0:04

Broadcasting as Judgment Peace in west Chester before we start our show and Marius mems

0:08

is being introduced at pay Course Stadium Zach Taylor speaking live right now, that's

0:16

a that's a dream come true. Honestly, you know what more can ask

0:19

for? Great organization to come in and play great team. Honestly, you

0:22

know, I'm just like I said, I'm just blessed man rat that yes,

0:28

sure, what do you what did you think? I took away a

0:32

lot honestly from the combine to the thirty visits. Just like I said,

0:35

just get familiar with the coaches, Like I said, I have a great

0:38

relationship with those guys. Now, like I said, man, coach Pollock,

0:41

we're in there. We're not talking about players and stuff, talking about

0:45

you know where I'm sitting in the room and all that stuff is Just like

0:47

I said, I just feel like it's a good vibe already and just a

0:50

good fit. Like I said, I'm ready to get around some of the guys in the O line room. You know see how that is too,

0:55

So like I said, just I'm just ready for the next chapter. Honestly,

0:59

favorite offense A lot of people watch, uh, I don't really like

1:03

have like a like a certain favorites. But I said, I I w I do a lot of Like I said, I do a lot of watching

1:07

'em, for like Larry mc thomson, Like I said, Trent Brown was

1:11

a guy who watched a lot. You know, me and him, I feel like we're very similar. You know, we're big guys. We both

1:15

play, both can play left and right tied go. Honestly, I watched

1:19

a lot of Lane Johnson Pinasou those guys like that too, So you know

1:25

you, uh, the the games were student athletes part of it, not just from the football field. Three point six pp. How far are you

1:30

with that? I'm very proud of it, Like I said, my my

1:34

mom and dad and they always told me grades of grades of first so I

1:40

said, I was a three time academic on honor roll STC student too.

1:45

So, like I said, since I was a kid, I always knew,

1:47

like I said, I could, I couldn't go to college without the

1:49

grades. So I always took proud of that. So we been about twenty

1:53

hours. Yeah, you first time you have different teammates, but the dangers

1:57

to reach out you Oh yeah, sir, I I'm not gonna be say

2:00

who, but I've I've heard from a good I've heard from a good bit

2:02

of him. Man. I'm just like I said, I'm very thankful they

2:05

reached out. I'm glad. You know, I got talked to them last

2:07

night and this morning. So you've heard from the guy that will you will

2:12

you will be protecting? Oh? Not yet? I hope too soon.

2:15

Honestly, that's that's that's what I'm waiting on. Excited ar you about or

2:21

be assigned with the job of protecting is gonna be at least quarterbacks and national

2:25

Man, I'm just like I said, I feel like a kid up here,

2:30

man, you know, cause you you always I feel like that's an old linman. You got guys who you want to protect, and he's like

2:35

he's one of those guys. I would love him. Like I said, I always wanted to protect and you know, nah, that's reality. You

2:38

know, I'm planning on I plan on doing just that. You know,

2:43

where do you think the biggest strokes from your game? Trying everything? You?

2:49

Uh? I feel like that's all. I feel like I can veil a runner and passed. You know, nobody plays a perfect game as an

2:53

office alignment, but it's my job to come in and find those weaknesses and

2:57

turn them into screens. So, like I said, men coach politicans a

3:00

good job together, and whatever you need me to do, I'll do. You question pretty one, how would you describe your me honestly? Like I

3:07

said, I feel like I play pretty physical uh. And I play patient

3:10

honestly, cause like in the game, you don't wanna get too anxious and

3:14

try to overdo anything, especially as an old line man. As a tackle

3:16

too, cause you have to. I feel like you're powering for pounding the

3:20

best athlete on the field. So in my opinion, you gotta be like

3:23

I said, you gotta be aggressive and then sometimes but sometimes you gotta be

3:25

patient just because you gotta know the guy you're playing against. So I feel

3:29

like you know those two two good things to described by my game more too,

3:32

would you describe your men? How are you want to get Uh?

3:38

I feel like uh. Like I said, f for me, I feel like I'm a nasty football player cause I feel like an old lime you got

3:43

you gotta do that, Like, you gotta be like that honestly, just

3:45

because you know you're playing the hard just on the field. In my opinion, And like I said, if you have a mentality, I feel like

3:50

you'll be pretty good, especially when you got five guys doing at the same

3:53

time. Are you spoken with uh, Trenton Brown and Orlando Road being or

3:57

together? I might as well go, I say, yes, sir,

4:02

those good guys. Is there similar vision size? How beneficial was that for

4:08

you to kick struggy? For you guys that man, it's great, Like

4:12

I said, both of those guys are used to winning. Both of those

4:15

guys won Super Bowls And it's just like I said, I'm looking forward to,

4:17

you know, them taking me in front of their wing, learning much

4:19

of them, like like learning from like learning as much as much from them

4:24

as possible for me. I grew draft pross just for asking question. What's

4:28

probably the ladies state they want to pay down? And actually that's the real

4:30

plus. Honestly, it was a lot of ball talk. But they just

4:33

talk about me like figure out me as a person, like you know,

4:35

how do I, like I said, how do I react to this stuff

4:38

like this? How can I get on the board and about like am I

4:40

a visual person? Like? Just like I said, it was just more

4:43

of like it was football, but to just outside of football, what kind

4:46

of guy am I So, I feel like, you know, it was like a half and half? What was my Frank was looking for you?

4:54

What do you want to do to show? What did you try to gain the Uh? Honestly, like I said, just see how like like how

4:58

can I gratch the offense? Honestly? And like how similar it was to

5:00

what I ran at at the University of Georgia. Like I said, it

5:03

was just stuff like that. I'm sure remember what type of learner are you?

5:08

You can you touch you off the board? You have to go on

5:10

field and rather than see it alf the you know what drives which as farther

5:14

you? How how do you work? I feel like, honestly, like I said, it starts in the mean room. Like I said, coach

5:18

gives you a new play. First you see it on the board, and

5:20

then after that after walkthroughs and stuff. I feel like I have a pretty

5:24

good grasp of stuff like that. Mar So, I'm pretty sure that the

5:27

process you've probably hurt people wanted to know about your small sample size and snaps

5:30

you had what was always your what was your response at how'd you explain that

5:33

to people and to not you know, your view of that? Honestly,

5:38

last year. This past season, I had a freak accident what made me

5:41

miss some games. But other than that, like I said, you know,

5:45

honestly, just come on the tape, you know, I I I don't wanna argue back and forth and people honestly about starts and snaps of how

5:51

many I got, how many the other person got in front of me.

5:54

Honestly, is just you know, I made the most out of my opportunities,

5:57

and you know now I'm here. So can you even that you had

6:01

you take any spector Yeah, a hundred percent. Like I said, I

6:04

always tell myself I would never put myself in a situation where I was uncomfortable

6:08

or wasn't ready. So, like I said, well talked to my with

6:11

my head coach, my agent, and my mom and dad. You know,

6:13

I made a decision and I'm very happy with it. I'm used to

6:15

this offense. I feel a lot m all the way I'm comfort for you

6:19

didn't in a pass for a spot or the passing. I feel like I'll

6:24

definitely enjoy that, uh I I like to pass pro like the run block

6:27

to it. You know, I'll take pride of one on one blocks,

6:30

especially right close while you probably I mean guy with your distract medicos and everything.

6:35

Yeah, I was like, uh much smaller expect What what are the

6:42

sports that you play? I mean, how did you how did you even

6:44

become special after? Yes, sir? Uh so? Uh? Originally I

6:48

I just strictly football, but then my my older brother got me into basketball.

6:53

I did not wanna do it, but I didn't stay in shape.

6:55

But I'm very thankful I did, cause they kept me in shape, helped

6:59

my footwork and all that good stuff. And then I picked up track. Uh, I started throwing shot putting doing this. So, like I said,

7:03

I picked up those other two sports. What's see? What's the like?

7:08

How would you try to simulate it before? What do you those What

7:11

did they ever do that could you sell? Uh? Honest? Like I

7:13

said, I feel like they're too about don very diverse teams. Like I

7:16

said, they do it like a lot of both run and pass, and

7:19

I feel like, you know, a good pro style offense. So I'm

7:23

I'm looking forward to, you know, I'm looking forward to, you know,

7:25

being the system, learning what they gotta learn, you know, going

7:28

out there and play. Don't what y'all want to talk about? You?

7:30

What's your face tambout what it takes to win at how level? Was they

7:34

had to keep consistent for that over first year. Honestly, just week by

7:38

week, not getting complacent. Always find like something better in your game to

7:42

get better at cause, like I said, nobody plays a perfect game.

7:45

So I feel like as long as you keep that same hunger throughout the season, you know, I feel like that's what we did pretty good at Georgia,

7:49

just not being complacent each week, trying to get better. So I

7:53

want to play yours? Uh in college? Like which year you want?

7:57

Like your so oh mm, I'll definitely say uh. Tyler Barron from Tennessee.

8:01

He was pretty good. I've been known since I was a high school recruit. He was. He hosted me on my official visit of Tennessee.

8:07

He's gonna be He's gonna be a great guy. I felt like coming out

8:09

in this this next year's draft, Are you or why did you start playing

8:13

footballs my dad six years old. I didn't think I was gonna be all

8:18

line, but I was. I was in the yard. I remember,

8:20

He'll take a ball and throw it in thirty yards and I'll just run up

8:24

fronder and catch it and like I said. He got me started at six

8:26

years old, at early age playing football, and ever since then, I

8:30

just loved the game of football. What do you learn my mars first career

8:33

started the football national Man. I just remember, like I said, talking

8:39

to my mom and dad, it was like they asked me my nervous and

8:41

I was like one of those nerves. It was just more of like trying

8:43

to show the world I'm ready, you know. And I felt like that

8:48

was definitely one of my favorite games just because you know it was my first starting too. I felt like I played, I played pretty good and it

8:54

was just like I said, it was no nerves, just just trying to

8:56

show the world I can play, you know at a start. Honestly, at the SEC, I uh actually see a powerhouse. Honestly that could be

9:01

you know, you carry that kind of battitude over because the NFL, like

9:05

what do you feel about way a hundred percent? Like I said, really

9:09

my goal now just come in and learn from the guys to hit me and

9:11

you know, try to be the best teammate in pro I can be every day. So did you know anything about Cincinnati before you were drafted? Anything

9:18

over it? How did you text yous. Uh, I know a little

9:20

bit. I'm not gonna say. I'm like, I ain't gonna I ain't gonna sit up here and say I know everything about it. But like I

9:24

said, I know a lot a lot about it about like the currents on

9:26

the current players here, you know, as I that's my time here, I plan on doing a lot of research, getting to know a lot of

9:31

like you know, backstories and all that good stuff in history of guys came for me. So what what brand they? You can end up in anywhere

9:37

as any organization to be dropped? Here were a team that's regulated tender.

9:45

Yeah, what's it like as a young wolf walking to do a world more

9:48

than you guys you respect? In the chamionships? Uh, Like I said,

9:52

honestly, it was like that, and uh at Georgia h O came in, we were expecting to win. Like I said, I know that's

9:56

college and this is the NFL, but I feel like, you know, going there prepared me, you know, especially for an environment like you know,

10:03

Cincinnati. So like I said, I just I just look forward to it, honestly, and I look forward to winning. What's the place for

10:09

you not'all that happen when you're gonna happen to give you or that would lay.

10:13

How do you feel like that at plays with you. I feel like

10:20

it helped me a lot. Like I said, I get learned from two great guys like Trent Brown Orlando Brown. You know those guys. Those guys

10:24

had to figured out. Those guys are veterans. So like I said,

10:26

I can come in every day and learn from those guys and you know,

10:28

try to re reprehate my game like them. So they're pretty good at achieved

10:33

fool obviously, Marma. Yet most athlete you want, uh My mom was

10:37

a cheerleader back in high school with my dad. He was definitely the He

10:41

was definitely, I say, the athlete. He might have played basketball and

10:43

football. Okay, alright, appreciation for Like there you go. H Amarius

10:56

Mems meeting with the media live on ESPN fifteen thirty, taken by the Bengals

11:01

last night with the eighteenth overall pick in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft.

11:05

Good afternoon, My name's Moegar. Glad you're with us today. It is

11:09

a beautiful Friday afternoon. We are in Westchester at good Old Twin Peaks,

11:16

home of the Tony and Mo Football Show. First of all, we want

11:18

to thank them for the tremendous hospitality when we got here. My producer on

11:22

site, Mike Mills, and I. You talk about somebody who's been working

11:26

a ton Mike, get that entire draft show last night, all the way

11:30

till midnight. Now back with me this afternoon. We want you to join

11:33

us this afternoon Twin Peaks in Westchester, very close obviously to I seventy five

11:37

the Union Center Boulevard Exit. I just had to meet Ball Skillet. We've

11:41

got plenty of cold beer. We've got a great venue to start your weekend

11:46

and talk about last night, what the Bengals did and what they didn't do

11:48

in Round one of the NFL Draft, and what they may or may not

11:52

do or what we want them to do tonight. So come on out to

11:56

a Twin Peaks in Westchester. We spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon with

12:01

our buddy James Orpene, who was awesome and has been well, frankly,

12:05

all over the place. He is going to join us to talk about the

12:09

selection of a Marius Mimes and some possibilities for tonight. Everybody's talking about Johnny

12:15

Newton, do the Bengals trade up. We'll get James thoughts on that and

12:18

so much more when we come back. We're at Twin Peaks in Westchester on

12:22

a gorgeous Friday afternoon on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. It's twenty

12:30

four minutes after three o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moegger broadcasting from

12:35

Twin Peaks in Westchester. Spend your Friday afternoon with us. We're also giving

12:41

away Food Fighters tickets, so you've got that going for you, James or

12:46

Pen We're gonna move in excuse me about ten minutes. Obviously is just getting

12:50

done covering the a Marius Mims press availability, so he's gonna join us at

12:56

three thirty five. That is only ten minutes away. So strapping for that.

13:01

So I will be honest, because I'm an honest person. We talked

13:07

about it on yesterday's show. If the draft went the way I wanted it

13:11

to go, Byron Murphy would be a Bengal today, and I feel like

13:18

that's an opinion that the majority of Bengals fans share. Right, That's the

13:24

guy I wanted and many of us wanted for two pretty basic reasons there's an

13:30

obvious need there too. It feels like he could have made an immediate impact,

13:35

and I've prioritized winning the title this year, and so Byron Murphy to

13:41

me, best represented a guy who could come in and instantly make the team

13:48

better because he's gonna help plug a hole. He's not gonna plug it all

13:52

by himself. Well, he wasn't there, And we could go back and

13:56

forth on whether or not they should have traded up. I'm led to believe

14:01

they had a Marius Mims higher and all right, I would have had Murphy.

14:07

You might have had Murphy, you might have had Rock Bowers. Let's

14:09

talk specifically, though, about the player they took, because there is If

14:15

we're doing the list of pros and cons, there's a con. The con

14:20

is only eight starts in college. By the way, not only eight games

14:24

in college. Eight starts in college. He played in thirty games. So

14:30

he's not as inexperienced as many might make you think because I've heard this,

14:35

Well he only played eight games. No, he only started eight games,

14:39

but sure there is a relative lack of experience. That's a con. What

14:46

else you got? What's the other con? So I look at the list

14:54

of pros. I'm not going to pretend that I have crunched dozens of hours

14:58

of a Marius Sims Amarus Mims tape, because I'm I'm not qualified to,

15:05

but the opinions that I trust. Let's see, first of all, I

15:09

don't need an opinion to measure his size. He is a massive human being,

15:15

close to six foot eight, three hundred and forty pounds. It falls

15:20

in line with what the Bengals have at tackle right now with the two Browns.

15:22

So there's the size, there is the pure natural strength. There is

15:28

in every draft guide that I have read effusive praise for his maturity, someone

15:37

who clearly cares about conditioning. Our buddy Dame Brugler writes, he carries his

15:43

three hundred and forty pounds better than anyone I've ever seen. He allowed zero

15:50

saxon college, no false starts, no holding penalties. He played against and

15:58

practiced ag against high end competition, and for what it's worth, if such

16:03

a thing matters to you, a three point six GPA. Those are the

16:07

pros. The con is relative lack of experience, and an injury did contribute

16:15

to that relative lack of experience. He had an ankle injury last year,

16:18

had tightrope surgery, missed some games, but came back. So here's my

16:23

question, is that that one thing the eight starts. Is that one thing

16:32

enough to disqualify him as the eighteenth overall pick. If you're if you're Duke

16:38

Tobin, if you're running the draft, and you know there's these physical attributes

16:45

that are off the chart. And by the way, he might not have

16:48

played a lot, but when he played, he played well. There's all

16:52

of that. Folks always say, like, just turn on the tape.

16:55

When you turn on the tape of Marius Mims, people are thrilled with how

16:57

he's played. They will say, there's some raw as to his game,

17:02

there are some things that need to be refined. He drops his eyes.

17:06

I've read that in multiple places. Okay, so he's not perfect, but

17:08

he's played well. Is the one con enough to disqualify him when he's got

17:18

a pro list that has a lot of other stuff. I don't think the

17:22

answer is yes. Again, you might have preferred a different player, a

17:26

different position, a different first round approach. Maybe you believe they could have

17:30

traded down and gotten them. We're never gonna know. We can't go back

17:34

and back in time. All we can do is sort of assess what they

17:38

chose to do and project whether or not this is going to work. With

17:45

a Marius Mimes, I see a lengthy list of pro I see one con.

17:52

Like in the con you might say, well, relative and experience,

17:56

but he also has an injury history, an ankle injury. He got it

18:02

fixed, he came back, and he played well. He had tightrope surgery,

18:04

same surgery that Sam Hubbard has apparently had. Uh. If we're gonna

18:10

eliminate every player who had an ankle injury and surgery on it, we're eliminating

18:15

a lot of guys. So I'm not telling you that he's perfect. I'm

18:18

not telling you he was my preferred guy. But you know, you see

18:22

folks on social media, we were at the Grail doing our show last night.

18:25

Oh terrible pick, Oh really a terrible pick? Really? Why well

18:32

he only started eight games? Okay, what else you got? Because what

18:36

all of these other people who have studied him, talked to him, evaluated

18:40

him, and frankly, for me, whose opinions I trust that there aren't

18:44

a lot of things beyond the only started eight games to make you not like

18:48

the pick again? There's a difference between I would have preferred this and I

18:55

just don't like the pick. Really, what is there to not like?

18:59

I'll open up the lines five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen

19:02

thirty eight six six seven oh two three seven seven six, And you gotta

19:07

be fair to the kid, right you can't. Well, what's not to

19:10

like is he's not filling the blank. Okay, he can't help that.

19:15

He brings things that look like they can't be taught, and it feels like

19:21

he also brings some things that can be refined and can be coached, and

19:26

so yet to a large degree, maybe we'll finally see how good or even

19:30

not so good. Frank Pollack is a lot more on this coming up in

19:36

just a bit. I also want us to know. I want us to decide once and for all what we want the Bengals to be. We're gonna

19:41

do that a little bit later on. Red's are on the road this weekend.

19:44

We'll spend some time on them as well. And I gotta figure out

19:47

a way to talk about the owner of the Carolina Panthers too. But first,

19:51

James Rapine is gonna join us to talk about Marius Mims and what's next.

19:57

We're at Twin Peaks in West ester today. We are brought to you

20:00

this afternoon by Zimmer Tractor. By the way, our show preview video is

20:04

on X at Moeger. Thanks to our friends at Emory Federal Credit Union.

20:08

I would invite Marius Mims now that he's moving to Cincinnati, needs a place

20:12

to put his money. Emery Federal Credit Union EMORYFCU dot org. James joins

20:18

us next on ESPN fifteen thirty Since the deadlines a service to home on d

20:25

time powertrain Detection. I guarantee credit approval from their family to yours for life,

20:30

kelseyshev dot com. NFL Draft resumes tonight. ESPN radio coverage starts at

20:36

six as soon as we're done. Bengals will have the forty ninth, eightieth,

20:40

and eighty seventh overall selections in this evening's second and third rounds. Some

20:47

absolutely awful news out of New Jersey. Former UC football team captain and offensive

20:55

lineman Corey Cunningham was found dead in his home in New Jersey at the age

20:59

of twenty. He was a member of the UC football program from twenty thirteen

21:03

through twenty seventeen. His last two years he was on the offensive line.

21:07

He was a team captain. He was an all AAC performer and was drafted

21:14

by the Cardinals in twenty eighteen. Spent five seasons in the National Football League

21:18

and played in thirty one games. A very nice kid in going down there

21:25

on Tuesdays every week and chatting with players during the season for the pregame show.

21:30

One of the kindest. The term gentle giant might sound sort of cliche,

21:34

but I think anybody who was around Corey Cunningham would tell you that that

21:40

nickname or that way of putting it applied to him. Tragically passes away at

21:45

the age of twenty eight. The Reds hit the road tonight, first of

21:49

three in Texas against the Rangers. Graham Ashcraft throws tonight for Cincinnati. Reds

21:56

are on the radio tonight at eight ten seven hundred at w l W.

22:02

James Rapine is with a Cincinnati Bengals talk, Enter the Jungle, the Book,

22:07

and the show, The Lockdown Bengals Podcast. Extraordinarily busy over the last

22:11

couple of days, gave us like an hour and twenty minutes of his time

22:14

yesterday and kind enough to give us a few minutes today. I know you

22:18

have a lot going on. Look at this Marius Mims pick, like there's

22:22

you. You might have preferred a different player. You might have preferred a

22:26

different position, you might have preferred a different player at this position. But

22:30

you can't hate this pick right right unless you. Let's put it like this,

22:38

for a city and a fan base that's been worried about Joe Burrow and

22:41

protecting Joe Burrow from the moment he was drafted, literally from the moment he

22:45

was picked. When he was sitting at his parents' house just over four years

22:48

ago with his hat on and holding up the number one, Everyone's like,

22:53

all right, how are they going to protect him? How are they going

22:56

to give him weapons? And we've seen him right get hurt and battle through

23:00

it and take a bunch of hits, and it's just been such a topic.

23:03

Well, the Bengals might have gotten the guy with the highest ceiling from

23:07

an offensive line standpoint in last night's draft, and they got him at pick

23:11

eighteen because he's a little bit more inexperienced than some of these other guys.

23:15

And that's it. That's why he was there. Other than that, he

23:19

would have been much much higher. And he was really high on the Bengals

23:23

board. And I think back mo to a draft where we actually did a

23:29

show together. It was the Billy Price draft, and obviously they went Billy

23:33

Price in twenty eighteen. After that they went Jonah Williams and those were both

23:37

considered safe picks. Well, does Billy Price feel safer? Did it not

23:42

work out? Well, it didn't work out, So the safe pick didn't

23:45

work out. I'm okay taking the big swing, the risky pick if it

23:49

means there's a ton of upside. Even with Jonah, it never really felt

23:53

like, even when he was playing his best ball, that there was Pro

23:56

Bowl upside. This guy has more than Pro Bowl upside. He has elite

24:00

upside. And when I think about the Bengals history of having and I don't

24:03

even want to go back to Anthony Moon News, but let's go back to

24:06

Willie Anderson. Let's go back to Andrew Whitworth. They don't have that guy

24:12

on this iteration of the Bengals. Well, now maybe they do, and

24:17

we'll see, but he does have that type of ceiling, and that's a

24:19

great thing to get, especially at pick eighteen. Yeah. I keep coming

24:22

back to this, and I think you and I talked about this yesterday.

24:26

The Bengals have this coming season, if it's the five starters who project to

24:30

be the starters right now outside of Amarius Mens, and we'll talk about his

24:33

role on this year's team coming up in in just a few minutes. If

24:37

I look at the five guys they had last year and I apply them to

24:41

this year, minus Jonah Williams and adding Trent Brown, that is still,

24:45

at best roughly a league average offensive line. I want one day for the

24:49

Bengals to have any elite offensive line. That only happens if I'm drafting and

24:56

nailing it when I draft offensive linemen in round two, and so to me,

25:00

if the Bengals are ever going to have an elite offensive line, this

25:04

is the sort of player you had to take based on who was and who

25:07

wasn't available absolutely and you look at there and who was there, and so

25:15

they took him over Troy Fautanu, a twenty four year old who a lot

25:19

of NFL evaluators have as a guard. But let's say he does play tackle

25:25

and the Steelers playing to plan that tackle, his ceiling isn't a Marius Mims.

25:30

I mean, Mims has a chance to be really good. And I

25:33

don't want to just talk about the ceiling because I think when you do that,

25:36

people are like, yeah, but he could just be the worst tackle ever. I actually think his floor. I think his floor is pretty high.

25:44

And here's why you don't find guys like him. They're not there.

25:49

Even if he doesn't end up having the best technique, even though he I

25:52

think the Bengals are really comfortable with him in past protection right now. Even

25:56

if he doesn't end up having the best technique and become the All Pro player,

26:00

He's built so different from the rest of the NFL that I think he

26:04

could be Trent Brown like that could be his floor, which is a high

26:10

end pass protector that starts for many, many years in this league. And

26:15

so getting that oh yes on me up, I just I think it makes

26:18

a ton of sense. And then to your point, if you ever want

26:21

an elite offensive line, if you ever want that elite tackle, well,

26:23

who did I name? I named Willie Anderson. He was a first round

26:26

pick, Andrew Whitworth an outlier second rounder. It's really really hard to find.

26:33

And I will say this as far as day two, and I know we'll get to day two. It is nice having the offensive tackle already and

26:41

not have to worry about, all, right, will this guy be there to protect Joe Burrow. Where that guy be doesn't matter because they already got

26:47

their guy. And I can tell you this moment, he was really high on their board. There were guys that you've mentioned on this call that they

26:53

might have that were already gone, that they might have taken him over.

26:57

So it was it was a good pick for the of the players who were

27:03

there at eighteen that others might have one of them to take. Who is

27:07

the player that represents the argument you will listen to the most Quinnya and Mitchell

27:12

out of Toledo, even more so over Troy Polotano. And I think they

27:17

would have taken Piotanu over Mitchell. But I would say the argument for going

27:23

and getting a bona fide cornerback one the impact that Mitchell could have right away,

27:29

assuming they viewed him that way, and I think they did. I think they viewed him. You know, I had a first round grade on

27:33

him and would have taken him in certain situations. But what would you rather

27:38

have, if we just say it out loud, a number one corner or

27:42

a number one offensive tackle? In this past first offense, I think we

27:47

would all pick the tackle, and I think that's how the Bengals viewed it

27:49

as well. And obviously that had a higher grade on Men's than Mitchell.

27:52

But that's the one I would really listen to and be like, yeah,

27:56

you're right, Like there's a good argument to be made because I think that

28:00

that guy comes in and plays a ton as a rookie. I blame my

28:03

longstanding personal and professional relationship with you for me last night talking myself into Brian

28:10

Thomas. Yeah, why where did you get to Brian Thomas stuff? But

28:18

I really want to know, I haven't been on If I'm not in on

28:21

the receiver, there's no way in how anyone else should have thought that they

28:26

were taking a receiver. And I really wasn't in on receiver at all in

28:30

the first round. Now I'm in the receiver market today. Oh yeah,

28:33

we're in the receiver market today, mo. But yeah, Brian Thomas.

28:37

And it's funny. The first time I watched him, I was like,

28:41

oh, that's that looks like faster T Higgins with better yards after catchability.

28:45

So I get it. I just think that he was he didn't run as

28:52

many routes as they would have liked, and unless they had traded down,

28:56

he wasn't really in play. Okay, I mean, look, I'm not

29:00

I'm not upset in the least. I understand it. I get it.

29:03

I just as things were unfolding last night, I think, like a lot

29:07

of people, as unrealistic and as illogical as it may be, you start

29:11

to think about him and Ti and Jamar. But we could do that with

29:15

some of the guys that could come off the board and could fall to them

29:21

tonight. What is the dream scenario? What is the dream scenario for round

29:25

two? Well, I think Johnny Newton falling out of Illinois, falling somehow

29:33

to forty nine. He's the second ranked defensive tackle in this class. There

29:37

are a lot of evaluators that have him as the first ranked defensive tackle in

29:41

this class. And it's so interesting because even going back to the combine in

29:45

February, it was very clear to me that the NFL had Johnny Newton lower

29:52

than draft analysts on social media or that the media in general had on Newton.

29:59

And you saw it last And so if he somehow falls to forty nine,

30:03

or maybe the Bengals trade up and they do have the AMO to trade

30:06

up, I think it would be worth it. So that would probably be

30:10

scenario one where you're filling in need. You're getting an elite prospect who's probably

30:15

in the top twenty five on their board. If I had to guess,

30:18

maybe even higher. Who knows, because I think mems is pretty high.

30:22

And so if you have a true first round grade on Johnny Newton and you

30:25

can somehow get him at forty nine or move up a little bit and get

30:29

him, that would be a heck of a pick. Do you think moving

30:33

up is in play? I do. I do, And here's why I

30:37

do. They have the MO and I think if you're looking and in the

30:45

scenario is simple one. I got to know where Johnny Newton is ranked.

30:48

I'll just use him. But whatever prospect A is ranked, if they have

30:52

a true first round grade, Let's say that the players twentieth on their board

30:57

in the next closest players thirty first to start the day, and there's a

31:00

clear gap in that guy falls to thirty six or thirty seven in the draft.

31:07

Well, now you got to work the phones and see, all right, well will they take pick ninety seven that extra third rounder? So you

31:12

can get up essentially a second first round pick. That's exactly this scenario you

31:19

want if you're the Bengals, So they have the ammo to do it.

31:22

I think if they want to move up four or five spots, that would

31:26

be pick one, fifteen or fourth rounder tomorrow. I think they could certainly

31:30

sweeten the pot with some of those sixth rounders that they have. They have

31:33

two sixes and two sevens tomorrow, and then maybe they do get really aggressive

31:38

and use one of those third rounders. So I think they could. It

31:41

would be for a very very few players left on the board, like we're

31:45

literally talking one or two. The two that come to mind for me would

31:48

be kool Aid McKinstry out of Alabama the corner, and then Johnny Newton out

31:52

of Illinois. If either of those guys fall a little bit more, I

31:56

think moving up could be in play, all right, shift through the day.

32:00

Two wide receiver possibilities for me. Yeah, there we do. And

32:06

now we're talking though, well, Ladd McConkie. Ladd McConkie, I've already

32:12

labeled this the eminem connection. You give me Mens and maconkie and here we

32:16

go. Marshall Mathers is in Cincinnati, is no longer a member of Detroit,

32:22

even though we saw him on stage last night. So yeah, Lad McConkie, if he's there, I think that's mighty tempting. My question with

32:29

him is the medicals. Do they give him a thumbs up? If so,

32:32

I'm in on him at forty nine. I'm in on Troy Franklin out

32:37

of Oregon at forty nine. I think that he's Honestly, no, I

32:40

would not shock me one bit if Troy Franklin is a better probe than Brian

32:44

Thomas Junior. And I think he gives them. He gives them really all

32:49

of the things that Thomas does. It would fit their offense in a similar

32:53

way that Thomas would, and you get him in round two versus round one.

32:58

He's not as big, right, He's a little leaner than Brian Thomas.

33:01

But yeah, I really like Troy Franklin, and who knows, maybe

33:05

I'm higher on him than they are other guys though, To keep it in

33:08

mind, Keon Coleman is someone they could target. I think that Roman Wilson

33:13

out of Michigan is someone they could target. And these are all second round

33:16

guys. If we want to let me see if there's any more on my

33:20

list here. Oh, and then Ady Mitchell, I think he's going to

33:23

just go right away tonight to the Bills. But if Ady Mitchell is there

33:27

out of Texas, that guy, I think on a lot of teams boards

33:31

from a at least a film perspective, is higher than Brian Thomas. And

33:36

it's really just the character stuff. And do they give him a passing grade

33:39

there? So certainly someone to keep an eye on. And then if we

33:43

get into round three and they still have an address wide receiver, I think Jayleen McMillan out of Washington, Dylan Polk either in round two or three out

33:50

of Washington as well, keep an eye on him. Brendan Rice is someone

33:53

I think that they could target Malachai Corley. And then I do have a

33:58

sleeper that we really haven't talked about because he's a little smaller, but Maleak

34:01

Washington out of Virginia. If they just want one of these speedy slot receivers,

34:07

he could be their target at pick ninety seven. Would not shock me

34:12

at off. Malik Washington has in play a very good You are the best

34:15

I know. You have a lot going on, man, and a busy

34:17

next few days in front of you. I'm sure I'll bother you next week.

34:22

Look forward to that. Have a great time tonight, man, thanks so much. Give me a receiver or two or three tonight. No,

34:28

that's all I ask. One will be good, Just the right one.

34:31

Gimme Johnny Newton and one of those receivers. Yeah, and I'll go to

34:36

bed tonight. Pretty happy. Sounds good. I hope you doo oh.

34:39

I appreciate you having me. It's our buddy, James Rapine, Bengals Talk

34:45

dot Com, the Lockedown Bengals Podcast and Enter the Jungle with streams every Tuesday

34:50

on YouTube, and you can also find on Balley Sports Ohio. We are

34:54

way late, seven away from four o'clock. We're broadcasting from Twin Peaks in

34:59

west Are. Come on out and join us on a nice looking Friday afternoon

35:02

on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Hi. Remember me, I'm Maleger.

35:09

This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, Thank you for joining us.

35:14

Hope your weekend is off to an awesome start. We're broadcasting today from Twin Peaks in Westchester, the home one of the two homes of the Tony

35:22

and Moo Football show during the football season. That kind of feels like football

35:25

season because we've been football centric. Today we are a guest free this hour.

35:31

We have a Marius Men's to respond to, not to respond to,

35:36

but to react to. Today we'll look ahead more to rounds two and three

35:39

of the NFL Draft. Just one more thought on the Trey Hendrickson thing,

35:44

which is I was asked a question about Trey Hendrickson that I want to answer

35:51

on this show. I was actually asked it on another show, Brendan and

35:53

Jones on baseball. Coming up in just a bit, we have the Reds

35:58

and Rangers tonight, FC Cincinnati. He is an action this weekend. Our

36:01

show today is a service of Zimmer Tractor. If you are out and about

36:06

by the way north of town, we are right off the I seventy five

36:10

exit Union Center Boulevard posted up here till six. Come on out, get

36:15

a cold one, celebrate happy hour, get a salmon salad. Twin Peaks

36:20

known for their salmon salads. You can get one of those, So come

36:23

on out and hang out with us here at Twin Peaks in Westchester. I

36:29

think there's a difference between a project and a player who just needs some refinement.

36:45

I think there's like a project to me is a guy who has to

36:50

be taught how to in sports, how to play the position, like has

36:54

to be sort of just started for cratch almost in terms of we're going to

37:04

not develop the skill, We're going to teach the skill, and then once

37:09

you learn the skill, we'll develop the skill. And then once we've developed

37:15

the skill, we'll smooth out the rough edges. Like when I think of

37:20

a project, this just came to mind. Remember the first time the Bengals

37:25

were on hard Knocks, they had a defensive tackle by the name of Jason

37:30

Shirley, and he wasn't gonna make the team as a defensive tackle, so

37:35

they put him over on the offensive line, and he essentially had no choice.

37:39

If you wanted to play in the NFL, he was going to have to learn how to play the offensive line on the offensive line, and so

37:45

they had to start from scratch and teach him just the basic techniques of offensive

37:50

line play. That's a project, like I think of in basketball, you'll

37:58

see sometimes like a very raw big man who is used to just beating,

38:04

you know, at like the high school level, just dominating younger kids or

38:08

smaller kids, and not really having to rely on post moves or any sort

38:15

of technique with the ball. He could just use his raw physical ability to

38:21

do what he has to do. And then he gets to the collegiate level in some cases, maybe even the professional level, and he's going to be

38:27

taught how to play. That's a project. I think there is a difference

38:32

between a player who is a project and one who just needs a little bit

38:38

more experience and a little bit of fine tuning. I don't think Amrius Memes

38:49

is a project based on what I've seen, based on what I've read,

38:54

based on opinions that I trust. Like I'll just for the sake of having

39:02

an example, there's a thousand different draft evaluations of him. Maris Mims,

39:07

maybe you have your favorite, But I read Dan Brugler the Beast. We

39:12

talked to Dane every year. I think he's plugged in. I think he

39:15

knows what he's talking about. It doesn't mean he always gets it right.

39:19

Nobody does. But like I read like strengths here, and I read about

39:27

how good his feet and strike timing are. I read about how good his

39:31

handwork is. I read about how his technique is repeatable. Uh, he

39:38

has a good base. How good he is in space, how mobile he

39:44

is. He wasn't flagged for a holding penalty in college. He wasn't flagged

39:49

for a false start penalty in college. Rare size, but also rare tools.

39:55

Now there are weaknesses here. He's a little upright in pass protection.

40:01

You read that a lot about younger offensive lineman. He's got high hips and

40:07

so he's gonna have to maybe figure out a way to leverage his body a

40:10

little bit better when it comes to run blocking. This is me talking about

40:15

the finer points of offensive line play. I don't see a guy who has

40:19

to be taught how to play tackle. He needs his skills developed. Which

40:24

college player doesn't. He's taking an enormous leap from college football to professional football.

40:30

Every player whose name was called last night has to have their skills continue

40:37

to develop to the point that they could succeed at the highest level of the

40:39

sport. But because of the inexperience and again its relative inexperience. He played

40:44

in thirty college football games. He played for two teams that won national championships.

40:49

He played in the best league. He played in high end bowl games,

40:52

he started eight games, not a ton, right, I don't think

40:57

that makes him a project Like this doesn't strike me as the kind of guy

41:01

who, Okay, he's big, and now we have to teach him how

41:06

to play football. We have to teach him the basics of offensive line play.

41:10

Everybody learns from experience. Like we've talked a lot about the Reds and

41:14

Ellie de la Cruz and their young players. There's no projects there. There

41:19

are guys who are inexperienced, and you learn from experience, and then your

41:22

skills continue to develop, and hopefully the two things mesh and the things you

41:27

learn from accumulating experience and the continued development of your skills add up to a

41:30

quality big leaguer. I think the same can be true for a guy like

41:35

this, Like I think of project. Remember the Reds had Marcus Hunt,

41:38

and he was like he blocked kicks and he threw shot put, and they

41:44

drafted him. If I recall, I think in twenty thirteen in the second round from SMU and Marcus Hunt hung around the NFL for a while. But

41:51

I remember Paul Gunther and Mike Zimmer that first year twenty thirteen talking about,

41:58

well, he's he's a he's raw. We we have to teach him.

42:02

He's got great size, He's really tall, he has an awful haircut.

42:07

He can come off the edge and block kicks. We have to teach him

42:10

how to shed blockers in the NFL. We have to teach him pass rush

42:15

moves. We have to teach him how to use his hands. We got

42:19

to teach him the the finer points of, you know, playing against the

42:22

run. So his first season he didn't play. That's a project. A

42:28

project might be one of the linemen they take later on in this draft. This kid, to me, doesn't seem like a project. It seems like

42:36

a guy who's got enough skill that when he has played, he has succeeded

42:42

and he is flashed when you watch the tape. But sure he he needs

42:46

what's going to come with experience. How much of it is is he gonna

42:50

get this year? Man, your guess is as good as mine. I'm

42:53

gonna guess that Amrius Simms plays tackle at some point for the Bengals this year,

42:58

because I am now. I think everybody's gonna get hurt at some point.

43:01

But get hurt might mean you got to miss a few plays. But

43:06

I don't think we refer to this guy as a project. Raw may be

43:08

more appropriate inexperienced. I'll grant you that unfinished. Maybe we'll go with unfinished.

43:19

But when I hear a project, I think of, well, he's

43:22

big, and now we've got to teach him. Because this guy is big,

43:28

and because he's inexperienced to me at least, and you could tell me

43:30

if I'm wrong, that doesn't make him a project. He's somebody who could

43:35

benefit from really good coaching and you know, being around other NFL players who

43:40

are older and have been around the block who can maybe help him, and

43:44

then the experience that's gonna come with him eventually playing. This is not a

43:49

guy to me. And again, like I read all these reports and I

43:52

could tell you I've watched Maria Simms cut ups today because I've had to.

43:59

But I read. I read the people whose opinions I trust, and I

44:02

don't read anybody who says like his technique stinks or he reaches too much,

44:07

or yeah, he's big, but he's always grabbing and holding, never got

44:10

called for a holding penalty, or he doesn't know how to move in space,

44:15

or he doesn't carry his weight well like I've read or seen nothing that

44:21

would suggest that they have to start from ground zero and teach him how to

44:25

play. When they do have to do that, that to me is the

44:30

definition of a project. And by the way, I'm all for projects,

44:34

right, take an offensive lineman later on in this draft and go, look,

44:37

man, we're trying to build some options for the future. We like

44:40

this guy's physical profile, his measurables, we like his frame. Now we

44:45

got to teach him how to play. There's room for that, not in round one. But this isn't a project in round one, at least to

44:52

me. My way of looking at it is he's inexperienced. He's more inexperienced

44:58

than you would prefer. I don't think there's any denying that you would maybe

45:00

rather have more tape, you would rather have a larger resume of snaps.

45:07

All very fair, but what do you see when you watch the snaps?

45:13

Everybody seems to really like what they see when they watch the snaps. He

45:15

just doesn't have enough of him under his belt to make you feel like he's

45:19

a finished product. There's a difference between completely raw and slightly unrefined. There's

45:27

a difference between completely raw and needing the rough edges smoothed out. There's a

45:35

difference between a project and slightly inexperienced. There's a difference between a project and

45:42

a guy who just has to to play a little bit more and benefit from

45:47

what comes with playing more and being coached at the highest level. So it's

45:52

to me just an observation. I've heard a lot of people throw that word

45:58

out. I don't think it fits like I just I think of like big

46:02

clunky dudes who play you know, sometimes even high school basketball, but specifically

46:07

college basketball, and it's like they've never had to post up a guy of

46:10

equal height. They have no idea, no idea how to handle the footwork

46:15

of trying to beat the guy in the block. That's a project. Somebody

46:20

needing their skills rounded out, not so much a project. So basically what

46:25

I'm saying is call a Marius Mims whatever you want, do not call him

46:30

the P word. Eighteen minutes after four o'clock, uh five point three seven

46:37

fifteen thirty is our phone number. If you want to chime in and tell

46:40

us why you love or don't love the a Marius Mims pick. You could

46:45

also send a tweet or a X Uh, thanks to our friends at Delta

46:49

Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all good

46:52

at Delta Dental, Oh dot com. Uh. We talked a lot about

46:58

Trey hendricks and the Bengals did not trade Trey Hendrickson last night because they're not

47:02

gonna and they don't want to. And Trey Hendrickson's agent is, I think,

47:07

kind of making a fool out of himself. I got a question for

47:09

those who kind of see this from Trey's perspective. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty,

47:15

Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the UC Health.

47:22

This is ESPN fifteen thirty. We're broadcasting from Twin Peaks in west Chester today.

47:28

Brun him In and Jones on Baseball's coming up in just about twenty five

47:31

minutes. Red's are trying to bounce back after getting shut out yesterday. They

47:36

end their series with the Phillies. They split the four, They go five

47:39

and two in the Homestead and now eighteen. They swept last year in Cincinnati

47:45

that then went on to win the World Series Texas Rangers. Tonight. More

47:47

on that. Here in the bit, we have folks waiting on hold,

47:52

so we should talk to them. Five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. Keith, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good

47:58

afternoon. How are you don't find mo? How about yourself? Never be

48:02

better? What's going on? Nice? Meaning you yesterday at long Decker's.

48:07

This is Keith from Alexander at Wilder So yet on this a Marius Memes issue?

48:15

At first, I want to preface my thought with nothing against the young

48:19

man. I hope he develops into a top offensive lineman, which Cincinnati desperately

48:23

needs. My only problem with it, Moo is the Bengals haven't proven to

48:30

be good di I wires like me. They need ready mixed concrete and not

48:37

try to mix it with water and make it work myself. It the O

48:44

line isn't obviously, it's it's an urgent priority for this team to protect probably

48:52

the largest asset we've seen in years behind Center, and they need somebody ready.

49:02

Now. I get it, you got to build for the future.

49:06

I'm all for that. But unless there's somebody that they're looking at in free

49:10

agency that we don't know yet if that person even exists, I just think

49:17

what they're doing Burrow, he's he's starting to accumulate injuries in different parts of

49:23

his body. He's in the four years he's been here, he's played ten

49:28

games twice to six teams, and that's behind average below average lines. So

49:36

unless they really try to gel that lineup, they need to start looking at

49:40

at possible quarterback solutions in twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six in the draft

49:45

because this ad he goes as Burrow goes, since he goes, and this

49:52

project or minor tweaking or whatever we have to do with the Marius Mems.

49:57

That's great, that's great, but I just don't have the confidence in this

50:02

this crew that they have to develop well. Andrew Whitworth is he the last

50:07

one that we've really had who came out of college that that really started.

50:13

And really, I mean they had that Kevin Zeitler and Clint Bowling and you

50:17

know, say what you want about him, he didn't play to the level

50:20

of eleventh overall pick. But I mean Jonah Williams was a good player,

50:25

and was he the eleventh overall pick? Did he played to that level?

50:29

No? And so I mean they've had guys since then. I guess I would say this, Do you know anybody who's a bad cook? Sure,

50:38

all right, so they've got to make a meal. Do you lessen their

50:44

chances of them making a bad meal if you give them the best possible ingredients?

50:52

Not really, but you do not really Like if I've got a bad

50:57

cook, right, I'm gonna insulate the bad cook from being a bad cook

51:00

by giving them really good stuff to work with. So I guess my point

51:05

is this their recent track record of developing offensive lineman. You and I both

51:08

know it's not great, But all right, let's offset that by giving Frank

51:15

Pollack, a dude with an extraordinarily high ceiling. By the way, Tyler

51:20

Geiton, who also went last night, a little bit more experienced, regarded

51:24

as a major work in progress raw to according to many, to the same

51:31

degree that Amarius Mims is so much so he just started playing the offensive line

51:38

in twenty twenty two. So I guess for me is this. You could

51:40

say, Look, they don't have a great track record of developing offensive lineman,

51:45

and until they do, I don't trust him. Fine, totally understand

51:47

that. But if you do agree they have to start developing offensive lineman,

51:52

then what's wrong with giving Frank Pollack in the offensive coaching staff, a guy

51:55

whose ceiling you think is almost unlimited. Because while I can find a lot

52:00

of folks who say, yeah, man, in the short term, mims

52:02

floor is pretty low, nobody denies that his ceiling is really high. The

52:08

other approach would be, you wait till later. And again, look,

52:12

I was all in on Byron Murphy yesterday. I'm not going to pretend that

52:14

I wasn't. But if you go, okay, let's wait till later. So those players, theoretically speaking, don't have his high as ceiling, and

52:22

now coaches who have screwed up offensive linemen in the past and in my view,

52:27

have an even greater chance of screwing them up because they're not working with

52:30

players who are nearly as good. True. True. And then the other

52:36

the other kind of thing is, you know, we really I know Mims.

52:39

His resume is short. I think they said, what six seven games?

52:44

You know, I kind of started it. He started eight games? How many? Eight? Eight? What you said? Okay, he started

52:52

eight? Yes, but the teams he played against, I mean, you

52:55

know, Ball State, South Carolina, Mississippi, Brandon Count's not that great.

53:00

Now, he did play against Alabama. I thought I saw in Tennessee.

53:07

Yeah. Yeah, So he's got a few games against them. I

53:10

don't know how he was against in those games. I didn't watch, so

53:14

I can't judge the guy. But it's a very you know, limited resume.

53:20

And the Bengals, like I said, God love them. They're like

53:23

me. They need ready mix. They they otherwise plan on going the home

53:29

depot six seven times because you know that's on the offensive line. But the

53:34

thing is on the offensive line specifically, they have readiness. They they have

53:39

readiness on the offense. That's why they signed Trent Brown. Well, but

53:44

in the years, the three four years Bro's been here, it's not been

53:49

a ready mix. It's been a sign these guys. And they granted,

53:52

at least the Bengals are trying I agree with you there yesterday, but I

53:57

mean, you look what they have. What they have done the last couple

54:00

of years has been done out of necessity because that o line they had in twenty one was awful, Like they got to the Super Bowl in spite of

54:06

it, So they were not going to go from awful to awesome overnight.

54:10

And if you want to build an offensive line, that's better than what the

54:15

Bengals have right now. That isn't happening with you signing five free agents in

54:20

three years. That's happening with you drafting offensive lineman in the first and second

54:23

round. If you want to talk about Bengals history, look at the offensive

54:28

lineman that they have that they have drafted that have stuck. Kevin Zeitler early

54:34

pick, first round, or Andrew whitt Or second rounder, Eric Steinbach second

54:37

round er, go back even further, Willie Anderson. So you know what

54:42

they have, what they have done over the last couple of years is they

54:45

have go ahead, no, no good. Well, which one of those

54:47

were drafted with this crew? You know? But none of them, None

54:53

of them, I mean honestly, none of them. But what they have

54:57

done, what they have done in the short term has worked to a degree.

55:00

Right, they took the offensive line in twenty one that was terrible and

55:05

made it okay. If you want to go from okay to really good,

55:08

you got a draft offensive lineman early. And again I say this as the

55:12

guy that wanted Byron Murphy. That's not coming with you taking projects on Saturday

55:17

and hoping to quickly turn them into really good offensive linemen. It can happen

55:22

with a guy whose tools you think are elite, who does need experience and

55:28

projects to be It's not like the Bengals or the people who are in charge

55:32

of the draft for the Bengals are the only people that thought a Marius Mims

55:37

was deserving of our first round grade. So you know, again, like

55:40

if you want to build an elite offensive line, that's really only happening through

55:45

the draft, and then you could sign a guy here or there. The

55:49

current approach, if you want Jodo eventually play behind a great o line,

55:53

signing free agents every year, signing five in three years, you're gonna get

55:59

middle of the road guy for the most part. And what you're then going

56:01

to get is the middle of the road offensive line. Right then we're gonna

56:06

end up with the middle of the road quarterback because he's not gonna be either

56:09

in the game and we're gonna be having Browning or somebody come in the game.

56:13

And you know, so I guess that's our choice. It's in this

56:16

window is like you know I mentioned yesterday, it's not getting any easier.

56:21

It's you know, I Burrows price take goes up every year a little bit

56:27

forward when which makes it, which puts an even larger premium on nailing it

56:31

in the draft on the offensive line, and look, you've got to nail

56:35

in the draft at a whole bunch of other positions too. But right,

56:37

but if you know, if we go into every offseason thinking, God,

56:40

they need to tackle, go get the most expensive guy, that's gonna be

56:44

less and less likely moving forward. Keith, I've enjoyed it. Have a great weekend, man. Okay, hey you too. But yeah, Burrow's

56:50

not gonna be here forever though, and we got to protect him wise here

56:52

and you take care mo all right, I'll do my best. I think

56:57

that's that's what they're they're trying to do here. They're I think they want

57:02

I think they want to try to win this year with an offensive line that

57:06

they hope is slightly better because of stuff like continuity. I'm worried about the

57:10

offensive line this year because no one got hurt last season, and that's hard

57:14

to carry over from one year to the next. But I think you draft

57:20

a tackle forget the individual they took for a second. You draft a tackle

57:24

or an offensive lineman in round one because you want to start the building blocks.

57:30

You want to start putting down building blocks for what you hope down the

57:34

road is going to be a top notch, well above league average offensive line.

57:40

Now that may come at the expense of someone who could help you in

57:45

the short term. Fully admit that. Again, I wanted Byron Murphy for

57:50

that specific reason. I think he could have helped you more this year than

57:52

any of these tackles. But he wasn't there. And so okay, let's

57:59

fling it back to the offensive line. By the way, Tyler Guiding. I don't think Tyler Guidon was the next offensive lineman who was taken, but

58:05

he was a guy that was also talked about going to the Bengals. Jordan Morgan from Arizona went. And by the way, there are a lot of

58:12

evaluations of Jordan Morgan that didn't have him as a first rounder. You talk

58:15

about role, Tyler Guidon two years ago was playing tight end. Amarius Mims

58:21

was recruited as an offensive lineman and played at Georgia as an offensive lineman.

58:25

I get this, and you know again, I don't think he's a project.

58:30

I think he's a guy that needs more coaching, but has the fundamentals

58:36

of offensive line played down enough. Again, no false starts, no holding

58:42

penalties, and then all those snaps as a starter didn't allow sack. That's

58:45

prey damn good. We are way late twenty five from five o'clock on ESPN

58:50

fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station Cincinnati Easy Sports. Headlines were service to Kelsey chevlt

58:58

Home of lifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours

59:04

for life kelseyschev dot Com. The NFL Draft will continue tonight at six o'clock

59:10

on ESPN fifteen thirty. The Bengals with the forty ninth overall pick unless they

59:15

trade up for Johnny Newton or someone else. Cincinnati with two third round selections,

59:21

eightieth and ninety seventh overall. Very sad news today out of New Jersey.

59:27

Former UC football offensive lineman Corey Cunningham was found dead in his home in

59:32

New Jersey. He was drafted out of UC by the Arizona Cardinals, went

59:37

on to play for a couple of seasons with the New York Giants at the

59:40

University of Cincinnati. He was an all AAC performer and just a nice,

59:50

quiet kid, big man friendly demeanor. Loved getting a chance to chat with

59:55

him for the pregame show and passes away way too young at the age of

1:00:01

twenty eight. His last two years, he was on the offensive line.

1:00:04

He was also a team captain at the University of Cincinnati Reds and Rangers.

1:00:09

Tonight, first of three, Cincinnati, We'll send Graham Ashcraft to the mound.

1:00:15

The Red starting lineup tonight is hopefully made well. It's a service of

1:00:19

Madewell Restoration. Go to Madewell Restoration dot com. Benson Eli, Dela Cruz,

1:00:23

Spencer, Steer one two, three, ce S Stevenson behind the plate,

1:00:28

India is dhing tonight. Candelario at third, Santiago Espinal is playing shortstop

1:00:35

and batting eighth. Stu Fairchild in center in the ninth spot. What else

1:00:40

do we have? I think that would be it Ato five tonight, And

1:00:44

I think I said before the first pitch was at eight forty. I lied, I didn't lie, made a mistake. Aight oh five tonight on seven

1:00:51

hundred WLW all right. I appreciate everyone who has waited patiently. Tyler,

1:00:57

thanks for hanging on. You're on ESPN fifteenth already get after him. No,

1:01:01

how are you doing, brother? I'm doing great? What's up?

1:01:05

Uh? Just wanted to touch base on kind of what I wish. You

1:01:08

know, maybe some of the Bengals fans might need to look at what's going

1:01:10

on in Atlanta, and I can only imagine how we would re responding up

1:01:16

here in Cincinnati. But everybody wants to talk about eight games. I think

1:01:22

you guys have talked about this before, where a lot of the transfer issues

1:01:25

now where kids get basically they run from the competition. Oh I'm not playing,

1:01:30

I'm gonna go find somewhere else to play. Kind of that selfish mentality.

1:01:35

Well, n's in transfer. And what I kind of took away was

1:01:38

last night when Saban the first thing he says with small towns did is he

1:01:44

going to compete with the you know, the level that the NFL is requiring.

1:01:47

And first thing I thought of was maybe he sounds like a little bit

1:01:51

salty that he didn't get him to come into Alabama. So I looked into,

1:01:55

you know, his Scout profile, you know, booked about what they

1:01:59

said about him in high school. He's obviously from a small town. The

1:02:02

guy that was with the bank, he might still be with the muffensive lineman

1:02:07

Tray Smith. I believe maybe he's also from that same small town. But

1:02:12

the coach goes on and tell stories about how he is such a people person.

1:02:16

You know, basically he's that's what that's his motivation. You know.

1:02:21

He was talking about how he's been praying for an opportunity to or pray for

1:02:23

an opportunity to play for a guy like Joe Burrow. You know, we

1:02:28

talk about the transfer portal and you know, compare that to now, you

1:02:31

know, you go work for somebody, and maybe it's somebody that you absolutely

1:02:36

despise. You know. Some of these free agents they follow the money and

1:02:38

maybe they go there they find out that maybe the people that they signed up

1:02:43

for they're they're not actually the best people. You know what, maybe I'm

1:02:45

not going to give my best effort. Well, this kid sounds like he's

1:02:50

a pig and a you know, or a pig and a pigski. He's gonna be playing behind Joe Burrow. He's a people person. Once he meets

1:02:57

Anthony Munez, you don't think they're gonna get a good relationship. I mean,

1:03:00

and that's what I don't think people think about. Yeah, the drafts

1:03:04

hard. How many times have you seen people lose their jobs because they draft

1:03:07

the wrong person. That's part of the game, that's why we love it.

1:03:10

But everybody automatically wants to write this kid off in a way because he

1:03:15

wasn't this or that. Dude, it's not even been twenty four hours.

1:03:20

Let this whole thing play out. They met with him thirty times. You don't think that relationship has been established. And that's kind of the thing we

1:03:27

need to think about. Yes, it's football, but it's also relationships.

1:03:30

You tell this kid to go protect Joe Burrow, you don't think that a

1:03:34

little bit more with all this hidden behind the scenes stuff that we didn't know

1:03:37

about. But maybe they've become best of friends. You know who knows about

1:03:42

all that stuff. But everybody they he's a six foot eight guy who went

1:03:45

to one of the best colleges in the nation, the top recruit coming out

1:03:49

of high school. He still is the same talent if everybody you know,

1:03:52

all if he is at the very least, you know, a doable ten

1:03:57

year NFL veteran. I mean, right now, we have got three six

1:04:01

foot eight offensive linemen. The likelihood of everybody on our offensive line staying healthy

1:04:08

is a very high chance. Then you also got to think about what happens

1:04:11

if he comes in and he blows it out of the water. He's tearing

1:04:14

up everybody, and then they say, you know what, now, we haven't a bunch of assets. What's the very what's what worse? Can he

1:04:19

be in whenever everybody's looking for offensive line help. Juth Tobin's that's the toys

1:04:25

to play with. Yeah, no question. I mean I'm on the same

1:04:30

page with with everything you said. It is he did, and he pulled

1:04:33

himself out. He did put himself in the portal. And I think he

1:04:38

actually visited, if I'm not mistaken, Florida State and then circled back and

1:04:42

played at Georgia. But he did wait his turn. He did get better

1:04:45

by the way he went up in practice against dudes like Travon Walker and Nolan

1:04:50

Smith at Georgia during a time where they, you know, were winning consecutive

1:04:56

national championships. There is there's no nothing to not like about what he did

1:05:01

at college and what he didn't do at college. Yes, there was an

1:05:05

injury, okay, now it was an injury that he came back from last

1:05:09

year. Also, it's worth pointing out his first start, he gets thrown

1:05:13

to the Wolves in the college football playoff right Georgia, Ohio State, and

1:05:17

he plays great in that game. There's something to be said about that the

1:05:20

level of readiness and preparation that playing against all those dudes in practice contributed to.

1:05:30

Again, I'll keep saying this. I'm not gonna pretend like I spent the last three weeks banging the drum for Amaria Simms, but I will acknowledge

1:05:38

there's a lot to like here. And I don't think you know, people

1:05:41

talking about the eight games, those are eight starts. He played in thirty

1:05:45

college football games. He went through hundreds of practices against first round talent while

1:05:53

playing at Georgia, and you can't find anybody who watched him play that says,

1:05:58

you know what, what he put on tape was bad. What he

1:06:01

put on tape. They'll say he didn't put up enough of it because he

1:06:04

didn't start a thousand games. But I don't know that there's the rawness that

1:06:10

a lot of people are associating with his relative lack of experience. I come

1:06:17

back to what I talked about at the at the top of the hour,

1:06:19

and Tyler, thank you very much for the phone call, which was I

1:06:23

think there's a difference between a project and a guy who could just use further

1:06:27

developing a project to me as a guy who's got to be taught skills,

1:06:30

I think with Amaria Simms, we might have here somebody who has the skill.

1:06:34

He just needs it to be refined and developed and sort of smoothed out,

1:06:41

and he needs to gain experience. I've said this often. You want

1:06:45

to build an elite offensive line, you're gonna have to start nailing it in

1:06:48

the draft, in the first and second round. And yeah, you could

1:06:51

acknowledge the Bengals recent track record with developing offensive lineman isn't great. You know,

1:06:58

you also have to go back over the last decade. They've drafted two

1:07:00

in the first round. Now, Cedric Boy, he did not work.

1:07:03

Uh, that has nothing to do with this staff. That was twenty fifteen.

1:07:08

That's Marvin Lewis, it's Paul Alexander Jackson. Carman hasn't worked. I

1:07:13

don't really know that that's on the Bengals. They the guys who made up

1:07:17

that offensive line in twenty twenty one. I'm not sure any of those players

1:07:21

had the draft profile or the college career as brief as it was of Amara

1:07:27

Simms and By the way, Jonah Williams was Okay, I'm actually gonna ask

1:07:32

a pole question. Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our phone

1:07:35

number. I'm gonna make a I think I'm gonna make a comp the first

1:07:42

Brendanman and Jones on Baseball ESPN fifteen thirty. Hey, it's the Cowboy Jeff

1:07:46

Brantley. Hi, uh remember me, My name's Mulager. This is ESPN

1:07:54

fifteen thirty. Hoope, your weekend is off to a great start. It's

1:07:58

the five o'clock Happy Hour thanks to our friends at michelob Ultra. I am

1:08:01

at Twin Peaks in Westchester, where I'm like moments away from having a michelob

1:08:06

Ultra. That sounds amazing right now. Perhaps if one of my colleagues here

1:08:12

was thoughtful enough, they'd go get me one. If not, if not,

1:08:15

I'll I'll take it upon myself. It is the michelob A Happy Hour.

1:08:19

We are at Twin Peaks in Westchester, broadcasting until six o'clock. ESPN

1:08:24

Radio takes over for rounds two and three of the NFL Draft. Bengals with

1:08:30

the forty ninth overall pick, the eightieth overall pick, and the ninety seventh

1:08:34

overall pick. We've been spending a lot of time today on obviously what the

1:08:40

Bengals did last night, a Marius Mims. I have a few more thoughts

1:08:45

on what was really kind of the big topic yesterday, which was the Trey

1:08:48

Hendrickson trade request and the Bengals not giving him a pay Ray contract extension.

1:08:56

Spend a little bit more time on that later on. With a Marius Mims,

1:09:01

there's there's a big con like, if you were to do the you

1:09:08

know, the list of pros and cons just taking a Marius Mims not necessarily

1:09:13

taking a Marius Mimes instead of trading down or trading one of these other players,

1:09:18

whether that obviously or selecting one of these other players, although that obviously

1:09:21

is a part of the equation on the the con list is relative in experience,

1:09:27

right he is. He has played in thirty games, he has only

1:09:30

started eight, so there's not a very extensive body of work. But the

1:09:38

pro list is pretty extensive. With his size, his natural strength, how

1:09:44

he carries that three hundred and forty pound frame, by all accounts, somebody

1:09:48

who takes physical conditioning very very seriously. Somebody who's disciplined enough to not commit

1:09:56

any penalties during his college career. Somebody who's played against pretty good toad times,

1:10:02

really good competition gets it done in the classroom. The film, the

1:10:08

film what he puts on tape? And you hear people say all the time

1:10:11

like tape, don't lie or just defer to the tape. Well, I

1:10:15

haven't found anybody who thinks he's in over his head or completely raw, or

1:10:20

has to be taught skill or nobody thinks he's perfect and who is? But

1:10:28

everybody seems to believe that there's a lot to work with here, but that

1:10:31

there's some refinement that he could benefit from, and experience that he could benefit

1:10:38

from, and NFL coaching that he could benefit from. I guess the question

1:10:43

that I've had all afternoon, and I appreciate those that have chimed in already.

1:10:46

Is that one con enough to disqualify him for the Bengals? Obviously the

1:10:54

answer was no, But is is is that one thing, that one thing

1:10:59

in the con column? Is that enough to disqualify him from being a guy

1:11:04

you would take with the eighteenth overall pick. There's also the Frank Pollack angle

1:11:10

here. Frank Pollack, you know it's interesting this is obviously his second go

1:11:15

round with the Bengals. He was not on Zach Taylor's original coaching staff.

1:11:18

That was Jim Turner. Frank Pollack comes in and that twenty twenty one offensive

1:11:25

line, let's face it was terrible. Since then, Frank Pollack has been

1:11:28

given free agents good free agents, some better than others. They haven't had

1:11:33

a great offensive line. It's been kind of league average at best. But

1:11:40

he hasn't been really given this right we are. We're not gonna We're not

1:11:46

gonna trade down for a defensive tackle. We're not gonna take one of the

1:11:50

corners. We're not gonna take a wide receiver. We're not gonna trade up

1:11:54

for Byron Murphy. We're taking a guy your position group, and we're gonna

1:11:59

give you some time. I'm right a Marius Mims might not be asked to

1:12:01

play Week one because obviously they've they've already addressed that right tackle position with with

1:12:09

Trent Brown. You know, this to me is like the Bengals are gonna

1:12:12

be on the clock tonight. They were on the clock last night. Frank

1:12:15

Pollack is kind of on the clock, right. Frank Pollack is is actually,

1:12:18

I think very much on the clock. I'm not sure there's a position

1:12:21

coach that has been talked about more that has gotten more scrutiny, and frankly

1:12:27

has has kind of deserved it. I do think that for the most part,

1:12:31

the offensive line the last couple of years has played to the level that

1:12:34

you would have expected. You know. I go back to two years ago

1:12:36

when they signed Kappa and Carris and Lal Collins. We all wondered like,

1:12:43

all right, what is the ceiling for this offensive line? And then did the same thing when they added Orlando Brown. It feels like the ceiling for

1:12:49

Amrius Mimes is pretty high, right, and so now it's up to Frank

1:12:57

Pollack to in the short term races flow and in the long term see that

1:13:02

he reaches that ceiling. There's risk here. Paul Danner Junior wrote about that

1:13:08

for the Athletic Right that the risk is obviously doesn't have a ton of experience.

1:13:11

The risk is you've you've got to do some coaching and you've you've got

1:13:16

to do some instructing that maybe you wouldn't have to do had he played more

1:13:20

extensively in college. I do think there's something to the validity of we're not

1:13:26

talking about you know, a guy who didn't play a lot in college because

1:13:29

he was at North Dakota State. He didn't play a lot in college because

1:13:32

yes, there was an ankle injury this year, but he was behind other

1:13:35

really good players. Other players were on a team that was the national champion

1:13:41

in twenty twenty one, in twenty twenty two. But yeah, sure there's

1:13:47

some risk here, and maybe there's less risk than something else they could have

1:13:53

done in the draft. I kind of like the Bengals are taking a little

1:13:59

bit of a risk on, Like that's you know, ordinarily not something you

1:14:03

really associate with this team, right They they typically play it safe and,

1:14:08

by the way, sometimes with really good results and sometimes not so much.

1:14:14

This team has kind of taken on, you know, even like with with

1:14:17

free agency, they used to always side with well known quantities. They like

1:14:21

continuity, and then a couple of years ago they move on from William Jackson,

1:14:26

bring in better players, they move on from Carl Lawson, bring in

1:14:30

Trey Hendrickson. They're stepping outside of their normal comfort zone and have now for

1:14:34

years. But also I think there's something about, you know, taking on

1:14:39

a little risk here, by the way, in terms of the offensive line

1:14:43

itself. If it doesn't work, it probably shouldn't have a very big short

1:14:47

term impact on the overall offensive line. I think there's something about taking on

1:14:53

some risk here that I kind of like that I think is calculated. Again,

1:14:58

it's it's taking on a risk here. Every single draft evaluator that I

1:15:02

trust has talked about how good a Marius Mims has a chance to be.

1:15:10

Now, you can say that about a lot of draft prospects. Truth is,

1:15:13

none of us really know how good or bad these guys are gonna be,

1:15:15

but the consensus seems to be really high ceiling. I like taking a

1:15:21

risk for a guy who's got a really high ceiling who could help you solve

1:15:28

what you're looking for at a certain position for a really long time. So

1:15:32

again I've said this often today, I'm not gonna pretend like I waive the

1:15:36

Amarus Mims flag for the last six weeks. If I had my way,

1:15:42

Biron Murphy would have been there at eighteen if I had my way. I'm

1:15:45

not saying that I wouldn't have traded up to try to get them. But I'm not going to be dismissive of a Marius Mems. Just because of that

1:15:51

one that one item on the list of cons which is the again relative lack

1:15:59

of experience, and the word there is relative something else I think is interesting.

1:16:04

I was talking about this with a coworker of mine last night. Amarus

1:16:10

Mims hopefully long term, ends up being kind of a building block on the

1:16:15

offensive line, especially when they eventually start to transition away from the guys who

1:16:20

are on the offensive line right now. And so talking at the draft show

1:16:26

last night, I said, you know what if with the eighteenth overall pick,

1:16:29

Marius Mims is Andre Smith, I think I'd be okay with that.

1:16:33

And Andre Smith was taken by the Bengals in the two thousand and nine draft,

1:16:40

and as you probably recall, rather famously ran with his shirt off at

1:16:44

the combine and that was in a very flattering photo and he held out which

1:16:47

that was the year the Bengals were on hard knocks the first go around,

1:16:50

and he dealt with some injuries those first couple of seasons, and maybe he

1:16:55

never played to the level of sixth overall pick, but his first stint in

1:17:00

Cincinnati, and remember he actually had a couple of different stints from two thousand

1:17:04

and nine through twenty fifteen, he solved right tackle for the Bengals. He

1:17:11

was the starting right tackle in twenty fifteen for a team that had an excellent

1:17:15

offensive line, probably the last really good Bengals offensive line. I asked this

1:17:19

not I think a Maria Simms is like Andre Smith. Although Andre Smith,

1:17:25

you know, big dude six seven three thirty five. Mims is six seven

1:17:30

and a half three thirty five. I'm just kind of curious, and to

1:17:34

me, more has to do with the perception of Andre Smith than anything about

1:17:38

a Marius Mims. But I asked on social media on x thanks to our

1:17:42

friends at United Heartland Assurance, if Marius Mims ends up being Andre Smith two

1:17:48

point zero, will last night's pick be considered a success? Now I just

1:17:54

threw this out there a few minutes ago, so we've got a couple of

1:17:57

hundred votes. It's fifty to fifty. It's legitimately it's actually now fifty one

1:18:03

percent, No, forty nine percent. Yes, that's if a Marius Mims

1:18:08

ends up being Andre Smith, I'll be okay with that. Like hold down

1:18:13

the position for the next six seven years, be a part of some very

1:18:16

good offensive lines. I I think I would I would sign up for that

1:18:24

as a good player the Bengals at and again he held down that position,

1:18:28

and really since his last season in Cincinnati before he came back and then came

1:18:33

back again, right tackle has been a bit of a revolving door. Hopefully

1:18:39

Amrius Mims does what Andre Smith did and stops the revolving door. U five

1:18:44

point three seven fifteen thirty and eight six six, seven oh two three seven

1:18:47

seven six are our phone numbers. Uh, we'll get to those who have

1:18:53

been waiting. We appreciate everybody's patient today. And just one more thing on

1:18:58

the the Trey Hendrickson story, which we talked extensively about yesterday. We'll get

1:19:01

to all of that between now and six o'clock tonight. We're at Twin Peaks

1:19:06

in Westchester on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's estion twenty nine after

1:19:14

five Where at Twin Peaks in Westchester. This is esp AT fifteen thirty on

1:19:17

Molegar. We Uh, are we listening to music from the Rocky fo thing

1:19:24

Wow, thro Westerhide getting it done. Let's see. I appreciate everybody who's

1:19:30

been waiting patiently. Mike, go ahead. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

1:19:34

Thanks Mo, welcome. You seem to be extremely upset with the mister Hendrickson's

1:19:41

agent, and possibly his motivations were wanting to leave Cincinnati. I wonder what

1:19:48

that was about. I'm not upset what's going on there in the background,

1:19:53

Mike well Man, I'm not upset. I have an opinion about it.

1:20:00

I think what Trey Hendrickson is doing and what I think what his agent is

1:20:03

doing is stupid. And since the agent represents Trey, then by extension,

1:20:10

Trey looks stupid. I think what they are doing is ridiculous. I don't

1:20:15

blame anybody for trying to improve their financial or professional situation. Trey had a

1:20:21

terrific season last year, had one of the best seasons any Bengals defensive lineman

1:20:26

has ever had. I cannot blame him at all for coming to the Bengals

1:20:30

and going, look, I'd like to get paid more and like a longer

1:20:32

term deal. But I could certainly understand why the Bengals would say, yeah,

1:20:38

that's not gonna happen. And I can't believe that Trey and his agent

1:20:41

don't understand that. Yeah I did. I could get into a long talk

1:20:47

with you about that time. Well, am I wrong? Am I wrong?

1:20:50

No? No, no, No, you're not right. You're not

1:20:53

wrong at all on the level you're talking about it. On that we have

1:20:59

no idea what kind of personal things are going on with him, whether he

1:21:02

wants to stay here, whether his family. You know, we just don't

1:21:05

know what the real motivations are. But on the surface, yeah, I

1:21:10

agree with you, it seems goofy, But I mean, all I can

1:21:14

do. All I can do is is make comments based on what I know.

1:21:21

What I know is that he has requested a trade that has been confirmed

1:21:27

by his agent. His agent has also said he wants to stay in Cincinnati.

1:21:30

What he has going on, I haven't seens. I don't know.

1:21:32

All I can do is make a comment based on what's out there. And

1:21:36

what's out there is a player who nine months ago signed to play for the

1:21:42

team in twenty twenty five, then asking at this stage of his career to

1:21:46

get twenty twenty six and beyond is ridiculous. And any criticism aimed at the

1:21:53

Bengals for how they're handling this, I don't get it. I don't relate

1:21:57

to it. I don't understand it wouldn't on again on that surface, I

1:22:01

wouldn't, but I maybe I'm getting a little too deep into it. I

1:22:04

don't need to do that, but I understand where you're coming from on that.

1:22:10

I was real happy regarding the draft well tonight, real quick with the

1:22:15

Reds. Got a good matchup tonight of Alldi and Ashcraft. That should be

1:22:18

a dandy hope, So yeah, should be uh Graham Ashcraft has We've seen

1:22:26

flashes. We could say this about a lot of guys on the staff,

1:22:30

but unfortunately at times they've only been flashes. I need more than just flashes

1:22:34

against a good Texas team tonight. Yeah, and of all these pretty studley

1:22:40

guys. Record doesn't show it, but he's e R does. I was

1:22:45

real happy with the Chargers pick last night. They looked out and got that

1:22:48

Debt. Dude looks like a guaranteed almost winter that all kids from Notre Dame.

1:22:55

He looks. I don't know if he was considered the best tackle coming

1:23:00

out, but he certainly got impressive credentials. So I was happy for Dustin

1:23:05

Herbert to finally get somebody to protect him, just like we're trying to have

1:23:10

for jail. Yeah. No, I mean he regarded by nearly every analyst

1:23:15

as the best tackle. Many had him as a top five player in the

1:23:18

draft. Jim Harbaugh came to town and instantly started talking about the offensive line,

1:23:25

and so I don't think it was at all surprising that that's where they

1:23:28

went with the fifth overall pick the Niners. I didn't get that pick.

1:23:33

Well, this pinsall guy out of Florida, and everything I've been reading from

1:23:40

the guys who really know what they're talking about, they're equally perplexed by this

1:23:44

pick for the for the Niners. Not that anybody in Cincinnati cares about that,

1:23:48

but I just wanted to share that with I think I think what it

1:23:51

reflected was that they're not going to pay Brandon Ayuk, right, Yeah,

1:23:58

now I saw it. Think it was I think it was Matt Miller.

1:24:00

They have at some point they all run together. I think it was Matt

1:24:03

Miller of ESPN this morning who said it was a bit of a reach,

1:24:06

not because of the position, but he just had other wide receivers slotted ahead

1:24:12

of him who are now going to be drafted tonight. But I think what

1:24:15

it does is it suggests the forty nine ers kind of like they the Bengals

1:24:19

with t Higgins. They're not going to go a long term with with IU.

1:24:25

Yeah you take now, Now, Andy Reid and the Treats are taking

1:24:30

some criticisms for this up ex Worthy guy, and I guess they're trying to

1:24:36

rekindle the Tyreek hiltype because the guy is blinding class. But he's they're taking

1:24:44

a lot of heat on this pickmo fight. I guess one sixty five that

1:24:48

is pretty well. Yeah. I mean, look, there's a really good

1:24:54

chance that even if you think this is a bit of a reach. So

1:24:58

you're talking about Xavier Worthy from Texas who ran the fastest forty in like twenty

1:25:02

twenty one years at the combine. Look who's throwing him the ball. So

1:25:06

there's a very good chance that even if you think it's a reach, his

1:25:10

just physical profile is going to add up to proving to be a pretty good

1:25:14

pick. But I think with what they did to get him, trading up

1:25:17

again, you'll have a lot of the same analysts who say that San Francisco

1:25:20

reached with Piersoll three picks later, who will say, you know, you

1:25:25

could have gotten a really good wide receiver, a high end wide receiver relative

1:25:30

to draft position that Patrick Mahomes could throw to and not have to trade up

1:25:33

to get it. You could have sat there at thirty two and let one

1:25:36

of the guys who's going to come off the board tonight, you know,

1:25:41

be there if you need a receiver. But you know, just watching the

1:25:45

highlights and watching what he did on tape late last night, the dudes an

1:25:50

athlete, and then you start to think about what he could do with Patrick

1:25:55

Mahomes, and boy, that's something, Mike. I got a run man,

1:25:58

thank you, you know, quickly here because we are late on the

1:26:02

Trey Hendrickson thing. I beat this to death yesterday. There's really no new

1:26:09

news on it, I know for some Look, Trey's a very good player,

1:26:13

very good player by all accounts of good dude too. So you'll have

1:26:16

folks that will say something along the lines of, well, look, he

1:26:19

had a great year. He's been a very good player. You got to

1:26:23

reward him for that, because that's the nice thing to do, it's the

1:26:26

right thing to do. I'm not interested in the Bengals being generous. I'm

1:26:30

interested in them being smart. What they did with Trey Hendrickson last July was

1:26:34

really smart. All Right, We're gonna lock him up for one more year,

1:26:39

give him a little bit of a security, and now they've got their

1:26:45

best outside rusher, one of the best in the sport, on a pretty

1:26:48

good value contract. Trey Hendrickson. Again, he and his agent had every

1:26:53

opportunity last year to say, you know what, we're not gonna do this.

1:26:56

We're gonna see what we can put on the field in twenty twenty three

1:26:59

and then with a year left on the contract, revisit this and then maybe

1:27:02

get something long term and get something that's going to pay more. But you

1:27:08

know, I'm not interested in the Bengals doing what's generous or what's right by

1:27:12

the player. I'm interested in them doing what's right by the franchise. Sometimes

1:27:15

what's right by the franchise is at odds with what is best for the player.

1:27:20

I want the Bengals to put themselves and the overall health of the franchise

1:27:25

first ahead of anything with the player. I want them to be smarter more

1:27:30

than I want them to be generous. Twenty three away from six o'clock five

1:27:33

point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number. It's

1:27:36

the michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy hour. We're here at Twin Peaks in Westchester

1:27:42

on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Cincinnati's ESPN sports headlines are a service

1:27:49

of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime power train protection and guarantee credit approval from

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their family to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. The NFL Draft resumes here

1:28:03

shortly. ESPN radios coverage starts at six o'clock as soon as our show is

1:28:09

over. Bengals to be on the clock with the forty ninth overall pick,

1:28:12

and then two picks in round two, numbers eighty and ninety seven. This

1:28:18

is awful news. Corey Cunningham played his college football at the University of Cincinnati

1:28:25

and after a couple of years, transition to the offensive line, where he

1:28:29

played well enough to become an All AAC performer. He was a team captain.

1:28:34

Was eventually drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in twenty eighteen. Played in thirty

1:28:41

one games over five seasons, most recently with the New York Giants in twenty

1:28:45

twenty two. He was found dead passed away earlier this week, and excuse

1:28:50

me, the news came out this morning at the very young tender age of

1:28:56

twenty eight years old. Awful news for the UC football family and obviously those

1:29:00

who loved to loved and were close to Corey Cunningham. Meanwhile, the Reds

1:29:06

and Rangers hook up tonight in Texas. Eight oh five is your first pitch.

1:29:12

The game is live on seven hundred WLW first to three. Red's trying

1:29:16

to bounce back after losing the Phillies yesterday afternoon. Red starting lineup a service

1:29:20

of made well restoration. Let's hope that this starting lineup proves to be made

1:29:27

well against Nathan Valdi tonight, Will Benson, La de la Cruz and Spencer

1:29:32

Steer one through three, Cees Stevenson in India four through six, Candelario Espinal

1:29:39

and Fairchild seven through nine. Your d H tonight is Jonathan India. Graham

1:29:44

Ashcraft throws tonight for Cincinnati. That would be it. Excuse me for your

1:29:49

local sports headlines. I mean, just you know, quickly, one more

1:29:56

time on the on the on the Trey Hendrickson thing, like I came off

1:30:00

as I guess upset talking about Trey yesterday. It's it's not upset. I'm

1:30:04

amused. I'm sort of amused by the idea. Of well, we want

1:30:09

more money, and we want more years, and we want more security,

1:30:13

and if we don't get it, we're just not gonna take any money because

1:30:15

we're gonna retire. That doesn't, That doesn't, mesh. I mean,

1:30:23

the Bengals have deserved and have earned a lot of criticism for some of the

1:30:27

decisions they've made as it's related to players that they just wanted to take care

1:30:31

of or just kept around when they were a little bit past their prime.

1:30:36

We're all ways away from twenty twenty six. I just for anybody looking at

1:30:43

this through the lens of the Bengals not getting this right, What is the

1:30:47

harm in watching Trey Hendrickson play this season, knowing he's under contract for next

1:30:56

season and using the time in front of us, of which there's a lot

1:31:02

to make a determination about whether or not you want to invest in him.

1:31:05

Even further, twenty twenty six is forever away at muleger on Twitter our poll

1:31:16

question thanks to a United Heartland insurance, it's still pretty damn close to fifty

1:31:21

to fifty. If Amrius Mims ends up being Andre Smith two point zero,

1:31:26

well, last night's pick be considered a success. If you said I got

1:31:30

Andre Smith. Like the twenty eleven through twenty fifteen versions of Andre Smith at

1:31:35

right tackle for the Bengals for the next four to five years. I'm signing

1:31:40

up for that. I'm also signing up. We talked about like the Bengals

1:31:44

being kind of risky here and being aggressive. I'm I could very very easily

1:31:53

sign off on trading up to take Johnny Newton and think about, like if

1:31:59

that were to be the case, because I don't think he's going to be there at forty nine. Johnny Newton is regarded by most as the second best

1:32:08

defensive tackle prospect in this draft, kid out out of Illinois. By the

1:32:12

way, for what it's worth, our buddy Joe Goodberry last week told us

1:32:15

he thinks that Newton is the better prospect. They don't get Murphy last night.

1:32:20

They do get a lineman that they coveted, a lineman that they think

1:32:26

has a lot of upside and an extraordinarily high ceiling. Chris Jenkins is also

1:32:31

obviously a name that has been talked about as maybe being there at forty nine.

1:32:35

But think about what you would feel like if you're a Bengals fan if

1:32:41

you get a Marius mims an offensive lineman, a tackle that clearly had a

1:32:45

first round grade, and then you could get the second best defensive tackle in

1:32:50

this draft. It'd had to trade up in all likelihood to get him,

1:32:55

but you could definitely sign me up for that. It is twelve minutes away

1:32:59

from six o'clock. We're a twin Peaks in Westchester. ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati

1:33:02

Sports Station,