Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Welcome to the Future addition, as I discussed some of the Bengals' biggest offseason questions with Sam Monson, lead NFL analyst for Pro Football Focus. But first I'll talk to a player who says he did not play up to his own expectations this season, linebacker Jermaine Pratt. And we'll wrap things up with a
crazy NFL Weather edition of story Time with Dan. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Core, proud to be the Bengals official hr software provider, by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now 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 wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the Bengals Bar and Kitchen at the Airport. There are seven new dining and beverage options coming to the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, including the Bengals Bar and Kitchen, which is being described as a sports bar
which pays tribute to the city's NFL franchise. What a great idea. According to the CBG website, the airport welcome more than seven point six million passengers in twenty twenty two, and now many of them will be reminded that Cincinnati is one of only thirty cities in the country that has an NFL team. According to an airport press release, it's expected to open in the coming months. Now, let's
get to my first guest. According to Pro Football Focus, Jermaine Pratt was one of the best linebackers in the NFL two years ago. PFF grated your main eighth overall among linebackers and number one in pass coverage. That was the final year of Pratt's rookie contract, and he earned a three year extension for twenty point twenty five million dollars. Here was defensive coordinator lou Anarumo after the Bengals re
signed Jermaine. I mean Jermaine's you know, since his rookie year, he's always taken a step forward every year.
You know, if he doesn't come away with a turnover each game.
He's he's you know, upset, so mind, but he's he's on everything.
He's a strong tackler, always around the ball. You know, so love him. Jermaine certainly had stellar moments this year. His red zone interception at San Francisco thwarted a potential game tying drive, and he forced to fumble in the fourth quarter of the Buffalo game that helped seal that win. But by his own admission, Pratt wasn't as consistent as the year before, and his Pro Football Focus grade reflected that,
dropping to number fifty seven among linebackers. I talked to Jermaine about it at the end of the season.
I can't look back and see what I did and like looked up and say I did well. I play okay, it's a par you know, I gotta play elite for us to be great on defense.
You don't sound like you were happy with your own play this year.
Nah, I say sometimes I made good plays, but I didn't.
I didn't.
I wasn't consistent enough to help us win games. You know, I I win some. I help us win games late with like a big turnover and stuff. But I need to be consistent within you know, helping younger guys be more impactful. You know it was this probably was harder, I say, because I didn't have the guys around me that make my job more easier.
You know.
Then you got young guys they're trying to feel you know, sometimes you be out there thinking you're still playing with better than guys, but you're playing with rookie. So it's just getting better each and every year.
It's hard for me to analyze why the run defense hasn't been as good. You got most of the same guys back. What do you think have been the biggest issues for why that that portion of the defense just hasn't been quite as good.
It's a eleven man. You know, everybody gotta do they one eleven? You know, it's like we have a supposed to run every game, one or two a game, and then they be like did so you know that that's a hit, But we gotta figure out ways to stop it. You might have to get beef up front, or or I just got to play better.
Big plays in general, right, Passing and running have been a major issue this year.
Yes, you know that's that's we I think the lead the NFL. It's mostly supposed to plays. You know, that's something I ain't customed to say. You know, that's that's everybody. You know, everybody gotta do their job better. You know, everybody gotta look at itself in the mirror and get better.
You had a I guess about a five game stretch where Joe is fully healthy, beat the forty nine ers, beat the Bills. Looked like the team that you guys probably expected to be. Do you feel like that's the team you're going to be next year when he healthy again. I don't know.
You know, every year they'll be a new team, new challenges we may face. But I know next year we gotta start faster. I mean we said that each and every week. It's the start faster we get if we win some games early in the in the season, get rolling fast. We gotta figure out where to start faster. And said, I don't know, maybe like we be having a long playoff run and we're trying to itch our way back into the season, So I think it shall be this. Obviously it will be huged for a lot
of guys. You know, guys are coming off injury. So you know when you got a guy that's off injury, he get the focus more on himself and become more dangerous. As we've seen Joe did become more dangerous and led us to the super Bowl. You know, guys get back, get back right, and then guys look at itself as individuals.
How can you get better? How can you pat the team?
How can you grow from this year the less next year to be better.
So as one of the veteran leaders on this team, that's going to be your massage. It could be in the next year. We've got to start fast.
Because yeah, that's what be everybody mind say. You know, we can't keep on dropping early games. You know that's costness, I say, because we're trying to fight and call letter in season. You know later in the season. Last year was winning games, so it was unefeated roll into the playoffs. This game, we were trying to play kitsch up. You know, everybody are playing MEFL games and end of the year. But we gotta jump out. I feel like we gotta start faster.
Jermaine is twenty seven years old and has been mister reliable in Cincinnati, only missing one game due to injury in five NFL seasons. He helped force the fumble in the jungle in the twenty twenty two playoffs and picked off Derek Carr the two yard line with twelve seconds to go in the twenty twenty one wild Card round to clinch Cincinnati's first playoff win in thirty one years.
Nine yards of real estate will determine this playoff game fourth down end goal from the nine seventeen seconds to go to play clock at three shotgun snap car throws in the traffics prep.
A the football coffin now fam bam bam. How about that it ends on a turnover? Unbelievable? Huh? The Cardiac kids take it to the last snap.
Want to play by Jermaine Proud extending the arms to intercept that throw by Derek Carr and win the game for Cincinnati and twelve seconds left, the Bengals have to snap it one time and the drought is over.
He's earned the nickname Playoff p and I think he's a strong bet to bounce back with a better season in twenty twenty four. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet design to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Cattering Health the best care for the best fan. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
provider of the Bengals. Now time for an in depth look at some of the key issues facing the Bengals this offseason. My guest is Sam Monson, lead analyst for Pro Football Focus. Sam, one of your PFF colleagues, wrote this week that the Bengals will undoubtedly be back in contention with a healthy Joe Burrow. Do you agree?
Yeah, I think that's true. I mean, Joe Burrow I think has already shown himself to be one of those quarterbacks that's good enough that, assuming he's healthy, he's going to put you in contention every single year. You know, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, those teams are always going to be in contention as long as they have quarterbacks that good. Another teams will come and go. But
I think that's an incredible starting point. So yeah, I think a lot of the season's problems were sourced with Joe Burrow's injuries. Even though Jake Browning played very well in Instead, let me.
Follow up on Jake Browning because I suppose that's one of the positives from this season. The Bengals learned that they have a competent backup quarterback in Jake and they control his rights for two more years. How good was he in your opinion and should the Bengals consider trying to get something in exchange or do you need to have a guy like that, especially when Joe's had some injury problems.
I think he was really good. Outside of playing Pittsburgh, Jake Browny was fantastic this year. It was weird, like his two worst games by a distance, came against the Steelers, and pretty much every other game I think he played really well. Some of his performances felt a little bit sort of unsustainable. I don't want to say lucky, but they were more you know, let's put the ball up and see if a receiver makes a play, and they did quite a lot of the time, because you know,
the Bengals have really good wide receivers. But that's always a little bit of a precarious style of play to replicate week after week after week. Sometimes those balls are not going to go your way, and you're not going to get the payoff from them. But overall, I mean, he showed he could run the offense, he showed he could make good decisions, he showed he could be accurate with the ball, and maybe wrote his look a little
bit at times during the season. But I agree he showed that he is immediately one of the better backups in the NFL. I think this year, of all the years, showed not just from the Bengals point of view, but league wide, the value in having a good backup quarterback. You know, so many teams had to turn to their backups this year, and if you need a guy to win you you know, three or four games in the season, Jake Brown just showed that he's capable of doing that.
So I would be inclined to say the value of that exceeds the value of anything you could get for him in a trade, So keep him around.
So Pro Football Focus has come out with a ranking of the top one hundred free agents, and t Higgins is high on the list at number four. Most of us, or many of us, myself included, think that the Bengals are likely to franchise tag him for roughly twenty one million bucks to keep the band together, so to speak, for at least another year. Is that what they should do.
I think the decision should be between that and getting a long term deal with him sorted out, you know, trying to keep him around long term as part of the whole thing. But it's felt like for a while they were going to go the sort of Jesse Bates rut with T Higgins and play him throughout that rookie deal, franchise, tag him and for you know, a step up in costs, and then move on when it's time to really commit big money to him and instead go in a different direction.
I don't think it's necessarily a bad decision, a bad approach. You know, you get one more year of T Higgins and then theoretically you've had a chance to come up with the backup solution, and Cincinnati is good generally, I think at four planning these things and having already made back up there to step into the bigger role. But it's always a risk. You know that the Bengals had Tax Hill this year to step into the role left by Jesse Bates, and it didn't quite go that way.
It didn't quite work the way he wanted it to. You might have the best laid plan, but it doesn't mean that guy is going to be able to step into that role. You know, this year, I imagine maybe they'll draft somebody as well. But you know, the Andre Yoshivas looks like a receiver that could potentially become, you know, step into that number two role in a year's time,
But it's projection at this point. That might be the plan, that might be what you want to happen, but you're really not going to know whether it's going to work or not until at the end, you know, twenty twenty five, when you actually make that switch and then hope fingers crossed that it's going to have the results you expected it to. So I definitely think it's a sensible plan.
It's one that makes sense, but it is a risk anytime you're going to an unknown quantity versus someone that you know is good in this offense.
Sam Monson is our guest lead analyst for Pro Football Focus. For other Bengals free agents made that PFF Top one hundred, DJ Reader nineteenth, Chinna Beao Wuji twenty sixth, Joana Williams fifty fourth, and Tyler Boyd seventy fourth. Who should they keep.
I think they should try and keep DJ Reader. He would be the the first name on that list that I would try and bring back. He's so important to what they do. He's the most difficult skill set I think to replace as well, Like you can't find DJ Readers just out there on the open market. He's incredibly good against the run. He brings enough as a pass rusher he can impact that side of the game as well, and they really miss him when he's not in that defensive lineup. So I think he's the first guy I
would try and bring back. Ouzie I think is a player that they would like to have back, but it kind of depends on the costs, and I think that's one that maybe you can replace easier. I think Jonah Williams the move to right tackle didn't really work out for him. He didn't bounce back to the level that he'd been at before last year, which was the worst year of his career. Was more in line with that
just on the other side of the line. So I think they'll be looking to move on from him anyway, regardless of the costs, regardless of whether they need to give him a big extra deal and then Tyler Boyd kind of depends on the cost. You know, I think they would like to have him back, but it also feels like a player that would be the easiest to try and replace and have somebody step into that role and do what Tyler er Boyd did fur them, or at least an approximation of it. Again, they might already
have that guy on the roster. You know, maybe it's not Yosebast this time. Maybe it's Charlie Jones that can become their primary slot receiver and take those targets. So you know, if Tyler Boyd, if the market isn't strong, or if he's willing to come back on a cheap deal, maybe they'd be interested. But otherwise I think they would be looking to move in a different direction.
Sam, is there a pending free agent on another NFL roster that you think makes sense for Cincinnati.
It's a weird year for a free agency this year. It's not the strongest class in the world. There's some guys that at the top end I think that make a lot of sense, but you're gonna have to bring big money to the table. I mean, if a guy like DJ Reader does make it out of the door, and you're looking to try and replace that. Christian Wilkins from the Miami Dolphins is potentially available if he hits the open market. That is one of the few guys I think that kind of replicate what DJ Reader brings
to the table. Really good against the run, enough about him as a pastrusher to be a factor there as well. You know, Justinmoutabuike. I imagine it's going to make a ton of money given the season he just had for the Ravens, but if they were able to steal him away from a division rival, that would be absolutely spectacular. And then I think there will be a few cornerbacks available in free agency as well. Whether it's lugurious need, I imagine the Chiefs will lock him up and not
let him hit the market. The Bears Jalen Johnson, similar kind of thing. I imagine they'll franchise tag him. I can't see him hitting the market either, but there will be I think some intriguing players available that they could dip into.
If Jonah Williams leaves as a free agent, there's going to be an obvious needed right tackle. How's that pool in free agency? And or the draft.
It's not good in free agency, not taking that it's a better year in the draft, and absolutely I think that would be a live situation for them. One name I think that is interesting though, in a free agent he is Michael Owenu from the New England Patriots. He's had a weird career where they've bounced him around the line an awful lot, whether it's left guard or whether it's the either guard position or right tackle. I think
his best position has been right tackle. And basically anytime he's played, he's he's played extremely well, really good PFF grades, really good performance. They've never seemed to quite buy into him one hundred percent. And he's now scheduled to hit free agency, so you know, it's not like they've been proactive and bringing him back and keeping him as part
of the future there. And I wonder what his sort of league wide standing is, whether he's underrated by everybody and he's a guy that could be had for relatively low money, or if for some reason the Patriots just didn't value him as much as maybe the play suggests they should have. And actually he'll have a strong market in free agency given the relative lack of players at
that position. But if Michael Owenu, you know, was available for not a huge amount of money, I think that would be a huge upgrade at that spot.
We're chatting with Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus. You can follow him up on Twitter at PFF Underscore. Sam. Let's talk Bengals running backs. When you look at Joe Mixon's numbers for the year, he had more than fourteen hundred dollar purpose yards, he scored twelve touchdowns. Chase Brown added explosive this once he started to play for the latter end of the season. Are they good with that duo going forward or do they need to add something at that position.
I mean, I think it's a good duo going forward, and I think they're a pair that compliment each other. Well, it's not like Joe Mixon is reaching the age where you're particularly concerned about running backs as well. He's still only twenty seven years old. Okay, there's quite a lot
of mileage on the clock for him. I think it's a position where you know, you should always have an eye on the draft, right and just bring in a young player and see if that guy is going to bring you something that may be unexpected or maybe simply just with the benefit of being a young player. When generally speaking, I think running backs at this point the first contract is the best play you're going to get from them.
So I think I think they're.
Fine if that's the two they end up rolling with primarily next season. But I would absolutely draft somebody and see what you can find or on Earth and maybe you're in a position where you can move on from Joe Mixon and get cheaper and not suffer any kind of drop off at at that spot.
Sam, I think we'd all agree that the Bengals defense was disappointing this year. The question is why. Was it largely the result of having youth in the secondary? Did veterans at other positions underperform? What do you think were the biggest contributing factors to that disappointing performance.
Yeah, I think it was a bit of everything.
You know, we said before.
They had this contingency plan of moving on from Jesse Bates, going to a design success or an error a parent. I don't know that they planned on losing both safeties at the same time. I think that was a bit of a surprise to them and that sort of upset the Apple card A bit. Now we don't just have to rely on one new guy back there. We've got
to do it with two injuries. So obviously played in as well, and suddenly you just got the secondary that is not used to playing with each other, that isn't on the same page consistently, and.
Really the front four as well.
I mean, Trey Hendrickson had a great year, an incredible pass rusher, had a ton of pressure, a ton of sacks, but they didn't have that consistent, complimentary piece to him. Particularly on the other side. They weren't able to get, you know, a ton of pressure outside of Hendrickson. I think that impacted everybody behind him. Anytime you can get a ton of pressure, it's going to negate some of the deficiencies on the back end, and the Bengals weren't really able to do that.
PFF's highest graded defensive player on the Bengals roster was a rookie safety, Jordan Battle, who once he started playing, really helped solidify that position. Did the Bengals strike it rich would that third round draft pick?
Yeah, he looked absolutely fantastic. He's one of those guys that you know had had really good hey but didn't necessarily test off the charts and was just sort of good at everything. You know, didn't necessarily stand out, didn't look like an a credible athlete, didn't get pushed up draft boards because you get enamored by the potential of what he could do and all the crazy things. He was just a really good player in all facets of the game, coming out of a good program. You know,
that asks quite a lot of those defensive backs. But I think players like that tend to fly under the radar sometimes when you get distracted by shiny objects and guys that run in the four to threes and things like that. But I think he showed that he can step into an NFL defense and do exactly the same job as he could in the SEC against top level competition.
Damn, When you add up the production of the bengals four tight ends, you get eighty eight catches for six hundred and eighty six yards at seven point eight per catch, and four touchdowns. Should the Bengals have upgrading tight end near the top of their list of priorities or is that enough production?
I mean, I think they would like to. I think it's a position that you're seeing the value of and the impact that can come from the tight end position if you have a good one, if you have a quality receiver at that spot. Look what the Bills did last season by going to get Dalton Kinkaid in the first round, even though they've already given a significant contract to a guy like Dawson Knox. I think you're also seeing a growth in the proliferation of two tight ends
sets in the NFL. It's not something Cincinnati does an awful lot of, but maybe this would give them the ability to go in that direction a bit more, or at least give them some more options when it comes to personnel groupings. So yeah, I think that's an area that they've I don't want to say they've scrimped on, but they haven't hit on a guy in recent years at that spot to be able to come in and
make the difference. They've rolled the dice a few times on sort of former big talents, first round picks, guys that have a pedigree but haven't worked out so far in the NFL, and they haven't been able to recapture that. They haven't been able to find the ability the talent
that got those guys drafted it high up. Obviously, the injuries were a big part of that, but it might be time to just go and get your own sort of high draft pick at the tight end position and see if you can strike it rich that way.
What about offensive tweaks, whether it is more two tight end sets, whether it's more under center runs, whether it's more play action. Do you think that there's something along those lines that the Bengals really need to seriously consider in twenty twenty four.
I think there is something to being more versatile and more multiple when it comes to personnel groupings and the way you deploy the group.
That you have.
The Bengals have tended to skew on the other side of that, which is we run basically the same personnel
and we just out execute you. And there's it's absolutely a valid way of thinking, but I think generally speaking, it is easier to cause problems for defense if you can mess with the personnel and you can change things up and give them different looks on a consistent basis, as opposed to they're going to have a pretty good idea how you're going to line up before you even get on the field, and you just have to execute
better than they do. I think you just gain so much more by introducing that element of doubt and causing them problems before the snap, as opposed to letting them be the ones that are proactive with misdirection and you know, disguise and rotating safeties and changing the look pre and
posted snap and those kinds of things. I think when you see all the offenses that are really starting to take over the NFL right now, it is ones that are much more diverse and multiple when it comes to those things, Sam m.
The Bengals went one in five in the AFC North. Their only win was over Cleveland when the Browns basically rested everybody in the final week of the regular season. There's a healthy Joe Burrow fix that? Or do the Bengals need to specifically think about those six games against Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland as they build their roster in the offseason. Yeah.
As we said before, I think a healthy Joe Burrow makes you puts you at every single game, you know, and it certainly changes the outcome of several games relative to a Jake Browning. So yeah, I don't think that there's I don't think they exposed anything about Cincinnati this year. Other than the fact that they didn't have Joe Burrow for a lot of the season and they weren't as good as they've been in previous years. And that division was really.
Good this year.
I mean, the Browns had the best defense in the NFL for most of the year. The Ravens looked like the best team in the AFC, and Pittsburgh were what Pittsburgh usually is, which is good enough to win, you know, nine games, scrape over that five hundred mark from Mike Tomlins record that he never loses.
So it's a tough place.
I mean, there's a reason all four teams in that division had a winning record. It's harder to get wins in that division that it would have been if you were playing in the NFC South for example.
Final question for Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus, and I appreciate your time. We've reached the second round of the playoffs, so you got Yeah, it's tough.
I mean it's interesting now we get the number one seeds entering the equation and you know the line the points spread has them both as big favorites. I think sometimes we tend to forget based off the wildcard week that actually the best teams are sitting at home watching this and ready to enter the fray with a week of rest behind them. But Houston were fantastic a week ago against Cleveland Green Bay the same thing against Dallas,
so I think both those games are live. But the forty nine Ers are the best team in the NFC. The Ravens probably are the best team in the AFC. So it's still the most likely super Bowl, I think.
And if that is the Super Bowl, which of the twoty alike?
I think everyone will be going for Baltimore because of the way the last game went. I think that game was kind of I don't want to say fluky, but the way that it went against San Francisco doesn't happen, you know, very often everything bounced against them. I would actually I would back to forty nine Ers in that scenario.
Sam, appreciate your time as always, Thanks so much, great stuff anytime.
Thanks for having me.
Before we wrapped things up, how about an addition of story time with Dan. Last week, insanely cold weather for playoff games in Kansas City and Buffalo brought back memories of the coldest playoff game of them all, the nineteen eighty two Freezer Bowl at Riverfront Stadium, where the temperature hit minus nine and the wind chill reached minus fifty nine.
The end result was good, as the Bengals beat the Chargers to earn a trip to their first Super Bowl, but the conditions were miserable for everybody involved, with one possible exception the weather forecasters, who get very excited when it's nasty outside. I wrote a commercial about that once, and you're about to hear it on Storytime with Dan. Remember bud Light's Real Men of Genius commercials. For several years, the mock salutes were the funniest thing on the radio.
There were tributes to mister Giant foam fingermaker and mister bowling shoe giver Router, and well, just listen.
Bud Light presents real men of genius, Real men of genius. Today, we salute you, mister tiny thong bikini ware, mister tiny thummy Gediwhere beach goers the world over see you coming and say hey, check out the wooly mammoth and the rubber bands.
A mammoth.
Defying the natural laws of physics, you managed to squeeze a forty six inch waist into a thirty in suit like ground meat crammed into a sausage skin. You take to the beach and proudly strut your stuff. If you've got it, flaunt it. That's your motto, which is ironic because you haven't got it. So crack off in a nice cold bud light, sweet cheeks, and know that if you weren't wearing that suit, we'd ask you to take a bumkin.
Women, I'd like.
Here and iss Missouri.
The real men and women of Genius were the writers of those commercials, along with the two voices you hear on every one of them. The deep voice narrator is an actor named Pete Stacker, and the singer is Dave Bickler, the lead singer of the Band's Survivor, best known for the hit I of the Tiger. So what does all of this have to do with me? Here's the story.
Many years ago, when I was still a sports anchor at Fox nineteen, I learned that those two guys were going to be doing some recording at a studio in Cincinnati. So I contacted the advertising agency that did the campaign and told them I was interested in doing a story about the real men of Genius commercials and the two guys that we hear but never see. The advertising agency set up interviews with Pete and Dave and the story turned out great. But I also asked them for a favor.
I figured it would be fun to write a couple of those ads about the TV news business, and I asked if they would be willing to record them. They said yes, and you're about to hear the result. Here's my real Men of Genius tribute to meteorologists everywhere.
Bud Light presents Fox nineteen Real Men of Genius, Real Men of genius. Today we salute you, mister excited about storms weather man. Mister excited about storms weather that'd while normal people hate snow, sleet and heavy rain, you act like it's your birthday. How can I thank you for on those nights a one hour newscast becomes all weather all the time, and most of us don't even know what barometric pressure is?
Jumulo nimbus what?
And for all we know, there's no such thing as Doppler radar for Doppler nineteen thousand. Open a nice cold bud Light, mister meteorologist. But remember, even when the weather's lousy, you don't care. You're bone dry in a room with no Windows, Mister excited about Stock swather Man, bud Light Beer and ISAA Bush Saint Louis, Missouri.
That concludes Storytime with Dan and this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. 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