Bengals Booth Podcast: I Love Everybody

with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now on the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the Super seventy Sports Twitter feed. There's nothing more consistently funny on Twitter than at Super seventy Sports. It's mostly about sports, but also cracks wise about pop culture. Here's a typical

tweet that was posted yesterday. There's a photo of Nolan Ryan being carried off the field after one of his seven no hitters, and the caption reads in five years. This is how they'll treat you after pitching six innings. So if you're looking for a consistent source of humor, follow at super seventy sports on Twitter and you'll discover

that the words sweet bastard makes nearly any sentence funnier. Now, time to get to Day three of the draft, where the bengals first and only offensive players selected this year was taken in the fourth round offensive lineman Cordell Volson from North Dakota State. He's six six, three hundred fifteen pounds and played mostly tackled for the Bison. But Frank Pollock thinks he'll be a guard in the NFL. He's

he's a he's physical, he's a finisher. You'll you'll see him pull out on the perimeter and run pretty well, and he's productive out in space when he did pull um. He comes from a winning, winning team, winning culture. You love his intangibles. I mean he's a worker. That's kind of how he was raised. That's what you're looking for, you know. Frank mentioned intangibles and was asked how much emphasis he puts on that in evaluating prospects. For me, that's like line one. If you know a line two

at worst line three in my room. I mean, you got to have guys that have intangibles, the work ethic, you know what are they made up? What's their mental toughnesster grit? Can they learn? Can they process fast? You know, with the way that we run our scheme on offense, the defense is going to move and shift. We're gonna invite them to do that with our motions that we utilize. So you got people to think like this, react, adjust, and then go play fast. And then so all that

is it goes into the makeup. You know, we're not just showing him a card and go block that guy. There's a lot of guys who excel at that. But once the it goes live, the pictures starts changing on him. You know, their play goes down. So that's huge to me. And when a guy needs to develop, he's not going to develop to the maximum ability if he doesn't have all those intangibles. I mean, this league is a son of a you know what, and to make it you

gotta have some you know what in your neck. You gotta have some grit or you're not gonna make it. I mean, I've been in this a long time as a player, a horrible player, but as a and as a coach, okay, And there was guys that you see come and go that are so talented and got they're off the charts, measurables and you're like, man, I come not guy didn't make it. He was, you know, he was in the league two three years. It's because he don't have the other stuff that to me and the

old I'm just talking offensive line play. It's critical. It's critical. If you don't have that, you got no chance. I don't care how big you are, how pretty you look, how fast you run, and none of that matters. That's just the reality of it. Voltstan will get a chance to compete for the open spot it left guard and joins free agents Alex Kappa, Ted Carriss and El Collins on a rebuilt offensive line. Here's offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. Oh,

I can't wait to see these guys get together. You know, it's a it's a collection of personalities that we're really high on that we think are going to mesh together great. You know, between Carris and Kappa, those two who have been in town, they're already working out. I mean, those are the guys that that We're excited to see elc you'll be here at some point too very soon, and to see those guys get in the room and start

to compete and start to build that camaraderie. And I think when you talk to Frank, one of the biggest parts about the offensive line, excuse me, different than really probably any position, is the way that unit comes together, you know, with those five starting guys, and the personality they take on together as a as a unit, as a room is really important. And I think we've added the types of players that are going to contribute to bolstering that mentality in our room that we're looking for.

And I'm excited for the competition. I think that that's going to really raise the level, raise the boats, if you will, the guys in the room try to get the best out of all of them. And I'm excited for that competition to start. I'm excited for those guys to get together, and I'm can't wait to see what our line looks like this year and compared to what we've had in the past, and I'm really excited about it.

I think Frank, you probably feel the same way. With our auditions that we've made so it's it's it's exciting. I'm I'm'm sure Frank can't wait to get his hands on him all together and get get coaching and teaching and get back on the grass. But I'm excited. I think we've done a lot of good things for that for that room. Over the course of this offseason, Olson

was selected number one thirty six overall. That's higher than where he was projected to go by Pro Football Focus and the Athletics Dane Bruegler, largely because he's not a great athlete, but he played every position but center during his six years at North Dakota State and was a three time FCS All American. I'm a I'm a physical player that that you know, pride myself on being the

hardest worker in the room. He's just going to come in and work hard, um and uh, you know, just just continue to play through to and through the echo of the whistle, and you know, just just imposed my will every snap and you know, be a relentless physical player. And he's looking forward to playing for a coach who loves glass eaters in Frank Pollock. That's the type of player that you're going to get with me, and you know to play offensive line, I think you gotta be

wired just a little bit different. And you know that that's the way that I am, and and have an opportunity to play for a coach, it's the same way. I'm really looking forward to that. In the fifth round, the Bengals traded up, sending their fifth round pick and a seventh round selection to the Bears in order to move up eight spots where they drafted University of Toledo's

safety Tyson Anderson. Here's defensive coordinator lou Ana Romo. Another big, you know measurable guy, right, so, height, weight, speed, the way you heasy game. He's smart, gives us again the flexibility do a bunch of different things. So he's uh, he was very intriguing to me. We did a great job going to get him. Selecting Anderson marked the third time in five rounds that the Bengals added speed to

their secondary. First round draft pick Dax Hill and second rounder cam Taylor Britt each ran a four three eight forty at the combine, and Anderson top that by running a four three six. Here's Anna Rumo on the need for speed in today's NFL. We're gonna play a bunch of great receivers as we all know. You know, think about Miami's speed on their perimeter, right with Tyreek and Waddle and the guys in our division. You know, there's

there's speed everywhere. So especially in the back end, those guys are gonna get out of position some just by the nature of their jobs, and if they can't get back into the play, you know they're gonna struggle. So these guys do have the makeup and recovery speed, um, and that's what we're looking for with those additions to the secondary, plus guys like Trey Hendrickson upfront and Logan Wilson at linebacker. Does Anna Rumo think he has one of the fastest defenses in the NFL? I would like

to think. So. You know, we've got some guys at each level, as you mentioned, that can really run. And that's uh, that's that's where this game has gotten too. In addition to being fast, Tyson Adderson is smart. He's just a few classes away from earning a master's degree in leadership. I think my biggest strength, honestly is my like mine intelligence, my football IQ. That's my biggest strength. My smarts and bit of ability to adapt on the

fly and just line fast. Darren Simmons was undoubtedly excited by this pick, since the speedy Adderson played nearly nine hundred special team snaps at Toledo. He also fits the organization's recent emphasis on drafting leaders, since Tyson was voted team captain three times in college. I just I just take it serious. To be honest, I know I'm a leader. I know my voice needs to be heard, and I know when I stand up and say something that's gonna

be the right thing. And I'm just excited to be honest. Since the Bengals traded out of the sixth round and also traded their first pick in the seventh, their final selection in the seventh round number two fifty two overall was edge rusher Jeffrey Gunter out of Coastal Carolina, who was projected to be taken one round earlier by Dane Brugler. The six four, two hundred and fifty eight pounder posted good speed and strength numbers at the Combine and had

eighteen sacks over his last three seasons. Here's Zach Taylor. You know, I have not personally spoken to him, but the coaches that have, you know, with Marion and Duff really like like his personality and I feel really good about him. So speaking to him on the phone, I know he was he was really excited to be here. And so the reports are all that he's a tremendous kid.

The staff, they're really enjoyed having him, and we think that he provides some value for us, you know, in the seventh round, it's we're happy to get him there after taking an inside pass rusher in the third round and Zach Carter Gunter adds an outside pass rusher from a school that went twenty two and three over the last two years. You know, he's played effectively for them at Coastal and they've had a great team. That's a team I followed from AFAR for a number of years

now just because they've done such a tremendous job. I think they're really innovative both sides the ball with their schemes. They've had a ton of success. They're now starting to have some players come out of there, and and it's one of those programs when when guys come out, because I remember one that came out last year and you can just tell they're they're made of the right stuff. They've had high standards there at that program, They've been

coached the right way, their expectations are to win. So it's exciting when you evaluate players from programs like that that come into the building and they know that there's gonna be high expectations for him, and so that's certainly a trait that he's got. I think that he's a again one of those guys that's gonna ask some versatility to that room. And but but he's more of an outside guy as opposed to an inside guy for us. So the definition of what his role is, it's that's

really hard to say. He's gonna jump in there and provide competition for our guys that play more outside than inside, and we'll just see where we fit him from there. Doctor says playing at Coastal Carol Lineup prepared him for the challenges ahead and trying to make the Bengals roster. I'm gonna say something that's a little little different. Man.

Nobody wants to go to Coastal. And the reason I say that is because everybody wants to go to Alabama, Clemson, all that, and the players that Coastal are the same way we go to Coast because they would only want to give us the opportunity. And you know that's what I carry out of the Bengals. I gotta tip of my shoulder the size of a boulder, and I'm gonna just take that to pranks from me every day, Take that to every rep, take that to every place, you know.

And that's what the Coastal brought me. Man, the tip of my shoulder, and it tells me how to work. So that's why I'm bringing in to Bengals. Gunter was a two star recruit coming out of high school and weighed one hundred eighty five pounds as a senior. Now he's an NFL fell draft pick. Man, I'll go maybe cry I beaming. I've been dreaming day since I was eight years old. I used to I used to be a I used to be five. You know what I'm saying.

I would watch America's game like back to back to back on Inshide Networks, and it's just like seeing my name go across that screen. It's just everything I did was worth it. You know. He's an easy guy to root for. The Bengals. Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during the course of the year with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy

experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. Now time to bring in my broadcast partner Dave Lapham for a look at Day three and some thoughts on the entire class. Lap The Bengals went into the draft with eight picks. They wound up having six after trading up twice. What stands out

to you about the six guys they wound up selecting. Well, I think, first of all, I think in a lot of people's opinion, and I think the Bengals opinion, it was probably justified that it was a thin draft, you know, so they were going for quality rather than quantity, and when they targeted somebody that they really felt could help them and not necessarily an area of need. I think need might be a little strong, but definitely areas you

wanted to get better at and add to depth. They didn't hesitate, and they moved up twice to get you know, to get players, and obviously in free agency they attacked an area of need in the offensive line, and in the draft they attacked the secondary. So those were two areas that they felt they wanted to improve and better those entire position groups, and they went about it, and

I think in a successful way. So I joked in a story I wrote on Bengals dot Com that I think that Tom Cruise character Maverick from the movie Top Gun was in the Benk draft room. Because they felt the need the need for speed. They drafted two guys who ran a four three eight forty. They ran, They drafted a guy who ran a four to three six forty. Their last pick in the seventh round was about a two hundred and sixty pound guy ran a four seven forty.

They got faster in this draft they did. They did I think as a as a defensive unit, they definitely in all levels really they have some good team speed.

I mean Logan Wilson, M Davis Gaither, those guys can run at linebacker, Sam Hubbard Hendrickson, these guys can move, they can run h and as a result, lou Anna Rumo will you know, use them in different ways, will take advantage of that athleticism, the versatility of that athleticism, and designed some some things that you don't see on an everyday basis or every week basis in the National Football League. So that's a big advantage. And he added

to it. I mean, it's like, uh, he has more spies than the CIA and the FBI spy candidates everywhere, There's no question about it, at every level of that defensive football team. So yeah, I think they definitely increased their overall team speed. And there's always a trickle down

effect to Darren Simmons too. Whenever you have a roster that has increased its team speed at positions you like in the secondary, those guys give Darren Simmons special team snap so they get faster there as well, which I'm sure Darren doesn't have a problem within any way, shape

or form. The other thing that you know struck me is I remember Paul Brown every single training camp in his message, which was the same message, by the way, every year at training camp, talking about this significance and importance of intelligence and overall intelligence and more importantly football intelligence.

And you've got a lot of guys that sometimes probably because of COVID, having the extra year of eligibility gave them an extra year to get the school work done, and you have a lot of guys that cut degrees, a lot of guys are finishing graduate degrees, and some even have the graduate degrees. And then you've got guys who were captains, two time captains and even a three

time captain. So some of the things that they've found, you know, work for them to have a checklist of guys to add to the culture and be able to make a contribution to the football team in areas the most importantly, it's got to be on the football field, what are you doing there? But if you can you add pieces to the culture off the football field, in the locker room, in the community, that's all big two.

All right, Let's look specifically at the three guys that they drafted on the final day, beginning with fourth round draft pick offensive lineman Cordell Vulson six six, three hundred and fifteen pounds. Not thought to be a great athlete, but very productive player at North Dakota State, three times first team All Conference, he started his last forty one games. He had the best pass blocking grades at the Shrine Bowl,

and obviously a guy that Frank Pollock really seemed to like. Yeah, I mean, here's a guy that's a three time FCS All American and his list of accomplishments. You know, every they put out press releases in All American teams and you know, from various platforms associated press stats perform All American team, hero sports, athlete, sports. I mean he was, he was first team All American in all of them. And not only did he perform at a very high level,

but North Dakota State is a perennial dominant force. I mean he was involved with. I mean, if you don't want a national championship there, you stink, you know, I mean, it's just you haven't gotten the job done. So this uh, he appeared in a school record sixty five games and including forty one starts, like he said, and he's played all four positions during his career. So again, position versatility

becomes a scenario. Now he played tackle his last year, but I think they're going to kick him inside to uh, you know, to the guard position. Um, part of four national championship teams during his six year career, and he's a two time captain. So this this guy, this guy's he's got some uh, he's got some pedigree to him. Um, he's got good habits both personally and team achievement wise.

Uh so guys like that. Even though he didn't you know, perform at a big you know, power five school situation in front of a hundred thousand people, he's got some some skins on the wall. You know, there's no there's no question about it. And I think he's going to be very prideful of that, and he should be. We had a chance to visit with Frank Pollock for an extended period of time after this election, and it was obvious how much he likes the kid. His attitude, his

work ethic, and the intangibles. Yeah, I think nothing was given to him, you know. Uh, his dad's got a tremendous work ethic and this kid has a work ethic and a blue collar mentality and nature to him. Um, you know, I think I think he was he was raised to believe that you're not given every anything. What you what you uh, you have to earn it all. It's not going to be given to you. There's no handouts and so that that that'll that'll translate well in

Frank Pollock's room for sure. And uh, um, you know he's right now. If i'm him, I'm thinking I'm the only offensive player this football team drafted and there's one position in the offensive line that's available and open. Now, I know there are other veteran players that are going to be competing for it, but they drafted me and told me that I'm probably going to start my career as a guard and that left guard job is open. Laser focus. That's the goal. Now, you know, that's the

ultimate goal. But if you don't start as a rookie in the National Football League, I mean, that's fine, but that should be your ultimate goal and then other things take place, you know, the latter of success. All right, Well, I'm going to make the active roster on game day. I'm going to be one of the seven or eight offensive linemen that Frank Pollack believes that are going to help us win football games. That's the next thing. If

you don't, you know, get the starting job. So there's plenty of things, plenty of things for him to set his sights on, and the way he's worked through his entire career, I would not be surprised to see him be a pretty high achiever. So that is fourth round draft pick Cordell Volsen. We moved to the fifth round and that marked the second time in the draft that the Bengals traded up. They moved up eight spots from one seventy four to one sixty six, made a deal

with the Bears. They gave up their fifth round pick and also the early pick that they had in the seventh round, the one they got from the Giants and the Billy Price trade, and they wound up taking a safety from the University of Toledo named Tyson Anderson. Now, of all of the players the Bengals selected in his draft, the six players that they selected, he was the guy that was rated higher than the spot where they were

able to get him more than anybody else. Pro Football Focus had him as a third or fourth round pick. Dane Brugler had him as a fourth round pick. Again, the Bengals got him in the fifth round, number one sixty six. This is a guy with good size six one two o nine who again ran a four three six forty at the combine four three six forty thirty seven inch vertical. When you can run and jump like that, you're a damn good athlete. And he's over six one

and a half approaching two hundred and ten pounds. And here's another guy that got his degree in business and he's working toward an MBA in leadership and three time captain. I'm captain, right, and that falls right into place with it. So he is his high school valedictorian. This kid is sharp,

carried a GPA three point three eight. So this is this is the kind of guy Paul Brown's talking about, not just football savvy in terms of instincts and seeing things and reading it before it happens, but but overall raw intelligence. Uh. I remember Paul saying, I like to shron myself with intelligent people. Um, but he's a smart, long athletic. Uh. He's you know, he's got all He's got all the intangrals. And he was a big time special teamer. He played a ton of special teams at

the collegiate level. And a guy with that kind of experience, uh, in that phase of it that runs a four, three six, Darren Simmons is ruling. I mean, there's no question about that. So and here's a guy that can play safety, He's played in the slot. He's got position versatility. That that's the common nominator. Every single player that they drafted has got position versatility. Now you know they didn't aft a

quarterback or a running back or a wide receiver. I mean they didn't they didn't draft anybody that's going to be handling the football. Was kind of an interesting draft in that regard. And five defensive football players, but they all have position versatility, which is a must in the National Football League with the roster sizes in terms of

number of players that you deal with. They won't specifically say that it had anything to do with guys being in the final year of their contract, but Eli Apple, Von Bell and possibly Jesse Bates will be in their final year with Cincinnati, and they have added three guys that can potentially replace whichever guys they wind up losing, right, And you know the thing, the thing that, yeah, that's interesting, Jesse Bates is the one that's being talked about a

ton with respect to his contract, and the safety position is the only position that's basically declined, you know, plateau and starting to drop and turn what they're getting paid. Um. But von Bell is in the final year of a contract too, and stands to reason that I'm not sure you can keep both of them. Which one are you're going to keep? It might not automatically be Jesse Bates if they move on from Vaughn Bell, they may be able to afford Jesse Bates a little bit easier. So

I mean that that room is a good room. In that room, I mean they're they're playing for their football lives. If it doesn't work out here, they want to put together as good as seasons they possibly can to get that contract somewhere else. And then you get a young buck who's uh, you know a couple of young bucks drafted very early in the draft that say hey, you know what about me? Um. So it's going to be

very very interesting. There's there's different levels of stages of their career, uh, and it's going to be extremely competitive. It's going to be very interesting to to monitor the environment of that of that room. And I think competition breeds excellence performance And they can all run and they all have range. I think the safety position is gonna make a lot of plays for Louianna Rumo. And it

won't just be at the safety position. These guys will be playing some slot corner form and blitz and form and doing all kinds of things. I think it's going to be very interesting to see how this whole thing unfolds.

The sixth and final member of this year's draft class, selected in the seventh round, number two fifty two overall was Jeffrey Gunter, an edge rush type guy, although he played all over the place at Coastal Carolina, six four two hundred and fifty eight pounds, ran a four seven forty, did thirty reps on the bench press. So he gets an excellent relative athletics score from at math bomb on Twitter and an intriguing good character guy to add to

the mix. And that's the thing I think even up to the seventh round pick position, versatility and athleticism, I mean, speed was a factor overall. Athleticism, vertical jump, broad jump, three cone, all those things. How how do these guys move? And like lou and Ruma was talking about, you know, if you run a four to three six, but yet you can't stop and start, if you run a four to three six and you can't slam the brakes on and get in and out of cuts, it's not it

won't help you in football. I mean, you know this isn't long. Speed's a great thing, but it's not a track meet. So you have to be able to to do some other things. And these these guys can all do that. It's interesting, Hubert. They draft in the seventh round last year from Kansas State, same type of guy, and you're gonna you're gonna have back to back last picks of the draft for the Cincinnati Bengals in back

to back seasons. I should say that, you know, are going to be competing for you know, maybe a spot if they're fortunate, or practice squad or whatever the case may be there, but both of them seem to be cut from the same cloth, try hard guys, you know, doggedly determined, going to empty the effort bucket. And they're going to be in a room with Hendrickson, Hubbard, all those kind of guys. That's another good room to be a part of. And um, you know, I thought Lou

made made a great comment. When you have these young rookie players in a team meeting and you know you've got your rookie safety sitting between Jesse Bates and Von Bell and can look to either way and get questions answered, and you know you've got back to back seventh round edge guys that haven't played a snap yet or haven't even practiced yet. Hubert, he didn't even make it to

training camp, he blew back in offseason workouts. So those guys sitting between Hendrickson and Hubbard, that's that's what you're talking about in terms of culture and the type of team you want to have. And because these these veteran players will offer up very very good advice, you know, and maybe they'll wait to be asked, but man, the answers, the young guys are going to be impressed with what they hear, and not not just football, but nutrition, proper rest,

taking care of your body. I mean, it's these guys know the tricks of the trade. They've been through the process, and they can they can offer things that are very, very valuable to these young players. For sure, because the draft class is small in numbers six players, there will be more undrafted free agents that wind up wind up signing with the Bengals more than usual. They want to have a certain number of players at training camp obviously

for depth and for reps. So it'll be interesting to see coming off of Super Bowl who they are able to lure as a UFA. Yeah, and you got to think at some point you need numbers just for training camp, you know. So I think that that's where you're going to see you know, your wide receivers, your tight ends that you weren't able to necessarily generate in this draft, and you did sign a tight end and free agency, but you know, there's the wide receiver position. They've got

to get some bodies in there. So which and it's going to be interesting because if you're a college free agent, oh yeah, I mean, yeah, you're gonna give me a lot of reps in training camp. But what chance do I have to make that football team with that group? Well, they don't, they don't really have any They're still trying to find that fourth receiver. So I mean, if you if you go out there and shine, you have a chance to chance to really live live a dream, fulfill

a dream. There's there's no doubt about it. So I think that, uh, the fund begins in that regard. And it is interesting now the way each you know, there's money designated for each round and the draft, and then there's money designated for college free agency, and you can break it up however you want. Sometimes you don't want to be drafted in the seventh round. You'd rather be

a college free agent. You're looking at a much bigger signing bonus as a college free agent potentially than you are as a as a drafted player late in the draft. Although you hear these guys that are drafted late, they are so happy, so fulfilled, so excited, you know, a lifetime dream just to get drafted in the National Football League. It's like all your friends, Oh, did you get drafted? No? No, I was a free agent, but I made more money.

We don't care you didn't get drafted, you know. I mean, it's a there's a little bit of a you know, pecking order deal that you know, you can go out and pump your chest up about a little bit. So it's all very interesting. All right. Another draft is in the books. We'll be talking about these guys in the weeks and months to come. Look forward to getting to know them much better. And again, appreciate all you did over the weekend. Appreciate you, Dan, and I am very

intrigued and excited to watch this defense run. I think they're going to be it's going to be a group that swarms. I really I don't. I'm trying to think if there's there are other teams in the National Football League that have really good team speed, but they can't have a whole lot more team speed than the Cincinnati Bengals, and Luana Ruma and his staff are gonna put out there. I mean, it's gonna be fun to watch them fly.

To the football man, it's gonna be very You wonder how many explosives are they going to give up because it can't be a huge number. With the recoverability speed, even if you get beaten, you can you can recover when you're running sub four or four. That's the crazy thing is there are more guys doing it, and every year it's like, can they get bigger, stronger, faster, Yes

they can. I mean the nutrition, uh, you know, the in terms of training your body and how they know how to take care of themselves and the league doesn't beat them up as much as they used to. It's exciting to see these guys go out and perform. They are world class athletes. There's no doubt that's going to do it. For this episode of The Bengals Booth podcast presented by Ultimate Bengals, load Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next level

fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now on the app Store and Google Play. And if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast