Bengals Booth Podcast: Sweet Home Alabama

is not Inmobile this week, quarterback Joe Burrow. Lap will also discuss Andy Dalton's future in Cincinnati, the Bengals approach to free agency this offseason, and answer questions you submitted on Twitter. All of that is straight ahead, but first, 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, your Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since fun daily calendars.

We've had a bunch of these over the years. There was the Thousand Places to See calendar with a different cool picture every day, and I've had Sports Trivia daily calendars, which are always fun. This year we have the New York Times Daily Crossword Puzzle, which has become a great family activity. So here's to fun daily calendars. And hey, it's late January, so you can probably get a twenty

twenty version really cheap. Now let's get to football. After the San Francisco forty nine Ers beat the Packers last week to advance to the Super Bowl, several members of the forty nine Ers coaching staff could be seen holding interesting T shirts in the locker room after the game that said the following Mobile to Miami. That's a reference to the fact that the forty nine Ers staff coached in the Senior Bowl in Mobile at the start of the year, and we'll coach in the Super Bowl in

Miami to end the year. I'm not predicting that the Bengals coaches will be wearing Mobile to Tampa T shirts at the end of next season, but it does show you that quick turnarounds do happen in the NFL. The last time the Bengals coached in the Senior Bowl was January of two eleven, after going four and twelve in two ten. A few months after the All Star Game. The Bengals drafted AJ Green in the first round, Andy Dalton in the second round and began a streak of

five straight playoff appearances. My broadcast partner, Dave Lapham has been in Mobile all week and join me on Friday morning to share his observations. Lap You played in the Senior Bowl in nineteen seventy four. How much has it changed A ton? I mean, it's a Broadway production now is prepared to nineteen seventy four when you can that or you know, no ESPN, no NFL network, no cell phones, uh,

no equipment to video tape practices. You know the game was on a sixteen millimeter film projector it's a totally different dynamic. There are obviously a lot of people in attendance, but back then and sent me for the only way they could see what they wanted to see was to

get down there. And I remember, you know, past protecting h against Carl Barzeloscis and two tall Jones, and it's like there were a big circle of people like ten deep, and you could literally reach out and touch an owner or a GM or a head coach or a line coach. It was crazy, it was you know, and you're thinking, well, I hope I I've blocked somebody because I'm either going to have validation or elimination here today it's day, It's time. Who were the coaches in seventy four? I was the

Philadelphia Eagle staff Mike McCormick's staff. So my infensive line coach was John Sandusky, who was a great offensive lineman with Mike McCormick with the Cleveland Browns and John Sandusky that my most vivid memory of him was we had a banquet the night before the Senior Bowl and he was an accomplished ballroom dancer, and John Sandusky get up there and started cutting a rug and it was impressive. I mean, the big man was like a dancing bear.

And conside why he was such a good player with the body size that he had, in his ability to move his feed so adroitly. I mean, he was really a good coach. I was very fortunate and special teams coach, and that in that team was Dick Leboie, just retired from playing with the Detroit Lions with a Hall of Fame career as a player, soon to be a Hall

of Fame coach as well. But that was his first introduction as a coach in the NFL as a special teams coach with the Eagles, and special teams was interesting when there's like sixty guys pro roster. Gosh, I think we were like in the mid to high thirties. We didn't have that many players. And special teams was none of the guys that played special teams in college. They were all their better players on their teams. So special

teams is very interesting and just cobbling things together. And he said to me, big fella, you ever covered a kick before? I said, no, sir, every in my life. He said, you're about to. He said, you're one of our faster line. You're gonna run down on kickgous Okay, so he said, just you know, stay in your land and get your head on a swivel. First kickoff. I get down there, I'm like, man, I might make a play.

I'm I'm getting close here. And I get within like a couple of arms lengths and boom, I get ear holed by a defensive tackle out of the wedge. And I thought, oh boy. So I come to the sideline and Butpo's, like I told you, big fella, on a swivel, keeping on a swivel. I said, yes, there, it was a learning experience, but yeah, it was, it was. It was just a it was a great the difference then in seventy four, though, we get fifteen hundred dollars as

a winner. We won the Senior Bolt. David James hit lyn Swan with a game winning touchdown passed for us, and I loved lyn Swan for a moment, and then I learned not to like him as much when he got the pits for a bit. He got his fifteen hundred to the winner, seven fifty to the the loser. So I go back to Syracuse nineteen seventy four, fifteen hundred bucks, and I thought I was a gazillionaire. It was. It was great. Fifteen hundred back then was you know, significant,

significant money. But they don't. They don't do that anymore, but I did. I called the athletic director before taking the check because I thought, well, I know I don't have any eligibility left, but my forfeiting a scholarship opportunity here in the NCAA wasn't a stranger obviously back then. And he's like, no, you're fine, you can go ahead and take that. You've only had, you know, a few months,

a couple of months left for graduation. I go, okay, you could do some damage on Marshall Street with fifteen hundred bucks. Oh, I'm telling you, man, yeah, I was. We used to gather it could comes to club Key Sees was big hangout after I got the golf course in the country club after games and man, h I bought many around to TCAs with that fifteen hundred doubt. All right, I want to talk about the guy who is not there, Joe Burrow. I'm sure you've been talking

to people about him. What have you learned that you know? The consensus on Joe Burrow obviously is he had the greatest season college quarterback has ever had. UM, and that's you know, that's just obvious by the numbers. But when you, you know, you deep dive into him, there's not a box that he doesn't check and um, you know a lot of the people that I've talked to, it's it's very important with the you know, off the field beyond the field stuff everybody can see, but the off the

field stuff. It's like I was talking to a few people who said, you know, I always go and ask these these coaches who is this player of friends with? And if a which has to stroke his chin and say, let me think about that, well maybe this guy. Maybe that guy's like, you know with Joe Burrow, You say, who who's whose friends with Joe Burrow? Everybody, whether it's on the football team not on the football he's one of those guys that is just I mean, a natural

born leader. Everybody gravitates toward. Um. He's got that in factor, you know, that that personality uh stuff, you know, the boomeris Hiasin type stuff where you know, he's's kind of a magnet and everybody loves the guy. And I'm I started watching a little bit more of of of Borrow, and the thing with him dan to me all the things. You know, he throws into such tight windows. He's so

accurate with football. But and and two things. His um quick twitch, his short space quick twitch is very underrated. I mean, this guy's making sec athletes. He's got him in space, you know, like a good athletic linebacker or even a defensive back. And he's putting the wiggle on him, making him so. I mean, this guy's athleticism, I think is not talked about as much as it could be. And then he's got in the pocket. He's got that

innate ability to feel pressure. A lot of times when guys feel pressure, they start looking down, looking around, you know, trying to protect their legs and worried about where it's coming from. Borrow has that ability to kind of sense it and step up and slidestep and avoid and escape the pocket. The whole time. His eyes are down the field and he sees the field and he's gonna you know, downfield the whole time, and boom he'll make a throw.

And that's that's I think, something that really separates him from from a lot of guys. Uh. And then obviously he's got the football acumen and I mean he processes things so quickly. And um, you know the slow start that LSU had, Uh they ran out. Clemson comes out with through a three down lineman, a linebacker and seven defensive backs. Basically quarter coverage. You know, it's not dime sits. It's quarter coverage. Nickel, not dime go to a bigger coin.

You know, it's quarter coverage. And it's like, oh, they got off their slow start. Well, he had a thirty five yard completion and he had a blindman down field ineligibly. He had two drops. So I mean it was a combination of adjusting set scheme plus an execution. And you know they go hand in hand because when you see something for the first time, you know, it's maybe a little apprehension, a little bit. I was gonna, boy, I gotta get something done here kind of mentality, not just

a quarterback but everybody. But once they settled down, he ripped it up, ripped it apart. In fact, they had to get out of it. So I think in my mind, Dan, you know, I would I would say, hey, Joe, you're my guy. You know, don't don't overthink it. Somebody's gonna try to find something to rip them. You know, they're gonna try to find the negative during this draft process.

You know, he had a pimple in the seventh grade, whatever it is, and they're gonna try to make a big deal out of it and be satisfied that your evaluation processes there. Don't worry, be happy, take them. And I would declare it. I'd say Joe early on, I'd said, Joe, you're our guy. I remember when they drafted Carston Palmer, they signed him before they drafted them three days before

they drafted them. And I'm not quite sure about the rules now and if you can do it, and if you do it, you decide to go public with it or whatever. But I would say to him, Look, you don't have to go to all these other team visits, you don't have to go to the combine, you don't have to go and burn your arm out, you don't have to do all this wrong. A lot of these quarterbacks don't really have a better year until their second year because they do so much of that before they're

even drafted. By the end of October, beginning in November, they've got a dead arm. So I would I would definitely say, Joe Chill, you're our guy. Don't feel pressure that you have to go everywhere and do everything for everybody. And I think that's the reason, the biggest reason he's not here dan as he had a fifteen game season and an NFL season basically, and he knows what's coming.

So I think he just said I need a little bit of time to kick back with family and girlfriend all those kinds of things, and totally understandable, um, but but I would even you know, lessen the burden on him. Mentally and see, Joe, you don't have to worry about all that stuff. We've made the decision. You're our guy. Yeah, nothing else. Say to the agent, Hey, if he wants to throw it his pro day, go ahead, but don't do anything beyond that. Yeah. I mean, you know you

go to these workouts, private workouts. They wear you out, you know at these at these uh you know, each club. You know, you go for interview and then they'll go on, let me go down and see him throw. I just want to see your throw all time. Let me just see your throw one more. You know. It's like, man, I'd avoid all that, I really would. I'd let it be known at least to him and his agent for sure that you know you are going to be our guy. Don't feel like you have to do anything else. We

are making the maybe to you. We want you to be as ready for us as we are to take you. We want you to be ready to um you know, be with us physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, every way possible. We don't want you worn out. We want Joe Burrow. We already have full fledged Burrowmania. In Cincinnati. He gets spotted getting chicken wings and TV News cruise show up. Would you be shocked at this point if he's not

the guy? I would, I really would. I will say though Herbert has put on a show with his arm. I mean he has got arm talent, there's no question about it. Um. And and he'll probably he'll go to the combine and he'll run probably in the to meet Dana. Looks like he's a high four sixes guy. And um, you know, but when I watch him and this is

just practice now, you know, so it's not a game. Um, but when when I when I've seen him like I saw him in the in the in the Big twelve championship stuff, and he's he's more methodical, I guess is a polite way to put it, or mechanical would be more impolite. First read secondary, okay, now tuck it, you know, now I'm going to do this. He doesn't have them. You know, we talked about about Joe Burrow, you know, having that short space suddenness and you know, quick twitch.

He takes him two or three steps to get going, and once he gets going, he goes. But he's not like a short you know, He's not one of those explosive kind of guys. But his arm is unbelievable. And the thing about him. Two things I respect about him is he could have come out last year and made a lot of money. He would have been a first rounder. But he went back to Oregon. He felt like, all right, you you made a commitment to me. I'm going to

fulfill my obligation to you. And he stayed for another year. You know, he wanted to win Big twelve championship, get in the playoffs and try to try to make a run. So that tells me something about his character. Plus the other thing is he was not going to come to the Senior Bowl unless he was on the South and he said, I want to compete for the number one spot in the draft. I want to go down there, and just knocked the socks off of the Bengals organization.

So he's got that. You know, he's got that competitive drive and everything. I respect that about his character. But I think he's he's more one of those guys where he's very, very bright. He won the academic Heisman. But I bet if you go to his coaches, you know, so who's justin hanwith Who's who are his guys? I bet there'd be you know, a laborious list of a few people. I'm not sure he's one of those guys

that everybody gravitates toward. You know what I liked about Joe barrow after the game, sitting back smoking the cigar. I could just see him smoking a cigar, having a beer with his old lineman. That's my guy. You know. It's like just a regular dude, Joe barrow Man. That's uh, you know, I love that. It's just yeah, well, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna chill out and enjoy this moment. Boy,

these things have come hu and far between. And then as a former lineman, when he get up at that Heisman presentation and the first thing he did was thank his boy's upfront, Like, oh man, this guy gets it, you know. I mean his dad coach for solo. He just like I said, Dan, I don't think there's a box the dude doesn't check. You can try to create boxes. I think he's still checks. One more Joe Burrow question

and then we'll move on. In nineteen ninety nine, the Bengals famously turned down the Saints offer of all of their draft picks that year, including number twelve overall plus their first rounder in two thousand, plus their first rounder in two thousand and one, plus their second rounder in two thousand and two. They turned all of that down

because of a quarterback and drafted Achille Smith. If there was an offer out there close to that magnitude three number one picks because somebody is just smitten with Joe Burrow, would they take it? I really, honestly, I think the lesson of that is, if somebody wants to offer you there, you know, mortgage their whole draft. I don't know how you don't take a whole draft for a player I don't care who the damn player is. Means It's like, I don't think I don't think there's gonna be anything

quite like that. Obviously, the Miami Dolphins with three number ones. I mean, if they if they say, we'll give you all three number ones this year, number one next year and a number two next year and whatever, I mean, if they start coming up with something crazy like that, you at least have to contemplate it. But you know, as it turns out, this ends up not being a bad year to have an off year with these quarterback options.

You know, it really isn't, So you know, the fact is, yeah, Joe Burrow I think deserves to be the first one picked. But that's not to say that Herbert wouldn't have a brilliant career. So you know, if you're going to get mortgage, you know, if you're going to get somebody's future and brighten near future, you might think about it a little bit. I mean, there are three quarterbacks projected to go in

the first round. Love Kid quarterbacks in to the North as the third one projected to go in the first round. I'll tell you watching Jalen Hurt. If Jalen hurts, he could be the way the way that this game shaping up Dan. The Bengals have the better quarterbacks. They have the best offensive player I think in the game in Herbert. I think he's the best offensive player. They had the best defensive player on their roster, and list kid in the one on ones. Oh my god, four hands, four

eyes on Javon Kinla. They never walked him in the one on one drills. I mean, he's to me, he's he's top fifteen pick. If he's not top fifteen, I'll be stunned. South Carolina. But he nipped himself up in the last day of the heavy contact one on one, so he didn't practice ester. I think his agent is going to stay. Look, if you play, you're you're ignorant, you know, I mean, you get nicked up a little bit. People couldn't believe even came to the senior ball, And

I think it shows his character. He was taking every rep that he was supposed to take in those one on ones and exposed himself to you know, potential injury. That told me a lot about him. But oh my god, is he a beast. I mean he's stidy. You weren't getting as the best first when you're on the road,

he's he's an intuminating dude. But um, you know, yeah, it's it's I think they've got the better quarterbacks, but the North has better offense and defensive lineman, so it's gonna be all right, Well, will the quarterback have an opportunity to function? So we'll see about Herbert, you know, creating plays because I think the North the defensive and offensive lines are pretty good. So I think the battle and the pit pits could tilt towards the North. But

if Herbert shows he can create an extent. If he can't, I think incomes hurt can and he could potentially be MPP if he makes plays and they win the football game, and you know, then everybody'd be like, wow, what about Jaylor this maybe he should be a number one first

round pick. But you know, the practices in the Senior Bowl are more important than the game because you know, they're these coaches are living with these guys all week long in the classroom, on the football field, seeing how they interact with their teammates, seeing what they're like when the cameras are on them, you know, I mean they're

living with them for a week. So all of that is much more valuable than you know, the game, the actual game tape, because they're you know, so many things can happen with respect to you know, not your your performance, other people perform well enough around you, and all those kind of things, and it's it's very very vanilla again. I mean, they can't twist and stunt upfront with defensive line. They can't blitz for man pressures backs, you know, no

zone blitz stuff. Nope, buzz coverages were linebackers and defensive backs interchange responsibilities, I mean safety in the middle of the football field when they're playing press man it's all elements. I could play quarterback and make reads and this football This is not going to challenge any of these guys mentally. But you know, if somebody gets dominated physically, then these quarterbacks are gonna have to, you know, run around and make some plays and we'll see how all that unfolds.

Duke Tobin, the Bengals director of player personnel, doesn't do interviews during the season. They allow the head coach to be their singular voice. But he's been talking to everybody in Mobile I know, and I know you were in on a group session with him. What did you make of his comments about Andy Dalton where he said we want to be there to Andy. Yeah, that tells me that they appreciate the career that he's had. You know, what he represents, and once he has mentioned the franchise

both on and off football field. He's had Pro Bowl seasons and you know, he's had seasons that haven't been obviously, but on balance that, the entire body of work has been impressive and the organization thinks extremely highly of Andy Dalton as a football player, as a human being obviously, So I think that if they do, you know, he's not gonna He wasn't going to declare that, yeah, we're trading any because they still don't know exactly what's happening yet.

He didn't want to declare anything at that oppressive. But my feeling is that if they do draft Joe Burrow number one, they're going to make every effort to trade Andy Dalton. But I don't think they're going to give him away because they do value him. So it's going to be interesting because it's going to be a tug of war. We want. We know Andy deserves to be a starter. We know he is starting caliber quarterback in

the NFL. We feel we get a young guy that can take us to a higher level, but that doesn't diminish the fact that Andy can play in this league and we feel like we owe him that opportunity, but we're not going to give him away. So it's gonna it's gonna be very interesting. Somebody's gonna have to come to the table or something. And you know, we both feel like you know, everybody, everybody overvalues their own, and

the Bengals overvalue of their own big time. So is it gonna be one of those deals where man, you know, man, maybe we aren't being a little unrealistic. Nobody's coming close to what we're asking. Do we say, all right, we're gonna keep Andy Dalton. He's gonna be a bench jockey, you know, to our to our number one guy. And you know what, knowing Andy Dalton, he would eventually accept

it and do a great job of it. But in trying to be fair to Andy Dalton, I would bend over backwards to make sure I could make some kind of a dealing at something for him. When I asked about free age and see Duke said you don't want to force it. Does that mean business as usual in your mind? Yeah, it's you know, that's that's the interesting uh that that phraseology jumped out of me. There's no

doubt about that. You know, it's uh, you know, Bengal fans are just they're they're just lusting for something, you know, give us, give us some kind of uh something we can hang our hat on, something to get excited and

enthused about. And you know, the Bengals their business model is like, no, we're gonna be very you know, we're going to go through the process and we're not gonna we're not going to overpay for somebody, you know, Um, you can look at the statistics, it's you know, free agents, it's it's a fifty fifty deal, just like the draft, you know, it's it's, uh, it's a matter of you don't hit on. It's fifty fifty with the first pick

of the draft, fifty fifty with the first round. There's fifty fifty everywhere in in and free agency as well. And again, like we just mentioned to talking about, you know, over were sometimes over evaluating, you know, over saying ounk our guys are worth more than the rest of the league. Feels like they're worth. But then you look at um you know, at the beginning of the year, more more guys they were drafted by the Bengals are playing in

the NFL than anybody. And as a season wears on, it's like they're still number two, still number three, and they finished the season times a third or whatever. That tells you that they're putting the bat on the ball. But then is it a question of does it fit right? Is to developmental process, you know, working well enough, It's not like they're they're you know, totally missing on um on a higher percentage of players and other teams in

the league are. But we're so tunnel visioned on the Bengals that every miss is you know, it's like, oh my god, the worst mistake in the history of football. Every franchise has their missus. Believe me. I mean that's what people down here are talking about. It's like being the drafts are such a crapshoot. Everything is such a crapshoot. It's it's it's the most it's the more non scientific

thing that there isn't the history of mankind. All Right, you gave us your best offensive player you've seen down there, quarterback Justin Herberge. You gave us your best defensive player, defensive lineman, Javon ken Law from South Carolina. What's been the most impressive position group? Well, that's that's I don't think that. I don't think the offensive line for the

South is anything to you know, write home about. But fortunately Dan when we looked at Fred Johnson and made himself some money in Isaiah Prince and they want to take a long look at and Jonah Williams. That's three guys that they're gonna have it next year's training camp that they didn't have it this year's training Jenner and you know, They're hopeful that Jonah. They know what he is prior to injury. They hope he's the same guy post surgery. Laboring surgery, Fred made himself some money doing

what he did at the left tackle position. He started against Cleveland, played well to finished the season with his first start, and then Isaiah Princess then interesting guy from Ohio State to take a look at. So, I mean, that's three guys on the on the exterior, you know, at the tackle position that that you're going to be. It's it's a much different dynamic. So I'm kind of focusing on the inside guys. Um, And you know, I was.

I was real excited to see Logan Stenberg the first day of one on ones and he's malling people nasty. Then I'm watching them in protection and the next day of one on one and he's getting beaten a lot by my gang. So there's an interesting guy, his kid named Ben Bartch from Saint John's Division three kid and um, you know at six six three five three or five three ten something like that, good looking kid. And I'm thinking, okay, well here he is going against some SEC guys. Let's uh,

let's take a look. And he belongs. He belongs. It is not too big for him. He's an interesting guy you know that you've worked with maybe later, I think later in the draft kind of thing. Like I said, I do think that that the North has has the better players. I think Jeremy Jackson from Ohio State is a guy. I think he's a day one starting guard type guy. I think been greatest in from Michigan is

a day one starting guard type guy. You know inside, um, it's it's interesting that this kid, Matt Hennessey from Temple Is is a really good run blockers, pass protection to me is a little is a little bit shady. Josh Jones his kid from Houston. Everybody's going nuts on him down here, and he's he's seeing him get six seven three ten, but his arms measured thirty two and eight a little t Rex action. You know, he's got short arms. So I'm wondering, is this guy a guard because you

know what those short arms. But I'll tell you when you watch him, he's got very very patient, quiet feet and violent hands. I mean he's got exactly what you want from a technique standpoint to go at that long body. So I mean there are there are some lineman. And you know, probably one of the strongest positions is wide receiver position because the strongest position in the draft, and there is a trickle down there. Um. But you know, I'm not sure, you know, if healthy, how many wide

receivers are the Bengals looking at potentially. But one of my more interesting conversations was with Mike Mayock because the Raiders coaches are coaching staff had this last year. They drafted six players from their senior Bowl, four they coached and two they coached against. And what the Bengals having the first thirty three, thirty third, sixty ninety seven, four of the top one hundred fix Heck, you know, I

Borrow obviously isn't here. He's maybe gonna be the number one, the thirty three, sixty five ninety seven, they could all be here. They could be coaching them. There's a I got this this line. You know, I'm looking at linebackers and the Bengal the Bengal South team has more outside linebacker prospects. The North has more inside linebacker prospects. So some guys to watch, I think, you know, as as

as the game unfolds. Logan Wilson, a kid from Wyoming inside linebacker number thirty for the North six two, two fifty man. He looks good. I mean, tackling machine. Somebody that people are talking about. This Evan Weaver from California sixty three two thirty five two forty an insidebacker. To me, he looks a little stiff. I'm not. I don't as if I were blocking an inside linebacker. I look forward to blocking Weaver more than I look forward to blocking

Logan Wilson. I think he's just got a little bit more to him in terms of total package outside linebacker in my opinion, to Bengals half the best outside linebacker. Let's let's call him an edge rush sam. You know, strong side outside linebacker prospect in Terrell Lewis out of Alabama six five, two fifty two, and he doesn't look two fifty two and men he was wanting to do one on one pass rush. He's he's been the edge rush guy that they've had the most trouble with. His

problem is he's had a big injury history. He's durability issues. That's why he's here because you know this kid, Dan, A lot of these guys will line up wide and then rush wide. They just run up the field and thinking, what the hell, I don't even have to really block. You're taking yourself out of the pass rushing. This kid don't line up wide and take a perfect rush lane. I mean, he gets football. He's been coached really well, obviously by Alabama coaching staff. That kid, I would I

would be all over him at thirty three. If he's there, I would jump on Lewis and I'd sprint to the podium. Um. A linebacker from Appalachian State that sa Keem Davis Gaither what's that little yeah six two two fifteen and run. I mean, you know, Darren Simmons, I've bet is in love with this dude. He plays some special teams for him. But he's one of these guys that you know, we're like,

we're we need we need a linebacker. They can cover these people that when we getting these nickel and dime packages. You know, somebody in space boom this guy, this guy can fit the bill. Watching him, Um, I think I think he's an interesting guy to look at. There's another outside linebacker, like a combo type guy from from Colorado, Davion Taylor six two two twenty five type guy. He's a he's a will will backer as well, can run,

you know, I like him. Um. And then there's the combination I was talking about outside backer maybe can rush from Cam Brown out of Penn State six five, two thirty five, you can put on a ton of more way, a big frame, very versatile. He's played he played Mike, he played Sam, He's played Will. He's a edge rushman.

When I watched him, he's a little high, his pad levels high, you know, as a former alignment, I'd like to stroke him because he's he's uh, he plays, He's gonna get that pad level down or or get bigger, you know, he's he's he's long and very lean, and he's got he's got a lot of position versatility. But I'm not as I'm not as totally keen on him as maybe some people are because of watching his style of play, the way he plays. But it's been it's

been fun. It's been fun, you know, taking a look at these guys in the Bengals positions of need and seeing what might you know, what might match up and uh, and the fact that they get to spend the whole week with him is just a huge advantage. There's another Um there's a defensive lineman, a couple of defensive lineman. Kenny Willikies from Michigan State, sixty four two sixty pass rush guy, he looks like you know, he's he's somebody that that can play in the league and get out

of Utah. And a Bradley Um he's he's sixty three, two sixty five type guy. Another linebacker, dan Zach Bond out of out of Wisconsin six three, two thirty five. Very that's another look. Look look at the kid from Wisconsin, the kids from Wyoming looks the edge guy from Alabama. You know, I think with that thirty third pick, it would not stun me if they feel it's worthy that

the linebacker position might be it. But I think they take the best defensive player on the board, regardless of position at number thirty three, because, like Dutop was saying at the pressor um, they could use an infusion at all three position group levels of their football. All right, we're gonna wrap this up with a few questions from Twitter followers. I added these down to think to what

I think is possible for you to answer. Here we go from Stephen if Burrow is the pick and Dalton is traded, is Finley the backup or what a veteran be signed? I would I would think they try to get some sort of veteran presence in there. Um that would not would not surprise me whatsoever. And there are there are guys that that will be out there that do have some kind of NFL exposure, and um, I almost think that you'd have to do that to have

a complete quarterback room. I'd be surprised if they didn't do that. From Greg, could a wide receiver go as early as round two? Yeah, I mean the way you look at it, if if that wide receiver, if somebody that they have rated as a bid first round pick for whatever reason, slides to the beginning of the second round, they'll pounce. They'll pounce. You know, they're not going to

reach for it wouldn't be a reach. They're not going to say, we'll take the guy that we have rated very high in the in the second round at number thirty three. If they have a mid first round guy that they could get late in the first round, which is basically what the thirty third pick is, you know, my mind is like another late first round pick. So I think that whoever they have that they had rated in that middle of the first round. If somebody's there

at thirty three, you gotta you gotta reshuffle. I mean, at that point you have to say, let's let's take that player, because you know there was a two and fourteen mark. They just want to get the best football players they can possibly get from Christopher. Your thoughts on Fred Johnson's performance in the last few games of the year, Uh, impressed. You know, Fred. Fred's a big goode obviously. Uh. You know, he's he played basketball, initially, only played one year in

high school football. He gets a scholarship to Florida so and then now he's in the nation, all the Steelers bringing the National Football League, And I mean he's long. Uh you know, he's He's a big, big dude, very athletic, has plenty of smarts to be able to handle it. He's got a he wants to finish people. He's got a little bit of a street to him, got a little meanness to him. I mean, he's very competitive, very physical. I like him. I mean I think that, like I

said earlier, it's he's playing in a mindset. He really doesn't know what he doesn't know yet, But boy, worked with him developing him. I think he's I think he's got some potential. I think he has not come close yet to hit this ceiling. And what's you're seeing already's pretty good from Jason. How far is the offensive line from being good? Is it a couple of draft picks? Is it a free agent or two? How far away? Yeah?

I mean John Williams comes back and he's the guy that they thought he was going to beat before injury. That kind of solves that problem. M But you know, like we saw they want to They played four or five guys at left tackle last year. I mean it was a it was a game of musical chairs. I mean it was a merry go round at that depth position. So you can never have enough good ones. Um, So you know, like I'm saying, Fred Johnson, Isaiah Prentzill's guys end up in the mix. Now you're talking about a

couple of tackles to evaluate the process. You didn't even have last year, you know, a training camp, and I think I think that there you have. You have to have seven. You have to have seven in today's NFL because a lot of games last year the Bengals only activated seven offensive line. So with that said, the two guys that aren't starting, they're gonna be able to play multiple positions. So how many how many players that the Bengals have that fits that bill? They've got, They've got,

you know, some to get some. But I do to answer the question, Yeah, if there's somebody out there in free agency, an interior player that can play you know, center on both guards, and there's a tackle out there that is a swing tackle, has proven he can play both tackle spots, they can get either either or of those two in free agency, get the other one in the draft, you know, and attack if, however, free agency unfolds, if they don't get any in freecy, try to attack

both of them the draft. They get one in free to attack the other one in the draft. That's a

natural segue to this question from Chris. Any chance that Andrew Whitworth would come back to play guard and finish his career as a Bengal, Well, I think there's a It would be a long shot because wits compensation is at the point where you know, he's being compensated for a left tackle, has been in the league for a big number of years, and I mean that was the issue basically when he left that you know, they offered him what they thought was a fair deal and you

got a lot more to go, so you know, I guess it's also applying demand though, if there's not other opportunities out there. And what's always had a good relationship with the Cincinnati Bengals in there, you know, management people in the Brown family. So I guess I guess you never say never, but I would say highly unlikely. All right. Final question from a Twitter follower. This is from Marty. When are you going on Twitter or getting a blog? Anything?

Hearing from you once a week isn't enough? Sorry to disappointment at Yeah, I don't want to. I don't want to complicate my life like I admire in respect the heck out of you guys that are just are just so diligent at it. I mean, man, if I were, if I were, you know, a few years younger, I might think about it. But I'm like, get off my lawn, bro, all right, lap, I asked you for twenty minutes to a half an hour. I think we're at thirty six

minutes now, so I overdid it. But I'll tell you i'd come back to town and I'll compensate you by taking you out to the precinct and getting you a Joe Burrow steak. How's that sad? That's awesome? In case you haven't seen it, the steak Borrow at Jeff Ruby Steakhouse is a sixteen ounce blackened prime rib i with Creole crawfish sauce. Yum. It isn't cheap. It goes for sixty five bucks, but nine dollars of every steak Burrow sold goes to the Athens County Food Pantry in honor

of Burrow's uniform number at LSU. That's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and if you have a minute, please give it a rating or share a comment. Five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth podcast