Hig and everybody.
I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast the Watch Me RIU.
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As we spend most of this episode focusing on the NFL Draft, Charles Davis from CBS Sports came out with his latest mock draft on Thursday. He'll discuss who he has the Bengals taking in Round one, along with some other players who have been frequently mentioned as possible Cincinnati targets. Then, for the second year in a row, former Bengals scout Greg Seaman joins the podcast to share insider stories from
the fourteen drafts he was involved with in Cincinnati. And then it's the seventh edition of our three round mock draft with an NFL expert. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit ketteringhealth dot
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Now time for our first guest. We're less than two weeks away from the NFL Draft, and one of my favorite experts is Charles Davis, who calls games for CBS but also serves as an analyst for the NFL networks coverage of the Senior Bowl, the Combine, and all seven rounds of the draft. On Friday, we discussed the draft as well as the Bengals moves in free agency. Charles, this is great timing because you just came out with
your second mock draft yesterday for NFL dot Com. You have the Bengals selecting cornerback of Manual Forbes from Mississippi State. He's getting a top thirty visit from the Bengals, so the team is definitely interested in him. He had incredible stats fourteen interceptions at NCAA record, six pick sixes. He's tall, he's six to one, He's got long arms more than thirty two inches. He's fast, he runs a four to
three to five forty. But there's a butt one hundred and sixty six pounds, which makes him something of a polarizing draft pick or potential draft pick. Share your thoughts on a manual Forbes, Dan, you.
Laid it out perfectly. Everything that I like about him. You talked about the butt is the biggest thing going, because I will I can imagine in draft rooms across the NFL when his name comes up, the positives just pile up and then the fistfight starts. About one hundred and sixty six pound corner, Now that's what he weighed at the combine. He did get it up to one
seventy at his pro day. Damn all right, right direction, that would be the lightest corner that we could think of in recent times, and we've talked about small players coming into the league. Nikel Roby Coleman, right, the diminutive slot cornerback that has played fairly well in this league. He weighed more than that. Jason Farrett coming out of TCU, a small corner but an outstanding talent. And to worry
about him was could he hold up. He hasn't had very many seasons where he's been able to hold up, but when he has, he's been terrific. Kevin Johnson coming out of Wake Forest weighed more than that, and the number one concern was his slight frame. Can he hold up? Devon Witherspoon Illinois coming out this one hundred and eighty one pounds at the corner. One of the most fiercest, fierce hitters that we have coming into the league. But
again one eighty one. So yeah, when you start talking about one sixty six to one seventy, the scratching of the head, the you know, the handover the face going on, right, the agony that goes into that. But the thing about him is you would figure he would be one of those cut tacklers, an ankle biter. He's not. He throws his body in with abandon now sometimes the boom doesn't meet what you need coming at her, he brings it as the best he can, and he tackles pretty darn
well overall. The reason I put him there, of course, corner to me is a need with Cincinnati. His ability to ball hawk seems to fit quite well with a man that runs your defense, lou Anarumo, And I just think the fit there, the personality, the way Cincinnati goes about its business, I think it matches pretty well in terms of this mock draft, although I think there's some other places they could easily go.
Do we have any context for the one hundred and sixty six to one hundred and seventy pounds? Do we know if he tries to put on weight and it's just one of these people who can't. Is he somebody who really hasn't tried to do it up until this point and now will do you know anything along those lines?
No, but my eyes and just educated guessing and a little bit of chatter. You know, we all have that where we're lucky enough to run in circles Dan where you can pick up a phone and call someone and see if there's something I can do the same. We're lucky that way, right, No one has a definitive answer. When you look at his frame, you wonder just how much he can actually put on, Like some frames are built where you go, oh, he can put it on twenty five pounds, that'd be a piece of cake and
carry it easily. He doesn't look to me like he has the type of frame. He's so wiry, all right. I feel like Gene Hackman and the Replacements talking about their kicker. He's wiring that. I don't know how much can actually pack on. He looks like one big, one hundred and sixty six pounds long muscle. How much of that can pack on? And how much do you want
before he actually slows down? So that's where we run into that with Emmanuel Forbes, and that's a big reason why a lot of people would push him to the second round. But the ballhawking ability taking it away. It's the name of the game. You know that as well as I do. Is the name of the game. It's
in the NFL like it has everywhere else. When you can limit possessions and create an extra one for your offense, that's huge in today's NFL, when how many games last year were decided by one touchdown or less.
We're visiting with Charles Davis from CBS Sports and the NFL Network. So this was your second mock draft for NFL dot Com, and the first you had the Bengals taking Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer, the local kid from Covington Catholic High School just across the river. In your second mock draft, he's not there anymore. You have him going twenty sixth to Dallas. If he is there, would he be your pick?
He would be one that I would have in heavy consideration because obviously we have to see the rest of the board and what happens. I know in my mind, I keep thinking to myself and maybe you can help me with this. I know Jonah Williams hasn't exactly jumped up and down and greeted the idea of right tackle with open arms. But we're a long way from training camp, We're a long way from the season. I've heard players
not be excited about certain assignments. By the time we get there, they're ready, you know, they lock in and go. I feel like, ultimately Jonah Williams will make that move to right tackle. So I've not focused as much there but don't think for a second offensive lineman couldn't still
be in consideration. I think running back is a big one, and if somehow Vjon Robinson got within range, I would think Duke Tobin and staff might have a little conversation in a huddle because if he gets in range, Dallas is gonna have that same conversation. And with the way Joe Mixon's offseason has been no more, Sama, JP Ryn, I you know we've covered the Bengals enough. My crew, we are a strong believer that Zach Taylor isn't just paying lip service because we've seen it. When he can
run the football, he will run the football. So Vjon Robbinson fits that bill as well. But mayor look, I said it in my first mock draft. Joe Burrow is gonna find you if you're open, and he likes tight ends that can get open and play. They're any quarterback's best friend. Great site lines, dan right in front of you, easy pitch and catch yardage, chains, move all those things. Michael Mayer fits that one. Plus he'll block really well in the run game.
So this is supposedly a great tight end draft. You have Dalton Kincaid from Utah going fifteenth to the Green Bay Packers in your most recent mock draft. I think the Bengals are going to take at least one in this draft after Dalton Kincaid and Michael Mayer. Who do you like if the Bengals were to take one in the second, third, or fourth round.
Well, they got so many options. You know, there's one out of Miami named Will Mallory that if you think the Mallory name in football circles, Bill Mallory, former hit coach, Mike Mallory. We go right down the line you say Mallory, everybody's oh Mallory one of those kids, and I think he's tested well and probably was underutilized the University of Miami right right there in the city. Josh Wiley, tight end from Cincinnati, had a really good Senior Bowl week.
He's a guy to keep an eye on. Not terribly far away. If you go to Purdue, there's a kid by name of Payne Durham who got better every day at the Senior Bowl and capped it off with a terrific game. He is a monster of a tight end. He's a big, big guy. Dan and I had a great chance to chat with him a little bit, and I said, hey, I noticed in your background lacrosse. I said what position? He said, I was an attack, which meant he was bearing down on goalies and scoring goals.
I said, how big were you when you played lacrosse? He said pretty much where I am, he said, you know, give or take. But I was tall and big then. And I just thought to myself, can you imagine those poor lacrosse goalies with that monster pumping at him. He's gotten better as he's gone along. Okay, there's a kid named Tucker Kraft a San Diego, I mean South Dakota State, who can play. Is he Dallas Goddard? That's the easy comparison, same school. I don't think so, But that doesn't mean
he's not a good football player. And then there's one that is starting that is starting to hit Brenton Strange from Penn State. Lately. Do you hear more and more chatter his ability to catch the football? You know, he might be a better pro than a college player. We go on forever. There are a bunch of guys in that once you start taking them off, it seems like there's no shortage of those guys that are available that you can go.
Get Sam Hubbard, by the way, was one of those high school giants bearing down on the lacrosse goalie back in the day. We're chatting with Charles Davis from CBS. Let's circle back to right tackle for now. Jonah Williams is likely to be the guy who knows. Maybe they'll trade him after the draft. Anything's possible. Let's assume that Paris Johnson has gone, Peter Skeronsky has gone, I know, right is gone, Froderick Jones is gone. That would be
my expectation prior to pick number twenty eight. After that, Are you a Dewan Jones guy? Are you an Anton Harrison guy? How do you like the crop of potential right tackles that could play right away?
Yeah, the top is gonna be Anton Harrison for me. You know, once you get past that crop. You mentioned Dan, I think that he's a guy who also is a consideration that if the run, if the run really hits, and someone wants someone And I called the Dwayne Brown example. Remember the draft when Houston and people, you know, I keep telling you know, I tell people, you know, Houston used to run the AFC South and people look at me like what I say, It wasn't that long ago,
was it? You see how quickly times change? Right, They actually traded back into the first round, took Dwayne Brown somewhere in the late twenties, I believe, and people are like, WHOA had a third round? Great on him? How'd that work out? I think pretty well. Dwayne Brown's had a career. He's not a tackle. But remember when Travis Frederick went to Dallas in the first round and everyone in the league,
what second round, third round, fourth round? Grade Travis fad and get him later guy became an all pro, not just a pro bowler and all pro before he had to retire early with Giambari syndrome and just didn't have the strength to play, but he was a terrific player. So Anton Harrison is that type of a guy to me that if that run happens, and it really happens early and people's like, I got to have a tackle,
he becomes that guy from me. Dwan Jones for Ohio State, I'm just going to tell you that is buyer beware, buyer beware, buyer beware, but never stepped on a scale for us. And when I say I'm talking about all of us who were interested in it. Never stepped on a scale at the Combine, didn't step on a scale at his pro day, didn't go through his drills and things at his pro day. Was at the Senior Bowl.
Had one good day the first day of practice when every pass rusher lost his mind and decided, I'm gonna run over the three hundred and sixty pounds man, and he just enveloped them all. None of them threw a second move, none of them through speed, none of them did anything. They just all got ego driven and rushed horribly, and he just ate them alive. And then he never showed up the rest of the week. Didn't see him Wednesday, didn't see him Thursday, didn't see him on game Deby.
I'm not saying people don't have their reasons, Okay. I didn't sit with the young man and say why didn't you do this? So he may have something perfectly good, but I'm gonna play string it all together for you. Dan. He did that in mobile. He didn't work out at the combine, He didn't work at his pro debt. What am I getting? And if you're not getting on that scale and I'm looking at you and I'm thinking four bills could ring up there somewhere. That's gonna worry me.
And Dion Sanders said something that I've kept in my head years ago. He's like, hey, man, you don't eat less when you have more money in your pocket. And I realize the discipline people handle it right. I don't know what I'm getting there. So that's a buyer beware. Because he has talent, that's well, I'll question, but does he have the talent to discipline himself be on the field. That's what teams are asking themselves in my mind.
Let's get back to running back. Historically, the second round has been the sweet spot for the Bengals. Joe Mixon second round, Jeremy Hill's second round, Gievonni Bernard second round. If you go to the wayback machine, Corey Dellon second round, Ikey would second round. How do you like the crop of running backs? We'll say second round, but maybe even third.
I think it's a good one. It's a very good running back crop. Jamar Gibbs from Alabama. He could be my Clente Edwards Dlaire where he snuck into the bottom of the first round. I'm looking at Philadelphia. If they don't take Jon Robinson at ten, right, he could be that guy. He's out of Alabama, Georgia Tech Transfer, run it, catch it. He's not Jhon Robinson because he's not as thick and as strong, but he's built well, he's compact and he's really good in the open field. Devon a
chain and these aren't necessarily an order. Dan Devon a chain from Texas A and m ran A four to three eight. He's a dart. Okay, mind you of a spiller coming out of school. Remember CJ still can flat out go and you have a Texas A and M guy. Believe who's on the roster now, Travon Williams a chain even more sudden in my mind. Plus he catches the ball on the backfield quite well. Zach Sharbonnet. Now that is more to me what the Bengals would look for, a more of a powerful type of a runner out
of UCLA. That as the game went on, I always talk about guys who can run people into submission. Joe Mixon has that ability, right, those guys talked about Corey Dillon certainly ran people into submission. You know by the fourth quarter, Okay, I had enough of hitting on this big man. That's what Zach Sharbonnay gives you is a little bit more of a power guy come out of UCLA. There's one that didn't really work out at all in the offseason, and it's a little bit different than Dwan Jones.
His was a true injury with a hamstring, but we've got plenty of tape on him. And that's Dwayne McBride out of UA B. And what was his name, Jordan Howard? Remember he came out Indiana a few years ago and actually had a few good years in Chicago. Very similar type of player in terms of college production. And Jordan Howard began his create UA B before transferring to Indiana, So there's a little bit of comparison there. But there
are a lot of good running backs. They're gonna come out in the second round, in the third round, and that's why again I think b Jon Robinson is still going to go in the first round, but maybe not as high. And if he doesn't go into first round, it's simply because everybody goes I can get a running back all the way through and that's kind of where we've seen it along the way too.
We're chatting with Charles Davis from CBS. Let's get away from the draft and touch on free agency for a few minutes before I let you go. The big news, obviously for the Bengals was signing Orlando Brown Junior to a four year, sixty four million dollar deal. That's pretty darn reasonable for a four time Pro Bowl left tackle. He's only the fifteenth highest paid tackle now in the NFL. What'd you think of that signing?
I has a big time signing for Cincinnati because they obviously were comfortable with him standing on the left side, and he doesn't make that move if he doesn't stand the left side. Remember, he was a perennial Pro Bowl right tackle, which I thought fit him to a t. But he always talked about I want to play a position where my dad played. Orlando Zeus Brown, God rest his soul, and he wanted to be a left tackle, and Kansas City was willing to make him a left tackle.
I think he's better at right, what is he good enough at left? Absolutely? And look, he just won a Super Bowl and helped shut out some pretty good pass rushers right against Philadelphia, so he understands how to play the game. And then you're talking about getting him into fifteenth salary for tackles. That's a huge win for Cincinnati. Jordan Williams may not be thrilled about the whole thing, but if you're Cincinnati, how do you say no to that?
He understands how to play, he understands positioning, and he helps make up for his lack of foot speed when you have those super elite pass rushers. He knows where his weakness is and he tries to eliminate that right off the top and make you play to his strength. And when he's able to do that and get his hands on you, look out because that's a big, massive man who's got some strength.
You are a great safety and you're playing days at Tennessee. You had thirteen interceptions in your college career. That's highly impressive. The Bengals lost a great tandem at that position in Jesse Bates and Von Bell. They've signed Nick Scott. They've got last year's first round draft pick Dax Hill waiting in the wings. How concern should we be about losing Bates and Bell when you now have Scott and Hill?
Yeah? I think losing losing both of them are terrific. And you know, my coaches to tell you my thirteen interceptions. They don't know what the quarterbacks were thinking, right, this is how it happened, Davis. But Jesse Bates was one of those great center field roamers. And in a sense, Dan, there's times I would watch Jesse play and see numbers and thought that they would have been higher. And that's that's not a ding on him. I like Jesse Bates
a lot. I thought there was a potential at some point that Jesse Bates might, you know, really bust out eight, nine, ten interceptions because of that style of play. To me, von Bell is the big loss. Not that Bates isn't. He's a really good player and them is a tandem terrific. But the last two years have just been fraught with contract. Jesse was worried about. He almost lost a year getting his head right on that one on the Super Bowl run, and last year knew he was going to be leaving.
So it's it's just an uneasy deal. Von Bell holds it down for everyone. You know how excited they are in Carolina. Okay, you know that they are ecstatic in Carolina because from the moment he hits town, he takes over. Guys are gonna work harder, Guys are gonna be more accountable, Guys are gonna be ready to play. That's just who he is and they are fortunate to have it. So I worry about that a little bit. But the beauty is, these youngsters got a chance to work their way in.
Dax Hill got plenty of playing time preseason, and everybody says that preseason, Well, guess what it pays dividends that the kid gets his feet wet and got to work his way into what lou wanted. And of course Lou's knocker, lou An Room is not gonna want to play you during the regular season. He wants his regular guys playing because he likes the continuity. Dax can go ahead and jump in and get going right away on that. I don't think adding someone from the secondary in the draft
it is out of line that could easily happen. That witness I've got forbes at corner safety can could easily jump in there, and they're few of them that are pretty darn good and would fit. I think what lou Anrumo does, So yeah, I see that happening, But I do think it's a loss. You know, It's what Buffalo did they're going with the Hide and Poyer show one
more time. If that doesn't tell you how valuable these guys are, I don't know what is, because I'll leave you with this on this one, Dan, I'm getting ready for a Buffalo game last year, and you remember Hiding Poyer went through their injury issues last year? Okay, And I talked with an offensive coordinator and I said, what did you learn from the last game? I said, you talked to anyone from the other team? He said, yeah,
I talked with the team that they just played. And I said, okay, tell me one thing I really need to know about Buffalo's defense that I don't know, and obviously had a relationship with him, et cetera, et cetera. And the person said to him, the backup safeties are better than you think now. At the time, the backup safeties were Jakwan Johnson and Tamar Hamlin. We know what's happened now. Unfortunately for Damarrow, Jaquan Johnson is no longer
in Buffalo. They've got a restock as well. You lose Baits, you lose Von Bell, You're in a restock position. I don't care who who else is sitting there right now. You've got to bring some more people in because those two are pretty darn good.
They lost cj Uzama a couple of years ago. Hayden Hurst basically gave them the same production. Now they've lost hayden Hurst and they've signed IRV Smith Junior, Ken IRV Smith Junior give them similar production from what they got out of C. J Uzama and hayden Hurst.
When you take his scouting report out Dan coming out of college, that's exactly what you would see. That's what you were going to get from IRV Smith. Explosive, productive, good hands, route runner, shred you down the middle, create big plays. That's what you were That's what the scouting report said on him. He's had a lot of dings in Minnesota. Let's see if he can stay healthy and hit that scouting report. Because it's not like he's ancient like me. He's still a young kid. He can run
around and do things. That's what we're going to want to see because that's what this scattering report was coming out. Can he hit that and match up with it, because if so, it lessens your burden on the tight end position in the draft.
If you're ancient I must be fossilized or paleozoic or something.
I do not at all, look only as young as yag. Did you help me, on the other hand, assistence just getting up in the morning?
All right, final question for Charles Davis, and I appreciate your time as always. The Chiefs are the reigning NFL champs. The Bills have won the AFC East for three years in a row. Looks like the Jets are going to add Aaron Rodgers. The Browns will have to Shaun Watson all year. Jacksonville is ascending. Sean Paton is now the head coach in Denver. I look at this AFC and I think the Bengals are great. They're gonna be even better than they've been. And yet I don't know how
you get through this gauntlet. What do you think of the AFC right now?
It is a gauntlet, isn't it? And every year we talk about teams. Okay, if you want to make the playoffs, what's your easiest path to the playoffs? Win your division? So you know, anyone who follows the NFL knows every coach is gonna tell you, every scouting department is going to tell you. We build our team to win our division first, because if we do that, then we know we're in the playoffs. We'll deal with the rest of
it later. But to me, there are certain few teams every year that have earned the right to not just build to win their division, but build to win in the playoffs. Cincinnati is one of those teams. Okay, nothing's a given, nothing's guaranteed, but they have built this roster and this team and how they play, and they understand being the hunted now and they carry through on that
quite well. I don't worry about Cincinnati unless something just catastrophic happens, right So, to me, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Buffalo, Okay, great, it's not just adding for your division. Think about who you might have to play in the playoffs. Remember the old days when okay, I got to deal with New England in the playoffs, do I have to anyone who
can run with Gronk? You had to have that extra So if you're dealing with Cincinnati in the playoffs, and you're Kansas City, and you're Buffalo and whoever else we want to put in there, Okay, how am I dealing with Jamar Chase? How am I dealing with those Routie Higgins. How am I dealing with those receivers and Joe Burrow operating? That's your first thought. You flip it over to Buffalo Josh Allen not just throwing it, but when Josh Allen breaks out and runs it, is he gonna shred me?
Do I have those people who can spy him and go get him? Right? In Kansas City, we always talked about them being a track meet, but last year, Dan, it wasn't just a track meet. They were running a lot more, a lot of the shorter sprints. They played small ball, and Patrick Mahomes was the MVP of the league. It wasn't just flicking it and turn it into sixty seventy yard plays. There were a lot of ten fifteen to twenty yard plays, more than you would ef back
from Kansas City. They adjusted and became champions again. So now, how do you adjust to Patrick Mahomes and his ability to adjust to you. I used to talk about it with Drew Brees. I used to call Drew Brees AI artificial intelligence. Everything you threw at him, he took the input, took the input to the input, and by the end of the game, everything you threw at him. He was running back against you and beating you. That's what Mahomes does for you. So what's your counter, what's your change up?
What do you have for him? Because we all talk about taking away Kelsey, I don't know that we really have. And people have tried everything you possibly can. Are there other ways to get to them? That's what those teams are plotting in the offseason without talking about it.
The draft is right around the corner. You are going to be a very busy man. I really appreciate your time, great stuff as always, Thank you so much, my friend.
Thank you Dan. Always great to talk with you. You take care of yourself. Hope to see you soon.
The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thous and customers trust pay Corps to help them recruit, pay, engage and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com and by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and sign merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. Last year, right around this time, we gave you an idea of what it's like to be inside the Bengals war room during the draft with Greg Seaman, who was
a Bengals scout for more than a decade. This year I decided to try something a little bit different with Greg. I picked out one player from each of the fourteen drafts he was involved with and asked him to share some memories about those draft picks. Greg. He joined the Bengals organization in two thousand and three. Marvin had just been hired as the head coach. The team was coming off a two and fourteen season the year before, so
the Bengals had the number one overall pick. It was widely assumed that the choice was going to be Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Carson Palmer. That's the way, obviously that it turned out. But was there much debate in that situation.
I came in at the same time Marvin did. I had been in Dallas coaching the tight ends, and so I got there a little late in the process. When I arrived, there was no doubt that Carson was the cream of the crop in that draft, and also Marvin was adamant about how we should begin his career, that he did not want to rush him into the breach and damage his progress. In some way and we stood by that. And Carson is a you know, the ultimate oh what might have been? You know, his second year,
we win. His first year as a starter, we win eight games. The next year we win eleven games. We had beaten Pittsburgh and I will forever believe that that team could have won the Super Bowl. Carson gets hurt the steel in the game as a wild card and go on to win the Super Bowl, and I believe we were better than them. And the hit by Keemo van Ohoffen led to a rule change about the low hit on the quarterback because of Carson's injury. So, yeah, Carson was just a terrific, terrific player.
Mike Brown played quarterback. He loves watching quarterbacks, studying quarterbacks. He said to me that he believes Carson Palmer had the best arm of any quarterback in Bengal's history.
That's a big statement and Mike has said that. And you have to take into account that a guy like Bill Walsh said that Greg Cook was the most talented passer he ever worked with, and think about that. That includes Dan Fouts, Joe Montana, and Steve Young. Mike has likened Carson's ability to throw the ball to the great Auto Grams, who was a wonderful passer in a different era. So yeah, Carson had the size he had touched. He was an intelligent guy. He grew up in the West
Coast offense. His offensive coordinator at USC was Hugh Jackson, and they were running much the same kind of system he would eventually run in the NFL.
There were thirteen quarterbacks taken in that two thousand and three draft. None of the other ones drafted other than Carson Palmer ever made a Pro Bowl. But one undrafted quarterback went to four Tony Romo.
I'll be durned. Eastern Illinois. Yeah, the pride of the Eastern Illinois Panthers. And Sean Payton is the one that brought him to Dallas. And Sean was an Eastern Illinois quarterback.
So we moved to the two thousand and four draft. This was a great quarterback draft, Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Big Ben. The Bengals were set at that position. They were not looking for a quarterback. They had eleven picks. Their most successful wasn't first rounder Chris Perry, the running back out of Michigan. It was fourth rounder Robert Gathers. From Georgia. The Bengals had the seventeenth pick that year. You traded back twice, seventeen to twenty four, then twenty
four to twenty six. You got a couple of extra fourth rounders out of that, and Robert Gathers is one of them.
If you're one of the thirty two teams in the NFL and you draft for enough years, there's a pretty good chance you're going to draft it. Gathers. His dad was drafted, though injured. His uncle Jumpy was a great player. His brothers, his cousins, everyone in the family, it seems, at some point becomes an NFL player. Robert. That was a great deal to get Robert and game picks. Robert was a good player, a good person and a good
professional and played for a long time. That was a very solid pick, a good guy, good in the locker room, productive on the field. And I think we joke about how many Gathers there are, but I think part of who he was was the fact that he was rounded by professionals and he knew how to be a professional and just a good person, good player.
Is there anybody on the Bengals totem pole, whether it's Mike or Duke Tobin or Mike's late brother Pete, who is especially of a proponent of trading back.
You might not think this, but Mike isn't really a risk taker, and so Mike is for kind of staying where you are and letting the draft come to you, unless you're looking ahead and saying, you know, the guys that we want are not going to be there, and so we're going it's going to be necessary to move. I think probably Marvin and Duke brought more of the thinking of it's okay to move around here in a
little bit. We'll be thoughtful about it and will be informed in our decision making, but sometimes we can force the issue a bit. And that was an example of a really good deal.
We're chatting the former Bengals scout Greg Seaman. We moved to two thousand and five. This is one of the great what IFFs in Bengals history. You have the seventeenth over pick. He took David Pollock, the All American boy, won all of the major defensive awards in college football when he was at Georgia, and then in the second game of his second year, he broke a vertebrae in his neck and never played again.
Yeah, just tragic. And David was appealing to us at two different positions. He had proven at Georgia that he could play with his hand on the ground and rush the quarterback and chase the ball in the run game. But he also had the athletic ability and the intelligence to also be able to stand up play some outside linebacker and wouldn't have been involved in coverage a lot, but brought some flexibility that we were really at that
point looking for defensively. And I admire David because as a young player whose dream it is to play in the NFL, oftentimes they don't make the best decision for themselves, and he listened to what the doctors told him, and he's a great example of why if a young man gets an education and prepares himself for life after football, you can move to that seamlessly. And he's become a
star on the Saturday college football broadcast. So good for David, But yeah, a real what if had he not been injured, he would have had a very good career with the Bengals.
So unfortunately the first pick in two thousand and five didn't have a long Bengals career. But Cincinnati did eventually wind up with two of the first six picks from that draft, Cedric Benson and Adam pac Van Jones. We moved to two thousand and six. This is really one of the most productive drafts in teen history. Jonathan Joseph round one had a great career. Frosty Rucker round three had a solid career. Domatab Peco round four had a great career. Let's focus on the second round pick, number
fifty five. Overall, he's likely going to the Hall of Fame someday. Andrew Whitworth. I remember there were teams that said, this guy's a guard, not tackle. The Bengals obviously felt differently.
Yes, Witt, the story has been told many times. It just briefly besides being a stellar player. When we interviewed him at the combine, he sounded like a ten year veteran when we talked about technique and footwork and how you play the game of football, to the point that Marvin turned to Paul Alexander, o line coach and said, if we draft this guy, I won't need you, the line coach. WIT's remarkable. Witt has always been underestimated as
an athlete. You know, he was a three time state champion in high school, he was a state champion at national champion at LSU, and now he won a Super Bowl ring at the end of his career. Not many can say that, but think about Wit at six seven and in high school, I'm guessing two hundred and ninety pounds coming to the net as an outstanding high school tennis player. And if you've seen him around Cincinnati in his years, he is a low handicapped golfer with a
deft touch. So here's a six foot seven three and thirty five pound NFL tackle with those kinds of athletic skills and a good brain, a good heart, and a good soul to go with all of that. One of the all time great Bengals, one of the all time great NFL left tackles, and I think certainly a Hall of Famer.
All kidding, aside from your scouting days, when you learned that a player was a great tennis player or golfer or something like that, was that a factor?
Absolutely? You know a lot of times when you're looking at offensive and defensive linemen, you'd love to know that they were also an outstanding heavyweight wrestler. Because of work ethic and balance. But when you've got a man of his size that has that kind of fine motor skills and you could see him run and change direction and move in a way that a much smaller man did.
In the Bengals facility, we had a gymnasium and between meetings oftentimes the players would go down and they would have three point shooting contests and Carson Palmer generally would be one that would win that. But right there with him was Andrew Whitworth, who had the silky left handed shot. So yeah, a multi sport athlete who has had success in various endeavors is very appealing.
Andrew Whitworth one of two players from the two thousand and six draft to last sixteen NFL seasons, the other punter Sam Cook and the Baltimore Ravens we moved to two thousand and seven. This is interesting because you had taken a cornerback in the first round the year before Jonathan Joseph. You did again Leon Hall number eighteen. Overall, was there any hesitation in going cornerback in the first round in back to back years?
I think that there was discussion, and sometimes you try to find a reason not to take somebody. In Leon's case, he just was so solid. He was smart, his technique was good, his footwork was good. He would tackle, which a lot of corners would not do. He was mature.
And we were building a defense that was going to have good pass rushers on the outside, solid players on the inside, a pretty good linebacking corps, and someone to book in with Jonathan Joseph, who you thought the two of them might be long term starting corners in what was becoming Mike Zimmer's defense. And so he really just fit the bill. And you know, not that Leon was ever a superstar. He was a really good player who ended up playing I think ten or twelve years as
a corner in the NFL, and that's rare. So a very very good player and a good pick at that point in the draft.
Your memory is good, a twelve year NFL career. The first nine in Cincinnati were chatting with Greg Seaman, the former Bengals scout. We moved to two thousand and eight. I want to focus on team's second round pick that year. The Bengals don't typically take small school players in the early rounds of the draft. That year, you did wide receiver Jerome Simpson out of Coastal Carolina. Unfortunately, Deshaun Jackson went three picks later and wound up having the better
NFL career. But tell us a little bit about selecting Jerome Simpson.
At that point. Well, Jerome was able to leap tall defenders in a single bound and land on his feet in the end zone, the iconic play I still see from time to time. Jerome was a state champion basketball player and the leading scorer on the team. Jerome was a state finalist in North Carolina in the sprints. He could also believe he was either a triple jumper or
a long jumper. So he was an under recruited kid, A raw athletic kind of guy ends up at Coastal Carolina, does not set the world on fire starting out, but a good kid and remarkably, I mean, he did have springs for legs. There were things he could do that you couldn't coach him to do. And we were developing, you know, we had Chad and TJ. And we're kind of in that transition to AJ and Marvin and Mow and Slim, and he fit in that category of these kind of long athletic guys that could go out and
get the ball. So he was a little raw, probably not real mature in the game yet, but had the athletic ability to make that a worthwhile endeavor.
Am I correct in saying in the early rounds the Bengals would prefer major conference guy over small conference guy.
I think everyone would. I think you in the early rounds, your investment is more and you want to have the highest level of confidence that you can have. This guy can transition to the NFL smoothly and successfully, and sometimes, you know, when you can't see them against top competition in college, it becomes a little riskier.
We moved to two thousand and nine. This is a very strong draft. Andre Smith had a long career. Ray maul Luga had a solid career. Michael Johnson had a good career. I'm going to focus in on your fifth round pick that year. Don't draft a kicker, don't take a punter. Well, the Bengals took one. Kevin Huber wound up playing fourteen seasons in a Bengals uniform. Was there any reluctance to take a punter in round five?
No? You know you've got three things in Cincinnati. You have Skyline, Chile, you have Greater's ice Cream, and you got Kevin Huber, you know, the Cincinnati High School McNicholas and then at you See. And I think that our familiarity with him from uce that was a school that I had coached at, and I also did the scouting for you See, and so I was around there a lot,
and I felt very confident in recommending him. Darren Simmons, who's one of the best special teams coaches in the NFL, was able to be around him a lot also because he was right there in town. And what struck you about Kevin was his ability to perform situationally. If you were in plus territory late in a game and you really didn't need your punter to kick the ball out the back of the end zone, Kevin would leave the
ball inside the ten. And if it were late in the game and you were backed up and you needed a big kick, Kevin could kick the ball fifty five yards and change the field position. And he responded to those things. So he was mature beyond his years. Darren would be able to talk to his technique more than me, but he was certainly sound. You didn't see a lot of mishits out of Kevin and a hard worker and
just a really good guy. And I'm so happy that he was able to stay with the Bes throughout his career. It's just been a terrific story.
He became the greatest punter in franchise history, and that was a good punter draft. There were three selected that year. All three became Pro Bowlers, Thomas Moristead and Pat McAfee. For the other two, Pat mcavie obviously making a bundle now as a broadcaster. He moved to twenty ten. The Bengals drafted three Pro Bowlers in twenty ten, Jermaine Gresham, Carlos Dunlap, and a fourth round pick who went to eight Pro Bowls. That is a record for a Bengals
defensive player, the great Geno Atkins. Why were one hundred and nineteen players selected before Geno Atkins in twenty.
Ten because they did not have Bill Tobin fighting for Geno Atkins as his advocate. I remember those meetings, and you know, Gino was short by defensive tackle standards, and Bill was just adamant that this guy is a rock, that he's going to be able to not only hold up against the double teams, but he's going to be able to rush the passer. Marvin got on board with that,
obviously everybody did. We went for the pick, and then, you know, I said, recently, your great players for where you would take them, but you also have to have a sense of where the league values them. And I think that we had a good feel that people weren't clamoring to take Gino early in that draft, and we were patient and got one of the all time great Bengal defensive linemen in the fourth round of just a steal.
That was a wonderful pick. And Gino came in and he was hard as a rock and strong and played hard, and you couldn't get him to talk his position. Coach said, I'm with the guy every day. Never says anything I've asked him a question. He's just a quiet, hardworking, humble, sincere guy who was a joy to be around.
Bill Tobin is Duke's dad. Bill famously built the great Chicago Bears team that won the Super Bowl in the mid eighties. Tell us a little bit about what was like to be in a draft room with Bill Tobin.
Bill had literally spent his life. He played running back at Missouri and then played in the original AFL for a bit and then a little bit of coaching, and then pretty early in his life just devoted it to the personnel side. How do you put together a good roster, how do you put together a good team? Those are sometimes different things. And so he was, along with Pete and Mike, you had three guys that had grown up in the NFL and they could really be valuable as
mentors and resources. So he was a great guy to be around, and I'm sure he's still around.
We moved to twenty eleven. Dan Horr joined the organization in May of that year, but the Bengals made a lot more significant additions than that. Aj Green was the fourth overall pick in the draft, and in the second round, number thirty five overall, Cincinnati selected Andy Dalton. My recollection is that Jay Gruden, who had been hired as the offensive coordinator that offseason, really pushed for Andy Dalton.
Was that the case that is exactly right. We were at that point where it was pretty clear that Carson wasn't going to return and we had a good football team, a team that was becoming a very good football team, and so this was key and Jay loved several things about Andy not the least of which was he had started close to fifty games already. If you talk to the TCU guys, they will say that Andy and his teammates, his classmates changed TCU football when they went there. You know,
it was a midland program. They got better and better and better. And in Andy's last game, the TCU plays in the Rose Bowl and beats number four Wisconsin on national TV. And after that they built onto the stadium at TCU. They have the money to redo their facilities.
So Andy had been a part of, an integral part of something really important, with a lot of pressure placed on him, and he had handled that so beyond his physical abilities, I think Jay and all of us came to really appreciate the fact that Andy was mature, that he was stable, that he was wise, and he was dependable, and he went out and played really, really well for a long time.
These decisions aren't always unanimous. There's debate in the room. I remember one Bengals front office person I'm not going to say him by name, that thought that Andy was too much like John Kitna, didn't have the big arm, didn't have some of the physical traits that ideally you would love to have. That's the way it is, right.
There are always differing opinions, always differing opinions, and there's a temptation and sometimes it's a good thing to to compare a collegiate player to an NFL player. He might be this person. The problem with that approach is that as soon as you name the NFL player, all the connotations that come with that guy, whether they be negative or positive, are immediately attached to this kid who has
never yet played in the NFL. So I'm very reluctant when we do that kind of thing, and we do it does happen as a way of placing a value on a prospect. But Andy was his own man, and not only was he a really good player for the Cincinnati Bengals, he was a great person in the city of Cincinnati and in the community. He and his wife.
We're chatting with Greg Sieman, the former Bengals scout. In twenty twelve, the Bengals drafted two wide receivers and they both worked out well. Marvin Jones is a great fifth round pick. Mohammed sinu As your third round pick, went on to spend ten years in the NFL.
Yeah, he was a guy that I scouted, I had the East Coast at that time. Moe always struck me as just a really good all around athlete. I went to their practice, I saw him in games. He could obviously, he can throw a ball shockingly well. His first he threw a seventy three yard touchdown pass against the Washington
Redskins at that time to AJ Green. So Moe had a touchdown pass thrown before he ever caught a pass in the NFL, which is unusual, and ended up with I think an almost perfect passer rating over the course of his career. But Moe could go out and kick a field goal for you if you needed to. He could punk the ball if you needed him to. He was big, and physically he wasn't the fastest guy, but
he was an incredibly hard worker. His senior year at Rutgers, he was having a good career at Rutgers, and then his senior year he caught one hundred and fifteen passes for I think a little over twelve hundred yards, and they just in every situation where they needed something, they threw the ball to Mo. And so when he came to the Bengals, we were blessed that we had a good group of receivers. And you know, there are different
kinds of slot receivers. There are small, quick guys, and then there are guys that are physical and big, and Moe could do that. And Moe could play the Z position and come in and crack on a linebacker and make a catch on third down. He was with US I think for four years and then had a great run with the Atlanta Falcons, played in a Super Bowl.
And his family's from Sierra Leone. Mo grew up mostly in New Jersey, but he's been involved in charity work everywhere that he's been and just a very mature young man. I've always been a fan of Mohammed Sanu.
And people may recall he got pranked in the second round that year. Somebody called up said the Bengals were about to select him. It wasn't the case. It was difficult, frustrating and somewhat embarrassing situation for him, and then it all worked out in the end because in the next round he got that call from Cincinnati.
Yeah, we felt so terrible, and then our turn comes and we're going to take him. So Marvin's gonna call him, and Marvin's worried. Is he gonna think this is the prank again, or you know what's going to happen here? When I call this guy, you know is he going to respond? And so he had to kind of convince Mo that yes, it really is the Bengals this time, and we are thrilled to be able to pick you in the draft.
The twenty thirteen draft was an interesting one because the player that she selected in the first round was not on any of the mock drafts that I recall that year. It seemed like safety matt Elam was the guy that everybody thought was coming to Cincinnati was the first round picked by Baltimore. Later in that draft, several defensive linemen
were mocked to Cincinnati. You wound up taking tight end Tyler Eifert, even though you had selected Jermaine Gresham in the first round just a few years before.
Yeah, we thought that Tyler was just such a unique athlete. He's six foot five or six. He was a great high school basketball player. Ironically, my first job coaching in college football was in the early eighties at Purdue University. His father, Greg was a role player on some good teams for Gene Katie at Purdue. At his mother was also a Big ten athlete, and I want to say either basketball or volleyball, but I'm not certain. Maybe track. But he's a Fort Wayne kid, Bishop Dwinger High School,
just a tremendous athlete. He's one of those guys we mentioned Andrew Whitworth earlier. Witt was a low handicapped golfer. When Iffort came on to the team, Witt generally had some of the offensive rookies come and stay at his house and introduce them. So he takes him over to Hyde Park Country Club to play golf, and Eifort really didn't play that much golf. And he goes out and shoots scratch, shoots seventy two on whim and he said, you know, it really makes me mad because this kid
just can do anything. He is another one and this is just part of the game. Tyler Eifert could have been an all time great tight end and got hurt early and often in his career, kept coming back from them. What Tyler could do was play anywhere on the field. You could have him attached to the tackle, but he could be a single receiver to the short side of the field and see if you get a matchup. He could play in the slot because he was a route runner. Two could you know he could Ronie could jump, he
could catch, and a good guy. Just the injuries prevented him. He had a good career, but the injuries prevented him from maybe being one of the really great tight.
Ends, including an injury in the Pro Bowl, which is really frustrating. I'm to twenty fourteen. You chose cornerback dark Wees Dinard in the first round. That was a big cornerback draft. I think three corners were taken before dark Wees. Some good ones were still on the board. Bradley Roby went seven picks later. The very next pick after dark Wes Denard was Jason Barrett, another cornerback. Was that a year where you were really focused on this cornerback group.
Well, I thought we thought it was a deep group and that there were players to be had there. And when you're looking early in the draft, quarterback, corner, pass rusher, left tackles, those guys are appealing to you because all of those spots, guys can play for a pretty long time and have a real impact on the game. We had had success with Leon and Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall.
I think that. I think our view of Darquez was that he was going to be very similar to Leon, a complete player that could play inside, play outside, would tackle, was smart, and that would come on and then surpass those guys. We had a good team and we were able to kind of draft not for depth, but for the next guy, because contracts being what they are, you kind of think ahead. You're trying to prepare for, well, if this guy graduates, as we would say, who's the
next one in line? And Darkquz did well, had some injuries and it never all came together for him in the way that it did for Leon, But he was very much the same kind of player coming out of college.
As we have run through the drafts that you were involved with with the Bengals, we've had a lot of success stories. Twenty fifteen was simply a draft that didn't work out. Every team has them. Your first round pick, number twenty one overall was Cedric Obwayhe the Bengals weren't really drafting for need, at least immediate need. You're trying
to get offensive linemen in the pipeline. Jake Fisher was the second round pick where there red flags with Cedric tell Us a little bit about that selection.
Well, Cedric had injured his knee in their bowl game, so we knew that he wasn't going to be available potentially available to start the season. His film prior to that was exceptional. He was a big athletic guy with length, He was intelligent, remember that. Paul Alexander, after spending time with him and studying his film, felt very confident that he could be eventually the guy that would place, would replace Witt if Witt moved on. And it's a bit
of a mystery. We weren't the only team certainly that viewed him as an outstanding prospect, and he's been now with numerous teams and it just has never come together for him. And I don't know why, but certainly he never got established. He was I think a starter for one year and then lost that position and it turns out that he was a miss.
So onto twenty sixteen, you left to become the tight end coach with the Cleveland Browns under Hugh Jackson. But before taking that job, you had worked all year preparing the Bengals for the twenty sixteen draft, and you had a lot to do with their second round selection that year. Guy that's still doing a great job for the Bengals. Wide receiver Tyler Boyd.
Yeah. I don't even know Tyler because I was gone before he came. But I knew him because I saw him in practice a lot at Pitt and in games. And when I watched Tyler, it was so reminiscent of Mosunew a number of years before at Rutgers. Pitt at that time had James Connor, and they were not immenseally
talented at quarterback or at some other positions. So in a lot of games, they would run James Connor on first down, they would run James Connor on second down, and then they would throw the ball to Tyler Boyd to get the first down and then start it all again. And Tyler has toughness, he had agility, He was obviously an intelligent player like MO. I think that if you wanted to stick him at tailback for a couple of plays,
he would run the ball aggressively and physically. So I just saw guy make lots again like he reminded me of Mo, because on third down or in key situations, you knew they were going to throw the ball to him, and you knew that if he got his hands on it, he was going to catch it. So I had written a really strong recommendation about Tyler prior to taking the job in Cleveland, left that with them, and when I
got to Cleveland. Quite honestly, I pushed for Tyler Boyd as far as I could, but at that point I wasn't on the personnel side, so my voice didn't count for much. And I was pleased that the Bengals drafted Tyler and he's been a terrific player for them and continues to be. I think he's right in the midst of what's going to be a very, very good and productive career.
This has been a real treat. I could go down memory lane about the draft with you for hours, but we'll keep it to about half an hour. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much, Greg, Thank you Dan.
This is always fun and Go Bengals.
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 new level. Elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. We just heard from former Bengal Scout Greg Seaman, who is currently doing some work for Pro Football Focus, and that's the perfect segue for what's next, our seventh edition of a three round mock draft with an NFL expert. Here's the concept.
When I attended the NFL Combine this year, I had the Pro Football Focus mock Draft simulator set up on my laptop and I invited several NFL experts to make the Bengals picks in the first three rounds while discussing their options. If you've never tried a draft simulator before, what are you waiting for? It allows you to play Bengals GM for as many rounds of the draft as you want. The simulator begins making picks in order, and then when it's your turn, you can make trades or
go ahead and pick. It's a great way to get to know the players who might be available when the Bengals around the clock in a couple of weeks. So far, our experts have chosen the following players in the first round. Three have selected Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid, two have picked Maryland cornerback Deontay Banks, and one chose Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave. In the second round, two experts picked Northwestern defensive linemen at A Tommy wa at a bare.
The other picks were Washington State linebacker Dayon Henley, Syracuse offensive tackle Matthew Bergeron, Illinois safety Sydney Brown, and Kansas State cornerback Julius Brentz. In the third round, there have been six different picks Iowa tight end Sam Laporta, BYU offensive tackle Blake Freeland, Maryland cornerback Jacory and Bennett, UAB running back Dwayne McBride, Texas A and M running back
Devon a Chain, and Missouri edge rusher Isaiah McGuire. After you make your picks on the simulator, PFF gives you a grade, and the highest mark so far have been an A for Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus and a pair of A minuses for Dame Brugler of The Athletic and Austin Gaale from The Ringer. Now time for contestant number seven. Time for our latest three round Bengals mock draft on the PFF simulator with a PFF employee. Great to be joined by Anthony Tresh, who's been on
this podcast before. We're going to do three rounds. No trades allowed. Are you ready.
I'm very ready.
I have one player in mind for this first round pick that I'm hoping is available in the PFF mock Draft simulator by the time pick twenty eight rolls around.
But we'll see what happens.
Do you want to share who in advance?
Now, we'll see, We'll okay.
We'll find out, all right. I have just hit enter draft and the names are about to start flying off the board. Bryce Young going number one overall, the quarterback out of Alabama to the Carolina Panthers. We're seeing corners and tackles and wide receivers flying off the board. We're up to pick number twenty five. Elijah Chanty was just selected twenty seventh by the Buffalo Bills, the speedy defensive lineman out of pit And now the Cincinnati Bengals are on the clock.
All right, so the person I wanted to take with this Bengals pick is available.
I think this player is extremely underrated.
I would probably consider him in the top half of the first round, but our lead draft analyst, Mike Rinner has him as the second best player's position. You know, I respect that, but I'm gonna go with Michael Mayer.
Tied in at a Notre Dame.
I think getting him at the back half of the first round at picked twenty eight, again, I think that incredible value. It's very hard to find any flaws within his game. I mean, he really can do it all, especially from a blocking perspective. That's what I think separates him from Dalton Kincaid, the Utah product who is tied in one on the PFF draft board. And you know, I could see why they're interchangeable, but I'm gonna lean Mayor. I think the blocking ability is some of the best
you're going to see at the position. I think he developed that this past year. He wanted to make it an emphasis, you know, developing that all throughout the year, and you see him with some of those double teams too, and then that do of blocking scheme of Notre Dame.
It was, it was delightful.
I loved it again as a receiver, just a technician, I mean, he gets everything down to a point.
I mean it's just it's just perfect work.
So Michael Mayor, I think that would be an awesome addition to an already dangerous passing attack.
Has Mayor ranked as the second best tight end in this draft, behind Utah's Dalton Kincaid. Dane Brugler from The Athletic has them ranked the other way around. Mayor went to Covington Catholic High School in northern Kentucky and then
spent three years at Notre Dame. He's six four, two hundred and forty nine pounds, and while he didn't show blazing speed at the combine by running a four seven forty, teams had a hard time covering him at Notre Dame, as he was the team's leading receiver in each of the last two years, topping eight hundred yards each season. If he's still on the board when the Bengals are on the clock, you can bet there will be serious consideration given to selecting Michael Mayer. Now, let's see who
PFF's Anthony Tresh selected in round two. Onto the second round with Anthony Tresh from Pro Football Focus, Julius Brentz, the cornerback from Kansas State, was selected at number fifty six. That was your colleague Sam Monson's second round pick. When he did the simulator, Matthew Berger on Tackle from Syracuse wanted pick fifty seven. That's the name we've seen mock to Cincinnati in the second round dayon Henley lineback from one Washington State was the player selected immediately before the
Bengals at number fifty nine. So now you are on the clock, would pick number sixty.
Yeah, this is tough.
I think I think Cincinnati is kind of in a luxury territory. I'm probably leaning defensive back here. I have won name in mind. If he's on the board, I would take him there he is, I'm gonna go Antonio Johnson, safety from Texas A and M. You know, from the day one he was on the field for Texas A and M slot corner completely impressed me. I thought he was one of the best defensive backs in America as underclassman. Kind of moved to more of a traditional safety role
this past year. Didn't think he skipped a beat, didn't really have some of those highlight reel plays that you saw previously. But you know, I think he can be, you know, a movable chess piece in any secondary I think the instincts pop off the tape.
Again.
Just a very smart player from early on in his career. And I think that's the biggest thing with some of these guys. You know, if they're not you know, he's got the experience, but you really want to see just the football IQ developed.
At this point in their career.
I know a lot of people say, you know, potential, you know, just scratching the surface. You know, he can, you know, be great with good coaching. But Antonio Johnson, he knows how to play football at a high level already. So that's why I'd be very very comfortable with this pick in the second round.
So in the second round, Anthony Trash from Pro Football Focus selects Texas A and M defensive back Antonio Johnson. Antonio Johnson is the number two safety in the draft according to Dane Brugler, behind Alabama's Brian Branch and PFF has him graded number sixty four overall. He's six to two hundred pounds and ran a four five forty at
the combine. We know that lou Anromo values versatility, and Johnson lined up deep, played in the box, and also lined up in the slot in his two years as a starter at A and M. Now let's get to Anthony's third and final pick, and now we move on to round three. The Bengals have pick number ninety two. Names are flying off the board in the high eighties.
The Buffalo Bills have just selected a defensive player out of LSU, Jacqueline Roy, and now the Bengals are on the clock for their third round pick.
Oh man, I almost took this guy with the the second round pick, and he's available in the third round. I might go defensive back again. I think it's an important position. Yeah, I think I'm going to I think I'm gonna go with Trevius Hodges Thomlins in the cornerback out of TCU. I will say the physicality is undersize. He does try to overcompensate at times. I'll just over needlessly, just grabby along the route, and you know, that's just
kind of the way he does play. But I think just the year athleticism that he does have, you know, I think he could make an impact, you know, even if it's in the slot at the NFL level. Again, you hunt guys that know how to play at a high level. You know, I see that, you know the football I q pop off, especially at defensive back.
You know, from day one. I think he can kind of handle that.
So I think with Cincinnati, maybe you don't need to put him out there on the field. They have a lot of good defensive backs for already, and know, I like what we've seen from Cam Taylor Britt and Dexton Hill, and then I just added Antonio Johnson. But you know, I think he just got to keep adding, you adding at the most important positions because this is the Bengals team.
That's one of the best rosters in the NFL.
So that's what I would do here with Trevis Hodges Thomlinson, the cornerback from TCU. Now I think he wants to go by Trey Tomlinson, a nephew of Danny and Tomlinson, former Chargers running back, so you.
Know he's got NFL bloodlines.
I think he could make an impact down the road for this team.
Trey Hodges Tomlinson is undersized. He's five to seven and one hundred and eighty pounds, but he's fast, running a four four forty at the combine and productive. He won the Jim Thorpe Award last year as the best defensive back in college football, as opponents had a completion percentage of just thirty four point six when they target Hidjus Tomlinson. Now time to find out how PFF graded Anthony's picks.
A tight end and two defensive backs selected in the first three rounds by Anthony Trash a Pro Football Focus. And now we find out how PFF has graded your draft.
What do we got here? A minus? All right, I'll take it. What did Sam have?
Sam had an A? Sam has the only A so far. You are the third person to get an A minus.
Yeah, it's probably because he's on the consumer division. I'm on the B to B products, so he's sitting there fixing the grades. I would be ecstatic if we came if the Bengals came away with this whole. But really, that first round pick, I'd be really rooting for Michael Maher if I were a Bengals fan, I think he's gonna be that good of a player. And from the Cincinnati Bengals, I think that's probably what they're rooting for.
And given what we know about mister Mayor, I'm sure he's probably rooting for that as well.
Every grade came out well, A minus B plus A for the for all as you did, well, Anthony, appreciate your time.
Yeah, thank you for having me.
That's going to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Cattering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs by pay Core, the official HR software provider of the Bengals, and by Alta Fiber future
Proof Fiber Internet elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. 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 Hord, and thanks so much for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast