Bengals Booth Podcast: New Day Rising

Then it's the second edition of our NFL Expert Mock draft as Pete Prisco from CBS Sports takes his turn on the Pro Football Focus mock simulator. 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 right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since Syracuse basketball coach Jim Beheim. After forty seven years as the head coach at his and my alma mater. Jim Beheim's Hall of Fame career ended on Wednesday with

a loss to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament. My freshman year at the Accuse was his sixth year as the head coach. The Carrier Dome and the Big East were basically new, and between my four years as a student and ted years working in Syracuse in radio and TV, I covered Coach Beheim and his teams very closely. We had a few run ins when he objected to my questions, but by and large it was a joy to cover his teams with stars like Pearl Washington, Derek Coleman, and

German Douglas. And I learned a ton about basketball from watching Coach Beheim's crack and hosting his weekly radio show. Additionally, I golfed with him. We were partners in a two on two match. Imagine missing a three footer for Parr to lose a hole and hearing how and has your husband put in that Jim Beheim voice. Then there was the time I coached against him. When I was a TV sportscaster in Syracuse, I did a weekly segment called Dare Dan, where I competed against viewers in their sport

game or adventure of choice. There were normal challenges like tennis and whiffleball, but I also competed against a dog at catching frisbees. I won and took on twenty seven residents of a senior citizens home in Simon says I lost.

Three elderly ladies outlasted me. The segment became quite popular, and before leaving town to move to Cincinnati, I wanted the final Daredan challenge to be memorable, so I set up a basketball game where I coached a team of elementary school girls against a squad coached by Jim Beheim. If you would like to see how it turned out, or just see what I looked like with hair, you can find the segment on YouTube. Just search for Jim Beheim Dare Dan. It's the first video that will pop up.

Now let's get to football. Last week at the NFL Combine, I had the opportunity to sit down for an extended interview with my friend Greg Kosell from NFL Films in the NFL Matchup show on ESPN. For my money, there's nobody better at studying the coach's tape and making a complex game a little bit easier to understand. Before we get to that conversation, here's a quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health,

the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred 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 here's Greg. Greg, you have been kind enough over the years to share some of your draft prospect evaluations with me, and I love it. I always save them and look back and

it's always really revealing from me. I'm interested to know how many guys do you grade going into a draft and who do you choose. That's a great question. And I don't really grade in the way some people do. You know. I don't work for a team, so I don't have a grading chart. I just like the process

of evaluating players. So when I watch a player, obviously you always start with their traits and their attributes and their characteristics, and then I think in terms of deployment within the NFL, because ultimately that dan is what the process is. You're looking to transition and project players to the league. Some guys traits are obvious. We are pretty much anybody can see the traits. Other guys traits are not as obvious. But that doesn't mean they can't play.

You know, I went through a whole learning curve and I started watching college players years and years ago. I got caught up in hey, he's either great or he can't play. And then I realized I was wrong. A lot of guys play, and particularly on defense, as you know, you know, there's so many sub packages. Teams could play seventeen eighteen nineteen guys on defense every single week, and a guy could play twelve snaps, but those are twelve

really important snaps. And you know, he may not be an All Pro, he may not be a Hall of Famer, but he's going to play in the league for ten years and be an important part of a defense. And so I had to really learn the process of evaluating players because there's not many and there's very few quite honestly transcendent players in any draft where you just say that guy's great, he can do anything, he can play in any system. You know, put him out there, he's great.

But the way I actually starts guys who do this all year round, the Dane Bruglers of the world, people like that. I start with, you know, Daniel Teremiah. I kind of look at their lists and then when the combine comes out, and unfortunately, because I'm a one man scouting service, I can't do four hundred guys. But then when the combine list comes out, I try to work off that as well. But that's kind of how I

do it. And it gets very frustrating Dan, because I want to do so many more guys, but you know, I'm only one person, and there's so many only so many hours in the day. And defensive guys are the toughest from a process standpoint, because you have to watch full games for defensive guys because you have to see the plays you know that they don't make. You know,

particularly let's say corners or safeties. You know, you can watch a safety in college football who's a back end safety, and you can go through a whole game and he really doesn't do a lot, depending on the offense in which he's playing against. So you have to just sit and grind and watch full games. And because of where I work NFL films, I have access to all the coaching tapes. So I'm seeing the coaching tape, but it's

a process and it takes time. I always run into you in Indianapolis at the Combine every year, and obviously you're here. You're you're studying the players, you're listening to the interviews, you're seeing how they do in the various tests. But you also shared with me that you met with some friends on an NFL coaching staff yesterday. Is the Combine important for you in terms of interacting with important people around the league? You know, I think that's the

way I learned Dan. You know, I'm a big believer that you never stop learning. You know, I think most people who know my work would say, you know, I'm pretty good at it, but I always feel that there's so many things I don't know that I want to keep learning. You know, I view this because I didn't play football. I grew up in Queens in New York.

I played basketball and baseball. My high school did not have a football team, so I had to learn football when we started with the coaching tape in NFL Films in nineteen ninety two. And to me, it's more of an intellectual and academic exercise and I feel you always have to keep learning, and there are certain positions like offensive line. I don't fancy myself as an offensive line guru by any means. And what I love trying to find out from coaches is things when I watch tape,

what do they see as coachable? What's not coachable? Because I don't know the answer to that right off the top of my head. You know, I've been fortunate in my career to be around, you know, great quarterback people. I learned the quarterback position from Bill Walsh, so you know that was a pretty good starting point for me. But offensive line, you know, I try to find out from coaches, Hey, how did they go about evaluating? What

can they coach? You know, if a guy has a certain flaw, they may say to me, oh, I can correct that in two weeks. You know, I need to learn and understand all that. I want to learn more about, you know, even with NFL material, not just college guys. I want to learn more about how offensives are installed and how they're put in, and what they ask quarterbacks to do, how they ask them to go through reading progressions.

You know, is some teams have it. Hey, if here's our zone, routes are on this side of the offense and our man routes are on the other side. Some teams don't do it that way. I just try to keep learning more and more because then when I go back and watch tape, I have a greater foundation of knowledge. We're visiting with great co sell from NFL Films and

the NFL Matchup show on ESPN. I think you were one of the first to really study the tape and then communicate your observations to those of us who are, you know, always trying to learn more about football. Now there seems to be a big industry to these guys that are coming up and doing it kind of you know, approach you and say, hey, you know, you're the godfather, thank you for kind of creating this this path. You know, it's funny you say that I'm not very good about

talking about myself. If when I played sports, I was one of those guys that just showed up and you know played, you know I didn't. It wasn't a look at me thing. But no, that that does happen. You know, people come to me and say you're the og. You know, you know, and and you know in some ways I

appreciate that. Look the reality is. And Peter King actually came up to me a few years ago as the year before the pandemic, we were both at Eagles training camp on the same day, and he said, you know, basically said, do you realize that you started an entire industry and an entire genre? And you know, I don't. I don't think of it that way. But you know, we started with the Matchup show in the mid eighties

and it's been on every year since. And obviously at that time people said, oh, no, one's going to care about football like that. And fortunately, thanks to Steve Sable, who was my mentor and my boss, you know, we just kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And I'm sure if I look back at some those early shows, I'd probably have a combination of cringing and laughing, you know. But but you know, we were fortunately able to stay with it, and it's grown and grown and

grown and now but fans want this. This is what people crave because you're can look at you can grab your phone and find stats now. You know, obviously thirty years ago you couldn't do that because phones didn't exist. But now you can find any stat you want in a heartbeat, but you still can't see breakdowns of footage. And more and more people are doing it. Obviously, as in any industry, some do it better than others. But yeah, I guess maybe I did start something. You know, I

don't like I said. I don't wake up every morning and say, man, I started something and that's great. I just go do my job. But you know, when people bring it to my attention, as you just did, I guess that's probably true because we start the first year of the Matchup show is nineteen eighty four, first and still the best in my opinion. Let's hit on some Bengals topics. The biggest offseason story in Cincinnati is Joe Burrows contract. He's likely to make more than fifty million

dollars a year when they get this. How much does that change roster construction for Cincinnati? Well, I think it always changes it a little bit. We know that the salary cap has gone up significantly. It doesn't appear as if it would be going down at anytime soon based on the popularity of the NFL, which is good for all of us. But then you do have some decisions

to make. Obviously, Joe Burrow is going to get signed and more than likely he's going to get signed and maybe more than any other quarterback has been signed for And you know what, that's just the way it is. You're not letting him walk. You're not trying to get into a contentious relationship with Joe Burrow and his agents. He's a great, great quarterback. I mean, I remember that was the you know, the year I gave you my report on Joe Burrow, and you know pretty much played

out that way. And you know, it's fascinating just talking about Burrow and other quarterbacks in the draft. And I don't know if you if you and I have had this conversation before, but you know, now we hear so many draft analysts say, well, he's got great traits, and they say that about a player because he can throw it hard and run fast. And to me, that's not

what makes that. Those are not great quarterback traits. I look at Joe Burrow, and I'm sure if you went back and looked at my report, you'd see what I did other than being a power thrower. To me, Joe Burrow has quarterback traits because quarterback to me, and like I said, I was fortunate to learn from the Bill Walsters of the world. Quarterback to me is a refined, nuanced, subtle, discipline craft position. It's not who can throw at the

hardest and who can run the fastest. Look, if you really have all those subtle and refined traits and you've got a big arm, that's great. And in fact, i'll give you a great example of a guy you'll remember very well because it's Incinnati. Carson Palmer was like that. He had the subtle traits, but he also had the big arm. Troy Aikman was like that, there's not many guys who have who are power throwers and have refined traits. Joe Burrow has all the refined traits you want, both

physically and mentally. The only thing he's probably lacking, but it's not a major lack, would be a power arm. But that, to me, he has quarterback traits, you know, And that's to me the reason he's such a great great player. He sees things, you know. Burrow really plays the game before the snap of the ball, and I think you have to reach that point. Can you be

a great quarterback without doing that to some degree? Like, for instance, I think Josh Allen is still learning that to some degree, but he's so physically gifted that he can do things other guys can't. Joe Burrow sees the game before the snap of the ball and he just validates and confirms, and that's why he can play with such a refined sense of timing and rhythm. The ball comes out, he knows where to go. He's not figuring out the defense on his drop. He sees it. He

knows it. And you know this, you know probably better than I do. You're around him, but you know, watching tape, that's to me. Those are high, high level quarterback traits. Is there anything about Burrow that's even better than you

thought it would be? You know, I would probably say no, and and not that him smarter than anybody else, But I just thought Burrow was one of those guys that really like Even the next year when Trevor Lawrence came out and people talked about him as a generational quarterback, I thought Joe Burrow coming out was a better prospect than Trevor Lawrence. And actually I spoken to some coaches who agree as well. So no, Burrow is Burrow is

no surprise to me. Maybe the only thing, but it's not really a surprise is his ability to make some plays with his legs. I knew he had really good pocket movement, but we've seen him when it's third and seven. He can run for nine and get a first down, no problem. You know he's not going to run for thirty five. You know, he's not Mahomes in that sense, but he does have a feel for Hey, when when I have to get nine when it's third and seven

or third and eight. So Duke Tobin made news early this week, at least in Cincinnati, when he squashed rumors that the Bengals were considering peddling T Higgins because of, you know, his contract situation. What do you think of T? I really like T Higgins. I loved him when he came out of Clemson. You know, it's so funny. We get caught up again with receivers in forty times, and I think he ran a four or five seven or four or five eight, But he's sixty three two sixteen

and one thing I learned. There's another thing I had to learn over the years is tall receivers. Stride length is a trait. Okay, you know when I first started with tall receivers, i'd watched him and say, oh, they don't look that fast. They're they're not going to be a vertical dimension. And I ended up being wrong on guys, and t Higgins is like that. He's not a burner, but those strides allow him to be a vertical dimension. Plus then you have the body control in the hands aspect,

and his ability to high point the ball. So even though he may not run by corners in a strict sense, he is a vertical dimension in addition to being very good on the immediate routes catching the ball in those inbreakers. I think te Higgins and you know, I hate to categorize guys, Oh he's a one, he's a two, But I think te Higgins on another team would be considered Obviously, Jamar Chase is a true alpha, and there's no alpha's in this draft, by the way, at wide receiver, No

Jamar Chases. But Jamar Chase is a true alpha. So Higgins sort of. I don't want to say play second fiddle. I'm sure he doesn't in the Cincinnati offense, but he's not considered that because of Chase. But I think if he wore with another team, and I'm hoping he's not I mean, I'm sure Cincinnati fans are hoping the same, but I think if he was with another team, he would be in number one. But I always liked him.

I really liked him coming out, and I think we've seen, you know, what he can do, and since the look, he's puts up a thousand yards as although I remember, you know, I remember doing his study last summer, and I'm trying to remember specifically. I watched both Chase and Higgins separately, and if I'm not mistaken, I can't remember whether it was first down or third down, but the East had the equal number of targets on a particular down, so that you know they throw it to t It's

not like it's Chase and everybody else. You know, Higgins is a major part of what they do in the offense, well, especially considering what defenses due to try to take away Chase. Yeah, they are clearly times watching tape where you see defenses bracket Chase. Sometimes they even Brackett both. I remember this

was two years ago. You may remember the play. It just popped into my head against Baltimore, and I think Higgins caught about a forty five fifty yard on a vertical route where the Ravens actually doubled all three wide outs to happen to remember a triple double? Yeah, do you remember the play? And Burrow threw it to Higgins on a vertical route on the left side, and it went for about forty five fifty yards and Higgins went up and got it between two guys. You know. So

there was a case where Baltimore doubled all three wide receivers. Right. The Bengals jokingly refer to that as the triple double. It's a basketball term, but it definitely applied to the defense there. Let's talk tight ends. The Bengals top three tight ends, Hayden Hurst, Drew Sample, Mitch Wilcox are all free agents. Somebody's going to be back, but in any case, but it's not going to be a big money thing. It's not a tight end you're going to say, is they?

So I'm sure they're looking for a tight end in this draft. There are some good ones. I haven't done enough work yet, but I've done Kincaid, who is not going to work out at the combine I saw, but he's really a good receiver. He's one of those maybe new breed type tight ends. He's more of a detached player, but he's really athletic. I don't want to sit here, and says Travis Kelcey. But he can be deployed in the same way, meaning that you can detach him from

the formation. He can be your boundary X on the backside of trips. He can be deployed in a very similar manner. He's got great hands, he's a really good athlete, and he gives you run after catch. I guess it all depends on, you know, what the Bengals value. You know, obviously they draft later in the first round. I'm not good at saying where guys will go. Could Kincaid be there, sure? And maybe not, you know, but there are others, you know. Like I said, I haven't done them yet, so I

can't speak to their specific trades. But I've been told Musgrave is a really good prospect. I'm trying to think of some of the other Michael Mayer. Michael Mayer, I've done him. I have done him. To me, Mayor is just a really solid tight end, really good hands, catches everything. Not as explosive as Kincaid. I think Mayor is just one of those guys that would be a solid NFL

tight end like I wouldn't if you wanted to. Obviously we always talk about Kelsey, but like I don't think may Or for instances as athletic and as good receiver, someone like Dallas Goddard. You know, I don't think he's quite that guy, but I think he'd be a really solid every down tight end. It's great to have a great tight end. The Bengals obviously would like to. But how important is tight end in that offense? Well, the way they run it now, and they're as you know,

they're a heavy eleven personnel offense. I mean, I just so people understand that means three wide receivers. I think, if I remember correctly, they probably played out of eleven personnel eighty five percent or more of their offensive snaps. So that's who they are. So the tight end, the way they play now, assuming all three receivers are still there, he's really much more of a complimentary piece. So they

may not feel they need a tight end early. You know, maybe they feel there's a third or fourth round player here that they could get because the tight end in this offense. Look, even someone like Hayden Hurst, and I know he made a couple of big catches. He actually made a couple of big catches in the playoff win in Buffalo. But you know, and as you said, he's a free agent, but you know, he's really that position. The way they've played Underburrow the last two years has

not really been critical. Now, the year before, Uzama didn't make a ton of important catches and they did go to him at times, but the tight end's not been a volume target for them the last two years, and hard to imagine it would be as long as those three wide receivers stay healthy. So Hayden Hurst is the only starter on offense who is a free agent. They've

got several on defense. Jesse Bates. I think everybody assumes he's going to sign elsewhere, Von Bell, Jermaine Pratt, Eli Apple, because there's somebody on that list that you think, man, they really should try to keep that guy. Well, let's put Bates aside, because I think it's pretty evident he's probably gonna get a big number. And you know, I mean, you would know better, but from what we've spoken about, you feel like he's probably gonna be gone. So let's

leave him out for the moment. And he's a very good player. The guy who intrigues me the most and I'm curious to see I don't think Dell sign him. Who knows is Jermaine Pratt because obviously Logan Wilson deservedly so gets most of the attentional linebacker, really complete player, plays every down. You know, one of those guys. You know, he's not Fred Warner, but he's one of those three down complete linebackers. I think Pratt's been a really solid

player in the last couple of years. You know, almost one of those guys you don't think about a lot because of Wilson, but just a really solid, important piece of that defense. And if he had to be replaced, whether it's with a draft pick or a free agent signing, because I don't think they would view Davis Gaither as the guy to or replace Pratt. He's just not big enough,

and you know he's not that guy. I think that that's I don't want to say, boy, it's a loss in their defense will drop because I think lou and Aramo does just a ridiculously good job and has finally started to get the credit he deserves. But I think Pratt's an important piece to that defense and I don't think he's going to be easy to replace if he's not there. So Low got head coaching interview, didn't get the job. Brian Callahan got two head coaching interviews, didn't

get either job. The benefit for Cincinnati is they've had incredible continuity during the Zach Taylor era. This will be the fifth straight year with offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators back. How significant is that? Is that extremely advantageous

in your opinion for Cincinnati? I think it's so much more advantageous than people think, because I think continuity with a coaching staff and being able to build on the concepts that everybody now understands and then has a clear foundation, is absolutely critical. I mean I speak to many coaches, as you know, and they will tell you, particularly, let's

say on offense, that it really takes. And Burrow is obviously super smart, but it still takes three four years for a quarterback to fully understand and execute hit both his offense and understand all the defenses in the league. You know it. You can obviously line up and play without that high level understanding, but then when you get it, you know, everything changes. It's and I bet if you speak to a quarterback and you have I know, over the years, they'll tell you the same thing that all

of a sudden, it's different, you know. And Burrow's just he's a computer chip, so for him it probably happens sooner. But still I think if he's being on, it's still tell you that the more experience he gets in the same system, it's just everything is cleaner. You know. You hear the phrase in all sports that the game slows down. It's a cliche, but it's a true cliche, and I bet for Burrow it's very much like that, and all of a sudden if you have to change systems. I've

had coaches telling me changing systems. It's like, hey, if you spent three years in French class, Okay, you're learning every nuance of the language of French, and then all of a sudden that's gone and someone comes in and says, okay, now we have to learn German. You know. It's not so easy, you know, And that's what it's like. So if you can stay in the same system and keep building, I think I'm not sure if people realize how truly advantageous that is. I was an exchange student in Spain

many years ago. Now I can only count to eight, which my retention of foreign languages. So the Bengals were a couple of minutes away from winning the Super Bowl two years ago. They were tied with two minutes to go in the AFC Championship Game last year. So obviously they're close. It's a super Bowl caliber roster. What's missing? What do you think they need to improve to get

over the top and win a Lombardi Trophy. Yeah, that's a hard question because when you're that close, you know, it's not like to me, and maybe I'm wrong, but it's not as if you're missing something. You know. It's not as if, oh my god, they lost because they just don't have the you know. I mean, you know, obviously they lost on that final drive against the Rams. You know what you're gonna say, You're gonna say, Okay, their defense stinks. I mean, obviously it doesn't, you know,

and then the game against the Chiefs. You know, I don't I don't know what to say they. I mean, these games are super competitive, highly highly closed games. You know, I don't think there's anything to say. I mean, I think offensively, I do think they still need to continue to upgrade their all line. Quite honestly, I think they probably needs to draft some players. Maybe they'll bring in a free agent, you know, for as a compete guy. But I do think the on line needs to continue

to get better. Whether it's with the same players improving or different players. That's for the coaching staff in the organization to figure out. You know. On the defensive side, they're going to lose some pieces, you know. I hope they can find a way to keep one of the safeties. Maybe Bell is the more likely choice because he's certainly not going to get the number I think Jessee Bates is going to get. But in today's NFL to start over with two safeties, I think it's hard so and Bell.

To me, I don't know Von Bell at all, but he strikes me as a savvy, smart player who can do a number of things. That's just watching tape. That's the way I feel like, you know, because he's not a superior athlete. You don't look at him ago why there's a special athlete. But he's just one of those guys that to me seems like he knows how to play the game and can probably be tasked with doing a lot of different things. You know, you would know

better than an effect description. Okay, that's what the film shows to me. So you'd hope that they could at least sign him. He certainly he won't go under the same number as Bates, because, like I said, if you start over with two safeties, that's that's a big deal that that could pose some issues throughout the early part of the season. Final thing for Greg Cosell. Does the

Combine amaze you what this thing has become? Well, it's funny you say that, because I actually produced the first combine for NFL Films and um and I guess the network, and because at that time, the Combine was still totally secretive, you know. And I'll be the first to admit I did a horrible job because I didn't know how to

do it. Because it was totally secretive. They wouldn't even let us shoot anything until after the events were over, and then we had a set up a set on the field at eight o'clock at night, you know, So it was it was really it was hard to do and I did it poorly, and I was told about it by my bosses. But so now everything is kind of an open book. But I kind of love. You

know the thing too, that's so impressive. It's just the athletes and not just their physical performance, but listening to all these guys speak at the podium, it's I find that really good. All these guys are so much much more poised, they speak well, they're whether they're coached or not irrelevant. You know, it's good that they're coach then you know, to be the best they can be. But these kids are so savvy, so much smarter. They're really enjoyed to listen to um. You know. I think that's

really advanced. That's probably one of the positives of social media. You know, these kids are out there more at a young age, and I think they become more aware and more savvy. I'm sure my listeners are saying, don't let them go, don't let them go, keep going, go for another half an hour, but I am going to let you go. It's always a treat to run into you in Indianapolis, and anytime I have the opportunity to interview you, it is great. Thank you so much for your time. Dan,

always a pleasure anytime. Thank you. As I mentioned in that interview, Greg has shared quite a few of his pre draft scouting reports with me over the years, and for the fun of it, I went back and looked at what he wrote about Jackson Carmen before the draft a couple of years ago. Here goes Carmen, no doubt will be seen by some as a guard at the next level, but I believe he projects as a starting

tackle in the NFL. There is no question that Carmen must be team and scheme specific, and he will at times struggle on vertical sets with speed off the edge, but he can line up and play tackle in the NFL and be a quality starter. End of quote. Jackson certainly appeared more comfortable at tackle in the playoffs last year than he did at guard the year before. With L. L. Collins coming back from his torn ACL, perhaps Greg co Sell's pre draft scouting report will prove accurate and Jackson

Carmen will be a quality starter at right tackle. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Paycorps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust paycor to help them recruit, pay engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com 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. Now time for our second edition of the three round mock draft with an

NFL expert. Here's the concept. When I attended the NFL Combine last week, I had the Pro Football Focus mock Draft simulator set up on my laptop and I I did several NFL experts to make the Bengals picks in the first three rounds while discussing their options. If you've never tried a draft simulator before, it allows you to play Bengals GM for as many rounds of the draft

as you want. The simulator begins making picks in order, and then when it's your turn, you will get trade proposals and decide whether you want a wheel and deal or go ahead and pick. It's a good way to get to know the players who are likely to be available when the Bengals are on the clock in late April. On my last podcast, Dane Brugler from The Athletic chose Maryland cornerback Deante Banks in the first round, Northwestern defensive lineman at A Tommy wa At a bare in the second.

In Iowa tight end Sam Laporta in the third. He received an A minus grade from Pro Football Focus. This week's expert is Pete Prisco from CBS Sports. We are doing a mock simulator now with Pete Prisco from CBS Sports, where you're going to select the Bengals first three picks. These are picks twenty eight, sixty and ninety two. I am about to hit start draft and the PF mock Draft simulator is quickly racing through the first twenty seven picks,

and here we go. All right. The guys just selected Pete include Elijah Cansey, the defensive lineman from pitt who ran the unbelievable forty time wide receiver Jalen Hyatt from Tennessee, Nolan Smith, another guy who knocked it out of the park at the combine, offensive lineman o Cyrus Torrence Jordan Addison, the wide receiver from USC. So those were the previous five picks. Are you ready to see what's left on

the board. I want to see what's left on the board because I don't necessarily agree with a lot of those guys right there. So let's see Deontay Banks, Andre Carter, Dalton, Kincaid, Tanner, McGee, they're not going to take a quarterback, offensive lineman Anton Harrison, edge, Will McDonald, Antonio Johnson safety from Texas, tight end Luke Musgrave from Ohio or from Oregon State, Mazzie Smith defensive

lineman from Michigan, Bjochalari from LSU. Anybody intrigue, Yeah, yeah, I mean, with the her situation being what it is, I think they need to get a tight end. So let me go back up and based on their I know I would probably take Dalton Kincaid in that spot. It's probably a little high, but I get it. I understand they need a tight end, so I'm gonna take Dalton kincame. All right. So Pete Prisco, with a twenty

eighth pick, has selected Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid. Some people have compared him to Travis Kelsey, not that good, but in terms of the things that he does well, he's got the ability to catch the football. I mean, he's going to add another another pass catcher to a team that has a ton of pass catchers. But I think, you know, with what Hurst, I thought Hurst did some good things last or particularly in the season, so I think it makes sense to get another tight end in

a deep tight end draft. Dalton Kincaid is considered by many of the draft gurus to be the best receiver. He had seventy catches for eight hundred ninety yards and eight touchdowns at Utah last year. Kincaid did not work out at the Combine because of a small fracture in his back that he suffered late in the season, but his injury did not require surgery. In their latest mock drafts, mel Kiper and Todd McShay from ESPN and Dane Brugler

from The Athletic All Half. Kincaid, going to the Dallas Cowboys, had picked number twenty six, two spots before the Bengals select Chrisco got an a minus in round one for that pick. Time to find out who Pete selected next. All right, we are now in the second round, pick number sixty. You can take a look at some of

the guys that were just selected. Dwan Jones, the Mammoth offensive lineman from Ohio State, went two picks before, so I would have considered him in that spot because I think he's a big, menacing right tackle, and I think he'd be good for their team. He's certainly big at three eighty yeah, he's and look, both tackles at Ohio State are good players, but he's probably a second rounder. I get it, all right. So now we are looking

at the pool of guys that are still available. If you want me to look at any sort of position, let me know. But we are scrolling down some of these names. Andre Carter, Tank Dell wide receiver, special teamer from Houston, Dayon Henley linebacker from Washington State, Josh Downs, wide receiver from North Carolina. I'll tell you what I think, you know, with the Pratt situation being what it is, I think I'm gonna go up to the top and

take the linebacker out of Washington State. I think he's a really good player, a nice run and chase linebacker who adds some speed to the defense. And you're losing you know, you're probably gonna lose him. I mean, Pratt's a good player and had a couple of good years and he could run. So I think I'll take Henley. Dayon Henley is a speedy sideline to sideline linebacker who starred last season for Washington State after spending the previous

five years at Nevada. The former high school quarterback would be a candidate to replace Jermaine Pratt if Pratt leaves in free agency. Pro Football Focus has Henley ranked third seventh on their top one hundred and gave chrisco an a for selecting him with the sixtieth overall pick. Now let's get to Pete's third and final pick, and now the mock simulators racing through round three to get to pick number ninety two, and you are now on the clock. By the way, it really pains me not to have

an offensive lineman picked in this group so far. So I'm gonna look for one of those guys here if I can. In the third round, if you can call up the offensive linemen are available, I'll pick one of those guys. All right, absolutely, So we are now filtering positions and looking for offensive line You want to start

with tackles. So the pool includes Blake Freeland from BYU, Louke Taggart from Indiana, Connor Gelvin from Baylor, Braden Daniels from Utah, Carter Warren from pitt Brian Hayes from Michigan, as Seem Richards from North Carolina, Trevor Reid from A Louisville. Let's go to the guards. All right, none of those names. Freeland's intriguing. But in that scenario, you have a youngest left tackle. I know John Williams wasn't great last year, but he's he's a younger player. So interior offensive line

here we go. Okay, don't love worhees Um. I don't love those two guys. Not in that third round for those players. How about let's let's go back to the tackles, because I think Freeland is an interesting guy. He's a left tackle. He's a massive, massive guy. I mean he's big um, you know, held up well at BYU, and you can never have, particularly this team has learned in the last couple of years, you can never have enough offensive lineman. I think you draft a good one in

that spot and figure it out from there. So I'll take I'll take Freeland. Blake Freeland from b YU is Pete Prisco's third round pick, number ninety overall, and now we're about to get your draft. I don't think they like my grade. I bet they don't like my grade. PFF never likes anything I do. Before we get to the grade, here's the skinny on BYU offensive tackled Blake Freeland.

He's six eight, three hundred two pounds and opened eyes at the combine by running the third fastest forty yard dash of any offensive lineman and setting a new combine record for his position by posting a thirty seven inch vertical leap that's better than what wide receivers A. J. Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, and Stefan Diggs did at their combines. And again, Freeland ways three hundred two pounds. Blake was a captain and a four year starter at BYU who played quarterback

in tight end in high school. Now time to find out Pete Prisco's grade for selecting Freeland in round three. Not too bad. Good first and second pick. Plus on the Blake Freeland pick, Why what's the explanation on it? Well, they have him one forty two on their big board and you selected of ninety two, so it would be a value situation. I went, I went to go get an offensive one, and I didn't. I'll be honest with you. You heard me. I had a trouble with the offensive

tackles and the guards. It's not in that spot. I didn't love them, but I I like my first two picks a lot. They're overall grade to B B yeah, I don't love Freeland, but in that spot, I went for the best offensive tackle. I appreciate you doing this. You gotta be nothing wrong with a B no, but I'm an a student that's based on PFF bad grades. Blake Freeland's a better pick than that. Guys. I bet Joe Burrow be happy you drafted an offensive lineman. I mean,

how many years in a row? Now it is two years in a row, and the line was okay until they had all the injuries. But it just shows you how fragile that position is. You got to have offensive lineman, and with ll Collins coming back from a torn acl go no for sure if he'll be ready for the start of the season. Adding a top three round offensive lineman is smart football. Yeah. I mean, look, Carmen showed he could play tackle, and he would look much more

comfortable playing tackle, so that makes sense. You could shift him over there and play him on the right side, and that will alleviate some of the problems. But you still have guys get hurt and you worry about it. So you get a young not like Jonah Williams was Anthony Munios at left tackle last year either, By the way, sorry Jonah, you're a good sport. Pete. I appreciate you doing this. Thank you, you got it, no problem. Or NFL expert mock drafts still to look forward to in

the weeks to come. 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 Paycorp, 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 Horde. Thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.