Hi everybody. I'm Dan Horden. Thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast. Bu I can see from Miles and Miles edition, as the Bengals did the following at eleven thirty one on Thursday Night, with the twenty eighth big in the twenty twenty.
Three NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select Miles Murphy defensive.
And Clinson Coming up, you'll hear from Zach Taylor and lou Anarumo on the newest Bengal and you'll also hear what Miles Murphy had to say after being selected by Cincinnati. Then I'll talk to my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham on why Miles was the pick and what we think the
Bengals are likely to do on day two. 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. 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 Skyline becoming the official chili of the Cincinnati Bengals. Gold Star was a great partner with the Bengals organization for more than two decades, but let's face it, Skyline is the most popular brand of Cincinnati styled chili, and now Bengals fans will be able to get Skyline Chili cheese Cony's at concession stands throughout pay Course Stadium. The Bengals and Skyline are also going to team up on
a collectible cup series. I think I will celebrate by having my standard order a four way with light onion, and I put one cracker on each forkfull to add a little salt and crunch, and in case Ius you're interested, I cut, not twirl. Now let's get to the Bengals first round draft pick, Clemson defensive end Miles Murphy. He's six four, two hundred and sixty eight pounds and ran a four five three forty at his pro day. Murphy had six and a half sacks last year, seven the
year before, and he's only twenty one years old. Dane Brugler from the Athletic wrote the following about Murphy in his Draft Guide quote. He is naturally gifted with the explosive traits play, speed, and length to be a disruptive, leverage power rusher in the NFL. He projects as a base end and a four man front with the floor
of an NFL starter. Greg Cosel from NFL Films calls Murphy a solid defensive end prospect with excellent size, length, and overall athleticism who needs refinement work as an edge pass rusher to become a high level player in the NFL. Here's Bengals head coach Zach Taylor on getting Murphy at pick number twenty eight.
This was in a scenario we thought was going to play out for us, To be quite honest with you, you know, it's anything can happen, and but you know, in all of our discussions we had over the previous days, I didn't think that Miles Murphy was gonna be there at twenty eight. I think that's what you know, Duke does a great job of is laying it out and in talking about it. Five picks before, four picks before shoot.
I think eight picks before is when we really started the conversation and you're watching guys get checked off the board and some are. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing. But I think we had a high degree of confidence that if he was there, we were going to take him and feel really good about it. He came in here on a visit, so we've met with him a couple of times, felt really good about all the things that come with that. So again, just
just excited that he was there. At twenty eight for us.
There were only three teams in the NFL that had fewer sacks than Cincinnati last year, and the Bengals finished twenty first in past rush win rate. Here's defensive coordinator lou Anromo at how Murphy can help.
Oh, he'll be in the rotation right away. You know, we play a ton of d linemens, so you know he'll he'll jump right in there, and you know, you know, back up Sam and Trey and and get right in there, like I said, in the mix with those guys and being the in the third down rush package and you know, whatever we come up with there. So I'm looking forward
to get him going right away. These great quarterbacks we have to play, if they're back there in a clean pocket, they're gonna pick your part, no matter how well you're covering them. So to move them around, to get them off their spot, to sack them and pressure them and hit them. That's the only way you really can affect these guys. So he's just another one along the lines. We've got some darn good ones already, as I mentioned with Trey and Sam and Joseph and and that group.
So this guy will jump right in there. He checks all the boxes from a measurable standpoint, and you add that with his makeup as a as a guy and as a player teammate, those things. You know, that's what kind of brings was brought a high level of you know that we liked them the way we did.
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. Murphy did not attend the draft in Kansas City. His family rented out a club and hosted a party for roughly one hundred
and seventy people. Miles says he was thrilled to be selected in the first round and go to a team that's been to back to back AFC Championship games.
I'm gonna say, like they you know, they have they have all the pieces to be a consistent two of old contender AFC Championship contender. But I just want to be that. I do want to be that finishing piece piece that you know, just you know, put push them over, puts them over over, and pass that lest being a consistent Super Bowl contender and it conses the Super Bowl winner every year.
One thing that defensive coordinator lou Ana Rimo said in his press conference a couple of minutes ago Miles was that he expects you to come in and contribute right away. What gives you the confidence and what in your career at Clemson leads you to believe you'll be able to contribute right away in your rookie year.
Well, that's that's been my expectation for the longest. About to say ever since school. I had a mission to come in and start dominate every year that I was in college, and I still have a mission to come in and do what I need to do to dominate every down that's that's my that's all I've been my mission, I was going to be my mission moving forward.
I imagine you've dreamed of this moment for a long time. Can you describe the phone call it was?
I can't. I can't even explain it to you. It was a whole bunch of emotions going for my body. I was I was really shaken on the phone call. I couldn't even tew words thout, but really just exciting. Really, I'm just ready to play football. I just want to play football, man. That's really, that's really my initial reaction to man. I just I want to play football. Let's be taking wherever, wherever, at whatever number, wherever I'm playing.
I just want to play football, man. That's all I want to do right now.
These visits kind of run all together.
But when you left your visit with the Bengals, did you have a good feeling that you might be in play for them?
I mean I had a good knowing that they liked me. And when I was jail, I really loved the city, love the coaches. Already already knew ulin coach did, so you know, I feel comfortable when I was at a whole time.
My House is expected to arrive in Cincinnati on Saturday. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycurp to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at pay corp dot com and by Bengals Picks send Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and sign merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Now time for analysis of Round one and look ahead to Friday,
second and third rounds with Dave Lapham Lap. One of the best cornerbacks was still on the board, Joey Porter Junior. He was ranked number sixteen on Dame Brugler's board, six three thirty four inch arms. Everybody seemed to think he was going to be a first round pick.
Obviously.
The great tight end from Comington Catholic High School and Notre Dame, Michael Meyer, was still on the board. He had been mocked to Cincinnati on various mock drafts forever, but they went with a pass rusher in Miles Murphy.
Why well, you know, Dan, I think we talked about, you know, during the course of our interviews with each other leading up to the draft. That has definitely become a quarterback driven league, not that it wasn't before. When you're paying guys fifty million a year, you know, it's like that. That's that's where the game is. The game is in the air, there's no doubt about it. So you try to do everything you possibly can to affect
the quarterback. The Bengals have one of the best in the NFL and Joe Burrow, but in the a SC there's Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, now josh Allen, Lamar Jackson's reapted with Baltimore Herbert to Lawrence Watson. You know, he's got the most guaranteed money of anybody up in Cleveland. They're expecting big things out of him. Denver just expecting a rebound season from Wilson. So, I mean, the AFC is loaded with outstanding quarterbacks that are capable of out
standing quarterback play. So two, the thing you have to do is pressure them, get them off their spot, hasten their reads, make them make poor, poorer decisions. And you know, so you need edge rush guys, and you need corners to make the windows tighter. And there's a good chance they'll probably go corner, maybe in round two potentially instead of the order being corner then edge rusher.
They've got their edge rusher.
Now they may think corner because you know, when you look at it, Dan, in the top one hundred picks, fifteen corners were projected to potentially go in those top one hundred picks the first two days of the draft, and at this point in time only four are off the board, which is pretty remarkable.
So at some point here there's.
Going to be a run on corners, and you just wonder and hope that it doesn't take place before the Bengals are maybe ready for a selection at number sixty. But fourteen offensive players went off the board, seventeen defensive players went off the board. The Bengals were a participant in the biggest participatory position, edge rush. Seven edge rush guys go off the board in round one.
That's pretty telling. Miles Murphy's sack numbers were solid, but not spectacular. He had seventeen and a half sex in his three years, but he had thirty seven tackles for loss double digits every year. He forced six fumbles. He just celebrated his twenty first birthday on January third. At his pro day, he measured sixty four to two hundred and seventy one pounds. He ran a four five three forty. Let's put that in perspective. Cooper Cup ran a four to six to two at the Combine several years ago.
So this guy is a freak. I think he's been a very solid player, but obviously there's still the potential for him to elevate his game and become more dominant.
No doubt, Dan, I mean, and the guy not only does he have the long speed, a two hundred and seventy pound guy running four to five come on, oh my gosh, he's got you know, he's got the short space quickness, he's got the short space agility you know, to go along with it. And he's an explosive player. He's a disruptive player. He can kind of trait and riek havoc. And the tackles for loss that you're referencing,
not just the quarterback sacks. Two Power five players recorded at least thirty five tackles for lost and at least six to four s fumbles across the last three college football seasons. He was one of them. He's the only player in the country to produce at least ten tackles for lost and at least one forced bumble in each of the last three seasons. So he's done it, and
he's done it consistently. Not a one hit wonder, not one year of like amazing productivity, but every single year he'll give it to you.
And I agree.
At twenty one years old, I mean, his best football is still way ahead of him. So there's development there, there's upside potential there. And when you look at it, Dan, the Bengals organization has had success drafting Clemson players. They've had coaches from Clemson. In fact, coach Hobby, the defensive line coach, knows Miles Murphy and his ability's pretty darn well. And when you've had success with coaches and players from a university or college, you keep going back to it.
And the Bengals have gone on record saying we like to draft players from big schools that have achieved and earned success. And they won national championships and played at the highest level. And so it's all worked and they went to the Clemson.
Well again, let's talk about Miles Murphy's role. This year. Sam Hubbard played more than eight hundred snaps in the regular season. Last year, he was in on nearly eighty percent of the Bengals defensive snaps. He'll be twenty eight in June. Trey Hendrickson has already twenty eight. He played six hundred and twenty nine snaps in the regular season, even though he missed a game due to injury, and
he battled injuries throughout much of the year. How helpful is it to those guy to get those two guys to get somebody else in the rotation that can legitimately not only pressure the quarterback, but it's big enough to play the run if needed.
Yeah, it's it's it's massive, it really is. I mean, you keep guys fresh, you know, in the second half and in the fourth quarter. In the National Football League usually games are one score games, so you need guys to to to be able to just you know, put on that burst one needed in that fourth quarter and uh, you know you don't usually experience. Oh let's stick it and cruise control and just cruise through the rest of
this football game. I mean, you're you're playing at an intense level every single snap and in most NFL football games, so you cannot have enough good edge rush people, interior defensive alignement, cornerbacks in coverage and uh. You know, in speaking about how the numbers uh went down with respect to the draft defensive tackles and edge rush guys, you know you had eleven guys already off the board for defense tackles, seven edge rush guys, four cornerbacks. That's fifteen
players right there on the defensive side of it. You want to have as many of them as you possibly can on your roster, There's no.
Doubt about it.
And the thing is lou Aana Rumo uses them all. And the versatility that Miles Murphy provides. With that athleticism, lou Ana Roumo has got another chess piece to work with. He can play on the edge, he can kick inside, he can cover in the flat. And when now that Jackson has re signed with Baltimore, that five defensive lineman package, you got a lot of guys out there and you want to rotate guys in there. And Miles Murphy with that four five forty, he's got the short space quickness
to effect Lamar Jackson. He can also run him down. You know, He's got the speed and to run people down on the football field. He's got short space quickness and he's got long speed. That's a heck of a combination. And a guy that's both to six ' five and probably over two hundred and seventy pounds.
That's it's remarkable.
Daniel Jeremiah had Murphy at number twenty one on his final big board. Who was the same for Dane Brugler from the Athletic number twenty one on his final big board. Do you figure that the Bengals Can we take them at their word when they say that they had him grated much higher than number twenty eight?
Yeah? I think so.
You know, in the in the pressure last night and asked him where in the first round did you say, Miles Murphy, we'd like this to be our guy, and when did you target him? And they said, like a round pick twenty. You know, it was like, boy, Miles Murphy's still there. Let's this is the guy we want. They covered Miles Murphy. Let's go after Miles Murphy. There he was at twenty eight, and there probably were some
phone calls about, you know, about trading back. They decided not to do that and they made that pick, I mean a minute and they were all over it.
There was.
All the decisions have been made. They ran up to that ran up to the to the hit hand, that pick in as fast as they possibly could, and Miles Murphy is now Cincinnati Bengal.
All right, let's look ahead to rounds two and three coming up on Friday night. You mentioned the corners, A lot of them still there. Joey Porter still on the board. I can't imagine he will get to pick sixty, but he's there for now. But you've still got Keeley Ringo, DJ Turner, Julius Brandts, Tyreek, Stevenson, Cam Smith, Clark Phillips, and others. There are a lot of tight ends still on the board. Sam Laporta, Luke Musgrave, Tucker Kraft, Luke Schoonmaker,
Josh Wiley, Will Mallory. You've got a lot of running backs still on the board, Zach Sharbonay, Devin ad Shane, Taja Spears, Take Bigsby Roe, Sean Johnson. Do you figure the Bengals second round pick will come from one of those positions? And if so, which one do you think is most likely?
Yeah?
You know all the quote experts and then others that I talked to, I mean, top one hundred picks. Ten to twelve tight ends, all right, might be available. One is off the board at this point in time. Fifteen cornerbacks may be available. Four or off the board at this point in time. You know, you got to think, man, you know we've already took an edge guy, took took you know, the twelve defensive ends, ten defensive tackles, twenty two down linemen might be available in the top one
hundred picks, half of them have already been consumed. So you know, our thought, Dan, I think we were in the same school of thought that it was, you know, going to be defense, alright, defecting the quarterbacks. Like we already talked about somebody on the edge and somebody in the back end and might have been corner first and then edge rush guy might reverse itself out, could be
edge guy and then corner. So there's a good chance, no, there could be a cornerback that that that might be available. But you know, you look at it, there's there's positions that have not been addressed. There has not been a safety drafted. There's not been a center drafted, has not been a guard drafted. But on the back end, there's not been a safety drafted, So all of those safeties are in play as well. And a lot of those safeties can play slot corner and they give position versatility.
A lot of them aren't just you know, you know, big bodied, very stiff safeties on the back end.
These guys are very versatile football players.
And lou Anroumo once again, there's a lot of things with those safeties back there in terms of his his big chess board. So they've got they've got options. They've got options back there that have not in some cases haven't even been addressed whatsoever. No safeties, one tight end, just four corners. It'll be very interesting to see when the runs start and the order that they start in. But Levis is on the board still mayor quarter branch
like you talked about. I mean, that's gonna everybody's resetting their boards and they're saying, wow, we didn't expect this gotta be there, This gotta be there. It's gonna push some people back in the Bengals, it might be quite interesting to see what's unearthed and left at number sixty.
We did not get our wishes in round one. You had targeted two players, Lucas van Ness, the pass rusher, out of Iowa. He went thirteenth to Green Bay. You also liked Emmanuel Forbes, the cornerback from Mississippi State. He went sixteenth to Washington. I had ultimately settled on Elijah Cansei, the defensive tackle from pitt He went nineteenth to Tampa Bay. So our three guys all went in the top twenty.
I think we're kind of an agreement for who we have our fingers crossed about for round two, and that is tight end Sam Laporta out of Iowa. If he could somehow make it to number sixty, I'd look at him and I see Mark Andrews, the great receiving weapon for the Baltimore Ravens. Is that your guy? Are we in agreement that Sam Laporta would kind of be the fantasy if he somehow makes it to sixty.
I mean he's got to be in the discussion.
I mean if he makes it to six yet, you know you think he'd be gone somewhere in the mid forties. Uh at the worst case scenario with just one tight end off the board at this point in time, well, you know, will when will the tight end run happen?
Uh? There's going to be a run.
Uh, but yeah, Laporte is a guy that got good sized uh sub four six runs in the four fives. He's a very good hands, good after the catch. A lot of mistackles, a lot of broken tackles comes from Iowa. You know, you got Kittle, you got TJ. Howkinson. There's a there's a pedigree there being a tight end from Iowa. He did not his senior year, did not have much at the quarterback position. His numbers suffered as a result.
But this guy, in my mind, is a complete football player, and I'd like to see them them draft Laporta if he's there, there's no doubt Dan, But you know, if there's if there's a corner that's you know, looming there, and it's like, man, the run on corners hasn't happened, and other things took place first. I would think too, that offensive tackle has been has been addressed by a few people for offensive tackles off the board, but that's not that's not a huge number. And you know there
might be an offensive tackle sitting there. I think that our boy from Syracuse brosi'ren sitting there. If he makes it down to sixty, that guy I'd be I would not have a problem with them drafting Syracuse offensive tackle at number sixty.
Well, how about Dewan Jones, the six eight, three hundred and seventy four pound tackle from Ohio State. I know, because of his weight, he's a little bit polarizing. Some people say buy or beware, But there were other points during the draft process where people had him mocked in the first round to Cincinnati.
Yeah, and I think that's the reason that he's still there Dan, because he was three seventy something for the combine. But I've heard recently he waited at three ninety three, so he's approaching four hundred and he could he could be four to ten, four fifteen. He could be one of those kind of guys because he is one massive man.
I mean every.
Way you can be big, this man is big, enormous, enormous. I mean it's like he's incredible. It's almost like when you thought guys like that were extinct, you know, back in the in the dinosaur era.
He is one big dude.
So the Bengals don't want to move up, They would rather move back and get extra picks. I think that's true about just about any team in the NFL. But if you look at last year, they wanted a corner. When they got to the second round, there was only one that they thought was worthy of being selected, Cam Taylor Britt, so they moved up.
Yep.
Could you see a scenario this year? Same thing? Cornerbacks. They want a corner if they want to add depth to that position group. I mentioned some of the names that are still there. If one of those guys and only one is left and they're you know, seven or eight picks away, could you see it?
I could see it, but don't expect it. You know, you're only having seven picks. Those those those draft picks you want to you want to try to hold on to if you possibly can. If it doesn't work out in the second round, you have to project to the third what's going to be there in the third round, and there'll still be some guys, you know, there that
they could probably work with in the third round. So the one thing that we've talked about at nauseum with this football team is their ability to be patient and pivot. And you know, I think that's one of the biggest reasons they're one of the top three teams, if not the top team in the NFL. With their fifty three man roster. You know, they have a remarkable ability to have you know, multiple plans, playing AB through Z or whatever, and they're patient and they'll pivot when necessary. So I
expect them to do the same thing. But man, wasn't it the wild wild West last night? Or what? Fourteen of the thirty one picks last night had trade involvement, fourteen of the thirty one. I mean, it was wild last night. Man, it was crazy.
Nothing was crazier than when Jamiir Gibbs went twelfth to Detroit. I did not see that coming at all.
And they they they jumped around like everybody in the league was after him. I mean that Detroit room after they picked and picked them was like all it's ecstatic, celebratory, and it's like, man, we you know we got I guess you know, they targeted a guy that speed kills in the National Football League. It kills in general in any sport, but in the National Football League it is. It's a massive weapon. And this kid's got that. There's
no doubt. I mean, they check it down. Seven yard reception turns into seven yard touchdowns with a guy like that.
All right, Miles Murphy is a Bengal. We're excited to meet him when he gets to town on Saturday. In the meantime, do some homework and we'll do another version of one of these conversations after runs two and three.
I like it, Dan, I like it a lot. And off to a good start, you know. I mean, as the old saying goes can never have enough good pass rushers, can never.
Have enough good cover guys. And the Bengals got themselves another pass rusher.
And honestly, the traits this guy has, it's.
It is crazy.
And Dan, he's only, like you said earlier, he's only twenty one years old. I mean, he's twenty four to twenty five years old. His body's I mean how big, he's long, that he's not gonna shrink. He's long, he's strong, gonna he's gonna he's gonna mature, he's gonna get stronger. I mean, man, guy's limits for this young man, there's no doubt.
Don't forget. I'll have a new edition of this podcast after day two of the draft that will be posted and ready by the time you wake up on Saturday morning. 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 pay Corps, the official HR
software provider of the Bengals, and by Alta Fiber. Future Proof Fiber Internet elevates 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