Bengals Booth Podcast: The Safety Dance

Zach Taylor and defensive coordinator lou Anna Rumo. We'll hear what Hill had to say when he spoke to Cincinnati reporters around midnight, and then I'll discuss the pick and a pretty wild first round with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now on the App Store and Google Play.

And 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 the satisfaction of fixing something. I am the world's least handy person. Aside from changing the occasional light bulb and filling my gas tank, I'm pretty worthless. But I'm trying to be more of a duet erself

kind of guy. And recently I took care of a home project involving a water pump and multiple hoses and I didn't ruin anything. So lookout, lows and home depot handy man. Dan will be roaming the aisles soon. Now let's get to the first night of the draft. Here's what Dane Brugler, the draft guru for The Athletic, recently wrote about Daxton Hill. Arguably the top nickel defender in the draft. Hill can cover wide receivers and tight ends while also providing a thump in the run game and

as a blitzer. Although he has the size of a cornerback, he should test off the charts and plays with the toughness of a safety. With his versatile skills, Hill is exactly what several teams are searching for in their secondaries. Now let's hear from Zach Taylor on Dax Hill. I'm really excited about him. You know, he was a player that we thought very highly of. Surprised he was there for us and really eager to add him Adam to our team. We think he's been a great weapon for

us on defense. You can use him a lot of different ways, and really really fired up to get him in the building. He can play a couple different spots. You know, he's a safety, he's played Nichol. You know, he's got the athleticism to do a lot of different things. So I think the first thing is just getting in the building, and certainly we have a vision for him internally of how to utilize him. But I think he could just be a from an assess it force some defense.

Hill ran a four three eight forty at the combine and also had elite scores in the agility drills. Here's defensive coordinator lou Anna Rumo. Yeah, I think his measurables

are great. You know, you look at what he ran and all the all those different things that you know, we we're gonna chase around two of the toughest quarterbacks in the league this year four times, you know, and the more speed we have on the field, what better will be m So he lends that um and uh, you know it's going there's certainly going to be a learning curve there is for every rookie, especially in the back end. Um, So you know, we'll we'll give him just enough on his plate to see how much he

can handle and kind of take it from there. Well. Listed as a safety, he always used extensively as a slot corner this past season at Michigan and was named first team All Conferenced by Big Ten coaches. His Swiss Army Night versatility is a great fit for Anna Rumo's defense. Yeah, I think it's important. You know, the way when you look at offenses these days, and the way tight ends are utilized and running backs out of the backfield and

you know, just different different things. You know, this guy can you know, he can blitz off the edge, he can cover, um, you know, he's good against the run and get good good getting off blocks and things like that. So I think we're getting a good overall overall football player. You know, we'll see we'll get him in here and you know, see what the shiny new toy can do. So we're excited about it. The twenty one year old Hill is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he watched the draft

with about sixty friends and family members last night. Daxton spoke to Cincinnati reporters over the phone about thirty minutes after being selected and said being drafted by an NFL team was a dream come true. I tell you for sure. I mean definitely last few years, I mean just growing up kind of watching football and now, you know, throughout my college career, no one that I had an opportunity

goes into the field. You know, it's you know, a great experience that you know, actually see consol fruition and you know, me having an opportunity, you know, to play at the next level. So for sure. The Bengals first met with Hill at the NFL scouting Combine and in the weeks that followed showed plenty of interest. Um, I had a good feeling, you know with some of the coaches.

I had a former band former like you said, at the combine, and then throughout able had a few zoom calls with them, so not too much like communication, but you know a little bit communication. And then today also taught with them before the draft, saying you know, hopefully we can you know, get you if you're still available. So that's what they did, and I'm glad, you know, I'm glad that they chosen as for his role. Does he see himself as a safety or a slot corner.

I mean, I came in at safety, so I feel like, you know, safety, that's where I started at. And then you know, this year, having that slot corner role something I really developed, you know, throughout the season. So I can see myself you know, doing either or. But yeah, for sure, you know, coming in as a safety, definitely have you know, instincts as a safety and then can also play that that slot corner. Nexton, we'll catch a flight to Cincinnati on Friday and hold a news cop

pence at three in the afternoon. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded a weekly winner during the course of the year with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. Now, time to recap Round one with Dave lapham Lap. Most of the draft guru seemed to think the Bengals are

going to take a cornerback in Round one. They took somebody in the secondary, but he is primarily a safety who played a lot of slot corner Daxton Hill from Michigan. What's your reaction, Yeah, And I think, you know, they think that he might be able to play outside as well. They're going to take a look. He's got the speed to do it. Does he have the fluidity and the you know, flip the hips and be able to run with guys and track the ball down the football field.

And but he gives them a lot of position Versatility's almost position less as such. And Louiana Rumo loves that. I mean that Lui A. Rumo with with the versatility in the personnel that he had without having to substitute, played havoc with Patrick Mahomes and others. Particularly in Mahomes in the second half of that playoff game, he didn't know what he was looking at and that a lot of it was a three safety package, so and the third safety was covering tight ends. He can do that

as well. He can blitz obviously, he can play slot corner and come off the slot like like Hilton has done so well for the Bengals. He can do that for him. He's got the range in the speed to be able to play you know, deep middle at the safety position. He could be a spy if lou Aroma decided, you know what, these quarterbacks were playing Lamar Jackson Watson and these mobile quarterbacks. You know, sometimes you spy at the linebacker or a safety level. He could provide that.

I mean, there's a lot of things you can do with a guy like this, and so I think that that was the reason that they said, you know, this guy is a Swiss Army knife. This is a big tool in the toolbox that we can do a lot of things with. And when you can change your defensive look dramatically by not even having to substitute because of that player versatility, in today's NFL, you got something cooking.

And you know, they feel like they can address the true corner position later in the draft because they I don't think they expected this guy to be there, and honestly, I don't think he expected to be there either. Daxton Hill is six feet tall, one hundred ninety one pounds. He ran a four three eight forties, so he's got great speed, had elite scores in the shuttle and the three cone agility drills. Apparently not the strongest guy in the world, but guys that are run for three eight

forties generally, aren't you know, tremendous weightlifters. Where do you see him being used right away? Do you see him getting a lot of snaps or somebody who is you know, going to get a little taste of it as a rookie and eventually play a major role. I think it depends on what else they do in the draft at the corner position, because I think if he's their best guy as a third safety, that he gives them more more versatility. Um as as a third safety, they can

play slot corner. You could play a ton you know, if they draft a corner in the in the second round or third round or whatever, that proves that he's a hell of a player, you know, you can he may not have as many snaps and as many packages. That would be a great problem to have, you know, I mean to be able to have numbers back there that you could utilize and you can utilize differently with

those numbers. Because of the versatility that Dax Hill provides, I think is a is a big, big plus for Louanna Rumo, who you know, that's where that's his football bones is on the back end. I mean, that's his

his his his football history it's his football genetics. So I think he's excited about, you know, having Dax Hill come in here and take a look at what he can do physically and and uh, you know, go back to the defensive coordinatal laboratory and pull out the beacons and the and the test tubes and put some things together and involving Dax Hill. So, um, he's a talent.

There's no question about it. And I mean when you when you talk about you know, the killer bees, Bates and Bell and this kid at safety, you know, I don't know, I don't know how many trios and much better than that across the National Football League. That's that's pretty good, pretty good group right there. Jesse Bates will obviously play on the franchise tag unless they work out on extension before July thirty first. Von Bell's going into

the final year of his three year deal. How big of a factor were those contracts in drafting Daxton Hill. I think in today's NFL, you know, you always have to be ready to uh to move move accordingly depending on these type of situations salary cap issues. Am I going to be able to sign these guys? Where am I with with the cap what do I have coming up? Um, So it's it's always you always have to be ready and nimble to you know, not cripple yourself at a

position group. Um and depth is never a problem, particularly a guy like this that you know, to me, I'm not sure i'd call him a safety or a corner. I call him a defensive back. You know, I think I think this guy is, like I said, almost positionless and you know, gives gives them a lot of a lot of latitude. There's there's no question about it. And depending on how he pans out, Um, he's he's something good to have on your roster from a sarity cap standpoint,

because could you could you potentially count him as whatever, corner? Yeah, whatever, safety, Yeah, I mean he's got that kind of flexibility and ability to him potentially. Three picks before the Bengals, the Packers selected defensive tackle DeVante Wyatt out of Georgia. One pick before the Bengals, the chief selected defensive end George Karloftus of Purdue. If either of those two guys was on the board, do you think the Bengals would have selected

them instead? You know, prop possibly, I think I would have. Johnson was there pretty late. I mean, those guys Wyatt a three technique you're down a man in the in the defensive tackle three technique position. If Wyatt's there, you gotta give that serious consideration. If Johnson's there as an edge guy, and karloftis and they both were into the late twenties, I mean, it was like the draft pretty much once he got to like there were five picks. I counted at least five guys that I would have

been okay with, you know, including Booth. And they didn't have to get that far because they had guys that were there that I don't think they anticipated that would be there. But in a lot of cases people that anticipate Booth would have been there either. But the fact that that so many receivers were taken so early, I mean that that was a big benefit to the Bengals. There was no question about it. You know, quarterbacks nobody went before twenty so. But I mean there was a

run on defensive defensive ends in the beginning. There were five defensive players taken, three edge guys, two corners with the first five picks, and I thought, uh boy, you know, and then all the offensive players started going offensive tackles went, a center went to interior lineman went, I'm like, oh okay, now we're cooking. We got a bunch of receivers and a bunch of offensive lineman went, there's gonna be some

defensive players for the Bengals at the back end. And as it all unfolded, there they were, you know, a handful of them sitting right there at the end of the first round where they could just kind of patiently, you know, be disciplined and be patient and see what see what was going to be left. What do you think of the Ravens getting Tyler Linderbaum with the twenty fifth pick. Yeah, I mean I think that's where a lot of people had him, you know, in the twenties.

I think Linderbaum is a is an outstanding football player. I think he's as good a finisher as a blocker, tenacious, you know, he just a great, tremendous motor, great motor could fit for Baltimore or the running game. I think. So, you know, I think that it's going to be it'll be interesting to see how he handles these really big you know, I'm gonna these big nose tackles. I mean, what what how's How's that? That's the that's the concerned with him is he's undersized, you know, two hundred and

ninety three pounds with short arms. But he was a wrestler and he knows leverage and he sinks his hips. He plays with a low pad level. You know, he anchors pretty well at the collegiate level. Will he be? Will DJ Reader handle this kid? Now? DJ Reader is going to have to bring his lunch pale because this kid will not quit. He will play from snap to whistle, every single snap. He's not going to quit. It'll be

it'll be interesting. There's going to be some some big interior defensive lineman just in this division that it's going to be a challenge for this young man. But uh, you know, I do believe that when you watch his college tape, there's no doubt that he definitely deserved to be a first round draft pick. You mentioned the run on wide receivers. Between picks eight and twelve, there were four wide receivers selected, including three that were together at

Ohio State. At one point six of the first eighteen picks were wide receivers. It's a good year to be set at wide receiver, like the Bengals are because not only where those wide receivers selected, but Tennessee trades Aj Brown to the Eagles, the Ravens trade Hollywood Brown to the Cardinals. Earlier in the offseason, Davante Adams, Tyreek Kill, Amari Cooper all got dealt. The wide receiver market has

gone crazy. It was the wild Wild West. The trades and a lot of what was due to the wide receivers, and a lot of it is we're not going to pay our wide receiver twenty million. We don't have a rookie quarterback with the rookie contract. We can't afford that. So you move the wide receiver to a team that feels like they can fit it into their salary cap, and you replace it with a highly drafted rookie and hope that there's not going to be a major fall

off a cliff in terms of talent. But yeah, it was incredible the way they're basically dumping salary, you know before they have to negotiate these astronomical deals. And you know, the safety position a couple of years ago, you know started climbing, Well now it's leveled off and kind of declined. So you know, what does what does that mean for the Jesse Bates negotiation with the Cincinnati Bengals. Obviously this year, Uh, there's a strong chance that he could be playing out

you know, the franchise tag. But you know, you never know, you never know if you can, if you can get him sign or not. But if you can't, you know you've got a guy that you can potentially groom for a year to move to that position if necessary. So you always have to you have to be as flexible as the players are. You have to have personnel flexibility, you know, not just position versatility for the players. You have to have personnel and salary cap flexibility as as

an organization as well. As everybody knows the Bengals can start working on a Joe Burrow extension next year. If Joe wants to continue to throw to both te Higgins and Jamar Chase the future, he's going to have to be very willing to work out the type of deal that allows the Bengals to keep some of these guys, whether it means taking a little less or structuring it in such a way that gives the Bengal some flexibility. Because Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase are both tracking to

be twenty million dollar guys. Yeah, And I mean even if he does give you a hometown discount as such, can you still afford it? Can you still afford a quarterback that? I mean he deserves me in the top five, there's no doubt about that. Probably top three, maybe even better than that. So if you're up there at that number, you know you're looking at forty million a year plus another forty million between two receivers, mana chevits. That TV

contract better be sweet sugar atte. I mean, there better be a salary cap that's just like out of the stratosphere to be able to And that's what you don't know, you know exactly what that number is going to be. But I do think that Joe Burrow, in my mind, seems to be the kind of guy that you know, is reasonable about. My goals are to I want to be successful. I've got personal goals, but the team goals

are the biggest in my mind. I mean, he definitely he's been on a national championship team, he came within a whisker of being on a super Bowl championship team. He wants to win the ring in the NFL, just like he won the ring in college. All right, one round in the books, the Bengals pick up a safety.

Next two rounds of the draft coming up tomorrow. Now, in four out of the last five years, they've traded back in the second round, and this if they do it again, it'll almost certainly mean trading out of the second round. Do you think that's likely? It's possible. But to me, I thought trading back tonight would have been like trading out of the second round as the thirty first pick, you know, I mean, you're you're just about there. Trading out of the second round tomorrow would be like

an early third round pick. I think a little bit different dynamic. The players would be more picked over at that particular point in time. But with that said, if they're picked over and you only have one or two left that you really, you know, think you your needs are different than the Bengals and you're targeting needs, it could happen. There's there's no question about it. But um, you know, I think the Bengals feel like there's going

to be you know, good players. Um, it's still it needs like edge, rush, corner, um, you know, in the second, third, fourth round, No question about it. I think that the draft um is deep. It Obviously, the players are smaller, slower, whatever it's. You know, they're not quite the same you know, traits as such, but you put tape on, they're still damn good football players and they project to play in

the National Football League. Maybe more of a developmental situation, but I think they're going to get good players to uh to be able to work with and develop in that area for sure. The Bengals have Joe Burrow, the Browns now have Deshaun Watson. The Ravens obviously have Lamar Jackson. Did the Steelers enter that stratosphere and quarterback play by drafting Kenny pick It out of pit number twenty? Overall? You know, I mean, I think they've got they've got

a big wild card at the quarterback position. You have a guy that came out of the out of the college draft as the second pick in the draft, Mitchell Trubisky. Yeah, and trade it up to do it. I mean, he was highly regarded and he's got some physical attributes. Now, it didn't work for whatever. You can probably point to a myriad of reasons that it didn't work. But you know, Mitchell Trubisky's not going to use it as excuses. I mean, I'm sure in his mind, you know, he's not satisfied

with the way things worked out. I'm sure he If you're going to be realistic about it and honest about it, you know, he's a factor as much as organizational deficiencies were a factor in his lack of development. So I think the kid does have glo abilities though. I mean, he does have some athleticisms. He's another one. He's not as stiff in the pocket. This kid can run, he can move around, and he's got some arm He's got

some arm strength. He's got some arm talent. So yeah, I wonder if you know, they look at Picket to be I think Pickets the quarterback that was the most NFL ready, And I think he does have accuracy ball placement. I thought. I think he's he's pretty darn good short intermediate passing game in particular. I mean, he puts the ball in really good spots. He doesn't have a howitzer hanging off his right shoulder, but he's got plenty of

arm talent. You wouldn't say that he has, you know, upper echelon NFL arm strength though, but throwing it straight and throwing it accurately and putting where in the place that you want to put it are very important traits and he seems to have those. And he's another one that's not as stiff in the pocket. He can move around. I mean the AFC North they don't have the statue

of liberty is playing the quarterback position. They get they get bigger people that can that can extend and create and you know, make you miss on free runner sacks on the whole nine yards. So it's going to be a challenge for Louiana Roumo and his coaches and his defensive players to compete and win this division. Again, there's no doubt Round one is in the books. They fed us. Well, it was a good TV show. Let's do it again tomorrow. Let's do it again. Let's do it again second and

third round tomorrow. Man, the NFL Draft has become a spectacle. When I think to what it used to be and what it is now, I mean, it's it's must must watch TV. It really is. I'll post a new episode of this podcast on Friday night after rounds two and three. That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season. It's free to

play next level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now on the App Store and Google Play. And 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.