Bengals Booth Podcast: All Shook Up

reporter and host of Bengals Weekly. She's been all over various mock drafts or Bengals dot Com, so we'll discuss the names that pop up most frequently and take a shot at our own three round mock draft. Spoiler alert, she gets a better grade than I do. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get

it now on the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since hearing the Hoo Day chant on Opening Day at Great American Ballpark. I've got to give credit to the Reds for honoring the Bengals on opening Day.

Joe Burrow throughout the ceremonial first pitch does Zach Taylor no less, and Jamar Chase, the NFL's offensive Rookie of the Year, presented the National League Rookie of the Year Award to Jonathan India. That was cool symmetry. We knew all of that was coming in advance, but I didn't expect Reds fans to unite in a loud Hoo Day chant before the first pitch. Cincinnati has long been called a baseball town, but let's face it, we are living

in a football world. Nothing unites a city like a contending NFL team, and Cincinnati has fallen head over heels in love with the reigning AFC champs. Now time to get to my first guest, Nick Shook from NFL dot Com. You've got a great piece on NFL dot Com this week called the AFC Roster Reset. You take a look at every team's best editions, key losses, and their burning question heading into the draft. Let's start with the Bengals

and their additions. How did Duke Tobin do in your opinion, Well, I think everybody knew what he needed to do after Super Bowl fifty six, right it was, it was adjust and improved the offensive line, and then he immediately showed some aggression in doing so, signing one of the better signings I think he had anybody had in the NFL this entire offseason Lao Collins, you know, kind of pouncing on the cot on the opportunity presented by the Cowboys who moved on from Collins to save some cap space.

You know, they also moved to Mark Cooper. They were trying to create caps based and Duke Tobin saw that opportunity and took advantage of it and really short up that right tackle position because you know as well as anybody that it's a very important position, number one, number two.

It was a position of weakness for the Bengals down the stretch once they didn't have Riley Reef anymore, and so making sure that that could be solidified provided Collins as available, stays healthy and everything else, that's a massive upgrade for them and solves a massive question for them. And then you know, the rest of the signings in the offensive line, you know, adding some interior guys that I was also very key for them because you know, again you want to back to the postseason. You look

at that Kansas City game. You had Pikeman Energy and Jackson Carmen rotating in and out at right guard depending on the series, depending on who is pass blocking better. Now they don't have to do that, and more importantly than anything, to me, yeah, added depth. Yeah, added options. You didn't have to rely on somebody with the lack of experience in a position like Idenergy, or a lack

of experience overall, like Jackson Carmen. You could go to a veteran who is more reliable and get a performance that you expect and most importantly, protect Joe Burrow and allow this offense to flourish as it should. Collins becomes the right tackle, Alex Scappa becomes the right guard. Ted Carriss right now is penciled in its center, but obviously he's played guard. He played left guard for the Patriots last year. Jonah Williams is the left tackle, at least

on paper. Right now, left guard is still TBA Jackson Carmen. You'd love him to you know, take over and establish himself after being a second round draft pick last year. Do you think the line as is right now is good enough? That's the only question is left guard? I think I think the other four guys are very solid. You know, I was very impressed by their signing of Ted Kris because he was a guy who has played

well in New England. And I was surprised that it didn't move the needle more when they assigned him out, you know, for me just looking at the restaurant. So that's a great signing. That's that's a great addition to what they need. So I think the biggest question there is left guard. And you know, I think Jackson Carmen might have gained a lot of experience from those high pressure situations playing in games like the AFC Championship game,

being asked to step up in a critical moment. And this guy was not a highly tattered recruit, you know, for no reason coming out of you know, Southwest Ohio. This is a reason. You know, he ended up at Clemson for a reason as well. And I think he's gonna follow a suit and develop into a solid guard, I hope. So because you know, spending the pick they spent on him and the expectations that come with it.

You wanted to live up to that, and more importantly than anything, you want him to fill that role that you need filled in the offensive line. Because I think the biggest challenge for the Bengals overall, and you would probably agree with this, is last year was great, but they have to prove the doubters wrong. There are gonna be a ton of naysayers who say, oh, that was a fluke. They were a flash in the pan. Everything went right for them, They stayed mostly healthy, and that's

fair to say. But the Bengals' biggest objective is to prove them wrong, and getting good quality play out of the left guard would be a big boost for them. Improving that and that is your burning question for the Bengals. Can they prove that twenty twenty one was not a fluke. Do you get the sense that a lot of people around the league, based on the contact and the people that you've talked to, feel that way that the Bengals

were somewhat of a fluke. Well, I think that they know that the Bengals have a legit quarterback in Joe Burrow. I mean, I saw it in Week two of twenty twenty, and now the rest of the world has kind of caught up to that thanks to the Bengals most recent season. So you know, if you have the quarterback, you always have a chance people are going to take you seriously. But I do kind of think that they've gotten a little lost in the rush of the off season, the

loading up of the AFC West. They're just not in the conversation if you talk to people and ask them for you know, your favorites coming out of the AFC. You get the Bills, you get the Chiefs, maybe you get the Broncos. You get you know, one of the AFC South teams, although I think neither are very high. You know, people aren't high on either of them right now at Tennessee in Indianapolis, and then the AFC North, we don't really know what you're going to get out

of the division other than the Bengals. So I think they get kind of lost in the shuffle a little bit. But I don't think it's necessarily that people don't think that they could be contender. It's just that they're not. Even though they won the AFC last year and they were one touchdown driveway from potentially winning the Super Bowl. They're not held in quite as high of a regard because, unfortunately,

signing offensive linemen is not like the sexiest move. It's not the move that's going to really get people excited when when the Chargers are training for Khalil Mack and Lebroncos are training for Russell Wilson. But that's okay because if you don't have to make those moves, that means you're already in a pretty good spot, and that means that you have a good chance of continuing sustaining the success that you've established last season. Our guest is Nick

Shook from NFL dot Com. You can follow him on Twitter at the Nick Shook. Let's move to the key losses category. The Bengals lost tight end c j Uzama right now, at least, they've lost defensive tackle Larry Ogan Joebi, although he's still out there. You mentioned Riley reef Riley will not be back. It's hard to keep everybody in this day and age in the NFL. But how do the Bengals compare to most in terms of the key losses? Yeah, you're gonna have some turnover. It happens with everybody more,

you know, with some teams than others. I think the biggest question for me is that defensive interior, because you know, Larry provided the depth quality depth that you needed. I think they'll feel fine if they don't get him back, but yeah, I think that's a position that they could also addressed in the draft as well. So that's probably my biggest question mark. I think they're standing pretty well

in terms of who they lost Usama. I feel like they can replace him, you know, because tight end often is a young quarterback safety valve, but it's also a position that can be elevated by a quarterback's play. We've seen that with other tight ends across the league. So

I think they'll be okay there. It's not as if the cupboard is completely bare, and you know, it's difficult to lose Usama, who really endeared himself to Bengals fans, especially leading up to the Super Bowl, talking about diving into a pool full of Skyline chili, and it's a bummer to see him go. But I think they'll be

okay there. I think my biggest question mark is the defensive interior, and there as some opportunities in this class to resupply there with some of these players in this draft, so I'm feel pretty good about where they are rosterwise right now. I think the biggest thing for them is staying healthy, and that's the same case for every team.

We could talk about what teams look like on paper all we want right now, because that's all we can do, but really, one of the biggest things that has to happen for a team to go deep into the playoffs and repeat success is staying healthy, and that's gonna be the biggest challenge. They did sign Hayden Hurst to a one year deal to potentially do what c. J Uzama did last year. I kind of think that's potentially a sneaky good move. What do you think? Yeah, I would agree.

I thought he played pretty well in Atlanta. You know, if it's just one of those under the radar signings because he doesn't quite have the name value. It's weird because tight end, especially in free agency, between this year and last year, was vastly different. You know. Last year it was Johnny Smith and Hunter Henry both going to New England and Hunter Henry the solid season. John Smith

didn't do much of anything. So I think moving the needle at the tight end position of free agency doesn't necessarily produce the greatest results, so and under the radar signing could end up, you know, being more successful and more effective for you. And it also patches that hole that's left by the departure of Uzama while also allowing you know, other players to develop as well. So I think you're right it is a sneaky I think it's

a sneaky signing. We'll see if it pays off. The Bengals have the thirty first overall pick in the draft. Any thoughts on what they should do. There is some potential to add another offensive lineman. I like the tackles in this group. I like some of the guard It's not quite as deep at guard and in the interior as it is outside at tackle. But there's an opportunity for them, depending on how the first round shakes out,

for them to add another player. And I think it's, like you know, we did this on the Inside Report podcast. You can never have enough offensive lineman, much like you can't have enough pitching in baseball. So if they went tackle again, got somebody like a Charles Cross who might still be there or maybe a little bit further down the list, you know, the Penning kid, he might be another option as well if he's still there. I think

that there's some value that could be had there. And the fun thing for the Bengals at this point is it's a bit of a luxury to be picking at thirty one because you have a roster that's largely intact, didn't have too much turnover, made some nice additions. Short up the offensive line. You could go best player available. You could also go need. You could go for potential, and I think potential would be at tackle, to develop a successor at one of the positions, or maybe move

them into guard. Have some options, and I think they can find that at tackle in the draft. Our guest is Nick Shook from NFL dot com. Let's get back to your roster reset, specifically in the AFC North. You're burning question for the Baltimore Ravens is can they basically prove that their issues with health and everything else last year was their biggest problem because they have some they still need to work on their defense, and Eric da

Costa has talked about this. They went and signed clay As Campbell, which I thought was, you know, a smart move, something that came a little bit later than I expected. They swung and missed on Zadarius Smith, which I thought was interesting considering his history there and where the franchise is positioned currently. And also there's that lingering doubt about

Lamar Jackson and his contract. So they have some questions to answer personnel wise, but more importantly than anything, they need to get a healthier season out of their team now. A lot of how they've approached this offseason and how Eric da Costa has spoken, and even John Harbou to an extent, has been look, we're gonna get guys back. It's almost gonna be like we're adding key players because we lost so many guys last year. And that's great, and that's easy to say right now, but then you

got to prove that that's all you really needed. I still think they need to work on their defense a little bit. If you go look at the roster right now, get a lot of guys who departed it and not a ton of the players on the roster coming back that that you know, you can look at his key contributors. So there's still some work to be done, but more importantly than anything, it's getting healthy and proving that all they really knew was be healthy. Let's move to the

Cleveland Browns. Obviously they made a huge splash by obtaining Deshaun Watson. What is your biggest question for Cleveland? Is that risk going to pay off immediately for them? Because you know, there may be a suspension. It could be four games, could be eight games. We don't know. And that's the biggest question right now is we don't know

what the immediate future with Deshaun Watson is now. If you take that out of the equation, there are other questions that still have to be answered as well, because Deshaun Watson is not the same quarterback as Baker Mayfield, which makes me think a little bit of a scheme change is gonna be coming, not so much of the wide zone boot action that you saw with Baker Mayfield, because Deshaun Watson is not that guy. He's somebody who's more skilled and you don't necessarily rely on that necessarily.

So how are they going to adjust? How is Kevin Stefancy gonna adjust? How is the team going to weather the the negative, the negative, the negativity that comes from you know, acquiring to Shaun Watson and fully guaranteeing his five year or two and a thirty million dollars contract.

We've already seen some owners and other gms, you know, kind of bash that because, well, you know, you have the issues with Botson off the field, but you also have the precedent that it sets that it makes these personnel man their job harder to do, especially with the Ravens and Dacostaa trying to figure out a deal with Lamar Jackson. So there's gonna be a lot of a lot of haters for the Browns this year and they're gonna have to fight through that, and they also still

need to answer feed questions. Personnel wise, they need another receiver. I think Mark Cooper was a great addition. Donovan People's Jones has shown some promise, but I still kind of need to see him in a bigger role and prove it over a full season. Anthony Schwartz is a fast guy, he's a burner, but he needs to become a complete receiver. I think they need to add somebody else. I don't know if that's gonna be Jarvis Landry or somebody else. You know, that's a big loss if he does not

come back. Got to answer defensive end janev and Clowney does he come back, we don't know. And the defensive interior they lacked depth there. So there are some holes that they still need to fill. And they're going to be dealing with a lot of a lot of doubt from some other, you know, outside sources. It's it's gonna be a challenge. But if it all pays off, it

could pay off dramatically. So and we'll wait to see if that happens last but not least or maybe least, we'll see the Pittsburgh Steelers big Ben has done, Mitchell Truebisky has arrived as the savior or at least the stop gap a quarterback. What do you think? Yeah, the bridge maybe, I'm not sure. That's my biggest question. My burning question for them is what's next under center for them? Because you know, you signed Mitch Rubisky and it sounds great.

He got a ton of positive momentum for himself in this offseason despite only throwing eight passes last year, just because he was on the Bill's roster. I for one, you know, Mitch is a product of Mineral Ohio. He's a you know, suburban Cleveland kid. I would like to see him, you know, kind of reclaim his career after it didn't go well in Chicago. But I think that it's it's a risk, it's a franchise and transition. You have your general manager headed out, he's gonna be done it.

For this draft. You have uncertainty at quarterback. It's either it's mister Whiskey or it's Mason Rudolph. Do they take a quarterback in the draft? I tend to think that they do. They were at all the quarterback pro days, but they tend to be at those anyways, so it's not like you know, we're getting any sneak previews there. They also have to answer, you know, for the departure of Joe Hayden, and it's in the departure of Jujus

miss Suster. Now they went and signed to Anthony Miller, which you know, maybe they can get more of out of him than Chicago and Houston could. But it's just a lot of uncertainty, and when you don't have the question answered at quarterback, it makes everything else a little, you know, the footing a little less stable. So I don't expect a lot from them. If I had to order the division right now, I got them finishing the last I think it's gonna be a tough division again.

It's just that the Steelers have more questions to answer than any other team in this division. The AFC Roster Reset is great. It's a perfect snapshot of where teams stand heading into the draft in a couple of weeks. Always enjoy what you crank out for NFL dot Com and appreciate check coming out on the podcast. Thank you, Nick, Thank you so much. Dan appreciate it. I love being on.

In addition Knicks AFC Roster Reset, his colleague Greg Rosenthal published a piece on Friday listing the AFC hierarchy heading into the draft. He has the Bills and Chiefs listed at the top two teams in the conference, with the Bengals listed as one of five teams and the next best tier, a group that also includes Baltimore and Cleveland. Pittsburgh is one of six teams in Tier three, with the fourth and final tier made up of the Jets, Jaguars,

and Texans. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during the course of the year, with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. There used to be just

a handful of mock drafts. Now it seems like they are about fifty published every day, including seven round mock drafts, which are mostly worthless, but I find myself looking at them anyway. I used to spend a ton of time searching the Internet and keeping track of all of the players mocked to the Bengals in Round one, but now I don't have to. Thanks to Bengals team reporter Marissa Contapelli.

She's been posting regular updates on the various mock drafts from Bengals dot Com, and we got together this week to discuss that and much more. All right, Marissa, A couple of years ago, we knew exactly who the Bengals were going to take in the first round. It was obviously going to be Joe Burrow. Last year, we had a fifty fifty shot it was going to be Jamar Chase or Piney Sewell, this year, since they have the

thirty first overall pick, we really don't know. I mean, you've been doing a deep dive into all these mock drafts, and there are a lot of different names that we've seen. I thought it would be fun to take advantage of your research and take a look at some of the most common names that keep coming up on these mock drafts. Now you've posted five of these to Bengals dot com.

Have the names changed much during the course of the time you've been doing this, you know, Dan, That's been one of my favorite parts of doing this is seeing the volume of names that I've been able to come across through so many of these draft gurus and experts putting out their mock drafts. There has been a lot of change. You look at the first couple of weeks and it was really offensive line heavy. Then we signed the three offensive linemen, then all of a sudden, they

shifted to the defensive side. But there have been a few consistent names. The one name that has been on every single mock draft to this point has been centered Tyler Linderbaum out of Iowa. Even though we have ted Harris Lale Collins, and Alex Kappa, they still think a lot of drafts works, still expect us to go with the best available center. In this year's draft class, just a guy that you can't really pass up on and you're looking more towards the future. So Tyler Linderbaum has

been one of those mainstain names. And if he's there, Dan, I mean, how do you pass up on a talent like that? If he's there is always the big question mark. But a couple of their names that have been really consistent have been on the corner backside. You have Kyler Gordon out of Washington, Andrew Booth junior out of Clemson,

and Kaier Ilam out of Florida. Those three have been not necessarily every single mock draft up to this point, but at least three or four out of them, so a lot of experts, you know, while they lean towards the offensive side of the ball, over the last few weeks there have been more and more defensive names. Have had a couple of edge rushers thrown in there, but a lot of cornerbacks, especially as that is a position of me that the draft experts are saying the Bengals

should target early out in this draft. All right, so let's get back to Tyler Linderbaum. I'm kind of obsessed with Tyler Linderbaum. I'll admit it. Dane Brugler from the Athletic who does this incredible draft guide every year The Beast has the Bengals selecting him thirty first overall. Todd McShay famously of ESPN has the Bengals selecting Tyler Linderbaum thirty first overall. In a lot of ways, he makes sense because Ted Carriss, who right now is penciled in

as the center, can move over play left guard. He played left guard last year for the Patriots, so that would not be a big deal. But there are some red flags with Linderbaumb. He's got short arms thirty one and seven eighth inch arms, teams like thirty three, He's less than thirty two. He's not a huge guy. Kind of the comp for him, though, is a familiar name for a lot of people around here. Jason Kelsey from the Philadelphia Eagles who went to U see tremendous range,

ability to get to the second level and block linebackers. So, like I said, I'm kind of obsessed with Tyler Linderbaum, But as you pointed out, I don't know if he's going to be there. When you look at these big boards, he's typically more like in the fourteenth or fifteenth best overall player in the draft as opposed to the thirty first because he's a center and teams only need one starting center. Maybe that allows him to slide down to thirty one. But I don't know. In my gut, I

don't think it's going to happen. I'm with you, Dan, I don't think he's going to be there. I've been a little surprise that he has been in every single mock draft for that reason. You look at other teams and a lot of our teams do need a center, and so I just think with his upside, I mean, I know you did call it a couple of the red flags, which are absolutely valid, I don't I would be surprised if he was still on the board at

thirty one. I just I think a player or I've excuse me, I think a team is going to take a chance on him ahead of us choosing thirty one, and I think it's going to be Baltimore. It makes me feel even worse, but they lost their center in free agency. I just I have this strange hunch that the Ravens are going to foil my hopes for getting Tyler Linderbaum, but if he's there, The Bengals have a history of taking centers. Their first ever draft pick obviously

was Bob Johnson. He was a center. They've drafted Blair Bush, Dave Remington, Billy Price all his first round centers. Billy unfortunately didn't work out that well, but who knows, maybe he will become the fifth center selected in the first round. Now you mentioned some of the cornerbacks that have been coming up. I think this is the positional need that makes the most sense. They obviously have their top three back, but Eli Apple only signed a one year deal to

come back. Who knows if he'll signed another extension if he has another good year. But in any case, you'd like to get a young, talented cornerback into the pipeline, and there should be a good one there at thirty one there really should, you know. You look at the names that have been kind of thrown around in the first and second round when it comes to cornerback, and there's a lot of talent, and you know a decent

amount of depth to that position. I would fully anticipate the Bengals looking to target that early in the draft, and in just some of the names that we've that I've shared earlier, I mean, Kyler Gordon is kind of the one that sticks out to me. He's been the name I've seen most often on mock drafts from a

handful of different experts. A lot of people feel like he will just be a good fit when you have chittabe A Woozier and Mike Hilton and just kind of shaping out the rest of that cornerbacks room, and that while he might be a little on the raw side, they have the time to develop him because of Eli Apple being on a one year deal and so you're

not putting Kyler Gordon into an immediate starting position. You can develop him a little bit, work him in because you have that flexibility with Eli Apple, you know, still here for at least one more season. You know. Andrew Booth is another one that you know is really intriguing to me. You know, he's been dealing with some injuries. Didn't work out Combine, didn't work out of the Pro

day due to different core injuries and hamstring injuries. But you know, I mean, you kind of like what you've seen when he did on tape at Clemson UM and he's just a guy that I think if healthy would come in and be able to fill that slot right away. And then I mean Kyrie Lamb you know the tape you see of him, and you know Florida being in you know, just that conference down there. I mean just five interceptions, twenty passes defended during his time there. He's

just just screams athleticism when you watch him on tape. Dan, That's who mel Kiper has the Bengals selecting, and he actually had the Bengals trading down into early in the second round and still being able to get him. You mentioned Kyler Gordon. His name does come up a lot Lands zerline. Who's another prominent draft guru. I had him on my podcast a few weeks ago. That's who he has the Bengals selecting with a thirty first overall pick. One.

Thing about Kyler Gordon that kind of makes sense. He's got a lot of special teams experience at Washington and as you mentioned, probably wouldn't start from day one for Cincinnati, so you'd want him to contribute on special teams. I do think that that would make some sense. It is about time for the Bengal selected to select a cornerback

in the first round. They had this history where they did it every other year, Will Jackson twenty sixteen, dark Quesdnar twenty fourteen, Dray Kirkpatrick twenty twelve, Leon Hall, and Jonathan Joseph two thousand and seven, two thousand and six. So they had five cornerbacks taken in the first round in a ten year period. They haven't done it in the last five years. I do think history often points in the right direction when we're trying to evaluate what

the Bengals are going to do. So I think there's a very strong possibility if one of those guys that you mentioned is there at thirty one, that's the way

they go. I agree with you, especially look at the last couple of years, and it's been the Bengals really trying to retool the offensive side of the ball, and so it makes sense you're going to take a Joe Burrow, You're going to take a Jamar Chase, and so I think this is the year where they've done They've done a lot on the defensive side over the last two years,

but they're not quite done. Dan. They need a couple extra pieces on that side of the ball, and I think it makes the world of sense if one of those strong cornerbacks are there at thirty one, to go ahead and take them. We're visiting with Marissa Contapelli. We're talking about the Bengals draft. Marissa has been posting mock drafts on a regular basis on Bengals dot com. Now, early in the mock drafts, as you mentioned, a lot

of people were pointing toward offensive lineman. Guards kept coming up early on Kenyan Greene from Texas A and m Zion Johnson from Boston College. I don't know if either of those guys is going to be there, but when he talked about Tyler Linderbaum and the possibility of Ted Carriss moving from center to guard, if you take a guard, you don't have to do that. You would plug that person into the mix with Jackson, Carmen and others to be the next starting left guard and complete the total

transformation the Bengals offensive line. You're absolutely right, and that's certainly an area they can still look to go at at thirty one if one of those guys is on the board. I mean, I can't help but love the thought of having an additional couple of young, talented offensive lineman and the hands of Frank Pollock and let him help develop them, help get them to where the Bengals are going to need them in a year or two

years from now. Not saying these guys have to come in and start day one, because what the Bengals were able to do in free agency this year have given them that flexibility to have some of those vettering guys on the offensive line, but absoluely able to take one or two in the early stages of the draft if they want to, and to be able to help develop and really shape up this offensive line to really excel here in the next few years. Stan. Let me give you a couple other names that I've seen on mock

drafts that you've posted and others have posted. Logan Hall, who's a defensive lineman from Houston. I saw him play face to face when the Bearcats took on the Cougars. Our colleague Jeff Butch Hobson and his first media mock drafts selected Arnold Ebba Katie, an edge rusher from Penn State. So that is another position group that makes some sense. You can't have enough edge rushers, or in Logan Hall's case, he's a guy that's played inside in college, and some

people think he could play inside or outside in the NFL. Right, absolutely, and especially with what the Bengals are trying to do in the AFC North, give us all the edge rushers you can, Dan, I mean, you cannot have enough of them.

But that's been an interesting trend to follow too, as I've been doing these mock drafts where the first couple, as I had mentioned, really didn't have any defensive players, and then the Bengals made a couple of moves, and then all of a sudden, you see some extra edge rushers coming on in a couple of defensive interior defensive guys making the list. But the ones that you mentioned have been the few that have been kind of a mainstay over the last two So it will be interesting,

you know. I will say I have not seen who Jeff selected on any of the mock drafts yet, but Jeff might know something that everyone else doesn't know, per usual, So it's going to be interesting. You know. We're going to have a couple of mock drafts continuing to come

out up until the draft. Will have one next week and then one the week of the draft, and that's the one I'm sure everyone's going to be the most interested in to see what the experts are thinking, you know, those final few days before the Bengals will be on the clock. Trust me, people are always fascinated with Dave Lapham's final first round prediction for the Bengals. He has often had a right on the nose, even when some of the experts have been off. I asked you to

do a three round mock simulator draft. I became obsessed with these mock simulators about a year ago. Where you can go online. Pro Football Focus has a good one. Pro Football Network has a good one where basically you find out what guys are gone when the Bengals are on the clock, and it makes it much more challenging. So I did a three round PFF mock simulator draft. I asked you to do the same. Let's compare notes

and see who we wound up with. So, with the thirty first pick in the twenty twenty two NFL Draft, Marissa Contapelli representing the Cincinnati Bengals, selex I traded down. So I traded with Houston for pick thirty seven in the second round and also pick eighty in the third round.

I figured targeting Houston a quarterback needy team. There were still a few quarterbacks on the board at that point, so the mock draft simulator accepted the trade, and then at thirty seven, Kyler Gordon was still on the board. So I jumped at that opportunity and took the cornerback out of Washington. I'm firing Duke Tobin and plugging you right into the role. Now. I didn't trade down. Had I seen that offer, I might have jumped at it.

That's a great move, only going down to thirty seven and still getting Kyler, who I might have wanted at thirty one. When I got to thirty one, Tyler Linderbaum was gone. A lot of the guys that I wanted the most were gone. I wound up selecting Kenyon Green Guard from Texas A and M. I think I got like a C from Pro Football Focus for my pick, but Dane Brugler has him ranked as the twenty seventh

best player in this draft. Sixty three three hundred and twenty three pounds, thirty four and an eight inch arms, thirty five starts at Texas A and M. He started at left guard, right guard, left tackle, right tackle at various points in his career, so he becomes the most likely candidate to start at left guard for the Bengals next year. I have wound up with Kenyon Green. We move on to round two. I'll go first this time. I wound up selecting a defensive tackle out of Oklahoma

named perry On Winfrey. When I was at the cob NFL scouting combine, I asked people there, all, right, give me some defensive tackles you like at thirty one overall, and his name came up a few times. So the fact that he was still available late in the second round made me jump for perry On Winfree. With a loss of Larry Ogenjobi in the defensive tackle rotation, the Bengals would love to get a new talented young guy in there, so perry On Winfree was my second round pick.

I like it. Dan. We both had the mindset of defensive line for this pick because I ended up selecting defensive end at Kingsley in Nagbari out of South Carolina. And Pro Football Focus kind of liked my picks. They gave me an ans for the great so I'll you know, I'll take that, but I'll be honest, I haven't seen a ton of his tape. But just you know, what I've seen and what I've heard about him, and he just has a lot of upside can fill in nicely

into that rotation. Assuming we have Joseph of said back and healthy this year. You know, I just think this is another young, you know, young potential, talented guy who can you know, come in, helped us get out around the edge and helped disrupt the quarterback in just um, you know, yeah, another guy you just love to see kind of how the Bengals will be able to develop him over the next couple of years. All right, we move on to round three. You got an extra pick

from your savvy trade down in the first round. I'm jealous. But who do you have the Bengals selecting in round three? Yeah, so this is where I finally go offensive line. So decided to take guard Dylan Parham out of Memphis and just you know, another one of those opportunities where you know, you're not expecting him to come in and start day one because of the way that the Bengals handled free agency this year, and you know, assuming the development of

Jackson Carmen as well. But you know, I liked his stat potential and just what the draft experts are saying about him, it's just you know, he's a guy that again, you know, get Frank Pollack around working with him, and let's see what happens. And you've got another offensive lineman in the third round. I did decided to take take a chance on KELLN Dish from Arizona State. Hope, I'm

pronouncing his last name correctly. Tackle there. And so with the TA taking the two offensive linemen there in the third round, Pro Football Focus, you know, gave me the E minus and a B plus. I'm going to take that, as you know, decently positive sign right now, Dan, because this is my first ever mock draft simulator that I've done that we were talking about before. So yeah, I just figured why not give Frank Pollock a couple of

offensive linemen. You know, I think the Bengals are going to address it at some point in this draft, you know, and hopefully you know, they're able to hit on one, two, three, however many the end up taking. You got an overall B plus grade from PFF for your first ever simulated mock draft. Pretty impressive, and trust me, you will now be obsessed with doing these. He'll be doing one about every third day, my third round pick, first from UC

safety Brian Cook. I think the Dane Burglar also selected Brian Cook to the Bengals in the third round. Here's why. Obviously I saw him play, I know a lot about him. Good kid. I think he's going to be a good NFL player. He would become Von Bell's replacement. He's more of a close to the line of scrimmage safe than a center fielder type like Jesse Bates. But here's the

biggest reason why I wound up taking Brian Cook. When I'm on the road with UC during the course of the season, frequently before the games, NFL scouts will pop into the broadcast booth just to ask some questions about the UC players, more from my broadcast partner Jim Kelly Junior than me. But this past year, with all these great UC players Desmond Ritter, Saws Gartner, Kobe Bryant, My j Sanders, etc. The guy we got asked the most about was Brian Cook because he kind of came out

of nowhere, transferred from a much smaller school. He's from the Cincinnati area. He went to Mount Healthy High School, but really blossomed at the end of his junior year

and then his senior year. So based on the interests around the league from NFL scouts at least informally in our broadcast booth on the road, I think that Brian Cook is going to be a top three or four round draft pick and I would love to see him plugged into the Bengal secondary going for you know, Dan, I remember now that I'm going back to this, I'm pretty sure he was available in a second or in the third round, excuse me, and I didn't take him.

And now, after hearing everything you said about Brian Cook, I'm kind of kicking myself, like, man, maybe I should have Maybe I should have taken the UC kid. Well, you gotta be plus and I got a C plus, so I'm not so sure. But the extra draft pick, that was your savvy maneuver. So I want to go back to the first week of free agency because during the course of the season, I'm in the Bengals offices basically every day, but I'm not during the off season,

and you are. What was the buzz like in the building? Alex Kappa right away, Ted Karas shortly after that, Hayden Hurst near the end of the week, All Collins at the end of the week. What was it like being here at Paul Brown Stadium all that was going on. It was fun. It's one of those things where you're sitting at your desk in and you know you're waiting

for the text, the phone call, the email. However it is that you know the bosses upstairs are going to relay the information to you that like, okay, we're getting this guy, and it's just it's a lot of sitting and waiting, but as soon as you get that notification, it's like, Okay, we're going into go mode. They're going to be here down the conference room in ten minutes

to make sure we get all the content captures. They're signing their contracts and then getting to do the walk and talk tours with them, and then eventually they meet with media and so it's just it's an absolutely thrilling day and kind of a funny story. When we were

signing LEL. Collins on it was that Sunday, So as all of Bengaldam knows, he was in Cincinnati for a few days leading up to it, so you hear rumors and you're wondering, Okay, maybe it's going to be this day Wednesday comes and goes, Thursday comes and goes, and you're moving into the weekend and it's like, all right,

maybe maybe there's still a possibility. And so I was out on that Sunday it was I went to Ohio State and so Ohio State was playing against Villanova, and you know, it was out with some friends watching the game when second half get the phone call saying, Hey, we need you at Paul Brown Stadium as soon as you can get there. And I was like, I think I might have a hunch as to what this was about. So basically, you know, handed my friends some cash, saying hey,

can you know close out my check? And it was able to get here, and it was just absolutely phenomenal getting to meet Lale on that first day. And you know, I think it's made its rounds, but him saying, you know, being the bodyguard for Joe Burrow is just, you know, one of those moments I don't think I'm ever going to forget when it comes to Lale and just kind of his demeanor and just what he's going to bring

to this team. And so that was one of those moments where I'm glad I lived pretty close to the stadium. I'm glad I was within close proximity because everything just happen ended up happening so fast on that day. Dan, But you know, as I know, you got the chance to meet some of these guys too. It's just it's a different type of energy, it feels with this free agent class. You know, they all are just really eager

to get to work. And another thing that I really enjoyed us getting to do with them was we had the Cincinnati Chili tasting experience, and so they each had Cincinnati chili for the first time and just you know, getting to know them on a little bit more of a personal level, and just you know, seeing their reaction to trying Cincinnati chili, which was all really positive. So hey, we're already off to a good start on that. But but it was just it was a great week, a

week that always goes by a little too fast. Yeah, if you're going to do a viral video type thing with professional athletes testing Cincinnati style chili, getting offensive linemen is probably a good way to go. It absolutely is. And I believe it was Ted Carris had made the comment that, you know, this is going to help make sure he keeps his weight up in season, so who knows. You could see him running around with Coney's or three ways, five ways pretty often around Paul Brown Stadium. It was

a long season, and that's a good thing. The Bengals basically played for an extra month as they made their way to the Super Bowl. Has that changed the off season around here? Were? I mean, was the downtime any different? Did everything just get compressed because of that? It certainly

felt like it. There was not a lot of downtime, especially you know, coming off of the longest NFL season to date, and so we had the Combine coming up pretty shortly after, and I know, just from us from a content standpoint, we had a few days post Super Bowl where we had a little bit of time to kind of you know, digest. We had a lot of footage we had to get logged, so you just a lot of you know, there's those little kind of minutia

kind of things that you had to get settled. And then once the combine rolled around, it's combine free agency and now you know, getting ready for drafts. So it's it really hasn't felt like there's been much of any downtime. Dan Um, you know, I can't really speak for everyone else in the building. But from what I've seen, even you know, just the coaches have been here, you know,

almost every day. I know they've had a little bit of time to and and Dax done, you know, a phenomenal job of making sure you know, they've also gotten their rest in because you can't have burnout, especially coming off of that long season, and so you I think it was a wise decision for the team to kind of push back when players return, wait till after the draft. So this way the coaching staff can really focus on this year's draft class because we know how heavily involved

they are in um in that process. I used to like to sneak by the draft room years ago when all the names were posted up on the board. Sorry, Duke, but you can't do that anymore now it's all computerized. Obviously, I mean in this day and age, what isn't But do you pick up any nuggets from scouts from Duke during this process, just as they have their meetings and evaluate who stacks up where on the board. I mean,

you try to try to do it. And you know what, I would love to say, there's probably no one better at doing that than Jeff Hobson. Um, he's sneaky, he really is. Um. Yeah, you know, I gotta learn. I gotta learn better from Jeff, you know, find out what his ways are. But um, but no, you absolutely try to um. And you know, it's it's just one of those things where it helps us internally to have an

idea as to a handful of names. And obviously this year at picking thirty first is new for me, and so it's a little different because the list of names is a lot longer than when you're picking fifth or even my first year and we were twenty first, and so you know, it's it's helpful because it helps us get prepared and you know, as we're gathering different content strategies and you know, really trying to best prepare our content team for draft night because we absolutely as soon

as we make that pick, we want to make sure we have highlights out, we had the information out and inform our fans as soon as we can as to who this news Bengal is. This last year was awesome. Broadcasting the Super Bowl was the highlight of my professional career. I think I've been doing this longer than you've been alive. So I'm a lot older than you. But what was the last year like for you? Generating some great content for the Bengals TV show? The Behind the Stripes videos

were awesome on that show and on the website. What was the super Bowl run like for you? It was thrilling. It was absolutely a dream come true. I mean, I think as a you know, as a broadcaster and media member, it's it's probably on everyone's bucket list. I would assume so too, to be able to go to a super Bowl, to cover a super Bowl, and and it was one where it's it's always been high on my list, but you always have to wonder like will it ever come true?

And and for it to come true, and for it to happen in just my fourth season with the team, it just I how to keep pinching myself at times, Dan when we were there in Los Angeles, being like, wait, no, this actually is really happening. This we are here at the super Bowl, and so it was just, you know, one of those surreal moments. It's you know, especially seeing all the Bengal signage around Sofi Stadium that day, it

was it's something we're never going to forget. It was just absolutely phenomenal and so the playoff run at times felt a little bit of a blur because of how much content we were producing, how much, how much footage. I mean, my goodness, not only do we have shooters at these games, but then we have footage coming in from NFL films, and with every round of the playoffs, there are more cameras at these games. Dan side, you know, I feel like we were logging footage. I feel like

we still have footage to log, quite honestly. But you know, Dan, it's it's hard to put into words sometimes just what this season truly was because we were all hopeful, we all had those high expectations, but this team exceeded those they truly did. And so as we were going along the course of the season and just you know, from the different social videos we were producing and you know, producing Bengals weekly, it was just something so truly special.

And it's just I'm not absolutely not going to take any of it for granted because we got to share and tell so many stories from this season. We just had so many incredible not only incredible personalities on and off the field, but you know, you look at guys like getting to tell Chitube a Woozier story and Mike Hilton. I mean that just the way he is persevered and pushed through his career, and I mean those were two huge additions that helped lead this team to get to

where they were. And so, you know, for me personally, I was able to work on a couple of stories this year that you know, really really meant a lot.

And you know, I was able to produce a Joe Burrows first comeback story before he took his first snap Week one, and then the one I was you know, really proud to be able to produce was the Zach Taylor bit after you know, in the postseason, before going into our first playoff game, where you're getting to talk to a lot of these leaders on this team and just seeing the respect that they have for Zach and what he has meant to this organization is just it

blows you away. And so you know, getting to put that together and you know, even just seeing how the fans reacted to that piece and just everyone getting behind Zach, you know, it just added to a truly special season. That was a great story. People can still watch them Eagles dot com if they haven't already, just go to the video section. Look up the Behind the Striped stories and you'll find that great story about Zach and his

growth in three years as the Bengals head coach. You're right about just how hard it is to articulate how special it was to be involved with a team going to the Super Bowl. People have asked me a lot about it afterward. You know, what was it like to broadcast to the Super Bowl? And initially I really kind of struggled to put it into words. It was so special and mind boggling. And then I finally came up

with an analogy that I think kind of works. I compare it to the movie Jurassic Park, the first time that the characters see dinosaurs, and like their eyes are huge and their mouths are wide open, and there's that oh my gosh, dinosaurs, dinosaurs exist. And that's what it was like. For me. It was just like, oh my gosh, we're here, our team is playing in the Super Bowl. I get a chance to broadcast. Asked it, and you know, I honestly think we'll have that opportunity again in the

Joe Burrow era. I don't think you're wrong. I'm right there with you. It's you look at the amount of talent that's on this team, Dan, and how can you not see them getting back and they're only getting better And when you have the Joe Burrow effect of free agents really wanting to come in here, and we saw that this last year. I mean, how they were able to land three stud offensive linemen. It really makes you wonder. I know the AFC is going to be a gauntlet

this year. It's absolutely loaded, but how can that not play as to a benefit to this team where you think, if you can make it out of the AFC, you have a really great shot at winning that super Bowl. If that's the key word. If it is going to be a gauntlet. Let's look ahead to something that's coming up in the next month. You're going to be involved

in a Sam Hubbard event. Sam obviously does a lot of great stuff in the community, and we're about a month away from an event that you're going to help with. That's right. So Sam is having a fulling charity events in a collaboration with his foundation, the Sam Hubbard Foundation, and it's just an event. As soon as I saw it, my friend and I were like, we absolutely have to sign up to participate. I have no idea how great we're actually going to be when it comes to the tournament.

I've gone fulling before. For those of you who have not gone fulling or know what fulling is, it's where you have almost like a cornhole style boards and then you have ten bowling pins on those boards and you're taking a football throwing it at the boards and trying to knock down the pins before the other team does. So it's a wild concept. It's a lot of fun. It's very difficult, I will say, much tougher than it just kind of sounds right off the bat, and so

I've always taken the strategy of throwing overhand. I have seen some people throw underhand, which is kind of impressive, but also kind of like, all right, we're going to try this out, but but no, it should be a great time. I mean, anything to be able to support Sam. He's doing so much in this community and you know, really getting his foundation up and running in this last year.

And so the funds that they're going to raise during that event are going to go to a lot of the other initiatives and outreach that they're going to be doing in the Cincinnati community this year. And so I know, sign ups are already full. They've already exceeded the capacity of teams that they can have at the event, which

they actually sold out of that really really quickly. But you can still attend as a spectator, I believe, and I'm pretty sure there's going to be some current and former players there as well, and so, you know, it's just I know, I always love supporting our guys whenever they're doing anything in the community because it means so much to the not only this area, but you know even when they go back to their hometowns and other areas throughout the country, but especially with Sam, you know,

being our Walter Payton Man of the Year last year and you know, really wanting to take those extra next steps and do even more in this community. This was just something when I saw Dan, you know, I knew I absolutely had to jump at. So Fowling is football plus bowling. You described it well. There is a bar at the Fowling Warehouse, so as you go as a specter, you can have a frosty beverage and watch Marissa's technique for trying to knock down bowling pins with a football.

I've only done it once. I found that the high toss that comes down like like a bomb dropping as opposed to the line drive like a quarterback would try to throw. You know, between coverage worked better for me, So if you want to go with high arc, you might find that that's a successful folding strategy. I appreciate that advice because I feel like I've tried a couple

different ways and it's hit or miss. So I play softball, so I feel like I usually try to go with more of that line drive approach, but I might have to change it up to see if something else might work a little better. It's been a little while since I've gone falling, so I might need even trying to sneak into practice before the event rolls around. All right, Well, congratulations on the B plus grade on your first ever

mock simulator three round draft. You outdrafted me. You're one to know against Dan Horde, and I appreciate your time. Keep up the great work. It's been fun not having to scour the internet from mock drafts. I just can go to your your mock draft compilations and it saves me a lot of time and I do enjoy doing it. So thanks again, as always, thank you so much, Dan, that's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals

ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now on the App Store and Google Play. And if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.