I get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast. The Jickiser no addition, as I discussed the Bengals off season checklist with former UC Bearcats and Carolina Panthers quarterback Tony Pike. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals official hr software provider, by aulta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the
best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the open for the documentary about the musical history
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Saturday Night Live before putting the show together. It begins with a seven and a half minute musical montage that is the best edited video that I have ever seen. You can find it by going to Instagram and searching for Questlove. As of now, it's the first thing that appears on his feed. It's so good that I broke down and got a yearly subscription to the Peacock Network
in order to watch the entire show. I'm not telling you to do that, but by all means, check out the free seven and a half minute sample on west loves Instagram feed. It is nothing short of astonishing. Now let's get to this week's guest. If you live in
the Cincinnati area, you know all about Tony Pike. He was the quarterback who led the University of Cincinnati to back to back appearances in the Orange and Sugar Bowls in the two thousand and eight and two thousand and nine seasons before being drafted in the sixth round by the Carolina Panthers. Nerve damage in his elbow ended Tony's
pro football career. But he's thriving in sports broadcasting, hosting a daily three hour show on ESPN fifteen thirty and serving as the sideline reporter on University of Cincinnati football broadcasts. We spoke this week about free agency, the draft, coaching changes, and much more. Tony with a perspective of a former NFL quarterback, and I have your number sixteen Carolina Panthers
jersey on my family room wall. Did I hear you say on your radio show this week that Joe Burrow is better than two time MVP and three times Super Bowl champ Patrick Mahomes?
I did you know? I watched the Super Bowl, as many of us did, in the lens of the pressure that Patrick Mahomes was under. And it's a pressure that I watched a lot this year because I feel like Joe Burrow was under a lot of that pressure, and in that pressure, Joe Burrow did something he's never done before. The statistics that he laid out this season while not being protected at all times was something I've never seen before.
And to see someone regarded as one of the greatest to play the position, one that's pushing Tom Brady to watch Patrick Mahomes so unsettled by the pressure that was around him. It made me appreciate Joe Burrow's greatness even more now. If you go into every category of what they do as quarterbacks, you know, you're surrounding are a big part of it. You're coaching is a big part of it. But what I saw Joe Burrow do this year with pressure around him, it's not easy to do.
It's very easy to do what Mahomes did to create ghosts, to have the feet that are all over the place, that's natural for pretty much every quarterback. Joe Burrow doesn't do that. He gets hit, he gets back up. He gets hit, he gets back up, he goes through his reads. That's so hard to do mentally, and it's something that I haven't seen before, and you saw it in the Super Bowl.
Was Joe like that in Week one against New England? And then did he get over it after one game?
I think so? And I think a lot of it for Joe was the injury. You know, when you come back from not just the risk, but he's come back from a major knee injury before. I think it takes getting hit. Joe himself has talked a lot about preseason right and getting hit and getting comfortable. I think it took him having a bad game against the Patriots to to understand where he was at physically, and from there
he was fantastic. I don't think that you get that week one Joe Burrow had he not been coming off of the injury with so many unknowns of how the risk was gonna respond, It was a talking point every single day. I think it took some getting used to it, and he got used to it quick.
All right, Tony, you've been talking about the Bengals offseason topics five days a week and since he three p sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty. So let me hit you on some of the key topics, starting with T Higgins. Should the Bengals spend basically whatever it takes to extend Jamar Chase and T Higgins or would they be better off to tag and trade Tea for a high draft pick and use that money on other positions.
Well, first, I would like to personally thank Joe Burrow for two and a half months of content that I didn't bank on having. It was so weird, like you just went through the season like this is it for Tea, This is gonna hop and then you hear Joe Burrow speak out, and I think it was calculated. I think every time Joe has spoken since then, it's been calculated. I'm biased from a former quarterback. I want the weapons, and I think this discussion goes in a different way.
If there was a more clear cut path at who the number two would be? Did Yosi Vas take a big enough step? Obviously we know what Jermaine Burton's first year was. I don't think there's a clear number two, which I think puts more pressure on T Higgins coming back. But so much of the argument is watching the Super Bowl, and it's a fair one. You've got to make sure your offensive defensive lines are where they need to be. Philly was so dominant, But a counter to that would
be Kansas City didn't have an answer. They don't have a Jamar Chase, they don't have a T Higgins. Travis Kelcey's at the end of his career. I look at at the weaponry of Joe Burrow as another opportunity to maybe get around other deficiencies, maybe some deficiencies up front. It's hard to guard Jamar Chase and T Higgins and Joe spoke about that T doesn't just benefit him. T Higgins benefits what Jamoar Chase does as well, because if you're going to send the double team to Jamaar Chase,
you're going to single out T Higgins. Teams have paid for that, and they've paid for that dearly. I think the pressure from Joe Burrow and being a quarterback that played the game, I'm signing T. Higgins. I'm finding a way. I know it's not going to be easy to do, but T Higgins doesn't walk in the door every day. You can't just replenish and replace T. Higgins with another
second round draft pick. I think T allows them to have a clearer picture of free agency and the draft and where they need to operate.
I want to follow up on what you said about Joe Burrow's public comments because I said publicly for the first three months of the season last year, I assume that T would play one final year in Cincinnati on the tag and then sign elsewhere as a free agent, and the Bengals would get a third round compensatory pick if that happened. And then after that Dallas game in early December, Joe said quote, I'm confident that we're going to be able to do what it takes to bring
Tea back. And then a couple of days later he referred to Tea as a need, and at that point my thinking completely changed from ten percent likely to at least fifty to fifty. Did your mindset change following those comments immediately?
And it wasn't as much right after the Dallas game. It was Tea's a need, not a want, because every quarterback wants the complimentary weapons. Every quarterback wants three star receivers, two star receivers, a good running game. When you throw the term need, and I view everything Joe says as calculated. You covered Aj Green as a Cincinnati Bengal. AJ didn't talk much. When he talked, you listened, and I think,
here you have the franchise player in Joe Burrow. He's going to go down as the greatest, if not one of the greatest Bengals of all time. When he wes you listen and to not just end it there. He could have sent it at Dallas. He could have said he's in need and move on. Every time he has spoken since then, it has been about t Higgins. It's been about Trey Hendrickson. It's been about Jamar Chase. You've got to compliment Mike Kasicki for getting his name thrown
in there with Joe Burrow. But he is he is putting the in basketball terms, he's put the full court pressure on. And when your franchise player is doing that and using the term need for me, it's shifted right then and there. And I was in your boat. I was. I was playing out this season appreciating everything T Higgins has done and wondering how they were going to fill those those shoes to well, they got to find a way to bring him back completely. Now, if you're the Bengals, we.
Are visiting with Tony Pike, former uc An NFL quarterback now the host of Since He three to sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty and Cincinnati. Do you think that T has to be willing to take a little less to make this happen.
He does, And that was the only part that unsettled me a little bit. The night of the Super Bowl, he spoke publicly and said, I want to do it, but it's out of my hands. There is an agent that comes into play here. And I know chad Ocho Cinko had the comments as well as I want Tea here, but I want Tea to get what he deserves. I mean, you think about the Max deal. You work your whole life for that. You work your whole life for not only you, but your family and your family's family and
generations to recoup some of that wealth as well. And it's hard to ask a player when he's getting ready to cash in to take less. But I think there are valuable things to t Higgins. I think playing with Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow is valuable. I think the love of the city of Cincinnati. I think there's a genuine love in Cincinnati. I think you can find ways if you're Tea's agent or representing company to maybe cash
in more in the city of Cincinnati. Endorsements and things like that that maybe you can't make up in the contract. But yeah, you're not going to be able to go give a Max to Jamar and a Max to Tea and the money. The money has to come from somewhere. There's going to have to be a little give. I think the creativity on how you find that money from, whether that's the organization or his agent himself, I think
that's a lot to weigh for T. Higgins. But the term it's out of my hands is a little unsettling.
And also not true in my opinion. It's ultimately in his hand.
He's going to sign off on them.
Yeah. Sure, the agent is going to give him advice and what he should do. But if t ultimately wants to not mess with Happy, you know, it's not a hometown discount, it's a not mess with happiness discount. Sure, and it is in his hands.
And I think for t you do have the ability to extend your career. You have the ability to put up really good numbers because Joe Burrows throwing you the ball and Jamar Chase is going to bepposite of you. I don't think you can quantify that in dollars. I think you quantify that in another contract down the road, because you're going to be a talking point going forward, because your numbers are always going to be there because teams have to respect everything else on the roster.
Let's turn to Trey Hendrickson. He turned thirty on December fifth, better known as Pike Pike to Bin's Day. Thanks to some of us, it certainly doesn't look like Trey is getting old. He said seventeen and a half sacks each of the last two years. What should the Bengals do with Trey Hendrickson.
It's such a hard prospect for me on Trey Hendrickson because he had seventeen and a half sacks and the defense still ranks so low in so many categories. That tells you that Trey alone cannot get the job done. Some of the factors that play in. You have Al Golden now the defensive coordinator. What does Al Golden's role represent to Trey Hendrickson. I think in Trey Hendrickson's fitness, Trey Hendrickson maybe hurts himself at times because he's not
a guy that lines up on both sides. He's not a guy that moves to the interior part of the defensive line, doesn't get his hands on a ton of passes, doesn't excel it, doesn't have above average numbers against the run. He's just great at getting after the passer. And I think that makes it a little bit harder when you
think about the future. Can Trey Hendrickson replicate that? And if Trey Hendrickson were to replicate that, does it still mean the defense is successful or better than what it's been That to me is the most interesting storyline here. You have to decide is Trey Hendrickson enough alone to get you back to the spot. I know the money can be there for everyone. You got a lot of holes on the defensive side of the ball. We just
saw in the Super Bowl. We've already highlighted it what a defensive line as a whole with depth can do to one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game. I think you got to look at it from the top down. You got to look at it in the secondary, you got to look at the linebacker level. You got
to look at it. If it's me. I pay really close attention to what happens with Miles Garrett because I think there's seven or eight teams that are legitimate, viable options for Miles Garrett that a Miles Garrett makes them an immediate contender. And if those teams strike out, I may at least reach out and say, what when you miss Miles Garrett, what does Trey Hendrickson's value mean to you?
I think, at least if I'm the Bengals, I'm doing that, which means I can slow play it a little bit more to wait and see what pans out with Miles Garrett. That's how I would play it, because you can't replenish seventeen and a half sacks, but you also have a ton of holes that need to be filled on the defense if you want to be considered a Super Bowl contending roster.
As a former NFL player, what about the notion of keeping your stars and the message that sends to everybody else.
It's hard, and I think it sends a message that if you work to become one of those stars, you're going to be valued in that sense. So I do think it puts a little bit on the players to maybe want to work a little bit harder. It also puts a huge emphasis on the draft, right of Okay, you need to get successful players in the draft, you need to draft starters, but you also incentivize those players and say, hey, if in three, four, five years you're a player that has become a cornerstone of this team,
we're going to keep you around. And I think there's a value to that because we've seen players in the past that have moved on after their first contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. So yeah, I think there is a message that's sent to the locker room I also worry on the opposite of negative messages that can be sent if players are unhappy, What that does to a culture, what that does to a locker room, just the dynamics
that it brings. I don't think that Jamar Chase situation was avoidable, and I don't think Jamar was in the fault. I don't think the Bengals were in the fault. But it just created a circus in the locker room every single day of training camp, and I think that wears on you as well. So I think the culture aspect is one that's viable here as well.
Tony. On Wednesday of this week, Jermaine Pratt requested a trade. It seems to me that before that news came out, a lot of people were suggesting that the Bengals should cut him to save money. It would be about six million dollars in cap space. After that news came out, he seemed to get more valuable in the minds of the public. The New York Post said today he will be a hot commodity. What kind of market do you think is out there for Jermaine Pratt?
I think if you get a late round draft pick, you count that as a win. For Jermaine Pratt. I know Jermaine Pratt is very loyal and has that relationship with lou Ayn Rumo. And for many it's hard because many tie Jermaine Pratt to that playoff game to get over the hump and intercepting the pass and punching the Bengals tickets to a playoff win. But I think on the field, I think the production at times is inconsistent.
End you know, playoff, playoff, p playoff. Jermaine Pratt is a difference maker, But do you consistently get that down in and down out? And again it goes back to Al Goldon. Now, Golden did a great job at Notre Dame of getting young players to buy in and to build a system and to build a scheme around that. And I think the most important thing about that is getting young guys in the building. The Bengals currently have
six draft picks. If you can recoup and get another draft pick for Jermaine Pratt, who now is a guy that doesn't seem like he wants to be here, I think that would be a win ultimately for both sides, along with saving some more money.
What can Al Golden do better or differently than lou Anarumo.
I don't know if it's necessarily Lou because I think Lou was awesome in the sense of getting the most out of the players, and the scheme seemed to fit early in his career the personnel, but not later in the career. I think the biggest thing that if I'm out Golden, I want to have is a clear message from the top down of what the scheme and personnel calls for from a free agent and from a draft situation.
I think knowing that going in and starting fresh and cleaning the slate allows this organization to work hand in hand without Golden on what type of players need to be drafted, what type of free agents need to be highlighted in the Al Golden scheme. And he hit it on the head right away. He's not the first thing you need to do the priority get the ball back
to number nine, however, you need to do that. But I think it's the messaging and to sit down and to have an opportunity to say, Okay, clear slate, here's the players that I think fit in the scheme we currently have. Here's some players in free agency that I think make a lot of sense and here's some guys to target in the draft that you really think you can build into from a system standpoint. He already has
Al Golden the relationship with Logan Wilson. I think that's huge to have your linebacker is a guy that's familiar with the system and familiar with Al Golden already. I just think that needs to be clear from the top down, so you formulate the roster around the scheme itself.
We are visiting with former you see in Carolina Panthers quarterback Tony Pike. Let's talk about some of the other coaching changes. Scott Peters takes over for Frank Pollack as offensive line coach. Jerry Montgomery takes over for Marion Hobby as defensive line coach. Based on your experience, how much difference do offensive and defensive line coaches make?
I think a lot in the mentality and a lot in the development. Every offensive line coach is going to to use the term for Frank Pollack. You want the glass eaters, you want the bulldogs. You want the type of mentality that you're going to go maybe even a little bit after the whistle. You're wired a different way if you're an offensive line and a defensive line coach,
and you're constantly battling. Those are the trenches, whether it's one on ones in practice, whether it's joint practices the games, that's a constant battle that's going on. And I think think the developmental side is the key here because there are so many holes that you do need to fill. How many of those holes are already on the roster. How many of those holes can be filled if the
players are developed in a new system. I can speak personally from a new offensive coach that came in, there's a reset that hits for players that may have been behind the eight ball with the previous staff that all of the sudden now think well, now I have a chance. Now I get a fresh start. Maybe that's more of
a driving factor. I think that's key when you start to look into a new coach up front, new coaches in the trenches for a lot of these players, I think it gives you the reset to say, Okay, here's a guy we can develop. Maybe there's a player on this roster that we're not factoring in, or maybe we're factoring you know, McKinley Jackson, Chris Jenkins, two rookies, really solid starts to the season. Maybe they take a bigger stump step with the development. Maybe you find that on
the offensive line and there's not as many holes. I think new coaches give you a fresh start from a roster standpoint.
We need Jerry Montgomery to do for Miles Murphy what Brian Kelly did for Tony Pike.
Easy, what else are you asking? Head? After the quarterback ten and a half sacks? We move on.
Tony and I discussed the NFL Draft next, But first, here's a quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
healthcare provider of the Bengals. Put these draft priorities in order, defensive tackle, defensive end, defensive back, and guard.
Man. I would be remissed if you didn't watch the suit Super Bowl and start with the defensive end position. I mean I would start d end. I would move to dtackle, then I would address guard and then I would address secondary mostly. I think dB gets addressed if you address defensive end and defensive tackle. You know those Philly the corner, they're good. They don't have to cover very long. I mean it's I cannot speak enough to four man pressure and seven man drop, especially at the
rate in which Philly was able to do it. And you're not going to be able to replicate what Philly did. But if you can make the quarterback uneasy, and that starts with sacking the quarterback, that's the defensive end position.
That's the biggest value to me. And then it comes at the defensive tackle spot, because if you're a quarterback and there are dominant defensive ends, you push up in the pocket and you readdress the situation if your defensive tackles are dominant, when you go to push up in the pocket, you're pushing up into a defender, into your defensive lineman. I value the defensive tackle roll. It makes
a quarterbacks job so uneasy, So I'm starting there. Then I would address guard, and guard would be higher if Joe Burrow wasn't the quarterback, but we saw the effectiveness of Joe Burrow. I think if you upgrade that position at all that it's going to be even better. But I don't think it's the number one priority, especially because you've got some good bookends in Orlando Brown and a Marius Mims.
You made the case for keeping T Higgins earlier. Let's say that they don't. Let's say that T wants every possible dollar and signs with somebody else. At that point, would you have to use a first or a second round pick at a wide receiver.
I think you do, and I think that goes back to not knowing what you have there yet. At number two, maybe Yoshivas does take that step, Maybe there is something left in Jermaine Burton. Outside of that, it's cloudy for the Bengals, and you're doing Joe Burrow, you're doing Jamar Chase a disservice. You're doing that whole offense. You're doing Chase Brown, a disservice who gets to run with friendlier
boxes because of that. So it would it would immediately, in my opinion, become a first or second round necessity where you're drafting at that spot for a starter Day one for the Bengals.
All right, let's turn to free agency. Give me a dream free agent that you would like to see them sign. So we're talking the equivalent of Orlando Brown Junior a couple of years ago, where nobody thought that he could possibly sign with Cincinnati and then it played out in their favor.
I think, if I have two, I have one on the defensive side of the ball. Just watch them in the Super Bowl. Joshua guy that can get after the passer. The motor like that's the term always used for defensive lineman, the motor. You watch any of Joshuwat's tape with the Philadelphia Eagles, his motor is unbelievably high. It's a position of immediate need. I would go him on the defense. If I'm on the offense and we're talking dream, I think Tevin Jenkins at twenty six years old at guard
immediately slots in seventy five overall grade. Great pass protector, great run block. He protects Joe Burrow, he keeps him up right more the same way Orlando Brown has done since he's become a Cincinnati Bengal. And I don't think you have to address both guards in that sense, because if you have a good guard play, you can almost hide the other guard play. It's just when both guards are a little deficient. That's a problem. So I go Josh Wett, I go Tevin Jenkins.
It's interesting because we're kind of thinking along the same lines, but I've got different names for you. Milton Williams, who is so impactful in the Super Bowl as a defensive lineman for Philly. That would be more of an interior push, yes. And then Trey Smith. If you're looking for a guard guard. That seems, you know, highly unlikely, just because of the
amount of money that he's going to command. But Trey Smith twenty five years old, great player and added bonus of this passed off season when Dante Corleone was diagnosed with blood clots, Trey Smith reached out to him and gave him hope and advice because he had dealt with that when he played at Tennessee. So on a personal note, I am now a Trey Smith guy. So it seems unlikely, but we can cross our fingers and you.
Keep that former Patrick Mahomes protector to Joe Burrow protector alive the way Orlando Brown Junior did.
All right, Now, let's turn to a different category of free agency. This is the I can definitely see it happen candidate more like an Alex Kappa or a Zach Moss.
I would turn because of the Jermaine Pratt news. I feel like a name we talked about during the deadline last year for the Giants was a z'z Ojelauri linebacker who immediately can get after the passer. He can help you in that second level. Al Golden obviously has a connection with the linebacker position. I don't know exactly what it'll cost, but if you're saving six million dollars with
Jermaine Pratt, you're adding another draft pick. Maybe in that sense, I would see a guy who drew a lot of connection to Cincinnati during that process, and o Jaalari a guy that makes a lot of sense. Again, if you're coming into a new defensive coordinator, a guy that specializes in linebackers, and you're also getting to play opposite of Joe Burrow, it makes it a very attractive destination. And I don't think there's the need or the glaring free agent offensive hole as there is on defense.
I'm going Makai Becton in this category.
Another guard.
Yeah, the Bengals kicked the tires on him last year after he played tackle it with the Jets and didn't succeed. Signed with the Eagles. They're great offensive line, coach moves them, moves him to right guard starter every game for a super Bowl winning team. So he's going to get paid, but he's not going to get paid as much as Trey Smith. The Eagles have a lot of mouths to feed. So he's the guy that I've identified identified as maybe in that this seems more realistic category.
There's a way when you watch the Eagles that they just play up front that you want to be a part of. Right, Like I I remember leading into the Super Bowl, I'm watching Lewis Riddick talk and he had spent time with Andy Reid and he said, Andy, what's your what's your biggest concern going into the game? And his his comment was can we match the physicality that they play with in the trenches? And I'm thinking, like, you know, we talk about culture and scheme and all
these things all the time. Is there a greater compliment from a Hall of Fame coach and Andy Reid to say can we match their physicality? Like if you're known a physical O line or a physical D line, that to me is the greatest compliment you can have at those positions. Macay Becton would be a part of that, but it's the ultimate compliment. And no, they didn't have
an answer for the physicality of the Philadelphia Eagles. If you could, if you could pick off pieces of that team and bring that type of mentality into Cincinnati, you are You're helping yourself in a big way.
All right, A few more topics for my friend Tony Pike. As soon as the Super Bowl ended, various news outlets did their power rankings for the upcoming season, so this starts very early. NFL dot Com has the Bengals at number fifteen, the USA Today number twelve, the athletic number thirteen. ESPN was the highest at number nine. Roughly, where do the Bengals belong in the power rankings going into free agency, the draft, and the upcoming season.
They're top ten because Joe Burrows a quarterback. I know there's holes. Joe Burrows, the quarterback of the Bengals. Jamar Chase is going to be a Cincinnati Bengal. Chase Brown if I look at it in a lot of ways, like fantasy football, Chase Brown is going to be a first round pick on a lot of fantasy football boards next year. If he takes the next step, what another weapon it is. If Mike Kasiki is back. Anytime number nine is the quarterback, you have an opportunity. And I
look no further than this year. I know the Bengals limited themselves. I know they hurt themselves. The Patriots lost. You could go back to so many close losses, but you can't tell me, even with the deficiencies on defense and the deficiencies up front, that if the Bengals snuck into the playoff, they wouldn't have been a threat to make it to the super Bowl. The way in which they were playing. They've conquered Buffalo in Buffalo, They've conquered
Kansas City. It took a fourth and long penalty against Kansas City on the road this year to lose that game. They played the Ravens as well as you can both times. I still contend that if they would have snuck in this year, they would have been a contender to get to the super Bowl because of how Joe Burrow was playing and the confidence that they would have entered the playoffs with. So I think it's unfair to start them anywhere outside of the top ten.
What do you expect the team to do to try to avoid a slow start?
And that's the million dollar question. I thought, and you were there every day. I thought training camp last year was vastly different. I thought there was more energy. I thought there was more physicality. They did two joint practices. I don't think you could have done anything at training camp outside of having Jamar Chase every single day that maybe would have helped. Even Joe Burrow. It was expected Joe Burrow was going to miss a bunch of camp.
I think he missed one day. So the only thing I can think of, and I know Joe has talked about this, is giving guys more time in the preseason. I know not a lot of folks want to run that risk, but Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor can formulate a plan to not take any unnecessary hits in the preseason. You can get the ball out quick, you can call pass a quick passing game, you can run the ball.
I think it's more about just the verbiage and getting in and out of the huddle and playing together and going through some stale spots maybe where you don't move the ball a lot. I don't think there's been enough of that, and I think it's something Joe Burrow has spoken enough about in his career that if you're willing to try anything to start faster, I think playing in a little bit more of those preseason snaps would make sense.
You can protect Joe, you can't protect everybody else, so there is some risk. The other thing I would say is we don't really look closely at the other stuff leading up to training camp. But I think Zach has been pretty generous and giving guys the occasional day off, not using every one of those available OTA practices. I wonder if they will do everything that they are legally permitted to do during those time periods in hopes of just trying something different.
I think you have to for that reason. And also, if you look at what the makeup of this roster is going to be, you're going to be bringing in a lot of new players. You're going to be adding young talent. It's so much now a talking point of starting faster. I think all of those things combined, you're probably not going to see the guys being released a
day early as they have in the past. You're probably going to utilize as much of that time as humanly possible, because outside of that, there's not a lot they could have done. Like I said, the training camp was so vastly different this year. It didn't have the country club field that I think in previous years. It had a little bit. It was physical, it was tough, and I think you got to try the next step from that.
Joe Burrow is at the Super Bowl. He made the rounds on radio. Row when is he coming on Sincy three sixty.
That's a great point, That's a great question. I don't know what we got to do at this point to get Joe on chop up some quarterbacks stuff. He was very close to being a Cincinnati Bearcats. We got to talk about the decision and probably how much he really regrets it still to this day that he went to LSU over the Cincinnati Bearcats. But man, I am in all honesty, I'm so I'm so impressed with everything that he does and the way in which he understands what's
asked of him as the leader. I think you saw that maybe in some uncomfortable ways this year of seeing some of the guys that were lost and understanding you look around the locker room. Okay, now, I'm one of those guys, and I think that's I don't think that comes natural to Joe. I think that's something he had to work at. And now you see him in his appearances, you see him making his rounds. He looks so much more comfortable, He's so much more confident. He knows how
good he is on the field. He knows that this team. I don't think it's I don't think it's coach speak when he says we're a legit super Bowl contender. I think he really believes that. And I don't think there's anyone better to have at the lead of an organization outside of Joe Burrow. But maybe if he finds out that I did, in fact put him ahead of Patrick Mahomes in all quarterback rankings, maybe that's good enough to
get a spot on. Since he three to sixty, I don't need a weekly thing, just a one off.
A one timer. Yeah. Next next time I see Joe, I'm going to let him know him. Yeah, he needs to go on since he three p sixty and talk to you. He's made one mistake in his time with the Bengals, and that was the outfit he war to the Super Bowl with the hat and the funky suit. Other than that, it's been pretty much a flawless tenure.
He definitely surpasses both you and I from a fashion.
Standpoint barely, but that's accurate, and.
From what I've seen from you lately, probably from a food standpoint as well.
I would get into that, but we're running out of time. If I have a question Following your time with the Carolina Panthers in twenty eleven, you've got a mini camp tryout with the Bengals. You were coming back from elbow surgery, and fortunately your elbow never fully came around, so it didn't work out. But do you feel some level of gratitude that the Bengals wanted to at least kick the tires and have you in for a look.
Yeah, they didn't have to do that. I was I was at the time, probably four weeks away from being medically cleared to see if I could even give it a go. And the fact that that they gave me that opportunity, that was all I was asking for at that moment, because any I had nerve damage, So anytime you mess with a nerve, there's always the risk that it doesn't come back, and I had I had the surgery twice, so going into the second surgery, I knew it was a long shot, and I knew I wasn't
physically there yet. But for them to give me the opportunity, knowing I'd grown up here in Cincinnati and what that organization had meant to me and this city means to me, I was and and we'll always be very appreciative of that. I wish I could have performed better. I wish, you know, the first date to me went really well, and I just didn't have the ability to bounce back. I didn't regain the feeling that allowed me to play at a
high level the next day. I wish I could have, because I'd love to be more of a part of what's going on here. But certainly certainly grateful for.
That answer to a great trivia question. Number five in a form fifteen at UC sixteen a Carolina, but number five in your time with Cincinnati as a Bengal, that's it.
I didn't pick that number, by the way, it was whatever you want to give me outwhere.
I'm sure. I'm sure Tony, you and Austin do a fantastic job on Sincy three sixty Love listening. Love being a guest, and I appreciate you coming on my podcast.
Thank you so much, thank you. I appreciate this greatly.
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