Hi, get everybody on Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth podcast. The I'm Back in the Settle again.
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As the Bengals twenty twenty three training camp gets underway, coming up, we'll hear from Mike Brown, Duke Tobin, and several members of the coaching staff as they discuss what I consider to be the team's eight most important question marks heading into camp. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred and twenty care facilities in fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed
to guiding you to your best health. Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Google Translate. We recently returned from an awesome family vacation that took us to six different countries in Europe. For the most part, it was easy to communicate in English, but there were
a few instances where that wasn't possible. For example, one of our stops was Switzerland, and we had a hard time finding the place we had rented for lodging, so we stopped at a nearby hotel and asked four directions. Unfortunately, the woman behind the counter only spoke German, which is the primary language in Switzerland. That's where Google Translate came to the rescue. We set the app to translate from German to English, then pressed the little microphone icon and
had the woman speak into the phone. When she was finished, the following words appeared on the screen. Go about a mile down the street and take a rite at the school building. It worked out perfectly. Google Translate also works with the camera eye your phone. For example, if you simply focus the camera on a menu, it will translate everything into English. A couple of the words might be
slightly off, but you'll definitely be able to order. So if you're traveling anywhere where language might be an issue, have Google Translate downloaded on your phone. It's eindrucksvall. That's German for awesome. Now let's get to football. This will be the bengals fifty sixth season and going back to the very beginning, Under Paul Brown, it's been a tradition to have a media luncheon with management and coaches just
before the start of training cap. I approach this year's luncheon looking for feedback on what I consider to be the eight biggest question marks heading into the season. The first one is obvious and towers over any other topic, the contract status of Joe Burrow. Here's team president Mike Brown, but.
Joe's the heart of the team, and everybody in Cincinnati knows that I'm not the only one. He is a necessary piece to our puzzle, and we understand that I don't have anything to say on this negotiation. We've agreed with the other side that we wouldn't do it publicly. We do it privately. We think that gives us the best chance to bring it to a conclusion.
Of course, Burrow is not the only player the Bengals are hoping to extend. T Higgins and Logan Wilson are entering the final year of their contracts.
We have good players that need to be signed and extended. All this is part of a puzzle, if you will, and you have to fit them in one by one. I don't know where it's going to end up because we have only so much in the camp to expend before it's all gone, and whether we can get all our guys back or have to pick and choose who depends someone what they're asking. We have them all here this year, so that's the good thing. What the future will bring, we'll have to wait and see.
As for the feasibility of extending Burrow and Higgins this year and Jamar Chase next year. The Bengals say that's the goal here again is Mike along with Duke Tobin and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.
You just hit the daily worry for me. I want to get them all back. I respect all of them.
Yeah, we're not out looking to replace them with other guys. We'd like to keep them around. We'll see if that's possible. I can't predict that, but we're definitely hopeful that we have long term relationships with the guys we have. You know, we drafted them for a reason, They've produced for a reason, and we want to keep that going.
It's a passing league now, I mean it's I think you look at the teams that have led the league and that are in the tops, and passing are generally the teams that are that are in the playoffs and lead the league in scoring, and those top couple of teams are teams that throw the ball well. And so I think you're seeing a shift of philosophy where teams are trying to load up on the guys that score touchdowns, and those are the receivers and occasionally have really dynamic
tight ends, but receivers in general. If you've got two guys that can go win on the on the outside and go win one on one matchups, you enhance your ability to throw the football, and especially if you've got a quarterback that can do it. So I think you're definitely seeing teams invest more in those positions, spend more
money at that spot than probably previous years. But that's because that's the way the league's go and you people are throwing the ball quite a bit, and to do that, you got to have guys that can go win and separate and go make contested plays. And I think you see a lot of that, and where the money's going is what you're seeing, and I think that's going to continue.
One contract situation has been resolved, the restructuring of Joe Mixon's deal, as he agreed to a pay cut to remain with the Bengals.
Joe was real professional about that. We appreciated that. I think he understood where the team was. We found something that was acceptable to both. You know, we have to do what is best for the overall team. He understood that, and we found something that we were both satisfied with. And he's looking to win. He wants to win, very professional about the whole approach, and we're glad it's behind us.
He still is a very good catcher of the football out of the backfield. He did a great job this year. He's a very hard runner. Teams don't like tackling him. All those things still remain. I'm excited he's back with us. I'm excited that things worked out for him the way they did and that he's going to be able to come play for us because he's been productive every year he's been on the field. He's found production. So that's
a big deal. And again, hopefully we can keep putting him in positions to run against numbers where we have the advantage and he can continue to run hard and make it difficult on defenses. And we need a big back because that's part of football. You still have to be able to run the football in tight spots. So I think Joe's going to bring everything he always does to us, and his energy and his leadership or another part of that too, so fired up to have him raid a role.
The thing with Joe was to get his deal at a market price that would help us with the overall and he consented to do that. We're appreciative that he did. It should help us address some other player contract issues.
I still think a Borough deal will get done before the start of the season, hopefully sooner rather than later. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorp to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. Enough contract talk, let's move on to what I consider to be the seven biggest on field
question marks heading into camp. Up First, getting the safeties up to speed with Jesse Bates and Von Bell gone, Dax Hill and Nick Scott project as the starters, with rookie Jordan Battle poised to play a role in three safety packages. Bell and Bates started nearly every game together for the last three years, and their chemistry and ability to avoid mental mistakes will be hard to replace. Here's defensive coordinator lou Anarumo on Hill and Scott taking over.
Well, the good news is they work together in the sprint, so we got a little bit of a baseline there. And then you know, Nix a veteran, Zach at least as a year under his belt. I'm sorry, Dax has a under his belt, so you know, we we can work with that, for sure.
I think a lot of us assume it's going to take a little while. Can you even afford to look at it that way?
You know, I just think that the faster the better. But at the end of the day, as long as you know, we've got a lot of other guys that have played a lot of football for us, and I think that they can also help with their getting together and meshing together because they know what it's supposed to look like. So I'm hoping it won't take long, but we'll see.
Sticking with defense, the next question mark involves the Bengals pass rush. Cincinnati had just thirty sacks last year. Only three teams in the NFL had fewer, and the NFC champion Eagles had seventy. That's one of the reasons why the Bengals chose Miles Murphy in the first round. But sachs aren't the only way to measure pressure. The Bengals were twelve in quarterback Once again, here's Lou.
I think we finished it first in the league with qbr against so if we're if we're doing that, that means you're effecting the quarterbacks. So you know, if we can keep that up and finish some more sacks, we'll be just fine.
I'm not worried about how.
Much of that stat do you think is confusing quarterbacks.
I think it has something to do with it. But at the end of the day, you know, keeping those guys off balance is what wins games in this league. It's a difference. They're so good, so talented, and we got to do a good job of continuing.
To do that.
Now, let's move to the offensive question marks. With L. L. Collins still recovering from knee surgery, Jonah Williams appears to be the leading candidate to start at right tackle, with Jackson Carmen competing for the spot. I asked Brian Callahan about that battle. What's the game plan and the timetable for choosing right tackle.
We're gonna let a play out. I mean, there's no there's no date on that as far as that when we're gonna announce the starters, it'll probably be for September. But looking forward to seeing that. I mean, Jonah's going to a new position. Excited to see him come. He's ready to work, he looks good. He's been here the last few days with the injured players, and then obviously you got Jackson over there and else coming off his injury. So we'll see where that stands when we get when
we get rolling. But Elsie's starting on pup as was announced, and then Jackson's in the mix as well. So good competition hopefully brings out the best of those guys and we get a really good starting right tackle for us, because I feel really good about that group.
Then there's tight end. The Bengals re signed Mitchell Wilcox on Monday, adding him to a room that includes Irv Smith, Junior Drew Sample, Devin Assi, Ossi Tanner, Hudson, Nick Bauers, and Christian Tree. Han Smith is the projected starter, with a hope that he can match or maybe even exceed the production the team received over the last two seasons from c j Uzama and Hayden Hurst.
From what we've seen in the spring so far, yeah, I think he brings a little bit different element than what we've had. He's just a little a different style of player than the than the tight ends that have played for between cj and and Hayden the last two years, and so excited to see what he brings to the passing game. I think he's a really good route runner.
I think he's got really good hands. He lacks maybe the physical size that the other two the last couple of years have had, so he's just a different style of player. But I think in the past game he's got real ability and I'm excited about that part of his game. He can get in out of the top of his break. He can separate at the top, which is you know, some of those tight ends use more strength than that. But he's got real route technique and savvy and I think he's the top of His routes
have been pretty impressive. So we'll see if the pats come on when it gets physical, what it looks like. But you know, he's done a good job in his career, and I think he's gonna ad another element that we haven't had.
The final offensive question mark is it running back, more specifically third down running back following the free agent departure of sam I j. P Ryn, Will Joe Mixon stay on the field more on third down or will Traveon Williams, Chris Evans or rookie Chase Brown fill that role. A key will be pass protection and picking up blitzers. Brian Callahan says that's one of the things they'll be evaluating closely in camp and the three preseason games.
The advantage we get is we get to go against lou every day and Lou has has has a full gamut of things that that they're trying to get repped and practiced, which benefits us because they do have a pretty good arsenal of blitzes we'll see over the course of our third down work and all that, so you will get a pretty good feel for that process. Obviously, those guys aren't still they're not coming to sack the quarterback,
so it's a little bit different. But as far as recognition, execution, assignment football, you're going to see all that and you should get a pretty good feel, but then always the the teller is going to be what the preseason games look like and then what those guys do in those games. So it's a role that's undefined for for who's gonna do it and what it's going to look like. And that's going to be a big focus of training camp
for us on on where that's gonna come from. So that'll be a good one to follow.
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Will the punter be the incumbent Drew Chrisman or rookie Brad Robbins. Since the Bengals used the sixth round draft pick on Robbins, he is likely the favorite, but the job won't be handed to him. Here's Special Teams coordinator Darren Simmons on the process.
We track everything from a data perspective so that the numbers are with the numbers are. But I also I've been in this business long enough. I've been around these guys long enough to know to know what it should look like and what should feel like, not only from a just a punting perspective, but just collectively, how three all three guys work together, the punter or the kicker or the snap or how it should feel and what it should look like, how seamlessly it's.
Going to be.
You know, I try to look ahead and see, all right, we're playing Week one. We're in Cleveland and with the wind and the weather could be like you know, versus what it could be late in the year, And who do I want doing that? And it could look very different in August and Cincinnati compared to what it could be in you know, December or January and Kansas City, and that could be two completely different people. So I've
got to try to formulate my own mind. Can that guy, Can I envision him doing what we need to do, not just now, in the future.
And finally there will be a training camp battle to choose kickoff in punt returners, Charlie Jones was drafted in the fourth round partly due to his return ability. He had a one hundred yard kickoff return touchdown and had a fifty four yard punt return score in his college career. But it's not his job yet, Insane Sinnattie. Trent Taylor was eighth in the league in punt return average last year, and Travon Williams and Chris Evans are back after being the kick returners last season.
Well, it's still up in the air, of course. You know, obviously have an income a guy that if you're talking about punt returner first, have an income, A guy in Trent who's been a solid guy for us back there. I think we're probably trying to push the roster flexibility, flexibility a little bit. That's why we drafted Charlie. We'll get a good opportunity to see him, you know, extensively in the preseason to see I'm sure what he can do in the return game, in on offense. So that's
kind of a fluid spot it's going to be. It's a spot that's open for you know, a great deal of competition, you know, I hope selfishly that the opponent's punt a lot in the preseason game, so you know, we can see somebody bubble up right there, you know, much in the same fashion we saw Alex Erickson do that several years ago. And so that's that's that's a
fluid spot, as is the kickoff return spot. You know, that's going to become a very important position for us now only have a playmaker, but have a good decision maker with you know, some rule changes that have come into play here all of a sudden, so that that's going to be a very very important spot. And you know, we've got a couple of candidates here, Chris Chris Evans will be one. Trayvon will have an opportunity to show
what he can do there. Charlie can do that also, and you know, and I don't want to call me lasser, it was a rising player for US here ago that came in, had a good camp earner, spotder practice squad, and and uh so we've got several capable guys back there that can do both of those spots.
So there you have it. A look or listen at what I consider to be the eight biggest questions heading into training camp. And if you follow me on Twitter, my five observations from every practice will begin on Wednesday. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast. Brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and
Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs by pay Corps, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by Altified future Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with all of Fiber. 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 Hord, and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast