April 30, 2025 • 18 mins
Tony and Austin talk Bengals with Richard Skinner on ESPN 1530!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All Cincy all Day. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back our two Cincy three sixty thanks to Cincy Shartz.
Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports
Station or via the iHeartRadio app. Leave us a talkback.
We'll get to those next, but for now, from Local
twelve covering sports, our good friend Richard Skinner joins us
right now, Skinny, what's up?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
How are we doing, Tony? I'm good? How are you?
I'm doing well, Skinny?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Before we dive into the Bengals in the Skinner household,
how would you handle the situation that's unfolding right now
around jeff Aulbrick right now in the Atlanta Falcons. He
has been fined one hundred thousand dollars for his son
prank calling Shador Sanders. As a parent, what are you
going to do in that situation?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well, I did this with my child when she was twelve,
when she say us back to her mom one Sunday morning.
This is a true story. How lucky she had it?
I literally, I think I don't think she touched a step.
I think I just grabbed her, pulled her down the
steps and then took her around to some housing projects
just to show her how good she's got it. I
do something some of that, you know, you just you
gotta do something with that. The guy's also a dope
(01:16):
for laving his iPad out too. That's that's kind of
because the kid that the kid did so many stupid
things here, Tony, so many stupid things. Number one, taping himself.
I mean, right, you're gonna do it. If you were
gonna do it and try to be sneaking about it.
Don't think the Jerky Boys were great because we never
knew who the Jerky Boys were until the movie came out. Okay,
so in that regard, Yeah, but he's also twenty one
(01:38):
years old, and maybe it's time he just kick him
out of the house. You're twenty one, son, you're adult.
Don't live your life.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I can't imagine ever expecting another Christmas present, a Birthday present, anything.
I mean, you go call your door, calls your door,
see if he'll get.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You one exactly. Now, we'll give the kid credit for this.
The kid did call sha door and apologize. I'll give
you credit for manning up to that. I can only
imagine what that phone call was.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Like unbelieve the ball as it relates to the six
phone calls that the Bengals made. As a whole, as
a collective, how did you view the draft class for
the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, as a collective good. I know people are going
to question the first round pick, and understandably so I
said this on a segment I did with Adam Clements
in our newscast on Friday. We were just rehashing the
first round pick and looking ahead to Day two. I said, honestly,
if you put three minutes of tape on and you
didn't know anything about him, you just put three minutes
of tape on of some of his best moments, you'd go, oh,
(02:31):
my gosh, what a beast. And then I tell you
he had four and a half sacks and thirty seven
college games, and you'd scratch your head and go, wait
a minute. What that doesn't seem to translate. I think
the other positive about Shamar Stewart is this, And I
know people are kind of wringing their hands at the
Bengals didn't dress tackle. I really didn't think they were
going to. I mean, you re signed BJ Hill, you
signed TJ. Slayton, you spent a second round pick and
a third round pick last ter on that position group.
(02:52):
I know you're looking for more pass rushed juice well
Schamar Stewart rushed inside. I think we'll see Joseph Osai
rush inside some. So you know, if you can and
match some of those things, I think you solved that deal.
I think the biggest clearing thing they didn't do was
address safety, right. I mean, you know, you're two starters.
Ginostone and Jordan Battle both tied for the one hundred
and thirty sixth graded safety out of one hundred and
(03:14):
seventy one in the NFL. That's the good news. The
bad news is the backups. Tyson Anderson's never played a
defensive snap in the NFL. Dejon Anthony played eleven snaps,
and one of those was the ill fated pass interference
against Kansas City. And the only two hundred safeties on
your roster are two practice squad guys. I can't imagine
they don't go out and sign a veteran free agent safety.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Not only that, but the secondary as a whole. You're
relying a lot on Dak Siel to come back. I
just secondary corner safety. It feels like as we now
enter that next stage of the offseason that still feels
like a position group, those two position groups that are
extremely light.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, no question, I don't think this is going to happen.
But I guess it's also a possibility to put Daks
back to the safety spot. I mean, he's coming up
the knee surgery. He's probably not gonna be up to
one hundred percent from a speed standpoint. You know, maybe,
you know, maybe he understands that golden systems better, Maybe
he understands that position better. I do think they want
(04:12):
to keep him at outside corner, but maybe that's a possibility.
And if you do that, though, then you are gonna
have to go out and sign a veteran corner for sure.
I don't I'm so sure you shouldn't do that already.
You know, we've kind of found out today the structure
of Zach Moss's deal, and they basically say one point
seven mil and salary cap there. I imagine they're going
to cut Jermaine Pratt and that'll save another six mil.
(04:32):
And you know, can you sign a safety and a
corner with that and you still have you're probably roughly
you know, ten million dollars of cap space maybe twelve. Again,
you gotta always subtract about twelve million off what you
see from what the Bengals account for, So you still
have some money, and you know maybe that money is
being saved to extend Trey Hendrickson. But I do to
your point, I think you need at least to get
a veteran safety who can start, and a veteran corner
(04:56):
who can who is at least a quality backup. I
think those those seem to be priorities to me.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Speaking of that, I mean, we've also heard that Josh
Newton is tabbed as the guy to replace Mike Hilton,
kind of as the slot corner. I think a lot
of people thought Dax Hill would be that guy. What
do you make of the idea of putting Josh Newton there?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, I did too. I think internally they don't think
Josh has quite enough quickness to contend on the outside.
But you know, he played some sleep, actually played a
lot of slot corner in college, so it's not a
new position to him. It's a fairly familiar position. He's
a physical guy. Feel like he checks off a lot
of the boxes of what you wanted a slock corner
he's a good tackler. Again, he probably doesn't have a
foot speed to get the guys outside, but's physical enough
(05:34):
to jam up the slot guys. I think he's gonna
get first crack. It may not be that way come
opening day because I thought that was the place that
Dak Hill was targeted as well and ticketed as well.
I think they want I'm not so sure they know
what to do with with dj Turner yet. I mean,
is he gonna be a guy can get through a season?
Is he fragile? You know? I think if if you
wrote it down on paper today, it would probably be
(05:55):
Daxon camp Teller brit on the outside and Josh Newton
on the inside. But if Josh can't cut it in camp,
then you have to have a backup plan to that,
and I guess the backup plan would be daks in
the slot. Which was like to all these conversations we're
having right now, Dak Skip's getting jerked around like the
outside corners, these slot corners. He's fafety. I think they
do view him as an outside corner. But let's not
forget when chio Ousia came back from from his knee
(06:15):
injury and he suffered his a little bit later in
the year before he suffered his October thirty first, and
Dak suffered his in late in late September, so about
a month apart. You know, it took a long time
for Cheeto het the speed and he never really did. Now, again,
he was an older guy. Dax' as much younger, and
you think he kind of maybe can bounce back a
little faster. But I mean, Chido wasn't the same guy
when that next season started, by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
One other thing on the draft as a whole coming
out of it, were you surprised that they only remained
with six draft picks? Did you think that they would
find ways to make a few moves to try to
add We heard Duke Toven talk about that leading into
the draft, of wanting more picks. Were you surprised that
it finished with just six elections?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I am, because again you had more than just the needs,
and I thought all along, you know, the sixth round
pick was either going to be a wide receiver or
running back. You gotta probably needed to use what I
would call a luxury pick just to get a you
know something there. They filled needs otherwise, But if you
had a chance to have another pick or two. I mean,
if you could have traded back and gotten an extra
(07:19):
third round pick or a fourth round pick, I think
you could have and would have addressed the safety position. Now.
Zach said in his post draft press conference that they
fielded calls. Maybe they were never wowed. I mean, I
don't know what they needed to be wowd because a
lot of teams shuffled around them, moving up and down.
So there were obviously deals that were made and deals
that were satisfactory for other teams. Maybe they wanted to
be wild and they weren't wold, and and you know,
(07:40):
I guess I can't fault them for that because they
feel like they got the guys they wanted. I mean,
they they seemed to think they were sweating out Demetrious Night.
Maybe they were. I don't think they were. I think
he could have gone back from that round. He probably
could have gotten him. And I liked the pick. I
mean I mocked him on Friday when I did a
second and third round pick and James Repeena and I
battled on Friday in the press room. He was making
fun of me, making that the mock pick. So I
(08:01):
like the kid. I like the pick. I just but
I think you could have probably if there was a partner,
And that's the big iffing is we don't know what
partners or were you could have moved back. I still
think you could have gotten him.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Is Rapine just absolutely insufferable during the draft in the
media worker, Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I will, I will get fool as. I love him
to death because he keeps the conversation lively. But oh yeah,
there's no question there's he is. He is junior GM. Man,
I love it. I'll teams.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
If you just look at the amount of phone calls
I received from James Rapine on draft weekend, you would
think he thinks I'm the GM. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
That doesn't surprise me. Man, he needs he needs to
be heard.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Do you do you feel confident in the position of
guard outside of the draft or do you still need
to see this team attack guard somewhere in free agency?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
No? I think they're set. I think if they had
not come away with a pick that they think can
be a plug and play starter, and I think they
think Dylan Firchi his he's gonna get having Tractice be
the starry left guard they come out of the draft
Without that, I definitively think they would have gone and
gotten a brand. And sure for tried, because he's he's
been talking about retiring or a Dalton Risd or somebody
along those lines. You know, they Zach has talked about
(09:14):
wanting to see Cody Ford settling at a position, and
that position for them would be guard. And you know,
I don't think it would be a bad thing for
a Cody Ford, Lucas Patrick, Dylan Fairschild waiting in the wings,
or if Dylan wins the job, Dylan Dylan and Lucas
Patrick or Cody Ford at the right guard. And I
think it would be a better group than last year.
(09:35):
And I don't think you need a giant jump there.
You need better performance than what you got, and I
think you'll get better performance.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
A lot of folks view todz Brooks as a steal
in the sixth round from a pass protection standpoint, from
a production at what he was able to do at
Texas Tech. When all is said and done, do you
view Toz Brooks as the number two or is he
not there yet?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
That's such a good question because you know, normally they
don't spring four backs up on game day, right and
I don't, well, Samaji p Ran is not gonna be
the odd guy out. I don't think Zach Moss is
gonna be the odd guy out. And Zach still has
not been fully cleared I think to play yet. Zach
said he was trending in the right direction, which is
good news. You know, this is possibly Todds Brooks. Todas
Brooks is probably their second best pure runner. And maybe
(10:23):
that's just the guy that if something happens in Chase Brown,
you elevate him, you know, the next week very quickly
to get some carries. So that is an interesting one
because he's got a lot of tread on the tires.
But he's really good. I'm sure you watched him Tony
against you see, and he was I remember watching that game, going,
this guy's really good. I never even thought about the
potential draft the ability of the render that think. I
just remember watching going, oh, this guy's good, and he is.
(10:45):
I just think it gives you another another back that
that is capable of carrying the load. I just don't
know Zach Moss is that guy, and I think somajay
we know what his role is going to be right
third down back as a pass receiver, pass block, or
all of those things maybe as a closer times of
running back wise. So yeah, I'm interested to see what
they do with Todds Brooks and if he forces their
hand to play.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Him anything in taking a defensive end with the first pick,
change anything for you as it relates to Trey Hendrickson, No, because.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I think they were always gonna have to do that.
I mean, if you look at it now, let's just
include Trey. Let's just let's just go with the option
that Trey's gonna play this year, not get an extension,
and he's obviously then gonna go off the free agency.
I mean, he's in the last year of his contract,
a silently signed a one year contract. You know, the
jury is still way out on Miles Murphy, right, I mean,
they're gonna get him every chance this year. But then
(11:35):
if the year three is a bus at that point,
Tray's the free free agency, Joseph the free agency, your
other end, Miles Murphy's a bus, you better have had
somebody in the pipeline. And I think that was the
eye on that too. To get a little bit more dynamic,
you know, from a from a trade standpoint, obviously he's
got that. Again, the fact that he can rush from
the inside. I think there's a plus for them that
they do that is they've addressed their their pass rushing tackle,
(11:56):
if you will, on obvious situations. So now I think
every time I mocked the draft, I took MIKEL Williams
and obviously he was gone at that point. A couple
of drafts I went with safety, and again it's right.
I felt like in every mock draft I did, I
usually would go edge and using a similar obviously, and
you know, so those things are different than what takes
place real wise, I took an edge or safety, and
(12:19):
in some I would go safety edge. So I had
edge going off at least by the end of round
two and everything I did.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Uh, We've heard the Bengals talk a lot skinny about,
you know, starting fast and tweaking the off season program.
I know you can't gain a lot from what they've
done so far, but you've been in the building, you've
been around some of these guys. Is there any notable
changes about the way the Bengals are approaching things or
anything you can pick up on that think that may
think the off season program is a little bit different.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
No, because all they're doing right now is this conditioning stuff.
They get on the field next week, and I'll be
interested to see what's different there for sure, and certainly
training camp. What it's going to be different about training camp,
I mean. Zach Is also talked about being wide open
to playing starters more and Joe Burrows talked about much
to play in the preseason. I think those are the
changes you're going to see. I don't think there's anything
as of yet that maybe they're doing something, you know,
(13:07):
from a conditioning standpoint, I doubt it. I'm sure it's
got the same Routeam's going and whatnot. But it'll be
interesting what we see didn't get on there. I know
up at the Combine when we talked to Al Golden,
he talked about he thinks OTAs are important, Like He's like,
we need to use every OTA minute we can to
get this thing up to speed by the time camp hits,
so we can get things up to speed by the
time the season starts. So you can tell he knows
(13:28):
what the sense of urgency and he certainly feels it.
So I think that's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, the way in which this team drafted the way
in which they've handled the offseason would tell you on
the outside that they have a lot of trust in
what the the current roster construction is in doing that.
How much pressure does Al Golden become under in year
one as a defensive coordinator with a lot put on
(13:51):
his plate?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, I mean, listen, it very much seems like they
believe Al can fix a lot of the ills of
the defense, and certainly the players they brought it helped that.
I mean, I'm not even gonna get Al went to
the linebacker room, studied tape and said we got to
get younger and better there. And you know, Jermaine practice
didn't cut it last year. He'd been a fine pro.
(14:14):
He had done some good things since he began starting
twenty nineteen. Yeah. The other part, Logan Wilson hasn't gone
through a full season other than one time. He's had
some injury issues where he's just sometimes I'm they let
out look at that linebacker room and said, okay, not
just one linebacker. We're gonna go ahead and draft two linebackers
for you. We're drafting your edge rusher in the first round.
And then I think they think that the schematics and
what he can do schematically is going to going to
(14:35):
fix some of that. That's the only time we'll tell that.
But I think they've put put either a lot of pressure,
if you will, Tony your point, or a lot of
faith that he can get this thing right.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
What do you view as the opportunity or the chance
that that's still as present for Jermaine Burton. You forget
how high he was drafted because of all the issues
in year one, Yet he's still on the roster, and
by all reports he's he's been in the building, he's
been putting the work. Do you have any expectation that
you've set with how Jermaine Burton is used on this roster?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, I want to see him on the field first.
But to your point, it was the Thursday night they
opened up the cafeteria to us to eat on Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
which is very nice because it's it's busy time and
I'm in the line getting getting I think it was
at the salad bar and I look up and it
was Jermaine Burton. I went, oh, I said, hey, man,
how you doing. He was good, and he's actually not
real talkative, but talkative enough, and he looked good, and
(15:29):
I just wonder whatever hope he needed, did he get it,
because he just and he was there again. We saw
him on Saturday morning. We were there, you know, draft
starts as new went in there like eleven to grab
something to eat, and he was in there then. And
so it's it. I'm going to give the kid a
chance for a fresh start. He's been he's been in
the open locker room. No one's ventured up to talk
(15:50):
to him yet, but he's been present. He's been there.
Part of me thinks he's living there. I mean, I'm serious.
It was just out the same on draft weekend, just
pop in there. I mean, nobody else was there to
do that. Yeah, yeah, I know somebody else talked to
him and said, you know, I think ask him the questions,
what are you doing here? He said, I'm trying to
stay in the routine. And I think that's a good thing.
(16:11):
I mean, obviously, if he thinks the routine is being
in the facility, working out, eating, right, all of those things,
getting into a routine that that can't do anything but
help him, and he will be a fascinating reclamation project
if it comes to it. Because I think I'm with
everybody else. After all the knuckleheadedness of last year and
the knuckleheadedness off the field of get rid of this guy.
I think they've chosen to try to find a way
(16:31):
to make it work. And he's not gonna get much leash, right,
I mean the leash is gonna be really, really short,
but they're going to try and think to make it work. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I mean this the sternness of the words of Duke
Tobin at the combine. You don't really get that kind
of stuff out of Duke.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh, that's right. No, Yeah, that was That was an
interesting Uh. That was when we were talking to him
off the side and the question was brought about it
was that was Yeah, you're right, that was almost startling
to some degree.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, skinny, before we let you go. Obviously, the majority
of the free agency season has passed, the draft has passed.
How do you how do you view where this team stands?
We always talk about, you know, a competitive versus contending team.
Now that you've seen the new coaching staff, the free
agency period, the draft, where do you view as this
(17:16):
team being as it relates to to next season.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Very much a contending team? But then you watch the
draft and look at what Buffalo did and what Kansas
City did and what Baltimore did. They certainly don't look
like they hurt themselves by any stretch of the imagination.
And they still got, you know, three of the best
quarterbacks in the NFL, So I still think contending team.
But man, the ASC right now is just a gauntlet.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, Skinny, you're the best man. What's the easiest way
to follow along with everything you got going on in
the off season?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yep head theolocal twelve dot com slash sports war hit
me up on the ex at Local twelve, Skinny.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Richard, thank you for your time. We'll talk again soon.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Thanks, Kinny, all right, thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Sticker Richard Skinner Local twelve. I mean that was rapid fire.
We threw a bu ti Skinny there.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Love that guy.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
He's ready to go.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
He was walls snopping, confirmed between the confirmed the best
kept secret in all of Cincinnati sports that James Repene
is insufferable on draft weekend, could you imagine being stuck
in a workroom with James for three days? Couldn't during
the draft? Better men than me? Your talkback's next. Thanks
(18:24):
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on the home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars. Entered this
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Speaker 3 (18:36):
That's the Chackney.
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All Cincy all Day. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back our two Cincy three sixty thanks to Cincy Shartz.
Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports
Station or via the iHeartRadio app. Leave us a talkback.
We'll get to those next, but for now, from Local
twelve covering sports, our good friend Richard Skinner joins us
right now, Skinny, what's up?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
How are we doing, Tony? I'm good? How are you?
I'm doing well, Skinny?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Before we dive into the Bengals in the Skinner household,
how would you handle the situation that's unfolding right now
around jeff Aulbrick right now in the Atlanta Falcons. He
has been fined one hundred thousand dollars for his son
prank calling Shador Sanders. As a parent, what are you
going to do in that situation?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well, I did this with my child when she was twelve,
when she say us back to her mom one Sunday morning.
This is a true story. How lucky she had it?
I literally, I think I don't think she touched a step.
I think I just grabbed her, pulled her down the
steps and then took her around to some housing projects
just to show her how good she's got it. I
do something some of that, you know, you just you
gotta do something with that. The guy's also a dope
(01:16):
for laving his iPad out too. That's that's kind of
because the kid that the kid did so many stupid
things here, Tony, so many stupid things. Number one, taping himself.
I mean, right, you're gonna do it. If you were
gonna do it and try to be sneaking about it.
Don't think the Jerky Boys were great because we never
knew who the Jerky Boys were until the movie came out. Okay,
so in that regard, Yeah, but he's also twenty one
(01:38):
years old, and maybe it's time he just kick him
out of the house. You're twenty one, son, you're adult.
Don't live your life.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I can't imagine ever expecting another Christmas present, a Birthday present, anything.
I mean, you go call your door, calls your door,
see if he'll get.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You one exactly. Now, we'll give the kid credit for this.
The kid did call sha door and apologize. I'll give
you credit for manning up to that. I can only
imagine what that phone call was.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Like unbelieve the ball as it relates to the six
phone calls that the Bengals made. As a whole, as
a collective, how did you view the draft class for
the Bengals.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, as a collective good. I know people are going
to question the first round pick, and understandably so I
said this on a segment I did with Adam Clements
in our newscast on Friday. We were just rehashing the
first round pick and looking ahead to Day two. I said, honestly,
if you put three minutes of tape on and you
didn't know anything about him, you just put three minutes
of tape on of some of his best moments, you'd go, oh,
(02:31):
my gosh, what a beast. And then I tell you
he had four and a half sacks and thirty seven
college games, and you'd scratch your head and go, wait
a minute. What that doesn't seem to translate. I think
the other positive about Shamar Stewart is this, And I
know people are kind of wringing their hands at the
Bengals didn't dress tackle. I really didn't think they were
going to. I mean, you re signed BJ Hill, you
signed TJ. Slayton, you spent a second round pick and
a third round pick last ter on that position group.
(02:52):
I know you're looking for more pass rushed juice well
Schamar Stewart rushed inside. I think we'll see Joseph Osai
rush inside some. So you know, if you can and
match some of those things, I think you solved that deal.
I think the biggest clearing thing they didn't do was
address safety, right. I mean, you know, you're two starters.
Ginostone and Jordan Battle both tied for the one hundred
and thirty sixth graded safety out of one hundred and
(03:14):
seventy one in the NFL. That's the good news. The
bad news is the backups. Tyson Anderson's never played a
defensive snap in the NFL. Dejon Anthony played eleven snaps,
and one of those was the ill fated pass interference
against Kansas City. And the only two hundred safeties on
your roster are two practice squad guys. I can't imagine
they don't go out and sign a veteran free agent safety.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Not only that, but the secondary as a whole. You're
relying a lot on Dak Siel to come back. I
just secondary corner safety. It feels like as we now
enter that next stage of the offseason that still feels
like a position group, those two position groups that are
extremely light.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, no question, I don't think this is going to happen.
But I guess it's also a possibility to put Daks
back to the safety spot. I mean, he's coming up
the knee surgery. He's probably not gonna be up to
one hundred percent from a speed standpoint. You know, maybe,
you know, maybe he understands that golden systems better, Maybe
he understands that position better. I do think they want
(04:12):
to keep him at outside corner, but maybe that's a possibility.
And if you do that, though, then you are gonna
have to go out and sign a veteran corner for sure.
I don't I'm so sure you shouldn't do that already.
You know, we've kind of found out today the structure
of Zach Moss's deal, and they basically say one point
seven mil and salary cap there. I imagine they're going
to cut Jermaine Pratt and that'll save another six mil.
(04:32):
And you know, can you sign a safety and a
corner with that and you still have you're probably roughly
you know, ten million dollars of cap space maybe twelve. Again,
you gotta always subtract about twelve million off what you
see from what the Bengals account for, So you still
have some money, and you know maybe that money is
being saved to extend Trey Hendrickson. But I do to
your point, I think you need at least to get
a veteran safety who can start, and a veteran corner
(04:56):
who can who is at least a quality backup. I
think those those seem to be priorities to me.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Speaking of that, I mean, we've also heard that Josh
Newton is tabbed as the guy to replace Mike Hilton,
kind of as the slot corner. I think a lot
of people thought Dax Hill would be that guy. What
do you make of the idea of putting Josh Newton there?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, I did too. I think internally they don't think
Josh has quite enough quickness to contend on the outside.
But you know, he played some sleep, actually played a
lot of slot corner in college, so it's not a
new position to him. It's a fairly familiar position. He's
a physical guy. Feel like he checks off a lot
of the boxes of what you wanted a slock corner
he's a good tackler. Again, he probably doesn't have a
foot speed to get the guys outside, but's physical enough
(05:34):
to jam up the slot guys. I think he's gonna
get first crack. It may not be that way come
opening day because I thought that was the place that
Dak Hill was targeted as well and ticketed as well.
I think they want I'm not so sure they know
what to do with with dj Turner yet. I mean,
is he gonna be a guy can get through a season?
Is he fragile? You know? I think if if you
wrote it down on paper today, it would probably be
(05:55):
Daxon camp Teller brit on the outside and Josh Newton
on the inside. But if Josh can't cut it in camp,
then you have to have a backup plan to that,
and I guess the backup plan would be daks in
the slot. Which was like to all these conversations we're
having right now, Dak Skip's getting jerked around like the
outside corners, these slot corners. He's fafety. I think they
do view him as an outside corner. But let's not
forget when chio Ousia came back from from his knee
(06:15):
injury and he suffered his a little bit later in
the year before he suffered his October thirty first, and
Dak suffered his in late in late September, so about
a month apart. You know, it took a long time
for Cheeto het the speed and he never really did. Now, again,
he was an older guy. Dax' as much younger, and
you think he kind of maybe can bounce back a
little faster. But I mean, Chido wasn't the same guy
when that next season started, by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
One other thing on the draft as a whole coming
out of it, were you surprised that they only remained
with six draft picks? Did you think that they would
find ways to make a few moves to try to
add We heard Duke Toven talk about that leading into
the draft, of wanting more picks. Were you surprised that
it finished with just six elections?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I am, because again you had more than just the needs,
and I thought all along, you know, the sixth round
pick was either going to be a wide receiver or
running back. You gotta probably needed to use what I
would call a luxury pick just to get a you
know something there. They filled needs otherwise, But if you
had a chance to have another pick or two. I mean,
if you could have traded back and gotten an extra
(07:19):
third round pick or a fourth round pick, I think
you could have and would have addressed the safety position. Now.
Zach said in his post draft press conference that they
fielded calls. Maybe they were never wowed. I mean, I
don't know what they needed to be wowd because a
lot of teams shuffled around them, moving up and down.
So there were obviously deals that were made and deals
that were satisfactory for other teams. Maybe they wanted to
be wild and they weren't wold, and and you know,
(07:40):
I guess I can't fault them for that because they
feel like they got the guys they wanted. I mean,
they they seemed to think they were sweating out Demetrious Night.
Maybe they were. I don't think they were. I think
he could have gone back from that round. He probably
could have gotten him. And I liked the pick. I
mean I mocked him on Friday when I did a
second and third round pick and James Repeena and I
battled on Friday in the press room. He was making
fun of me, making that the mock pick. So I
(08:01):
like the kid. I like the pick. I just but
I think you could have probably if there was a partner,
And that's the big iffing is we don't know what
partners or were you could have moved back. I still
think you could have gotten him.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Is Rapine just absolutely insufferable during the draft in the
media worker, Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I will, I will get fool as. I love him
to death because he keeps the conversation lively. But oh yeah,
there's no question there's he is. He is junior GM. Man,
I love it. I'll teams.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
If you just look at the amount of phone calls
I received from James Rapine on draft weekend, you would
think he thinks I'm the GM. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
That doesn't surprise me. Man, he needs he needs to
be heard.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Do you do you feel confident in the position of
guard outside of the draft or do you still need
to see this team attack guard somewhere in free agency?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
No? I think they're set. I think if they had
not come away with a pick that they think can
be a plug and play starter, and I think they
think Dylan Firchi his he's gonna get having Tractice be
the starry left guard they come out of the draft
Without that, I definitively think they would have gone and
gotten a brand. And sure for tried, because he's he's
been talking about retiring or a Dalton Risd or somebody
along those lines. You know, they Zach has talked about
(09:14):
wanting to see Cody Ford settling at a position, and
that position for them would be guard. And you know,
I don't think it would be a bad thing for
a Cody Ford, Lucas Patrick, Dylan Fairschild waiting in the wings,
or if Dylan wins the job, Dylan Dylan and Lucas
Patrick or Cody Ford at the right guard. And I
think it would be a better group than last year.
(09:35):
And I don't think you need a giant jump there.
You need better performance than what you got, and I
think you'll get better performance.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
A lot of folks view todz Brooks as a steal
in the sixth round from a pass protection standpoint, from
a production at what he was able to do at
Texas Tech. When all is said and done, do you
view Toz Brooks as the number two or is he
not there yet?
Speaker 1 (10:00):
That's such a good question because you know, normally they
don't spring four backs up on game day, right and
I don't, well, Samaji p Ran is not gonna be
the odd guy out. I don't think Zach Moss is
gonna be the odd guy out. And Zach still has
not been fully cleared I think to play yet. Zach
said he was trending in the right direction, which is
good news. You know, this is possibly Todds Brooks. Todas
Brooks is probably their second best pure runner. And maybe
(10:23):
that's just the guy that if something happens in Chase Brown,
you elevate him, you know, the next week very quickly
to get some carries. So that is an interesting one
because he's got a lot of tread on the tires.
But he's really good. I'm sure you watched him Tony
against you see, and he was I remember watching that game, going,
this guy's really good. I never even thought about the
potential draft the ability of the render that think. I
just remember watching going, oh, this guy's good, and he is.
(10:45):
I just think it gives you another another back that
that is capable of carrying the load. I just don't
know Zach Moss is that guy, and I think somajay
we know what his role is going to be right
third down back as a pass receiver, pass block, or
all of those things maybe as a closer times of
running back wise. So yeah, I'm interested to see what
they do with Todds Brooks and if he forces their
hand to play.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Him anything in taking a defensive end with the first pick,
change anything for you as it relates to Trey Hendrickson, No, because.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I think they were always gonna have to do that.
I mean, if you look at it now, let's just
include Trey. Let's just let's just go with the option
that Trey's gonna play this year, not get an extension,
and he's obviously then gonna go off the free agency.
I mean, he's in the last year of his contract,
a silently signed a one year contract. You know, the
jury is still way out on Miles Murphy, right, I mean,
they're gonna get him every chance this year. But then
(11:35):
if the year three is a bus at that point,
Tray's the free free agency, Joseph the free agency, your
other end, Miles Murphy's a bus, you better have had
somebody in the pipeline. And I think that was the
eye on that too. To get a little bit more dynamic,
you know, from a from a trade standpoint, obviously he's
got that. Again, the fact that he can rush from
the inside. I think there's a plus for them that
they do that is they've addressed their their pass rushing tackle,
(11:56):
if you will, on obvious situations. So now I think
every time I mocked the draft, I took MIKEL Williams
and obviously he was gone at that point. A couple
of drafts I went with safety, and again it's right.
I felt like in every mock draft I did, I
usually would go edge and using a similar obviously, and
you know, so those things are different than what takes
place real wise, I took an edge or safety, and
(12:19):
in some I would go safety edge. So I had
edge going off at least by the end of round
two and everything I did.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Uh, We've heard the Bengals talk a lot skinny about,
you know, starting fast and tweaking the off season program.
I know you can't gain a lot from what they've
done so far, but you've been in the building, you've
been around some of these guys. Is there any notable
changes about the way the Bengals are approaching things or
anything you can pick up on that think that may
think the off season program is a little bit different.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
No, because all they're doing right now is this conditioning stuff.
They get on the field next week, and I'll be
interested to see what's different there for sure, and certainly
training camp. What it's going to be different about training camp,
I mean. Zach Is also talked about being wide open
to playing starters more and Joe Burrows talked about much
to play in the preseason. I think those are the
changes you're going to see. I don't think there's anything
as of yet that maybe they're doing something, you know,
(13:07):
from a conditioning standpoint, I doubt it. I'm sure it's
got the same Routeam's going and whatnot. But it'll be
interesting what we see didn't get on there. I know
up at the Combine when we talked to Al Golden,
he talked about he thinks OTAs are important, Like He's like,
we need to use every OTA minute we can to
get this thing up to speed by the time camp hits,
so we can get things up to speed by the
time the season starts. So you can tell he knows
(13:28):
what the sense of urgency and he certainly feels it.
So I think that's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, the way in which this team drafted the way
in which they've handled the offseason would tell you on
the outside that they have a lot of trust in
what the the current roster construction is in doing that.
How much pressure does Al Golden become under in year
one as a defensive coordinator with a lot put on
(13:51):
his plate?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, I mean, listen, it very much seems like they
believe Al can fix a lot of the ills of
the defense, and certainly the players they brought it helped that.
I mean, I'm not even gonna get Al went to
the linebacker room, studied tape and said we got to
get younger and better there. And you know, Jermaine practice
didn't cut it last year. He'd been a fine pro.
(14:14):
He had done some good things since he began starting
twenty nineteen. Yeah. The other part, Logan Wilson hasn't gone
through a full season other than one time. He's had
some injury issues where he's just sometimes I'm they let
out look at that linebacker room and said, okay, not
just one linebacker. We're gonna go ahead and draft two linebackers
for you. We're drafting your edge rusher in the first round.
And then I think they think that the schematics and
what he can do schematically is going to going to
(14:35):
fix some of that. That's the only time we'll tell that.
But I think they've put put either a lot of pressure,
if you will, Tony your point, or a lot of
faith that he can get this thing right.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
What do you view as the opportunity or the chance
that that's still as present for Jermaine Burton. You forget
how high he was drafted because of all the issues
in year one, Yet he's still on the roster, and
by all reports he's he's been in the building, he's
been putting the work. Do you have any expectation that
you've set with how Jermaine Burton is used on this roster?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, I want to see him on the field first.
But to your point, it was the Thursday night they
opened up the cafeteria to us to eat on Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
which is very nice because it's it's busy time and
I'm in the line getting getting I think it was
at the salad bar and I look up and it
was Jermaine Burton. I went, oh, I said, hey, man,
how you doing. He was good, and he's actually not
real talkative, but talkative enough, and he looked good, and
(15:29):
I just wonder whatever hope he needed, did he get it,
because he just and he was there again. We saw
him on Saturday morning. We were there, you know, draft
starts as new went in there like eleven to grab
something to eat, and he was in there then. And
so it's it. I'm going to give the kid a
chance for a fresh start. He's been he's been in
the open locker room. No one's ventured up to talk
(15:50):
to him yet, but he's been present. He's been there.
Part of me thinks he's living there. I mean, I'm serious.
It was just out the same on draft weekend, just
pop in there. I mean, nobody else was there to
do that. Yeah, yeah, I know somebody else talked to
him and said, you know, I think ask him the questions,
what are you doing here? He said, I'm trying to
stay in the routine. And I think that's a good thing.
(16:11):
I mean, obviously, if he thinks the routine is being
in the facility, working out, eating, right, all of those things,
getting into a routine that that can't do anything but
help him, and he will be a fascinating reclamation project
if it comes to it. Because I think I'm with
everybody else. After all the knuckleheadedness of last year and
the knuckleheadedness off the field of get rid of this guy.
I think they've chosen to try to find a way
(16:31):
to make it work. And he's not gonna get much leash, right,
I mean the leash is gonna be really, really short,
but they're going to try and think to make it work. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I mean this the sternness of the words of Duke
Tobin at the combine. You don't really get that kind
of stuff out of Duke.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh, that's right. No, Yeah, that was That was an
interesting Uh. That was when we were talking to him
off the side and the question was brought about it
was that was Yeah, you're right, that was almost startling
to some degree.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, skinny, before we let you go. Obviously, the majority
of the free agency season has passed, the draft has passed.
How do you how do you view where this team stands?
We always talk about, you know, a competitive versus contending team.
Now that you've seen the new coaching staff, the free
agency period, the draft, where do you view as this
(17:16):
team being as it relates to to next season.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Very much a contending team? But then you watch the
draft and look at what Buffalo did and what Kansas
City did and what Baltimore did. They certainly don't look
like they hurt themselves by any stretch of the imagination.
And they still got, you know, three of the best
quarterbacks in the NFL, So I still think contending team.
But man, the ASC right now is just a gauntlet.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, Skinny, you're the best man. What's the easiest way
to follow along with everything you got going on in
the off season?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yep head theolocal twelve dot com slash sports war hit
me up on the ex at Local twelve, Skinny.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Richard, thank you for your time. We'll talk again soon.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Thanks, Kinny, all right, thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Sticker Richard Skinner Local twelve. I mean that was rapid fire.
We threw a bu ti Skinny there.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Love that guy.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
He's ready to go.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
He was walls snopping, confirmed between the confirmed the best
kept secret in all of Cincinnati sports that James Repene
is insufferable on draft weekend, could you imagine being stuck
in a workroom with James for three days? Couldn't during
the draft? Better men than me? Your talkback's next. Thanks
(18:24):
to Cincy Shirts, our number two Cinty three to sixty
on the home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars. Entered this
nationwide keyword on our website, chacky.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
That's the Chackney.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Enter it
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