Bengals Booth Podcast: The One I Love

Then I'll spend a few minutes with free agent offensive lineman Riley Reef roughly two months after he signed on the dotted line with Cincinnati. And finally, it's my choice for the Bengals best under the radar draft pick this year. I'll tell you who it is and why I feel that way, and then we'll hear from one of his

college coaches. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light, seltzer Reef Fresh the Game and here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on Itune, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's

the greatest thing since Billions. From time to time on this podcast, my greatest thing since is something that I'm watching on TV, and more often than not, it's a show that's several years old that I'm finally getting around to watching on demand. That's the case with the show Billions, that premiered on Showtime in twenty sixteen and has had five complete seasons so far. I've watched the first two

and overall I'd give it a B plus. But having said that, the next to last episode of season two is one of the best hours of TV I've ever seen. The name of the episode is Golden Frog Time, but I'm going to call it the Ice Juice Episode. It was so good that I wanted to immediately go back

and watch it again. So if you're looking for something to watch, I can't vouch for all five seasons of Billions, but the next to last episode of season two is so good that I will strongly recommend at least watching up to that point. Now, let's get to football. Before we get to fun facts with Jamar Chase, here are a few thoughts on the Bengal schedule that came out on Wednesday night. We already knew that it was going

to be tough. If you go by last year's records, the Bengals have the six toughest schedule in the NFL. Nine of their seventeen games are against playoff teams from last year. Eight of the seventeen nearly half, are against teams that won eleven or more games. Most of those games are the result of being in the AFC North, since the Steelers, Ravens, and Browns all won at least eleven last year. Only four of the Bengal seventeen games are against teams that won five or fewer games last year.

The Jazz, Jets, Lions, and Broncos. We already knew who they were going to play and where they were going to play them. On Wednesday night, we learned when a couple of things stood out to me. In the first four weeks, the Bengals only face one team that had

a winning record last year, Pittsburgh. With home games against Minnesota and Jacksonville and road games against the Bears and Steelers, the Bengals have a chance to get off to a solid start and build some early momentum, and if they can get through their first eight games at or above five hundred six of the bengals final nine games are at Paul Brown Stadium. Here's hoping there's a lot at stake when they are playing at home in December in January.

On a personal note, I don't know at this point if I'll resume traveling this year to broadcast UC games on Saturdays and Bengals games on Sundays. But if so, the NFL did me a solid on a couple of weekends. In September, UC plays Indiana on a Saturday before the Bengals game in Chicago on Sunday, an easy four hour drive. And in October you see plays at Navy on a Saturday before the Bengals are in Baltimore on Sunday. That's about as convenient as it gets. Now it's time to

get to know the person under the pads. It's my fun facts conversation with the two nineteen bullet Nakoff Award winner is the best receiver in college football and the fifth overall pick in this year's draft. Time for some fun facts with wide receiver Jamar Chase from Metaie, Louisiana. Jamar, let's turn the clock back to when you were younger. What were some of the things that you and your

buddies like to do growing up around New Orleans. Yeah, growing up at Harvey we played basketball outside through tackle, stuff like that, a snowball for the most part, you know, for the most part, was always doing some type of sports activity outside in the grass on the street. It sounds like basketball first love. When did that change and why? Basketball? Chance? After my high school coach recruited me to come to Rumma, coach Gary. He recruited me at a football game in

a championship in my middle school. I think after what he told me that day made me realize that I want to play football. We're doing fun facts with Jamar Chase. Your dad played college football at Alcorn State. How did he impact your development on and off the field. I would probably say he helped me the most part of my preparation. For the most part, he always pushing me through for everything, keeping my head on focus. And he's almost like my manager the way he treats me, you know,

make sure I'm always on the right foots. So you know, I can ask for nothing but that. Who was more excited on Draft night? You or him? I think I was. I don't think he was. I think I was more excited than him. So I wasn't even paying attention that much. I was too excited myself. Jamar, you won a state championship in the long jump when you were in high school. Did you specifically train for that or could you just show up and win? I actually showed up and just won.

That was my first year I actually doing lun jump and I won the state. So that was an incredible time for me. And after I won, you know, I started following the level rooms up. So when it came time to pick a college, you were all set to make the announcement on national TV at a big high school showcase event at Nike headquarters out in Beaverton, Oregon,

and everything went haywire. Can you describe what happened? Well, we just I know, I seven or seven, seven or seventeen just finished a game right before the championship game. This is right before the championship game. I was going to announce my commitment and I was walking over there with my hat and gloves. You know, everything's in a

box a lot, not letting anyone know. Um and I get over there, you know, sit on for a minute and then get back up and they tell me we don't have any more space for you on the Internet live, so we're just gonna have to catch you another time. And you know, once I heard that, I was just like, hey, this might not be the place of me. You know, this might not be the sign guys given me. So I think I need was taken out a chance. So the hat was a TCU hat, right, Yes it was, Yes,

it was. So. TCU is completely bummed out that the fact that you got bumped on that Internet show cost them the best wide receiver in the country. I mean it worked out for me the right way. I mean I wouldn't change nothing about it. I mean, if I knew the outcome at TCU, then I probably would have a change, but I don't think I will. It worked out great for you. It obviously worked out great for

LSU as well. You went there and your freshman year, a quarterback shows up, the transferred in from Ohio State named Joe Burrow. Do you remember your initial impressions of Joe. My first time seeing Joe, Joe was a quiet dude walking in the locker room. He didn't really say too much. It was all about business actually. So when we then we got on the field, Joe was show was just out there playing football. He didn't he didn't make too much noise, didn't he didn't say anything all the time.

He would say something when he had a correction to what we were doing. When did you realize he was something special? I would say my sophomore year, the summer of my sophomore year. The way we prepared for that season was just incredible. Um. I think Joe was the main reason why, just how he leaded the team. You know, the offense that year and it showed. So you were part of a tremendous receiving room at LSU with Justin Jefferson and Terris Marshall and others, and you guys started

a tradition called the Summer of ten thousand Catches. What exactly was that the some of the ten thousand catches were catching ten thousand balls every day, but not every day, but as many as we can every day to ten thousand. Um, I would not tell you that was probably the longest ten thousand catches I've ever did in my life. Did they even have to be footballs? Could it be a tennis? Could it be any sort of ball? No, it was it was only a football. Who was only doing footballs.

We would all use tennis balls to get our hand eye coordination ready for practice. And you plan to continue doing something similar, right, Yes, I do. I still I still going to keep them two thousand on me. It might not be ten thousand catches, but you know, those would be my goals to get as high as I can, you know, and keep my hands consistent. We're doing fun

facts with Jamar Chase. Your sophomore year. Joe Burrow wins the Heisman, you win the bullet and the cough LSU wins the National Championship, and the team goes to the White House and President Trump only mentioned one player by name, you, and he asked, and he asked you to speak to the crowd describe that experience. I did not want to go up there, actually, I actually told him no. I was a little shy going up there in front of

the White House. And I've seen all those cameras in the media in front of me, so I was a little scooped. Um. You know, when I got up there, my accent came out hard heart and I didn't really know what to say, and I was just like, how y'all doing this? So for the most part, it was

just a cool experience to have. Before the draft this year, there was a debate among Bengals fans about whether the team should take you or Oregon offensive lineman Pinay Sewell, and there was kind of a joking civil war between team Chase and team Sewell. Did you see or hear about that? I think I've seen one of them, the team A Team B I've definitely seen. I've seen that. I've seen that yesterday actually, so after I got picked, I've seen it again. I don't think anybody is complaining.

Even the people that the thought that Piney Seul would have been a great pick are delighted that you are going to be a Cincinnati Bengal. You are looking sharp on draft night, white suit, orange pocket square sneakers with the orange and black accents. If the possibility of being taken by Cincinnati had anything to do with your look, it's crazy because the shoes I had on was a

lasting shopping Um. It's just so happening to come with that with that orange on the orange and black tip on it, and uh and my pocket square is just a last minute call too, So everything was a real last minute. My shoes that I wanted to wear. It didn't come in so um, I was fine with it, you know. I like how I look and I went with it. Are you into fashion in general and sneakers

in particular? I am actually um Today I have on a Jelf jumpsuit from New Orleans and some bor so I try to address established as I can't, comfortable as I can. Are you excited that the NFL has changed the rules and will now allow wide receivers to wear single digit numbers? Of course I have a chance to get back and one in the NFL. You know, keep that confidence, keep my mind going right and finding my passion again, you know, and taking off with this this community.

I think I think it'd be fun. Were you going to wear seven had you played for LSU last year? Were you going to switch to seven? Yes? Correct, I was gonna wear seven at LSU my last year. Yes. And that's like a number of honor at LSU. Is that why you would have done that for the one year? Yes? Said, that is a number of honor. That's a big number of l shoe you know, a show suggition, pride and

just the love of the game. Um, I think me wearing seven would have been a big help, you know, for LSU and myself also, Um, I just want to leave another legacy and another number at LSU and Draft night, I asked you about the Bengals legacy of great wide receivers including A. J. Green and Chad Johnson, and you said, I'm gonna break every record they've got. That's a bold statement. Do you admire athletes who can talk to talk and

then back it up? Of course? I mean if you can talk it, that's the point of you having a mouth, right, I mean, God gave you for a reasons, so we need to use it. And I mean as long as I prove it to myself, you know, that's that's all I gotta do. You know, go out there that play my game and let my let my play talk for myself. You're off the hot seat. Appreciate at the time, look

forward to watching you play. Thanks for having me. Jamar and his fellow rookies will be on the field at Paul Brown Stadium on Friday morning for the Bengals rookie Minicamp. We turned from a rookie to a ten year veteran. It's been about two months since the Bengals signed Riley Reef to be the right tackle this year. The former first round draft pick by Detroit spent his first five seasons with the Lions before spending the last four with the Vikings. Now he's leaving the NFC North for the

AFC North. And I started our conversation by turning the clock back to March and asking why he decided to sign on the dotted line the night after going out to dinner with offensive line coach Frank Pollock and other teammates and coaches. You know, I came there and I was real impressed with, you know, the core group of guys that had a coach Taylor. He was awesome just being with Frank and what they had envisioned. Bryan Callahan,

I'm excited to be here. When you signed with the Bengals, you did a conference call with Cincinnati error reporters and you were asked about Joe Burrow and you said, I can't wait to block for this guy. Why did Joe make such a strong impression on you? Just as love for the game, I mean everything, He's constantly thinking about football down to earth guy. You know, I've kind of watched some of his film since I've signed there, and I'm excited. I mean, I'm sure you guys are as well,

really looking forward to win a lot of games. In addition to the ability that you bring to the offensive line, Riley, you're a veteran, like I say, nine years of NFL experience under your belt. This is largely a young group, with guys like Jonah Williams on the left side. Now Jackson Carmen's coming in as a second round draft pick. How important is that? And who were some of the veteran guys that helped you early in your career. Yeah, when I first got to Detroit, I was still pretty raw.

There's guys like Jeff Backus, dam Raiola, Rob Simms, Stephen Peterman. Guys are shareless. I mean, they're all old guys and they helped me out tremendously and shape where I am today. And you know, I'm excited. There's a lot of talent in that old line room, a bunch of good guys, and you know, I'm excited to join the group. Playing offensive tackle in the NFL is hard in any division, but I think it's especially hard in the AFC North.

When you face the Browns, you got to try to block two guys who are the number one overall pick in the NFL draft, Miles Garrett and Jadevi and Clowney t J. Watton. Pittsburgh led the NFL in Zachs last year with fifteen and then you've got the Ravens. You don't know who you have to block because they blitz more than any other team in the NFL. Was that a consideration at all when you elected to come on board with the Bengals. Yeah, I mean there's a lot

of things that you look at. You know, every week in the NFL, you're going up against good guys. I mean not saying those those guys are phenomenal pass rushers, but uh, you know, it's it's always a challenge and you got to bring your best every week. The Bengals brought back an offensive line coach this year who's widely regarded as one of the best in the National Football League, Frank Pollock. What had you heard about Frank over the

years and how much interaction have you had. I've had some real close friends play for Frank, and you know, they endorsed him, and uh, you know, when I got to meet him coming up to Cincinnati, I fell in love with the way he approaches the game. Um, you know, his attention to detail, and uh, you know, I'm excited to play for him. The Bengals drafted three offensive linemen. When you're a veteran and you're following the draft, are you locked in on the guys they add at your

position or are you really looking at the whole group. Yeah, we're excited to get those guys in here, you know, help our group out. Yeah. I kind of followed it closely, and you know, um, the guys we brought in, they all seem like good kids. So I'm excited to get to work with him. As I mentioned, Riley, you spent the last four years in Minnesota playing for a guy who remains very popular around here from his years of the Bengals, Mike Zimmer. Zim still has a hunting lodge

in northern Kentucky, I believe, so. I think he's in this area quite a bit. What did Zim tell you about Cincinnati and also about playing for the Bengals organization? ZIMU, He's one of a kind, great guy. I love him. Um, you know, I actually joked, I said, what's what's the passcode? Tier Ranch? And you know, he was like you need to go out there. You know, you know him, you know he loved it here in Cincinnati. Obviously he's still close. Uh Spence offseasons here, but uh no, I'm I'm excited

to be in the Midwest. What have been some of the highlights of your career at this point, played in some big games in Minnesota. It's really just a teammates, the bonds that you create, um, you know, getting to meet different people from different parts of the you know, the countrary of the world, and uh, you know, it's been a fun rode. This will be year ten, which is a pretty extraordinary thing in the NFL. How proud are you of lasting for a decade and hopefully several

years beyond this. I always said I wanted to play eight years, you know, achieve that. Still feel good, still have a lot of tank left, you know, I still feel young. Let's just put it like that. And the excited to get to Cincinnati and work with the guys, meet some of them, you know, face to face. We're on the zoom thing right now, like most of the world is. But you know, it's nice. It'd be nice to get in there and see the guys. You've been very durable In your NFL career, You've played at least

thirteen games in all nine of your seasons. I think you've played at least fifteen games and seven out of nine. How have you stayed, you know, so durable and what kind of things have you played through in order to be able to answer the bell week after week? Yeah? I mean as an offensive lineman, you take pride in, you know, showing up every week and going out there

and playing. But you know that get puts a lot of credit on our strength coaches, our training staff, just those guys getting you ready in and out each week. A lot was made of the dinner that you had the night before you assigned your contract at the precinct. What was the dinner of choice? Oh gosh, I think I had the Columsworth. No, I had the columns Worth on top of the rib I. Either way, I can't remember what it was called. It was phenomenal. You know, Ruby does a great job there and I had a

great time. I seem to recall at the time that Jeff Ruby gave you a cigar at the end of dinner and said that if you signed with the Bengals, he would give you a box of cigars. Was that the case? And has it happened yet? It hasn't happened yet. I haven't been in Cincinnati since, you know, whether he gives them to me or not, it's it's it's all right. I'm not not too worried about it. I don't smoke

too many cigars anyways. But uh no, it's just a pleasant meeting Jeff, and you know, I'll be back there. Have you had much interaction with your new teammates yet, you know, just on Zoom calls the offensive lineman. Um. You know, we have a group chat going. A lot of them reached out to me, you know, said welcome, And I just want to get get in the building and meet the guys. You know, I met most of the coaches, so but I want to meet some of

the some of the guys and get to work. This franchise boasts arguably the greatest person to ever play your position, Anthony Munio's. Have you interacted with Anthony at all over the years. No, I haven't. I've never met him. Uh. You know, you hear a lot about him, just what he's what he accomplished on the field, and the type of person he is. Um. It's an honor to play, uh, you know, to play for the Bengals. They've had a lot of good guys and uh, you know, I'm just

excited to get there. When you reach the stage in your career, you don't go to a new team unless you feel like you've got a chance to win. What about your interaction with the coaching staff and some of your new teammates led you to believe that this is a team on the rise. You know that just they're they're you know, they're willed or they're hunger to win. Um, you know, scheme, you know, it seems like they you know, they got the right scheme, the right fit, they know

what they want. Um, but we got to put in the work. I mean, that's all it comes down to. Talks cheap this time of year. Um, get to work and see where the you know, the chips fall. What do you have plan between now and when you really have to get after it in training camp? Anything fun? No? Not really, just kind of hang out, workout. Um. I own a ranch around here, so there's always something to keep me busy, whether it's fence or trees or whatever.

So I stay busy. Maybe maybe get a little fishing in the walleyes are biting around here right now, so maybe I'll sneak out one day and get some in Highly and Trey Waynes will face their former Minnesota Vikings teammates in Week one. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by butt Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Since the draft, I've been asked a bunch of questions about the Bengals picks, including who

is your favorite under the radar selection. My choice is fourth round pick Cam Sample, the defensive lineman out of Tulane. Let's face it, Tulane does not get a ton of respect in college football, but as the radio voice of the UC Bearcats, I've seen how many outstanding players there are in the American Athletic Conference and Sample led the league with forty two quarterback pressures in eleven games last year. Then he went to the Senior Bowl and earned the

top defensive Lineman award on his team. Last week on this podcast, I was joined by the great Greg co Sell from NFL Films and he sent me his scouting report on Sample. Greg wrote that Cam has a relentless and methodical explosiveness to his game, powerful and heavy hands with constant leg drive. He added that Sample was a fun player to watch with his high level competitiveness and intensity and his relentless speed and velocity as a pass rusher.

For more on Cam Sample, I recently caught up with his defensive line coach at Tulane, Byron Dawson, coach, what are the Bengals getting in Cam Sample? Gonna get a humbul relentless, art working, high character football player. He led the American Athletic Conference in pressures last year. The Bengals have struggled with their pass rush in recent seasons. How do you think he projects as an NFL pass rusher? You know, the biggest thing that I'll tell you about

Cam Sample is he's personal. So he's not just a situational player. He's an all situational player. So he's a guy that's going to heavy on first down, but he also going to do a great job on third and law. So, you know, just looking at the way he played, he could play the one technique to shade, he can play around the center area, he can move out to the three. He can play a nine technique and rush from the edge.

And he can also drop into coverage. So I think that versatility and that great effort that you're gonna get down after down, and that's the reason why he was able to lead our conference and pressures and do a great job just for rest in the quarterback. He went to the Senior Bowl and was named the top defensive lineman on the American squad. What do you think that said to NFL teams and scouts and evaluating Cam, Well, it just showed that it translates to the best of

the best. Some people may have questioned, how does he play versus Power five players that also played versus to the best of the best, you know, the Senior Bowl, that's the best of the best in college football. And he was able to go out and used to the same principle, used the same give things as smarts that he used to have success in our conference, and he had that same success versus those great players at the Singing Bowl. So so we're really just proud of him

and and how he's represented to Lane University. What's caam like as a teammate and as a leader, you know, come early, stay late, high character young man. He comes from a great family, great upbringing, very coachural. You know, he listens and he's very detailed. He's a he's a Fim Ratty's type of guy that have come in and break down the opponent. And uh, like I say, he's got great football savvy and plays with great football instinct.

He could really feel the blockers and respond to different sects and project what type of play is going to get free snapped. I can hear in your voice how happy you are for him, and I get the sentence. Not just because he's a two lane football player. Why are you so excited for Cam? Sample because good things need to happen to good people, and so whenever you have somebody, they do things the right way. Come early, stay late, gift sir, may I please? Just old school

values makes this great, very respectful. You know, he's the type of guy that you want your daughter to marry. So when those guys win, you know, we like to think sometime a nice guys finis lad but in this case, nice guys finish first. So I'm just excited about Cam's depple, him going to the bank. The type of guy you want your daughter to marry, I think is the highest praise a person can give out exactly he deserves that

for sure. That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, Refresh the game if you haven't done so already, subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast