Bengals Booth Podcast: Big Decisions

is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, 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 starting the seniors. This week was the final of the regular season for many college basketball teams, meaning it was Senior Day all over the country, the final home game of the year

where teams honor their seniors. Many coaches taken a step further by starting all of their seniors, including the walk Ons. Florida State did that this week, and the walk Ons included Jason Lindner, whose dad was one of my high school teammates, Jason scored an early basket in a lopsided

Seminoles win. Of course, when you start the reserves, you run the risk of getting off to a slow start, and that happened to you see last weekend when coach Brannon started two walk ons against Memphis, quickly fell behind six nothing and wound up losing by six points. But in my opinion, it was still the right thing to do. Walk Ons bust their tail at practice and help teams

get better despite rarely getting the opportunity to play. For me, starting the seniors at their final home game despite their gill level is one of the great traditions in college basketball. Now, let's get to football. Much like the Bat signal, I shined the lap signal into the nighttime sky this week. In other words, I asked if you had any questions for Dave Lapham on Twitter, and you had a bunch,

mostly about the draft and free agency. But I started our conversation with a topic of NFL quarterbacks asserting their power. Let's start with some recent NFL developments. Deshaun Watson launce out in Houston. Russell Wilson hasn't gone quite that far, but he has named four teams he would be willing to go to if Seattle wanted to make a deal. The Cowboys, Saints, Bears, and Raiders. Here's my question. Is this the start of a movement where superstar quarterbacks call

the shots? Yeah, it's pretty amazing, Dan. I mean, it's like when I start hearing what's going on and see what's going on, It's like, man, back in the day, guys wouldn't even never thought about that. But it's it's all about money and money's power. And I mean back back, you know, when I was playing, coaches made more money than players. Today, not really the case, you know. I mean, the players are making a ton of money, uh, and

quarterbacks in particular. So it's it's almost like so foreign to me when I hear guys saying, oh, he should have a say and who they hire and how they put things together. I mean, not the game plan. Yeah, I understand that, but I mean, you want to be a GM and a quarterback, you want to be a director of football operations and a quarterback. I don't know, it's it's it's almost gotten to the point where you

know there's a power shift going on. I just wonder how far that PowerShift will go um and it's becoming more and more like you know, the NBA, I mean, the NBA player can dictate I want this guy, want that guy to come with me, and we'll make a Big three and we're going to try to win a world championship. And the quarterbacks obviously the most important position in football and maybe the most important position overall in all the team sports. So they've got the power and

they're being compensated that way now. So it's not a surprise. I guess do you expect Watson to get traded, Wilson to get traded? Both or neither. I don't think Wilson will get traded this year, but you know, obviously, if there's enough, if there's enough noise being made, and obviously it depends on what happens this year, depends on what kind of changes are made within the Seattle organization that might pacify Wilson. Obviously, he's tired of getting hit. He's

been sacked the bunch. I mean, he's like, he gets hit and sacked more than any quarterback in the league over the last nine years. It's crazy. You don't realize it. You know, a lot of it is he holds onto the football and tries to create an extent and he'll make great plays doing that, but he's also going to

take some licks. And when you're out there on your own doing that kind of thing as an offensive linement, i'm your your instruction on a if it's a pocket pass in particular, you know you're instructed to perform this technique and these mechanics to protect the quarterback in that spot, and if he's elsewhere, it's kind of on his own, and it kind of destroys all of that. So you know, there's how much of that is a factor in all

the all the punishment that he's taken. So I mean, maybe he wants to change the schematic of the offense as well as control personnel and he wants to be offensive coordinator, director of football operations head Scott who wants to be everything. I guess so to me, you know, it's if if you can't. Everything's built on relationships and trust in really life, never minds sports, but sports. If you can't trust, your organization is going to do everything they possibly can to you know, put you in a

position to win. Maybe you don't. Maybe you try to find a way to get away from that organization. And I guess that's what it's boiling down to. Guys just don't have the faith and the trust in their organizations that they're going to do, you know, what they need to do. They're certainly paying them. I mean they're saying, no, we value you, and here's how we value you. When you go to the bank, you're going to see how we value you. But you know, in these players opinions,

there's more to it than that. And that's what that's what everybody's you know, really concerned with. I guess at this point in time, they want they want everything to be perfect, that's for sure. Everybody's striving to be in the perfect, perfect spot, perfect situation to maximize their effort as much as possible because it's a short career. It

can be a very short career. And that gets interesting where Joe Burrows concerned because even before he was drafted, people speculated how happy he was going to be in Cincinnati. And I used to scoff at people who worried about Joe signing a second contract with the Bengals before he had even played in a single game in a Bengals uniform. And I'm still not overly concerned about those kinds of things. But I guess you do have to show a player of his skill level and potential stardom that you are

doing everything you can to win. Yeah, I think so, you know, and and and really, you know what they're talking about now, the Jets trying to decide, you know, we do we stay with our guy that we picked third, you know, in the draft when he came out of USC, or do we go for one of these you know, young quarterbacks Wilson whoever it is, at number two this year and start the clock again on that multiple year rookie contract where we can build our organization up and

have a window to try to go and win big. You know, It's it's almost like a double edged sword though, because you know, a lot of times, I mean some some quarterbacks, a lot of them fail. Let's face it, I mean, over fifty percent of the first round quarterbacks fail. They don't they don't end up having the career that that you would expect, even even the first pick of

the draft. I mean, there's there's no guarantee. Over fifty percent of them don't even sign a second contract with the Peen Draft of them these high first round draft picks. You know, it's that's just the way it is in the national football You get to total crapshoot. If we're a pure science, the draft wouldn't be as interesting as it is because it's a total crapshoot. There's no no

two ways about it. But um, when when you if you're going to try to go for the gusto with a young quarterback man, years one, two, and three may not be the premier years for the guy. It may take them a little bit of time to adjust, if he does adjust at all. So you're you're looking for

the perfect storm. You're looking to draft of the guy that you've got your totally convinced that this is a guy that I can plug and play and he's going to be able to win for us if we have the right people around him and then have the money because of his low contract inexpensive contract to go and surround himself with all these weapons to go ahead and win. That's the perfect storm. I mean that that just uh, you know, Vegas will take odds on that every single day.

But you know, you look at a guy like Joe Burrow. I think Joe Burrow when you look at all the components, not just the fisthical aspect, of the mental aspect, the intangible, all the things that go with it. He is a guy I think that if you can surround him with some good components, I think he can win for you pretty damn early. I mean, I think he's that type of player. I think he's that type of football intellect,

you know, that type of intangibles. I really do. I think he's one of those guys that you can put some money on in that regard. So yesterday Ben roethlis agreed to a new contract with the Steelers to save them some calorie salary cap space in terms of their ability right now, not two or three years from now, four or five years from now. How do you rank the quarterbacks in the AFC North Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield,

Joe Burrow, Ben Roethlisberger. Yeah, it's it's it's an interesting mix because Lamar Jackson is so different with the skill set. You know, it's hard to it's hard to rate him. You know, He's he's like here's here's the traditional quarterback, and there's and then here's these hybrids, you know, these these different kind of quarterbacks, and he is, let's let's put it this way from a football player standpoint, scares

you to death. You know, He's one of those kind of guys that athletically he is so off the charts, it's it's unbelievable. Um Baker Mayfield, I think, you know, once he got the right head coach and offensive system, I think he's shown that he can do the things that he did, you know, at Oklahoma. Maybe not to the level at Oklahoma because the competition level is so much more difficult to compete against, but you know, I think he's I think he is on the rise. I

think he's an ascending player. I don't think he's a player that's hit his plateau or is is on the on the decline. I think Ben obviously is on the physical decline. There's there's no question about it. But he's Ben's the uber competitor, There's no doubt about that. And all the all the naysayers that he's hearing in this soft season, I think the guy is going to be big time motivated. But honestly, Dan, I think pounce he retires the offensive lines kind of in shambles. Foster retired

Pouncy retired. They're they're just they're just not what they were. I mean once, the last time we saw the Pittsburgh Steelers unable to run the football to the extent they were unable to run it last year, unbelievable. And if they don't get those things fixed, you know, I think Ben's at the stage in his career where he can't just put the whole team on his shoulders like he's done in the past and say I'm going to take you to the Promised Land. So they're going to be interesting.

I think it's you know, I think it's a time where you can maybe ease your way past Pittsburgh in terms of what's going on with that organization a little bit. But I put you know, I put Joe right up there with the other three, the three quarterbacks, the three

younger quarterbacks in the division of all one Heisman. They wanted in different ways for different reasons, but they're all, you know, very capable of trans transposing those talents that they had in college in the NFL if they have the right people in terms of coaching and scheme and all that sort of thing. So I would rate I would rate they're so young, and again Jackson. He's so hard to the pigeonhole in terms of the traditional quarterback grade,

but he scares me to death. He probably scares me as much or more than any of them. And obviously the way he's played against the Bengals, I mean, he's got the Bengals number right now. They haven't come close to finding a way to solve him. Really. Um the one time he played when he was a little bit nicked up, it was it was a little bit different dynamic. But when he's one hundred percent physically capable of running around like he does like a human joystick, he's he's ridiculous.

But I honestly as a player, as a former player, I kind of like Joe Burrow as a as a total entity at the quarterback position more than Baker because I think Joe's I don't think Joe's is mercurial or as you know, up and down personality standpoint. I think he's more steady, uh you know guy that that I think you can count on to not lose his mind in crucial situations and things like that. So I think his makeup gives me a tiebreak or vote over over

Baker Mayfield. I like Baker Mayfield's skill set, but I think he's a sometimes a little bit of a wild card. You know. I don't see any of that kind of thing in Joe Burrow long term. I'd take Burrow over any of them right now. Hard to go against Lamar Jackson, I mean right now, for his ability and the way the Ravens are using him, I guess because of the injury. I'd have to go Baker two, Burrow three right now. But it's amazing that I put Ben fourth. He's the

one that's going to the Hall of Fame. He's the one that's got a couple of Super Bowl titles. He's the one that led the Steelers last year to the greatest start in franchise history, and they won the division. And yet I think the two of us and a lot of people out there are kind of looking at the Steelers as the team that's dropping, when they were the team that was the best in the division last year,

at least until the playoffs rolled around. It is crazy, And you know, people, You'll hear people say a lot that sometimes the end comes, you fall off a clip. Sometimes the end comes it's a more gradual decline. One th that everybody knows other than Tom Brady or other times undefeated, you know, and father Time looks like he's catching up to Ben a little bit. Like I said, with Tom Brady, he's that guy's the biggest freak zoit ever. I mean, he's a He's a trend breaker in every

sense of the word. So the roster cuts have started around the NFL. There will be many more to come. The Vikings cut Kyle Rudolph this week after ten great years at tight end. Giants have cut Golden Tate, Tyler right forgot let go by the Jaguars. Sounds like the Raiders are going to cut offensive lineman Gabe Jackson. Like I said, there will be many others. Let's start with Kyle Rudolph since there's the local tie. Any interest in Kyle Rudolph, you know, it would have to be at

what price? I think, you know, with ten years, ten years in the league. Obviously, is he what he was you know four years ago, three years ago? What ever? Obviously there's a salary cap castule people. You're right then, I mean the interesting thing is there's gonna be a lot of situations where guys are out there, like I never expected that well, for a lot of reasons, it's going to be the way it is. Instead of one hundred and ninety eight million, the cap is gonna be

one hundred eighty one hundred and eighty five. And you have teams half a dozen teams that are in salary cap jail right now. And now when the starry cap comes out at a lot less, there's gonna be maybe eight teams that will be in salary cap jail, and they're gonna have to start. It's gonna be a bloodbat. They're gonna have to start whacking people, slicing and dicing. So there's gonna be veteran players out there that you're

gonna be able to get at a discounted price. And there's going to be out of the thirty two teams, maybe as many as eight that can't even bid, So you're down to twenty four bidders instead of thirty two. So now it's like, man, you've bettered your odds by twenty five percent of being able to land a Tier one or a Tier two guy. This year, I think Tier one and Tier two they're both going to a

little bit higher. You know, some of the high tier twos would be Tier one guys in other years, but because of the salary cap situation, the salary cap trouble, a lot of teams find themselves in You're gonna have really good players that are making a ton of money that'll be out there that won't be making that money anymore, and can you can you land some of them. It's going to be interesting to see exactly who's out there.

And in the Bengals, having the sixth most money to spend in the league tells you that, you know, hopefully they'll be able to land a good Tier one player, maybe a couple of Tier two guys potentially. So I think that they may find themselves in a in a pretty good situation. And you look at last year's draft, rated the best in terms of what they got from production standpoint. Out of the seven draft picks they obtained,

they got them all high every round. Obviously, it was you would hope that they put the bat on the ball on almost every draft pick, and they did. So they have that to build on. And year one, year two is usually the biggest improvement in terms of light going on in your development. I can attest to that. I remember it being that way. It's like oh yeah, the game. The game is a lot different year two

here than it was my rookie year. So you have you have that and you know one some one two year the first, second and thirty year players for the Bengals. They have another good draft. I mean they could they could find themselves in a pretty good spot that they can pick up a couple of Tier two and one of those Tier one free agents to go in that mix. It's going to be interesting. See what you get there in free agency, then attack it in the draft. And

they have money to spend in free agency. They have the fifth pick in every round in the draft. I mean, they should be able to do some damage here in this offseason. Dan, for sure, you can make the case that with the salary cap going down, there has never been a better year to be where the Bengals are in the top six in cap room right now. I agree. There's no using about it. I mean, you know, when

you can, you don't. You don't want to say, oh, yeah, there'll be another world pandemic, you know, like we just experienced in twenty twenty. I mean the odds of of of taking place what took place, and you know, disturbing and disrupting every single professional sport and then disrupting the revenue in every single professional sport. You're right. I mean, the Bengals have found themselves in a in a pretty

good situation. The fact that they are a very salary cap savvy, you know, and some people criticize the way they handle the cap, but around the league, you know, when you talk to people around the league then and we both have Katie Blackburn gets very high grades for her acumen in terms of handling cap. You know a lot of people are like, Wow, she's and she knows what she's doing, and she has put them in a pretty good position, you know, to take advantage of it.

And now it's uh, instead of your normal free agency, it's gonna be a gold standard free agency. It's gonna be a spit shine free agency. There's gonna be a lot of talent out there you would have never ever thought might be available. You're gonna be able to take a shot at And the Bengals are creating more cap space as we speak. On Friday, they cut offensive lineman b J. Finney. That saves three point two five million

against the cap. Here are some of the other guys that are rumored to possibly be in danger of being cut for cap space. Gino Atkins is obviously the biggest one that would save nine point five million. Bobby Hart would save five point nine million. C j Uzama possibility could save five million. Giovanni bernard A possibility could save four point one million. Xavier Suafilo's name has been mentioned two point four million. Which of those guys do you

think is most likely to be let go? I think that you know, obviously AJ won't be coming back, but there's no cap, no cap ramification, you know there as

far as that contract is concerned. But I would probably think Gino Atkins is is that that's that's one where you know the most savings can be can be made, And you would think, um, just like a lot of teams around the league, some of these players that are being cut, teams are going to let these players go as sarah cap casualties and say, wink wink, look we're not we're not waiving you because we don't want you anymore.

We don't think you're capable of playing good enough football for us and being a factor, but we can't afford you in this situation period, So we may be getting back to you. And you know, Bengals may say that kind of thing to Gino depending on who has an interest out there, um in terms of other teams. But yeah, I mean I think I think he will be He's he's where they can make the most savings, and that seems to be where I think the uh, the Saray

cap acts is gonna fall first. I mean, if you let Gino and Bobby Hart though, just those two, you can bring Carl Lawson back, absolutely, and you could use that to franchise tag Carl Lawson if you wanted to, absolutely, and then and you wouldn't have even dipped into the money that you're looking to go out and get other

free agents. Yeah, if you just do some some some house cleaning within your own organization, who you're trying to resign, Who can you let go to try to get that that whole thing, you know, structured properly, just some internal

shifting before you even out there and address outside free agents. Yeah, you're right, I mean they could really, I mean it would be I don't know, I'm trying to think of a Hollywood star that had a facelift that looks so dramatically different after had the facelift done, but it could be one of the most unbelievable facelifts ever in the history of mankind. The things could pull off this year and changing the entire look at their franchise. You really could.

I could name something that went badly. I won't, but there have definitely been something that didn't work out so well. I want to change the subject briefly and then we'll get back to the draft and free agency because we have a lot of questions about that that we're submitted by fans with the hashtag ask Lap on Twitter. But here's the question I want to get to before that.

Recently we saw photographs and video where it appeared the Bengals we are looking at different letter sizes and colors for a possible ring of honor at Paul Brown Stadium. There has been no official announcement yet, but it certainly looks like they are seriously considering it. What did you think when you heard that and saw that? Yeah, I think that there'd be I guess everybody's reaction would be it's about time, you know. I mean, I think it

is definitely definitely time for something like that. I can understand, you know, Mike, Mike Brown and conversations over the years. So I've had with Mike Brown. Honestly, his big thing is he really does not a single players out. You know. It's like he has an appreciation for what so many players have done for him over the years from a contribution, you know, to the franchise standpoint, that he just feels

like singling them out. And people are going to say that's just an excuse they doesn't want to spend the money, take the time, you know, whatever the reasons. But you know, I honestly believe that's that's kind of knowing Mike, you know, for a few years now, I think really believe that that's that's his his mindset. Um. So I'm not sure that that Katie and Troy and Elizabeth and everybody else has the same shares the same opinion, but I do

know that over the years Mike has felt that way. So, uh, if Elizabeth and Katie and if they can sell it to Mike and and get it done, I'd welcome it with with open arms. I mean, I think, you know, you think about guys like Ken Riley, would have been great if Ken Riley could have been in that ring of honor before he passed away, and now I was gonna have to be posthumously, so you know, it's that that's you know, those those kind of things start coming

to combined right away. But um yeah, I just think that that there's nothing wrong with shaner appreciation for the history of France. I was given the fan base a rallying point. Um, I see positives and all of that. My impression from interacting with Mike over the years on this subject was that his feeling was fall as the ultimate team game, the right guard has just as much of an impact on your success as the star player whose name would go up on the Ring of honor.

But what I think might get mistaken in Mike's thought process on that is that the right guard would appreciate seeing the quarterback's name go up there, even if you know that that player had just a bigger, bigger role on leading the team to a great season. I agree with you, Dan, I mean it was you know, when when Kenny Anderson won a passing title. I know that as aligneman, I live vicariously through the success of Kearny Anderson.

I feel like, oh man, you know I had a little bit of a part in him having that tremendous success. He didn't his his abilities, he executed it. But you know, everybody had to do their job in Kenny Anderson to do his job to the level that he did his job to win a passing title, and he won four of them. He won four passing titles. And as as aligneman,

you know that was involved with that. You know, you think I did, I did, I must have done something right some of the time, you know, and you do, you start to you start to live vicariously through the success of others, and that's what teamwork is really. You know, everybody feeds off each other and you uh, you know, somebody, somebody's always going to get more credit than others. That's

just that's just the nature of the beast. But um, you know there everybody, if you're not doing your job, you're gonna make it more difficult to everybody else to achieve the success that they could. So everybody's important. And I you know, and I agree with you. I do think that that's Mike's mindset, that that's his pilosophy. He doesn't really want to single people out because you get

you have eleven moving parts on offense and defense. You have a lot of things going on out there in the football field on an every snap basis, no doubt. All right, let's get to ask Lap questions. We've got a bunch. We've got some good ones, many of them dealing with the draft and free agency as you would expect. Let's start with Vincent. Here is his question and ask Lap, what would you address in the draft on defense? Something

specific or best player available? Well, I mean to me, I guess you'd hope that that they would be one and the same, that the best player available would would address the need. And I'm one that would go if it's if it's one of my top needs, if it's a top two or three need overall, um, I go with the player that fits that the best. Um, I would not, I would not reach to address the need. In other words, I would take the best player that I have a need. Like I'm not going to take

a quarterback. If the best player available on the boards quarter I'm not taking a quarterback. Obviously, we just took one the number one pick last year, so you know, you just don't go with best player available unilaterally across the board. But if the best player available is an offensive tackle, I go there. Best player available is a is a defense a pass rusher that would scare people? You know, I go there, um so I think that it's in my mind it would be a combination um

and and and I perceive from there. I guess The other thing that you that I would do if I was ever running a draft is, you know, try to try to find the best way that you possibly can, because you never know how the order is going to go. That's why the sooner in the draft and pick the less variable as you have, so you know what kind

of player pool is going to be. But even projecting down to the second round or the third round, even if you have one of the higher picks, you don't exactly know who's going to go where and when, and what trades are in happening, all those sort of things in the first round. But the best of my ability, though, I would say, all right, well, the strength of the draft, of these positions, these teams are going to make a run.

Just try to piece the puzzles together and say, all right, well, the best player available there might be at that position. There may be a guy in the second round that's pretty close, but the best player available at this position is so far ahead of the next guy that might be available in their second or third round. That's my tiebreaker. You know, I take the big, big picture view of it as well. I just wouldn't, you know, pigeonhole and

focus on just that one pick. You know, I want to try to, you know, strike us consistently as I can't on a round by round basis of the best player of available. Fitting needs, you know, to have a larger degree as I possibly could. And when it comes to defense where the draft is concerned, I think you can probably eliminate a couple of spots with a high pick.

You don't need a safety at least high. Wouldn't be shocked if you take one at some point if you really like one, but you don't, you don't have to worry about Bates and Bell in the short term. Probably don't need a linebacker high with the three that you drafted last year, although again at some point I wouldn't be shocked to see them take another. So as opposed to drafting for need, it's almost eliminating the areas where you're already strong right like you know, um, I wouldn't

necessarily put running back up there. As you know, quarterback obviously running back on the offensive side of the defensier, like you said, safety and particularly inside backer outside backers. If he's that dominant rush guy though, if he's that edge guy, you know, now you get that hybrid. Is it a defensive ends is an outside linebacker? What is it? All I know is he gets after the quarterback. You know, I may go after that guy. So yeah, it's I agree, Dan,

I'm in the same thought process. Next question comes from Sam. If the offensive line improved substantially in free agency, do the Bengals still take Piney Sewell if available, or opt for a wide receiver or tight end Kyle Pitts. Yeah, or And the thing is, unfortunately this year from an edge rush standpoint, there's no Miles Garrett, there's no Chase Young, There's nobody like that. So, you know, the defense of the edge rush guy, I think the Bengs gonna be able to get a good edge rush guy in the

second round. I think University Miami has two, University of Pittsburgh has two. I mean, there's some edge rush guys, so they're all not going to go in the first round. I think somebody may be there in the early stages of that of that second round. Um. Yeah, but that's exactly right. If you if you go out and you get a Tier one offensive tackle and a Tier two guard, now all of a sudden in the draft, you does that change your focus? Does that change your thought process?

It could depending on who you get, and uh, you know if it's that, it absolutely could. All I know is from the offensive line standpoint, haven't played the position. When we had our best offensive lines in the eighties, Anthony Munio's was the eraser at left tack and a sul can be an eraser at left tack from what I've seen, And we had a black kicking guard in Max Montoya who would just as soon beat the heck out of you then look at you, and I think that you know, they could go out and get if

you could get somebody one of those guards. You know, free agency, you get tuney or shirt in free agency and you get not soul. If you don't get tackled in free agency and you could get sulf you could have those two areas filled in. Um. I just know that that that works. I've seen that work, you know with Anthony Muno. As we said, we don't have to slide always let's everybody else take care of people in here. He's got him, he's the eraser. He's taking care of

that guy. Those kind of players are generational players are like once, you know, just a dream come true for any offensive line coach. And that's why I value Sulu. And but but again, if if if they sign the best tackle in free agency and Schul could go, Luke could go before number five. Anyway, in my opinion, it could happen. I saw Todd mcchay's latest mock draft at least got four quarters Backstron the first four picks of the draft by a trade with trade and all those

other things. But if Sul is gone, I wouldn't have a problem then going, you know, going with the best wide receiver. I wouldn't have a problem doing that. Um the tight end, I know, I know everybody loves this tight end and I can I can understand why because he is a mismatched nightmare fan. The guy's six five, two fifty and runs in the high four forwards. That's what they think, think he's gonna run. But I'm not even I'm not even sure he's an adequate blocker. Watching him,

he's he's willing, but not capable. I don't he's I mean, they play him, they put him out there as a pie, they play him in the slot. He's a big mismatch problem. It's what he is throwing the football. And there's no doubt that that he's a talented player, absolutely no question

about it. I mean, the guy's a freak, and you would but basically in football, you're you're trying to uh, You're trying to create and then have the defense counter your creation, and this guy would would be a point of emas in that regard, you'd have to respond to what the offense. The offense is dictating and the defenses is trying the defense is trying to counter. When you have a guy like this, this tight end tis there's no doubt, but I'd still I mean, if we're going

to do something a receiver, I'd go Chase. The dude had eighteen hundred yards and twenty touchdowns. Who were throwing him the football? Joe Burrow, I mean, I think he's the best receiver. Watching him. Then he's strong, he throws people around, releasing off the line of scrimmage. You know he's not He's not the most physically imposing. He's not the fastest of all the receivers, but what he is

is a damn good football player. So yeah, I mean, if I if I get my offensive line taking care of in the draft, I wouldn't have any trouble saying, let's evaluate weapons for Joe Burrow on the you know, at the quarter back position. I don't think there's an edge rusher that I'd take it at five necessarily. Um, So I wouldn't have a problem doing that question from Alan is Zach Taylor on the hot seat if he wins fewer than eight games this year? Oh, that's a

good question. I'm sure he's on his own hot seat. You know, you'd like to see, uh, you'd like to see the doubling doubling down continue one two in the first year, double the win total of four. You want to at least double it in year three the eight.

So you're you're you're at the over and under. I guess, um, you know, I think I think rather than just putting a number of wins out there, because you never know the reason for the wins and losses, Like we talked about Pittsburgh starting out eleven and all and then all

of a sudden they're in time. You know, they had some significant defensive injuries, you know, and you can never you can never m four cast the injuries that might take place during the course of the season, and they can cripple a football team, particularly injuries to the wrong people. So I'm not going to say unilaterally, no matter what, Zach has to win more than eight football games, because you don't know what's going to transpire during the course

of that season. But with that, if he leaves training camp with the team that is going to be hopefully so much different than last year's team that won four games in terms of what they're going to be able to get in created see in another draft and developed last year's draft class. I mean, everybody would hope that you're gonna win at least eight, maybe more, but you don't know how the season's going to unfold in terms of injury and other things that may be involved. You'll

also have one extra game. It would appear it looks like the NFL's on the verge of going to seventeen, and it would be a home game against the forty nine ers for Cincinnati, which would be interesting. Next question comes from Ryan if Panay Sewell and Jamars are both god at number five. What should the Bengals do? And he goes on to say, I think trading back would be ideal, But if they don't, who should they take. Yeah, that's the first thing that came to my mind. Trade back,

you know as well? Um, yeah, that's a that's a good one. If they're both there at five and they can't they can't find a trade partner and Chase is gone. And I mean, obviously everybody's saying it's like, well, if you don't take Pitts, you know, it's it's ridiculous. Pits and Pits is shown up and everybody's and every every mock draft. I see, now he's not going any lower than seven, you know. I mean, he's He's up there, there's no doubt. And I do agree that he is.

He's a he's a talent that people have to He's a matchup problem. That's and what you're trying to cause. Every game in the National Football League is matchup problems. And some it's hard for a coach do it by scheme. You know, I'm gonna scheme guys open all the time. Shanahan has got a reputation and deservedly so. For scheming guys open as well as any coach in the National Football League. That's hard to do on a snap by snap basis. You know, as we've seen Dan, windows are

tight in the NFL. That's the biggest adjustment for college quarterbacks. You know, a guy's yard open in college, you don't throw that in the NFL. That's as good as a guess. You're gonna fire that sucker in there. So you know, when you have a mismatch guy, you know, like Pits, that's uh. You know, that's that's something to take into consideration. You know, the Bengals, though, Dan, over the years, they value corners as well. They've taken cornerbacks in the first

and second round. You know, may they may be the one to take a cornerback with that with that pick in the draft if they don't like any of the other receivers, or they may have a cornerback rated higher than they have Pits or or you know whoever else that's left at number five when they when they do their board, when they evaluate their board. I think there's one other thing to keep in mind where Kyle Pitts

is concerned. I think people might be underestimating how the Bengals feel or felt about c j Uzama working with Joe Burrow. He was off to a great start last year two games, eight catches, eighty seven yards in a touchdown. Now, admittedly that's a small sample size, but that projects to sixty four catches for six hundred ninety six yards in a season, Andy tores Achilles. So you know, there's definitely

a red flag there in terms of coming back. But I really think they expected that combination to produce big things, and I think that I would be I'd feel very safe and saying I have not studied Pits that much in terms of blocking. I've seen them. He is a contested catch full I mean, he's a he's a great player. He is an offensive force, there's no question. But I would stake at stake my reputation and probably at this point cj Zama's or capable blocker, you know, than than

Pitts is as well. And that's that's a factor, you know, when you get to this Leaguelet I do know one thing. Pitts is not Kittle. He's not gonna block like like George Kittle. I mean he's not He's not that type of guy, I think, and he doesn't block as well as Kelsey. I think, you know, that's an underrated part of Kelsey's game. I hear all these comparisons to Kelsey. I don't think he blocks like Kelsey. Kelsey's a block. Its Kelsey a block for him, and he really will.

Next question comes from Jim. Is there an offensive lineman and free agency that the Bengals could sign that would be better than drafting Sewell? Or is Sewell a lock if available at number five? Well? I think, I think if you have have a chance to to sign like a I know Trent Williams is on the on the back nine. He's thirty two years old, but the dude is a player. Pro Football Focus rated him the number one.

He was the highest rated offensive tackle in football. I mean, if you can get a proven commodity like that to line up at left tackle, he'd be able to play. You know, he's not done. He's on the back nine for sure, but he's not done, obviously. And whenever you're taking somebody from the college level to the to the national football level, there's already always a question about that transition.

And you know, the knock on sulas Organs the finesse offense, and you know it's it's not it's not NFL piped stuff all the way and from top to bottom in terms of what they asked him to do. So, in my mind, if you've got a proven commodity, um and you know, or even if you could sign a gun, well, it would have to be a tackle obviously for them not to draft soul in my opinion, but it'd be a guy like that. Darryl Williams had a great year

with the Buffalo Bills. I mean, if I if I were able to sign Daryl Williams, even one of the Williams, I'd be I'd be fine with they could sign him, I'd be okay with him. And he's he's a little bit younger too. I believe he's like twenty eight, twenty nine years old. Yeah, he's twenty eight yep, and uh so, yeah, I mean ta Taylor Molten's the other one, right, Yeah, Molten would be the other one. Um. But at my level, I guess from the Williams brothers standpoint, my Trent Williams

would be level one guy. Darryl Williams will be an upper or level two guy, you know, for me, I don't think Daryl Williams would cost as much as Trent Williams. And maybe you could, you know, get a little more bang for your buck with Daryl Williams, because you'd be able to go out and get somebody else as well. But if you're trying to solve your biggest need, man, go out and get Trent Williams, man and thinking get him somehow you can get that done. All right, Next

question comes from Tyler. Here's how Here's what he writes. It goes Jamaar Chase, Kyle Pitts, and Tanay Sewell in that order. Tell me why I'm wrong? Well, if Tyler is going by alphabetical order, he's right, it would be Chase, Pitts, Sewell in that order. But he's obviously not intending it to be alphabetical. So tell Tyler, is he wrong Chase, Pitts Sewell in that order? Well, you know, to me, Tyler,

Chase and Pitts are great players. But if Joe Burrow doesn't have time to get the ball to Chase and Pitts to moot point, you know that's why you know. To me, all we've talked about is the number one priority is protecting Joe Burrow. It was tragic how Joe Burrow threw the ball so much last year and took a beating. So the best way to solve that problem on Joe Burrow coming back from an ACL injury is to make sure that he's got people up front that are going to do a hell of a job protecting them.

Give him that much more time ability to operate, and let those skilled people operate down the football field. I mean a lot of these all these guys were on good college football teams who had good offensive lines and good quarterbacks that could get them the football. So they may come into the NFL and it's like it doesn't even look like the same guy. Well it doesn't because the offensive lines, you know, getting taken advantage of more than the offensive line that he played with in college,

and the quarterbacks not having time to operate. I mean, that's why we were talking about before Mike Brown, it's the ultimate team game. It is. I mean in first and foremost, you know, you do have to have an offensive line that is going to give Joe Burrow time and confidence. I think confidence is going to be a big thing. I think Joe Burrow is a very confident guy.

But man, after going through what he went through, the traumatic hit in every sense of the word that he took in the traumatic injury that resulted from it, you got you gotta help it. You gotta make you gotta make him not You're gonna make him right away feel as comfortable as he did before the injury in that pocket. The best way to do it is to get big beasts up front. Question from Drew are there any under the radar offensive line prospects or free agents that we

should keep an eye on? Huh? Under the radar? I haven't really studied it the draft that far too. I don't know how far into the radar that you're that you might be talking about, but I get I think the guy that that that I would maybe the level two guy that may not get as much answers or he might because he's a level two guy that dispersatile. This Feeler from Pittsburgh, I think I think Matt Feeler would be somebody that that Frank Pollock would do a

good job with. I really do. I think that I think that that could that could potentially be, you know, somebody that uh that they might might be able to target a little bit um as a tackle or a guard because he's played both. What do you like him at? Yeah, I would see him. I would try him at both and see where he fit in terms of working with other guys. You know, I'm going to get my best five guys out there, no matter what the situation is. And if he if he ends up being you know,

in that mix at tackle, so be it. If he's in that mix at guard, so be it. I mean there are a lot of people, uh, you know that are really good lineman. I you know, um Jackson Carman, a kid from from Clemson. I mean he's not under the radar, but Fairfield High School, YEP. I wouldn't mind having local boy. I wouldn't mind having that big old man, uh in the offensive line. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if the under the radars meaning you know, the guys that are talking about for top five picks

or guys that are later in the draft. I'm not sure. But I haven't really studied, you know, all of those guys that are going to be later in the draft. At this point, question from coach k all Day, I don't think this is Mike Chaschevski who could be some potential replacements in free agency if Will Jackson leaves, well, let's start with the notion of Will Jackson leaving. Do you think they'll resign him or tag him? That's I mean, I think I think they have the money to resign

Lawson and Will. I really do, and I'd make every effort to do that. I think. You know, Karl Lawson obviously is still an as sending player twenty five years old. Um, you know, he's obviously he's got power, he's be sudden, he's got that really unusual first step quickness, explosiveness. He didn't have length. That's the only thing about Karl Lawson to me that you know, is the one trait that you'd like to see that he doesn't have his length. Um,

but he's got he's got everything else. And then obviously, I mean Will Jackson is when you look at the top fifty players, both of those I show up in the top fifteen, you know, on a league wide basis. So if that's what you know, all the evaluators are thinking, um, you know, why not why not make sure you get

your own resigned? You know, if they're you've got a couple of top fifteen free agents out there, and uh, you know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and and you know what you need to work with them to improve upon, and so I try to I try to get them both signed. So that would be, uh, you know, that would be my first answer obviously would be you know, I wouldn't necessarily let him, let him take a walk.

I try to try to get him under contract. I think, getting back to what we were talking about earlier with Gino and Bobby Hart, if they were to make those moves to create more space, I think they would have room for lossing Jackson and an offensive lineman. Yeah, if they created more space, I agree. Next question comes from Man. This is an interesting one. There's been speculation that Kevin Zeitler could be available. That would mean he was getting

cut by the Giants. Would the Bengals consider bringing him back? I would think that from an organizational standpoint, they would consider it, but it'd be at the right price. Again, Kevin Zeitler would be out there because he'd be a cap casualty, but he's still operating at at an efficient level, but not at the dollars that he's you know, he'd be currently making would he come back to Cincinnati for a haircut. I don't know. I mean, I think I think that both all parties parted ways on good terms.

I don't think there was any bitterness. I think that Kevin Zeitler felt like he was treated well when he was here with the Cincinnati Bengals, being a first round picked out of Wisconsin. And I think they liked his work ethic, They liked everything about Kevin Zeidler. They had no problems with him whatsoever. Good locker room guy. Everything was positive about Kevin Zeitler. So I don't think there'd be any hesitation on their end. Now as far as

Kevin Zeiler's concerned, I don't remember Kevin Zieler's voicing. He was not a very you know, somebody that would tell you things were bothering him. He wasn't that type of player. But I think that he was pretty satisfied with the Bengals from an organizational standpoint. To me, that's not a thing that's beyond the realm of possibility whatsoever. I think they were a playoff team every year he was here. Yeah, he was here during the height of the Marvin Lewis era.

There's no doubt and he was a really good player. I mean, he's just solid player. There's no question. He's made a lot of money. So the decision would be, if you're going to play for less money, would you come back to Cincinnati or would you go elsewhere to play for less money. If it's a team that's close to the playoffs and his estimation that does need an interior offensive lineman, he might choose that over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Can you give me your impression of him breathing after things did not go well on a particular play man he was Jean. He was a deep breather man. All right. Final ask lap question this week comes from Dalton, who does an incredible job of posting Bengals graphics on Twitter. Here's his question. He would love to hear if you have any stories about Jim Leclair boy. Jim Leclair guy I played with for a long time. We were teammates

with the Bengals, then teammates with the Generals. Both went to New Jersey at the same time and played a couple of years there. And Jim Leclair I can tell you a personal story my rookie year. We're doing interior line drills, and it's interior running game, so there's really no secret as to what's happening. I mean, all it is is like a nutcracker drill that's expanded to like about to entail. You know, six players, three on offense, three on defense, a couple of guards in the center,

too defensive tackles, and an inside linebacker. So, um, we're running the drill and one play called for a double team on the defensive tackle and I was supposed to rub off to Jim mclair to the next level, get up to that next level on the double team, we doubled the defensive tackle. I get a pretty good release and I'm up up to the next level and I start peeking to try to locate Jim mclair. I mean

I got hit. He put a forum on my forehead, man, and I had the yellow flash, and you know, I mean, the birds were circling and there was a long distance phone call ringing. Nobody was picking up on the other end. Man, I was, I was literally rung, and I thought, wow, I mean, Jim McClair had an unbelievable forearm. So I come back to the back to the huddle and Stan Walter's a fellow Syracuse offensive lineman. He kind of peaks his head into me. He goes, you okay, I said, yeah,

I think so, he goes. Let me give you a tip, rookie, don't be peaking when you're looking for Jim Leclair. I said, I found that out on my own. Man. That dude, he could come downhill and he would just try to drive your head into your shoulders and you know, make him no neck. He was something. And another thing I remember doing is going, uh to watch Jim Leclair wrestle Victor, the wrestling bear that would tour the cities. And Jim Leclair was a wrestling champ in college. He was he

was a great wrestler. And this dude had broad shoulders, man like coat hanger shoulders and you know, tapered down to no waste, and he was he was just really strong. And Victor had a muzzle and they declawed him, so he had taken to his teeth. Would put a muzzle on him and declawed him. But it is a big old bear. Well nobody you know, penned Victor and uh, but Jim Leclair he starts starts going after Victor like

he's like he's wrestling in a college man. He shoots a leg and he's trying to Victor down, you know, and crisis swap. He got Victor on his back, and the guy who handled Victor said it had never happened before, and as soon as he got Victor on his back, he just the guy like waved it off ended the match. I mean, in my mind, he pinned Victor the wrestling bear. I'm like, dude, that's unbelievable, because Victor was They had

it. It It was at an outdoor camping show and they had big swimming pools around the ring, and Victor was backhanded people into the swimming pools. You know. Claire goes up there and I couldn't believe it. I'm telling you. Jimmy Leclair. And one other final story on Mclair. This one's not quite as pretty, but this guy cuts him off when he's driving the practice and just you know,

almost causes an accident. So, you know, the guy. Leclair drives up next to the guy and the guy's got like two other guys within the car and he signals for Leclair to pull over. So Leclaire in this car pull over and Leclair gets out of the car and the guy. The guy and his two friends get out of the car. They start getting after Leclair and he's innocent and they cut him off and the one guy takes a swing at him. Jim Leclair one punch of

three guys, three knockouts, out cold. Police come. They're like trying to you know what went down here? And Jim says, look, he said, there's one of me, there's three of them. You know, what do you think happened here? And he was late for practice and when he asked him what happened he told him and I'm like, man, those guys bad decision to challenge Jim Leclair. I'm telling you that that guy, pound for pound, might have been the toughest human being alive. He shot the leg on Victor. The

bear got the leg. Man. He's trying to do the takedown. He's throwing moves on him. He's doing the escape move. He was wrestling his tail off his classic. Did he ever share how Victor's breath was? He did, in fact, then he said the worst part of the Victor could get the tongue out of that mask. Victor's tongue was about three feet long. The Victor was wrapping the tongue around Leclair's head and he said that tongue smell to the high heavens. Boy, it's stunk like nothing he'd ever

smelled in his life. And Victor, it was all over Jimmy's head. Yeah, he needs a shower after that minute. Dalton, I bet you're glad you asked for stories about jim Leclair. That was the perfect capper to this week's or this version of Ask Lap Partner. Thank you so much, awesome stuff as I always look forward to doing this again sometime soon. My pleasure, Dan feel the same, have a good one that's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light,

Seltzer refreshed the game. 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 thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast