Bengals Booth Podcast: The Countdown

Hi, get everybody.

I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth podcast.

The I'm counting.

Addition, as the NFL Draft is now less than one week away. Coming up, I'll visit with offensive lineman turn broadcaster Ross Tucker about extending Joe Burrow's contract and what else the Bengals should address prior to training camp.

We'll go inside.

The locker room and hear from Orlando Brown Junior and Chitabey Awooja. And then it's the eighth and final edition of our three round mock draft with an NFL expert, and this time my guest is one of the reporters on the Bengals Beat. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorp to help them recruit, pay, engage, and

Yeah, I guess probably bad news, Dan. I mean, the positive side of it would be that they've got a structure in place that they can follow off of in terms of what Jalen got. I guess the bad news is the floor of whatever Joe was going to get.

Ross.

After the Hurt deal was announced, you tweeted out this question, ranked the following in order of who you would most want as your quarterback for the next five years, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert or Jalen Hurts.

How do you answer that question?

Well, the first thing I would say, Dan is what's so interesting about that is it's not unanimous. But there was a heavy consensus that Lamar Jackson was last, and a heavy consensus that Joe Burrow was first. And I'm sure everybody in Cincinnati would agree with that, and I think I'd probably go with that order as well. I think Joe Burrow is probably won, although I will say Jalen Hurts based on the improvement he made from year two to year three and the running threat that he brings,

We are visiting with Ross Tucker, the host of the Ross Tucker Football podcast. You can follow him on social media at Ross Tucker, NFL. You played offensive line in the NFL for five years. I have two Orlando Brown junior questions. Number One, how good is he as a left tackle? Number two, what do you think of Cincinnati signing him at the age of twenty six to a deal that makes him the fifteenth highest paid tackle in the NFL.

Yeah, so there's a lot to like there from a Bengals perspective. Number One, I think he's an above average starting left tackle in the NFL. He is not an elite left tackle. I think that he believed that he was and believed he would get paid that way. That obviously did not happen, and I wonder if he regrets that. I mean, he turned down more money from Kansas City a year ago than what he got this year from Cincinnati Bengals. But that's not the Bengals problem, you know,

I think that's fair.

And yet, if you look back over the last several years, the Bengals have signed DJ Reader, Trey Hendrickson, Alex Kappa, Von Bell, Mike Hilton, and others, is it time to start thinking differently about how the Bengals approach free agency.

Yeah, well, they have been a little bit more aggressive. You're right in recent years. I guess the Hendrickson thing, people would say, well, you know, they lost Carl Lawson, so they were just paying a guy that was a little bit cheaper. But boyle boy, did that payoff. I'll say this Stan, they usually pay the right guys. I mean, I love Mike Hilton. Von Bell was fantastic. You know. We talked about hendrickson DJ Reiders a stud and that all leads us to Tobin and the scouting department, whether

We are spending a few minutes with Ross Tucker, the host of the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. You can follow him on social media at Ross Tucker NFL. Some of the Bengals' biggest question marks right now include who is the right tackle, will Joe Mixon remain their top running back? Are they okay at safety after losing Bates and Bell? What's at the top of your Bengals questions list?

Well, what's interesting about right tackle is you know, right now they've got two options, Lyell Collins and Jonah Williams. I would not be surprised if they trade Jonah Williams during the draft to somebody else that might won him. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Bengals drafted a right tackle or a tackle fairly high in the draft and started to develop them behind Lyell Collins or maybe instead of Lyell Collins. That wouldn't shock me. You know, I thought they would find a way to keep one

The Bengals have the twenty eighth pick in the first round, assuming they stay there. Do you have a player or a few players in mind that that would make sense for Cincinnati?

Yeah. I think when you look at their roster right now, they really are in a position where I don't feel like there's a position where they have to take somebody right and that's where you want to be. I mean, it could easily be O line. You can always add people on the D line. You know, they might be able to get their pick of the safeties if they wanted to do that again, they might be able to get I don't think Jon Robinson would be there. I think they could probably get Gibbs. You know as the

And the IRV Smith junior deal was only for one year, so they're definitely still in the market for a tight end ross. I'm interested in how likable you think the Bengals are these days. For the most part, people around the country scene to admire Joe Burrow. It's kind of been a fun team to watch. They handled the Damar handling situation with the utmost class. But before the AFC Championship game, the mayor popped off. Some of the Bengals

Very high, very high. And I'll give you a couple of reasons for that. You know, I can tell you right now. My daughter and her friends they really like the Bengals, and I think Joe Burrow's the biggest reason for that. You know. I mean there's lots of people they love the Bangal, they talk about them, and I live in central Pennsylvania, but they're big fans of the Bengals. I think everybody likes Joe Burrow at this point.

You know.

I think people like when they when a team that's been bad for a while or hasn't been able to break through. I think people like when they're able to have some success like the Bengals are because other franchises, like the Browns, the Lions, whoever, they can sort of look at the Bengals and say, see, you know, maybe we could do that. If we get the right quarterback, maybe we could be the team that's in the mix

We're chatting with former offensive lineman Ross Tucker, the host of the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. Mike Brown and Katie Blackburn are Ivy leaguers. They went to Dartmouth, you went to Princeton. Did the Bengals show any interest in your playing days?

Yeah, that's funny that you asked that. They're the only team that called in the draft and they called me twice. And this is back when the Bengals were in a bad way. But they called me in the first round and it was assistant offensive line coach Frank Verducci and he said, we have you ranked high on our board. If we don't draft you, we'd like to talk with you about maybe being a free agent. And I thought that was pretty cool. I was trying to again him

You said you were the two thousand and one draft, that's right. So the Bengals took Justin Smith, Chad Johnson, Rudy Johnson, and TJ. Hushman Zada. It's already arguably the greatest draft in franchise history. You would have just added to that list of great players well.

And on the offensive line, they took Victor Lava, and I was better than him. So they could have had up on the draft if they had taken me instead of Victor Lava. They definitely made the right call with Justin though. Goodness gracious, was that guy awesome? And yeah, I'm glad they took him and said of me in the first round for you.

Guys, all right, final topic for Ross Tucker and I appreciate your time. We're going to get away from football for a second because Mother's Day is about three weeks away.

My mom is eighty five.

She loves me, but she doesn't listen to this podcast, so I'm not going to give anything away. You have solved my gift buying dilemma when it comes to Mother's Day, thanks to something called my front Page Story dot explain my front page story dot com.

Well, Dan, a buddy of mine, started the company, so I really can't take credit for the idea, but it's unbelievable and it's amazing how many people get these gifts for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day. You literally talk to one of our writers for I don't know, eight minutes on the phone while you're driving the skyline chilly or whatever. Tell them how great your mom is. They take notes on the quotes that you make, Dan, and then they write, this beautiful story looks like it's on

I've been on the website. There are different packages available. It's very reasonably priced, and I am about to become a customer.

I've got a few weeks left.

Mom is going to get a newspaper story about how she's the greatest mom in the world thanks to my front page story dot com.

Ross. This has been fun.

Love your work, especially your weekly conversations with Greg co Sell. Thanks for giving us some of your time today.

My pleasure. Dan, Thank you so much for reaching out.

Like I said, I am highly confident that my loving mom doesn't listen to this podcast, so if you know her, don't spoil the mother's day surprise. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you in part by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play, with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. This week mark the start of the Bengals OTAs, or

I'm Joe Burrow.

When I woke up from surgery, you know, the first thing I asked him was like, you know how to go, you know, and it was like it went well and stuff. I just remember that always because I was I was a little I never had surgery, you know, big surgery, and you know, to put my body in his hands, you know, to take care of it and to make it better. It was a little nerve wrecking. But then after, you know, the way they explained everything, you know, he just.

Did a great job.

So yeah, he's definitely the guy when it comes to that.

Cheeto's goal is to be ready for the start of the season, and when I've seen him hard at work at the stadium, he appears to be making excellent progress.

I mean it's pretty much legg day every day. You know, I'm lifting every day on my legs, running, jumping some for some form squad in. You know, it's pretty much daily at this point, so it doesn't really skew off of the legs. But then you know, the PT team they may add in some little wrinkles here and there, but it's pretty much just legs. The biggest thing I could mess up on is getting too cocky, you know, because my knee is doing good, and then you know, move faster than what I need to do.

I think, you know, I haven't had.

A setback, and if I move too fast, you know, I'll probably borring a setback to come. So I think the biggest thing is just to be patient and trust the people that are telling.

Me what to do.

Two years ago and his first season with the Bengals, who wou Ja was graded is the second best corner in the NFL by Pro Football Focus, only Jalen Ramsey ranked higher. So what's his goal as he comes back from the torn ACL?

Obviously to be one hundred percent and to you know, get my body to where I'm able to improve on like my skills as a dB, you know, as a football player. You know, obviously I'm kind of training like a you know, just an athlete right now. Is just you know, getting my legs stronger, doing certain movements. So MultiMate goal is becoming a better player from last year. I feel like the past two years, I've gotten better each year, and I want my acl or you know, the injury I had to hinder that.

I want to keep growing as a player.

So next year, planning to be a better player than I was last year.

The Bengals are counting on them. Following the departures of Jesse Bates and Von Bellen free agency, A Woujier and Mike Hilton are the unquestioned leaders in the secondary.

Obviously, you know, losing Justin Vaughan a free agency, it's a blow, you know, it's a blow, and it hurts emotionally, you know, and personally too because those those are like my friends, you know. So but at the end of the day, you know, this team is you know, we're primed still, you know, and we have a lot of things that are ahead of us. So we're going to pick up the ships where they left them. You know. And yeah, players that you know, we're younger now, they have to step up.

You know.

We have to rely on one another, you know, more than ever. So it's really expected for everybody that's here to be present, to take coaching, to learn from each other, and to get better.

In addition to a Woujia, the Bengals have Cam Taylor Britt back at outside corner and have added six year veteran Sidney Jones and free agency. Still, it seems highly likely to me that the Bengals will draft a corner with one of their first few picks next week. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed to take your home, business, and community to a

I want to come in and be myself. You know, I've always been a leader everywhere I've been and you know, I love the game of football. I love everything that it comes with men, especially during this time. It gives you an opportunity to good that relationship with the guys.

I'm walking room.

Brown's track record speaks for itself. His peers have chosen him for the Pro Bowl in each of the last four seasons, and he says that will naturally make him one of the leaders in Cincinnati.

You know, that's the thing about football, man, is you know the office always stick out, and you know the guys that are you know, competitive and all of those things. I rushed the occasion, and that's how your respect is earned, you know, from your peers. So man, I just look forward to, you know, getting out there and being able to compete with these guys and showing who showing who I am.

Orlando is very familiar with his new team. He faced the Bengals twice a year and three seasons of the Baltimore Ravens and four times over the last two seasons with Kansas City, including a pair of AFC Championship games.

Yeah, it's definitely interesting, man, you know, obviously being on the other side for the last few years in Baltimore and Kansas City, so it's definitely different. But I mean, I'm just I'm so happy and excited, so blessed to be a part of it. Though, you know what I mean from Afar, you know you can tell how special it is and to be able to come in and be in it, you know, ten holes, I mean, it's it's awesome.

The Bengals hope that Brown will significantly improve the pass protection for Joe Burrow and their new mammoth left tackle. Says he'll fit right in with his new offensive line teammates.

Yeah, no, I think, man, they play with a lot of fire, to be honest, a lot of finish. I feel like that's something that really stuck out to me. A lot of guys doing the little things right, jogging down to help of receivers or quarterbacks or whoever downfield, getting involved being around the ball shown up on the screen. I feel I did do the little things right.

Brown has an ever present smile and a joyful personality. He'll be a great addition to the Bengals locker room. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, with more than one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers. Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now time for our eighth and final edition of a three round mock

You have been quite an honor, Dan for sure, to be known as that guy.

So sure, I'll take the honor.

You've been cranking out the mock drafts though for many years well.

Yeah, honestly in the down years where they were kind of out of things by mid season and you kind of had to start doing mock drafts a whole lot earlier. In the last two years, I haven't gotten to my first mock I don't think until right before and or right after the combine. So that's both positive for my workflow and for the Bengals being good too.

All Right, So we've got the PFF simulator set up, We've got it at a reasonable speed. I'm going to hit enter draft. We'll take a look at some of the guys that fly off the board, and then we will discuss maybe somebody that you wish had still been there and take a look at the remaining options before you make your pick. Trades are not allowed. So here we go the Bengals selecting twenty eighth in the first

Yeah, Elijah Cantsey, I would hope might have been an option, but I think in real life he probably will be going anyway too, So it's kind of good for my sake.

I don't have to make that decision. He's gone. Kinkaid is the first tight end off the board.

I think that's probably expected, but that does leave me with a very tough choice because there is another tight end on the board. I know him personally, I coached basketball against him, and I like Michael Marin awful lot. So Dan, I've done a couple of mockers you mentioned already, one of them through the PFF simulator.

I did two in the same day.

In the same story where I did take Michael Mayer went that route, then in another one where Michael was selected, it kind of take it out of my hand, so I went a different route, just to see what that how that was going to play out and when a tight end might come back up. But I think for me at this stage, I think I have to take Michael Mayor. I think he's going to be his His ceiling is maybe not as high as you'd like it to be, but I think his floor is NFL ready

Dan Well, I'll tell you this, the grades have changed since the first time that I did this, so they're constantly updating their formula. Anton Harrison, the tackle from Oklahoma, also still available. But with Harrison and Emmanuel Forbes all being there and Michael Mayer, you are selecting tight end Michael Mayer from Notre Dame.

Yeah.

And one quick point on the offensive lineman, I think this franchise and this personnel group has kind of learned the lesson of first round picks for offensive linemen are just really almost wasted.

Capital because you don't know.

That's the one position group you don't know, and you go to Billy Price Interior, you can go to Cedrical Way. I mean those picks at the time and Price was maybe a bit of a reach, right, But I think they've learned their lesson of guys with NFL tape. It's why Orlando Brown's here, It's why Alex cap is here, It's why Ted Carris is here. It's why Al Collins

It was down to Forbes and Michael Mayer, and I'll go Michael mahyor.

It seems that nearly all of the draft gurus have Mayor and Utah's Dalton Kincaid ranked as the top two tight ends in a deep tight end draft. Cancaid is faster and the better receiver of the two. Mayor is a solid receipt for breaking all of Notre Dame's position records for catches and receiving yards, and he is the better blocker of the two. Will either be there when the Bengals are on the clock at number twenty eight, well they're gone, and most of the mock drafts I've seen,

Well, one of them is and I just took him in the most recent mock draft I did right there at fifty nine.

Eka, the defensive tackle from bail Or.

He's more of a nose tackle than he is a three technique, and I think they're probably in the market for a three technique. But DJ Readers contract is up after this year. They do need interior depth. I got lucky that I got him in the second round of a mock draft I got so he's certainly if he would have been on the board, he would have been in my wheelhouse to take. So that's going to probably make this pick a little bit more difficult for me.

Julius Brentz is a guy that I kind of like as a possible second round pick, the cornerback from Kansas State, but he went number forty eight to Detroit.

Yeah.

I like him too, and I don't think he slips to where the Bengals are. Ikea is an interesting one because, like I said, I got him at sixty a different mock draft. He literally went just this pick before. So if he slides there, maybe they do get a chance to take him.

So we are now looking at guys that are still available in this mock draft for pick sixty in the second round.

This is where see the Samuelport is on the board right, So if I'd have gone the Forbes route, I would have been more than comfortable to take Samuelport in the second round. Nathaniel Dell, the wide receiver from houstoned him in the fourth round of a draft I did, and he is one that is literally all over the board, depending on what board you look at, He's gonna put

So I got Tyreek Stevenson from Miami, Florida.

Tyreek Stevenson started as college career at Georgia and spent a couple of years there before finishing his career with two seasons close to home at the University of Miami. He's six feet tall with long arms, roughly two hundred pounds and ran a four four five forty at the combine. The Athletics Dane Brugler described Stevenson as a press man corner with NFL starting ability and as him ranked number sixty nine overall on his big board, he's number forty

I would have really love Tank Dell. I just wish he was around further down.

Maybe I get lucky he sneaks through this round, but I'm gonna say absolutely not.

You did not get lucky.

He has just taken it pick number eighty one, so you almost got there, but Tank Dell is gone. The pick immediately before the Bengals was a running back Tank Bigsby out of Auburn pick number ninety one. This is pick number ninety two. Any position group that you're interested in here, No, I'm.

Still and I'm with their boat. I'm best available for me.

If Tank Bigsby had been there, he would have certainly been under consideration. I can't remember I took him in one of my mocks already, Dan, I can't remember if he was still there in the fourth round and I got luckier, maybe I did go ahead and take him in the third round.

Let's see what we got on the board right now.

In the third round, guys, I mean I could double up easily with Trevius Hodges, Tomlinson, the cornerback from TCU. I don't think I want to go the safety route. Michael Wilson's probably more of a fourth or fifth round projection, the wide receiver from Stanford.

I think I'm doubling up at cornerback. You know, Chenobia.

Wuzia's contract is up after this year.

You can never have enough of these guys.

I mean, no offense to Sidney Jones, the fourth He's technically the fourth corner on the roster now, and you'd probably like an upgrade from that. I know the Bengals, Duke Tobin told us the other day or the day that we were doing this mock, have to you know, they don't double up on purpose a positions and this happenstance, but they.

Do seem to do that.

I mean, they doubled up, triple up, quadrupled up on linebacker the one year, right, and all those guys are still on the roster.

So I'm going back to the cornerback round.

I'm gonna go back to back corners and take Trevius Hodges Tomlinson, the cornerback out of TCU.

Trey Hodges. Tomlinson is one of the smallest cornerbacks in the draft. He's not quite five to eight and weighs one hundred and seventy eight pounds, but he's fast, running a four four forty and rabbit quick. Tomlinson won the Jim Thorpe Award last year. Is the best defensive back in college football with eighteen pass deflections and three interceptions. He's ranked number fifty nine overall on the PFF Big Board. Now time to find out how PFF graded Richard's picks.

Will like me because of the Michael Mayor selection. I gotta be plus on the Michael Mahyor.

An A for Tyraeke Stevenson, an A plus for Trey Hodges Tomlinson for an overall grade of A. You have tied Sam Monson for the best grade for a three round mock draft.

Yet, Yeah, I feel I looked into Trevis Hodges Tomlinson because he's probably a second round talent for the most part. Now they have you mentioned it because the last time I did this with them and took Michael Mayer, I only got to C plus for the Michael Mayor pick that's been upgraded to a B.

So I feel pretty good about it.

And then if I got out of the first two days with this with potential starting depth at corner and at least guys in the pipeline and a more dynamic long term tight end, I'd feel pretty good about it. I still need to address running back, and there are a lot of fourth round, fifth round graded running backs that can come in and be a rotational piece, and I think that's all you're looking for out of this draft.

I am not surprised in the least.

Richard Skinner from Local twelve received an A for his three round mac.

I feel I feel honored to have done it, and I feel like I kind of got lucky that they upgraded some of the guys that I like. Maybe that's I don't know if that's a good sign or not, but I feel better about it.

I appreciate your time. Thanks man.

Coming up early next week one of the most popular editions of this podcast each year, as my broadcast partner Dave Lapham predicts who the Bengals will select in Round one. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by Kettering Health, the