I get everybody on Dan Hord and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast, the It's True Swear Scouts Honor edition as I visit with Bengals scout Andrew Johnson, now entering his tenth year with the team. Then it's the latest edition of five Questions with one of this year's
draft picks, followed by five observations after watching practice. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by aulta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since a Ring of Honor case for my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. This week, the Bengals announced that voting has started for this year's Ring of Honor Class Season ticket members have until Friday June sixth to cast their vote.
I joked in a speaking engagement recently that I have three wishes this year. Number one a cure for baldness, Number two a Bengals Super Bowl title, and number three seeing Dave Lapham inducted into the Bengals Ring of Honor. Lapp was a Bengals offensive lineman for ten years and the starting left guard on their first Super Bowl team. His skill and smarts made him a Paul Brown favorite and allowed him to play all five spots on the
offensive line in the same game. And since his stellar playing career, Dave has arguably been the team's best ambassador as a radio analyst, public speaker, and member of the community. This will be Lap's fiftieth year with a franchise as a player and broadcaster. I can't think of a better way to celebrate his golden anniversary than adding Dave Lapham to the Bengals Ring of Honor. Now, let's get to
my first guest. Andrew Johnson is entering his tenth season as a Bengals scout and he had some interesting things to say about recent Bengals draft picks, the return of Al Golden, his defensive coordinator, and how he benefited from working in the hotel industry. Andrew, for all the times that we've talked about draft picks or college players or whatever, it occurs to me that we have never discussed your path to the NFL. I know you played at Cornell,
you were a tight end. There wasn't your plan to pursue a scouting or front office type job in the NFL.
It was I knew since I was in high school that I want wanted to make a career out of it, and was fortunate enough to play in college. And you know, I actually came up here and interviewed. So I medical redshirted as a freshman at Cornell. I had three right elbow surgeries in high school, all of which came my senior year. So I was rehabbing elbow surgeries my freshman year, so didn't play ball that year, then played the next
four years. So I graduated in May of fifteen. Actually drove from Ithaca, New York, down here to what was then Paul Brown Stadium and interviewed with Troy Blackburn, Duke Tobin, and Bill Scanlon, who is who used to be our CFO, and got in the car drove back to Ithaca and played my last season the fall of twenty fifteen, and
Duke reached out to me January of sixteen. I remember it was a couple of weeks after the Steelers game that year, and I was I was trying to I know, just finished school and I was trying to find a job in football and was debating when to reach out to people at the Bengals, And you know, I was very fortunate that Duke reached out to me and I came on as an intern February fifteenth of twenty sixteen.
I was hired full time May first to twenty sixteen, and a little over nine years later, we're still here. So I'm very, very fortunate to work for wonderful people that treat me very well, from Duke to the ownership family. And had one full time employer and intend to keep it that way.
So it's interesting because I had the dream of becoming a sports broadcaster, and it's difficult in some ways, but there's a path. You go to Syracuse if you can send out your material, and if you're lucky enough, you land a gig. Your dream is a little bit less linear. Did you have a strategy for getting into scouting or front office work.
So at Cornell, I wouldn't say football is in the forefront of most people's minds, even in the athletic world. You know, it's a hockey, lacrosse, wrestling school. And you know, I tell I told people that, you know, throughout my years at Cornell that I wanted to work in football, and they were like, Okay, you know, how are you going to make money? You know, is it you know, that's a great hobby. And I'm like, no, no, you know,
I can. I can make it work. And the other thing, you know, a lot of people who get into football their their parents or siblings or extended family work in it, and I didn't have any of that. I had two wonderful parents that supported me greatly growing up. But my dad's been in academics his whole career. My mom is a lawyer by trade. So the foot we all played, my brother played at Cornell, I played, my younger brother played,
but nobody worked in it. And Cornell is not exactly the school that had It's not like I went to Alabama, where you know, you can get hired as a GA tomorrow. So I had to really work at it and find any connection I possibly could.
I was.
I was prepared to go coach high school, to go GA, to volunteer, whatever it took. But it was a relentless pursuit of finding my foot in the door. And then, you know, my first couple of years here, you know, sleeping under my desk three four nights a week, and you know, first and last out and trying to think it any way I could make, you know, Duke and our other guys make their lives easier and make our
team better. And you know, growing up and in ann Arbor, I was a big beauchem Beckler guy, and you know, the team. The team. The team has always kind of been my personal mantra and approached everything that we do. No man is more important than the team, so it's kind of been my thing.
Cornell has the most prestigious hotel management program in the country. I've read that was your major. Were there lessons that you learned that are applicable to what you do now?
Yeah, proud School of Hotel Administration grad. I personally think everybody should work in service at some time in their life. I worked in hotels for six or excuse me, three summers in high school. My first two summers in college, and I did everything from being a banquet server to being a line cook, to being a bellman, to working valet to I washed dishes and I waited tables, and you know, those are things that I just think. It's
an ir irreplaceable trade and experience. And my summer summer after my sophomore year academically at Cornell, so it would have been gosh. I think this summer of thirteen, I worked at the Hilton Chicago in Chicago, and it was a fifteen hundred room hotel that in the summertime would have a thousand check ins and a thousand checkouts on someday. And I was working the front desk that summer. And you have to have the exact same approach to every
person that comes up to you. And you're having the same conversation for eight hours a day, and you see all walks of life downtown Chicago, and you know, you
learn how to deal with people. And and my job now in personnel and scouting, you know, throughout the fall in the spring, I'm on a different college campus most days of the week, and I have to be able to interact with all different types of sources and people and players, and whether it's you know, the head coach at you know, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, or the equipment guy at Slippery Rock. You know, I have to be able to, you know, interact with those different people.
I have to be able to, you know, interact with kids that are from inner cities or tougher backgrounds, or you know, kids that come from you know, nice private schools. So I think working in service, you know, taught me just how to work with people. And I think everybody should have worked in service at some point in their life.
So I loved it.
I wouldn't trade it for for anything. And we'll always remember those times.
We're visiting the Bengal Scout Andrew Johnson, describe your responsibilities in the Bengals front office.
Yeah, so going on, just finished up Draft ten, going on Season ten, and you know, we are as We've got a little bit of movement in our department right now. I think we're doing a little bit of reshuffling that we're going to iron out over the summer. But college wise, you know, I've I've covered you know, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina all the way up to
Maine and everything in between. So I've had the opportunity to evaluate a lot of guys that we've ended up with, you know, the Dax Hills, Chris Jenkins, Jesse Bates, guys like that that have come in and had a huge impact on our team. But you know there are guys like you know, if you remember Jake Dolagala, who was a college free agent out of Central Connecticut. You know,
finding guys like that is always fun. But been scouring that area for a while now and have really you know, going on, you know, the the tenth year here, have you know, have a good feel of what I'm doing and what I'm trying to accomplish on every visit in pro day and and interview with a player and just trying to be you know, when you cover an area, you have to be the master of anyone you know
in the draft at that time. So if we're sitting in the draft room and Duke or Mike Potts or Mike Brown asks me, hey, you know, why did Dax Hill move from nickel to safety? Why did Jesse Bates not return punts full time? You know, why did Chris Jenkins rotate out on third down. You know, I have to know those things like the back of my hand, or you know, what does Dax Hill's mother do for a living? You know where'd he play? You know where did Dax's brother go? You know, Dax's brother, Justice was
a draft pick to Baltimore. Literally, you have to know those kids inside and out, and the higher level of prospect they are, the more you have to know about them. You know, I'll continue to come back to Dax probably because he's you know, one that hit home for me. He's one that I stood on the table for and put in more work on him than probably anybody I
ever have. And you know, with a with a first round prospect, I may speak to fifteen different people at the school about him, and I may talk to those fifteen people, you know, upwards at three different times, you know, and you're following having covered the same area now for
a little while. I've been able to attract these kids coming out of high school and throughout their whole career, and you get a really good feeling for him with you know, Dax was a five star kid out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, played right away, played multiple positions, was highly effective on special teams, and to follow him from really when he was a junior in high school to us taking him was a really special moment. But I would say ninety percent of my job is on the college side and
knowing my area inside and out. And you know, as I said, if any questions come up, it could be the smallest thing. Hey did this kid play basketball in high school? Like that came up. We were talking about a kid in the third round this year that we ultimately didn't take, And you know, Duke asked me at one point, hey, did this kid play basketball in high school? And that was one I had to dig a little
bit deep, but I had the answer. But it's it's little things like that that you have to know, like, hey, was he a big recruit? You know, did his dad play in college? What did he run track? Did he what was this one hundred meter time? You have to know all these things. Was he a captain? You know, why wasn't he a captain? What did he play on
special teams? You know, who did he live with? Any little piece of information that you think is valuable for us to know and what we are getting and how we can put the kids in the best position to be successful here with the Bengals, I'm responsible and knowing for the schools. I go to sorry that that that might have been a loaded welcome to my world here, but it's it's a lot of fun. It's it's something that you kind of can't do lack of days ago.
It's something you have to be all in on. So, like right now here in the summertime there's no football being played, I kind of think, okay, evaluating a college prospect, I think sixty percent of it is the character in the background and forty percent is the evaluation of the player. Other people may have different takes on that, but that's
kind of where I come out on it. And in the summertime now May, June July, when there's no ball being played, I do my very best to get ahead on the personal character in the background so when the fall comes, I can really focus on the player and evaluating the tape and my live exposures of the kid. So that's that's probably ninety to ninety five percent of my job is on the college side, and I take a lot of pride in that and have learned a ton from from Duke and Mike and Trey and Steven.
They're phenomenal coworkers to work with. And then on on the pro side, I, you know, have a role at roster cutdown. We come on, I'll go out on the road for three weeks in August, come back and for about a week will grind bubble players for the cut down and you know, see if there's anybody that's going to be released at cut down that can possibly upgrade what we have. One that comes to mind for me is Jeff Driscoll. Jeff was a a fifth round pick to San Francisco that was cut after his rookie camp.
We claimed Jeff and you know he contributed for us for a few years and was was a great add to our team. And then I will have a few positions every January and February and free agency to watch. So this year I had the tight ends and the linebackers. It's changed every year. You know, Steve does a really good job of trying to get us to see different positions. And you know, I think that's another big thing here.
As in a lot of other personnel departments, you may be you know a college guy or a pro guy. And Duke does an excellent job of letting us do both of those, and it gives you a great grasp of what's still playing in the league while you're out evaluating the college players.
Your affection for Dax Hill shines through anytime you talk about him. The team recently picked up his fifth year options, so he's under contract this year and next. Made that switch last year from safety to outside corner. He seemed to really be thriving before he tore his ACL. Do you feel like the Bengals have found the best spot for him?
I I do, you know when he was coming out the bottom line of my report is this player is a starting level free safety, nickel and outside corner. And you know, early on in his career his I remember his rookie year, we were kind of, you know, we had Jesse and Vaughn back there at free safety, so we you know, we told ourselves that Dax is, you know, going to be a safety and we're gonna, we're gonna we're a good team. We've got two starters, and we can we can move him in at a good pace.
But what it ended up happening is, you know, guys were going down at different positions corner, nickel, and we he kind of we had to throw him in the fire, and you know, I think he did a lot of growing as a rookie and then I thought he had a pretty darn good year as a free safety and uh it would have been twenty three. He played one hundred percent of our snaps and you know it's it's free safety is a hard position to play in this
league with with how much passing there is. Had he he was off to a phenomenal start last year at corner. You know, I think we made it easier on him and let him focus on just one spot. You know, I I think the world of him. He's a phenomenal, phenomenal young man. He's gonna whatever we asked him to do. He's gonna work his tail off. He he hit the ground running last year. He was gonna have a great year. It's his first. I think it's his first surgery he's
ever had. He did the finger too, he did his I think he did his a little pinky at the same time of his knee. But he's been crushing his rehab and I'm thinking he'll win Comeback Player of the Year. So have have big hopes for Dex.
You also put a lot of time in on his college teammate DJ Turner. What kind of growth did you see in DJT year in his second NFL season.
I think the biggest thing with DJ is just knowing how to play against bigger receivers. You know, DJ is a is a rare athlete. He was four to eight coming out in the forty but he is a slighter built guy, which there's nothing he can do about it. That's what his god given dimensions are. But seeing him learn how to play against big receivers on the outside
was the biggest step I saw DJ take. And the game against the Chargers stands out to me when he had to go outside and cover Quinton Johnson and probably had his best game that he's ever had here. I think. Unfortunately he also that was the game he broke his collar bone, but he had a phenomenal game. DJ is very smart, He's very confident. He's also very tough, so, you know, despite being a smaller stature guy, he's he's
not afraid to anyone. So I think playing on the outside against bigger receivers, bigger and faster receivers, despite playing you know, at a very high level in college, seeing that every week and you know, adjusting to Okay, how am I going to play this ball in the air? How am I going to play at the top of the route when this guy's got longer arms than me and he's going to try and push off? You know, how am I going to make up for those things
with my feet, my speed, my leverage. So seeing that, I would say that that you know, just adjusting to the heightweight speed that you see in outside receivers in the NFL. You know, I think in college it's rare to see a big guy with speed on the outside. You may see a big guy that can't really run or you know, and he saw a lot of those. But that was a huge adjustment I saw for him to make. And I also, you know, he DJ is a good tackler. He's not afraid to anybody. He'll come
up and smack you. He plays with no gloves. You know, he's he's a fearless, fearless player. I think we're going to see him take another step. And unfortunately, like Dax, he also got hurt. But you know, they're they're they're a little bit different personalities, but they're wired the same way. They they love football, they're smart, they live right away from the building and they represent our team in a great manner.
Then there's Chris Jenkins, who played a big chunk of his rookie year with a giant club on his hand, which couldn't have been easy. What did you think of his rookie season?
Chris got thrown in the fire a little bit. We we got banged up, uh in the interior last year. I think Chris is going to take a huge step this year. You know, he went from being you know, captain big fish in a big pond essentially at Michigan to kind of, you know, not being the man last year.
Is a rookie and I and Chris is is is such a big, outgoing, fun personality to be around and having to adjust to, hey, I'm a rookie now, like you know, so so things like that, having a year under his belt, you know, having a system that I think what we're going to ask our interior guys to do is going to to pair up with his skill set a little bit better.
You know.
I think we were asking him to do some things technique wise and assignment wise that maybe he hadn't done in the past at Michigan. So I think this year, you know, we're gonna really utilize his skill set in a great way and and I'll allow him to to highlight the things that he does best, and you know, play with his length, and play with his get off, and play with his speed and bend. And Chris is
is very, very gifted athletically. He has all the physical tools and in tangibles to be a good starter in our league. And I think this year with us being you know that we you know, we didn't draft a defensive tackle. We obviously signed T and BJ, but Chris is going to have to play a lot. You know. I think last year it was good for him to get his feet wet. I think he played just over
forty percent of our snaps. But allowing him to play within his skill set and play to what he does best is what I think is really going to help him this year. And he's a tremendous kid. He loves football. He works really really hard, he loves the game. His teammates love him, so I expect him to take a huge step.
We're chatting with Bengal scout Andrew Johnson. Let's get to this year's draft class. First round pick Shamar Stewart has the physical traits of Miles Garrett. But many people have focused on the fact that he didn't have a lot of sacks at Texas A and M and that's fair, But what does he do well right now and how can he improve in that area?
So Schamar is obviously a rare athlete, rare size, length, speed, explosiveness. He plays with excellent effort, toughness, physicality, and violence. I think the the instinctiveness part of the game is something that he still has to work on. Finishing at the top of the rush, you know, not you know, he reminds different body types. He reminds me a little bit of Carl Lawson the way that the way that they played. They're they're two totally different body types, but play styles.
You know that they remind me a little bit of each other. But you know, finishing on the quarterback, knowing when to bend your rush at the top or when to counter back and not just you know, sprint up field and kind of take yourself out of the play. But that comes with with playing time, that comes with reps. You know, instincts is something that that develops over time.
Chamar is a young player with a super high upside, trending up player, but his his physicality, his his toughness, his strength, and his his pursuit of the ball and the quarterback despite not having great production, I think it's something that will come. You know, when we talked about Schamar in the draft process, we talked about guys like Jason Oway, who wasn't super productive at Penn State but
has turned into a productive player. Unfortunately for Baltimore. Daniel Hunter was a guy that had similar highway speed to Shamar, wasn't super productive at LSU, has turned into a very productive player. Rashan Gary, I think, had three and a half sacks at Michigan in his career and has turned into a highly productive player who's gotten a big second contract for Green Bay. So those were all guys that
had similar strengths and weaknesses as Shamar. Rare physical talents that were young players when they entered the draft and instinctively were still figuring things out how to use their hands, when to bend at the top of the rush, when to counter back inside, when to long arm, when to push pulls, stuff like that. So everything is there for Chamar to be an all pro player. Everything is there and I have faith in our coaching staff that will
get him there. So it's it's really exciting to get a guy like that because had he had I would even say six or seven sacks, we probably wouldn't have seen him. It's it's kind of similar to when we took A Marius last year. A Marius is as rare physically as anybody in the National Football League, but he was hurt and you know was I think he was hurt.
I don't cover Georgia, but being in interviews and meetings, but he had, you know, some injury stuff that he was working through through the draft process, and that's why we got him at I think it was eighteen when we took him. And for anybody that watched this last year, A Marius has a chance to be as special as
anybody that I've seen it. So I'm hoping that, you know, Chamar kind of you know, has a similar trajectory because you know, we've I think Marius is a is a huge trending upward player, and I see a similar path for Schamar despite them being different positions.
Your second round pick was linebacker Demetrius Night out of South Carolina. He's got a personality that screams future captain. What does he immediately add on defense?
He immediately adds a smart, athletic, hard hitting, well rounded, three down linebacker. He's a little bit of an older guy, he's played a lot of college football, but he's a phenomenal young man. He's smart, he can play all three linebacker positions. He can blitz, he can tackle, he can get off blocks. He's going to contribute on special teams right away. I think we took Demetrius with the thought process that he's also going to play on defense right away.
So you know, he's somebody. He's a phenomenal athlete. He's a phenomenal young man. He's great to be around. He's assimilated very quickly in the locker room, and I think he's somebody that is going to, you know, bring a a sense of physicality and violence and toughness to our defense. And I would agree with what you just said, a potential future captain for sure.
In the third round, you addressed the guard position with the selection of George's Dylan Fairchild. Right now, it looks like he's the leading candidate to start at left guard. This was thought to be a deep guard class, were you confident that you could get somebody that could compete for a starting job as late as the third round or even later.
Yeah, Dylan is someone that we did a ton of extensive work on throughout the process we had. You know, our coaches did a lot of hands on work with them. Again, I don't cover Georgia, but I know that he is somebody that as a Bengals staff, as a whole, we did as much work on as any other player in the draft. And you know, Dylan is a phenomenal kid.
He loves football. He's young, he is still a little bit of a raw prospect, but he's got length, he's very very wrong and for what we do on offense as a pass heavy offense, he's a great pass protector. He's got very good punch and hand strength and grip strength. So I think from a from a scheme fit, he's an excellent scheme fit for us. From a personality fit,
he's going to blend right in with our room. So you know, he is somebody that I think we would have felt comfortable taking earlier than where we got him. And you know, only having six picks made things a little bit tougher, you know, it we we had to make some some tough calls, you know, here not there throughout the draft, but I think everybody is very happy we have Dylan. I think it was it certainly was a position of need, and obviously he's going to need
to compete for the job. And he is still a little bit of a raw prospect that's got to work, you know, work through some some technique things, but physically he has everything to be a good starter in our league. He was one of the strongest players in the draft, and having unanimity with our coaching staff and our personnel staff, we feel really good about Dylan.
In the fourth round, he took another linebacker, Barrett Carter out of Clemson. In watching the drills over the last few weeks, he looks fast and fluid to me, what impressed you about Barrett?
Barrett is super athletic, another guy that we had a higher opinion of than where we took him. We would have felt comfortable taking him earlier if we needed to. He's probably the best cover linebacker in the draft. He's super athletic. He can run, he can change direction, he can flip his hips, he can play sam linebacker, will linebacker. He was highly productive on special teams. He's a great kid. He's a leader. But the biggest thing he's going to help us with day one is covering on third down.
He's a phenomenal cover linebacker.
In the fifth round, you took Jalen Rivers as six to six offensive lineman out of the University of Miami with thirty five inch arms. He played tackling guard almost equally at the you where did he perform best?
In your opinion, I think Jalen's a tackle. He's He's another kid that is an exceptional young man, somebody that we you know, I don't do Miami, but saw him at the Senior Bowl, and I think he's somebody that we see that can that can fill in at both spots.
You know.
I think, if if we had to pick one, I think tackle is probably his best spot. He's athletic, he's long, he can bend, he's got good feet, you know, going inside. You know, for what we do on offense, playing guard, you know, you you almost have to pass protect like a tackle just because how much we pass protect. But I think his versatility, his intelligence, his athletic ability, and his dimensions, his length were really what stood out to us, and you know, I think that he could fill in.
You know, if somebody goes down to guard, we think he can go in and help us. And if somebody goes goes down to tackle, we think he can he can go in and help us. He reminds me a little bit of Deontay Smith. When Deontay came out. I did Deontay coming out of East Carolina, and I think they had similar bodies of work to this point. Deontay had some some injuries here, but you know, there there were flashes of Deontay that, you know, we thought we're
gonna be really good. You know, he unfortunately had a couple of injuries here and there. But those two remind me. We took Deontay at the back of the fourth and those two remind me of each other a little bit.
Your sixth and final pick was running back Taj Brooks. You've got an emerging Chase Brown. You brought back some I J. P.
Ryan.
What does Taj Brooks add to the mix?
Taj was very productive at Texas Tech. He's tough, he's strong, he's instinctive, he's got good vision, he's got good make miss, he can pass protect, He's somebody that we feel can do everything that we need. You know, if if somej goes down, he can go in, be the past protector. If you know, Chase goes down, he can go in. You know, God forbid all these If Chase goes down, he can go in and carry the ball twenty times
a game if we need him to. If you know, we need him to go in on third down and catch a swing out of the backfield, he can do that. He's a jack of all trades type of player. You know, it was an exceptional running back draft, probably the best you know, I saw, and even just this this year being the year where all these extra COVID seasons were ending, you know, there were more what we would call draftable players in this draft than any year that you know,
of the ten that I've been doing it. So you know that that led to you know, guys that we had high opinions of being there in the sixth round. So you know, we see Taj as somebody that is a make it player, a contributing player, and you can't say that for every six or seventh round pick. So somebody that we feel has a very well rounded skill set and could go in and you know, if, as I said, he can carry the ball, he can pass, protect, he can catch the ball and run routes. So phenomenal
young man too. Has has really these last couple of weeks, you know, just getting here been a great ad and fit in very well.
We're chatting with Bengal scout Andrew Johnson. Let's talk about a couple of the undrafted free agents, beginning with center Seth McLaughlan out of Ohio State. He won the Remmington Award He's the best center in the country before tearing his achilles in November. He hopes to be back by the start of training camp. What grade did you have on Seth before the injury.
Yes, certainly. You know, in the scouting world, you grade the medical separate from the playing ability. So you grade the playing ability for what it is, You grade the character for what it is, and you grade the medical for what it is. There are three independent evaluations that all you know, it's all part of the player's body
at work. But certainly thought Seth was a was a draftable player and a late day too early day three pick, I would say, going into you know, the draft process, not being able to work out at the combine not being able to work out at Pro Day and having an active injury during the draft is very difficult. Certainly think Seth was going to get drafted, you know, tearing your achilles. I think it was in practice, you know, either the second or last week of the season for
Seth is really difficult. Played at a very high level for two blue bloods in college football at Alabama and Ohio State. Was obviously part of a national championship winning team this year. He's super, super smart. He plays with outstanding leverage, outstanding instincts. He plays like a veteran on
the field. You know, he may not be the god given athlete that you know, a first round or second round center is, but he makes up for that with his intelligence, his anticipation, his leverage, his hand use, and you know, I'm really excited for him. I hope he I hope we can you know, see him in camp
be what he was. I know it's going to be tough coming back from from a major injury, but you know, I think we're planning on, you know, whether it's active roster, practice squad, you know, getting him through this injury and getting him back to where he was. I think it's going to be a really really good ad for us when we when we can see Seth back at his
full go his full potential. So we were thrilled to get to get him as a college free agent, and I think he's one that you know, will eventually factor and be a contributing player for us.
You didn't draft to safety, but you did sign one in Chequan Loyal out of Rutgers. He reportedly had offers out of high school from Alabama and Ohio State. What can you tell us about him?
Yeah, really really excited about Shaq. He's as you said, we did not draft a safety. You know, it was something, it was a position. It's I would still call it a position and need for us, and it was just one of those positions. We're here in the draft and only having six picks, you know, we had to make some tough decisions, but we had very very high opinions a shack coming out of Rutgers. I was at the pro day. I worked him out myself. He is a big, tough, strong,
physical safety that has played free strong and nickel. He's been a high level special teams player. I was just you know, watching our buzzing through some of our tape before we jumped on here, and he made a play in individual last week. I think it was on Tuesday or I think it was Tuesday of last week where it you know, we're just doing drills on air here in shorts and t shirts. But it was a run and catch a deep ball, high point it, and he made an incredibly athletic play to high point this ball
and and and come down with it. And that was something he was more of a box guy at Rutgers, so to see him do that, it was like, WHOA. So he's somebody that I think, just in these first couple weeks of being here, has really impressed. You know, he looks the part. He's athletic, he's strong, he's very tough and physical. He was very productive. He plays in a program that I have a lot of respect for.
It's a tough place to play, and he's a he's a great ad and I think he's really gonna factor for us and eventually be a contributor.
We're visiting the Bengals scout Andrew Johnson. You worked with Al Golden previously when he was a Bengals assistant coach. I'm sure you watched a lot of his Notre Dame defenses as you studied tape as a college scout over the last few years. What stood out to you about those Notre Dame defenses?
Al first of all, couldn't be more excited to have alback. I think the absolute world of Al and can't believe he's not a head coach. Hopefully we win the Super Bowl here and you know, maybe maybe he gets one then. But I that just tells you what I what I think of Al. One story I like to tell about Al is he was our linebackers coach in twenty twenty
and twenty twenty one. We went to Super Bowl and during the twenty twenty draft, I think it was the twenty twenty and twenty twenty one draft, we couldn't do our draft visits because of you know, COVID rules, So we were doing all these zoom calls with these kids and I would, you know, if it was a guy in my area, I would jump on with Al and listen in. And I remember, I'll leave the player un names. But it was a high level first round player that year.
And you know a lot of times, you know, some coaches will you know, spend five ten, maybe a whole call, just getting to know the kid. And we jumped on this call with this player. It was a Sunday morning, I think it was like eight am, and Al said, Hey, I'm not going to say his name, but hey, you know, thanks so much for jumping on the call. You got
to coach, no problem. All right, I'm gonna put this front up here, and I want you to tell me what happens when you know this guy goes in motion, and how you pass it off and what you call on your defense. And for forty five minutes straight, we did nothing but talk about defenses and fronts and adjustments and calls and checks and you know, how to close the front and what to communicate to the safeties. And I was sitting on the call, like, you know, I'm
having a hard time following this. So he's he's one of the most detail oriented people I've ever been around. But at the same time, he's a phenomenal personality. He's so easy to get along with. He knows when to be serious and when to to you know, be you know, have fun and be loose. And he's you know, I
think Al's players love him. I think people I would run through a wall for him, and I think our player, I think the Notre Dame players when we talked to, you know, guys in the draft that played for Al at Notre Dame, they loved him. And that's no shock to me. Our guys loved him in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. So I think it's a huge, huge ad for us and I think it's it's going to be the X factor in US winning the Super Bowl.
Do you think he has a unique ability to develop young talent?
Absolutely, He's one thing about Al is he knows how to get along with all walks of life. You know, he can talk to, you know, an inner city kid, he can talk to a suburban kid. He can talk to a ten year of d or a rookie, and he strategically communicates to different people to know how to get the best out of them. So incredibly happy to
have him here. And yeah, I think I think development is something that we're putting a huge emphasis on, and with a lot of you know, obviously everybody knows that we've spent a lot of money on the offensive side of the ball and that's resulting in a lot of
young draft picks. On defense. So you know, we have a lot of young players that are going to be playing, and you know Hal knows that, and we've put an emphasis on development, So I have no doubt that he will get the best out of our young players.
A couple more topics for Andrew Johnson. One of your colleagues with the Bengals, Christian Sarkisian, recently left the team to be the GM at Northwestern University College football. GM is a relatively new position. Is it something that people in your world are talking about? It's a possible stepping stone to be an NFL GM, not that.
I have heard of. You know, I think it's a different world with the money aspect in college football right now. College recruiting is not what it used to be. You know, you used to recruit, you know, ten years when I was playing, you know, you recruited thirty high school kids a year and maybe you took one or two transfers. And now you know, you've got kids making seven figures and you're recruiting high school kids, you're recruiting transfers, and
you're recruiting your own roster back every single day. Because of the current landscape of college football, you know, I could go on and on about that for a long time. But that's the one thing about the IVY League is there's no scholarships. We're just playing for the love of the game. But IVY League hasn't really been impacted by NIL. But no, really, really really happy for Christian. He's super smart,
he was a great guy to work with. He's going to do an excellent job, and really happy for him and wish him the best.
Is your ultimate dream NFL GM.
Yeah, I'll answer that by saying that I have no intentions of working for any other team than the Bengals, and I'll work that back to something I said on the you know at the beginning, is that you know, we are very, very fortunate to work for the best people in football, and I truly mean that, from the ownership family to do Uk and Zach. This is a special place and that's something that anybody I talked to about our team, that's the first thing that I'll tell him, and it's the god honest truth.
So, you know, I.
Want to win a Super Bowl here. I want to win one for our owner, Mike Brown and everybody in the building. But that would be great if it was here. That would be great, but I would like to have one full time employer in my whole life and that's the Bengals.
This has been fun. Really appreciate your time, Andrew, thank.
You, Thank you, Dan Hudei.
Before getting to my next guest, here's a quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time to move on to another edition of five
Questions with a Bengals rookie. It's my way of getting to know them a little bit better by asking five questions that hopefully they don't hear over and over again. Time for five Questions with third round draft pick Dylan Fairchild. Question number one. I think people have heard that you are a tremendous high school wrestler, four times all state undefeated as a junior and a senior. You reportedly pinned
every opponent your senior year here's my question. Could you have been an Olympian and did you have any interest in trying to pursue.
That an Olympian? I don't know.
That's a hard that's a hard h thing to do. But I mean, you know, football is always like my main passion, so I mean, I really just wanted to pursue football, but I don't know an olympian.
That's a hard thing to do.
So I don't know if Gabe Stevenson will have something to say about that.
I did hear or read that Cale Sanderson, legendary Olympic old Metal has tried to recruit you at Penn State. Was that the case?
Yeah, he did well. He didn't try to recruit me necessarily.
He just basically told me, like, you know, you can wrestle here, like if you you know, if you come here to play football. I mean it was really more of like almost a dual scholarship.
Question Number two for Dylan Fairchild. You spent four years at Georgia. Who is the toughest person you either faced in a game or at practice.
Definitely Jalen Carter in practice.
I mean, you know, he's one of the elite guys in the league, right now, Yeah, I mean i'd probably just say him in the practice for sure.
Was it miserable and what made him so tough to face?
I think, yeah, that first year was pretty miserable. Was not even not even ever feeling anything like that? You know, like seven A Georgia football is a great it's a great division to play in high school. But you know, you got those rare guys that come into college and you know end up being like how he had a how his career shaped up. You know, I look at us as a blessing just to be able to see him early on in my career and feel what the best feels like.
So yeah, question three for dylean Fairchild. According to your bio, you are an avid fisherman. What's your biggest catch or your proudest fishing accomplishment?
My biggest I caught like a two hundred pounds shark when I was younger. Man, I don't even say my biggest bass because it wasn't that big.
Well, let's talk about the two hundred pound shark. How did you bring in a two hundred pound shark?
I think I was like eleven. It took me like three hours.
Yeah, I actually went with my dad a long time ago, and we went fishing and hooked up on a shark and then brought it in.
So is there a good photo?
No, No, No, I know I wish I had one. I think we broke it off right at the boat. But yeah, I mean that's I know, I know, I really wish we got a photo that.
I am actually devastated for you that there's no photo of that, all right? Question number four. Your Instagram feed includes picks of what appears to be your wedding proposal, and I was impressed. There's a giant heart that looks like it's made of flowers. There are candles, there's champagne. You went all out.
Yeah I did, I did.
I gotta give credit to the people at Athletes first hooking me up and helping me with that too. I mean, they hooked me up with all the people that could connect me and.
Help me set it up for my wife. Now she's my wife now, so.
I mean she can't say no when you go to those lengths.
Right, Yeah, No, it was hard to hide it from her, Like walking up to it, she knew.
She pretty much knew from a mile away.
That's all right, when it's that elaborate the element of surprise doesn't matter quite as much. Fifth and final question for Dylan Fairchild. Tell us thing about you that not that many people know.
I don't know.
I mean, I'm a pretty open book, you know. I mean, I just pursue the Lord. I love my family and I love.
Football, and that's really I'm simple guy. You know. I want to farm one day. You could say that. Really, Yeah, like a small farm, not like anything huge.
But are there farmers in your family trade?
No?
No, I just it's something that I just want to learn, and I just want to be constantly learning, and you know, I feel like that's a great opportunity to do something like that.
So I figured this out faith family Football farming. You got the big four Big four f's.
That's right. There you go.
This has been fun. Great to have you in Cincinnati. Appreciate your time, Sarah.
Thank you.
Now let's turn from five questions to five observations after watching the Bengals practice and talking to players and coaches on Tuesday. Topic number one is first round draft pick Shamar Stewart. As of this recording, Shamar is one of eleven first round draft picks who hasn't signed a contract that's basically one third of the first round, and in Stuart's case, he also has not signed a waiver that would allow him to practice during negotiations while protecting him
in the event of injury. As a result, he's still observing from the sideline. I don't think it's an issue yet, but Zach Taylor says it would help Stuart to start practicing asap.
It's always good to be out there physically in the field.
You know.
Mentally is one thing, and he's doing that. He's in the meetings, he studying, he's been great about all that, and then the physical thing. You just don't want to fall too far behind. You know, every week that passes and can be different, and you want to set yourself up to success. And we expect a great year from Schamar and so part of that will just be getting up to speed when he does.
Get on the field.
Oddly enough, the eleven unsigned first round picks include two more from the AFC North, the Browns Mason Graham and the Ravens Malachi Starks. Topic number two is another defensive end drafted in the first round by Cincinnati, Miles Murphy, and watching Miles during defensive line drills, he looks lean and fast. Murphy told Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Hobson recently that he's improved his diet in the offseason, including eliminating sugary cereals, and the change in his physique is noticeable.
New defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery is eager to work with Murphy and try to help him reach his immense potential.
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is we can just clean up some technique and fundamental things that can help them. You know, is this not like he's a bad football player. I mean, the kid's got he's got good size, he plays hard. You know, we can clean up hands, eyes, feed pad level, you know, help him put a better you know, rush playing together from a standpoint on how you want to attack guys, how
somebody's going to set you those things. But like, I see a kid that has a chance to be a good football.
Player, and following the retirement of Sam Hubbard, Miles is definitely going to get increased opportunities to show what he can do this year. Topic number three is a potential Bengals Pro bowler, Tyson Anderson, who is entering his fourth season has emerged as one of the best special teams performers in the league, leading the Bengals in special teams tackles in each of the last two years.
I just want to be the best special teams player in this league. We got a lot of great guys in this league. Schooler reeves, there's a lot of great dudes, Killer Brew, It's a lot of great dudes. I just want to be brought up in no discussion.
Try to push for all pro seasons.
I got some big goals, but just trying to take baby steps to get there.
But that's not his only goal. Gino Stone and Jordan Battle are the projected starters at safety, but the Bengals did not draft one or sign a veteran in free agency. Does Anderson view that as a vote of confidence that he can contribute in the secondary?
This for sure confidence booster.
Just know that they I guess they view me as a player who can contribute in this league, so for sure. But I'm confident regardless. So it's all interconfidence for sure.
Anderson has great size and speed, but has not played any snaps on defense in the regular season. It'll be interesting to see if that changes under Al Golden this year. Topic number four is Jermaine Burton. I mentioned on this podcast last week that I've been encouraged by what I've seen so far from the second year wide receiver at
practice and in the building. After a rookie year that featured too many instances of being laid or not living up to team standards, Burden is taking steps toward earning the trust of teammates and coaches. Here are Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow.
All you can handle on is the president right now, and I think he's done a good job of that this offseason. He's been in the building, seen in the building outside of work hours, you know, doing his own thing, rehaving, preh having I should say, just keeping his body right. And so again he's attacked every practice and meeting the right way, and that's what he can control right now, and so so I appreciate that from treumat.
I think he's stuffed up this year so far, he's taking it very seriously.
Matured.
It seems like that's exciting to see. I know, based on conversations that we have had, he's in a good spot mentally and physically, and he's been working hard.
So that's exciting to see and exciting to hear, keeping in mind that we are a long way from the season opener in Cleveland. The fifth and final topic involves Joe Burrow's appearance on the upcoming second season of the Netflix Quarterback documentary. This edition features Burrow, Jared Goff, and Kirk Cousins and the highs and lows they experienced last year.
Joe discussed it with Porters for the first time this week, sharing that he agreed to do the show after getting a call from Peyton Manning, who is an executive producer.
Caught me on the on the right day, I guess, but you know, I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be good entertainment. Not necessarily the season that I wanted to have in that spotlight, but you know, I think a big part was Peyton being involved.
In it too.
You know, I have a lot of respect for him obviously, and what he did does is as a person, so that guy reaches out to you and asks you to do something, then you know, most of the time I'm going to say yeah.
Zach Taylor hopes the show gives viewers an added appreciation for what it takes to be a great NFL quarterback.
And appreciation of what they go through every single day of a game and over the course of a season, and how their role can evolve as a season goes, the stresses they deal with in game, the pressure is not the right word that they put themselves, but just
the commitment that they put in during the week. I mean, if you really filmed every install meeting we have, you know, from Wednesday through Saturday night in which I think that they do, their cameras are in there, so you're going to see some of that stuff with us, and it's
impressive and it's not many people can do it. It's why there's only thirty two starters in the world, you know, at this level, and it's Having played the position, I obviously have a strong appreciation for what you go through physically and mentally. But again, the top dogs at that position, like Joe, I mean, what they put themselves through and the mental stress that they can handle and process so
quickly is unbelievable. I'd be hard pressed to say it's matched at any position anywhere, just because of what they've got to go through mentally and physically. And so you know, I'm sure we'll see some of that with this that comes on.
I for one can't wait. The show is scheduled to be released in July. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
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