Higa and everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I said, Hey, let's go in on audition as Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the end of the pre training camp practice schedule and answer the ask lap questions that you submitted on Twitter. Plus, we'll hear from Frank Pollack on the return of Jonah Williams and I'll talk to undrafted rookie wide receiver Shdrick Jackson.
I believe you've heard of his uncle bo. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred and twenty care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers. Kettering Health is committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Now, 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 good neighbors. One of the nicest features of our house is a big outdoor deck and there are tall thick trees that provide a wall of privacy between the deck and our neighbor's house. Every year, those trees grow to the point where the branches become obtrusive and begin to hang way over the deck. Thankfully, my neighbor Frank is kind enough to come over and trim them
as needed. And this year it was a bigger project than usual that required some pretty significant sawing of big branches. God loved Frank. He was scaling ladders that were perched against trees. He was dangling on the railing of the deck to get to certain limbs. All I had to do was take care of the cleanup. It's been said that good neighbors make a huge difference in the quality of life, and I've got an excellent one in Frank. Now get to football. As you undoubtedly know by now,
Jonah Williams is back. He reported on time for the mandatory mini camp and explained why he requested a trade after the Bengals signed to Orlando Brown Junior as a free agent. The former first round draft pick, who became a dad in March, was upset that he did not get a heads up from the team before the Brown signing became public, but Jonah's come to grips with it and is ready to make the move from left tackle to right tackle.
There's sixty four tackle spots in the league. To have any of them is a crazy, amazing opportunity. I'm super grateful, you know, for the chance. So, you know, playing display Matt right tackle, I'm fired up to do it. Let's go. Like I'm working my knee. I think I'm gonna be cleared soon. I feel great moving around. And so that was never the issue. I know, that's kind of how it was made out to be, and it was never
like a personal thing. I love all my teammates, love all my coaches, love the team fans, Like the last couple of years have just been amazing, you know, for me personally and for and for the city, and we've really felt that. So yeah, that's that's most of the points I just wanted to clear up about it. You know, I'm back now, mandatory mini cam. I'm gonna be back
day one to training cam. Before day one a training camp, one hundred percent, ready to grind, ready to roll, and you know, ready to play where the team needs me.
You played the right side as a freshman at Alabama, do you anticipate that this should be a relatively smooth move from left to right.
I'm gonna make it one. Whether it is or is, I'm gonna make it one. I'm gonna be out there every day doing sets, and then you know, I've got I think I'll have about a month before training camp but being cleared, and then I'll have all of training camp to get acclimated and get moving there. So, uh, it's just you know, I played left tackle for six whole seasons, like it's it feels everything there feels natural to me. I've just done it so much, so I
have to just retrain everything. But this is my job. Like I said, I'm a dad, and I'm gonna take sets every single day.
That's all.
That's my plan for the next you know, however long, so I'll be ready to go.
Jonah dislocated his kneecap in the fifth game of the year and gutted it out without missing a start for the rest of the regular season, before suffering a similar injury in the opening round playoff win over Baltimore that caused him to miss the next two playoff games and led to offseason surgery. He looked good doing rehab work for three days this week and should be good to
go for the start of training camp. For more on Jonah's return and the state of the old line, I caught up with offensive line coach Frank Pollock.
Jonah's a pro.
He's been busting his ass out there in California.
He looks fantastic.
I've seen a couple of videos of him working out in the weight room and doing some agility drills out there, so I've been really excited about getting him here in person. He looks fantastic and he's a He's a good, solid football player as a professional, and I expect nothing, nothing but great things from him.
Flipping from one side to the other isn't easy. But he did play right tackle as a freshman at Alabama. How significant is that.
Yeah, I mean he's got some experience there, but he hasn't played it in a while, so I'm not gonna short change that. And he's also been rehabbing, so I'm not going to short change that. But he's, like I said, he's a pro. I love how he works, he knows how to prepare, and he takes pride into being a technician. So I know he's going to do what it takes as far as the extra amount of work or film study to hone his comfort level and his ability to perform and accelerate on the right side.
While he's been rehabbing, Jackson's been getting a lot of those opportunities on the right side. How does he look.
He looks good.
He looks good.
He's still trying to sharpen his story, if you will, as far as the technique's concerned out of the tackle spot. And he's a guy that's so athletic that he naturally plays well in space. But he's still honing his skills on what it means to play offensive lineman and be athletic, not just being athletic, being in a good posture and demean throughout.
But he's a smart football player.
He's been studying his ass off as well, and I'm excited about him as well.
Orlando Brown's track record speaks for itself. But I've been amazed by the person. He might be the friendliest, most amiable guy I've ever met. How has that impacted the groups?
He's friendly off the field, but he clearly shows some nasty on it. So that's just how we like him in the line room. But he's been fantastic in the room. He's got great leadership qualities, and I really like his workmanlike business approach coming here being an established vet in the league, still open to learning some new tricks and having new tools in his toolbox and having a new coach coaching some different things and maybe he's done in
the past. I love his attitude as approach to It's been fantastic and extremely excited to.
Have Elsie's here rehabbing. It looked like he was almost serving as an extra coach during the drills today. What are your thoughts on him and his prospects of coming back now.
Elsie is great that way. He likes to share his experience and knowledge with the younger guy. He's always trying to help everybody out. So it's a great vibe that we got in our room in that regards, and he loves to do that and help the guys out. Having being around me with my time in Dallas, he knows what I'm looking for and what I'm teaching.
He's a fun guy to coach.
He is strong, he is nasty, and he's doing a great job getting his knee ready. Just a matter of time when he needs to go through that process. He had a significant injury, so when that exactly is going to be is up to the trainers and the doctors obviously, but he's doing a great job getting himself ready mentally right now and as and physically as best he can with throughout his rehab.
Team's added a lot of pieces on the line the last couple of years. How do you feel about the depth of your group.
Yeah, our depth has really improved since the first time I came back here a couple of years ago.
So it's that's been great. You need it in this league.
It's kind of a little bit of a luxury in this league as well, so, but it's.
Been nice that we're able to improve.
The room is getting elevated, and that's what you want every year, constantly elevating the room.
The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play, with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app. The Bengals drafted two wide receivers this year. Charlie Jones aka Chuck Sizzle in the fourth round, and the heptathlete andre Yosi Vash in the sixth. They also signed three undrafted college receivers, including Shedrick Jackson out of Auburn.
If you do a Google search for Shedrick jackson forty yard dash, you can watch footage of him supposedly running a four to two five at his Auburn pro day. I talked to him about his speed, his first two weeks with the Bengals, and his famous uncle bo. I want to start with your forty yard dash time. I've seen four to two five on the internet. I've seen four three one on the internet. What's the true story?
Definitely four two five.
Oh, you know they were throwing a different stuff out there, But yeah, I'm gonna go that four to two five.
Well, I would expect you to go with that four to two five. But if that's accurate, that would be like the fourth fastest recorded, at least going by the combine. Did you know you were gonna do it? Were you surprised by that number? No, it did not surprise me.
I always been a fast guy growing up, and I trained really hard for it. I had a great trainer down the Temple, Florida at athlete innovations, So we worked for that and I went out there and got it.
You also had Cam Newton throwing to you at your Auburn Pro pro day. What was that like?
It was good to have a pro quarterback coming there and you know, get a feel for his verbiage, the way he talked about routes, talked about the details of the routes, and just seeing a touch he has on his ball.
So that was a great experience too.
We're visiting with Srederick Jackson. Tell me about being here and how your first few weeks have been. It's a bangle of.
Gaun It's going really smooth. The transition has been great.
The guys are great in the locker room, the coaches detailing everything up on the field so that I can get the playbook down quickly.
So it's been a great time of loving Cincinnati.
Are you like a sponge watching Jamaar t Tyler, etc.
Oh yeah, for sure. Those are.
I mean, you can say the best receivers in the league really, So being at practice with them and watching the film on them is incredible. It's a great learning experience for me and just see what the standard is and trying to match up to it.
Give me one thing that stands out about Jamorrow the year.
Just really smooth receiver. Really all those routes. I haven't seen a route that he can't run. So great hands, just great athlete.
Why did you elect to sign with Cincinnati?
Just a winning culture.
I feel like they had a great vibe around here and that's something I want to be a part of.
Obviously, I love winning.
Talking to the receiver coach coach Troy Waters before, just had a great conversation and just went from there.
He's a great attention to detail kind of coach. Do you already feel yourself benefiting from his guidance?
Oh?
Yeah, for sure. A lot of things I didn't.
Wasn't exposed to in college or didn't pick up on at college, he's giving it right to me. So I've been learning with him, you know, taking in everything he's saying and taking it to the field and just learning and doing it and has helped me tremendously.
You're gonna be gone for about six weeks before training camp begins, but that's not a vacation time. That's the time to get better. What are you gonna do?
Oh?
I'll be trying to go on to my spot, and I'm gonna be working my butt off taking these details down on my spot, and you know, getting to work.
For people that don't know. You have a very famous uncle, Bo Jackson, arguably the greatest all around athlete of all time. How often did you see him? Was it a relationship where you were nearby and had a lot of contact growing up?
Yeah? Second greatest athlete all the time, behind me. But but yeah, that's just a religious I'm the type of guy like to keep up my relationships where they are. So with him, if we want to talk about football, we can. But at the end of the day, he's my uncle, So you know, call me to congratulate me, give me game on stuff.
But other than that, you know, keep it, keep it normal.
Have you seen footage of his exploits?
Uh, yeah, I'll see you know, I've seen the highlights on TV thirty for thirties and stuff like that.
But I'm sure I have some better ones coming up soon.
I like the way you think, appreciate your time.
Thank you appreciation.
It's obviously going to be tough for Schderick to make the fifty three man roster at wide receiver. The Bengals have the Cincinnati three way of Chase Higgins and Boyd, plus veterans Trenton Irwin, Trent Taylor and special teams a Stanley Morgan and the previously mentioned draft picks Jones and Yosi Vash. But the practice squad is a possibility. Here's wide receivers coach Troy Walters a.
Lot of side, a guy that's still learning, still developing, but like the other guys, he wants to be he wants to be good. He picked up the offense very well, very quickly, so you don't have to worry about him not knowing what to do.
And uh, you know he.
Has four to two speed, good size, good bulk, good strength. So he's a guy that kind of like Clay, you just continue to mold develop and uh, I think he can be he can be good. He can be a factor in this in in the NFL.
That four to is legit.
It's legit, it's legit.
Man can run.
And uh and now.
It's just being able to take that speed and use it to your advantage and and which he's still learning how to how to how to play at a four to two speed, but when he when it clicks and he finally you know, develops into what I think he can become.
He's gonna be he's gonna he's gonna have a hell.
He's gonna have a say on this roster, and he's gonna he's gonna make it, make uh make some plays in this league.
The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by paid Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust Paycorp to help them recruit, pay, engage, and retain employees. Learn more at paycorp dot com. Before we get to my final guest, here's a quick invitation to grab your yoga Matt and join who Day this Saturday, June seventeenth at nine am for Namas Day Yoga on the field at Paycoorp Stadium.
Register now at Bengals dot com Slash Yoga. It's presented by you Buy Cotechs in partnership with Kroger and Title Babe Period Supply Bank. The Bengals summer practices are finished. The players are officially on their own until training camp begins on Wednesday, July twenty sixth. It's time to check in with Dave Lapham as we share our observations following this week's mandatory mini camp and answer the ask Lap questions that you submitted on Twitter Lap as you predicted
on this podcast. Last week, Jonah william showed up for the mandatory mini camp and said he is willing to play right tech. Well, what did you think of his remarks on Tuesday?
Honest, you know, I think pulled off the band aid, you know, I mean, and dealt with whatever was going to come from a pain standpoint, I guess. You know, obviously his feelings are hurt, bottom line. That's what That's what we talked about. It's just you have to get over that. And you know, everybody looks at these professional athletes and football players, Oh you're so big, and the human beings with feelings are you know, emotion all of that.
So he had to come to grips with all of that, and I think he has and he seems to be in a pretty good frame of mind now. He's moving really well, and I think there's no doubt in my mind that he's going to be there from Jump Street from day one a training camp, competing as hard as he possibly can.
He's always been a hard worker, a very studious, conscientious short Do you anticipate the move from left to right for him is going to be relatively seamless.
I do you know, if you've played for which he has, you know there is some muscle memory that you're going to be able to draw upon. And he is athletic, you know, I mean, he does have athleticism for for sure, or so, like you said, this offensive line group is a big body group that is athletic and has an intelligence. You know, he's excited about what's going on with the offensive line. He wants to be part of it, and I think that he'll make that transition pretty down effectively.
My biggest takeaway from watching these practices for the last several weeks is that this team is deep. Every team in the NFL is going to have injuries that is inevitable in the sport of football, But other than an injury to Joe Burrow, I'll find some wood to knock on. I think they've got quality depth everywhere to be able to survive some of those injuries.
Agree with you one hundred thousand percent, Dan, I mean, I think they've done an unbelievable job of assembling a football team, and I think it's a hell of an accomplishment to roster on this team to make the fifty three man roster is a hell of a deal because there's competition, you know, I mean, you got starters you have you know, you have your burrows, you chase it, you have your starter starters. But then there's gonna be other starters. They are going to be trying to fight
people off, and there's nothing wrong with that. Competition breeds excellent performance. And then from a backup standpoint and special team standpoint, there's gonna be battle royales. I mean, Darren Simmons is going to control the fate of a lot of guys, uh, which which you always is the case with regard to special teams. But you've got position coaches that are going to say, I really like this guy, you know as my additional linebacker. You know, can you
deal with him on special teams? Can you can you keep him as opposed to an extra corner or I mean that that that scenario when you're cutting that roster down to make that final fifty three man roster, it's it's going to be extremely competitive, and I would not
be shocked if there's a trade. You know that there's there's some discussions with other teams and somebody might if a guy really shows out in training camp and the preseason games and you know he's kind of like locked out from from a roster standpoint, he's not going to make the fifty three men roster. Could be a trade. It's it's unusual, but there might. There might be one who knows get picks.
You're gonna need picks in the future with some of these guys commanding the salaries they're going to command.
And when you look at all the guys like you talk about Dan, everybody belongs. You know, there's nobody like, what the hell is this guy doing here? You know they to sixth, the seventh, you know they but they're bat on the ball with every round. And honestly, it's not shocking to be because I mean the draft when I was draft, we had seventeen rounds and we had seventeenth round guys, you know, make football teams. So it's no stunner to me when a seventh round guy makes
the team and show he can play. College free agents now it's not stunning when a guy geez, he didn't get drafted for whatever reason. Sometimes it's just you can't even figure out why the guy didn't get drafted. I mean, you look at the college free agent the Bengals signed from Washington, Jackson Kirkland, six and twenty eight pounds, and he can move, and I'm like.
Why the hell didn't this guy get drafted?
Oh, some injuries and all that sort of thing, and just sometimes it's just the way it unfolds. You don't don't anticipate. But he sure looks the part. I mean, put pads on and see what he can do. But wouldn't stun me if that guy makes the football team.
Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor both did news conferences this week, and they basically said the same thing. We are ahead of where we have been in the past because nearly everybody's been in this system. Do you remember times like that in your playing career where you had this great continuity and when you showed up on day one, it was like you just picked up where you left off.
Yeah, and it, you know, ironically to no surprise. Really, you know, the Super Bowl team I played on, everybody in the offensive line had been together. You know your unit first, and first of all, having continuity is big. And then when every unit has that continuity, it's it's like you have such a confidence going into the football game that you know exactly what guys can do, what they can't do, what they like, what they'd like to
stay away from. I mean, it's it's it's just a feeling that you can't describe, and it beats no other there's no question about it. And then you get in the huddle and that's I'll guarantee you all the guys if we asked all these guys what it's like on game day. I remember when we're in that situation of being around guys and knowing guys so well and almost feeling like these aren't just teams, these are friends. These
are my buds, man, these are my guys. And you're in that huddle and you're looking into other guys eyes and you know that dude is going to do everything he possibly can. Can't let that guy down, can't let that guy down, because I know he's not going to let me down. When you start getting that kind of a dynamic, that kind of a relationship with guys, that's when it gets really powerful.
Man. This synergy is unbelievable.
Following up on that, you asked Joe Burrow a question the other day about reaching out to Jonah Williams while he was not here with the team, and his answer was profound. He spoke of the true love that you have for your teammates. Is this team unusual in that respect?
I think it's special. And I mean I was looking at Joe as he was saying it, and I could almost feel my eyes filling up. And I can almost sense his eyes were starting to fill up a little bit. I mean, as a former player, I could just totally relate to what he was talking about. You know that, and people like, oh, that's cornball. You know, you don't love you know, people like it. It's because they're a team.
You know what.
Man, It's like it's not like you love your wife or your son or your daughter or whatever. But it's like the next thing. It's the next level. It's like as close as you can get to, you know, not family, but the next tier. You know, it's like it's special. It's one of a kind of and I think part of it. I've used the analogy. And I don't mean to disrespect the military. I mean, God, there's no comparison between playing football and defending your country. Believe me, I
understand that fully. But it's like you're so co dependent. On a much smaller scale, It's like, I'm no good if this guy doesn't have my back, you know. I mean, I might play a great game not make any mistake. I get to make sure my guy is trying to do the same thing. All that. You know, you're so dependent on other people for your existence in the military survival, and it's not obviously to that extent, but your future wins and losses. You know, how long you might play
in the league. A lot of things are codependent with guys around you and being in the right environment, the right combination of players. There's a lot of luck involved. But man, when you find it and you get there, you don't want to lose it. You want to keep it at all costs.
So it's been a while since we have taken ask lap questions. So I pointed the lap signal into the Cincinnati sky, and here's what we got. Question number one comes from Marty. Is Drew Sample someone that could surprise us with a decent season reception wise or is he strictly a blocking tight end?
Yeah, Drew Sample has been amazing in his recovery. He's ahead of schedule, you know, You and I have both watched him go out there and try to do everything on a full speed basis for quite a while and maybe had a little hitching to get along and so doing, but he was bound and determined to get out there and not fall behind, and he wanted to be in tune and in step with everything that they were doing offensively.
It's important to this guy, I mean playing in the National Football League, specifically playing for the Cincinnati Bengals with Joe Borrow at quarterback and everything that they got going on with this football team. He's the kind of guy that feels a tremendous amount of loyalty to the franchise they give him the opportunity drafting him in the second round out of college. He thinks the world of his position, coach, thinks the world of the head coach, thinks the world
of his teammates. Yeah, it would not shock me if Drew Sample had a significantly sound bounce back year, you know, in terms of complete tight end. I'm not saying go out and catch seventy balls, you know, but I'm saying a guy that you know, when he's in the two tight end package, we don't need to worry about him. He's just a third tackle.
You know.
It's like Earth Smith Jr. To make sure we tilt our coverage here. I mean he could, he could, you know, be a guy that sneaks up on people and it would be well deserved, that's for sure.
He had forty catches in Joe Burrow's rookie years, so there is a bit of a track record there. But his targets will depend on IRV Smith Junior. If Irv Smith Junior is healthy, he's going to project a fifty to sixty catches something like that, similar to Hayden Hurst and cj Uzama. And if that's the case, then there are only so many balls to go around, and Andrew Sample will not be targeted all that often.
Absolutely. And the thing, the great thing, or one of the great things about Drew Sample, He'll be fine with that. He's a total team guy. You know, it's not about Drew Sample. It's about the tight end position, and it's about the Cincinnati Bengals offense, and it's about the Cincinnati Bengals football team winning football games. And you know, you can't have enough of those of those kind of guys
for sure. But like you said, Irv Smith junior. He's he's a pretty good athlete, and he runs good routes. He gets in and out of his cuts. He's very very fluid with there's movements. He's a very smooth operator. They could have a pretty good one two punch at that tight end position.
The next question comes from Jason. How did DJ Turner and Jordan Battle look during mini camp? The second and third round draft picks.
Jordan Battle really impressed me with his not only his physical ability, and that's hard to tell because you know they don't have shoulder pads on and at the safety position, you know that's where you've got to come downhill and dislodge people and all that.
Sort of thing. But is he where he's supposed to be when he's supposed to be there? Yes?
Does he understand the scheme and the responsibility within that scheme that lou Anerilmo was asking him to do.
Yes?
Does he recognize things offensively and communicate with his teammates like a veteran already? Yes, that's what you and I talked about it more than once as we were watching him out on the football. If you look at this guy, you know, reading it, communicating it to his corners. It's like, man, he looks like he's very very comfort well, he's a quick processor. He understands what lou Ann Rumo's installing very very quickly assimilates it. Can take it from the board
to the field. A lot of guys can do a great job. And you know, rewriting it on the board, they get on the field and all of a sudden, it's one hundred miles an hour. It's the auto bond and it's like, eh, doesn't translate. His translates big time and it translated right away. So that's the thing that I'm very impressed with about him. He's ready to go. I mean he's he's up to speed. It's not like waiting for Jordan Battle to catch up. He's like, what do you got from me? Now, coach? I'm ready, you
know I'm ready. I'm ready to roll. What's the adjustment to this? And what's the wrinkle on that? What's the tweak here? He's he's I think he's very very impressive turner. To me, he's a blur. He's fast and he can flip his hips and run. I want to see him a little utilize has to speed a little bit more recognizing and having the confidence to break on the route, break on the ball. That's what Jordan Battle's doing. He's so sure he's almost there before it happens. Turner's not
quite there in that part of it yet. But when he gets up on a receiver's hip and he has to flip his hips and run with him, no problem. But you know a route like where he has to slam on the brakes and then decide to break on the ball, come back and get after it. Little hesitant there from what I've seen. And it's not like it can't you know, it can't be corrected or improved upon or whatever. But and he's got potential. He's a player.
They're not going to run by you. And that's the biggest fear, as Oh Jesus every time he's out there throwing over said, that's not going to happen. So it's much easier to make adjustments to things in front of you than saying, Okay, you got to get faster and or you have to have a better your hips have to be more fluid. You gotta flip your hips on and get get out of that and run down the
football field. He can do that and that's the primary requisite I think to being able to play corner in the NFL.
I'll throw something else in that. I like about Jordan Battle. He is thick in all the right places. I mean, as a safety, you've got high speed collisions in the secondary, you've got to take on running backs who already have a head of steam built up. It's big in the lower body, big on the back side. He looks like a guy who's going to be able to weather the violent hits that you take at the safety position.
Right, And I think he's going to be a thumper. I think he'll be the hitter and not the hit he you know, he's the guy that's going to deliver the punishment. I agree with you, Dan, I think, and he's not going to be the least bit hesitant to do it. Like we talked about before, Saban talked about this guy like, you know, he's the best football player on the defensive side of the ball that he's had. And when you have Saban being that effusive in his praise,
you've done something right. You've done a bunch of things right. You've checked a lot of boxes for coach Saban.
There's no question.
Here's an interesting question from Wyatt. Did you consider the white uniforms in the snowy playoff game against Buffalo to be an unfair advantage? I'm going to editorialize here and even remove the word unfair. Was it even an advantage white unis in a snowy game?
No, I don't think so, I really don't. I really don't. I mean to me, it's like, okay, well, what would the advantage for the ball's dark on a white background? The ball shows up that it's easier to follow the ball. Where is the ball? Where's he holding the ball? I'm just trying to think of the advantage. You mean, It's like the Bengals with the invisible men, and all of a sudden they appear out of the snow because of
the white uniforms, and they're blasting the Buffalo Bills. It's like they disappeared.
Now.
I think we're I think we're going into a little bit of a stretch there, I do think, and we commented about it right away. Dan and I remember talking about it multiple times during the course of the game. The Bengals traction they were on the feet and the Buffalo Bills with slip sliding away. You know, and they they're the team that's been in the snow. It's their field. I was I was surprised that from a footing standpoint, the Bengals seemed to handle it a little bit better.
That's the thing that struck me during the course of the game, and when I thought about the game in retrospect, I thought that was a big deal. I thought that, for whatever reason, the traction differential was the was the big difference in net football game.
Kudos to Adam and everybody in the Bengals equipment room for getting the Bengals in the right shoes. Bengals Bubbs has the next question, where the heck does Cody Ford fit on this offensive line?
Yeah, he's a position versatility. He's played tackling guard, so you know that's that's a plus for him. I think he is going to be in the free for all at right tackle. I think he wants to throw his hat in the ring there. Collins, I mean, you don't know when he's going to be available. Elsie will not be there from Jump Street. I think Jonah Williams will
be there from Jump Street. Jackson Carmen is going to get a shot at that at that right tackle position, and I think I think Cody Ford will as well. I think that's where he'll compete. And then his ability to kick inside and play either guard and maybe be able to play either tackle. Again, like we talked about depth, not only the starters, but depth in the in the backups in the offensive line, and if you're a depth player in the offensive line, you have to be able
to play more than one position. He has shown that he can play more than one position at the NFL level, So he's got he's got a definitely shot to be a factor with the old line.
We started out talking about Jonah Williams. Here's a question from Michael. What's the difference between left tackle and right tackle and would Jonah find it easier to play left guard if Collins is healthy and could play right tackle.
Yeah, you would think that it would be an easier situation. I can tell you from experience that kicking inside to left guard after having played some left tackle, it is now you're used to, you know, the left handed techniques, being you're in a left handed stance and everything goes along with a hand placement wise and all that sort of thing and moving your feet in that left handed stance.
The biggest adjustment is exactly that. You know, it's like you've written your entire life right handed and then you try to write left handed. It's not that extreme because it's not the fine muscles of you know, being able to write into a short space. But I mean you have to be able to move your feet. You're just flipping everything in your mind. So some people cannot do that. Some people just are right side minded and some are left side minded and can't flip flip back and forth.
If you can, and Jonah obviously has shown that he can because he did it in college. He played the right side, he played the left side. So he has a history where at a very good level in the SEC at a very good program Alabama, he played both both tackles. Uh, and that that is the biggest thing. It's just okay, and I remember when I was playing all the positions that this sounds dumb, but it's like, okay, remember not okay, it's left guard, all right? Make sure okay,
left guard is Simon, Okay, left guard. Here's the footwork is. You're going through all that in your head and just in the beginning, it's almost like you have to take a step by step and then after you do it for a while, it becomes, you know, second nature. You don't have to go through the step by step process. But I think he'll adjust. I think he'll adjust well.
And really, in the past, left tackle was all right, Well, the most athletic quickness off the ball guy as a pass rusher is gonna be over there at right defensive end. In today's NFL, they're everywhere. They're everywhere. So it used to be, you know, Anthony Munhos, that's the best pass rusher, we got the best tackling football. We're racing your best pass rusher. And not only that, we don't have to help him to a race. He's gonna race him by himself.
We're gonna help all these normal guys, you know, are gonna help block these other normal guys inside. So it has turned into a league that they throw it so much and the pass rush has become such a huge factor. Still, do you have your most dominant pass rusher at right defensive end. Probably, but it's not like there's a big drop off, And you know, other guys are just guys. They're all quality pass rushers now and usually you know,
it used to be. The left tackle is the athletic guy, and the right tackle is maybe a guy with a little.
More girth, a little more power, a.
Little more thump. And that's not necessarily the case anymore either. So I think I think Jonah he'll be fine. I mean, Jonah's a smart guy that has good technique fundamentals, he's sound, you know, now he's committed. And now that he's committed, once a guy like that is on that page, I think he's gonna play well.
As you describe the difference between playing the left side and the right side, in my mind, I'm picturing like the feet on the ground and Arthur Murray Dance studio that shows you know, where every step has to go. That's kind of what it sounded.
Like exactly it is. It's like, okay, now I'm just inverting. You know, my my kickstep is now my post foot, and now my old post foot is now my kickstep. You're just reversing everything. And you know, as I say, some guys, it's it's more of a more of a task, a task to get done that it is for others.
J E writes, how are andre Yosi Bosh and Charlie Jones looking out there.
Yeah, Andre is uh has got a skill set. I mean he's a he's a big, strong tight end excuse me, wide receiver that runs runs really good routes, can catch the football. I think he's extremely physical. I think he's going to be a guy that's going to be tough to tackle. Uh, it's going to be interesting to watch him. Obviously being the pentathlete, he's he's got immense athletic ability for a guy with his body type.
Heptathlete, don't gyp him out of two events.
Yeah, that's right, heptathlete. My bad, my bad, heptathlete. Uh, He's he's like a rare athlete. You know, he's an unusual guy obviously. Charlie Jones is a guy that you know, Jamar Chase was talking about as the mini camp, the mandatory mini camp was winding down about how he's putting different wrinkles in his routes and and running routes differently. But he's got to be at a certain spot in a timely fashion because Borrow's getting the ball there and up to him to get there. So in his head
he has a clock. But like Fred Blittnikoff, is a guy that back.
In the day.
This dude ran a nine yard out route nine different ways. I mean, he come off the ball and it's like, is he gonna run a slams, He's gonna run a post. I mean he looked he was doing the same thing and at the top of his route, everything was still in play. And that's what made Blittan a cough great. And I think that's what Jamar is trying to get to. It's like, Okay, well they're not going to just be able to read my shoulders and hips and know that I'm you know, I'm gonna run an in cut now.
So Charlie Jones has a lot of that. Charlie Jones, I think has h has some innate ability to make the same route look different. He's a really good route runner. He gets in and out of his cuts, sinks his hips well, and you know he's he's got good hands. That's going to be the key is will he catch the ball? Because he can run. He can run some sub four or five He's a four to fours guy,
and he can run routes. I think that anybody that catches over one hundred balls for over thirteen hundred yards doing something right.
In the season.
JB sent a few questions. We've covered some of it. I've picked out this question though, Will Chase Brown be running back.
To that's gonna be? That's interesting. I think he's He definitely, in my mind, has the physical attributes to be that way, and it seems like he has the makeup. He just some guys you can tell right away, this guy gets it. This guy will have no problem understanding what's to be asked of him, you know, and no problem delivering. His track record shows success, no doubt about that. As a big time ball carrier. I think it's going to depend on you know, he can run the football, he can
catch the football. How will he block? How will he handle protection? Because with number nine, I don't care who the running back is. Whatever running backs on the football field, when they come with an all out blitz and that running back's responsible for somebody, you got to make sure you execute your assignment and that guy has not hit Joe Burrow. That is a big, big requirement and prerequisite.
There's no doubt from Bengals and Bruce. With l Collins seemingly ahead of schedule, the Bengals most likely to put him on the pup list for six weeks and then if he's ready for week one, would they pay the right tackle spot twenty two point five million to keep him and Jonah Williams.
That's that's what they're mulling over as we speak. I mean that that's some of the things they're thinking about. I mean he In fact, I was just talking with him today, Dan ironically out on the practice field and Anthony Munoz and I were asking him about because he's moving pretty well, and I said, to you, do you consider you're still ahead of schedule? And he said I do, And I said, well, you know, my advice is don't do too much too quickly. You don't want to have
a setback. You don't want to have a you know, a deal where all of a sudden, man, it was going so well, and now you know, I have to go through the mental anguish of I'm back where I was like a month and a half two months ago.
You don't want to do that. And he's like, no, no, I get that.
So it is obviously he's not going to be ready for training camp. What at what point in the regular season will look like he'll be ready? And you know, they're so far away from being able to determine that right now. But these are the things that you have to think about. These are the things that you have to ponder in your mind. And you know, will would he be able to return before week six? How far before week six? You know, would you would you make
that move put him on the pub list? You know, would you say, geez, I think he might be ready after week two. You know, he may be ready to go, you know, in the third game. Those are those those are things to be determined, I guess.
I also don't think that twenty two point five million dollar figure is accurate. Joana is going to make twelve plus, but a lot of Elsie's money was tied into playing time, starts, things like that. So I don't think he's Yeah, I don't think he's getting ten if he's not the starting right tackle. I think his situation depends partly on who else they're able to sign. I mean, you don't want to let the guy go until you have to. You never know who might get hurt. I mean, knock on wood.
But if tackles were to go down, it's a nice luxury to have a really solid player in Lael Collins. But if Burrow signs, if to Higgins signs, if Logan Wilson signs, then the reality kicks in where somebody might have to go and he would logic be a candidate. If he's not the starting right tackle.
Right then then you're going from you know, the luxury department store to Walmart, you know, I mean it's like the budget changes. So yeah, it's there's there's always it's never just cut and dried one thing. There's always a bunch of you know, extraneous factors that are big time variables that are going to control your future.
Here's a question from Willie, who aren't we talking about enough? Is there a key player that fans should be paying more attention to. We talk quite a bit about Jordan Battle. He's kind of the first guy that comes to mind for me, anybody else, for you.
You know, there's there's so many guys. You know, it's like, all right, Jordan Battle at the uh at the at the safety position, and you know then you uh, then you think, all right, Nick Scott, how is he? How is he going to pan out at the safety spot. That's when when you think the biggest thing to me with okay loss, you lose two starting safeties. What do
you have at the safety position? Well, you draft Jordan Battle and you know you've got you got nick Uh, You've got other players that you know are gonna are gonna line up in Battle at that at that spot as well. So to me, Tyson Anderson is going to be interesting to watch Dax Hill. How much improvement will there be with Dax Hill? One of my focuses is probably going to be the safety position because that's where you know that the most damage was done in free agency.
So how how is that gonna sort itself out?
You know? I think the back end, you.
Know, as a whole is uh is something to watch because you know you've got guys recovering from from surgery and injury on the on that back end, you got young guys competing. Uh, you know Cheeto. How How how will Cheato be from from day one at training camp? Well,
who knows? Would don't exactly know yet. So to me, I think one of the the way everybody throws the football in the National Football League, I think that back end is going to be the biggest question that I have, Not that they don't have players, but who are the guys that are going to step up and really grab hold of those roles and excel.
I'll throw another name in there for somebody that I don't think people are talking about enough. Zach Carter, DJ Reader and DJ Hill are going to get the bulk of the snaps inside, but you need somebody to rotate in there. He looks good to me.
He does.
He does, and I think you know he's a young guy that you know it's like all right from you know Jeff Gunter too. He's had some injury issues, but from year one to year two is when you usually make your biggest jump. And Zach Carter year one to year two he made big contributions. He was a definite rotation, a valuable rotational player as a rookie. I agree he understands what it takes now he could he could very well be a guy that makes makes a bigger impact on a game by game basis.
For lou Ana Rulan Company.
Here's an interesting question from Brent. Toward the end of your career, what was your main reason for retirement? Was it physical, mental, family related, or other? And did you dream you would still be broadcasting in twenty twenty three?
Will I will say that the back to back season at age thirty two and thirty three when I played a full slate for the Bengals in nineteen eighty three, took two weeks off, then went to the USFL and went to training camp and played a full slate of twenty plus games counting playoffs and a pre season games there at the age of thirty two turned, you know, working into the thirty third year.
That was.
Taxing scenario. I mean you talk about Riga Mortis man, I mean I would literally come home from practice and I had a very old school offensive line coach by the name of Bill Austin BA, and he was the line coach for Vince Lombardi when he was coaching with the Washington Redskins. And BA was an old offensive lineman himself. So back in those days, you didn't practice, you didn't play.
So it's like, yeah, you know, I know, you stiff, I know you got to practice because if you don't, if you missed this practice today, you ain't playing this Sunday, okay. So it was unbelievable. And I remember just shuffling up the stairs, you know, during the week after a tough practice and laying on the couch and you know, my wife Lynn would serve dinner on it. Coach I was, I was there for the night. I mean, I'd fall asleep there and sleep there all night. I mean, it
was unbelievable. It was a survival getting through that season and then had had an NFL off season to recover a little bit and then play that final year, and it was just yeah, I was, I was beating up at that point. I was like, oh man, I need uh oilain. So I think that was the biggest factor. And then and then, did I ever think that I'd be, you know, going into the year number thirty eight as a as a color analyst on the Bengals radio network. No,
never never thought that. I mean I honestly, and we've talked about this before, I really thought I might coach. But going to Syracuse versus like we both did in the New House School of Communications. My you know, my backup plan was to do something in the broadcast world, potentially print or electronic media, you know, And I knew I wanted to stay with the game of football in
some way, shape or form. I just like I like the life, I like the people, I like everything about you know, football, and to be able to say, you know, I was able to do it pretty much in some way, shape or form. You know, almost my entire life from like high school on.
It's crazy crazy.
Our friend James Rapine has a question. Podcaster, writer, YouTube star, et cetera. We all saw the footage of Joe Burrow going deep in batting practice before Cincinnati Red's game recently. Here's this question, which of your former teammates would have won a home run derby Anthony Munyos No hesitation none.
Anthony was a relief pitcher third basement on the USC National Championship baseball team. So I mean I played in a celebrity softball game with ant and it was the Corps Light All Stars and we were in that game together. He was playing third base and the ball's hit in the hole. He cut the short stuff off, which you know, third base I was supposed to do if he can, and then he just opened up his hips and shoulders
and threw across you know, the diamond. The thing started out by second base and I was playing first base. I stretched, it hit me right in the stone of the hand, right under the index. My index finger, middle finger and thumb all went numb immediately like the umpire of singles calls out and I throw the glove and the ball off my hand. I'm like, oh my god. He threw a seed and then the field was pretty significant. But then there were woods, like a very good distance.
He put one in the trees. Man, I'm like, big boy, here we go. Yeah, Anthony, unbelievable athlete. Unbelievable athlete. Now that's not to say that, you know, there were a lot of other guys that got drafted out of high school, and there were there were many. I mean, it's you get to this level you have you have guys that very strong high school baseball players that were drafted in Major League Baseball but decided to go to college to play football and and maybe football and baseball and decided
to stay on the football path. But yeah, I mean I take I take big number seventy eight. He gets a he gets a full cut at one. I'm saying it's going away, it's going a distance.
Our final question comes from Leona, and let me say in advance, I like the way Leona thinks. Here's the question, where will the organization put the Lombardi Trophy when the Bengals hoist that baby high. And then seriously, is there an area in the stadium where fans will be able to view it?
You know, they do have an area in the stadium where they display you know, throughout the stadium with the display like ASC Championship trophies and and all that sort of thing. But yeah, interesting, you want the fans to be able to experience that. I honestly think that that the AFC Championship Trophies trophies, even though it's not the big prize, it's a good consolation prize, and I think the fans would appreciate being able to being able to
see it. I don't know, maybe maybe on game day you have, uh, you know, an area where you can put those kind of trophies and then put them back where they are the rest of the rest of the week and the rest of the year and so forth. But yeah, I don't see anything wrong with allowing the fans to celebrate in the in the pure joy of those trophies.
There's no doubt.
I gave this some thought. Here's how you do it. You take out a wall or a chunk of a wall on the back side of the Bengals Pro shop and so it's got bulletproof glass or some impenetrable glass on both sides so that as you go into the Pro Shop, you know you can view it from that angle. And then on the other side, it's exposed to the concourse of the stadium, so you can view it from
that angle. So a real good opportunity to get up close and see the Lombardi Trophy when the Bengals earn it this coming February.
Good call, And boy will there'd be a logjam. There'll be a bunch of cars, a bunch of a bunch of people, the traffic back there at the Pro Shop. And it's a good, good idea, Dan, good marketing move too, because yeah, while we're here looking at South, we might as well go in.
The Pro shop.
What the heck, particularly if you have your kids, grandkids with you, It's like, come on, let's go, let's go inside and see where going. What can we get to commemorate the occasional looking at the Super Bowl trophy? Good call, good call all the way around, my.
Man, another successful ask lap session. So happy that I pointed that lap signal into the Cincinnati sky.
My pleasure, sir. I can't think of a better way to spend some time than with my man Dan.
That's going to do it. For this episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals, by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets and sign 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 for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast