition's on. You know, It's like,
Speaker 6: don't don't take anything for granted. You know, I think
Speaker 6: I'm not saying mind games or anything like that. I
Speaker 6: think they're looking for the best answer.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: I don't think that that Darren wants to go through
Speaker 6: another season like he went through last year, and I
Speaker 6: don't think anybody does. The player does either, so and
Speaker 6: I got to give a lot of credit to him
Speaker 6: as well. I mean, you talk about guys that you know,
Speaker 6: worked worked their body a little bit. I mean Brad
Speaker 6: Robbins is a good ten to fifteen pounds, bigger and
Speaker 6: stronger himself. I mean he and a lot of that
Speaker 6: is is like strength. I mean he's he's driving the
Speaker 6: ball a lot, a lot better. I just think that
Speaker 6: that Darren Simmons is going to leave no stone unturned
Speaker 6: in terms of making sure that that aspect of the
Speaker 6: kicking game is in the best order it possibly can be.
Speaker 6: When training campaigns.
Speaker 1: Final thing you had Ted Karras on You're in the
Speaker 1: Trenches podcast recently sponsored by First Star Logistics, he is
Speaker 1: making no secret of the fact that this team needs
Speaker 1: to get off to a better start. Sometimes guys, yeah,
Speaker 1: they won't address it directly. He's not having any of that.
Speaker 1: He says, hey, we cannot fall behind again after being
Speaker 1: going to each of the last two years. Do you
Speaker 1: see any difference at camp? Is there a different sense
Speaker 1: of urgency? Is there anything about the way that they
Speaker 1: are attacking training camp that strikes you as all right,
Speaker 1: they're doing that in order to get off to a
Speaker 1: better start.
Speaker 6: I mean, I see competition, you know, definitely, but it's
Speaker 6: so early yet. When pads come on, that'll be a
Speaker 6: good indicator to me, particularly with the guys in the trenches.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: But I thought last year, Dan, I thought they really
Speaker 6: worked hard against each other. I really did. They just
Speaker 6: you know, it just didn't work out. But I do
Speaker 6: think there's nothing wrong, you know, the elephants in the room.
Speaker 6: I mean, why try to hide them? You know. It's
Speaker 6: like any of you young guys that didn't experience this
Speaker 6: last year, I'm going to tell you about it, and
Speaker 6: guys that we went through it and ain't happening again. Boys,
Speaker 6: you know, I mean, it's like that has to be,
Speaker 6: has to be. One of the early goals is to
Speaker 6: get off to a good start, and as we know,
Speaker 6: three out of the first four games in their schedule.
Speaker 6: Most pundits would say they could be three and one,
Speaker 6: they were all winnable, they could even go four and
Speaker 6: all whatever. But they they getting off to a winning
Speaker 6: start and not having a crawl out of a losing record,
Speaker 6: particularly in the division, and being only two to one
Speaker 6: and two in the division, you know, I mean they
Speaker 6: only have three division games in their first eleven games,
Speaker 6: then they got three in the final six games. So
Speaker 6: you don't want you don't want to in those eleven games.
Speaker 6: You don't want to be one and two in your division,
Speaker 6: that's for sure, and have to you know, really in
Speaker 6: the last six games of the season almost run the
Speaker 6: table in your division. That would even put more pressure
Speaker 6: on you. So there is a sense of urgency. I think,
Speaker 6: who let's let's not make it tough on ourselves. Let's
Speaker 6: get off to a better start.
Speaker 1: Great stuff, as always, appreciate your time. Let's go watch
Speaker 1: practice number four.
Speaker 6: Let's do it. Dan, you're the man.
Speaker 1: As you may have read or heard in the Bengals
Speaker 1: practice on Sunday night, Sam Hubbard injured his knee and
Speaker 1: left the field on a cart after a collision with
Speaker 1: tight end Mike Kasiki. Thankfully, it does not appear to
Speaker 1: be serious. According to ESPN's Dan Graziano, who was in attendance,
Speaker 1: Hubbard had an MRI later that night. The test results
Speaker 1: were good and Sam should be okay. Before we get
Speaker 1: to our next guest, we remind you that the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud
Speaker 1: to be the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta
Speaker 1: Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by kettering
Speaker 1: health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. I've been
Speaker 1: getting to know the Bengals draft picks this year by
Speaker 1: asking them five questions that are a little bit different
Speaker 1: from the norm. We've been going in order, starting with
Speaker 1: the Marius Mims, and we've reached draft pick number eight,
Speaker 1: the second of the bengals two six round selections. Time
Speaker 1: for five questions with rookie defensive end Cedric Johnson out
Speaker 1: of all miss question number one, I read that your
Speaker 1: dad is a former marine. We think of military parents
Speaker 1: as being disciplinarians. Was that the case for you? You
Speaker 1: and how did it impact your childhood?
Speaker 3: Nah? Not too crazy, actually, my dad, I mean he
Speaker 3: was he instilled in us like discipline and like having
Speaker 3: having odd things together, as you expect from a military guy.
Speaker 3: But it was the my mom was really the disciplinarian,
Speaker 3: like she was the one keeping everything in order to
Speaker 3: keep things straight, giving us a whooping here and there,
Speaker 3: you know. But it was it was really it was
Speaker 3: really more so on my mom.
Speaker 1: Did your dad use the military clock? Was, you know
Speaker 1: two o'clock fourteen hundred?
Speaker 3: No? No, no, no, no, he didn't he didn't do
Speaker 3: us like that. He kept it simple for us. He
Speaker 3: kept it simple for us, all right.
Speaker 1: Question number two for Cedric Johnson. He went to Ole Miss,
Speaker 1: where the speed limit on campus is eighteen miles an
Speaker 1: hour because that was Archie Manning's uniform number back in
Speaker 1: the day. Did you know that when you saw that
Speaker 1: eighteen mile an hour sign the first time?
Speaker 3: Absolutely not, But I quickly learned being on campus there,
Speaker 3: they they teach that kind of thing pretty quickly, and
Speaker 3: especially we used to have a it used to be
Speaker 3: an old trophy room in there where it was like
Speaker 3: all the different guys that graduated from Old Miss, Argie
Speaker 3: man and Eli like that. It was a whole room
Speaker 3: just dedicated to those guys. So, like you learned pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: I gotta say, as far as college traditions go, the
Speaker 1: eighteen mile an hour speed limits pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Nah, that's pretty tough. You got just set speed
Speaker 3: limits straight for you. Like, that's pretty exclusive, all right.
Speaker 1: Question number three for Cedric Johnson. Every year a college
Speaker 1: football writer named Bruce Feldman comes out with his Freaks
Speaker 1: list of the top one hundred athletic freaks in college football.
Speaker 1: You made the list a couple of years ago. How
Speaker 1: big of an honor is it among college football players
Speaker 1: to be on the Freaks List?
Speaker 3: Pretty big, I feel, I mean just being able to
Speaker 3: be pointed out like that, just among all the different
Speaker 3: college athletes. You know, there's plenty of guys that are
Speaker 3: putting in work, working on or to become as stronger,
Speaker 3: become as fast as they can, and just to get
Speaker 3: their recognition and mit the lot.
Speaker 1: Do you know that some of your current teammates are
Speaker 1: former Freaks List guys?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 3: Really, I can. I mean, I'm that's not surprising. I
Speaker 3: just not surpris him at all. I can imagine you
Speaker 3: need two names? Yes, name dropped me one.
Speaker 1: Chris Jenkins, that makes sense, Yosei Vosh was on there.
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Gunter was on it a few years again.
Speaker 3: Okay, then I ain't know jeff was on there. Pretty good.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna ask him about that one. All right.
Speaker 1: I just gave you some topics of conversation with teammates. Sorry.
Speaker 1: Question number four. Your older brother, Cephas is in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He was a quarterback in college. He's now a wide
Speaker 1: receiver with a Tampa Bay Box. What advice has he
Speaker 1: given you about your first NFL training camp.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, just just buying in everything, just taking
Speaker 3: in the moment. Really this moment. We've been working in,
Speaker 3: working for all our lives. So he's just really telling
Speaker 3: me to take in a moment, enjoy everything. He's just
Speaker 3: been trying to give me as much advice as he can.
Speaker 3: But I know, for the lungs, he's just always been
Speaker 3: telling me, like he said, you your situation gonna be different. Bro,
Speaker 3: You're gonna get drafted. You're gonna get drafted, and I
Speaker 3: don't know, I don't know how your situation won't go.
Speaker 3: But he he's just always telling me to like buy
Speaker 3: in on all phases of the game. Special teams, just
Speaker 3: make sure I get in, get in good with all
Speaker 3: the players, coaches, just create good relationships like that.
Speaker 1: How proud are you of him for making this transition
Speaker 1: from college quarterback NFL wide receiver.
Speaker 3: Very very proud. But it's nothing I didn't know he
Speaker 3: could do already. He used to play. He used to
Speaker 3: play receiver way back when in Pee Wee DA's, so
Speaker 3: I knew, I knew he still had it in him
Speaker 3: and he just an athlete at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: He always had the ability it was no surprise.
Speaker 5: At all to me.
Speaker 1: All right, Fifth and final question for Cedric Johnson. Tell
Speaker 1: me something about you that not many people know.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, not many people know. I'm just a
Speaker 3: pretty chill guy. Honestly, I just try and stay out
Speaker 3: the way. I'm just trying to add as much value
Speaker 3: as i can to the team. And I'm going home
Speaker 3: hopping on a game. She'll literally standing out the way.
Speaker 3: I don't do too much go out or nothing like that.
Speaker 3: I'm just trying to benefit the team as much as
Speaker 3: i can.
Speaker 1: So hunting quarterbacks on the field. Yes, a calm, cool, collected,
Speaker 1: chill guy off it.
Speaker 3: Yes, literally simply put it. I like that. I like that.
Speaker 1: Happy to help. You're off the hot seat. Appreciate the time,
Speaker 1: best of luck.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Core, Proud
Speaker 1: to be the Bengals Official HR software provider by Alta Fiber,
Speaker 1: future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if
Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or share
Speaker 1: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm
Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: podcast