Bengals Booth Podcast: Dollars and Sense

Pong title this offseason? I'll talk to him. And finally, it's the sixth edition of our three round NFL Expert Mock Draft. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by All to Fiber, future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a new level. Elevate your connection with

All to Fiber. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered rite to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since brisket. I am first team All Carnivore and my favorite meat is probably smoked brisket. That mouth watering, slow cooked cut of beef with just the right amount of fat for maximum flavor.

It's not the healthiest thing on the menu, but hey, you only live once, and in my case, I probably won't live quite as long because of my love of brisket. Now time for my first guest. It's been nearly ten years since Chris Collinsworth purchased a majority stake in Pro Football Focus and eventually moved the company to downtown Cincinnati. I've had the chance to visit PFF headquarters on several occasions, and this week I caught up with one off's top

NFL analysts, Sam Monson. Sam, let's start with the Bengal's biggest offseason acquisition, literally and figuratively, Orlando Brown Junior. They got a proven left tackle for four years sixty four mill. That's almost exactly what the Falcons gave safety Jesse Bates. Your reaction to that acquisition for Cincinnati, You know, obviously, I think it was clear quite early on in the process that they were never really going to give Jesse Bates the big extension. They were always sort of planning

that he would depart at some point. They were going to play out the contract franchise tag him and then eventually he would move on. So from a sort of

position value standpoint, it makes a ton of sense. Right, You've gone from a safety which is at the lower end of the value scale in terms of the impact that they can make on winning and losing games, and converted that into a left tackle, which is I think at the other end of the scale and probably even more valuable when you already have the likes of Joe Barrow and Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, like the other positions that are high up in that value hierarchy are

already there and you want to make sure that that increases or the effect that those guys have is as big as it can possibly be. So I think it made a ton of sense. I don't think it was necessarily something they were planning on all the way, but once it became possible, I think it was a great signing for them and a deal, and when we look at some of the other tackle contracts that were signed, it's reasonably cheap. Totally agree. How does PFF view Orlando

Brown Junior among the better tackles in the NFL? Yeah, I think he's always been a good, not great tackle, and that's both at right tackle and left tackle. But there's a ton of value in that. So he's never going to be a top five player at that position, but he's probably always going to be a top half player at that position and lock you in a guaranteed

level of good play. And sort of ironically for a guy of his size and mentions, he's probably a better pass blocker than he is a run blocker and always has been. He's despite he's a very strange player because you know that the tape at Oklahoma was obviously really good. His workout was catastrophic, you know, one of the worst combined performances of any player ever, and then showed up

and showed that it didn't matter. Like he can come into the NFL, whether it's right tackle, left tackle, whether it's two different offenses. He's always been good and he's been this consistent presence for them. So yeah, I think he's he's not a superstar, but he's a good starting left tackle. How do you view the options at right tackle, whether it's the guys on the roster or possibly somebody in the draft. Yeah, I don't know that they have

that position locked up yet. Obviously Lyle Collins was supposed to be that guy. Between the injury and the fact that he wasn't really the player that he used to be, presumably due to you know, previous injuries just taking their toll. He hasn't. I don't think really solidified that spot. Jonah Will would be an interesting player to kick over the right tackle if they can keep him around instead of

dissuade him from getting traded away. Other than that, I think that's the one spot along that offensive line where you look at it and say, we'd like to add another player there just to increase the chances of that spot is okay because we've seen the hakim idenergy, you know, real, We've seen how that works and they have to go to him at right tackle and it's not pretty. We'll see if you draft one later when we put you on the mock simulator and do a three round Bengals draft.

Other significant signings for the Bengals safety Nick Scott he get a three year, twelve million dollar deal. Tight end Irf Smith, junior cornerback Sidney Jones, edge rusher Terrell Basham all got one year deals. Do any of those names move the needle for you? I really like the kind of shot to nothing that IRF Smith is. You know, he was a high draft pick from Minnesota, never really

panned out for them, but just because of injuries. I mean every season you would hear those guys talk up the potential that IRF Smith Junior has in that offense and what he could be as a pass catcher. And it's a little bit like the Hayden Hurst move where you bring in a guy with this sort of former elite pedigree of status draft position that hadn't worked out in the NFL or hadn't been the player that he was supposed to be and see if you can kind of resurrect that. And I think there's a lot of

mileage in that. When you have a Joe Burrow, you know you have an offense it's as good as the one that they have. It should raise the level of sort of bit part players, no matter who they are. And when you have a player getting their level raised who had sort of prior ability, I think it's a great gamble. Like if he if the same thing happens and he's the same player he was in Minnesota injured,

not really a big part of the offense. It doesn't cost you an awful lot, but if you end up rediscovering the player that the Vikings thought they had for a few years, it's potentially a huge payoff of their own free agents. The one starter that they kept was linebacker Main Pratt, very reasonable deal, three years, twenty one mill. He got tremendous PFF grades last year, much higher than he had had previously. Do you view that as kind of an outlier situation or do you think he can

sustain it? And if so, that would seem to be a great value signing to me. Yeah, that's a big question. He's like a sort of a light version of Tremaine Edmonds in terms of, you know, young player who had that career year was a big outlier relative to the rest of their NFL performance and very weighted towards coverage. You know, he made a lot of big plays in coverage versus the run and all that kind of stuff.

So for both those guys, I think you always have questions about what that's going to be going forward when it is such a big departure from previous because you can look at it in two ways. You can either say, well, this is just how long it took for the light to go on, which I think is a valid argument for linebackers. Today's NFL is a nightmare world for off the ball linebackers. Those guys are put in a bind

every single play. They're being stretched vertically horizontally. They're having to contend with runs that look like passes passes that look like runs. It's a horrible position to play right now. I think that's why when you look at PF grading, there's very few linebackers that are grading well right now. And I don't think it's necessarily because the linebackers are

worse than they were, you know, ten years ago. It's because the position is a lot harder than it used to be and the grading hasn't adjusted to reflect that. So you can look at it that way, or you can say it's a career year. It's coming, you know, after a few years of bad play. It's largely in coverage, which we know is a volatile, dependent type of facet of play. Maybe we should just be a bit more careful about that. And for Pratt, I think the deal he got like that's exactly the kind of gamble I

would happily take. It's reasonably low priced, you can bank on the idea that maybe the light did go on versus Tremaine Edmonds, where you're giving him top of the market deal and hoping the same thing. It's true. We're chatting with Sammonson from Pro Football Focus. They lost Bell and Bates, they lost tight end Hayden Hurst, they lost running back some J P. Ryan. Is there anybody on that list that you think is going to be really

hard to replace? Not really, I think. I mean, obviously Jesse Bates replacing him and in particular, you know, losing both safety safeties at the same time is potentially problematic. But they knew Bates was going to be gone very early on. Maybe they thought they would keep von Bell and try and keep that intact, so that losing both of them I think has the potential to cause some hiccups.

You know, Dax and Hill should be able to come in and at least future proof one of those spots, but trying to replace both of your starting safeties at the same time as at least not ideal. But they're all replaceable players. You know, they're either at positions that are reasonably low value, or they're players that weren't stellar

to begin with. So I think those are just the moves you have to make when you you know you're planning where the money is going to go on a roster, you know, locking up a ton of cash in either the big free agents that they've got this year or Joe Borrow, jamar Chetti's those guys going forwards. So extending Burrow is obviously the number one priority. It's going to cost more than fifty million dollars a year. Are you of the mind that it's even possible to sign Burrow

and keep both Higgins and Chase? Yeah, So there's there's a couple of different parts of that. There's the is it possible from a salary camp standpoint? And then the second part is it possible from just a cash outlay standpoint? You know? But the Bengals are a team that doesn't play in the world of the the Walton family or the you know, the the Cronkys, where they have just

unlimited billions sitting around to deploy anytime they want. They probably have to think about the amount of cash that has to get thrown into an escrow when you sign every one of these giant contracts. So that is its own question that I have no part of. I don't see the accounts from a salary camp standpoint, it's doable. It's obviously challenging, and you can only sign so many of those big deals, But when you look at where they have the money allocated, it's in the right kind

of places. You know that if you were saying you only have four or five big contracts to hand out, everybody else has got to be playing on low end of the market money. They would be signing them in the right areas quarterback, number one wide receiver, maybe number two wide receiver, pass rusher, left tackle, like they're ticking off the right spot. So I think if they want to keep those three guys around, they can do it.

It's probably more likely that they just keep the two, you know, Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow and maybe te Higgins they sort of played out the same way that Jesse Bates was played out. Or if somebody phones up with a trade offer involving a number one draft pick, maybe that changes the dynamic. So we're several weeks before the draft, most of free agency is behind us. Do you feel better about the Bengals Super Bowl chances going into this coming season then you did going into last season?

I liked what they did last year. I thought they played saw season extremely intelligently. I think it would have been very easy to kind of get lost in their own hype and say, we made the super Bowl. You know, we're heading in the right direction. Everything's good, we don't need to do anything crazy. But they understood that that offensive line needed serious work if they were even going to get bank, you know, in the same kind of position. And I think by and large, they were a better

team this year than they were the year before. So I was very high on them going into last season. I think at the moment, I'm probably in the same kind of area. I think they've done good work. I like the Orlando Brown edition. I think generally they they've kind of between the players that they've let go the

players they brought in, they've probably treaded water. And now we get to see what the draft brings and we will see who you will pick in a three round mock simulator Bengals Draft coming up a little bit later on the podcast. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, with more than one hundred and twenty care facility and fifteen hundred care providers. Kettering Health is committed to guiding

you to your best health. Visit Kettering health dot org to learn more. The Bengals have signed six free agents from other organizations so far, the latest being edge rusher Terrell Basham. He's six four, two hundred and sixty five pounds and a former Ohio Bobcat. He was the MAC Defensive Player of the Year in two sixteen, when he led the conference in sacks with eleven and a half. Basham was drafted by the Colts and has also played for the Jets, Cowboys, and Titans in his six NFL seasons.

I caught up with him on Thursday throughout when you agreed to your deal with the Bengals. Recently, your agent tweeted back home with an exclamation point. You're from Virginia, but you went to Ohio University. Just being back in the state of Ohio feel like home to you. Yeah, Honestly, I gotta say it does, because I have played football and mcgie since I was eight, you know, But the moment in my life when I feel like I came alive was definitely an Ohio University. You know and something

about playing football in Ohio. It was special. Your defensive coordinator at Ohio was Jimmy Burrow, Joe's dad. Joe was playing quarterback in high school when you were going to college. Describe your relationship with Joe and Jimmy and the Burrow family.

Coach Burrow was my coordinated all four years. And I did get a chance to him and UH coach William Jesse Williams, both of their sons both played at at Athens High School at the time, So I had a chance to see I had a chance because a couple of games in high school, and you know, they would always talk about him. We read about him, you know what I'm saying. Locally, you know you you would hear about him like he was. He was that guy to a young age, you know what I'm saying, always clutching

the most clutch moments. So when his career took off at LSU and he won the Heisman and he won the national championship, did you feel kind of like an insider having seen him a little bit in high school. Yeah, honestly, like I didn't feel like an insider, Like I was honest like a fan at that point. You know I was. I was always a fan of him. But you know what I'm saying, like because like I knew like the potentially hit you know, he he he went to Ohio State.

You know he was clearly like a talented guy. You know what I'm saying from from from a very good age. When he got on that stage and did what he did, I think he earned the world's respect. You know, no question about that. We're visiting with Terrell Basham. You're twenty nine, You've got six NFL seasons under your belt. What appealed to you about Cincinnati? Um tis to win? Uh, Like you said, tend to get back in Ohio play football again.

You know, an opportunity, you know what I'm saying, to show that I'm hungry that I can kind of trush. We'll get to the quarterback. You know what I'm saying. I can contribute to a playoff team and a super Bowl team. You're the all time record holder for sacks at Ohio you with twenty nine and a half. You've got eleven so far in the NFL plus five forced fumbles. Is that past rushing ability the biggest thing that you feel you bring to Cincinnati? That and like I'm I'm

a I'm a very like energy. I'm a big energy guy. Like so I push the energy. I'm a bit I ort to carry myself. You know what I'm saying. I'd be good around the young guys. I have the young guys, you know what I'm saying, prepaired mentally on the mental side, you know, for what's to come through a season. You know, the Bengals already have great leadership, you know, and uh and the guys that they have and on the on the program already. I'm kind I'm just happy to be

a part of it. So, Terrell, your first NFL sack was against the Bengals at pay Court Stadium when you were rookie with the Colts. Do you remember it? Yeah, I remember. I was on the right side. I came off, just gave like a little speed to power move on the left tackle and think the quarterback with Andy Dalton at the toe, that is correct, down went the red rifle. So the Colts drafted you in the third round back

in twenty seventeen. And here are some of the past rushers from your draft, Miles Garrett, T. J. Watt, Hassan Reddick, Carl Lawson and your new teammate Trey Hendrickson. Is it a point of pride to be part of that draft class and doesn't motivate you? It was, definitely it's to be a part of that class, you know what I'm saying. I feel like I was a big class as far as rush. We're still a lot of us in the lead,

still making noise, you know. So I'm just trying to sway Hey, I'm still here in the league and say, have you had any contact with any of your new teammates? Yeah, I talked to uh. However, he reached out to me on Instagram and gave me his number and told me if I need anything, let me know because he's a Cincinnati guy. So actually saw trade when I went in for my visit. So you got a taste of the playoffs with the Cowboys a couple of years ago. Did

that wet your appetite to be on an NFL contender? Well, definitely. You know, I spent the enough of years on teams that weren't even looking to go to the playoffs at the end of the year, and then that right, that like being on a winning team is nothing like it. Nothing like winning It's nothing like being a part of

something that you feel special like that. You know, I see that these these guys been, you know, trying to win to both strong for the past two years for sure, and they're booting will they got a great quarterback, They're they're booting around, and I see nothing but good things in the tut I know you had a thigh injury last year and only played in seven games. That's not ideal going into free agency. Do you feel like you have anything to prove? My hoath is one hundred percent.

But as far as I always always feel like I have something to prove. You know, you have a small school guy, you know, come out of a mat always kind of well. Bengals fans are excited to have you, look forward to getting to know you better and I appreciate your time today. Congratulations on signing with Cincinnati. Thank you so much. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust pay Corps to help them recruit, pay engage, and

retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. My next guest is a free agent who is staying with the Bengals after signing a one year extension wide receiver and punt returner Trent Taylor, who added another title to his resume this offseason. Trent, let me start with congratulations, not for the contract extension, We'll get to that, but for winning the Battle of the Paddles, the Procter and Gamble sponsored NFL Player Ping Pong Championship at the Super Bowl

that you won. How did you get involved? Yeah, it was like three days before the tournament started and my marketing lady just hit me up. She was like, do you play ping pong? Yes? Yes, I played a little bit of ping pong, but yeah, So then I flew out there and did the tournament, won the whole thing. It was a great time. So you beat Trevor Lawrence in the semifinals, you beat Christian McCaffrey for the championship. The level of ping pong was excelent. I watched it

on YouTube. People that are interested in this, just look up Battle of the Paddles. You can find the whole telecast. When did you start playing? And as far as you know, is this a staple now of NFL locker rooms? I think it's definitely a staple. I think it's like become more and more popular, you know. I remember we used to play it all the time and San Francisco and then come here to Cincinnati and everybody's playing it here

in the locker room too. And then you talk to guys around the NFL, you you learned that everyone kind of has a ping pong table in the locker room. It's just such an easy sport to play, just you know, hanging out with the guys playing ping pong. It's a blast. But I mean, I've played for a long time. My grandfather used to play in a league growing up, so then we would go watch him sometimes and we would play against him, and he would always he would always

beat us, no problem. And he he was like seventy something years old. We still couldn't touch him. So that's I guess that's kind of where we started playing it. Me and my brother and my cousins all grown up. We always played it. So, yeah, something I've always played for a long time. How did your Bengals teammates react or they saw that you won the NFL Battle of the Paddles. There a lot of them hit me up there, like we knew that was gonna happen and something like

Mitch Wilcox. He was kind of mad he didn't get invited because like me and him, we always go back and forth together. Yeah, a couple of my friends that I know across the NFL that weren't invited. They were kind of pissed because they, you know, they've beat me before, but I usually beat them. But they were like, dude, I would have beat you. Blah blah blah. A lot of trash talk going on. So it was good. Though.

We're sitting here in front of your locker. The gigantic Championship belt that you received is not on display, at least not yet. Will it make its way to Cincinnati. Maybe I should just for bragging rights in the locker room and make sure you know nobody gets about that. It's in my It's in my man cave at the house right now. But that might be a good idea to bring it out. Of course, then they might want to play you for it. It's not up for sale.

It's not up for sale. Visiting with Trent Taylor. Let's get to the contract. When the news broke that you were going to stay in Cincinnati on a one year extension, you tweeted, year seven right where I want to be. Did you go into this phase of free agency thinking, if the Bengals make a good offer, I'd like to stay, or did you owe it to yourself to see everything

that might be out there. Yeah. I mean from the beginning of free agency, I knew I wanted to come back, and you know everything that they were telling me in my agent and they said they wanted me back, and you know, I was hoping for a little bit more money, which you know everyone does. I guess so, but yeah, I didn't even really listen to offers from other teams. I was as long as they gave me something decent, I was going to take it. So, yeah, that's what

that's what happened. I'm glad it happened. And you know, I was trying to get it done as soon as possible because I knew this was exactly where I wanted to be. Last year, you played in all nineteen games, including the postseason. You were the only Bengals player to return a punt and finished third in the NFL and punt return yardage. What did you think of your season? If you told me my stats before the season, I would I would be like, Yeah, that would be great.

I would love to have that kind of season. But you know, I was having a great year and kind of started my stats card started falling off a little bit towards the end of the season, which I wish wouldn't have happened. I wish it would have kind of kept going up. But you know, I definitely learned a lot about myself, learned learned a lot more about returning punts, and so I think it's gonna be great for me going into this next year. I think I learned a

lot from last season. You've been a Bengal for two years. You went to the super Bowl in year one, in the AFC Championship game in year two. How much has this at your appetite to try to get back. Yeah. We these two years in Cincinnati have been have been crazy, Like you said, the super Bowl and the AFC Championship, And I think that's just kind of the standard around here. Now. We know that we'll always have that team to compete and you know, win playoff games as long as we

got Joe Burrow back there. Obviously. You know, there's a great nucleus of guys that we got here in Cincinnati, and so you know, I'm happy to be a part of it and I'm ready to go once more playoff games. Is it that simple that when you have a Joe Burrow one of those guys, you figure we're gonna be in the mix every year for the most part. Yeah, that's what you You know, there's only so many guys in the NFL that are game changers, like like Joe is,

And uh, it's not something that you can teach. It's either you kind of either have that it factor about yourself or you don't. So whenever you have a guy like that on your team, you I mean, as an organization, I'm sure they know we got nine back there, and so they're trying to connect every piece possible, you know, putting you know, putting it all on the table right now to make these Super Bowl runs continue and eventually

win one. The Bengal surprised many of us by signing the best available free agent offensive linemen in Orlando Brown. Were you surprised? Every year? You're kind of surprised of what happens because you know, everyone kind of has in their head what they think will happen. But at the end of the day, we really don't know the details of everything that goes on in the front offices. Yeah, there's there's so many moving parts that go into every every free agent move. Every little detail in the off

season changes changes another one. So there's always moving parts. There's always moves that will happen that are surprising to hear, surprising to see. So I think that's just part of the NFL. You never know what's going to happen, and you just got to keep moving with it. As an offensive player. What's your reaction to landing a four time Pro Bowl left tackle. I mean, that's you can't ask for anything better than that. Obviously, he's going to be,

you know, a guy like that. There's no doubt he's gonna be a leader in this locker room and on this team, just from the experience that he has as a left tackle and all the success that he's had as a player and playing for the Chiefs obviously. So yeah, I'm looking forward to meeting him and getting to know him and watching him lead this team. I mentioned your tweet earlier that began with year seven. You're five eight,

one eighty one. There are guys your size in the NFL, but not Manny, what's it mean to you now to be going into your seventh NFL season and to have overcome the odds that go with being your size. It means a lot, man it. Um. You know, if you would have told me I was gonna be like my rookie year, when somebody tells me they're in year seven or eight or something like that, it would just like blow my mind because that's like seemed like light years away. But I mean, here I am somehow, by the grace

of God, I'm still playing, still living my dream. I'm still doing what I love to do. And you know, been been through a lot of ups and downs in the NFL, but it's about just getting back up and you know, controlling everything that you can control as a player and not getting lost in the you know, the emotions of the game of like maybe losing a starting spot or you know, I went to practice squad my

first year here. Um. You know, I think the guys who just learned how to control what they can control are the ones that make it far in the NFL. So that's that's what I've been trying to do. So in addition to the battle for the paddle in Arizona. Have you been up to in the offseason. I just got back from Hawaii not too long ago. When I was I was negotiating the contract, it was like five am, Hawaii times, and you know, my agent's blowing me up

at five am. I'm like, dude, I'm on vacation right now. I'm trying to trying to sleep. But you know, you get up early and do negotiations, you know, with the Bengals. So it's good. We finally got it done. Got to enjoy vacation a little bit. So yeah, it was a good time. It's a good way to see the Hawaii sunrises, get up, negotiate a new deal, and here it comes the sun. It really was. It was a lot of fun. You get up early, negotiate a deal, you know, get

everything confirmed, and then you go enjoy the day. So it was a good time. It'll be something I always remember for sure. Congratulations on the extension. Great to have you back. I hope you bring the championship belt. I'd like to see it in person. I think I'll do that now that you keep asking, Yeah, I'll do that. I'll do that for you. The Bengals Booth By podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. There free to play with tickets and sign merchandise up

for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Now time for our sixth edition of the three round mock Draft with an NFL expert. Here's the concept. When I attended the NFL Combine several weeks ago, I had the Pro Football Focus Mock Draft simulator set up on my laptop and invited several NFL experts to make the Bengals picks in the first three rounds while discussing their options. If you've never tried a draft simulator before, it allows you to play GM for as many rounds of the draft

as you want. The simulator begins making picks in order, and then when it's your turn, you can make trades or go ahead and pick. It's a great way to get to know the players who might be available when the Bengals are on the clock later this month. So far, our experts have chosen the following players in the first round. Two have selected Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid. Two others have picked Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks, and one chose Oregon

State tight end Luke Musgrave. In the second round, two experts picked Northwestern defensive lineman at A Tommy wa at A bare and the other picks were Washington State linebacker Dayon Henley, Syracuse offensive tackle Matthew Bergeron and Illinois safety

Sydney Brown. And in the third round, there have been five different picks Iowa tight end Sam Laporta, byu offensive tackle Blake Freeland, Maryland cornerback Jakoyan Bennett, UAB running back Dwayne McBride, and Texas A and M running back Devon a Chain. After you make your picks on the simulator, PFF gives you a grade, and the highest marks so far have been a pair of A minuses for Dane Burgler of the Athlete and Austin Gale from the Ringer.

Now time for contestant number six. All right, time for our next version of the three round mock draft with an NFL expert, Sam Monson, who we heard earlier on the podcast from Pro Football Focus, has the simulator in front of him. You have an advantage compared to some of the previous people that have done this in that you work at PF. You know how to get a good grade on this, but in any case, I'm sure you're going to make your picks appropriately based on who

goes off the board. So we will hit start draft. We'll see some of the people as they are selected. Bryce Young going number one overall to the Carolina Panthers. The quarterbacks are flying off the board. CJ. Stroud was a top ten pick. We are up to pick number seventeen, seeing some wide receivers and skill position talent go off the board. Kalijah Kancie just was taken number twenty one. That's a name that a lot of Bengals fans are

intrigued by. Deante Banks just selected number twenty seven by Buffalo. That's been a guy that a couple of our previous experts have taken at number twenty eight. You do not have that option. What do you think of some of the guys that have just been selected and some of your options. I mean, this was an unusual draft, right looking at the just the top there we got Bryce Young,

will Anderson was our number one two. So the Houston Texans did the thing that started to come up recently, which is maybe they don't take a quarterback at number two. Christian Gonzalez number three This is a very strange top of the draft. I gotta say it's he's number one on the remaining board right now. But the idea of putting Dalton Kincaid in the Cincinnati offense is incredible to me. I mean, I think I think Kinkaid is by far

the best tight end in this draft. And I didn't expect to think that when I went into the tape of all the tight ends. I expected to like Michael Mayer much more than I like Kincaid because of almost how those two guys were being billed sort of one dimensional pass catcher versus the all around, sort of throwback

Rob Gronkowski style of tight end. But I actually think Kinkaid is so much better as a pass catching option that you know, given that the Bengals can deploy multiple tight ends already, Kincaid in this offense could put that to something to to a completely different level. Dalton Kincaid graded number fifteen overall by PF. That's your pick. Anton Harrison was still there on the board, but you elect to go with the tight end. Do you think he

will be there at number twenty eight? I don't. I think there's too many teams in the middle of the first round and in the twenties that have a need to tight end. I think he's too special of a player at that spot. I'd be amazed if you last as far as the Bengals pick. So Sam joins two of our previous experts, Pete Prisco and Charles Davis in

selecting Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid. He's obviously been available on the PFF simulator, but on most of the recent mock drafts I've looked at he has gone before picked number twenty eight. Lan Zerline from NFL dot Com has Dalton going fifteenth to the Packers, and in his latest mock draft for CBS, Pete Prisco has the Utah tight end going eighteenth to Detroit. Daniel Jeremiah from the NFL Network now ranks Dalton kincaide as the ninth overall player

in this year's class. Now time to find out who's Sam Monson selected in round two. The Bengals have picked number sixty and Cincinnati is now on the clock. Yeah, so we've got Tank Dell, the wide receiver from Houston, is a really intriguing player, a guy that I am a lot higher on than a lot of other people. He was my number four wide receiver in this draft, whereas I think a lot of people would have him

seven eight nine something like that. We've had I think a bit of a run on cornerbacks based off the guys that are left. We've got Julius Brents from Kansas State, who's ranked number fifty one on the PFF Big Board. We've had a lot of the interior offensive linemen taken. The tackles are all pretty much gone. If you were looking for a right tackle, I think you're probably gonna

struggle at this spot. I think based off his tape overall, based off his absurd measurements, Julius Brands is probably the pick at corner. This guy is six foot three, incredible wingspan, incredible movement skills for a guy that big. A lot like a season ago, we were talking about Terrek Woollin and how there's it's pointless trying to come up with comps for him because based off that athletic profile, there are no comps. Nobody's ever done that before. Brents is

putting up similar numbers. I mean, he has various athletic measurements in the ninety nine one hundred percentile, completely unprecedented for a guy that size. So I think at this point number sixty well worth the spot. Do you view cornerback as a deep position in this draft? Yeah, I think it is. It's it's a lot like wide receiver to me, which is it's maybe not incredible at the very top end, like you hear a lot with this

wide receiver class. There's no Jamar Chase in this draft class, and I think the top receiver in a lot of the last previous drafts would be the top receiver in

this draft class. I feel the same way with corner There's no Sauce Gardner, there's no Derek Stingley in terms of quality of prospect, but I think there's a lot of strength in depth, and I think that this is the first couple of rounds have a lot of players that maybe they can't be superstar number one corners, but I think they can be quality starters in your offense or in your defense rather whether it's the boundary spot opposite you know, a true number one, or the slot.

I think there's quite a lot of slot defenders in this class. Here's the lowdown on cornerback. Julius Brent's. He does not have great speed. He ran a four or five three forty at the combine, but he still has an elite R as a relative athletic score because he's huge for a corner at sixty three with thirty four inch arms, and he's explosive. Brents had a forty one and a half inch vertical at the combine. The twenty three year old started his college career at Iowa before

transferring to kay State. He had six interceptions in his college career, including four last season. Now let's get to Sam Monson's third and final pick. So you have added a pass catcher in tight end Dalton Kincaid. You have added a cornerback and Julius Brents from Kansas State. Now we move on to the bengals third pick, third round pick number ninety two. Overall, we see names going off the aboard right now, including Blake Freeland, the offensive tackle

from BYU. I'm sure that's somebody. The Bengals fans are intrigued by Spears, the running back from tul And I saw him destroy the UC Bearcats this past year. So we are now on the clock with pick number ninety two. Yeah, So You're right. A lot of players there went that I think would be intriguing options for Cincinnati. Blake Freeland

I think would be a really interesting one. He's the guy where you think of as a potential mid round tackle that could come in and has higher upside than just being a body or a backup player, could potentially be a legitimate starter. So that's not great seeing him go. Really at this spot, you're kind of playing the board, I think, and you're just entirely at the mercy of who's available, who you think can be a high end player.

I think Trevias Hodges Thomlinson is a very interesting cornerback option, a guy that would play the slot and be a high level player. Nick Herbig, the edge rusher from Wisconsin, I think Cincinnati would be smart to start to future proof that defensive line. Isaiah McGuire, the edge rusher from Missouri, is another guy I think that can come in and very early on have a situational role and set a

hard edge and those kinds of things. And then I think running is a spot where you're probably looking at in the mid rounds. A lot of those guys have already flown off the board, but as Shan Tucker from Syracuse is a real home run type of hitter. I think there's definitely options, and then at some point everybody's going to have to ask the question of when is Keshawn Boute value? Like he his tape when he was on not last year, but the year before that is

incredibly good. He's a wide receiver from LSU. Right, He's a really smooth route runner, smooth mover, has the skill set. And then last year's tape wasn't great, his workouts were worse, and it generally sort of looks like a kind of relative lack of want to versus some of these other guys. But at some point the upside there is incredibly tantalizing.

I mean, he was supposed to be the next one of those LSU receivers after Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, who could step in and you know, be an elite player. Maybe this spot of the third round is a little bit rich for me, but at some stage I think teams are going to be asking themselves that question. I think the guy from this list I would go for

is Isaiah McGuire, the edge rusher from Missouri. Isaiah McGuire is six four two hundred and seventy four pounds with long arms, and had eight and a half sacks for Missouri last season. His RIS score of nine point five three is excellent, and he opened eyes at the combine

by broad jumping more than ten feet. McGuire's young. He doesn't turn twenty two until July, and NFL dot com describes him as quote a bulldozing power rusher who can uproot tackles and collapse pockets with forceful punch and explosive leg drive. Now time to find out how PFF graded Sam's picks. Best grades we have so far A couple of A minuses. Okay, today we beat it the Dalton Kincaid. The Dalton Kincaid put me over the top. That was

an A plus. You have the two Julius brands with an A. Isaiah McGuire would just a B. But that gives me an overall A. I'm okay with that. I'll take it. If you want to email Dane Brugler and tell him you beat him on a three round Bengals mock, you can. He's coming on our show next week, I think so I'll tell him. Then we'll have another three round mock draft from an NFL expert next week. That's

going to do it. For this episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Buy Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals They're free to play with. Tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs by pay Corps, the official hr software provider of the Bengals, and buy Alta Fiber future Proof

Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast