Bengals Booth Podcast: Whole New World

a quarterback in the first round. And in this week's fun Facts interview, it's a wide ranging conversation with Bengals owner Mike Brown. All of that is straight ahead. But first, here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, google Play, or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since toasted subs. I

have a curse when it comes to eating. I don't like cold sandwiches, as I have jokingly pointed out to my friends over the years since the invention of fire. I prefer my food cooked. So if Penn Station or Quiznos or pot Belly or anybody that does a nice toasted sub wants to sponsor the podcast. Chances are I

am already a satisfied customer. Time to talk football. The NFL Scouting Combine is underway in Indianapolis, and the Bengals were a major topic of conversation on Tuesday when Ian Rappaport from the NFL Network tweeted out a report about wide receiver John Ross, saying, quote, sources say the Bengals are shopping their former first rounder. A fresh start would be welcomed by both parties. Well, Ian Rappaport is an excellent reporter, but it sounds like his sources might have

been wrong on this one. On Wednesday, Bengals Director of player Personnel Duke Tobin held a news conference at the combine and referred to that port as fake news, saying the Bengals have had no discussions internally or externally about trading John Ross. The timing of the trade rumor seemed odd to me. You've got a new coach coming in with a creative, offensive background. Wouldn't you want to see if he can maximize the talents of the former ninth

pick in the draft. The Bengals have Ross under contract for at least two more years. Three if they pick up his fifth year option. It seems kind of early to punt, and less of course, somebody makes an offer too good to pass up. Time to bring him. My broadcast partner Dave Lapham, and we start with the hiring of New York Giants defensive backs coach lou An A.

Rumo as the bengals new defensive coordinator. The Bengals reportedly tried to hire Dennis Allen away from the Saints, then Todd Grantham away from the Florida Gators, and when neither worked out, the snarky jokes about nobody wanting the job kicked in. As always, lap provided some interesting details about the search. Lap Let's start with the time that it took to hire defensive coordinator low and a Romo and the fact that a couple of guys turned the job

down much ado about nothing or a legitimate concern. Well, when you look at the situations the guys that turned the job down, Coach Allen was just leveraging the Bengals to get the third year out of the Saints. He had a two year offer from the Saints, he wanted three. They weren't doing it. The Bengals offered it to him and a handsome three year deal. Mike Brown stepped up big time and just leveraged it to his advantage. With the Saints, they wanted a three year deal and he

stayed down there. So, you know, agendas live and learn that in that situation a little bit. I think not got used, but got leverage, there's no question about it. And then coach grant them. You know, from what I hear from people in that area, a big part of it was his wife didn't want to move anymore. You know, they've got two high school aged kids. They got one in college, but two high school aged kids. And and she said, you know, we've moved X number of times

and in such a short period of time. You know, let's let's just stay here. We like it in Florida. Kids like it. You have a good job. You know, you get a raise to one point eight million. Again, I think Mike Brown stepped up with a handsome offer that was more than that on a on a three year basis. But you know, he decided to stay. But you can always say, well, if he knew his family really didn't want to move, why did he bother interview?

And you know, so there's always three sides to every story, or two sides plus the third with the truth lies somewhere in between, I guess, but you never know in these in these type of negotiations. Plus, I wasn't sure about the he's a three four guy, you know, you know,

I'm not sure about that about that fit. Uh necessarily, So, you know, people saying that the seven people turned the job down, It wasn't even offered to It was offered to two people, and other people that people thrown out there as candidates, and bangs didn't even interviews act didn't even want to interview those people. So, um, it's it's Zack's decision. It's not. It's not Bengals fans or anybody else in the organization. Really, they're letting him make his

own decisions for sure. Well, let's talk about the significance of that, because, let's face it, over the course of the Bengals fifty one year history, a lot of people have said, well, the head coach has never had enough control, They've never been allowed to determine their own staff, etc. What do you make of the latitude that Zach Taylor has been given to build his own staff? Well, I think I think that, you know, during the course of their interviews, two wards came into you know, a very

very prominent place. Cohesion and chemistry in the staff and with the players, and you know, energy, excitement, everything goes along with it, all this culture that you're trying to build. But I think cohesion is a big thing, and it's a big thing to Zach and therefore a big thing to the organization. We've talked about it before. Um, you know, hard Knocks demonstrated the opposite of cohesion. I mean, had knives stabbing him in the back, Hugh Jackson as quickly

as they could. I mean, that staff had had no cohesion, no chemistry. Everybody was everybody who's in it for themselves was not. It wasn't one for all and all for one, that's for sure. It was. It was very disjointed. So you know, I look at the people that he's hired. He trusts them all because he's worked with them. He knows what kind of people they are, and that's a big thing. I remember, you know, Bob Stoops telling me when he hired his brother to be the defensive coordinator,

Mike Stoops. He said to me, coordinators in that position with a head coach, there has to be a huge amount of trust. If I can't trust my brother, who the hell can I trust? And you know, he said, we're going to get some knocked down dragouts, but out of those knocked down drag out, some good stuff's going to come and it's going to help the football team in terms of you know, scheming and all that sort

of thing. And I look at the same thing. When Sam White and Bruce Cosle were together, there were some just epic battles of you know, ying and yang putting game plans together. But out of that two brilliant minds offensively came these unbelievable game plans. And they were teammates, former teammates, so they trusted each other. I mean, they worked together as as teammates, they worked together with the forty nine ers as coaches, and it worked here in

Cincinnati and took them to a Super Bowl. So I think, you know, I think I think that trust part of it. And there's I think I think Zach wants people that he feels comfortable with. He knows the kind of human being they are, and you know, it's the kind of coach they are. But he doesn't want yes men. He wants guys to challenge them, you know, And that's what Sam wanted. Sam wanted coaches like Jim McNally and Bruce Coslet and guys like that to challenge him. Dick lebou

to challenge him. We want to go cutting edge on all this stuff, just like you, coach, and I think, you know, maybe hopefully, you know, I'm not saying that that's going to happen, that Zach Taylor and and this coaching staff is going to take them to a super Bowl, you know, in the first year, but maybe maybe something good will come out of out of his process and

his mentality putting this coach of stuff together. A lot of people look at Sean mcvaye's success with the Rams and his hiring of Wade Phillips to be his defensive coordinator and say, well, that's the model the young offensive coach and the older experienced defensive coach. The older experience part is fine, but the reason why that worked is that Wade Phillips is one of the best defensive coordinators ever. It's not that he's old or some sage wisdom. It's

that he's really good at his job. Give me the good defensive coordinator instead of a guy who's been there before. I agree with you, And good defensive coordinators can come in all sizes, ages, you know, everything that goes along with it. I really like what Zach is doing in terms of a lot of these coaches have quite a bit of college experience. Because the college game is it's more and more influential in the pro game. Look at

these high powered offenses. Look what Kansas City's doing. You know, they've really employed a lot of things out of out of the spread offenses and the zone reads and all that that happened in college. The Rams with McVeigh doing the same thing. You know, Andy Reid, Andy reads an older coach, but Andy Reid is adjusted to the times and adjusted to the scheme and has personnel to fit it. And I agree with you. I mean, it's not just age, it's it's talent as well. I mean, you know, just

because you're old doesn't mean you're good. Just because you're young doesn't mean you aren't good. You know, it's there. You can't you can't generalize like that. There's going to be huge and a big number of exceptions to that rule, for sure. So I really do think that guys that have had to solve the riddle at the college ranks over the years coming into the NFL, with the evolution of that college game coming in the NFL and more and more, I think those experiences could be potentially helpful

on both sides of the football. All Right, I informed my Twitter followers that we would be recording a Bengals Booth podcast and ask them for some questions. So are you ready? Question number one? Will the team be more active in free agency? I'm not sure it'll be active in terms of people wanting to you know, lalapalooza, you know, a big signing kind of deal. I think they'll still approach free agency the way they have. They value these compensatory picks. They've got three this year and all in

the sixth round, all in the sixth round exactly. So I think I think their feeling is, you know, like like this year, whatever their needs may be, whatever they deem their needs are, when you have eleven picks, now, because of these compensatories and trades and all that sort of thing, now you can double down, even triple down on a position of need, you know, and you increase your chances of putting your bat on the ball. A

lot of you. If you miss on a higher pick, you know that mid wrong guy may be the one, and so at least you get yourself covered there with an opportunity to to you know, fill a need and to build depth or whatever the case may be. So I don't think they're gonna really, you know, sign a huge free agent that would cost them compensatory picks, as that has not been their philosophy. That this compensatory pick thing.

I think has worked out well for them for the most part over the last few years, and I think they're going to continue in that area. So I don't get my hopes up for C. J. Mos Like I don't think so, all right. Question number two, what's the probability of the Bengals drafting a quarterback in the first round. I'm not sure in the first round. I mean Andy Dalton was a second rounder, Kenny Anderson was a third rounder, Boomer Sisson was the second rounder. You know, they're better

quarterbacks they had in franchise history. Greg Cook was a franchise guy and unfortunately had the injury. He was a first rounder. He was talent wise, the best they've ever had. But you know, I don't think they necessarily feel like they have to take a quarterback with that first rounder. Will they take a quarterback in the draft potentially, yeah,

I think so eleven picks. Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't you some at some point in time, you know, you have either either in Andy's Andy Dalton's contract is organizational friendly right now, but you know it's in the next year or two they're gonna have to make some decisions. So depending on how those decisions unfold, you have to have a plan B. I mean you can't. You can't not have developed anybody, you know, in case they decide

to part ways or whatever the case may be there. So, yeah, it wouldn't shock me, but I wouldn't be stunned if if they take a quarterback with the eleventh pick in the draft. It wouldn't stun me, but I'd be surprised because they could get a pretty good quarterback I think with that second round pick that high. So no C. J. Mosley and free agency and probably not Kyler Murray has with the eleventh pick in the draft, Let's talk about Andy Dalton. Next question, Will Andy Dalton flourish in this

offensive scheme? I think he will. I think, you know, Zack's already gone on the record saying that he's he feels that that Andy fits this offense. And he's a big Andy Dalton fan. And when he was at Texas a m he looked at a lot of tape of Andy Dalton when he was in high school and you know, and also at TCU, so he knows a lot about Andy Dalton. And I think that that Andy can fit this type of offense very very well. He moves very well. I mean, Andy can run, and you don't want to

overdo that with him. You don't want to, you know, expose him to the injury that goes along with that. But I think he's very intelligent. I think that, you know, Zach realizes that. I think he's going to flourish. I think, you know, probably the luckiest guy in the organization with these moves and these decisions probably is going to be Andy Dalton. Next question, what is the biggest obstacle facing

the team in being immediately successful? And the person that sent in this question specified being in a position to win a playoff game. Why there's a thing or a couple of things or feel free to go with a couple of he'd like. I mean, I think the offensive line, you know, needs to be needs to be continually built. Um, I don't think they're anywhere near where they need to be at this point in time. In terms of personnel, I think Frank Pollock did a hell of a job.

I really do. I mean, I think he's I really respect him as an offensive line coach. Coach Turner has a tough act to follow, but he's he's regarded around the league as as a real good teacher and a teacher technique, just like coach Pollock. So I think we get the same type of guy and the same type of mindset, same type of approach. But you got to give him some You gotta give him some material to

work with. Man. You know, it's hard to hard to build a statue if you don't have any clay, you know, So he's got to get some get some bodies in there. I think they have to improve in that area offensively, and then the defensive side of it. Linebacker. You know, in this in this era of football, those linebackers get exposed. And you know, you have to have a line backer that can run and be able to cover people. And it's it's it's a different game. I mean, it's evolved

more to that college game. You know, you're not going to find two hundred and fifty five pound numbers anymore. They don't exist. You know, you might have one for goal line short yardage players, but you don't have one out there on a on a three down basis, that's for sure. So I think you've kind of answered my next question. But the combines coming up this week, what are the biggest priorities as they prepare for the draft? Yeah, I would I would say that big people, you know,

offensive and defensive offensive and defensive line. I think that you know you can you can never go wrong trying to get as many people as you can, as many bodies to stabilize and influence the performance in those two areas. Up front, I think you do win and lose games up front at the line of scrimmage. And that linebacker position, like we talked about is is definitely key um and you can never have enough cover guys. You know, they've done a pretty good job over the years. They've spent

a lot of first round picks cornerback position. I think it's paid off for them because there is going to be injury in the way that the defense's offenses lineup. Now, defensively, you have to have minimum three most times four and five cornerbacks out there, so you can never have enough

good bodies in that back end, Dan for sure. Next week we will discuss free agency, not free agents from other teams that the Bengals might consider signing, but their current free agents in which ones they should try to retain. Sound good, It sounds like a plan, coach. Thanks Lap. Now time for my newest round of fun Facts with Bengals owner Mike Brown. Here are a few things to know if you're not familiar with my fun Facts interviews. This is not sixty minutes and I'm not the late

Morley Safer. We do not discuss the hiring of Zach Taylor or important NFL business. This is more of a personal profile of Mike, from his daily routine to his former career as a lawyer. Time for our fourth edition of fun Facts the Bengals president Mike Brown. What is your daily routine, When do you get to the office, and what's the first order of business? Typically I get here around six. My first order of business is to

clean up some of my personal affairs. Pay bills, write the notes and letters that I am obligated to do, and then I turned to the squad affairs. I review that daily, just checking where we are and what we should be thinking about. I'm an early riser. It is nothing that I brag about being early to work. I would either be early to work or sitting in a chair staring at the ceiling at home. So I come down here and do what I can, and that's how I begin, and that is what I do when I

start today. Before the Bengals came into existence, you practiced law. Did you enjoy it? I enjoyed the people. I thought the people were bright and wonderful to be around. I enjoyed the action, the activity, if you will. I found that quite remarkable as well. I have never had a high opinion of the legal institution in this country. I just don't feel that it is as perfect as I would wish. But it is a wonderful structure, but a remarkably imperfect one. I was not born to be a lawyer.

I didn't have the strong interest in the legal profession that you needed to be what you should be if you wanted to make a living doing that. It gave me five years or so to watch and look at it, and then it also gave me the opportunity to get involved in what became the Bengals, and so I'm forever

grateful to it for that reason. You graduated from Harvard Law School, and you must have had classmates who have been highly successful in politics, business, etc. Anybody we would recognize, Oh Scalia was, But just to make it clear, I never met him. There were others who became significant as lawyers, and almost all of them had interesting, successful careers of one sort or another. My one roommate became a writer

for Newsweek. One became a successful entrepreneurial type guy. It was a wonderful group of people that they collect up there annually, and it was a privilege beyond my deserts just to be around them for three years. A few random Bengals topics from Mike Brown in nineteen seventy, the team's third year in existence. The Bengals started one in six and one of their last seven games to make the playoffs for the first time. Was that one of

your favorite seasons. It was exciting. It built from scratch and we became, actually, by the end of the year a good team. We had a lot of interesting people involved with the club. Bill Walsh was an assistant coach. Tiger Johnson was an assistant coach. Virgil Carter became our quarterback and that was the team where and I will credit him for this. Walsh came up with the belief that Virgil couldn't throw the ball effectively more than thirty

yards down field. So we began to throw all these quick release passes and that was the first step towards what became called the West Coast offense. That's where it started and how it started. It was a spirited team. They began to believe in themselves and played above their heads by the time the season was over. Bengal's history, unfortunately, has included some devastating injuries. I suppose that's true of every NFL team. But between Greg Cook, Kim Cromraye, Johnah Carter,

and Carson Palmer, is there one that hurts you the most? Oh? Greg Cook would. Greg Cook was destined to be the star of his generation in pro football. He suffered a shoulder injury which today would have been easily repaired and he would have been as good as new the next season. But it didn't go right, the operation and the follow on which was done up in Cleveland, and he never was the same, So he was just the flish. He

led the league in throwing his rookie year. If he had been healthy, in my mind, he would have led it for ten straight years. He was the most talented player we ever had here, and I always regretted that jury. A lot of others bother me to this moment, but that one is one that, as you can tell from my voice, I never really got over. Sports Illustrated recently referred to your daughter Katie as one of the most powerful women in the NFL who nobody talks about. How

proud are you that she chose to follow in your footsteps? Well, it was her wish. I was open to it, and she was practicing law and then one to get involved in this, and over the years it has come to be that she is more the driving force around here than I and she is more than ably assisted by her husband, Troy and Paul, all of whom work here in a daily basis with me. I'm very privileged, very lucky to have my kids involved with me in a

daily basis. Sometimes we fight, but nobody takes it to heart and we all go on as normal two minutes afterwards. So it's a good thing. And I think she does a good job. And yes, Nancy and I are proud of her. Last thing, you rarely, if ever miss a practice. What is it about this sport that has captivated you so much throughout your lifetime. I find a beauty in it. I find something to be noted. Every day out there, you see people players do what they do, and it

strikes a chord with me. I would probably rather do that than set at a beach or on a beach somewhere in Florida. This interests me more. I don't care what the weather is. I just accept that. And the day, for example, was a rainy, cold day. And for me, I'm an eighty year old guy, I shouldn't be out there, but I go out there anyway, just because for me, it is more interesting than any other thing I could possibly do. I always enjoy these conversations. Thank you so

much for your time. I appreciate it. Well, you're kind to come appreciate the chance to visit with you. If you enjoyed that conversation with Mike and would like to hear a previous round of fun facts with him. Go to the archives and check out the Ready for Prime

Time Players edition. My interview with Mike starts about fifteen minutes in and covers a wide variety of topics, ranging from his friendship with Marty Brenneman to the time he went to see the movie Porkies with former Bengals head coach Forrest greg that's going to do it for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, google Play, or pod Bean, and if you have a minute, please give

it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback is always appreciated, and five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks again for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast