Bengals Booth Podcast: Block Party

former Marine talking about the guys up front. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or

pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since Laturna Loca. If you live in the Cincinnati area and have been looking for tasty takeout during the pandemic, look no further than Latorta Loca in Florence, Kentucky. My friend Chad Brendel from Bearcad's Journal turned me onto it, and the law Nortinia torta is currently my favorite sandwich in the Cincinnati area. It's steak onions, avocado, limes, cilantro, and salsa verde on

a crusty roll, and it's gigantic. The arepas are fantastic two and it's perfect for this edition of the podcast because offensive linemen would love the place. So check it out. Latorta Loca. The loose translation of that, by the way, is the crazy sandwich. Now, let's get to football. When I've asked you to submit questions for this podcast over the past few months, the number one topic tends to

be the offensive line. Well, today we're going to take a comprehensive look at that position group and I brought in one of the Bengals all time best o lineman to lead the discussion. We are excited to have offensive line coach Jim Turner on the Bengals Boot podcast this week, and rather than having me ask the questions, I thought it would be fun and informative to leave those duties to an expert on offensive line play. My broadcast partner Dave lapoman I might chime in at some point, we'll see,

but lab for now, the floor is yours. Appreciate it, Dan, And that's high praise. Expert. I don't know about that. I'm no expert offensive line play, but we're talking to one, that's for sure. Jim Turner, Bengals offensive line coach, And thanks for joining us, coach. Really appreciate it. Fired up to be here, man, Thanks for having me our pleasure.

I guess the first thing is looking back to last season, one of the I think one of the best coaching jobs or coaching moves was the how you adapted and adjusted your running game halfway through the season. I know, had that game over in Europe and on the trip over there, you kind of Zach Turner said that he gave Zach Taylor said, he gave you, gives you a lot of credit for resurrecting a different approach to the

running game. How did that evolve? What? What was what was in your mind when you when you went about that coach. Yeah, I mean he's just doing a great job deflecting. It was his decision to make the move. And uh, and that's what we did. Um. You know, I'm the I'm the line coach, so I'm responsible for designing the run game. UM. So initially we used his run game from the Rams, and you know, he was trying to implement that same system, which is an excellent system.

And so as we did. You know, I mean, all you gotta do is watch us at the beginning of the season. You can see that we struggle, and then with that struggle comes to the losses and then the confidence of the team and so on, and so you just get to a point where you just say, hey, this is not working okay, and and that being the case, you know, got to make a change. So we just sat down myself and him and Brian and and we just said, hey, we've got to We've got to switch

it up. And so we just started to do more things where the line was going downhill, and we started to do a little bit more man stuff, a little bit more of the fold scheme, and and then Joe started really beginning to feel that and we started to be able to run the ball better. So it's like anything, I guess, you know, if you're shooting the basketball a certain way and it's not going in the hole, and you need to change the way you're shooting the basketball.

So it's real simple if you look at it from that standpoint, And so we just changed a couple of things in there, Like I just said, we just changed the schemes a little bit, a little bit more man to fit our guys, a little bit more fold scheme, of course, staying with the zone, but but just switching it up a little bit and trying to find if we actually ran power pretty well at the end of

the year as well. So we got the fold to get the ball outside rand power to get the ball inside a little bit, and then we continued with our zone stuff and uh, and just continue to mature that

scheme with our with our players. You finish sixth in the NFL and rushing in the second half of the season, I mean, the dynamic improvement and Joe Burrow's numbers are crazy off play action passing, I mean it's it's it completes about three out of every four passes and it's touchdown interception ratios off the charts with that, like him at quarterback, do you envision the running game kind of picking up where it left off last year? Finishing is as highly as you did in the second half of

the season. You know, we need to build on this. I mean, uh, we're gonna have a lot of the same players inside. You know, Bobby how will still be here. Of course, Trey Hopkins will be there, Mike Jordan will be there. You know. Now You've got uh, you got Alex Redmi coming back. You got Xavier super Felow coming in there as part of that guard mix um, and

then you got Jonah coming back at tackle. Okay, So Joan is really the only new player because exam if you played, everybody played last year except the Jonah, He's really the only new player. But I look at him like he's a first round draft pick that got a chance to go through mini camp for a year and a half, you know, so he obviously knows what's going on.

He's a brilliant kid. So having Joe fit in with a group of experienced guys that we have, you know, even considering Mike to at least Mike Jordan have at least a year under his belt, not to that's the most experience, but he does have a decent amount of starts under his belt, and I feel great about him. The Joe's ability to move his feet in the pocket, I think is really what will what will make the change on third down on third and five, on third and four, on third and six. You know you can't.

You're not going to convert every one of those through the year. At some point a quarterback has to take off and run, and he can do that asleep, hey be just his mobility in the pocket. I mean, you know lat from playing old line, you know it's about their statistics mean a lot to them. You know, they don't get the credit that everybody else gets for the success. But at the same time, inside their own head until their peers, their amount of pressures, their amount of sacks,

that means a lot to them. And when a quarterback gives up a cheap sack, you know, or the scheme creates a sack, it really bothers those guys. My point is that Joe Burrow, if you watch his games at LSU last year, he really cleans up a lot of the little dirty stuff in there. You know, a guy makes a mistake, I mean you know, I mean, you play seventy plays in a game as alignment, you're gonna make a couple of mistakes, you know. So so if each one of them makes two mistakes, right, that's ten plays,

you know. So if a quarterback can cover up and they're gonna make more than two mistakes piece, Right, they're gonna do something wrong at some point, a technique whatever. And when you have a guy that can just make you right a lot of the time, then it really it merely makes a difference in their confidence. Their confidence is an individual, the confidences as a unit and so on. There's no doubt the offensive line play. I mean, you live vicariously through the success of the skill guys and

the stats and your quarterback. You know, throw us for thirty five hundred yards and thirty tight down only five interceptions. You feel good as an offensive line. So that's a big deal. I mean that that mindset. You don't want to be the guy. You don't want to be the guy that was the weak link that caused problems to your offense. That's that's the whole, uh, the whole core of being an offensive lineman. Right, yeah, and that's the

challenge of last year. Like I think what we all went through last year was something that not everybody goes through. You you know, you go through once in your career, twice in your career at tops. So it was a crash course in just that the mentality of a team and how it can be adjusted and how it can be affected by every little piece that happens in that

football game and in that football season. And so you know last year when when you're at O and Tan, I mean, it's hard, it's hard, and you know, so when it comes to that whole mentality, just having him and they're like when we handed the ball to Joe last year, like Joe Mixon really with the combination of the rest of our offense really changed our mentality going into the second half of the season. And you could see that in London when we were playing the Rams.

We started to run the ball against a good defense and we popped a couple of runs early in that game, and you could just see the momentum of that game. We had a shot to win that game and we didn't get beat up by that team. And that was the first game that we really started to pound the ball a little bit and we had a little bit of balance on offense. And so Joe Mitchen really helped with that confidence, you know. So, um, that's all a

big part of it. And uh and I'm looking forward to seeing just how the joves fit together back there in the backfield with our offensive line. When you evaluate offensive Lineman. When you when you're looking at a veteran, veteran free agent or a college prospect that you're considering drafting or signing as a college free agent, what do you look for? What are the trades? What are the attributes that Jim Turner has to see in a potential prospect.

You have to have the talent first. We can all say character and all of that, which is true, but if you don't have the talent, then forget it. Right, So, uh, I mean I can I can work twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. I'm dunking of basketball and guess what, It's not gonna happen, right, Okay, I'm not playing for the Celtics anytime soon. Right, So that's just the way. So the first thing is talent, right,

So I look at the talent of the player. I look at the body type of the player, the length of the player. Like a great example of somebody that I'm part of the group that brought in Mike Jordans, Like Mike Jordan's a great example. He's got length, he's got size, he's got power, right, he's got the talent, he's got the like the foot speed. You watch him run out on a screen. We watch them the other day running out on the screen against the Browns late

in the season. I mean, it's just freakish, right, They're freaks, right. They're big, strong guys that can run. Right. There's lots of big, strong guys out there, but these guys can move that body. And that's the difference, right. So I look for that, that athletic ability, that foot speed. But the big thing, like I'll use Mike again, the big thing for me is after you find those attributes. So every so now you just pull every lineman in the NFL.

They all have those attributes. They can all do those things. Now, what separates them in my mind is their toughness. They're want to hate being around anybody that doesn't want to win the Super Bowl, doesn't want to win the Championship, doesn't want to win every game. It just can't live with that human being on your field. If you have one of them on the field up front, you got a problem. And and we had that problem, and so

that has to be fixed. And obviously with Jonah Williams, with Mike, Jordan, Trey Hopkins, Alex Redman, Bobby Hard, Xaviers Sua Filo. I mean, you got some guys in here. They're gonna make a difference. Freddie Johnson. I really feel good about the unit that way. I feel like these guys match the attribute that you're talking about. I feel like they have the skills. I feel like they have

the toughness, you know. Like you watch Mike late in the season last year and we scored a touchdown against the Browns in the last game of the year, and he looked like a fifteen year old kid, you know, did just you know that clip I'm talking about when he he jumps up in the air with both feed up in the air, you know, so he and he just fired up. And so that emotion to me is everything. Right, A guy just loves playing the game. Now, I'm not

saying that I like cheer leaders. I don't like cheer leaders, right, I like it when guys are acquired, but that it's not that I care. I don't care. You can be whatever whatever your personality is. But at the same time, it's just great when you have guys that don't talk about it. They just do it and they love doing it and they're playing for the right reasons. And that's

why we brought Xavier here. I mean, we studied the tape on Xavier and and when you watch him play, you know, and he's not going to show the enthusiasm like that because he's an older player. At the same time, when you watch him play, the guy loves playing ball and and he plays that way, and he's got the power. The other thing that I look for in a player is just size. Like in the NFL, like it's hard to get away with being two hundred and ninety pound

offensive lineman. In the NFL today, they get hurt, and not all of them, but you know, the ones they're thrown are an exception. That's why I love the three town the three ten, three fifteen, three twenty. Those guys don't get hurt as much. I know they can get hurt, I get it, but in general, they don't get hurt as much. The bigger bodies that don't get hurt. So you've talked a little bit a bit about Xaviers Suaphilo. Let's let's talk about a little bit more about Jonah Williams.

What what what he brings to the table. And Dan and I were both impressed with man, this guy you talked about a kid that's focused, that wants to be great. It's going to sacrifice everything to be great. His his his focus at practice, when he's standing on the sideline during the game, just watching the left tackle and watching the defensive at work against a left tackle. This this kid mentally, you know, in preparation wise, you know eight

plus what else about Jonah Williams impressed as you coach? Yeah, so I think you hit the nail on the head um, you know, Like Jonah he's out in San Diego working out and all that, right, and uh so it's like I talked to him on the phone, you know, and when I'm talking to him on the phone, I'm like, hey, Jony, you know there are nice restaurants and this, you know,

the girls out there you might want. You know, you can go on a date if you want, you know what I mean, Like you can you know, you can go to an arcade and play video game, you know maybe or something, you know what I mean, Like, you don't have It doesn't have to be twenty four to seven football. It is a great compliment to him what I just said, though. He is so focused on being great at this game, and to me, it's that commitment you know, like what should be the next piece to

what you're looking for in a player. This total commitment to being great and you know, and that's what he has. And that's just evident and everything that the kid does. You know, I'm not gonna greece him too much because he hasn't played yet, but I can tell you know, like there's a nervousness there in him about playing in his first game because now he's been hyped, right, so

there's a lot to go. You know, there's some pressure that goes into that hype, right, And I'm like, hey, Jonah, let me tell you something right now, That hype has nothing to do. I said, you need to do You need to play this game like like you're playing your senior year in high school. I said, No one cared when you were a senior in high school. I said, And in the end, right, Jonah, if you can go into the season think in that way, don't put any

pressure on yourself. And said, let's just start with this. You will give up the sack, you will give up the pressure. You will make a mistake, all right, And I said, and you just come to grips with that. Don't try and be perfect you know, and he's had the chance to be around Joe Thomas a little bit. And I said, Joe Thomas, did Joe Thomas have a perfect career? Like did he give up no sacks every? Now? Come on, now, I said, You're gonna make some mistakes.

I said, so just you're gonna have to grind through it. You're gonna have to grind through it like every other human being in the world when they still when they get their first chance to play. And so, uh, I'm excited about the kid, the kids, everything that you said he is and and we think he's gonna help us win games. You know, I'm confident that he's going to be there for Joe Morral a guy that you picked up.

M Fred Johnson responded to you responded to what you were looking for from a technique standpoint, how to play the game of football is an offensive lament. What did what did you see in Fred Johnson? And how has he developed him? What do you expect out of him down the road? Okay? And so and you know this, um, anybody that's ever been around any teams knows this. I was a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, so I dealt with all different personalities, all different types when they come in.

And the one thing I did love as much as me and you just said, hey, this is what you look for. You know, do you want every single guy to be a cookie cutter at all? Right? You want them to have their own personalities, right. So and then like a lot of times, guys that are opposite it, you know, they are guys that you just fall in love with. And Freddie's one of those guys. Freddie. Now when I say Freddy's opposite, I mean that as a

compliment in this way. So Freddie, Freddie didn't grow up like just being in love with football, you know what I mean? Like Freddie had other things going on in his life. And Freddie didn't play football until he was in high school. He never played ball until that time. And so you know, then he ends up playing his senior but because of his size, you know, I don't think he had a great high school career. If you

listened to him, he didn't. And so you know, he ends up getting a couple of office and then he gets a laid offer by Florida, goes to Florida, and he wasn't even a standout like player at Florida. He was a good player. He was undrafted free agent. But when you're around him, there's a reason why all those things happen. And Freddie's Freddie's a work in progress when it comes to being ready to play. But as you

can see, like that work in progress. We put it to test against the Dolphins last year late in the season. He played sixty five plays and then he started against the Browns the last game of the year, and I told Benny ben Marner said, listen, don't coach him at all. Don't coach him this last week going into the game. I don't want him to be uptight at all. Just let him play. Don't say a word to him about

technique or anything. I said, because this guy has the talent to do a lot without anybody saying a way he is. He just naturally big story. I mean, he's a monster. I mean you've been around him, you know, like when you when you walk into an NFL locker room, right and you're just you know, and you you don't play ball or anything, you know in the NFL. You walk into you like, oh my god, these guys are monsters, right,

And then Freddie takes that to the next level. You know what I'm saying, Like, all of a sudden, Freddy Freddie walks around the corner. You're like, holy smokes, right, you know this is stuff you see. I can't say that, but this is stuff. You know. It's he's just freakish. So when you're around him, Now, this is the thing about him that he kind of plays you a little bit, okay, because when you're around him, you don't, well, he kind of plays it like, hey, you know, this is good stuff.

I like doing it, you know, but I'm not in love with it. Maybe you know what I mean. Like he kind of plays that role. But then when you ask him a question, this kid as smart as a whip. I'm telling you, you ask him like I'll install things and I'll just come back and I might be talking to somebody else, might be talking to Bobby Harten. I'll say, Freddie, tell me, explain that to me, and he'll come back at you and he'll explain it to you left, He'll he'll go rip right through it. And so there's an

intelligence there that is excellent. And you can see like he played in the game against the Browns. He did a good job in that game and he did a good job. He played well. He played well in both games. Did he make a couple of mistakes, yes, okay, but the old man mistakes. Um, he looked good and I'm very excited about where he's headed as weak. You know, you just hit on something, coach, the intelligence, you know, Ron intelligence, then football IQ, football intelligence. You know you

talked about Freddie having it Jonah. Um, Trey Hopkins is a menza. I mean, guys, Bobby Hart, I mean, smart players like that give you a lot of confidence as a coach, don't they. So starting inside with Trey, extremely smart, right, I mean, just ridiculous smart right. So um, it's almost like you don't want your boss to be around when you're coaching him because he's like a half step band of you, you know what I mean. So like he

knows he just knows already, you know. So as soon as you say it to him in a game, you know he's already there. So you know, Um, he's that way. Bobby Hart's brilliant, uh, brilliant. And so Bobby Hart knows, uh, he knows the game and and more more than anybody, Bobby will study the player that he's playing against, and and just figuring out ways for him to use his own skills and match his skills against the player he's playing. Very smart player as well, Mike Jordan, Jonah Williams, Alex Redman.

I mean, all of them. I give them all great marks for intelligence when it comes to understanding what we're trying to do and understanding the importance of figuring out what the guy against you is trying to do to you. You mentioned, uh the way Fred Johnson. You know you're walk in the locker room. It's like, whoa you know another kid that you drafted out of Kansas in the sixth round, hackem Identagy. He's a guy you want coming

off the bus early. You know, when you look at Hachem Iddentogy, it's like, oh man, this guy, this guy's put together down. I mean, tell us about him. What's he like as a football player. I'll be honest with you. When when I went to the combine, you know, you sit down and you talk to the players, you know as they come by the table, right So you're sitting there, you're just grabbing player you can you and you try and position yourself to get them. You know, we didn't

interview him upstairs. But I did get a chance to sit down and talk with him on two occasions there, and he immediately stands out. Okay. So I watched him on tape before I got there, and I'll be honest with I grated him as a second round pick. I grad with him as a second to third round pick, and I really liked him on tape. So then you get to the I get to the Senior Bowl, Okay. And when I get to the Senior Bowl, I was

supposed to have him on my team. So I was fired up because I said, okay, good, I'm really gonna get a chance to evaluate him. By the by the time I got to the Senior Bowl, whatever happened there, they switched him to another team and then and that was it. So I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with him. But as soon as I sat down with him the first time, he separates

himself from everybody else. He's a Jonah Williams type person when it comes to how much he loves football and how much he understands commitment and responsibility and you know, and so like I got the main thing that I try and tell these kids right when they come out when they get drafted. I said, this isn't a trophy like when you get drafted in the first, second, third round or whatever whatever you get drafted or if you get drafted. When you get drafted, it's not a trophy.

It's it's just the beginning. This is your birth into the game. This is your birth into the NFL. You're you're at the beginning. You haven't done anything yet. Now it's time for you to meet those expectations and to exceed those expectations if you have character. And he is so much that way, he got drafted way behind when he should have been drafted. I could not believe that nobody else picked him up, like we had other needs.

So we weren't able to get him in the second, third, fourth round, okay, because we had other needs, right, and you know how that goes in the draft. That's the way it is, right okay. And so I understand that when he's still sitting there in the sixth round, like you've got to be kidding me, you know. So he is way he's much higher than that, okay. And he can play tackle or guard. He's an athlete. When you

talk to him, he separates right away. Because he's not phony like a lot of guys when they go to the NFL. I'm not calling them all phone, he's either. But they do get scripted. And you can see when guys a scripted. They spend all this money on these agents and they tell them what to say. And as soon as I see a guy doing that, I'm like this guy, right, So I just ask it. It's not that hard, right, I just want to I'm asking you a question. Tell me about your family, right. I mean,

it's not a hard question. And I'm not asking you to tell me how to split an atom. Just tell me about your family, right. And so just I just want to hear some emotion. I want you to talk about your mom and you shop with your mom and your family and what you went through growing up and and a lot of these guys went through things and I want to hear it. I want to feel some passion from me and know who you are. That's all. And this kid, immediately when you ask him a question, Bam,

he comes out with the answer. There is no hesitation. He's not there's no script and I love that about him. And then when you talk football, he almost gets insulted, like if you said, listen, are you are you gonna be like you say you're the hardest working guy on your team. Are you really gonna be that when you get there? Or I said, are you full of it? And he's like insulted, like he's looking at you like, are you challenging me right now? Because I will tip

this table over and knock you out right. So, and I love that about the kid, right So, you know, you can just tell just the way he talks about his parents and and and and his upbringing, and he is a a plus when it comes to where we got him in the draft and who he is and what he's gonna bring to the table. He is going to compete and he is going to be able to play guard or tackle. I'd rather have him out there playing tackle, to be honest with you, And I think

he can do that. So I'm really excited about that. I'm excited about him with respect to the coronavirus and the pandemic, unprecedented challenges And you're talking about how smart your guys are, and they're rare intelligence football intelligence. So I'm sure the virtual meetings have gone exceedingly well. I mean, they're gonna they're gonna be able to you know, adjust to that, but not being able to get your hands

on him on the field them taking reps. I remember with me it was like, you know, when you're working with a guy, you want to see if he sets short sets, medium sets deep, you know, get a feel for him, a physical repetition read comfort level for me. Without that physical repetition with these guys, coach, how challenging is it going to be? It's like it's like anything, right, So we're all in the same boat, which is what's great. Right. It's not like somebody's got the edge over you from

another team that has more time with them. But it's just as far as the development of a player, obviously everything's been stunted a little bit because we didn't spend time with them like you said we did. You know, I don't think any team could have done a better job than than Zach Taylor just did. As far as how we how we set our meetings up, what we did with our meetings in terms of dealing with our players,

the amount of time we spent with our players. All the installation is in so everything is done that way. So the mentality of everything that goes to playing in playing in the game is there, like they know who to block. The team knows who to block. Okay, they know where to go. Freddie knows where to go. He knows the terminology. We actually went through plays like we had Joe Burrow there, we had the whole offense going. We put a playoff and they'd actually go through the

calls and run the play on air. You know, obviously they're all sitting in their houses, but they run the play with all the communication that goes with death play and the receiver. You know, they talk about their routes and what they their depth of their route, and so everybody's talking about their position. So you do the best

you can that way. And when it just comes to the development, you know, they do the players today as you know, you know, like Jonah sitting there working out with Joe Thomas, so that's going to help him tremendously. And there's things that are veteran like Joe will bring to the table. You know, like when you're doing that, a guy like that can really help you as far as like being in the position that he's in right now.

You know. So they all work out at different places and they all work out with guys, usually with line coaches that have been been around and done it. So I don't see the development being totally stunted. I see them coming in ready to go, and and then we

just have to gage right off the bat. I think the hardest thing for us is when you get them, you're gonna want to cram in spring the springtime that you missed, and you can't do that because the health of the player is number one and so, and my biggest thing with these players is and it's like my first time coaching in the NFL with the Dolphins, it's just the one thing that I start is if you treat their body like a college team, you're gonna lose

because they're gonna get hurt because it's not a college season. You've got four preseason games, then you've got sixteen regular season games, and then if you get to the playoffs and so on, and so it's a lot more grinding on the body, and so you have to that body has the rest. You cannot just you can't do a bazilion reps every day. And I've seen coaches in college do it, and I've seen coaches in the NFL do it,

and it doesn't work. And so I'm not worried about their development because every NFL teams in the same shoes and and I just I look at our unit. You know where do we need to focus And obviously it's the Jonah Williams not having any experience. Other than that, I don't see an issue. We're gonna just go as planned and then when we get on the field, you start. This is what I said to the players. I'm like, hey, this is like it's like going back to high school.

It's like you're playing high school season, right. I mean, you're just showing up the ball in August. So I'm excited about I'm not worried about that. Final question coach for me is is, um, when when you got a guy like Joe Burrow, who you've talked about, Joe Mixon, thousand yard rusher, aj Green Brand thousan yard receiver, one healthy highler, boyd uh Te Higgins, John Russell, list goes on and on and on. I mean, this is quite

a quite a litany of skill players there. People are gonna put the telescope, microscope, all the scopes on the offensive line, so you know there's some pressure that goes with that, but you I know, respond to pressure. You feel like your group is going to step up and respond to the pressure of uh, you know, a performing well for these has to show what they can do. I'm not worried about that one second. I think that, you know, you just look at Trey Hopkins. Um. You know,

like we played our first game against the Browns last year. Uh, you know, we went down to the goal line and we got the ball down to like a two yard line down there, and we tried to we had a run play call, but we ended up throwing the ball and we sputtered down there. We didn't score a touchdown. He came over to the sign he was pissed, right and h and he let me know it, right, he was pissed. And I loved it, right because there's a

competitive fire there, right, you know, and his leadership. You know, he's not a vocal vocal guy, but he's not a quiet guy either. Like he he'll say what he needs to say. And I loved that about him. And so very smart, intelligent, tough, committed, And I think that, you know, when it comes to the expectations of the line, I think that just his temperament says it all. You know, I don't think that they're gonna they're gonna uh waiver

for one second. As far as feeling pressure to do well, yeah, they're gonna If things don't go well right off the bat, everything's not gonna go perfect, all right. And as you know, and uh, you know, I was looking at the stats of you know, Peyton Manning's first year in the league. I don't know, I think he won three games or something whatever, right, and and uh you know, different different

quarterbacks and how it went down for them. And so I'm not saying we're gonna win three games either, all right, but hopefully we already we went through all that, right. But at the same time, I think we're gonna play really well. I think, uh, I think the line's gonna play really well. And as you know, you know, it's really comes down to chemistry and how well how well the team jels and and a lot and how well the offense yells. And I think if you spend any

time around Joe Burrow, which I've never met Joe Burrow. Okay, so I've only met him. I've only seen him through the through the Zoom meetings. But when you're around him, right. I mean he has a presence already that is incredible, Okay, And it's more presence than I've ever been around than any football team ever. And I'm not just spilling the air right now. I'm telling you when you're there, like Zach would give him the play, right, he never hesitated

for one second. Like his memory. You can tell he's got a memory there. Yeah, that's good. And i mean, Zach, you lays off these formations and plagues. I'm one of the coaches. I couldn't repeat it everywhere, right, I'm like, god damn right, when Zach says it right, I have my thing on muting him, like god, dog, So how's he gonna He ain't gonna get this right, you know. But he rips it off and he says it with confidence.

And then he uh like when he's when he's going through the count, the snap count, right, he actually did the snap count, you know, like why why did you know he does that whole business? Right? Yeah, but he's standing up, he's standing up like he's like he's at a game and all of our players are looking at him,

and I'm like, this guy is unbelievable. Uh, you know where he doesn't care, so obviously doesn't care when anybody thinks right and and you could just tell this guy wants to win ball games and uh and and he's gonna have a huge impact on the chemistry of our of our offense and our team and uh, you could just see, you know, he he's not like you say, pressure on the line. You know, Uh, there's pressure on

every player at every position. But you know, I think it's their job up front to take the pressure off of Joe and uh, because Joe Burrow, you know, just his name, being a first round pick and all that, it's just dudes, pressure and so and I think the line has to do a great job at making him feel comfortable that he can stand in the pocket and throw U. And I know these guys, our guys are going to step up to the challenge. I'm really confident about this line. I feel good, Jim. I am going

to chime in with a couple of questions. Number one, what's your plan for Billy Price this year? I thought Billy did a really good job for us last year,

considering the situation. And you know, there's no way around uh, when you're talking about Billy and where he fits in this season, There's really no way around it, you know, when when when you talk about his situation last year, he went from being the starter and then Trey ended up being the starter at center, and then Mike ended up being the starter at guard, and then this Mike got hurt and we just now I'm actually get hurt, but Mike got nicked, and then we decided to move

Billy in there in front of Mike. And and I thought Billy did a great job. Like Billy is a tough guy. For him to handle the demotion last year not be in the center and then to come in and play as well as he did at guard throughout the season, I really thought he did a good job.

So going forward, where does Billy fit in? So right now, right, he'd be the next guy on the field at center of guard, you know, and and he just brings a presence there, and he brings a security there as far as having that sixth and that seventh player that can just uh, you know, you hit the you hit the ground run. And when it comes to your feelings about how well this unit can do. Having said that, is

Billy in the mix to be a starter always always? Right? So, um, you know, if Billy's in there with you know, he'll take reps with Mike at left guard. M He'll get some reps at right guard. He's also get some reps at center, of course, So he gives you a he gives you some ability inside. Billy's a good player. Billy's going to help us win games. Final question for me, there are still some well known veteran free agents out there.

Have you studied those guys closely in case there's a financial fit or in case something happens in training camp early in the season where you might need somebody else. Yeah, so all of that comes directed to me by the head coach. Have I looked at players, yes? Would I name them right now? No? But of course, you know that's part of our job is to keep those guys on the back burner and to have somebody in your mind that's ready for you to sign, like a John

Jerry last year. But I love that signing last year. We really needed him. You know, he ended up playing a lot of football for us last year, right and John was at the end of his career. Love him to death, love what he did for us. But at the same time, yes, there are other free agents that if you had an early injury, you know what I mean, or anything like that. So you gotta be ready to go and and grab one of those guys if you're in a position to do that, and if you need

to do that right now. You know, when we went into free agency and all that, I'm thinking, like with Freddie there, you know, you don't feel like you really need anything that way with the team as the draft pick, I'm really not worried about that. And then when you got Xavier inside right now, with Billy inside, and then of course Alex Fredman and U and Mike Jordan, I just feel really good about, you know, about where we're at that way. And then we also have like Isaiah

Prince from Ohio State, who's a second year player. Isaiah, you know, Isaiah brings a lot to the table. I'm very impressed with him. You know, I had had him slated as a possible draft pick two years ago, and then you got o'she Dugan Shay is a machine. I mean you're talking about another massive human being that can move, that can play tackle or guard. I really feel good that we have some players that can step forward if if need be. I don't know, if we need to

go into free agency. But again, just like I said, you know you're always prepared for that and it will be prepared for that as well. Coach, you got me fired up. I'll give you a couple of snaps. I'll give you a couple of goal line stuff. Don't make me run anywhere, but I'll give you a couple of goal line snaps. And appreciate, appreciate your carbon the time that you did for us, and ken't thank you enough. Appreciate you, sir. All right, hey, thank you guys. I

appreciate you and look forward to the season. I thanks to Lapan Coach Turner, and 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