Bengals Booth Podcast: Arms Wide Open

questions that you submitted on Twitter. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. 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 on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.

It's the greatest thing since Peyton's Places. Last year, Future Hall of Fame Corps back Peyton Manning hosted a thirty episode documentary series in conjunction with a celebration of the NFL's one hundredth season. The series looks at key moments in NFL history through conversations with former players, coaches, and other key figures. I've only recently started watching Peyton's Places

on ESPN Plus and they are awesome. Manning is extremely likable as a host, and his appreciation for the history of the game shines through in every episode. You have to pay for a subscription to watch on ESPN Plus, but I've noticed that ESPN has been running episodes for free on its various channels due to the absence of live sporting events. So if you don't have ESPN Plus, I recommend searching for Peyton's Places and setting up your DVR to record any episodes that run on TV. I

promise you won't be sorry. Now let's get to this week's guests. My first conversation this week is with the Bengal second round draft pick Te Higgins, the six four, two hundred and sixteen pound wide receiver out of Clemson with great hands and a ridiculous catch radius thanks to

his eighty one inch wingspan. Higgins was the seventh wide receiver taken in what was considered to be one of the deepest pools of wide receivers in the history of the NFL draft, and the Bengals obviously hope that he will be one of Joe Burrow's top targets for many years to come. See, we learned on draft night that you are a Bengals fan and an AJ Green fanatic. Four years ago you tweeted, I will meet AJ Green one day. Have you had any contact with AJ since

the draft? We talked over the phone, but I haven't met him at first yet. Now, were those phone conversations interesting? You know, it was just, you know, more of a congratulations and can't wait to get the work type phone call. So it wasn't too much. We're chatting with T Higgins. AJ is your favorite wide receiver, but you will wear the uniform number of another Bengals legend, Chad Johnson. Did I read correctly that you reached out to chat about

wearing eighty five? Yeah, I definitely did. You know, just how to respect, you know, what he's done with the organism for the organization, and you know, I just wanted to reach out to him before I even you know, told to you know, the equipment guys that I wanted to wear eighty five. Obviously I wanted to keep my college number was in my number, whether it was either fifteen or eighty five. You know, fifteen was already taken,

so eighty five was the only other option. But you know, I had asked him and he was okay with us. It sounds like he was more than okay with it. He tweeted basically that he's honored that you wanted to wear it. Just something that I gotta I gotta keep the tradition going with that number, so hopefully I can't. T You were born in nineteen ninety nine, two years before Chad was drafted. How much do you know about

his NFL career. I just know he was well, they say, hey, kn' guard eighty five, so that's that's and he was real quick with his feat. He was just unguardable. Ironically, you have trained with his former college and NFL teammate TJ. Hushman Zada, who recommended you to Bengal Scouts. What were some of the biggest things you took away from training with TJ? Just like the basic stuff, really, uh, you know, at the top of routes, you know, releases and really

the knowledge of the game. You know, he's a really great guy and he's a great coach, and you know, I look forward to working to him in the future more and more so we're chatting with t Higgins, what's

your schedule like these days? You know, obviously we have you know, team meetings and stuff, but you know, other than that, you know, I'm I'm on the field or you know, in a workout room getting my grind on, you know, that's what I do best, and just working on my draft, trying to get better and better each and every day. What's been the best part of those teams zoom meetings? Just getting to meet all the new teammates, you know, all my new coaches, and really just learning

in the new playbook. Where you're living, have you been able to do football activities? Yeah, definitely. You know, we have a few quarterbacks out here and James is open now, so definitely have that. How much interaction have you had with Joe since the draft? Oh, you know, we've talked a few times. We talked over to over zoom. Um. You know, so we've been talking. What did it mean do ut when Joe was among the first NFL quarterbacks to show his support for the black community after the

death of George Floyd. You know, it means a lot. You know, it's the guy with his platform. You know, it's just showing that he really cares and and that, uh, this is the guy that is showing his true colors. You faced him and LA in the National Championship Game last year. What stood out about his performance in that game?

You know, he's guy that's never gonna give up. He was obviously up on him and you know you can see that he plays some poys and he brought his team back and you know, one of the biggest game shoot in college. Have you set any goals for your rookie year, Oh, that's you know, obviously every rookie wants to be Rookie of the Year, but you know that's

one of my goals. And really just go out there and just you know, help my team come out with a better season than we did, you know, the past few years, and just contribute the best way I can. You were the first pick of the second round, number thirty three overall, but I read that you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder from not being selected in the first Is that accurate? You can say that, but you know, with me, I just wanted to be

drafted no matter where I went. But you know I can use that as a chip on my shoulder, So I guess that's all I'm gonna do TJ hood Shmnzata was a seventh round pick, and I remember that he used to be able to recite every wide receiver selected before him in the NFL draft? Are you motivated by the guys that were selected ahead of you? You know, I know those guys really well because you know, Um, I'm real good friends with him, but you know those

guys deserved to be when they got picking. Um, I'm happy for him, and you know, so just how I go about it? Tell you what I watched footage of you at Clemson. I see you running away from defenders, but you didn't run a great forty yard dash time before the draft? Did you have an injured hamstring? I wasn't running that. But you know there's there's no excuses. So, I mean, you guys see my game film. The Bengals organizations trusting me and they believe in me, so they're

gonna get the hundred. So Jerry Rice ran a four point seven one forty and he's the best wide receiver of all time. Michael Thomas and a four point five seven and he might be the best current wide receiver. Do we put too much emphasis on the forty yard dash? Yeah? I really don't think, you know, because a lot of football guys don't run track, so they don't they would have like two to three months to say stance and

starts right. So I mean forty times really don't matter to me, obviously, the guy the organizations want to see if you're fast or not. But you know your game film, it just takes you to a whole another level, you know, so because it's actually competition on the field with you and you can see how you separate from defenders and stuff like that. So how eager are you to get up to Cincinnati and have some sort of practicing with your teammates? Can't wait. So it's gonna be fun. Just

can't wait to go out there and compete with those guys. Hey, we're looking forward to seeing you here. Congratulations on a tremendous college career, and I look forward to meeting you in person soon. Thank you. See at fifty nine catches for one hundred and sixty seven yards and thirteen touchdowns at Clemson last year, and according to Pro Football Focus, Higgins is probably the most complete big wide receiver we've seen come into the league in quite some time. Before

we get to Dave Lapham. Here's a quick reminder that you can take your Bengals pride to the next level in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan package from Prime Sport. I'm posting this podcast on Friday, June fifth, the first day that NFL coaches have been allowed back into their team facilities since mid March when the league shut things down due to the coronavirus. Zach Taylor and most of his staff were back at Paul Brown Stadium on Friday morning. A few coaches are still out of

town and we'll return next week. It's a hopeful sign that the league will be able to begin on schedule this season, and that was my first topic of conversation this week with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Lap it's the first week of June. How confident are you that there will be an NFL season. Well, I'm confident there'll be an NFL season in some way, shape or form, you know, I'm not I'm not confident that the early stages of it will be played in front of crowds.

Um and if it is played in front of crowds, that they'll be sparse, to say the least. And I just wonder about the preseason. I mean, you know, if it would not surprise me, would not shock me if they lost a couple of preseason games in the process of all this and had a couple of preseason games to tune up and and and get ready for the season, And you know, at that point you wonder, is it doesn't even make sense to have ninety guys in training Canadon. I mean, how you're going to be able to make

a truer evaluation. You haven't You haven't been able to watch them in OTAs, in mini camps where you make your first and probably most important decision on guys on the field, watching them run, watching them, do they take proper angles? Are they coachable? And you think they have a chance, and then and then it's it's solidified by action in the games. But a lot of times, you know, decisions are made on guys during OTAs and mini camps

or good percent decision is made there. And they're absolutely this season. So it's going to be very, very tough for guys that you know, are just coming out of college and haven't transitioned to the NFL at all, and you're trying to decide can they and you don't really have a measuring stick. I get signing veteran free agents. You already know that, all right, I get taped them. I can see how they performed at the NFL level,

but not so with the college kids. You mentioned the possibility of games being played in front of no fans or a limited number of fans, particularly early in the season. How much would that negate home field advantage tremendously, you know, and uh, you know, I guess, I guess you try to take every advantage you possibly can. And the schedule first came out, I mean four of the six four of the first six games for the Bengals are on

the road, and you know, in boisterous places, vociferous crowds. Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and the Dome. Those are the four road games and their first six games of the season. Well, you know, I think if there are are limited crowds or no crowd at all, man, that that that's a that's a big,

big difference maker, particularly offensively. I mean, that's where you know you have to go with silent counts and hand stignals and there's no verbal communication, and uh, you know, there's a there's a real good chance for false starts and guys not being on the same page, and all those kinds of things where nearing those in those environments,

and I've been in those environments, it is very difficult. Uh, you eliminate the reason that it becomes difficult in those environments, that being the rabid fan base, and all of a sudden, what could have been a difficult start seems to be a lot easier with respect to the conditions and environment that you're planning. Would you enjoy being able to hear everything being said on the field as an announcer I worked because I remember back in the day there was

a lot of stuff being said. Uh, some of it you could hear and some of it you couldn't. But um, that would that would be interesting, and you know a lot of it would obviously be x rated. It have to be for mature audiences only. Uh that that would be The problem that I could see is is some of these young kids' heroes just cuts them up a blue street. You know, it's like mom and Dad are like, you know, we don't want you can you can respect athletes,

but don't make them your heroes. Well, if they listen to one football game. They may not be as big a hero as they might have been before they listen to them participate in that football game, because I mean it's it's obviously raw and emotional, and you know a

lot of things are said, that's for sure. Um, but it would it would be interesting, you know, and you really have to I think, um, it would add an extra burden to both sides of the football in terms of changing signals every week because you get you get a tape of that of that game and you you just take the TV tape and you get all the audio and you can match up alignment's configuration. Blitz is

to calls. You know, the guys are making an adjustments they're making and audibles they're making all that sort of thing, and uh, that makes it, that makes it very interesting, That makes it very intriguing. So you know, um, that might add another layer to preparation during the course of the week. You know, not having the same the same trigger, the same uh color keyword that you know, right after I say in my cadence the lave color this week is black. Well the following week it's on the week

got that it's going to be white. We got that it's going to be perful. You know, you have to change it up for sure, because teams will get a you know, beat on it, no doubt about that. With h you know, with with having no trout boys to impede what they might be hearing on the audio part of their tape. It seems like a strong possibility at this point that there isn't going to be an off season program, that the first time the team's practiced together

would be training camp. If that's the case, is there a position group that would suffer the most, or a particular type of player that would suffer the most from no off season program? Well, I think I think, you know, the young player obviously probably suffer the most trying to make that jumped to the National Football League. I can remember, you know, and back in nineteen seventy four when I was a rookie deal and we only had like like a four week called mini camp as such after the draft.

Then there was nothing until training camp. Now mighty training camp was nine weeks long. It was ridiculous. There were six preseason games, you know, right out to the fourth of July. We were in Willikee College. Until you know, it seemed like Labor Day. I mean there's crazy after Labor Day. It was it was nuts but gotten and guys literally played themselves into shape. Um. But so this dynamic,

the way the guys take care of themselves. You're around guys don't necessarily have off season jobs like veteran players had to have back then, and you know, work out at lunch time and try to catch a workout and keep yourself in shape and nutrition. And I mean, it's it's such a different game now that was back then. But I do think that they'll show that. Okay, just if you get the training camp and get plenty of reps and somehow scheduled practices where you try to catch

up on reps. That's the thing that you're that you're missing is the physical repetition, repetition breachs comfort level. You can talk to your blue in the face about when this defense has been penetration, this tackle loops around them all right, right, tackle you you got to stop the penetrator. Make sure you stop and pass them off to your guard and then you know, take a drop step and

take the looper. And you can talk about that all you want to go out there and do it physically and get some kind of muscle memory, repetition of doing it over and over again. Because tackle step differently. One guy you work with might set a little deeper than the other guy who sets more shallow. At the last scimes, you have to get a feel for all of your teammates. And that's why I think offensive line play dan Honestly, it's the it's the biggest number of players in a

position group. There are five players, and I always talk about you know, solid offensive line players, like making a fist becomes an involuntary reaction. You curl four fingers and wrap your thumb and you don't even think about it. It's just involuntary. Well, when an offensive line has been working together and understands each other and all the repetitions, all the muscle memory, all the being on the same page mentally, that's that's how it plays. It's almost like

making a fist. But when it's not, you know, then if one's just joining it, you can't make a strong fist and the line player suffers, you know, as a results of that from an analytic being an analogy there, so you know, it's it's that that position group takes a lot of repetition camaraderie, understanding each other, you know in the meeting room. On the football field even more so than in the meeting room might be. So i'd say offensive line players is a big, big part of it.

And um, you know, quarterbacks and receivers obviously timing, timing things out. It's uh. Sometimes you'll see receivers that quarterback throws the football, it's like, why, how do you know to throw it there? And when he threw it and how he threw it and where he put it. Well, it's because they've done it a million times. And you know, if you haven't had that dead luxury, Um, you know that all of it, all of it's going to suffer

a little bit. It'll be interesting to see how quickly you know, guys can come up to speed and uh and and make the game. Look, I'm I'm not saying the game is gonna look terrible, But if there's only a couple of preseason games, they go to training camp later and there are a couple of preseason games and

then they get into started the regular season. You know, it's it's gonna take a well a little bit before the product gets up to what you know, up to stuff to what people are used to seeing, you know, so many years and quality NFL line play and and football in general. Do you think it's important for Joe Burrow to get together with the wide receivers before training camp?

I do? I do? You know? I know? Uh, I mean you look at two thousand and eleven though, that was such an aberration in such a such a you know, a difference. That was a lockout. So Andy Dalton couldn't he couldn't get together with his teammates. The first time you get together is you know, um, when they when

they basically um called practices. You know they basically I shouldn't say couldn't get together because Andrew worked on the top packle those guys put together practices offense against defense and and and I think that was very very very instrumental, very very major. And Andy Dalton, you know, being ready when training camp unfolded. Um, you know he's a intelligent guy, and he is, and he picked up the offense very quickly. The word is Joe Burrow is at least that and

maybe one. I mean he's a Menza, he's a football savant, picks things up extremely quickly. But again, the physical repetition you know, you can talk about him. You can talk about and look at tape and say, oh yeah, when the safety does this, you know, you have to look here, or when they line up in this configuration, you have

to check to this. You can talk about it all you want, but you have to go out and wrap it and everybody has to be on the same page and hear the quarterback do it and see him execute it, you know, and and then start to get a feel for where he likes to put the football. If I have a defensive player in this position, I know he's going to back shoulder me, or he's gonna high point me, or he's going to do this, or he's going to

do that. Those kinds of things happen, you know, just over time, you know, getting used to each other and realizing each other's strengths and weaknesses and and you know, proceeding accordingly with with how they're going to you know, play and how they're gonna execute against various coverages, various techniques. And you people think it's so simply you just go out there, and hey, you know, just go like out in the backyard. It's pitching catch. You know, you're just

playing catch out there. That's it's so much different than that. It's you know, it's it's a it's a very complicated puzzle that has to be put together. For sure, the NFL is going to have a loss of revenue this year, there's no doubt about that. And that will affect the salary cap next year since it is based on the percentage of revenue. Is that going to impact extensions for aj Green and Joe Mixon? Boy, you know you have

to you have to wonder about that. Um. You know, you look at it and you say, all right, well, there's a there's a massive TV contract. It's going to be done here shortly, and that's going to be a huge, huge influx into salary cap um splitting the revenues and there's no question about that. But you know it's there. There is going to be a diminished revenue, there's no question about it. If they play without without saying ends um.

And I think right now no rookies have been signed, no veteran free agency or very few veteran free agency see signing. I mean, it's it's it's an impact in all this the stars rookies are concerned. You can come

to an agreement but they can't. It can't. It's not going to be debstituted, and they're not going to get any money until they past physical and the same with you know, with and Joe Mixon, and I mean, there's got to be the doctors have to get their hands on these guys to make sure there isn't anything that's cropped up and anything that they've had in their past is not going to be an issue in the future and all those kinds of things before you make those investments. So, um,

it's it's slow. I mean, there's no reason to no reason to hurry anything. If you can't, you can't get your money, you know, until until things start to start to wind back up again. Um. Then when they do start to wind back up again, the second phase is like you're talking about, is what's the what's the money going to look like? I mean, what what are we

going to have in terms of our pot? And until we know what the pot is on our comfortable divide it, until we know what we've got as a whole, and then we can start given out pieces of the pies. Paul Brown used to saying, Mike Brown says, now you know your piece of the pie. Is this. It's not gonna be any more than that. So until you can find out how big that pie is? Is that pie? You know? Is that pie just a tiny little uh you know, eskimo pire? Is it a big old pie?

What is that pie? You used to love that piece of the pie discussion in your playing days, didn't you. Oh lordy, I used to have nightmares about that, that phrase to just keep I'd hear it over and over and over again, just you know, when in the chambers of my empty head, your piece, your piece of the pie. Is this? So the NFL talked about it and then elected not to add the option of having a fourth down and fifteen play from the twenty five yard line as a post ability instead of an on side kick.

Do you like that idea? You know, part of me, part of me does like it. But honestly, I mean, I've seen a lot of fourths and fifteen. They say the conversion rate is like less than twenty percent, or maybe, you know, maybe closer to fifteen percent or even less than that. I don't know. I mean I've seen a

bunch of I've seen a bunch of third and fifties converted. Unfortunately, here in the past few years, you know, So fourth and fifteen though it's fourth and fifteen, it's it's one down, it's one play, so you don't you don't have to worry about you know, if you can make a play that it's all over with. You can descend the stooks and don't let anything get behind you and rally up

and trying to make a tackle. You get beaten over the top on a fourth and fifteen, I mean, that would be uh, that would be devastation for sure, but I'm sure, I'm sure it would happen. I'm sure it's going to happen. I think they probably feel like the fourth and fifteen is too easy, you know, and ch donal a couple of scores go uh, you convert a fourth and fifteen and you can you can get right back in the football game. It's a one score game.

I think that's probably their reaction is, um, the onside kick is a tougher thing to convert, but it's a lot more dangerous, you know, and they're trying to eliminate those kind of things. I mean, when you're talking onside kick and involved in a couple of those over the years, I mean, you talk about a mask humanity that goes inst that pile, you know, full contact. I mean it's like it's like a mass uh, a mass vehicle um accident on the year state. You know, when everybody's going

at uh, you know, at at the speed limit. I mean, it's it's there's some serious potential contact in there when you're when everybody's diving for that football and you can have your you know, your foot plan and then you you knee mangled in an awkward position. That's the only time I had injuries to my knees was in a pile of people. It's you know, when when you're not in spate, so you're working, you know, and nothing, there's

nothing in hipping your lower extremities, you're fine. But when you have you know, a body laying on the ground and uh, you know, and then you're you're taking over the top of it and you're needing torchs and bens in a way that it's not supposed to. That's when you have these big injuries as lineman, more so than you know, just like running backs will plant, they'll have

non contact injuries lineman, that's that's more rare. Usually you have injuries when you're you're gnled up and part of the master humanities and a big old human human beach ball lap. Joe Burrow showed empathy for people in needing his Heisman speech, and he did it again after the murder of George Floyd. He tweeted, the black community needs our help. Open your ears, listen and speak. This isn't politics, this is human rights. What did Joe show you when

he did that? And what do you think it meant to his teammates? He showed me. I think everything that everything that everybody hoped that that he's going to be. And I think it meant a lot to his teammates. Um.

You know, there's there's no question about it. I mean, Jill Burrow Um has talked about, he talked about during his his Hysman speech that he grew up in an area where there wasn't a lot of money, you know, and people were trying to figure out how to feed families, you know, white, black, whatever color you're you're talking about.

And uh so, I think I think he feels like he's got maybe a little bit more empathy, um, but not like you know, problems and issues that that the black racists had to deal with um, you know, during their during their lifetime, in lifetimes of many generations. You know,

it's it's it's weird, Dan. It's my situation is. I grew up in a in a in a town Wakefield, Massachusetts, was was basically white and we had one black family, uh, come to Wakefield when I was in junior high school, and the two kids, Larry and Lewis Roberts, were exceptional, exceptional people not just you know, I mean, I don't care how what, what race, religion, whatever. I mean, these

guys were both highly intelligent, incredibly successful athletically. I mean, my exposure to black people was I aspired to be Larry Roberts, who was a year ahead of me. He was president of my brother's class, National honor society, went to Darkness. He was you know, all state across country. Um he played uh basketball, he was you know all league basketball and then rain track and field. His brother was like that. I mean, that was my exposure. I wanted to be Larry Roberts. I mean he was he

was somebody that he was my role model. And you know, and I had some success in high school, and you know, Larry Roberts graduated and on top ten of his class. I wanted to graduate in the top ten of my class and ended up doing it. Ended up, you know, having an opportunity to go to Avonlea school like uh, like Larry Roberts did. And I mean that was my

exposure to uh, you know, to the black race. And then I go to UH Syracuse my freshman year, we have a black boycott benchwarsball the College Football Hall of Fame head coach m didn't have minority enough minority members on his coach and staff, and the blacks players decided a boycott. And you know, I had never been exposed to anything like that, so that was an education process.

And we had one black player, Ronnie Page, decided to stay with the team, and you know, I got to be pretty good friends with Ronnie Page and how courageous that guy was, and you know, all the things that he had to deal with. And then I saw all the racial unrest in Syracuse, and I was I was part of part of some things that weren't that were

very very ugly. Witnessed some things and one of our quarterbacks, who was a good high school basketball player, went down to the down to the basketball courts in the city to play pick up basketball, and he was the only white player on the court. And he he did in a situation where he was beating up and they had to reconstruct his stays and put the others cheap bones surgery up through his mouth at me. He was saw

some unbelievable stuff. So, you know, I started in one way and then kind of get educated at the other. And they come to the National Football League and have teammates like Archie Griffin, Isaac Curtis, these guys. If if I had no family members to raise my kids, something happened to me. I want those guys to raise my kids. I mean, just unbelievable people. You know. And h Vernon Holland, who I played next to in the offensive line, we got to be so close. When he turned thirty years old,

he invited me to his part. I was the only white person at at this party, and he was taking me around to his friends and family members like I was a family member, you know. And it's I mean, it's gone. It's been an up and down, big range of experiences and education in terms of you know, racism or lack thereof, or understanding the differences. And there are

there are huge differences. I mean, until you've walked in the series of somebody that has had to deal with all the things that you know, some of these uh you know, black people have had to deal with their entire lives and multiple generations. You can't, you have no right to, you don't have a reference point. But all I can say is my experiences over the years I've done. They're they're unbelievable white people, you know, just role modeled

white people. They're jerks. They're unbelievable people. Role model Black people and they're jerks. Now, don't care what color they are. They're good people and they're bad people. And what we have to do is just just uh, you know, just trying to understand understand each other's flights a little bit, you know. And because I've got I've got a granddaughter who has uh you know, one of her best friends in her class at school, preschool as a young black kid,

and she loves the guy. So I mean, it's it's it's all about experiences right now. She has it's Christine. She has no you know, there's no opinions trying to sway her one way or the other. And that's the way so you start out that way, don't get poisoned. And you know, and if you do have bad experiences, I hope that you're going to have some good experiences, you know, so you can understand the total picture. And man,

I'll tell you it is. It's it's it's just a matter of everybody trying to understand, you know, the other person's plight, the other person's person's problems. You know, like like Rodney King said so many years ago, can't we all just get along? That's some that's somes the whole thing up in a nutshell, open your ears, listen and speak. I thought that was that was perfect from Joe Burrow. All right, no doubt. Let's get to some ask Lap questions that were submitted on Twitter. We start with Joe

Joe Jammer. Here's this question. Over the years, what rule change has helped offensive lineman the most? Being able to use your hands, you know, extend your arms and use your hands. Um, you know, you can lock your arms out and uh and as long as you're inside the

framework of the body. I said, you can't put your arms around defensive players and bear hug them, but you know you can, you can even grab you can grab cloth if you're inside the flamework of the of the of the body of the person you're trying to block. And I mean, I've been on both sides of that. When I first started playing, it was you had to keep your hands and you had to keep them buy your chest and you you could throw a forearm type thing, but you could never extend your arms and open your

hands and grab people. There's no way any of that can happen. Uh. And we were human punching bags, There's no question about it. Defensive players could head slap, they could do everything. I mean, they just tee off on you, and you know, you're you're you're just uh, you're just an instrument to absorb, you know, punishment. It was crazy.

Now allowing offensive lineman to do that, I think it has changed the game unbelievably because part of the reason that it's it's a it's a better passing it's a passing game now is because offensive linement can you know,

can pass protect so much easier. You can do so much more in terms of trying to uh, you know, prevent defensive players from getting your quarterback in a heartbeat, and that allows the field to open up, and so I think that was a major major rule change, big time question from Lockey, who does not have the glass half full based on this question, If God forbid, Joe Burrow suffers a season ending injury and the Bengals earn the number one overall draft pick again, would they take

Trevor Lawrence or trade down? Wow, it's not gonna happen, Lockey, don't worry, buddy, Lockey. That is about as dark as it gets. Man, have an adult bet it's loosen up a little bit, my man. Oh goodness, Yeah, that's nothing. I don't even want to think about that. Um, that would be that would be tragic, you know, but it's it's um, it's funny. You're not funny. It's sad. Really.

I mean, Kenny Anderson got his opportunity because Greg Cook, who was the greatest going to be the greatest quarterback in Bengal's history, if not amongst the best in NFL history at the University of Cincinnati, you know, I mean, he just this guy was a freak freak athlete and he had that terrible shoulder injury and then um, you know, eventually they drafted Key Anderson. So I mean it happens. Unfortunately,

it happens. You do have the injuries. I don't hate to think about career ending injuries, but sepe of injuries, they're going to put people on on a shelf. I mean that that would be, you know, something that it certainly didn't want to contemplate happening after you draft somebody, you know, the first pick in the entire draft. Um, it would have to be I think for them to go quarterback again, they would have to be a debilitating, almost career ending injury. Um. And we're not talking about

somebody who's drafting in the top ten. You know, we're not We're not talking about that. We're not talking about like what happened in Arizona where they draft a quarterback in the top ten and then you know he's traded away and then they draft a quarterback number one and Tyler Mars. It's it's not we're not talking about that type of situation. UM. So I think, to me, I

think the odds are introtestinably small, not gonna happen. Lockey, don't worry about her buddy Yep from Cornelius, who is up to battle for the kicker job or do the Bengals think they're set. There are no other kickers on the roster right now, so that would seem to indicate their set, right. Yeah, I think they're I think they're

pretty pretty pretty well set. I think they're um. They feel like they've got you know, people that they can count on, uh in terms of getting things done when when the press is on and and trying to you know, make a big play to win a football game. And you I know they I know they like every phase of it. You know, Harris as a snapper has been to the Pro Bowl. Huber as a punter has been to the Pro Bowl. They don't have a Pro Bowl plays clicker, but you know, they feel like they've got

somebody that can can handle the task issue. I think, you know, again with the coronavirus though, I mean, everything is so stalled, you know, I don't think there's any rush to do anything right now. And honestly, like we're talking about earlier, it would not shock me if a ton of teams around in the league end up having far fewer than ninety players, you know, nineties number that

the NFL allows to come to camp. It would not stun me if teams have fewer fewer players than that, you know in training camp, it would not stun me whatsoever. And and you know, how do you how do you give a kicker? You want to look at him for a long period of time. You want to set up as many multiple competitions as you can to see, you know, who is who is the guy? You haven't had time to do that, And I don't know. I mean, this is such an unusual year in terms of evaluating players.

If if, if you are somebody looking to earn a spot somewhere in some way, shape or form, whatever that may be, this might be the toughest year to try to get that done. If you're established, you might feel a little bit more comfortable. But if you're not, man, it's a tough year to try to start a start a career out when you're you know, you're totally unestablished and you're not a high draft pick and you're not

a sought after veteran free agent. I mean, it's a it's a very very tough year for that for sure. Question from Scott is the current offensive line personnel good enough to protect Joe Burrow and allow him to have a season comparable to Andy Dalton and AJ Green's rookie year. Well, the one commonality that hopefully he has is a healthy AJ Green and you know, not a rookie AJA Green.

Joe Burrow will have an AJ Green that was a perennial Pro Bowl player unhealthy and has proven himself to be, you know, among the top worst case scenario when healthy, top five, top handful, maybe top three, you know, when totally healthy in the NFL. So that would be a huge advantage for Joe Burrow and Joe Burrow I think there's a lot of similarities and with the learning capacities and mindsets and mentalities of Joe Burrow and Andy Dalton,

I think in a very very positive way. So the question is, you know, Joe Burrow is going to know what he's looking at. He's gonna know where to throw the football, how to throw the football, and when to throw the football, and you know he's gonna get them out of bad plays into better plays. The key component is will the offensive line given time to op given time to do all those things? And that's that's the

that's the million dollar question. I think potentially, you know, there are some guys up there that have skill sets, you know, Jonah Williams from what I'm watching him on tape in college. He's got a great skill set and it's at the SEC level, which is the highest level you can face in college football. But it's not the National Football League. And you know, there have been I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I've seen many first round draft picks not be able to cut the mustard.

I've seen many first round draft picks able to cut the mustard. So I think I think he'll cut the mustard. You know, I think Michael Jordan has untapped potential. Trey Hopkins got themselves an extension and earned it and deserved it um physically and mentally. He's he's a he's a hell of a football player, Uh, sue A fee level. Uh. You knows does an NFL experience. But when you have forty percent of the offensive law has not taken a snap as the Cincinnati Bengal and Michael Jordan's snaps are

you know, minimal? Bobby hard at right tackle Fred Johnson in a fight there, Isaiah Prents me. They've got bodies, They've got people. The question is, like the talked about earlier, will they play like a fifth. Will they play as one? Will they play cohesive? Will they play as a unit? I mean, you know, I always like to use this number. Offensive line play can be summed up like this. You throw the ball twenty times in a game. You're an

offensive lineman. You blocked your guy nineteen times out of twenty. He beats you once, maybe for a pressure, hopefully not a stack, but you grade ninety five. Everybody in the offensive line blocks their guy nineteen times out of twenty, and they all grade in eight ninety five. Problem is, they all get beaten on different snaps. So instead of grading ninety five as a group, you grade seventy five, five of the twenty times you were beaten as a group.

So you greatly see so individually everybody. And I had a game. I got my chest pumped out. You know, I blocked my guy. I blocked at an a level and now, well we all did, but the quarterback it hit five times. And as a group, you guys will see. To me, that is the epitome of teamwork. The offensive line is the epitome of teamwork. And until those guys prove that they can, you know, work together like that

and be make all the components. When you add everybody's talents and abilities up, you have, you know, a sooner justic effect. One plus one equals three, not just two. Because they're playing so well together and we can hide each other. If there's a weakness, they configure out a way to hide it by making a call and giving some help here, doing whatever. That's that's the key to offensive line play. It's how are you performing as a unit? How are you performing as a group? One more follow

up to that last question. Andy Dalton obviously led the Bengals to nine wins his rookie year and a spot in the playoffs, but statistically he wasn't great as a rookie. He was good twenty touchdown passes, thirteen picks, passer rating of eighty point four by Justin. Following up on that last question, I think Joe Burrow stands a very good chance of surpassing those numbers. The hard part will be

matching the nine wins. All right, question from Brian Man and others, why not make a run at free agent offensive lineman Larry Warford, the three time pro bowler out of UK who was recently released by the Saints. Yeah, I mean I think there are a lot of people that are trying to determine around the league, trying to determine whether they make a run out him or not. I think part of the right now is economics. You know,

That's why he's not a New Orleans Saint anymore. And in the Bengals are like we're talking about not only trying to sign all their rookies and you know what you're spending from a cap standpoint, I mean, everything is uh, you know, is basically predetermined. The Bengals know exactly what they have to spend on rookies based on the number that they've they've they've drafted you know seven, I mean New England drafted fourteen. They know what they have to spend.

The Bengals know what they have to spend. It's all predicated on slotted where they're drafted, and Bengals have some high draft pick picks everywhere else. They're going to be spending some money on their rookies in their in their salary job. They have to just need to. And then you want to extend agree and you want to extend

Joe Mixon. You know, it's it's where your priorities and how far along are you in the process of all those things and what might be left over, and then you make a determination based on you know who, how many people are are competing for the services of Warford, where's that contract going to end up? And I'll guarantee if it's been discussed that there's there's not one of the Saints made their decision. Thirty one of the teams. They all have to just the Saints have decided. But

maybe not. Maybe if Warford is out there and there's not the dollars out there that he thinks may he may come back to the Saints and saying what about this, and maybe the Saints saying hello, Yeah. So I mean there's a lot to a lot to play out in terms of what's going on with him. And there's no way in my mind the Bengals having kicked the tires, you know, thought about that, that that that process. But there's a lot of a lot of variables in the equation.

And you know, that's the way it is when a lot of a lot of teams around the league on top of the game, you know, the coronavirus, and he can't get your hands on him and give him a physical and all the things I mean, he's played a lot of snaps in the National Football League at the stage, and so you want to make sure that that there are no surprises there physically as well. So you know, it's it's all a slow, slow process. He reportedly wants seven million a year. He's a big man, three hundred

thirty pounds plus. And I read one story out of a New Orleans outlet that said there was a significant drop off in his play last year even though he was a pro bowler, and he had weight and conditioning issues. So I don't know if that's true. I haven't studied it enough, but I did read that, and I wonder based on that, if you've really got to get your

hands on that guy before you commit that kind of money. Well, if he um and that does happen, guys will decline and still make the Pro Bowl best based on reputation.

You know, sometimes it becomes a popularity contest and it doesn't catch up as a guy to he you know, he has another year that's not maybe as good as it was when he was a pro bowler, And if he had weight and conditioning problems last year, this year with the coronavirus, and you have to be a self starter in terms of working out and finding a place to work out, and you have to really commit yourself to your profession. And he had problems last year in

that regard. Boy, he'd be radioactive until I can at least see him, you know, and see you know, is he a hot mess or is he in some kind of a monicuma condition to that you can work with where you know he might be able to get back to playing at his at his form, his prior form.

You know, maybe he had a wake up call and he's in great shape, or maybe you know he's down down the dumps because of what happened last year and he's in worse shape, And you don't know until you work them out and you see him right, all right. Question from Matthew with Burrows accuracy, do you see pass catchers,

especially wide receivers, having an easier time boosting stats? This question comes from Matthew Heitzman, not fantasy football guru Matthew Barry, because it sounds sounds kind of like somebody who's interested in those fantasy numbers for the Bengals wide receivers in the Joe Burrow era. You know, I do think that the quarterbacks that have uncanny accuracy can improve the numbers for their receivers on a yards per catch basis totally yards as a result of that, and everything goes along

with it because there's completions and then there's completions. By that, I mean, okay, you can put the ball on him and complete it and you make him stop to make the catch and he's tackled. Or I'm talking about a guy that's on a slant and he's running open, but you make him stop to catch the football and he gets me built. Or a guy that's on a slant, he's open and you lead him where he doesn't break stride.

He catches the football and he catch he's in full stride when he catches it and takes for a seven yard touchdown all at John rosterd when he went up to up to see him up the gut, you know in score. So quarterbacks that have that uncanny innate ability to to put it to spots where you know the receiver can catch the football in full stride, those are the guys that are gold. And I think Joe Burrow does have that ability. I think he showed that kind

of ability. You know at LSU. The other thing, you know, simple, You see completions work. The quarterback makes the receiver work too hard and he falls to the ground. You know, in college they're down. Now you can get back up and run in the NFL, but HeLEX they're on the ground. You ain't getting up and run it too far. In the NFL, You're gonna get destroyed. You're gonna get smoked while you're on the ground. Probably, So you want to keep people on their feet and if possible, you want

to hit them in stride. And that's where numbers increase. For receivers and quarterbacks that can you know, yeah, execute that type of a completion accuracy. Those are the ones that are you know, amost the best in the league for sure. Question from Big Mike, what's the plan for Billy Price? Is he going to compete for a starting a starting spot or is it safe to say he's going to be a backup? Well, I think I think everybody. The one thing that that I will sell the offensive

line coaches mindset is it's meritocracy. I mean, if you if you earn the job, you're going to get the job. And that's why I mean, you have to pencil somebody in as a starting line as you know, as a starter in your line. And I do think, you know, the starting five would probably be Jonah Williams at left tackle, Michael Jordan left guard, Trey Hopkins at center, Davie sue A Filo at right guard, and Bobby Hart initially at

right tackle and then compete best man wins. So I don't think that Billy Price is necessarily penciled in as a starter, but you know, if he has a has a very strong performance, you know, in again, now we're talking about a potentially shortened training camp, but if he goes out and performs well in preseason games, performs well in the early stages of regular season games, and you know, if guys good line coaches I play for, if guys have shown that they can play, you might have seven guys.

You may have seven guys that you feel like could start rotate them. I mean you rotate. You rotate defensive lineman. Why they he'll not rotate offensive lineman. You're rotating defensive lineman to keep him fresh. You can play more than you know, five offensive lineman if you feel like you're not gonna drop off in terms of performance and keep guys fresh and play guys at multiple positions. And you know I experienced that. I mean, the more positions you

can play, the more valuable you are. And uh, you know, Billy Price, if he shows he's the equally effective at center, right, left, right or left guard, he's got some value. Um, you know. And if he if he shows, he should get some snaps, you know, some snaps. So and I'm you know, I'm not talking about every other series, you know, I'm talking about you know, maybe rolling a guy in their period just to keep them shop and uh, you know, and to keep other guys fresh. And so I mean, in

a perfect world, you've got eight offensive linemen. It's you don't really like. I mean, there's there's a whisker difference between the talents and the performance potential production, you know, of all of them. And then then it starts to get into the other things. Uh, the intelligence factor. Coaches are confident with smart players. If the other guy that is, you know, one percent guy never makes any mental mistakes,

that's a tiebreaker. Now that's a tiebreaker. So there are a lot of things you evaluate, but you want to have you don't want to have just five quote five starting offensive libin you want to have you know, seven or eight as you possibly can. All right, final ask lap question. This one comes from Jim and I'm shocked that I have never asked you this question. Here goes, what's the most you ever benched, squatted and deadlifted? Whoa? You know, it's it's interesting because I was in the

era of Nautilus with the Bengals. We didn't use free weights. So in a Syracuse, I mean, the most eye benched was four ten. I can't remember when I squatted. I think, you know, it got to the point where they were very very uh nervous about you know, letting you load up and squatting ridiculous amount of weights to max and so we would we would use you know, significant amount of weight and try to rep rep that weight in

terms of squatting and deadlifting. Man, you know, I never did that deadlift either, you know, being in that in that era that I was in. But I will say one thing our work construction, um concrete forms and UM. I remember picking up some concrete forms that had you know, dried concrete in them and you pick them up off the ground and it's like, I don't know how much a weight. But boy, that was that was a big

old deadlift. And I remember the ones that weren't quite as filled with as much concrete, you know, let's stick, you know, pressing them over my head and try. I was trying to get a workout doing the construction job, you know, kind of curling some of these concrete forms if I could grab them well enough. And then I also moved furniture as well, did the construction job in furniture. And remember, you know, taking a refrigerator, putting it on my back with the strap and going up three flights

of stairs to an apartment and delivering a refrigerator. That's a squad. That's a good thing. That was. That was. I remember my legs were quivering. Men I got I got to that third floor and I was like, whoa, put that thing down, and my legs were like shaken. But that was, you know, that was great work. So um. But you know, Kim Wood was was a strong coach and he P Brown were partners in Nautilus and the Bengals were huge Nautilus disciples. Uh that's what that's what

we worked out was mostly. Well, your four ten bench press is currently the lead in the Bengals Booth. You've got You've got me beat for now, but now I have a target. If I can double my all time high, I have a chance. All Right, you're off the hot seat. Appreciate the information as always. Hope to see you soon. All right, damn the man, I have a great one.

Here's one final note before we wrap things up. I mentioned earlier, I'm recording this on Friday, June fifth, and tonight at eight o'clock Eastern time, NBC Sports Network is airing Super Bowl twenty three in its entirety. I plan to watch before turning it off after Jim Breach's game winning field goal with three twenty to go. In my family room tonight, there will be no such thing as

Montana to Taylor. That's going to do it for This episode of the Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe, and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast,