Bengals Booth Podcast: Hard Day's Night

Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast. The It's been a hard days night. Addition, as the NFL Draft comes to an end after three days and two hundred and fifty nine picks, coming up, we'll hear from members of the coaching staff on the five players selected by the Bengals on Saturday, and then Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the final day of the draft and how it impacts the current roster. The

And has great ball skills. Anytime he's in a fifty to fifty contested catch situation, he seemed to come down with him and so really everybody on our roster all the receivers that we have have great ball skills, and so he adds to that as a guy that no matter where you throw the ball, he's gonna make the play.

He's a he's a.

Technical route runner, and so if it's a fifteen yard route, he's gonna run fifteen.

If it's you.

Know, twelve yards, and he's gonna get twelve. He knows how to manipulate coverages, the defenders at the top of his routes. He just knows how to get open. He's a football player and that's what we need. And you know, very similar to when I was in Indianaupse with Peyton Manning with Joe. You know, Joe, he wants you to be in the right spot at the right time, and that's what Charlie does. He's going to be in the right spot. He's someone that Joe can count on. He's

Since the Bengals have one of the NFL's best wide receiver Trios and Chase Higgins and Boyd Jones's biggest opportunity to contribute right away could come as a return specialist. He had a kick return touchdown and a punt return touchdown in his college career. Here's Brian Callahan.

I think he was the twenty twenty one Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Year. He can kick return, he can punt return. He's got versatility to play all three positions for us on offense, So a ton of value in what he can bring to us, particularly early on. He's got a path to see the field potentially in competition as a returner at both returner spots. He's got flexibility as a receiver, and he's got a ton of

Here.

The Bengals have not returned a punt for a touchdown in the last ten years. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you 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. In the fifth round, the Bengals chose a running back, Chase Brown from Illinois.

I feel like you got a good mixture.

Guys.

We we got three known quantities there with with mixing Trevion and Chris, and they all know the expectations there. And now you get a chance to add another one, Chase to the mix. Just you know, tremendous college career two years, over one thousand yards, almost led DNCA and rushing this year she just came up shy, you know. So again he's he's carried the load for those guys.

Well, the first of two picks in the sixth round, the Bengals took a lottery ticket of sorts in Princeton wide receiver andre Yosi Vosh. He's six ' three added an incredible as athlete, earning first team All American honors in the seven event heptathlon. He has four to four speed and a thirty nine inch vertical But yo see Vosh isn't a track star trying to play football. He had sixty six catches for nine hundred and forty three

We're we're excited upstairs to have a guy like this with so many, so much upside, the traits, physical tools, and then he's just a he's a good kid and a hard worker, and so the sky's the limit and we're gonna bring it out of him. And that's my job. My job is developed. Whether it's a first round pick, a sixth round pick, a free agent. I treat them all the same.

When they get here.

You're gonna learn to playbook and we're gonna go out there and we're gonna work, We're gonna learn and develop, develop fundamentals, and the expectations don't change, you know. I expect him to come in, both of those guys, him and Charlie to come in and learn to playbook when they get on the field to produce. And so yeah, it's a challenge, but you want to guys that You want a guy that's willing to work, and he's willing

Bengals brought Yo C. Bosh to town for a Top thirty visit, and we're the only NFL team to do so, although after playing at Princeton, Andre had local visits with the Jets, Giants, and Eagles. 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,

Drew Crisman started.

Well but faded down the stretch. Robbins was picked to compete for the job, and as a drafted player, will likely be considered the favorite to win it. Here's special teams coordinator Darren Simmons.

You know, he brings something different that we haven't had here in a bit. He's a hangtime guy. He loves get the ball up and does a really good job of getting great hang time. I think he led college football the last two years in hang time. So this guy really gets the ball up in the air really well, you know. And obviously there is something to playing in this you know climate in the country that that does matter to me some.

He's obviously played a lot of big games at AD Michigan.

The other attractive thing too is he held, you know, for Jake Moody, who was a third round pick this year too, So I feel really good about you know the other half of his job, which is holding. So I feel very confident in Brad's ability to come in here. Do we need him to do to be an effective pun in this Division.

The bengals seventh round pick was cornerback dj Ivy out of the University of Miami. He's six feet tall with long arms and four four six speed, but had inconsistent tape. Here's Zach Taylor.

Yeah, DJs guy we get to know in the pre draft process. He came through here in a top thirty visit, so again he's got good measurables and was a starter this year in Miami down there, so we feel like in the seventh round that provided good value for us. We got to know him as he came through the building, really liked what he was about, and so we felt like they're in the seventh round. That was a good fit for us.

Ivy has certainly experienced. He played in fifty eight games at Miami and started thirty three. 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. Is at ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now time for a draft wrap up with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap.

Yeah, I think he's uh, he's going to be a nice addition. A guy like that that's got short space, quick news, can sink his hips and then not a cut precise route runner. You know, if Joe Burrow is expecting him to run a fifteen yard hook pattern in, pattern in and out or whatever, he's not going to break it off at thirteen.

He's not going to take it out to sixteen or seventeen.

He's going to be right at fifteen and the ball is going to be in the air before he comes out of.

That break, and that's that's what makes the passing game go.

So I think that Joe Burrow will establish a real, real significant trust level with this guy in the early stages of training camp when you have a route runner like he is, and he's got, you know, speed, very good speed to go with it. Man, some guys can really almost when they're running their route, they look like they're covered. They sink their ips and they break so quickly they put their foot in the ground and they get such quick separation.

That you know they're gonna get they're going to.

Pull away from defensive backs because of that ability to get in and out of in and out of their cuts, that short space quickness.

So he's he's really got it all. The other thing is that he's very very sure handed.

You know, he's got sticky fingers, sticky hands, and he set records.

He was very very very diligent.

And transferring a couple of times, then finally ends up at Purdue and has a record setting season. And I think that on top of the special team's return capabilities, that will help Darren Simmons, He's going to have some value as a rookie. If he does win the return job, I think that he will be the fourth receiver that will get him a few snaps a game, and that those snaps could increase as he posts results during doing those in the early stages of that role, that role could expand.

I think he's a great pick. I really do.

I think that they got themselves somebody. He reminds me of a guy. It sounds like anyway that that he's a lot like a guy by the name of Charlie Joiner that Kenny Anderson had with the Cincinnati Bengals in the early stages of my career. Just a just an extremely effective route runner that catches everything.

That's I praise.

Charlie Joyner wound up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's interesting with Charlie Jones, the player the Bengals selected. I was looking back at some of his games last year when they faced the best competition on their schedule. He had thirteen catches for one hundred and sixty two yards against Michigan, hopefully not against DJ Turner at coverage. He had twelve catches for one hundred and fifty three yards against Penn State, so hopefully that was with Joey

Couldn't agree more. Dan, You know, the great ones, the bigger the stage, the better they perform. And you know, it seems to be the case with this young man. I mean, he rises to the occasion. There's there's no question about it. And now he's going to be challenged on a on a regular basis, on a week to week basis in the National Football League.

But it seems like you know he.

Is, that's in his DNA. He just wants to compete. He wants to compete at an extremely high level. He's got the ability to to diagnose coverages on pre snap reads.

He's not surprised by things.

I think that you know, he's gonna he's gonna pick this offense up very quickly. Purdue had a very sophisticated passing attack. I don't think that the Bengals route tree is going to surprise him. I think that the route tree that that they ran at at Purdue is very extensive.

These days.

It's not rowt tree, it's route forest. There's multiple trees. I mean there's there's a lot of things that they ask receivers to do, and uh, fortunately for him and he gets some great preparation for what you know, Zach Taylor and the Bengals coaching staff, Coach Callahan and everybody else is gonna ask him to do in the Bengals passing attack.

You reference the possibility of him being the four to receiver this year. I brought up the AFC Championship game and we were talking to Brian Callahan and Troy Walters because when Tyler Boyd got hurt on the Bengals for a scoring drive, there was a big drop off offensively after that injury happened. Do you think that Charlie Jones is potentially ahead of Trenton Irwin on the on the totem pole and and anybody else they have in that room after the Big three?

Well, I think he's going to earn it.

But I think that that the vision is that that he could really kill two birds with one stone and you know, be the return guy as well as the guy.

That assumes those snaps as the fourth role, so as the fourth receiver.

So potentially you know that he could he could assume a couple of very important roles for the Cincinnati Bengals and maybe free up a roster spot and so doing and having instead of having two guys filling those roles,

Let's move the fifth round draft pick, Chase Brown, the running back out of Illinois. He's not huge, but he tested well a four four three forty a forty inch vertical, which is outstanding ten foot seven inch broad jump. That's terrific as well highly productive at Illinois, ran for more than sixteen hundred yards last year, and I was stunned lap when I saw his work life. He averaged more than twenty seven carries a game, with a high of forty one. So Illinois just kept feeding him the ball.

The knock on him his ball security.

He had five fumbles. Well, that's a lot of handling in the football. I mean, I'm not saying that five fumbles isn't something to be concerned about. He's going to have to work on, like he talked about, keeping the ball higher and tighter on his body, making sure that he doesn't lose that football when you're touching it.

As much as he.

Is, Man's that's a that's a low percentage of you know, not having ball security when you consider the significance of the number of times he had the ball in his hands. I mean, he was he was a work horse to say the least, and he's he's got you know, a low center gravity contact balance. He'd let I think he was amongst the league leaders, if not leading the country, in rushes between ten and fifteen yards. So that's significant. You know, you're not necessarily going to the house.

You move the chains, you.

Know, and when you move the chains on one carry, I guess the offensive lineman is just pumped up a little bit. It gets the defense excited. You know, your ball controlling people's not three yards in a cloud of dust. I mean you're chunking them when you're carrying the football for ten to fifteen yards a pop like that. So yeah, he's a very very interesting, interesting pickup for sure. I

I think everybody figured the Bengals would draft at least one running back. Well they didn't take one until the fifth round. And as accomplished as Chase Brown was at Illinois, Zach Taylor made it abundantly clear in his remark after the draft that Joe Mixon is still the number one back on this team.

Absolutely, And uh, you know the thing is Joe.

Mixon, He's He's proven himself over over the test of time and what you have to do as a running back in this offense, you have to be able to catch.

The football as well.

He wasn't asked to do that much at Illinois, and he definitely is his self admittedly, and he needs to work on his blitz pick up. So you know, you don't want to be in a situation out there when you're out on the football field as a running back. Defensive coordinators and defensive players, No, they're not throwing the football because this dude can't pass protect. You know, it's every time he's out on the football field, if if

If the Bengals are able to re sign Joe Burrow or extend Joe Burrow, and extend t Higgins and extend Logan Wilson like they would like to. Many people have assumed at that point they can't afford Joe Mixon at his current price and would have to ask him to take a pay cut. I'm thinking Joe Mixon just gained a little leverage by the fact that they did not add a running back until round five.

Am I wrong? No?

I think, you know, I think that that Joe Mixon and the coaching staff and the organization are still on very good terms.

You know, there's there's there's no doubt about that.

But with that said, I think they can absorb that salary as of right now, But depending on what contracts are done in the next two to four weeks.

That could change quickly.

Right right now, it's a you know, it's one vision and that vision should have a different lens if there's a couple of changes in terms of what takes place with negotiations with other players.

On to the sixth round, where the Bengals had two picks and the first was a wide receiver from Princeton andre Yo sivash Yo. Sivash I believe is how it said. He is a lottery ticket tremendous size, sixty three two hundred pounds, crazy good athlete. He is first team All American in the heptathlon. So he can sprint, he can do the long jump, the high jump, the shot put, the pole vault. He can run one thousand meters. So he's a crazy good athlete. But he played in the

Yeah, there's no question. I mean, in that ten taf on, I mean he's got the fastest sixty meter time that.

Was ever ever run. So this guy is explosive.

I mean when he puts his foot in the ground and and accelerates, it is a burst. And that that's the thing. His explosiveness is acceleration. All of those kind of things, you know, show themselves. And when you're competing in all those events that you're competing in, your overall body strength is incredible.

Your overall endurance, you know, is incredible.

Plus the fact that you know he's educated at Princeton, so he's intelligent. He's not going to be the playbook is not going to overwhelm him.

There's no question about that.

Yeah, he's he's somebody that is like, Wow, we have a diamond in the rough. You're listen if we can polish this up and uh and and see.

See what we get. Uh.

He he is very very intriguing. There's there's no doubt about it. But it sounded like he's still pretty raw in terms of route running, the nuances of route running, change speed, you know, lowering his sinking his hips and and and getting in and out of cuts with with.

With some vigor, you know, and get some separation.

I'm sure with his athleticism, he's just out athlete. The IVY leagues outruns them, out jumps them out. Everything's well. In the National Football League, you have to have a lot more nuance and a lot more polished to your game. And I think that's what that's what's going to have to take place. And I think that they're excited about doing that with this guy because he's a willing worker. There's no question about that. There's there's no doubt that

Him the football.

On Friday Night, in the third round, the Bengals drafted back three spots. They moved back three spots from ninety two to ninety five. They wound up with an extra sixth round pick, the last pick of the sixth round, and they might have picked up their starting punter with that pick. They drafted Brad Robbins from Michigan. He will obviously be in a training camp battle with Drew Chrisman, and Brad Robbins had a track record at Michigan of

Yeah, there's no question about it. I mean, I think.

He's a very unique punter in that he just doesn't try to, you know, punt it eighty five yards. He understands directional kicking, he understands placement. He talked about the fact that he's got multiple drops for different situations.

Uh.

He he can really, uh, you know, manipulate the football to his advantage.

Uh.

He's He's an artistic punter. There's no two ways about it. He's not He's not back there just trying to you know, uh kick it the length of the football field. He wants to help his team as much as he possibly can by shrinking the field horizontally. You know, the worst thing in the world is that the punt team expects the punters to directly kick it to the punt team's right. He kicks it down the middle or even shades it.

To the left.

There's nothing worse than you're running in the wrong direction covering a punt, and then couple that with no hangtime.

Man, you're in You're in trouble.

And that's where Brad Robbins excels. You know, he has tremendous hangtime. He puts it exactly where he's supposed to. His coverage team can trust the fact that he's going to put it exactly supposed to. He takes great that It's going to be very interesting to see that that battle take place. I think obviously, you draft a guy he's he's got the inside track. You don't want to

I think the Bengals thought that there were two really good punters in this draft and a third who is a possibility. Well, the Michigan State punter was already gone, yep. So the Bengals used that draft pick on Brad Robbins, and then the third punter went just a few picks later. So chances are if the Bengals had not used that draft pick on Robbins, the team that took the third punter probably would have taken him just a few picks later.

Absolutely, And you know the other thing that Robins has done so well, as he's an outstanding holder and the kicker that he helped for in Michigan get drafted in the third round, so he was part of a very successful operation and he talked about that how important that.

Is as well. So you got you know, Ata Mitas.

And you know Brad Robbins will be the be the holder for Evan McPherson and hopefully that is a is a combination. That's a young group right there, and hopefully they'll be working together, you know, for an extremely long time if in fact it works out that way. So you know, Darren Simmons has got that.

To look forward to as well.

The final player the Bengals selected in the seventh round was a cornerback name d j Ivy. Pretty good size, six feet tall, one hundred and eighty nine pounds, His arms are nearly thirty three inches long four four six forty time. He played in fifty eight college games, so he's got experience. From everything I've read, he struggled early

Yeah, and it was one of the first two picks in the draft.

You know, you went edge rush and then corner, and you doubled down on the cornerback position. You know, obviously the back end of the Bengals defense is being reworked, being rebuilt, no two ways about it. They drafted a safety, they drafted two corners. You know that they may not be done. Eli Apple may come back into the into the fold. I think the relationship but he has with Muana Rumo is probably going to be something that goes in that direction. I wouldn't be surprised. So, yeah, it's

And that's what was so.

Intriguing about Joey Porter, that that he had the ability even if he was like right there in terms of coverage that you know, inspector gadget length and those big old buckers made it made a big difference.

Now he's been penalized quite a bit.

He done a little gravy and that's that's the one thing that you know you have to watch out for if in fact you're you have that that type of skill set.

You don't want to You don't want to take that that.

For advantage and have a boy, uh take it for granted to have it work against you. But they obviously like his size, speed ratio and going to take a good look. You never know, you may have drafted somebody that is going to really be a job dropper when training camp on folds.

All right, a couple of big picture topics before we wrap it up. Let's talk tight end. The top three tight ends on the depth chart, Erth Smith Junior, Drew Sample, Devin Assi Assi are only signed through this coming season. Considering that this was thought to be one of the great tight end classes in the draft in the last ten years, was it a bit of a failure not to come away with a tight end.

You know, they feel pretty good about the tight end room. It doesn't mean that they can't extend.

Uh. You know, those those.

Tight ends, the ones that go out and perform. It's a show me situation right now. Everybody's everybody's in the same boat. Who's going to go out and perform? Who's going to go out and have the have the big year. They feel like earth Smith Junior is as good a receiver as as they would have gotten in the draft. I think you know, he came out as a second

I believe when he came into the league.

So they feel they've that that they've got guys that were highly rated coming out of college and now have some pro experience to go along with it. So there's there's a little bit of a proof that they can perform kind of scenario.

Along with the fact that they were high draft choices.

So again, like we've talked about, it's it's such a wide.

Receiver centric offense. Uh.

They felt like, you know, if you draft a draft a tight end high, it's it's not it's not a necessary thing to do. It wasn't It wasn't something if they had another position group that was equal in terms of the talent on the board. Need is gonna over overrule the day. It's going to determine the outcome of the decision. Everybody's structure of offense and defense is different. Everybody's board looks different. As a result of that, the Bengals are more you know, three receiver sets as much

My final topic is offensive line. The Bengals did not draft any offensive linemen, no tackles in particular. They can't trade Jonah Williams, now, can they?

I don't think so. No, I really don't. You know.

I think I think that they're also that the time will heal wounds. He's he feels you know, he's uh, he has to get over the the shot and uh, you know, it's just just it's it's.

One of those things where you feel like you.

Were knocked down. You got to get back up, dust yourself off, and go peat. And I think ultimately that's what that's what's going to happen. I think they still like Jonah Williams as a football player. They want to see him go and go out and compete at that right tackle position. And I think that's the way it's gonna it's gonna shake down. Jackson Carmon is going to get his opportunity as well. You know, they've got other

Okay, well, at this point in the draft, is this is this guy? Is he going to roster? Is he going to make the football team?

They get some depth in the offensive line already, and I'm not saying that they don't need more bodies to go into training camp with, but they will.

They'll sign a college free agent tackle, and.

They'll sign college free agent interior guy as well, uh, they'll go to training camp with plenty of bodies to get through training camp.

But I feel like they they they like what they've got going on.

The offensive line in terms of the overall depth. And I really can't say that I blame him. I mean, you know, there's they've they've they've got eight people that if they went into uh that they have to play a game next week. I think they feel pretty good about the eight guys that they'd have active on a roster to go on and play in the National Football League.

Lap the draft has finished, our work for the weekend is done, and mel kiper can go into hibernation.

Mel kiper Man, I'll tell you, you talk about a guy that created an industry, it's unbelievable.

He was. He was one of the one.

Of the the forefathers of it, that's for sure.

I'm not I'm not.

Sure he was the first, but he certainly, uh, he certainly was the biggest ar earlier.

There's no question.

That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by Cattering 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 pay Core, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by Altafiber future Proof