Bengals Booth Podcast: Because I'm Happy

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 wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the little kid who imitated Joe Burrow's famous victory cigar. This is courtesy of my friend and former co worker Joe Daneman, amendous sports anchor at Fox nineteen

in Cincinnati. He challenged viewers to imitate their favorite Joe Burrow gifts, and a six year old named Jake Hoffsteader, with an assist from his dad, did a slow motion video that perfectly mimics Burrow with his legs crossed, savoring that victory cigar after the National championship win over Clemson. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out. Just go to Twitter and look for at hum Ken. That's hum k e n hum Ken. Trust me, it's priceless. Now let's learn about the newest

Bengals from people who have watched them play. After choosing linebacker Logan Wilson with the first pick in the third round on Friday night, the Bengals doubled down at the position at the top of the fourth round on Saturday by selecting Appalachian States Akeem Davis Gaither. By traditional standards, he's undersized for linebacker at six one two twenty four,

but the game is changing. Devin Bush is two inches shorter and about ten pounds heavier and was the tenth pick in last year's draft before having a strong rookie season for the Steelers. For more on a Keen Davis Gaither, here's Appalachian State play by play voice Adam Witton. A Keem is one of those guys who is incredibly versatile as a player. Dan, thanks for thanks for having me.

We're really excited as the Appalachian family to see him get drafted so early and see a guy really who has worked his tail off to get to where he has. Everybody that's been drafted has their own story to get to this point. But I think what people are really gonna like about a team is his work ethic and his motivation and his attitude. He's got the physical traits. He's incredibly fast, he's strong, He's put on about fifty pounds since he came on campus as one hundred and

seventy five pound freshman in twenty fifteen. But just to see where he was and where he's gotten to now is a true testament to his work ethic. That guy is someone that wasn't very highly recruited out of high school. He had one Power five offer really out of Thomasville High School near Winston Salem in North Carolina. But he has developed, he has learned, he has applied himself, and now all of a sudden, he has taken that strong work ethic and combined it with some amazing physical traits

to become the complete package and linebacker. I like that, the fact that he can do a lot of different things, you know, I think He's big enough to be somebody that can tackle in space one on one. He's fast enough to track guys down sideline to sideline on the perimeter, and we've seen him a lot in coverage to being able to cover tight ends or slot receivers and be able to make plays and cause some destruction in the passing game as well. I think Bengal fans are really

gonna like this young man. We are talking to the voice of Appalachian State, Adam Witton. He's a coaches kid. Was that evident when you were around him? I think so. But but the interesting thing about a team is that he didn't really have a love for football when he was in high school until about midway through his high school career. You know, his dad, Keith, has been a coach for for a long time, and so it was kind of something that was expected out of him when

when he was growing up. But it wasn't until midway through his high school career that that he kind of developed that love for football. But once he did develop that love and that passion for it, you can really see it. I mean, all the things that you look for in someone who who grows up in a football family, and a coach's son um. You can see the discipline, you can see the attention to detail, you can see

the attitude. He is mature way beyond his years because he has learned a lot of those traits I think from his upbringing, and so yes, you can you can certainly see that come across not watching him play, but when you get a chance to speak to him and be around him off the field as well. He has special teams experience at Appalachian State. He told us that he was the special teams player of the year early in his career in college, and that's likely something he'll

be asked to do in Cincinnati. Do you see him contributing right away in that department? I do you know a tame One of the highlights of his career was this past season and it was on special teams. You know, he early in the year, you see guys like him that are on cover junits, getting down, making tackles, causing havoc in the kickoff return game when you're on the

other side. But Akame's biggest play, maybe in his career, one of the ones that he's going to be remembered for, is he blocked the field goal to beat North Carolina early in the season. For the Mountaineers, it was a monumental win for the program, beating an ACC program from within the state, their first win over a P five program since Michigan into seven, and a team had the game winning play by by blocking the kick to give

Appalachian a three point win. So, whether it's in coverage, making tackles on kickoff coverage or punk coverage, or even on the block units to be able to make a play and field goal block or even punk block, he's got a lot of different ways he could potentially help on special teams. You mentioned that he's added about fifty pounds since enrolling in college one seventy five to two twenty five. Is that about all that he can grow to or is there still room to maybe add a

little more size. It's a good question. You know, we've seen this at places like Appalachian where guys, you know, traditionally at a a G five program like an app state, you'll tend to get guys who are super talented but maybe a little bit under size. But we've seen them graduate into the NFL and then put on a lot more bulk. You know, one of the team's biggest strengths

is his speed. He is uniquely quick as a linebacker, and he was able to play an outside linebacker position in a three to four bass because of that speed and the way that he could get out of the quarterback or track guys down in space. And so I don't know. I think it kind of remains to be seeing whether or not getting larger than two twenty five is going to be a benefit for him, because I think even at two twenty five, he's strong enough and

has good enough technique to still tackle bigger guys. So you know, the one thing that you don't want to do is do anything to make him lose some of the things he's really good at, which is certainly his quickness. Final question for Appalachian State broadcaster Adam Whitton. I was surprised to learn that a team suffered a stress fracture in his foot in Week three and kept playing, made it through the season, played in the Senior Bowl, then had foot surgery in March. What does that say about

a Keen Davis Gaither? It certainly shows his toughness, and you know that that's one way to look at It's because I think a lot of us kind of learned towards the end of the season just what he was dealing with throughout twenty nineteen. The fact that you said, you know, it happened in that North Carolina game that we just talked about. Um, but we saw, we saw those signs of him slowing down. He was still as good as ever and continued to improve his stock at

the season went along. Um. You know, he was impressive in the Senior Bowls, as we've discussed, and so I think if anything, it says his ability to to really do whatever is required for him to get the job accomplished. UM. I've talked about his determination, which is which is apparent as we've seen him throughout his Appalachian career. But the fact that he was still just as productive as he

was even battling that injury in his senior season. You know, ideally it says, man, after now a long time to heal from from that procedure, you know, imagine, could he be even better than than what we saw in his senior season Appalachian, which was pretty spectacular. So hopefully it gives maybe even a higher ceiling than we originally thought. Excellent luck at fourth round pick Akeem Davis Gaither courtesy

of broadcaster Adam Witton. In the fifth round, the Bengal selected Notre Dame defensive end Khaled Kareem, a six four, two hundred and sixty eight pounder who was a two year starter for the Fighting Irish and had thirteen sacks over the last three years. Here's a closer look at

Kareem from Bengals defensive coordinator lou Anna Rumo. You know, at this point in the draft, when you get a guy that's as big and as tall and as long as you know, a guy's an eighty four inch wingspan, you know, had thirteen somewhat sacks in his career, was a captain and Notre Dame last year you're talking about some and has passed rush ability again in the fifth round. I think that's, uh, those are traits that we like. Seems like everybody year draft and has been a team

captain was severing elegance. I mean, it's it's it's building a heck of a culture. It seems like, yeah, it helps. I mean those guys, Uh, you know, anybody anytime you've got leaders, uh you know that we're leaders in college. Certainly that uh that Lens lends itself to being a better leader in the pro so and at a place like Notre Dame, you know, which is uh obviously is what it is. So we're very excited about it. You've got five free agents that could start. Logan Wilson was drafted.

Now this player from Notre Dame. Can you talk about how the talent on defense had just been transformed? Well, you know it was over the last few years. You know, obviously got here late last year, but uh, um, you know, as I've said, since I've gotten here, this has been a proud place when it comes to defense, uh, you know, for a long long time, and it hasn't been that way the last few years. And uh, you know, some of the players getting older and you know, for whatever

the reasons. But part of it is our job is to evaluate and uh get younger bodies in here that can compete for spots, and you know, who ends up starting and all that will play itself out. But our jobs is to get a pool to create competition and then the best guys will bubble up and play. And we're doing that with both free hc in the draft. Before we get to the Bengal sixth round pick, 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. The Bengal selected one offensive lineman in this year's draft, Hakim Identagy, a four year starter at Kansas who played tackle there before taking some snaps at guard and the Senior Bowl. He's six four, three hundred pounds and had a fourth round grade according to draft guru Dane Brugler, but fell to the Bengals at the top of round six. From more on Identagy, here's the voice of the Kansas Jayhawks, Brian Haney. Well, Dad,

thanks a lot for having me on. I'm so excited for a Kim and picks it Cinnati stats be pumped two. This was a guy who was the model of consistency from the first day he arrives on campus. And I know we'll talk about the circumstances that led to him being a Jayhawk, but he comes in the middle of the summer before his true freshman year and winds up starting all forty eight games as his collegiate career. Twice over was an All Big Twelve lineman, including first team

all big twelve senior years. So he was the model of consistency and just a really productive player that got stronger as he grew into his body and added to his frame, played through injuries a couple of times in the middle of his career for lengthy stretches, and yet never came off the field. So you gotta love a guy like that. He's gritty, he's tough, and he's a really high character young man. It'll be a tremendous addition to your franchise. If not for a Cashew allergy, he

would not have wound up at Kansas, Isn't that crazy? Yeah, he was supposed to go to air Force. His brother had played at Air Force, and he was always planning to follow in his brother's footsteps. And he shows up on campus and in the medical reports there pops up the allergy. And at a place like air Force, that's

enough to derail your acceptance. And so it's June of the summertime to perceives his first semester as a college student athlete, and thankfully for him, his Garland High school and coach Jeff Jordan, had just taken the job for another Garland graduate at the time, Kansas head coach David Beatty. And so you know, one door closes, another opens, and

a Kim has a tremendous perspective on that. You never know, you know what curveball life's going to throw you in some ways, this weekend was a curveball because I know he really felt like he was going to go on the fourth round. But he's been a guy that's always accepted whatever cards he's dealt, and that makes the most of them. In this case, he comes to Kansas and as I said, within about six weeks he's won himself a starting job and he never let lucifit his entire career.

Got to finish up playing his last season for Less Miles, a future Hall of Famer and his own right, and learned a lot from coach Miles former lineman himself, So he had a chance to play for several guys he never would have dreamed he would have played flore had it not been for the Cashoe Ala Geet. But all the while he felt like it was happening for a reason and he was getting blessed by it. And here

he is now fulfilling his NFL dream. Because of it, we're spending a few minutes with the voice of the Kansas Jayhawks, Brian Haney. When Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan was asked about Hakim, the first thing that he spoke of was his smarts. Did that stand out in your

interactions with him? Absolutely, very football savvy, a guy that always on Tuesdays and we got to talk to the players, you could always count on a great sound buy from him because whether they'd only had a day or so a film study, he'd already been watching in the weeks leading up on that next opponent coming up. So he always had a head for the scouting report in the opposition coming up. And on top of that, he's just

a delightfully young guy to talk to. His mother is from Nigeria and she was actually a broadcast TV star back in Nigeria as a reporter, anchor journalists, and so he's always been a very well spoken young man. And when you're adding how much he studies the game and how well prepared he is weeken and we got I think you'll find him from a media perspective as one of your favorites to talk to. It seems like in this particular draft, if you are not a team captain,

the Bengals aren't interested. It's been one team captain after the next. And that was the case for a team identity. What traits stood out that his teammates would want him

in that role? Great question. And you know when you think about his four years of Kansas, and I talked earlier about no matter what the circumstances are, always finding a positive adjust to move forward, starting with how he arrived here to then the adversity of going through three different offensive line coaches and two head coaches in his

time here. He was always the same consistent, eyes on the prize, looking ahead as opposed to looking behind, and all that type of mentality, and I think that's what you needing a leader, a next playoff, next man up, that kind of mindset, and he had that throughout and no matter who was doing the coaching on the sidelines or who the headman was atop the program, he adjusted.

And Akim was the same guy, bringing his lunch pail to work every single day, same approach, same hard work, a rock steady solid and I think that's what you

want from leaders. Obviously, he didn't obviously enjoy as much winning here as we would like the last time, well not the last time, I guess you guys took Tanner Hockinson in twenty thirteen, but before that, when you took a Kansas offensive lineman in two thousand and eight, Anthony Collins, he'd just come off twelve wins and the Orange Bowl championship.

And Ke never got that. But he was the part of some really big individual moments, like beating Texas as a sophomore, first time k You've beaten ut in fifty years. He helps k you beat Boston College on national TV this year, beat Texas Tech. I think he's excited to get in with the great franchise. It's clearly on the rise now at Joe Burrow and Tiggins and all these guys, and be a part of a young nucleus that's going to do a whole lot more winning than what he

ever achieved on the collegiate gridiron. And because he's so consistent, so well prepared, and so determined, I think he's going to fit into that pedigree at DNA with the rest of those guys like Burrow and Higgins. Thanks to Brian Haney for that in depth look at Hakim Adenagee, the Bengal seventh and final pick was another linebacker, Marcus Bailey, who grew up in Columbus before his standout career at Purdue. He was still available with a two hundred and fifteenth

pick in the draft due to knee problems. Marcus toward the ACL and his left knee as a freshman, then toward the ACL and his right knee early last season. Here's a closer look at Marcus Bailey from Purdue radio voice Tim Newton. Marcus Bailey is a really instinctive football player. When he hits somebody, they usually go down. He doesn't miss a lot of tackles. He's very good in open space, going up against some of the best athletes in the Big Ten one on one in the flat. He was

able to get guys to the turf with regularity. And if he can stay healthy, I think the Bengals had one of the steels of the draft. A Bengals coach described him as a football junkie. Is that accurate? I think it is. He would see him all the time over in the football complex. You know he's a good student. He was a three time academic All Big Ten. He graduated early. In fact, was actually into his second year of grad school starting the last season. So he's a

guy that is a student of the game. I think again that matched with his instinctiveness on the football field, has really made him a very productive player. And it's a shame that his last season was cut short, just as his first season was. But he's a guy that football is very important to him. And I think he's also a great leader, and that was shown by the fact that his teammates voted him captain. We are visiting

with Purdue radio voice Tim Newton. When he suffered that knee injury last year, second torn ACL of his Purdue career. How devastating was that for the entire program. I think of all the losses that Purdue had, and I've never seen a team as ravaged last year by injury as this team was. His was the biggest loss of all. And it wasn't just the fact that he was probably the best defensive player in terms of production, but he

was also the best leader. And I think that's really where a lot of things went sideways in the season last year for Purdue is after he got hurt, there wasn't that guy that could bring everybody together in the huddle, in the midst of battle and say Okay, let's settle down. We need to do this, that or the other thing. They really really suffered after he went out last season, So it was a huge loss booth from what he was able to do production wise, but also his leadership.

You mentioned him that you think he could turn out to be a steal if he stays healthy. Did you have any sense prior to his injury for how high he might have been drafted. I think he had. I believe, and this is talking to some people in both in the scouting business and on the coaching staff. I think he was a second or third round talent. I really believe that, just again from his productivity and the fact

that he is good in space. He's an outstanding athlete, and he played with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. He's a kid from Columbus that was not recruited by his hometown team, and in twenty eighteen he got a measure of revenge by taking an interception in for a touchdown in the big win over Ohio State. So he was a kid that was motivated from the time he got on campus. But I think when he was healthy he was easily one of the best five

linebackers in the conference. Mets saying a lot with some of the talent we have at places like Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State. But he was really a legitimate All Big Ten player and I think was going to have a great senior season. The Bengals have really struggled in recent years to find linebackers with coverage ability. You mentioned his pick six against the Buckeyes. He had six interceptions in his career at Purdue. Is that a strength it is?

I think he's able to get out. I mentioned the fact that he can get guys down in one on one situations, but he's also going to be somebody that will be able to cover running backs coming out of the backfield. I think whether he had to pick up a tight end or a running back, he'll be able to play in space and he's able to cover a lot of ground. He's a sidelined a sideline players. I think he's really again the whole package is the only problem with him has been the knee injuries in keeping

him on the field and healthy. It happened early last year. It sounds like the surgery went smoothly and everything's coming along on schedule. Is he the type of guy that, just based on his history, you would expect to make a speed of recovery. Oh, I would think so. He did. He recovered very well from the first surgery, and from all indications we had, this one was going equally as well.

So I would expect by whenever training camp is that he should be ready to go, and it will be close to a full year by the time he gets back on the field, if it's July or August. And he suffered the injury in September, so he's had he will have had the majority of the year by the time he gets on the field. But he's been rehabbing and I think he'll be ready to go physically. I know he's ready to go mentally. Thanks to the Voice

of the boiler Makers, Tim Newton. Now time for a Day three recap and an overall look at the Bengals draft class with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. All right, Lap, we'll talk about the Day three draft picks and then we'll get to an overview of the entire draft for the Bengals. Let's start in Round four with the first pick of the fourth round. The Bengals drafted the guy that you more or less predicted they would pick prior to Day three of the draft, linebacker Akeem Davis Gaither.

They not only doubled down at linebacker in this draft, three of their seven picks came from that position. Yeah, And I think you know they've they've done it before about before the draft, back in the earliest part of the century. They draft Tekioe Spikes, Brian Simmons, Steve Foley three draft picks, and then they signed a free age in Adrian Ross. While they draft three picks, they're at linebacker, not as high, but they still address it. And then they may sign another one in free agers who we

don't know. The common denominator in the overhaul of those two different occasions Mark Duffner. So, Mark duft had had a big thing in evaluating the linebacker talent in both of those instances and and maybe rebuilding the linebacker group. And I think that these guys individually have a lot of a lot of pride, and I think the game of football means a ton to them, and I think collectively, I think they'd like to be the three musketeers that

turn the franchise around at the linebacker position. I think they'd relish the fact that you know, they could wave the flag, that they're the guys that solidified the middle of the Cincinnati Bengals defense was used and had so many problems with miss tackles and mister Simons and everything else. I see all three of those guys, you know, wanted to make make that different for sure. And a Keen Davis Gaitheror is a captain son of a football coach.

And when you when you have sons of football coaches, that means that they have a support system. You know, they've grown up around the game. The entire family, wife and other siblings understand how important the game is, and it gives it gives them an additional opportunity to succeed. A tremendous support system, and I think, uh, I think that's going to pay dividends for the Bengals. You saw a Keen Davis Gaitheror at the Senior Bowl. The Bengals

coaching staff obviously got to know him there. He was the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year at Appalachian State. Draft expert Dane Bruegler from The Athletic had him number fifty four overall on his board. The Bengals got him with a one hundred and seventh pick, so that's all good. The question mark with him seems to be is he

big enough right? And and because it's fast enough, I mean, you know he runs four or five and that that's going to be the thing um when he's on the football field, particularly in the AFC North I Buy formation. They're going to probably try to target him in an area, try to locate him on an area of the football field where they're going to test his ability to get

off blocks and stop the run. You know, I think they everybody's going to understand that a guy that size and that kind of speed, you know, will operate well in space. But can can you muscle up? You know, can when when you come in there with a couple of a couple of tightens and you know, when they sub times like that, you may be subbed out of

the football game. But if if they decide to reduce the formation and play smash ball football between the hash marks and get him in tight in a home booth as such, can he operated his way out of that

phone booth? And that's that's going to be the test for all these young linebackers because some of these, uh, some of these guys in the offensive lines with the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steels in Cleveland Browns, I mean, they're they these college kids that are coming in they have seen one or two of those guys during the course of the season. Now they're going to see five of those guys every single week of their professional career.

I'm guessing that special teams coordinator Darren Simmons loves this pick a tea. Yeah, Kam Davis Gaither played special teams at Appalachian State. He was the teams special teams Player of the Year early in his career. He had a game saving block field goal last year against North Carolina. So this is not something that he is going to have to embrace at the NFL level. It's something he's been doing absolutely, Dan, And you look at you look at all the picks h you know at the linebacker position.

You know they're being termed as potentially as three down linebackers. But you know, I'm not sure that that's going to be the case for all of them, miss rookies. So at some point in time, I'm sure Logan Wilson will get some taste of special teams. The keen Davis Gaither will as well, and Marcus Bailey is the third linebacker that they drafted. At the end of the day, all of them have tasted the special teams, particularly early in

their career. Like you said, as they turned into stalwarts on the defensive side of the football, you know that that minimalizes the special team snaps. But these guys were all smart. That's a common denominator two with all the picks to in and they're all captains, they're all smart,

they're all sons of coaches. I mean, it's crazy. I think that they they're going to understand very quickly, and Darren Simmons will make a point of them understanding it very quickly that their future is going to be determined in the short term by what they do. For Darren Simmons. Let's move to the fifth round. The Bengals selected a defensive end out of Notre Dame Khalid Kareem six four, two hundred and sixty eight pounds, another college captain. The

description I got on him was solid, if unspectacular. Had five and a half sacks this year, forced three fumbles, and apparently has gigantic arms. Yeah, he's got a huge wingspan eighty four inch wingspan, thirty four and a half inch length in the arms, big hands, So that that tells you though, he should be able to control people and keep people you know, away from him, out of his out of his body as such. And you know all these guys too, they have position versatility. You know,

he might give him some snaps. A defensive end might give him some snaps outside linebacker, could be a sub package edge rush guy because he could you know, they could drop him off into coverage. And you know what they've done with Sam Hubbard, I think this guy might be capable of doing as well. And you know another kid that a captain of his football team, and um, you know the culture that they're building I think is

uh is very very interesting. You know. It's another one that that was he was scheduled to play in the Senior Bowl. He couldn't because of venue. But you know, he's obviously he's obviously got some some talents in coming out and Notre Dame. We know what Brian Kelly is all about. We know the program that Frian Kelly runs, so we know that this kid is the real deal. In terms of being, you know, not only a good football player, but a solid citizen in every way, shape

or form. To the sixth round, where the Bengal selected an offensive lineman, Hakim Identagy. He played tackle at Kansas. Apparently the Bengals look at him as a guy who could play guard as well in the NFL. And of all the Bengals draft picks, he's the one who has the most interesting backstory. He was going to go to Air Force and then shortly before he was ready to go from high school to college, Air Force said, nope, you can no longer be admitted because of a cash

you allergy man. How bad would you feel as the coach that recruited him. Everything's hunky door, it's all set to go, and cash you allergy nullifies the whole thing. And that dad had to be a interesting, dynamic beau. His brother was already at Air Force and already gone to Air Force. That tells you a lot about that family. When when you're talking to military academies, I mean, you know,

I remember what it was. I get recruited by Army and Navy and and you have to get you know, your local center at Cenator Ted Kennedy wrote a letter of recommendation Army Navy for me. He said, I know the process you have to go through and for these these guys to get accepted the Air Force tells you a lot about the type of person there. And another there's another case of a guy that's got some intal act, you know. I mean, there's there's no doubt about it.

These guys took the book seriously, not just the football field or the basketball court or whatever the case may be. They they they're true student athletes. And you know, thing about this guy is when you look at his game, he's explosive, he's sudden, he's got really good feet. I think he's got some big upside. I really do. I think that. Initially, you know, he played more left tackle

than right tackle. But if I'm doing a depth chart for the season, I have him in their competition over there at the right tackle spot to see who's the better man. You know, Bobby Hart is Fred Johns? Is Fred the better man? Is it? Is it this rookie? I mean, I'd make that a very competitive scenario over there at the right tackle position. Then move from there accordingly. It's a lot easier, you know, he was supposed to bounce in. You know, he didn't put part in the

in the Senior Bowl. And this is one of the three Senior Bowl people that the Bengals drafted. Um, and you know, he did it willingly. And I think initially they're going to take a look at him at tackle, but hey, if you can play tackle, I'm telling you, it's much easier to kick inside and play guard. Usually pretty remarkable. When he accomplished at Kansas, he gets the late word from Air Force that he can't go there

because of the cashew allergy. So he winds up at Kansas at the last minute, shows up for fall practice, wins the starting job, and starts forty eight consecutive games. Yeah, that's that's the other thing. A lot these guys are, you know, four year players, red shirt guys. Everybody they drafted has played a lot of football, except when injury unfortunately interrupted you know, their respective careers. In some cases, they played a lot of football, prospected by their teammates,

voted captain, handled the academic part of it. You know, it's it really is. I mean, my numbers say three three Senior Bowl participants. Senior Bowls certainly paid off for the Cincinnati Bengals. In this draft, five of the seven draft picks are captains. Three of the seven draft picks are coaches sons. I mean, my goodness, you know, it's it's uh. I think I'm not sure if they had

the FBI IA. I don't know how many people investigated the character of their players, but well, they did a good job of screening them and getting guys that in most cases came from very very successful, winning programs as well. And the same thing happened in free agency again. I mean, you know what they did in free it to see, it's like everybody was on a playoff team. So it's it's there's there's some common denominators that flowed through all

these selections, including Hakim. The Bengals final pick was linebacker Marcus Bailey out of Purdue, And this reminds me of the Rodney Anderson selection last year, and that you take a late draft chance on a guy with an injury history who was extremely productive when he wasn't hurt. He only played in a couple of games last year. He missed the last ten with a torn right ACL. Early in his college career, he tore his left ACL but in between he was one of the most productive linebackers

in the Big Ten. Yeah, and when you hear that, I mean he's a football junkie as such, he's always at the facility. You know, you can only spend so many hours with a player by hen rules X number of hours per week. But that doesn't mean that the player can't go in there on their own and breakdown tape and do a everything they want to do in that regard to improve themselves as football players. And that was Marcus Bailey and the coaches basically had to kick

him out of the place. That tells you that you got a guy that the game is significantly important to him. He can't he's got a thirst for knowledge. You know. He started throwing names out there like Luke Keigley, Bobby Wagner that you know, he felt like had had a tremendous football IQ that could never be satisfied and another good student, you know, three point five GPA. He's got his masters and leadership and said that's pretty good. I mean, he said, there's going to be a Kansas at FORDU

for five years. Why not get a master's degree out of it? And that's somebody that's got some maturity to him instead of you know, worrying about where your next beer is coming from on campus in the party, you know, he wants to balance it out and make sure that he's got his academics taken care of him. Another guy that gives a lot of position versatility. He can play well in space. You know, he can cover people, he

can blitz. So I they've they've got themselves some chess pieces to play with at this linebacker position, with smart guys that you don't necessarily have to sub in and out of there. You know, when when the offense make substitutions and personnel formation wise, you're you're allowed to. But if the offense has versatility and they flex tight ends or whatever the case may be, and they don't allow you to sub personnel, you get linebackers they can walk

out there with those tight ends. In some cases, uh you know, maybe you know we'll even cover a slot receiver. You know, at a pension, when you have those kind of athletes, it gives you usually your heck of a counter. I mean, now you're in a great testpense. There's no question about it. All right. A few big picture topics now that the draft is finished for the Bengals. We've talked about the fact that a lot of these guys were captains. Six of the seven draft picks were college captains.

Logan Wilson three time captain, Marcus Bailey two time captain, Joe Burrow two time captains. I joked on Twitter the only captains the Bengals didn't draft were Hook, Kangaroo, Morgan and Crunch. I like it, but Zach Taylor made a point of saying, it's great that they're captains. That says something about them. But we didn't just draft good guys.

They were all extremely talented players and the captain aspect is a nice bonus, right, And I think I think you know the concept of all right, when you're a captain, one of the things that you have to do is make sure that you're setting a standard where don't accept anything but the best effort out of individual players. And then of course it accumulates to be a team thing

and you have to set the standard. And that's why in my mind, you know, great players, um, you know, like Anthony Munio's, James Brooks, you know, pick some of the great players in Bengal franchise history. Their work ethic was to suck that man. Those guys they're always in the Pro Bowl every year and look what they're doing. Am I doing enough? And that's that's a good thing to have telling you when you're when your best players.

And that's sort of a professional approach to it. The mentality where I'm going to be the best and no one's going to stop me from being the best. It raises the whole boat. You know. Tom Brady is in there, you know, bright and early, first one in, last to leave, and he's not wasted time. He's efficiently getting himself better, you know, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. Now now he cames into it. It's crazy.

And if you can find guys that have that type of mentality, that type of mindset, you know, instead of the coaches having to force you to do it, if the players are saying, hey, follow my lead, do what I do, and it's a positive example. Now you've got something cooking. If the players can can set the standard of that, police themselves if somebody stray, as the players take care of it. That's the good teams that I played on or played with. We never waited for coaches

to discipline or correct or whatever. Man took care of ourselves, took care of ourselves. It's like, you, dude, we got something good going on here. Don't screw this up. You know you don't want to be part of this. There's the door, don't body hit you in the buttter on your way out. And when the players are believing that that kind of mentality and self policing it, now you get something powerful. The biggest surprise to me is that

the Bengals never traded down for more picks. I would have guaranteed going into this draft that at some point they're going to trade down a few spots to get more picks. And when they reached their their spot in every round, either they liked the guy that was there so much that they weren't willing to go down, or no team really made a good enough offer for them to do it. Yeah. Right, And I think I think the overlooked to the draft had a play in that.

You know, it's like, okay, and I'm sure not only did the Bengals just wait for people to call be proactive, aren't reactive? I think they probably picked the phones up and targeted some people and tried to see if they could work work something out. But if if, whoever it is, you're trying to get them to move up, and they're looking at their board just like you are and their song.

I got three or four guys here I'm comfortable with, Why should I give you draft capital to move up to take them when I can sit and still get one of them. And that's what the Bengals are trying to do, is you know, move back and accumulate capital and still be satisfied with one of them. So it just there was never anybody that I guess slid to the point where, oh my gosh, we had this guy you know, evaluated a full round better through where he is now. So maybe the overall depth of the draft

was a you know, was a factor in that. But being the first band out of the gate, know, every round, let's go, every player they picked, they had evaluated a round higher because they had the first pick of the following round. So it's easy to say, oh, we had a humor waters a third round value you took up in the first pick in the fourth round. It's basically

a third round draft pick. But you know, in some instances, I know they had guys you know away up in that round and maybe even at the end of the round before that. And like we talked about before, Dan, everybody's board is said differently because you know people it's it's it almost gets humorous to me, and because like Zach said, okay, do you draft for need or do your draft for best player? And he said, well, it's always a combination. And that's why every team's draft board

is different. Every team has different needs. So when you're evaluating a player, it's like, yeah, boy, this this offensive tackle is good, and so is this cornerback. But we have a much bigger needed offensive tackles. He's going to go up higher on our board than the back. So that's why everybody's board is different. You know, when you set your board, you've already kind of you know, had

a blend of need and in best player available. So that's why it kind of tickles me where oh man, we had this guy evaluated, you know, so much higher, and the other team be like, what, yeah, I wasn't that that guy up. I didn't have them that high at all. I had totally different needs. You're running totally different systems. Um, you know you have to you have to basically draft football players that that fit your system.

It's crazy the draft football players and say, oh, just because of this one guy, we're going to change what we do from the philosophical standpoint now. So you know, you set what you're gonna do and try to draft players that fit it. And that's why everybody's board's different. What do you make of the fact that they only selected one offensive lineman and they didn't choose him until

round six. Yeah, Like, like we talked about earlier, I think they're you know, they're feeling that they've made some improvements there. You know, I think that, Uh, I do think that the right tackle is going to be a free for all. Bobby Hart, you know, Fred Johnson obviously is going to be going to be in the mix, and uh and so will the Keen. There's no there's

no doubt about it. Um. So you know that that that'll be just at the right tackle position, right guard, Xavier and Alex will be you know, competing, Uh, Sue Flow and Alex Redmond will be competing. And you know, Medie if if it works out where a team it doesn't doesn't in the mix real strongly attack. He could kick inside the guard. Um, you know, Trey Hopkins has Billy Price, and Billy Price can you know play both guards, So he gives you some depth the all three interior positions.

Michael Jordan came on. I thought Michael Jordan drew a lot. I mean, Michael Jordan. He met his match in Pittsburgh with Cameron Heyward Man. I was a man against a boy that day. But Michael Jordan grew. He went the boy at the end of the season. There's no doubt about that that he had a baptism under fire and he got torched pretty good. But he didn't curl up in his fetal position and cry about it, which I

respected the hell out of them. He came back and played some pretty good football in the second half of the season. Um, Jonah Warren's gonna be interesting to see, you know, see what he gives. Damn you know what he's capable of. I mean, obviously how they regarded the eleventh take in the draft. Um, and and that's that's right. Teams played mostly left tackle, So worst case scenario, he's

got a swing tackle in the team. I say, your prance, I mean, it's it's it's different and better than what they had at the start of the season last year for sure, and then with the scheme change to fit everybody, I think they're no drafting. The one lineman they did draft has athletic ability. He has a good seat, you know, he's not he's not a guy that can't climb to the second level when they're running inside the outside of it. He's he's not a guy that can't can't move when

they run their pin and pole stuff. So yeah, we'll see. I would think that they're probably targeting some college free agents in terms of the offensive line. Whoever is left from the Senior Bowl that they worked with down there. I'm sure they'll bring them to camp, you know, and that they've either met with and studied from the North or coached from the South. I know Balt get drafted, I know Hennessy get drafted. Both of those guys were

down to the Senior Bowl. But I'm not sure about how many of the other offensive line we get drafted. And the fact that they only signed only drafted seven rookies, you would think that you might have a few more dollars in the budget to go out and get, you know, an additional college free ason or two but like we talked about earlier, with this era of the coronavirus, and you know, very few oldtas potentially or mini camps or anything else. And how you're going to evaluate guys, how

many do you bring in? You know, you made not d ninety players this year. It might be a different kind of year. It might only needs eighty, might only needs seventy fives. So all that stuff I'm sure they're

talking about. They've already I know they. I know they've done a budget, um, you know, for college free agency, and then they kind of assigned it to different position groups, and if one physician group has success, you know, the other position position group might not get the guy they're looking forward frees up funds for you know, a third

physian group for whatever. So that's kind of the way they the way they worked at whoever has the all the success, whever gets the first guest gets the dough and then they just go from there. So I'm sure they've targeted a couple of offensive lineman and they're probably on the fallow of them as we speak here. I'm glad you mentioned Jonah Williams because after our last podcast, I got a question from somebody on Twitter. That's a

tough question, but a fair question. You pointed out that one of the reasons why Josh Jones from Houston slid in the NFL draft was that he has short arms. His arms are roughly the same length as Jonah Williams. Why didn't Jonah slide for the same reason. Bottom line is he's just an overall, you know, better player with his feet, with his power, with everything else that he could overcome it more than that, more than Jones could.

But um, and we'll see, we'll see if we'll see if Jonah wins that that's going to be a problem for him as well. I will I will say because I remember experiencing it when you when you're trying to pass protect against a you know, an octopus and you know you don't have those octopus length arms. That's tough. That's tough. You can try to swat him away from you. You know, it's hand to hand combat. But before you could use your hands, I had to keep my hands.

I sist Clenston on my sternum and you know, try to block the chicken wing elbows. Well, if the old rings are boodle and these guys have you know, thirty six ten charms in there. They could head slap. There's swatting your head around their ear hole. You know, they're popping your ear hole and your helmet. You ear drums are popping and bursting. You know, it's like, what the hell man? And then it might be something else I

can do other than this. It was it was brutal, but then when they allowed you to use your hands as an offensive and now you can counter, you know, and do some hand to that combat stuff, So you know, at all of that comes into play. How could if you do have short arms, how good are your hands? Well, where's your hand placement? How quick are your hands? Uh? You know, how good are you in that hand to

hand combat? But yeah, it's it's probably that's not the the only reason that you draft or don't draft a guy. But you know, I think it's a tipe aaker? Do you think it's a type aaker at times? All right, final question. You've been associated with this franchise for more than forty years. Do you ever recall a time that the fan base was so excited about a newcomer as

Bengals fans are about Joe burrow Boy? You know, I know I know the fans were pumped up when we drafted two time Heisman Trophy when Archie Griffin from right up the road in Columbus, Ohio. There's no doubt about that. And Archie such a great guy to boot. I mean, talk about somebody that, uh, you know, you could put up on billboards. It could be a face your franchise. It wasn't a quarterback that here's the guy that is

the face of your franchise as the quarterback. And he's uh, he's he's something special and there's no doubt about it. I mean it's this this uh, this community is fired up. This region should be fired up, and I think it is fired up. I think I do think that this uh, this guy's going to do some some very special things. Um. You know, when you drafted first first pick of the draft, it was a Heisman Trophy went to Carson Palmer. But he's excited about obviously, and he had had some good

years for the Bengals. But man, Joe Burrow, uh, but Carson, who was a California guy, and Carson, you know, made it made it known that he didn't wasn't sure if he and his wife fit in the Midwest, you know, as easily as as people wanted it to to take place. And uh, you know, he couldn't wait to get back out to Little to the West Coast as quickly as he possibly could. Borrow's coming home. This is this is where it's at for Joe Burrow. I mean, his family is.

He's so excited about being able to go home and have a home cooked meal with his parents and his girlfriend lives right here in Mason, Ohio and her family. Talk about a support system, you know, sometimes two two yard drive away, all of his friends, family, supporters. I mean, he's got he's got a heck of a support system going there. And I admire him for you know, he went to Columbus, wanted to stay. Look, but then go down to LSU and do what he did. It shows

you a lot, shows you a lot. Now now he can be back home again and a guy that won the Heisman Trophy, the National Championship. First pick of the draft, and believe me, every player that has a chance to be the first pick in the draft, you want to compete and get that bad boy and the records he said, might be a while before they're broke and sixty touchdown passes, accounting for sixty five total touchdown ridiculous, cartoonish, it's crazy. Let's see if he can set some in the NFL.

I'm telling you, I'd love to see him. You know, I do think you know I don't. I don't want to set like ridiculous expectations to Joe Burrow. But I don't know. Dan. You know, Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, they could, they could compliment each other so well, one hand washed the other. It's the Joe Show, the Joe Show, Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon. Let's get the Joe Show started. Here we go.

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