Bengals Booth Podcast: Right Here Waiting

of my highly unofficial Bengals fans consensus mock draft. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, 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 on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing

since Dave Lapham's In the Trenches podcast. My broadcast partner is so modest that I didn't even know until last week that he started doing his own podcast in January. And it's awesome. It's an interview format and laps guest list is impressive. Including Bengals legends like Boomerissiasin, Chris Collinsworth,

Isaac Curtis, and Andrew Whitworth. I learned all sorts of good nuggets in his conversation with Big Wit, including the fact that after having knee surgery in Los Angeles, Joe Burrow watched NFL games on some Sunday afternoons on the couch at Whitworth's house. I binged through six episodes last week and they were all great. So check out the In the Trenches podcast with Dave Lappham. Now let's get

to the draft. I conducted an interesting project on Twitter last week in an attempt to produce the consensus mock draft of Bengals fans. I asked my Twitter followers to go to any mock draft simulator and make Cincinnati's picks in the first four rounds with no trades allowed. That would have made things too complicated. Then I asked them to take a screenshot and send me the results. Three hundred fifty five people responded in the first twenty four hours.

That's a pretty good sample size. And here are the unscientific results. With a fifth pick of the two twenty one NFL Draft Cincinnati Bengals fans select Jamar Chase wide receiver Lsu. Based on the Twitter verse, Bengals fans are overwhelmingly team Chase. Jamar received two hundred thirty six out of three hundred fifty five first round votes. That's a two thirds supermajority. Pine Sewell received ninety four votes, that's twenty six percent. Kyle Pitts received twenty one of paltry

six percent. One you see fan opted for Bearcat's offensive lineman James Hudson. I'm pretty sure he was joking. With the thirty eighth pick of the twenty twenty one NFL draft,

Cincinnati Bengals fans select Alex Leatherwood, offensive lineman Alabama. Since more than seventy percent of you selected a receiving target in round one either Chase er Pits, it makes sense that the top five vote getters in the second round were all offensive linemen, led by Leatherwood, who played left tackle the last two years at Alabama but might be better suited to play guard in the NFL. The Bengals

second round pick is thirty eighth overall. Leatherwood checks in at number thirty four on Dane Brugler's Big Board and number forty according to Pro Football Focus. He did not make Daniel Jeremiah's Top fifty. Bengals fans that selected Pinay Sewel in round one typically went for a wide receiver in round two, and the leading vote getter was Elijah Moore of All Ole, miss, who received one more vote

than Terris Marshall of LSU. Elijah Morris thirty fifth on the Dane Brugler Board, twenty second according to Pro Football Focus and thirty eighth on Daniel Jeremiah's Top fifty. Judging by that more would be a good pick at number thirty eight, Terris Marshall is twenty eighth according to PF, thirty seventh on Daniel Jeremiah's list, and forty eighth on the Brugler Big Board. With the sixty ninth pick of the twenty twenty one NFL Draft, Cincinnati Bengals fans select

Milton Williams, defensive tackle Louisiana Tech. Williams is a little undersized for a tackle at two hundred eighty four pounds, but he is a great athlete who ran a four six forty at that size. He is seventieth on the Bruglar Board and number seventy three according to PF, so that's just about right for the Bengals third round pick, number sixty nine overall. With the one hundred eleventh pick of the twenty twenty one NFL Draft, Cincinnati Bengals Fans

select Kendrick Green, offensive guard Illinois. Green was a three year starter for the Fighting Alni and a second team All American this year. He's sixty eighth on the PF Board and eighty fourth according to Dane Brugler, so that would appear to be an excellent fourth round selection if available at number one eleven overall. It's notable to me that the Bengals Fans four round mock draft does not include a pass rusher. I would be surprised if that's

the way it plays out. In fact, I wouldn't rule out a pass rusher in the second round. If somebody slides that they have a first round grade on, and Dane Brugler has five edge rushers in his top thirty two, I have a hard time imagining they won't take one in the first four rounds. But based on three hundred and fifty five of you, the Bengals Fans consensus mock draft in the first four rounds go Jamar Chase, Alex Leatherwood, Milton Williams, and Kendrick Greene. The Bengals Booth Podcast is

presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now, without further ado, it's time for my final pre draft podcast with Dave Lapham Lat Bengals fans are split into three camps, alphabetically Team Chase, Team Pits, Team Sewel. But I want to start with a fourth possibility. Could trading down still be possible? Or

low and behold, could they actually draft somebody else? I think trading down is a possibility, but I think it's getting more and more remote because I think they are down to a big three of choices, and if they're going to trade back, I don't think they want to trade back much further than eight to make sure they don't lose any one of those three. You know, you don't want to trade back and give up on a guy who could have such a huge impact on the

football team. But you know, the thought of three of the top forty plus players in the draft for the top sixty plus players in the draft you know has some appeal. But again, you've you've gotten to the fifth pick in the draft, in the first pick the year before for a reason, and it's a tough, tough reason reasons.

You don't want to go through that anymore. So if there's if there's a guy that you feel comfortable with, and I think there's probably more than one guy they feel comfortable with, there could be a difference maker with that fifth pick in the draft. You stay in pick, and I think that guy should be a candidate for Rookie of the Year, should be a candidate for the Pro Bowl, should be a candidate for those type of things. He shouldn't be just a starter, you know, necessarily first

and foremost. He better be a contributor starter as such. But you know, I think you're hoping that, like Joe Burrow was first pick of the draft, Rookie of the Year candidate until the end, and that's what you're looking for with the fifth pick of the draft as well. All Right, we are going to get to your prediction. People always want to know who you predict the Bengals are going to go. We'll do that at the end of this conversation. But I want to get to our preference.

Who would you like to see them pick number five? Overall? I guess I guess as a former lineman, I'd like to see them pick Seul because all I'd have to do as a teammate of Joe Burrow is look at his scar and say, cool, that's ugly. How did that happen? Well, it happened because he didn't get a good protection up front. And it wasn't just off the edge, it was in the middle of the offensive line. The offensive line just

has to get better, period. And I think that this draft is very deep in offensive lineman, which could say, you know, you could say, well, you don't necessarily have to take Seul. There are guys that could help the Bengals and maybe all the way to the third round, and I agree with that, But that receiver, I mean, there's there's other receivers besides Chase that could help the Bengals. The key is how much of a dropoff is there from Seoul to Slater to whoever else as opposed to

Chase to the number two receiver whoever else. How big of a dropoff is there? Because you're not just worried about the fifth pick, you're about worried about the entire draft. So where's the where's the depth by position? When is the run going to be made on that depth in that position? So as you're as you're contemplating not just the fifth pick, but the first pick in that second round, which is another high draft pick, what will be there?

Do you think there'll be more offensive lineman to choose from the receivers of a high caliber or the other way around. That might influence what I do with that first pick of the draft potentially, But bottom line, Dan is, in my opinion, there's more of a shortage of offensive

lineman in the NFL than wide receivers. On a team by team basis and simple math, you have five guys of the eleven, it's almost so you have to come up with five solid guys and hopefully a star in there somewhere to protect your quarterback, and then next would be receiver. You know, go three wise, so that's three elevenths of it. You know you're getting over a quarter But the offensive lineman, there's everybody that plays basketball in high school for example, it's not going to get a

college basketball scholarship. They play football and play wide receiver. I mean, there's so many more bodies playing wide receiver at every level of football than there are as you know, solid offensive lineman playing at every level of football. Because number one, it's not a glamorous position. Oh man, I got to play in the line. That sucks. I don't want to play in the line. Everybody wants to play receiver.

It scored touchdowns, and you know that's that's where touchdown makers are made, and Chase is certainly a touchdown maker. But it's it's such a big need league wide that if you can, if you can come up with a guy that is going to be potentially projected to be a really, really good player, I find it hard to resist to go there. I'm with you, I've been and I remain a card carrying member of team Sewell did a lot of research into trying to determine why I

feel that way. The other day, here's a few things that I came up with. In Tom Brady's playoff run last year, so not the Super Bowl, but the four playoff games that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played, and he was hit sixteen times, sixteen times in four games, four times per game. Joe Burrow got hit eighteen times in Week three by the Philadelphia Eagles last year and sacked eight. He was sacked thirty two times in his nine and a half games. That was still top ten in the NFL.

He was hit more than seventy And just remember how devastated we were, how gutted we felt seeing him on the back of that cart in Washington in the tenth game. I never want to see that again. Then I look at Piney Sewell, and I'm no expert. I don't claim to be a grading tape, but I see a three hundred and thirty one pound man who looks like he's felt.

I have never seen anybody at his size move like that. Furthermore, people want to talk about the arms, thirty three at a quarter inches, a little less than you would like. I suppose he doesn't turn twenty one until the second week of October. His arms actually might still be growing. I mean, I don't know how much you grow after the age of twenty, but it's possible. As a nineteen year old sophomore, he won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best offensive lineman. He did not surrender a single

sack in thirteen games. He earned Pro Football Focus, his highest grade ever for a tackle in a Power five conference. I do think there are going to be starters available in the offensive line in round two, maybe round three. There's no doubt in my mind that can get a competent offensive lineman. But that's not what I want at this point. I want a star. When they went to the super Bowl twice in the eighties, Anthony Munios was

the left tackle. When they went to the playoffs six times in seven years, beginning in two thousand and nine, Andrew Wittworth was the left tackle. I want to maximize the possibility of getting a guy like that to start at one of the tackle spots for the next ten years, right and if he does, in fact, I have to play guard initially. I'm okay with that too, because you're not going to bullrush that big beast. You know. Andrew Witworth played guard initially before he went out to play

the left tackle position and now left tackle. Those were the you mentioned Anthony Munios and Andrew Worworth, the two best left tackles the franchise history. And the proofs in the pudding by the stats that you talked about mentioned the same thing in quite a few podcasts that I've

done around the country. That two Super Bowls with Anthony in the eighties, five straight playoff appearances with Whitton the you know in the Marvin Lewis era, those are the two best left tackles, Pine Seul, I agree with you, some guys are out of proportion. He is totally proportioned. He's big everywhere, and I can I can speak from playing against Samoans. He's originally from the island of Samoa.

These guys are like rooted trees. You can't move them when they when they decide to hunker down, they are literally in a movable object. Their knees were over their ankles, their hips were over their knees, and man, they got knee bend and it's like whoa man? Trying to move some of these big Samoan defensive tackles was a chore. Man, I'm telling you, it was like slept good that night because you're dead tired. And not only that is what we're talking about with the size and the balance, that

leads to balance. Obviously, the first thing I remember about Anthony Munio's was he filled the doorway. He had big, big hair at that stage when he was drafted and he literally filled the doorway we went out in the field. Though he looked like turn in five pound defensive back with the sweet feet, the lateral movement in the foot court. That's what this guy. This guy has that those kinds of sweet feet. So yeah, I think he's I think he's rare. Now can you nippick? Yeah, you can nippick everybody.

You can nip pick everybody in anybody. But I do think that again, reference in the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes. Hard to be Patrick Mahomes. When you run a feet of life. What happened? The offensive line got beaten up. So therefore in the Super Bowl the quarterback had no shot, even the great Patrick Mahomes trying to. I mean he was Kreskin making some of the throws that he made literally and even he couldn't get it done. So you need guys up front. He was pressured on twenty nine

to fifty six drop backs in the Super Bowl. He ran scrambling around trying to find an open receiver for four hundred and ninety seven yards that was measured on GPS. So that's not just you know, a joke. Four hundred and ninety seven yards running around ninety six point four million people watched the Super Bowl last year. At times I wonder if any of them lived in Cincinnati. Guys, that was the ultimate lesson for no matter how good your quarterback is or your weapons, Tyree Kill, Travis Kelsey,

Clyde Edwards a layer. If you don't have protection, you can't get it done. And they did not score a touchdown in the Super Bowl, the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs. Absolutely. I mean, it's it's it's simple to me. You know, people are gonna say, all right, chicken or the egg, and if they draft Chase, I won't go nuts, but I probably won't agree, but I won't go nuts. I mean, I can see that I can make a case for drafting any of them. Pits, Chase a suit can anybody

can make a good case. They are all three difference makers in different ways. But to me, you have to have a good offensive line before your weapons can operate. If you don't have a good offensive it doesn't matter what you have for weapons. It doesn't matter if you have Pro bowlers across the board, future Hall of Famers across the board. If your offensive line is not up

to snuff, going to struggle. The reason why I'll be okay with it if they go for Chase or Pits is when I look at the draft as rounds one and two versus just round one. Because I do wonder when I do bock drafts and draft simulators and stuff like that, if the overall value of receiver weapon first, lineman second is greater than the overall value of lineman first,

weapon second. I agree. That's That's what I was referencing in terms of the overall depth of you know, what would be available to you with that next next selection. So instead of tunnel vision just at five, you know, you're thinking first, second, and even third round, you're gonna have three of the top sixty some odd picks, you know, in the entire draft, and what's what's the best order the best way to do that, And that's what they're going through right now is stacking their board by position

and then the big board. And they're probably still in the process as we do this podcast to doing that sort of thing. So it's going to be interesting interesting to see what they do decide. And uh, you know, I mean Pits that you look at you look at him, I mean, he's a he's a weapon to I don't

even look at him as a tight end. I look at him as an ex receiver because you go three receivers and you put him all by himself in one on one situation, and who's going to cover that big bad boy at six to five plus a round, two hundred fifty pounds running four fours with an eighty two inch wingspan. So when he's covered, he's open one on one. I mean, so you have matchup problems. And then if you decide to go Nickel, he's a willing blocker. I'm

not gonna say he's close to dominant. You know, he's maybe slightly less than solid, but he's willing, So run the ball. And then if you don't go Nickel, spread them out and put him in a matchup. So now you have Now you have you punch and making them counterprins instead of the other way around. You're looking for something from a weapon standpoint to give you an advantage to punch them, and they're like, oh, now they have to counter and can't you know, in a situation with pits,

maybe you can't make the right call. You know, whatever your answer is, they have an answer for the answer because of the mismatch that he gives from a physical standpoint. But yeah, I don't I don't look at him necessarily as a tight end. I don't, you know. I think he's a he's a true hybrid, But I look at him as more of a receiver than a than a

than a tight end. Darren Waller, Yeah, Darren Waller, I think that when I'll go back to Kellen Winslow senior, what what Don Correll was doing with Kellen Winslow senior, back when we beat him in the Freezer Bowl, and when they were good with that forty nine ers air correall with Charlie Joyner and and you know, players like that. He was. He was a receiver. He wasn't a tight end. That that dude was a big receiver that caused everybody mismatch problems. And he could still be growing. He was

born three days before Pena Sewell. Let's move on to the next topic. Let's just say they take our advice and select Sewell number five, leading, leaving a need for a deep threat at wide receiver. Give me three names you like in round two, and they don't necessarily have to be wide receivers. You might want an edge rusher or whatever. But but give me three names for round two. Yeah, I mean i'd go I'd probably go wide receiver, and my wide would be Diami Brown from North Carolina. I

like him. He's got decent size, six feet, about one hundred and ninety pounds, still runs in the mid four fours. He's got, you know, some some decent length to him as well. In twenty four games, one hundred and six catches over twenty one hundred yards, twenty one hundred thirty three yards, twenty touchdowns on average over twenty yards per reception. I think I think he's he's a dynamic guy. I

think he'd be somebody. One of the things that I like about Joe Burrow, and obviously what Joe Burrow likes about Chase is they've done it together. They've already done it and at LSU in that offense that they ran with Joe Brady, I was a pro style offense with pro style concepts that the Bengals have adapted a lot into their scheme. And in two thy nineteen Joe Burrow and Chase hooked up for ridiculous numbers. I mean chases numbers are still SEC records. I mean, it's it's it's stupid.

His numbers are eight let's see, eighty four catches, seventeen eighty yards, twenty touchdowns. The yards and the touchdowns are SEC records, still averaged over twenty one yards a catch. So they're well coached, they're well trained, they know each other cold. That all translates to the NFL. When you're scouting a guy like Chase, the routes that he's run against SEC corners, which are NFL corners, and the production

all translates well to the National Football League. And Joe Burrows the one that was thrown on the rock and then he's opted out this year. But in a year where the Union staying on, I'm not going to do much in the offseason. You may have a mini camp, you know, and go to training camp. How much of an edge would it be for Joe Burrow to already have all of that advanced work with Chase. He's not worked with a guy who's never been with before. He's not thrown to a guy that I've never thrown to.

This guy, I don't know what his gates like. I don't know how far I have to throw the deep ball for him to make plays. That's all that's all done, that's already all there. So that's why I wouldn't be totally disgusted if they took Chase. That's a big, big factor in my mind. It's it's actually a tiebreaker in my mind, honestly, you know. But so here's another guy that I go with it following that, that that line

of thinking. Terris Marshall lsu six two two five four four forty long, you know, seventy eight and an eighth wingspan, almost thirty three inch arms length to his arms. I mean, in nineteen games, ninety four catches over fourteen hundred yards, twenty three touchdowns, fifteen yard average. He's a player. He can run, he can stretch the field. Another guy would be Rashad Bateman, kid from Minnesota. You know, I think

he's he's a possibility. His numbers are pretty good in six ft one hundred and ninety pounds four four forty as well. I mean, there's that's what That's what I'm saying in my mind. There's a lot of guys, there's there's a lot of receivers, but you can probably say you can say the same thing for offensive linement. There are a lot of offensive linement. You can see in my mind, Dan, everybody's saying this is a great draft for offensive linement. I think is a great draft for guards.

I think some of these tackles are guards because you know, you're you're drafting a goose to play tackle, but physically you might be drafting the duck and a duck at the goose, so so they may have to kick inside to play guard a little bit. You know, in terms of arm length in particular, a lot of these guys are in my mind, thirty three inches is that's about the break breakpoint. If you're into thirty three inches, And if you're if you've already always had short arms and

have been able to overcome it. Normally, you'll have extraordinary balance because now you're in a phone booth and the guy can't get you off your feet. But if you have short arms, are not great balance, you're cooked. You're you're in big trouble. So the guys with short arms have some other physical talent that compensates for the lack of one thing. They have something else that they've learned to employ that makes up for it. But yeah, it's it's it's going to be very interesting. I'd be happy

with any any three of those guys. You know, I'm not sure that all be there in the second round, and some of the linemen you think might be there in the second round aren't because when the coaches start doing evaluating, you know, along with the gems and there, now it's a different animal than the draft analysts and everybody doing their evaluations. So I wrote down three names as well for second round picks that I like if they select Sewell in round one. One of my three

names was one of the guys you mentioned. Diamy Brown, the wide receiver out of North Carolina, had more than fifty catches each of the last two years and average more than twenty yards per catch each season, so obviously he would bring that a deep threat. I wrote down Elijah Moore, the wide receiver from Ole, miss A little bit smaller than I would like, five nine, one seventy eight, a little bit gadgety there, but just such an explosive weapon four three five forty fastest three cone drill of

any of the wide receivers. The Patriots always put a lot of stock into that had nearly twelve hundred receiving yards last year. Don't know if it'll be there in round two, but I wrote down that name, and then I did write down one edge rusher that I think probably would be there when the Bengals select thirty eighth overall in the second round. Carlos Basham out of wake

Forest sixty three two seven four. We had a four five nine forty, had eleven sacks a couple of years ago at Wake Forest, So that would be a scenario where, Okay, there's still a lot of wide receivers left. We're gonna get our edge rusher and then take a wide receiver in round three. That's why I wrote down the name. Carlos Basham. Yeah, I like a guy that you saw a Peyton Turner. I'm not sure that might be a

little rich. He's like a two. Maybe he might be there for them in the third round, but I bash him's a guy that I've got in my notes as well. But this kid out of Houston's a little bit bigger, six five plus two seventy. He's got thirty five thirty five inch arms. That's long. He's long. He's long and strong. He's got good feet ten and a quarter hands. He gets those hands on you he's he's really good with his hands, and he's got multiple moves to rip, the swim,

the spin. He's he's pretty advanced. Eighty four inch you know, overall wingspan. My gosh, you know they talk about Pitts an eighty two inch wingspan, which is crazy for a tight end. But this, this big dude eighty four inch wingspan. I mean, he's gonna be back in the Kennon lever the back of your shoulder pads before you can even even realize it. So yeah, I mean there's I wouldn't I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed if they go with a good edge guy in the second round as well.

I think we're in agreement that the three big needs are offensive line, wide receiver, and edge rush. Those those are the three. However order they go, I'd like to see those three things be addressed early and then double down, you know, go go on line. Defensive line and dan running backs are always you know, undervalued. Really good running backs is going to be there in the fifth, sixth round.

If you've got to get another running back to get in the mix with with Geo departing, you can get you can find guys that's even more so than the wide receiver position, and they're devalued. They're not as valuable as wide receiver. So you know, and it's strange two quarterbacks. These guys, I mean, everybody's going to be draft in the quarter The first three picks, obviously we're thinking are

going to be quarterbacks. What it's going to be interesting to me, will Atlanta go at the fourth option at quarterback and overpay, you know, to to draft that guy, or will they take the best non quarterback in their mind, you know, in the draft, and then after that quarterback run, they all get pushed back. So you're gonna and people are like, yeah, well boy, the quarterbacks drafted early. A

lot of them bust because they're overdrafted. They have guys that should have been draft in the second and third round going in the top ten in some cases. And then the guys that go that that slide because you know, now they're oh they weren't in the first five or six they stink. Get them in the fourth to sixth round. These guys can play, they have good NFL careers, So it's like real, real early, and you can get yourself a nice bargain on one later. All right, let's go

to the next scenario. They take either chase or pits number five overall. So now we're looking at an offensive lineman in a round two. Who are some of the guys that you like, that you think have a decent chance of being there at number thirty eight overall? Yeah, I mean, I've got some interest in a guy, and I've heard conflicting reports, but I've heard more reports that maybe this guy might not be there early in the

second round. Walker a little out of Stanford. I think this guy six seven plus three hundred and fifteen pounds very athletic. For as tall as he is, his arms aren't super long thirty three and three quarters, but you know, long enough his reaches eighty one and three quarters, so he has some some overall length to him. But his problem is he got hurt early in two nineteen and opted out in twenty twenty. You know, you got to you got to go back to two eighteen to get

tape on him and get a solid evaluation. But he has gotten bigger and stronger. He's an incredible athlete, though, And a lot of these linemen this year man their grandfather, their father, their brother, their uncles, their cousins. They all played in the NFL. A lot of these guys have huge bloodlines. Slater's dad played in the NBA. You know, he's got really good feet, and you know, you can

see why the genetics are there for his dad. You're playing the NBA's You know, Dan, you've got to be a decent athlete man, big body guys that can run in short space, quickness and cutting, all those sorts of things. So I like him. Um, I'm not I'm not sure he'd be there, but and then, and then some people would probably say, you know that that's too big a risk because you know, now you got to go to twenty eighteen to really evaluate the tape. But if you're

an athlete, you're an athlete, you know. So I don't know. I like him. I can Bird from Penn State has a little bit of appeal to me, you know. Um, but his arms less than thirty three inches, so I think he's more of a guard. I'm sure he's over. He's compensated for his short arms. His hands aren't real big, his reaches under eighty inches. He's not he's six six, but he's not long with that six six. But he's athletic, you know, and he's he's he's he's a very good

football player, played at a high level of football. U Dylan Redunds, who got Player of the Week and practice player of the week at the at the Senior Bowl. I like that kid. Over six five, over three hundred pounds, and he's got some length his arms with thirty four inches, he's over eighty inch. Reached North Dakota State, you know, as a good program of the small schools. I like Aaron Banks a little bit too from Notre Dame as a guard. I like him inside. I also like Landon Dickerson.

I know he's got I know he's got some some injury issues that he's dealing with, but I like him because he's a He's one of those guys that is a leader. You know, he's he has one of these unbelievable attitudes and he kind of lifts the whole the whole room, the whole offensive line room. And to me, if they can get a starting guard, I wouldn't have a tremendous issue with that. And you know, in my mind, I still think Fred Johnson has some potential. I still

think Adnagy has some potential. When I look at Fred Johnson and I look at i Dentergy, I'm thinking they've got what you're gonna get in a third or fourth round, maybe even the second round. They've got potential. Now, can Frank Pollock get it out of him? I think he can so. In my mind, I think those guys can really make a jump from last year to this year, year one to year two for Dentagy and Fred just has to, you know, understand the game's got to be more important to him than it is. And I think

Frank Pollock may help that along a little bit. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert in offensive line play, but the Athletic came out with a consensus big board, where basically they took fifty or more than fifty big boards from all the various draft gurus out there and then combined him to produce, you know, a one through three hundred order based on all of these people out there studying the draft. So the Bengals have the thirty eighth pick, that's they're picking the second round.

Alex Leatherwood from Alabama came in at thirty eight on the consensus board. Samuel caused me from Texas thirty nine, Eikenberg whom you mentioned, forty seven Radin's if that's how it's pronounced from North Dakota State forty six. So those are the kinds of guys that are likely to be there when they are selecting in the second round if they go for a weapon in the first. So there's going to be somebody right around that, you know, thirty

eight on the consensus big board that'll be there. Let's go a little bit deeper into the draft, rounds three in beyond, So this is a real wild card for US three players, any position that you like. Rounds three in beyond. I like a kid from right up the road in Miami, Ohio, an offensive lineman, a tackle, fourth round, probably no earlier than that, sixty eight three, twenty pounds.

He's got an eighty three and seven eighths wingspan, he's got a thirty five and eighth reach, So he's a big, long, tall, athletic kid. Me Doyle is his name, and he looks like to me like he's a pretty good football player. Now would he need to be developed, you know, in the max? Obviously not the level of football that other other guys would have competed in. But but I like him. Uh. From the third round on um Spencer Brown from Northern Iowa.

Another big tackle six to eight three eleven who's got a almost a thirty five inch wing uh reach thirty four and three quarters an eighty two and a half inch wingspan. You know another guy that's both tall and long and hopefully long and strong. Uh Dante Smith out of East Carolina, a big guy that I think has some He's eighty five inches on his wingspan. Eighty five inches. That's that's crazy. I mean, that's that's some of the linemen that I like. Uh, I like A. I'm not

sure he'll be there for the fourth round. I think he's going to be no later than the third round guy, I'm not sure if he's as early in the third rounds of bankers are picking. But Dale oh day Yngbo from Vanderbilt, is that how you stay pick him? We'll know how to say yeah, Dale, my good buddy. Dale from Vanderbilt six five two eighty five. Another guy that's got some size on the edge there. His wingspans eighty

six and three eights. I mean she's thirty five and a quarter arm length and he's got some athleticism, you know, to go with it. A guy like that, I think would be would would be some added value. I could see that all right. Here are a few names I wrote down for round three and beyond, keeping in mind that the Bengals third round pick will be number sixty nine overall. Defensive tackle. Milton Williams from Louisiana Tech six three,

two eighty four. A little smaller than you would like, but ran a four six forty with a thirty eight and a half inch vertical at two hundred and eighty four pounds, had ten sacks two years ago, the last time he played a full season, and every time I do a draft mock simulator on one of these websites, he is always available. In round three. He came in number eighty nine on the consensus top three hundred boards, so he's almost certainly going to be there in the

third could be there in round four. Milton Williams would be a name to remember. I wrote down Jordan Smith from UAB as an edge rusher. Now there's a character issue from early in his college career. Started out at Florida, got suspended for a credit card incident, wound up leaving, went to junior college, wound up at UAB. But he's in the mode of edge rushers that the Bengals have historically gone after because he's tall and lean, with a

chance to put on weight. Six six two fifty five, had ten sacks a couple of years ago at UAB. Now I'm going to throw in a running back that I got to see calling UC games, Kenneth Gainwell from Memphis. He probably would not be there after round four at the earliest, so that might be earlier than the Bengals want to go for a running back. But two years ago, the last time he played for Memphis, he was unbelievable fourteen dr rushing yard, six hundred receiving yards. UC couldn't

stop him. So I'll just throw in that name as a possible running back, Kenneth Gainwell. I've heard he's outstanding out of the backfield and a huge threat out of the backfield. You know, I've heard a lot of a lot of teams throwing his name out there, uh in in that type of that type of scenario. It is interesting, it's it's it's going to be an interesting, uh interesting day,

interesting draft. Honestly, you know, there's there's always going to be and how different the board that you talked about, the consensus board of all of the draft analyst gurus, and then if you take a consensus board of the of the teams with their personnel departments and in the Bengals case, with the coaches, you know, evaluating and grading

because as we know, Dan, this ain't no science. It's it's no so opinions are huge and there's going to be all kinds of different opinions on you know, where to where to rate guys, where to stack guys and uh, and it's it's I don't know. In my mind, I think the the other thing to consider in that first round is sixty percent of the time lineman get a second contract drafted in the first round, it's like twenty five percent for receivers something like that. It's less than half,

which you can understand. You can make a quicker, a quicker decision on if a guy's a bust or not at receiver than potentially at the at the offensive line position. But um so, there's so many factors that go into the evaluation process. But and the other thing, Dan, I think every round I would be listening to my phone, not just the first round, because you have a high

pick every round. So if if there's a run on a position that you've you've got a need for or whatever highly rated, it's like, all right, well, I'm not going to get a guy that I really fits my need as well as where he is on the board. Why don't I move back and get back to this spot where there's better chance for me to hit more. So need an evaluation of rank of player and pick

up an extra pick to boot. So teams that have that need for the player that you don't you know, every round, they're going to be at a high spot in that round of the draft where they may get a phone call and it's like, yeah, well that makes some sense. I'll take an extra fourth, you know, to move back to the middle of the third round instead of the fifth pick of the third round, and then I still am right where I need to be to

get on my third round board. These guys are gone, but these guys I can get them still fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen instead of you know, number five. So I think I think they're in an advantageous position, you know, all three days of the draft from that regard. All right, we've reached the moment of truth. The Dave Lapham prediction historically, more often than not, you nail it. Twenty twelve, the world said they were taking David de Castro, You correctly

said they would draft Kevin Zeitler. The next year, nobody was talking about Tyler effort because the Bengals already had your main Gresham. You said they would take the Notre Dame tight end. Twenty fourteen, you nailed Darques Denar two seventeen, you nailed John Ross two eighteen. Bengals fans got mad at you because you said Frank Ragnow the Lions took him one pick before the Bengals, and people somehow think they took him because you predicted it, and like the

Lions don't have a scouting department. He's turned out to be a great player. So let's get to your prediction. The Bengals are on the clock. We know quarterbacks have gone one, two, three. Who do you think the Bengals wind up taking at number five? Yeah, I think there's

a good chance that Arthur Smith takes pits. I think that Matt Ryan can play still, you know, and it's like, all right, well, the Falcons, they probably won't be in the top five, or they don't want to be in the top five, so maybe they do try to take their next quarterback to develop after Matt Ryan and I can understand and if they would, but man to me, I don't know. I think I think that's an overreaction. Uh maybe they trade back, you know that that the

draft could start there. Maybe they trade back and somebody is trading up for a quarterback that doesn't have him Matt Ryan, or is trading up for Pits. Or if Atlanta really likes Pits, maybe they'll they'll they'll take Pits. But let's assume that Pits is off the board, that Atlanta took Pits, which I could see Arthur Smith doing and having a nice chest piece, you know, to mess around with their Uh So the Bengals, in my mind, it's down to two animals, you know, and and they're there.

They are They're Martians, they're aliens. These guys are freakazoids athletically. I mean the numbers that Chase put up, you know, for threes and the forty eleven foot broad jump, forty two or three inch vertical I mean, that's ridiculous. And when you watch him on tape, he throws guys around. I mean, when guys are trying to get their hands on him, he just like you know, he dismisses them. He is so strong, so powerful, he attacks the football.

I mean, he's he's a he's a gifted player. And then all the reasons that we talked about his familiarity between your franchise quarterback and Chase is to me, that's a big, big deciding factor. That's a that's a big play. And I'm almost fifty fifty. I'll be honest with you, I'm almost fifty fifty, but I am gonna go seul.

But I I would It's like one in one A And and I can almost reverse him for the reasons that we talked about earlier in the podcast, that if you've got a chance to solidify your offensive line with a guy like him, and if he starts out inside a guard, so be it. Um. And that scar Joe Burrow, even though he's back to back to start right at the beginning of the regular season, don't want to scar on the other knee, you know, don't don't want him,

don't want him hit anymore like that. And and I think in my mind, probably there's better depth in the offensive line in the second round. Then there is wide receiver in the second round. I think that there's better there's probably after after Chase and a couple of other couple of Alabamas, there's a big drop and Suel Slater and then a big drop. Sooner there's more guys. There

will be more guys in that second round. So if I start to talk myself into that, I could see I could see going Chase instead of instead of Seoul. But I'll probably as a form alignment, I'll probably stay with the Penna sul choice and roll roll with that. All right, Well, I'll have to go the other way then, just to be different, I'll predict that they'll take Chase. I do think the Burrow to Chase factor is huge, and I thought this description of Chase was right on

the money. He looks like a fullback but runs like a wide receipt ever, I mean as strong as you can be, and yet ran that four three eight forty at his pro day. Joe Burrow did not have much success throwing the deep ball last year, and I think that was because of the targets, not because of Joe Burrow to have that guy that can take the top off the defense and force the safeties to respect that

deep threat. I just I have the feeling that's going to be the deciding factor Chase in round one, offensive lineman in round two. But as we said at the very beginning, they can't go wrong, they can't go wrong. And I'll go just like you, I could be talked to that so easily because you know, I really am I really am torn split. It's not as clean cut

as it was to me before. Because this guy, Chase is a freak, is a freak in terms of pound for pound, the overall strength of Chase is probably as good as they've had an LSU and for him to just throw people around like he throws them around. And you know, like I was talking talking about before they did sign Riley Reef, they still do have guys that they can they can work and develop. They did sign they did sign Spain inside and I mean Michael Jordan

he should be a guy that you can develop. I mean he's got a lot of tools, can't you know? Do you give up on Michael Jordan. It's not like they're they don't have anything in their offensive line I'm going to Chase. I could go Chase so easily. I could go Chase. But if you if you had to pick between Chase and Pits, what would you do. I'd take Chase, so would I? So would I. I would take Chase because it took Pits to put him at

the X. That's where I put Chase. I put Chase over there at the X and say go beat people up one on one. And he's when you watch him, he is so smooth in his route running. I mean, he's so fluid and so smooth. And I'm not saying that Pitts isn't, but you know he's not. He's not a true wide receiver like Chases. So yeah, it's it's very interesting, Dan, very interesting. I wish we could pick them both. It'd be great, so do they Unfortunately that's

not in the cards. All right. That was fun, and we will do podcasts each night of the draft to update you on everybody that the Bengals select. They've got an extra pick after trading Ryan Finley away, so it's going to be a lot of fun. Lap. That was awesome. Appreciate your time. There's a lot of fun to appreciate you. I will post podcast to wrap up each night of the draft that will be ready for your drive to

work the next morning. That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, refresh the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe, and if you've got a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Hoard and thank you for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast. H