Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast, DA give a Little Bit, Give a little Bit of My life for you edition as I talked to Bengals punter Drew Crispin about the unique way that he's giving back to the Cincinnati community. Then I'm joined by author and podcaster Tyler Dunn from golongtv
dot com. He's written some great feature stories about the Bengals and shares his thoughts about Cincinnati's chances in twenty twenty three and some other hot button topics in the NFL. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paycorp. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust paycor to help them recruit, pay engage, and retain employees. Learn more at
paycore dot com. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since random Bengals discoveries on YouTube. While doing a little Bengals prep work recently, I stumbled upon five members of the nineteen eighty eight Super Bowl team appearing on the Family Feud. There are actually two episodes and it was billed as a Super
Bowl rematch. Az Icky Woods, James Brooks, Boomerasiasin, David Fulcher and Anthony Munoz took on five members of the San Francisco forty nine ers. If you want to check it out, just go to YouTube and search for Bengals Family Feud. You won't be disappointed. 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 facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed
to guiding you to your best health. Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now let's get to this week's guests. Last year, in the tenth game of the season, Drew Chrisman replaced Kevin Huber as the Bengals starting punter. In seven regular season starts, Chrisman averaged forty seven point eight yards per punt with a net average of forty two
point six. He was thirteenth in the NFL and punting average and eleventh in net average, and those stats were very similar to Kevin Huber's best seasons in Cincinnati, but Drew did not punt as well in the playoffs, and now we'll be involved in a training camp battle to hold onto the starting spot with six round draft pick Brad Robbins. Drew's found a unique way to stay in shape for the competition, and I discussed it with him
this week. Drew, for those who have not seen your social media posts, explain what you've been doing in your spare time.
It's kind of hard to put it in just a couple of sentences. Certainly if your viewing the videos for the first time, it's a lot to take in, and really for me, it's a lot to take in out the moment it's transformed into something then I really didn't even expect to get to at this point. I started off just kind of as a little extra workout. During this time period, I was looking into buying a peloton, and just.
The cheap, slash frugal side of me just.
Would not be willing to dish out that kind of money and pay that monthly subscription. So I don't know why Instagram or algorithm guys must have heard what I was talking about and they showed me a video of a guy going around doing door dash and I was like, that just seemed so much fun and plus a great workout as well, and get the experience of the city and you know, get out meet some people. And I
was like, let's just give it a try. And after a couple of weeks of doing it, I was like, this is this is.
Just so much fun.
And then obviously it's turned into a little bit more of a charity thing at this point, but still getting a good workout by all means.
So if there's anybody out there that doesn't know what door dash is, you're basically on your bike picking up things from one site and delivering it to another site. Let's talk about the workout aspect of this. Cincinnati is famously the end of the city of Seven Hills. What kind of bicycle workouts are you getting as a door dash delivery person.
I have learned to stay downtown. Even downtown can get a little hilly at times, especially going across the bridges over to Kentucky and whatnot. But yeah, I have stayed. I first started off around you see, the campus, and I learned quickly to uh, to avoid that area that that can that can get tiring very quickly just after an order or two, a little more than I anticipated at the beginning. So we've stayed a little more closer downtown. I can ride for more hours and and make more
money that way. But uh, yeah, no, it's certainly, certainly you learn. Every day you go out there, you learn something new. And I learned that one pretty quickly.
Has there been a Mount Adams delivery there has?
Uh yeah, no, I've I've I check it. That's about the worst spot you can kind of get when you're sitting on Fountain Square and you something going to out Adams. Usually typically if I get one of those, I uh probably in the day on that one, at least one last one, last sweat before I drive back to Indiana.
So we're visiting the Bengals. Pund or Drew Chrisman, there's a little bit of a robin hood aspect to this that you alluded to. You make money as a door dash delivery person, but you have elected to plow that money back into helping people. So after you do these deliveries, you will buy food from local restaurants and just drop it off to people who appear to be in need.
Yeah, correct, And like I said, I started this officer as an next form of exercise, and naturally, doing this work you make money.
I mean, some people do this for a living.
So yeah, I started noticing the account got, you know, pretty high, and after a couple of days, a couple of weeks of doing it, and you had a couple hundred dollars in the account. And I was like, well, you know, I'm just riding around and you know, seeing a city.
You know, the city is beautiful, there's lots of beautiful things about the city.
But also there was something I noticed was, you know, there was a little bit of a new on the streets and people panhandling and stuff like that. And I mean just seeing that first hand on the street level, you know, just kind of pools at you as you're going to Chipotle and taking order to some skyrise building and on the street outside of it, there's a guy that's.
Begging for anything.
Really, So I thought, yeah, there'd be no better use for that money to go and you know, help out and just a little bit of way possible. And the reaction I got from that has been just phenomenal. And now all of a sudden, I have tons of people wanting to reach out, and I even have people have been miming me money to increase my you know, my reserve of funds to be able to go buy more food.
So it's really awesome what it's turned into. And certainly didn't expect this by any means, but certainly all the attention has got, I think is going to go to a greater good.
So there are a lot of guys in this locker room that are doing great things for the community. Joe Burrow's slogan for his foundation is everyone has a responsibility to do good. Have you taken that to heart?
Oh? For sure.
I think just with this platform in general that we have, it's you know, it's almost a disservice if you don't, you know, use back and give back in some way, just with how blessed we are to get to this point. Certainly, you know you've had help along the way, and it'd be selfish me not to you know, realize that. And uh, you know, I think I really realized that last season.
I'd finally like you know, broke through and made it to the active ross or started my first game, and you know, I thought that that was gonna be like a feeling feeling, and as soon as I got that roster spot after the third game i'd played round, there was still a little bit of something missing and and uh, it made me kind of looked back to my college days and when I was doing a little bit more charity work and you know, being on social media, a
little more active inn you know, engaging with the fans more. And so that was just something I was like, maybe that's the spark that I needed to get back to kind of fulfill that that whole I was feeling.
And certainly doing this.
As has helped has helped FI that for sure, and I am as happy as I have been, for sure.
So the videos that you've been sharing on social media are amusing. You wear a go pro camera, I guess on your helmet, your bike helmet. I'm guessing you put them to put these videos together. You can hear your interaction with people that where you're picking up the food, and in cases where you've given out food, they're graphics that go with it. You've got music on these videos. It's a pretty elaborate production.
I try my best to keep entertaining.
I know it's you know, it's good cause, and people probably just watch at that point. By the same time, people want to be entertained as well. That's just how the media world is, you know. Sometimes if it's not if it doesn't grasp your attention the first couple of seconds, most people just click off of it and they won't go they'll go about their day because there's so much stuff to be out there. So I try to make it entertaining as fun and light as possible.
I'm still learning as I go. There's there're a lot.
More to learn, and hopefully continue to make these videos and keep making people's days.
So are you a big cyclist? Have you always written bike a lot?
So in college we would do my wife and I would go to this place like a cycling studio is called six one four Cycle and Columbus, and we really enjoyed that. We'd go there at least once a week during the off season, and and.
Uh, I was just I was. We enjoyed that it's a great.
Leg workout and and so I don't know if I'd ever consider myself a cyclist. My dad would say that I'm crazy to even get on a bike. Every time I get on it. Growing up, i'd have scuff knees or you know, cuts down the legs of some sort bruise chin.
But uh, so far, so far, it was so good.
I got a bike that's pretty sturdy now and I've learned, i think from the childhood experiences, the hard way of how to stay upright on a bike and hopefully knock on wood.
We continue that way.
So I don't know if it's called a handle on door dash, but your name or your handle is Drew C. And your first name is spelled d r u E, So it's a little bit unusual. Has anybody recognized you was the Bengals punter?
They haven't.
Actually the first day I was out yesterday actually for the first time really since making it public and start posting videos, and certainly the one where I gave out food caught the most attention. And after that I did have a person on the street. I was just sitting at a crosswalk waiting for the light to change, and a guy came up. You know, they recognized me and said, you know, they followed, follow along, saw the videos, appreciate what I was doing.
But that was really the first time. I think.
I think it has to do with that's probably myself or just any Bengal or professional athlete in general is probably the last person you expect to be delivering new food. So but yeah, Drew cy d r Ui, if you see that pop up, there's not many of us out there, so that's probably gonna be me if you see it on your order.
All right, let's talk about your other job, Bengals punter. At this time last year, you were getting ready for a training camp battle with Kevin Huber. Kevin got the job to begin the season. Ultimately you took over as the starting punter. Do you go into this training camp with a similar feeling you're gonna be bad a rookie Brad Robbins, who is drafted this year for that job this year?
Yeah, I would say it's similar.
Shoot every yeah, every camp, every almost every day I've been here, there's always been another punter on the roster. So yeah, it's really not not not really anything new to me at this point, and so I've gotten pretty familiar with that, that feeling, and yeah, just take it one day at a time. We had a great OTAs and really got to feel for each other. He's a great guy, He's a heck of a punter. It's gonna
be it's gonna be a great time. You know, whoever ultimately ends up getting the job, I think it's gonna be great for this organization and do do some great things.
So you seem pretty zen about the whole thing. Like every year in the NFL, it's a competition. You got to win the job every season.
Yeah, I mean, that's just part of the gig. You know, there's only thirty thirty two of us out there, and so the thirty two best in the world are gonna get It doesn't matter if you're you're only one on the roster. If you're not getting the job done, they're going to find someone else the next week. That's just how it works in this in this business world, and it is a business and if you're not getting the job done, you know they're gonna find so in that can. So, yeah,
there's no there's no job security by all means. Even if there isn't a guy sitting a couple of lockers down that you know is battling for the same job, there's a hundred other guys out there that are doing the same.
So several years ago they drafted a kicker, Jake Elliott. People assumed, well, he was the draft pick, he's going to be the kicker, and then in training camp he was outperformed and the job went to Randy Bullock. I think Darren Simmons is the type of guy who's gonna make it clear, made the best man win.
Yeah, he actually the day after the draft or no, it was actually that night after the draft he called me and kind of told me that story, and like, you know, there's been a template for this happening before. It's not completely out of your hands yet. You know, certainly we're going to give everybody a fair shaw as possible. And I saw that firsthand with Evan and Austin Sebert
as well. I was injured at the time, so I couldn't punt, but I was able to sit in the meeting rooms and see just how meticulous he is and just you know, stats and taking everything into account, and I think I think he really does. It really is an open job, and that's really all you can ask for.
So all right, final question. We talked about two of your jobs. Let's talk about the third. The fourth of July is coming up. You'll be working in the fireworks store, correct.
I will be yes, there's no getting out of that job. It doesn't matter where you're at what I'm doing. Everybody comes back in town for that one, and it is gearing up for sure. I think just if like the next week, I think we're going to twenty four seven, And so anytime you won you want some fireers, come stop by. More than likely at least my dad will
be there, if not myself. I've kind of taken over the night shift nowadays and stalking the shelves at night, two, three in the morning, getting ready for everybody to buy it the next day.
But it's always a good time.
I grew up in that store and tell you what that's that's another workout as well, lifting some lifting some Excalibur and some five hundred grand cases throughout the night. You'll be feeling that the next day. So there's no short as of extra work I can get in this time of the year.
My dad planned it out perfectly, So.
Feel free to put in a plug. Name and location of the store.
Party at Traps Laurenceburg, Indiana, right off the exit. Can't miss it, big red, white and blue building. Best bang for your book, that's our motto. So come blow some stuff up, have some fun.
Very well put. Thank you for so much for your time today, Stay upright on that bike and thank you for what you're doing for people in need.
Appreciate it. Thanks for the time.
The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Alta 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 Alta Fiber and by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs find both inside the Bengals app. If you love football and great writing about football, the best website out there is golongtd dot com.
There's plenty of free content on the site and additional material if you choose to subscribe. Tyler Dunn is the man behind golongtv dot com and he's written great profiles about DJ reader, chitabey Owooje, Tyler Boyd, and other Bengals and I caught up with him this week. Tyler, the last time we saw each other was right before the AFC Championship game. You came to Cincinnati and did a story titled the villains, how true disrespect created a monster
in Cincinnati. You've got a real knack for getting players to open up, and there are some great quotes in that story. You're in a lot of NFL locker rooms. What stands out to you when you come to Cincinnati?
How authentic everybody is and that they don't take themselves too seriously. It was so refreshing. It's always refreshing to walk into that Bengals locker room and then here I go panderin again. I promise, I mean everything I say here, Dan. It is though, it's a different team with with unique personalities,
and it strikes me as by design. I feel like Zach Taylor, Dutobin, everybody they know the kind of player that they want to bring in, and I just I guess in my job in the media, you have expect any locker room to be full of players who are just going to spew cliches and are guarded. Guarded doesn't even begin to explain how a lot of help players operate,
and for good reason. I mean, Twitter has kind of broken everybody's brains and one thing gets said and the next thing you know, you know, it's retweeted a million times and guys have to backtrack and take back what they said. Well, I just I love going to Cincinnati because you know, everything that these guys say they mean and they don't care who hears it, because guess what, football is a sport, it's a game. Like I know Travis Kelcey and Patrick Mahomes got all upset about Burrowhead, Like,
get over yourselves. If you really need that to get yourself going, you're probably in the wrong profession. So it made for great theater and everything. But it's just fun to have a conversation with like a Mike Hilton, Eli Apple when he was kicking around and there right, I'm even Chiabey Woozier and DJ Reader, exceptional Tyler Boyd, all of these guys. You know, they could talk for hours and hours about not just their lives but how they
do their jobs. And it makes our job in the media a lot of fun.
All right, So you mentioned Burrowhead, Mike Hilton famously calling Arrowhead Burrowhead, and some of Eli Apple's trash talk that goes crazy on social media. You didn't mention the mayor and his ill timed remarks prior to the AFC Championship game. I take it from your tone though, that you don't think the Bengals overdid it.
No, I don't think so. You know what gets lost is, you know, if the Chiefs did genuinely use some of this stuff is as fuel. Fine, I guess I have a hard time thinking that Patrick Mahomes is stepping up to the line of scrimmage looking at Cincinnati's defense and thinking, you know what they were talking about Burrowhead before this game, so I'm going to try extra hard this play. I mean,
it's kind of dumb. I feel like the other effect is more powerful when you're Cincinnati and this stuff gets you going, and you're a team that plays with an edge, that plays with a swagger, with a cockiness rightfully, so it's a team that's been bad for a number of
years and to kind of zap the culture. It all started with that big bang moment, right von Bell lights up Jujus Smith Schuster because he's dancing all over the logo and puts him in his place, and everything to that point forward, whether it's burrow with the swagon offense, all those guys on defense playing and thinking a certain way, I feel like it's more powerful On that end of
the spectrum. That kind of gets lost is the way that the Cincinnati Bengals players talk and think and operate day to day, game to game to genuinely change what's been a moribund culture. You know, coach to coach, quarterback to quarterback. That is needed, and that is good and that is powerful. So does Zach Taylor's credit. And he said this, I believe, at a press conference ahead of
that AFC Championship game. So when all this stuff's in now, all the headlines and all the talking heads are having conniptions over it. I mean, I give him so much credit to sit there and say, I want our guys to be themselves, like, be you, whatever gets you going. I mean, there's probably players in the locker room that that don't like to talk. They would rather punch in, punch out, and that's fine too. But I think the worst thing a coach can do is to apply a
cookie cutter formula to success. And in that sense, Bill Belichick, I guess that's the one detrimental effect of the Patriot way and do your job. They won a lot of games, a lot of Super Bowls, a lot of conference championships, all of this, and for whatever reason, out of that all it was assumed, Okay, they did it because everybody just shuts up and plays football and is militaristic. Well, a lot of those coaches under Bill Belichick went to other teams and it didn't really work out. So you
have the gravitas of those rings. You have Tom freakin Brady, the best quarterback ever. Maybe that has something to do with it a little bit more than you know, trying to stay out of a headline. So I just give Zach Taylor and the Bengals so much credit for for letting these guys be themselves because they get it. They know the upside to a team operating this way.
Well, there's one final chapter to this topic, and that was the Bengals tossing another log on the fire recently with Pat Who, which some of the Chiefs seemed to take exception to. Here's my question, what do you think of this rivalry Bengals Chiefs back to back AFC Championship games. The Bengals won the first, the Chiefs won the second, and a lot of discourse between the two rosters.
It's good for the game, it's again, it's refreshing. I think Dan. I mean, you've covered football a lot longer than me. I feel like, this, what year did you start covering I don't want to say year old, and then you know, proceed to show how old do you are?
I think that was accurate. So I graduated from our alma mater, Syracuse in nineteen eighty five, so I was covering the Buffalo Bills mostly shortly after that for a TV station in Syracuse.
So even I feel like even in the eighties, most of the nineties, maybe even early two thousand's, this was a little more normal I get. I guess kind of pre social media. Social media is maybe sanitized the coverage of pro football more than anything. But I think that when made sports great, would makes sports great over the year, our rivalries and players john back and forth, and it's
it's gonna be settled on the field. But you can have all the theatrics, and you can have all these opinions, and you can have you know, Pat Who in the middle of you know, the dead part of the NFL calendar. It's great. I think it's just good. I don't know how anybody could get upset or look down upon Jamar Chase Poort a little gasoline under the fire. Because these two teams aren't going anywhere. Because these two quarterbacks aren't going anywhere, you might as well have fun with it,
lean into it. I got to think back to the Lakers and the Celtics. I was born in eighty seven, so I didn't I didn't live it in real time. Sorry, Dan, to watch those documentaries and just anything that you can devour on YouTube, just how much those two teams hated each other, loathed each other. I mean, you had those rivalries and in all of sports, and you don't really get it. You definitely don't get it in the NBA. I mean, these players are all just kind of mercenaries.
They use their destination on a year to year basis, so there really isn't any loyalty and you don't really have right I mean, I mean, Kevin Durant owned the Golden State Warriors, and now Chris Paul went to the Golden Like there are players who have been opinionated about certain teams and then they just join that team, where in football, at least guys do stay on their team for an extended period of time or ten two so
you have a chance at a real rivalry. But Also in football, unlike the NBA, you don't get such authenticity out of the participants, right. It's it's individualism is a little more controlled. You know, they have helmets on on the field, but can see their faces and the and the heat of the moment as much like we do NBA. And so anytime players start drawing back and forth and leaning into, uh, you know, the hatred of an opponent, I think that's I think it's good. It's it's entertaining.
But guess what, It's a violent game, the most violent team sport on Earth. And I say that in the best possible way. That's why we love football. So guys should just say what's on their minds. It's emotional.
I'm with you. Rivalries are good. We're chatting with Tyler Dunn from golongtd dot com. He is also the author of the book Blood and Guts How Tight Ends Save Football. We're about a month away from the start of training camps around the NFL. Where do you think the Bengals stack up with teams like the Chiefs, the Eagles, the Bills, the forty nine ers, whichever powerhouse you have at the top of your list.
I mean, they're obviously right there. As long as Joe Burrow's healthy, they'll always be right there. And I guess it's really simplized, a simplified way to put it, but he is unbelievable. I'm sure that you've struggled to find new superlatives and new ways to describe what makes them special. But I'd really thought that last season, what he was able to do and being patient was such a big
step for his personal growth. The teams dared him to check the ball down, dared the Bengals to run, dared them to go eight, nine, ten plays on their way to the end zone. And a lot of these quarterbacks get antsy. A lot of the best ever get antsy. Patrick Mahomes gets antsy, and they want to force that ball into that tight window. And you know, Kurt Warner pointed this play out to me and I didn't even realize it, but one of Patrick Mahomes's best highlights from
this past season was that little flip he had. I think it was Jack mckinn. He kind of rolls right and he was like a push flip. It was crazy. I mean, he's the only person on the planet that can make that play. But Kurt Warner said, Look, if you watch that play, you know from above he has a receiver wide open on the other side side of the field. If he just plants that back foot sees it gets rid of it, Boom, it's a completion. It's
within the rhythm of the offense. No quarterback in football plays within the rhythm of an offense better than Joe Burrow. And I think for him to play as patiently and deliberately as he did last season was a step and in year three that you just don't really see at the most quarterbacks. And I'll tell you this, Dana drew
the envy of the Buffalo Bills. I'm going to dive into this conversation, but I had Isaiah McKenzie on a Happy Hour a Here at Go Along did a show with him the last two seasons when he was a member of the Bills now with the Indianapolis Colts. But he was as candid as I've heard anybody on the Bills about that playoff loss and what went down, and again back to social media, and you know what we hate about all of that In twenty twenty three, I can't even blame Jamar Chase and Tyler Boyd and the
Bengals for getting pissed off at Isaiah. And you know, he had the comment it would have been a different game in a dome. He didn't say they'd win, he decided it would be a different game. I think it was interpreted by the Bengals as like a slight as a dig at Cincinnati. He was digging the Bills if you listened to him in full. He was really criticizing Ken Dorsey's offense in Buffalo in the fact that it's just too boom or bust. It was like, if the
big plays were hitting, it was great. He wants to take those shots. But Isaiah's like, I'm looking at Joe Burrow and the Bengals and you know, guys are running six, seven, eight yards turned around and it's quick. But he completed passes to like seven or eight different receivers in the first quarter alone, and he says, we should have been doing that, and the Bills weren't. They had these long, developing plays. They were trying to hit the deep shot
and they could do it. They weren't built to play in the snow, which is crazy. It's not what the snow sneaks up on you in Western New York because you know, Dan, it's not like all of a sudden, there's a blizzard. Oh my god, what happened? It's snowing. But they weren't. They had no running game without Brian Dable, They really had no short passing game. Isaiah mackenzie was gonna be the slot receiver their version of Coleby Bes left and didn't even really use him as a slot receiver,
and it was a mess. The Bengals were more equipped to win that game because of their passing game the way it was structured, but they was physically tougher, mentally tougher, and that game fell over from the word go a lot like the tomorrow Hamma game felt, honestly. I mean, I think that would have probably been a Cincinnati blew out as well. So I think there's a huge divide between these two teams. I mean, maybe Buffalo closed it. I think they made a lot of really good decisions
this offseason. They work in the fringes of free agency, but man, between the digs drama, Dorsey need to figure things out the fact that Cincinnati hasn't had to make those really hard financial decisions quite yet. I still like Cincinnati a little bit more than Buffalo.
Well, I'm glad you brought up Isaiah McKenzie's comments because I think a lot of Bengals fans heard just the following that somebody on the Bills blamed the loss on the snow without knowing any of the context. And some people have said, well, what did they think that the Bengals uniforms blended in with a snow or something like that,
because the Bengals were wearing white. But the fact of the matter is Isaiah McKenzie on your podcast basically said the snow was a problem for Buffalo because they were throwing the ball too far down the field and the receivers are having trouble with the timing of the routes because of the bad footing, etc. That was basically the gist of it.
Right totally, And he's right. It would have been a different game on a fast track in a dome, completely eliminating weather from the equation. I think Cincinnati still wins. And I bet you if you were too back Isaiah into a corner, he'd probably admit the Cincinnati still wins
that game, but it is a different game. And I think that you know, the Bengals shouldn't really take offence because he's really criticizing the Bills and the structure of their offense and the fact that they were just too finase. He kind of said what a lot of people on that team are thinking, but can't say. You know, he's a member of the Colts now, so he's speaking a little more freely. But he kind of chuckled and said, look, we don't We did not have a running game. We
had nothing. So you know, when teams sit back on the Bills like they did the Bengals, it's not like they can just hand the ball off to a Joe Mixon or anybody back there and win five yards at a time that the line wasn't really built that way, the play calling wasn't structured that way. And it's Cincinnati absolutely clobbered the Bills. I mean, that was gosh, it's you know, we'll look back at that game, Dan, We'll see the box score and some of the stats. It's
not going to do it justice. I mean, they really did embarrass the Bills in their own stadium.
So, speaking of offseason moves, the Bengals have at least on paper, significantly upgraded their offensive line with the addition of Orlando Brown Junior, the best free agent offensive lineman that was on the market. Were you shocked by that move? I think many people here in Cincinnati, myself included, didn't see it coming.
It was one of those rare moves in free agency where you almost remember where you were when it happened. When it did kind of break Twitter, I was just I was like laying in bed doing what a lot of us do, just kind of half asleep and half awake and scroll doom scrolling. I'm like, what the he? How did Cincinnati got Orlando Brown? I think I assume
Cincinnati was in a similar position as Buffalo. I get may maybe not quite yet, but they weren't in a position to spend I guess subconsciously, I'm thinking, you gotta hang up for Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, do your best to keep Tea Higgins. They just didn't seem to be a team to be in the market for the best offensive tackle out there. For whatever reason, Orlando Brown just didn't get what Orlando Brown thought he was going to that first wave, and you have to credit the Bengals
in their front office for just being patient. This is what the best teams do like, they don't panic, they don't do anything rash those first twenty four to forty eight hours. They kind of let the silly money just get spent. And I say that hesitantly because like the Jacksonville Jaguars spent like crazy a year ago and it worked out, and then two years ago, Cincinnati spent like
crazy and it worked out. So I'm not the kind of guy that just blast teams for spending a lot of money, because if you've got a really good quarterback Trevor Lawrence Joe Burrow, and you've got money to spend, you better spend it because that's that can be what elevates you. And now these two teams they might be playing in the AFC Championship Game. So that being said, though, where Cincinnati was that it just made sense to kind
of let a lot of that money fly. And they're probably looking at it like a lot of us, thinking, how in the hell is Orlando Brown not signing a contract with anybody. The Chiefs were probably even surprised they went ahead and got a different tackle because I assumed they didn't think they could keep Orlando Brown, but to steal him from Kansas City is such a coup. I'm
not telling your viewers and listeners anything. They don't know what the last two seasons ended for the Bengals because of a key pass protection moment where they weren't able to give Joe Burrow that extra split second. And that's where Burrow is different.
I mean, if he has just a little bit more time, the way he reads the field is so unlike anybody in football Mahomes, Alan, Lawrence deck Lamar, throw anybody out there, Aaron Rodgers.
Nobody reads the field better than this guy. But he just it's scary to think we could do with just a little bit more time. And if you can just hold up on the edges one on one without chippin' Wethough, I'm sure they would love to chip on a certain play from that AFC Championship game. But if you can hold up without chipping, then you've got more receivers out there to let him go to work. So it's huge. I mean, I honestly, I'm not going to sit here
and act like I'm this offensive line guru. I haven't been grinding the Orlando Brown film, but at any time I've seen him, even back to the Baltimore days. I mean, he's a mountain of a man. It's hard to believe that there can be somebody this big on a football field, but he bends and he moves pretty well. I mean, what do you think, Dan?
You know, some people say that he's not one of the best tackles in the NFL. Maybe he's a little bit overrated, or he would have been better on the right side than the left. So what, He's a four time Pro bowler, he's proven he's durable. The worst case scenario, and this is the absolute worst case scenario, is that he's top half in the league, which is a significant upgrade and plenty good enough. I'm a subscriber to the theory that your offensive line has to be solid at
every position. You don't necessarily have to have Anthony Munos at one of your tackle spots. You just can't have anybody that kills you. And with Orlando Brown at twenty six years old, at six eight, three hundred and sixty pounds, great attitude, great worth at work, ethic, it's a total no brainer. And throw in the fact that they got him for the exact same dollar amount that the Falcons are paying Jesse Bates, so they lost to safety and added a four time Pro Bowl left tackle who's twenty
six years old at the exact same price. So yeah, maybe he's not one of the top five. I don't care. I personally think he's probably, you know, at least top ten, certainly top fifteen, and that's a big upgrade for the next four years.
You just put it so perfectly too. I think this is what the best teams do as well as they think a year ahead. They're not going to come out and say, well, we're going to lose Jesse Bates, so we're drafting these players. They planned for this all and now they finally address what ailed this team, the offensive line. It's hard to imagine and that they I'm thinking back to two years ago that they got to the Super Bowl. Of that line especially, it's unbelievable. I mean, quit in Spain. Hey,
it's it's hard to knock anybody in the NFL. It's the best of the best. But here in Buffalo is like they couldn't wait to get rid of the guy, and he's out there in a Super Bowl trying to block Aaron Donald. For them to even get to that point says a lot about Joe Burrow and the Bengals. So now I'm with you. Just find the five best guys up front wherever they are. If you can get five guys you can depend on and there's no weak link, you're gonna be fine.
And hope you can get to the AFC Championship Game without losing three starters in three consecutive games at the end of the season. Has happened in the Bengals last year.
Also, Irv Smith is I mean, he's really good. I know he's had injuries on that. That's another spot where they kind of you know that you lose a quality guy in Hayden Hurst who's jumping over He's still jumping over people in Orchard Park probably, but they pivoted so well to somebody. Obviously he's got the he's got the bloodlines his dad. I believe he was a tight end for the Saints through the nineties. He can he can
block better than most. But another receiving option who's absolutely an NFL starter at a at a premium price.
Our guest is Tyler Dunn from golongtv dot com, author in podcast or I'm going to hit you now with some hot button NFL topics and get your opinion on these. You have been critical on golongtd dot com of Aaron Rodgers. Do you think it's gonna work out with the Jets?
No? I do not. I think that well number one Father Time is undefeated and the best of the very best, inevitably this side of Tom Brady. Right, tom Brady has kind of warped reality a little bit with his avocado ice cream and Alex Guerrero and who else knows what he's doing. I'm just I can't get past the hairline, Like couple of ball guys here, what is he? He did something, there's some voodoo at play. I don't know what.
He started losing his hair and then all of a sudden he's got a full head of hair for the rest of his career. So we can't compare Tom Brady to anybody because he's not normal, And don't I don't think Aaron Rodgers is unique abnormal in that category. It's Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Troy Aikman, Philip Rivers, Eli, Ben Roethlisberger, everybody. When they get to thirty eight, thirty nine, forty and you have the season that you saw out
of Aaron Rodgers last year. It doesn't just redirect and shoot back up very rarely does it because he didn't see the field that well. There were open receivers, he just didn't hit him. He wasn't running Matt Lafleur's offense play in and play out. There was a point last season when they lost to the Jets, Commanders and the Giants. I think I have the order wrong there. For those three back to back to back losses, that's where green
Bay season really went downhill. I want to say he had like one hundred and ten dropbacks and Aaron Jones and aj Dillon combined for like fifty carries. So they got away from the strength of the team. And that's Aaron Rodgers. He's got the autonomy at the line of scrimmage to change whatever play he wants, and rightfully so he's seen everything. But that really only works if you've got Davante Adams out there and thousands upon thousands of
reps baked in. I mean, and it took time. It takes a long time to get on Aaron Rodgers intellectual level. It took Jordan Nelson a while, Randall Cobb awhile Davante Adams was written off as a bust in Year two, Terrible Year two, a lot of drops, and then all of a sudden, Aaron Rodgers has went in two MVPs with him, So I can't see him just going to another team with new players. Maybe he has pissed off,
goes full heel. He's already been taking shots green Bay at every opportunity, trying to rewrite history the best he can. As we all know, if you start lying, it's hard to keep track of your lies. And I feel like that's how Aaron Rodgers is trying to paint his exit from green Bay, and green Bay is just sitting there like, okay, whatever Aaron. Like they don't want to talk about the Crazy X like many of us do, not, like we don't want to relive that dark time in our lives.
Or they're just like, get out of here. We're moving on to Jordan Love. So we're never really going to hear their side of the story, not at length, but everything we do know because Aaron just keeps going on and on about the packer's not facetiming him when he had one bar. But oh yeah, they tried to reach out. It's it's at some point he'll do what he did last year and throw teammates under the bus. He goes on McAfee and says, if you don't know what you're
doing out there, you should be playing. Well, you're a player, you're a quarterback. I mean should that apply to yourself. Then, when you're not open receivers and you're losing and you're not performing, I can't see the sending well. I really, especially in that division where the Bills are still really talented. Miami's loading up for a Super Bowl run. I Vic Vangio is arguably the best defensive mind the side of Belichick. I mean top three, and they have Jayalen Ramsey who's
pretty good, and the Patriots. They're s the Patriots. I mean that defense is is loaded. They're not going anywhere. I could easily see the Jets finishing dead last in this division, which great, you know, Woody Joe Robert. Was it really worth it? I mean, Zach Wilson was that much of a disaster that they were so desperate to do anything in their power. But I still think there could have been a better option out their form. I
don't make a play for Lamar Jackson. Jackson or hunt on this season, Troad drafted quarterback next to or any anything, but this it's I don't think it's going to end well. And if he wins MVP and they make the playoffs and they go in to the Super Bowl, run have me back on and I'll apologize to all your viewers.
All right, High button topic number two. Will Deshaun Watson returned to being one of the NFL's best quarterbacks in his second year in Cleveland.
Love what Cleveland did, meet and potatoes off season. I mean, Dalvin Tomlinson, Juan Thornhill, even trading for Elijah Moore from the Jets. One of the best offensive lines in football. Nick Chubb is exceptional. I don't know, though. It was really bad. And obviously we're just talking football here, there's all the other stuff when it comes to Deshaun Watson. But the rust was even worse than I think we all thought it never he never really got better as
the games continued. So maybe with a full off season it'll be better than he was last year. But I don't know the Deshaun Watson from early in his career that just kind of danced and branched and improvised and did whatever he wanted. I don't know if we're going to see that player again again, because look at the division, Mike Tomlin, I think we'll have him figured out. Baltimore's only going to be better, and Lamar's not going anywhere, and obviously Cincinnati is going to win the next ten
super Bowls. Because I'm on your show again, it's like a similar to the Jets. It's like you got this quarterback and you gave up so much for them. I mean, in the Browns case, your soul two hundred and thirty guaranteed three first round picks and for what, I don't know, a lot of really good people there in terms of the front office. I think Andrew Barry, Glenn Cook. They've got smart football people running the show, and I love
what they did this offseason. Then you take a step back and you look at the division, it's like, well, I don't really know who they overtake here.
All right, you're in the Buffalo area. Is the Stefan Diggs situation a minor blip or a major problem in Buffalo?
Great question. I cannot speak with total conviction one way or another, which tends to make me want to say it is it is a major problem because if it was just a blip, we don't know anything. Sean McDermott, who's always protecting the players at press conference, I shouldn't say, oh, we' see Shuldin protect him after thirteen seconds. I should say who never says a hell of a lot of anything at press conferences, especially when it comes to specifics of
his players. Made a point to say he was very concerned, and it was clear he had just gotten out of a meeting with Stefan Diggs. Players see Diggs leave the building. He's gone. Something was said, He's mad about something. This is an extension from the Cincinnati playoff loss when he's in Josh Allen's space and he had to be coaxed back into the locker room to hear Sean mcdermot's speech by Duke Johnson, a practice squad running back, had to
convince him to get back in there. You would think that what the four months in between, they would figure it out whatever was wrong. They just would sing Kumbaya and and and and work out their issues. But those issues still exist. They're not going to go way between now in training camp. If they didn't go away between the divisional playoff round and Mini camp.
So is it?
You know, you hear so many different things. I've heard many theories stand like he's he's mad at Josh Allen because their relationship soured. He's he's mad because he's just not getting the ball in these critical playoff moments, mad about his contract, mad that the seasons keep ending in this horrible, tragic fashion. I don't know what's true, but it's probably a little bit of everything. And I think that there is a disconnect with him and Sean McDermott.
I think that's obvious. But I do think that the Bills knew what they signed up for. Like he wanted to get the hell out of Minnesota rightfully, so he didn't like where the offense was going with Zimmer kind of bringing it back to the nineties. He felt it was a little archaic. Wasn't taking advantage of a skill set? Gets to Buffalo and you know the risk that you're taking on. But in my opinions, it's worth the risk.
Because everybody I've talked to, whether it was Chadhall who's no longer here, who knows Maybe that's another reason he's upset. The wide receivers coach Isaiah McKenzie. Players on both sides of the ball. They say, like Diggs is the one who really kind of changed the atmosphere at One Bill's Drive. You know, this was a team that did make the playoffs for seventeen years, they've they've never really had a
upper echelon, alpha dog, maniacal competitor like Stefan Diggs. He is as insane of a competitor, intensive a competitors you're gonna find in football. And that's gonna come with a lot of baggage. It's gonna come with what we see the offseason and him clashing with the head coach and getting in Allen's face and all of that. But I think if you're the Bills, you just you just have to accept it. You don't have to embrace it, but you have to accept it because the alternative isn't that pretty.
I don't think you can get much if you traded him at this point, at his age. The other receivers are good, not special. For better or worse. You better figure it out, Buffalo, because you need him if you want to keep pace with Cincinnati, with Kansas City, even Jacksonville in the AFC.
My guest has been Tyler Dunn. The website is golongtd dot com. I have a very happy subscriber for folks who are not familiar with it. Explain what it is and how they can get it.
No doubt. I just feel like your listeners, all the fans across the country are the ones pouring their hard earned money into this product to fill stadiums, to buy Sunday ticket packages which are reaching astronomical heights. I mean, you pour not just money, but your heart and soul into the sport. So I just feel like with where a lot of sports media is, it's gone toward the gifts and the tweets and the takes and the memes and the fast food and everything's very, very bite sized.
So when I launched Go Along three years ago, it was to kind of attack from that that other end of the spectrum and give people a story that, yeah, might take a half hour to read, but you're gonna learn something. It's gonna help explain the sport or a particular player that you think you know a little bit about but you really don't know. And it does take just you know, special personalities like those in Cincinnati being
willing to sit down and open up. So I'm very fortunate you know that so many of those players with the Bengals are willing to kind of go down that road, and they don't just want to few a few cliches and and kind of go along their merry way. They're like a DJ Reader was unbelievable last year. It was so cool getting to know him. But they want to sit down and explain their lives makes them tick. And hey, if that's what if folks want to do and take their brains back a little bit right in the social
media world. Hopefully we can keep this thing going. So I can't thank everybody out there enough for subscribing. We've got a great Bengals base and I'll definitely be out there for training camp.
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, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs by paycre, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by 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 Hord and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.
Yea