Wrapping up the Cincinnati Bengals 2024 Draft | Day 3 Analysis - Locked on Bengals with James Rapien

Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
That's a wrap on the Bengals twentytwenty four NFL Draft. Let's recap everything
that happened as a Bengals added collegeplayers this weekend. You are Locked On
Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network,

(00:26):
your team every day. What upBengals Hands and welcome to another episode
of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast. I'myour host, Jake. Let's go.
He's your host, James Rapine.The draft is in the books and we've
got several more episodes, but onerecap episode for you here to cap off
the weekend. We're on the LockdownPodcast Network of course, here on Lockdown

(00:48):
Bengals, and you can find uson YouTube and everywhere you get your podcasts.
If you're new to the show,you can subscribe to stay up to
date with all things Bengals leading intothe twenty twenty four regular season. We'll
have draft con tent for you towrap up this draft part of the offseason
for a while here until it's timeto move on to what's next. As
the off season program will continue andJames, the Bengals kept all their picks,

(01:14):
which maybe is the biggest surprise Idon't know. Jermaine Burton might still
take that take that cake, butcertainly one of the biggest surprises is keeping
all ten picks for the Bengals,no movement at all. It's why when
we did our predictive mock, Iwanted to keep it at ten. I
thought the Bengals are willing to beaggressive. I also thought there were scenarios,

(01:37):
especially early, they'd want to tradedown. But everyone was saying,
oh, they're going to trade someof these picks, and just knowing how
the Bengals operate, I would haveleaned towards that way. Of course,
that was the favorite to them tradesome of these and I think they were
willing to, I really do.But once we got past the first couple
of rounds and they're guy Chris Jenkins, who was I think their second target

(01:57):
in the second round realistically at behindJohnny Newton once they get him, and
then clearly they were a static aboutJermaine Burton and McKinley Jackson falls to them
and they were targeting like there wasjust never a time where the board wasn't
falling the way they had hoped orpredicted, And so I don't think they've

(02:19):
got into that Cam Taylor britt areawhere it was like a few years ago
where he was the last corner inthat bucket, and they just never felt
that way. Even with Chris Jenkins, they had some backup defensive tackles that
they would have targeted there. Soyeah, I think that's why. But
it is a bit surprising because someof these guys aren't going to make the
team and I wonder who it is, but you're not getting ten guys on

(02:44):
the team, and it's going tomake it that much harder for some of
these college free agents to surprise andpush it too, and that's hard enough
for them to do. So Ithink that's it is a surprise of the
weekend. I would put the Burtonpick as a bigger surprise, but that
is a surprise for sure. Icould see actually to all ten guys making
the team, although Eric Hall mightmake it as a pupp list player that

(03:07):
doesn't count at first, It doesn'tcount count no, so Eric Hall doesn't
make the team because he's on thepup list. Well, if he starts
on the pup list, then TlorTanner McLachlin makes the team. Tanner McLachlan
isn't making the team. If Ericif Eric All isn't on the pup list,
you're not keeping Oh I could seeit. Yeah, I talked myself

(03:27):
into that being a possibility. Thisfive tight ends going three running backs going
light at safety with with daxx Hillplaying corner. But maybe if Dax is
just playing corner, light as lightat safety, they're light at safety is
for safeties. Yeah, that's oneless safety than last year. Yeah,
that's that's not light at safety,that's normal. I can see a path

(03:49):
to these guys making the roster.A tight end is probably the hardest because
I think that Tanner Hudson showed enoughlast season to keep his job. But
if they think that, you know, Tanner McLaughlin can do those things in
the receiving game, I think TannerMcLaughlin could put push Janner Hudson. Tanner
Hudson is making the veteran minimum.But there's Dejon Anthony. How's Dejon Anthony

(04:12):
making the team? Uh? Forthsafety? Okay, so Tyson Anderson's just
gone. Tyson Anderson is a betterprospect than Dejian Anthony, Yeah for sure,
But like, I don't know whyyou make that pick. If if
there's not unless he's just a practicesquatter that's going to be a special teams
player for you. I think thatthat I don't know, maybe I'm reading

(04:34):
too much into it. That couldsay something about where Tyson Anderson is in
their eyes. Nah, Tyson's finehealthwise, so like he's coming back from
the but he's fine, Like he'sgonna be ready. There's no reason they
wouldn't. But anyways, we're goingdown a rabbit hole here. It is
a surprise that they kept all tenand maybe they do make it to your
point, but I think a lotof what we thought they would do they

(04:59):
did. They wanted the versatile receiverwith some explosion. They wanted to add
trenches, and that's what they did. I mean, look at this offensive
tackle, defensive tackle, wide receiver, defensive tackle, tight end. Those
are their first five picks, weaponstrenches. They go to cornerback with Josh
Newton, and then boom, weaponstrenches. In fact, there's only two
non trench or weapons picks, zerolinebackers, one corner one safety. I

(05:26):
mean that's the weapons trenches. We'vespent a lot of time talking about one
or the other, and they investedin it. Now some surprises for sure.
No running back, I think that'sa bit of a surprise, and
no interior alignment until the seventh round, that's a surprise, or no second
offensive lineman until the seventh round.You have the two book ends in Amarius

(05:47):
Mims in Matt Lee, and that'sit as far as offensive line goes.
So I do think that that's interestingas well. Yeah, and waiting until
the last pick was like, Man, you and I were talking about it
a question on yesterday show, likeare we sure they're prioritizing I said this
in our in our post day twoepisode. Are we sure they're prioritizing offense,
interior, offensive line for day threeor is that just something we think

(06:10):
they should do where we think theyneed depth and they didn't need a center
of the future. And we'll getinto Matt Lee later. That might be
my favorite pick today, although youcan make some arguments for a few of
the guys they've picked today, butthe overall, some overall themes of this
draft class that I think are veryinteresting, and we touched on some of
these yesterday film over Data class.In a lot of ways, a lot

(06:34):
of these guys are our film picksand I think that's especially true for you
know, Jermaine Burton, McKinley,Jackson, Eric All, probably also Tanner,
McLaughlin, Josh Newton. The cornerthey took in the fifth round had
a lot of height coming into theseason. He was seen as a first
round corner at the start of thetwenty twenty three college football season. By

(06:57):
he was fourth. Yeah, twentyfourth, I believe on Danesport and by
Trevor Sikima, who saw him asa first round player going into the season,
but this season didn't go the waythat it needed to go for him.
And another big theme is guys theyhave visits with and we didn't have
all of these track, but wehad a lot of them tracked. We
might actually have the full list ofthirty visits for the Bengals this year because

(07:21):
of information we found out because theydrafted those guys. But A Marius Men's,
Chris Jenkins, Jermaine Burton, McKinley, Jackson, Eric All, Tanner,
McLaughlin, and Daejon Anthony. Ibelieve we're all part of the Bengals
official thirty visits where those guys cameinto Cincinnati for visits. They also had
virtual at least a virtual meeting withJosh Newton. They met with Cedric Johnson,

(07:44):
the edge rusher out of Ole Missat the Combine, and they sent
their defensive line coach to his proday, and they have presence at the
Miami Pro Day. But I'm notsure exactly what the extent of the contact
with Matt Lee was before the Combine. So a prize, but more of
the top thirty or thirty visit playersdrafted by the Bengals, and I think

(08:07):
we've ever known because that's what eighteight of the ten no, sorry,
seven of the ten picks guys theyhad in person meetings with in Cincinnati in
the first five, the first five, first five, that's it's wild.
And when we get into it,like with Eric All, that's someone I
think. I don't think we did, did we. We didn't go with

(08:28):
all, did we? You know? We we had discussed all we actually
also a correction yesterday, I thoughtthat we had McKinley Jackson. We did
not have McKinley Jackson. I don'tthink in the final MOCKX. But we
talked about it. Well, yeah, we've talked about all these guys.
For the most part, there area couple that we didn't. I think
the only one we didn't really talkabout that they've picked that they picked was

(08:48):
Josh Newton. We didn't really talkabout Josh. I don't know if Cedric
Johnson or Matt Lee ever came upeither. I think Matt Lee did.
I think you're right about Cedric Johnson. So eight out of the ten,
Yeah, most pret these guys wereon our radar, at least Matt Lee
did for sure. Like it's justlike a quick like late round like athletics.
Anyway, we'll get into him.But yeah, this year in what's

(09:09):
gonna suck about this is next yearwe're going to reach so much into the
visits, Like remember the visits inthe draft is going to go the completely
the other way. Remember there wasthe Senior Bowl year and then there was
so that's that's gonna be the caseis, Oh, they're meeting with man.
I want to want to get intoDay three though, because there is
a lot to get into. There'sother draft nuggets that we're gonna have all

(09:31):
week long. So we're just gettingheated up here. Don't go anywhere.
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guaranteed. Let's get into some Daythree picks, James. We've got it
summarized on the bullets for all allof you watching on YouTube, but if

(11:46):
you're not, They go with twotight ends. After missing on tight end
to Bengals fans frustration for a coupleof years, they get two on Day
three this year, both of whomhave unique and individual upside and traits that
we can talk about and interesting pathsfor both of them. They do draft
a corner, as we expected,not necessarily one that I had on my

(12:09):
radar for the Bengals, but clearlyone that they liked. And Josh Newton,
who I mentioned, was a sceneas a first round corner going into
the year, and then didn't quitehave the year that he was hoping for,
with two particularly rough games against Texasand Colorado that I think got a
lot of attention, and then hedidn't test like an elite athlete, which
is why it was surprising because theBengals have been drafting more athletic corners lately.

(12:31):
They go with an edge rusher andCedric Johnson a verse little defensive back
in Diajon Anthony to double dip atole miss. There's your school double dip
this year, coming in back toback picks at the back of the draft
and Cedric Johnson and Diajon Anthony fromOle Miss and finish things up with Matt
Lee, who might have been myfavorite pick today, James. But let's
start at the top with Eric Allin those tight ends. Yeah, that's

(12:54):
my favorite pick of the day isEric Hall. I was in on Eric
All my Bengals Talk dot com mackEric Hall, and it was because I
did buy into the visits. Ithink they they left no stone unturned with
Eric All. And it's because youlook at the talent and you look at
NFL evaluators, and I think LewisRittick had something really good on Eric All.

(13:16):
The Bengals found their George Kittle ifhe can stay healthy. And I'm
not going to go that far right, I'm not. I don't think those
should be the expectations. But whenyou're talking about tight end, especially in
this year's class, taking the upsideswing on the guy that when he's healthy,
is this six four to two hundredand fifty pound guy that can be

(13:39):
dynamic as a route runner, canmake plays in the passing game, can
also block at a high level canbe the complete tight end that James Casey
wants the Bengals tight ends coach thatthe Bengals have coveted. That's what they
want. They don't want just guysthat can can catch or guys that can
just block. It's just hard tofind them. And so a guy like
Eric All that had a serious backinjury, recovered from that after having an

(14:05):
operation that again was pretty serious,transferred to Iowa after being a captain at
Michigan and was productive before he torehis ACL in October. It was like,
showed, oh, I can play, and so I'm in. I
think it makes sense. He isa fair field, a lum so he's
a Cincinnati native, is staying homeand so that's cool. But I'm in

(14:28):
on the player. And you knowwhy else I'm in on the player.
I was already in and I thoughtit was worth the risk at this stage
of the draft. I think whenwhen former teammates speak really highly of you,
that matters. And Chris Jenkins.I got the opportunity to meet Chris
Jenkins today and he was in themedia room and we're chatting with him,

(14:50):
and he's like, and we gotEric and his face just beaming excited.
He's like that dude is a beast. And so, of course health is
an issue. It's the fourth round. Fourth rounders miss all the time.
At least we know the talent isthere with a guy like Eric All and
so it is a big swing forsure. There's a multiple big swing picks

(15:11):
in this draft. That's the otherbig takeaway. Yeah, it's a big
swing, but man, if itpays off, they could get a heck
of a player. This is areal ceiling pick, much like Jermaine Burton
was a real ceiling pick, muchlike a Marius Mins is a ceiling pick
for different reasons, you know,for all of them. And for Eric
Hall, it's clearly just an injurything. When he was on the field

(15:31):
in Michigan and he was healthy,he was productive. He was the leading
receiver for Iowa despite missing half theseason last year. That means two things.
One, Iowa's offense is putrid.Two, Eric Hall can produce in
a futured Iowa offense. And nobodystepped up in the other seven games he
missed to take that receiving title.He was a leading receiver. I mean,

(15:52):
that's crazy, and you're right whenyou mentioned that it's a film pick.
I think that on film this isa guy that has the potential to
be a ad all tight end.If he's healthy for his final year at
Iowa, he might be the secondtight end drafted. I think Zach Taylor
says something similar where they didn't thinkthere's any chance of getting him if he
was healthy in his final year andprobably didn't have the back thing as well,

(16:15):
because I'm sure some teams might havetaken him off the board. I
noticed it all said in his meetingwith the media after he was picked that
his back is all good now,but he is rehabbing, of course from
that October I think ACL October twentytwenty three ACL injury. So when he's
on the field, athletic, goodreceiving ability, good route running ability.

(16:37):
I know draft guy Bengals draft scoutJoel who we met when we were in
Cincinnati, when I was in Cincinnatiback in the Thursday night Jags game in
what twenty two, twenty twenty one, however long ago that was, yeah,
twenty one. He's really high onEric Hall's tape. Thinks he's probably
the best Bengals type and in termsof ability to beat Man coverage since Tyler

(17:02):
Riifert and I know that he watcheda lot of Eric All and so another
pick that Mike McKinley Jackson, likeJermaine Burton, like a Marius Mims.
While there are holes of those profilesfor this reason or that reason, whether
it's inexperienced, whether it's off fieldstuff, whether it's whether it's injury.
The tape and the flashes for allof these players, and we talked about

(17:25):
this yesterday as well, shows highend talent and if they can rain that
in and hit it consistently, thenyou have a bunch of potential starters there
in those five players to start thedraft. The only thing to couch that
statement is that it's a big if. A lot kind of has to go
right here, and there is riskwith these picks, but the upside for
each of them, I think isthat you have a solid contributing or starting

(17:49):
player for your football team. Andthat is something that Bengals needed. They
just took a pretty risky approach totry to get there. Yeah, no
doubt about it. And I thinkif you're taking someone like that, you
got to leave no stone unturned.And I don't think they left any stone
unturned. They were comfortable with themedicals. Obviously they love the player,
and so we'll see. But there'sa lot to like. I do think

(18:11):
character wise, he's got it.Was a captain at Michigan checks that captain
box as well. And if you'replaying tight end at Michigan and then you're
going to Iowa, transferring to Iowaand playing tight end there, and the
dude there like he's he's got it. So hopefully the Bengals can get it
out of him. We'll see ifhe can start the season healthy, if
he starts the year on pop,all of those things, if there are

(18:33):
any, if there are any helmetsyou're allowed to scout, it's Iowa tight
Ends, where you know, justlast year we saw Sam Laporta be the
leading contributor in an offense that suckedand be awesome. So Eric All has
that similarity. Not comping him toSam Laporta to be clear, but Iowa
tight Ends. I think that's ahelmet that's a little bit fair to Scott
Lewis Riddick, said George Kittle,So you know, comp them to whoever

(18:56):
you want. If we're going thatfar, you might as well go that
far and who knows the Bengals aregoing for it all with Eric Ahl Dad
joke up. Next, we'll getto the rest of the Bengals Day three
picks, and Jake wants to talkabout Matt Lee. All right, game
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Play or the app store. Gameon. Got some more draft picks to
talk about here, James, wecan we can jump to Matt Lee.
Want to quickly give some Well,I guess we've talked about Josh Newton.
Do you have anything else on JoshNewton that you would like that? I
know you had a very entertaining callwith you guys. He did, and

(20:25):
Mike Petralia doesn't know who Kobe Bryantis, clearly, which Josh Newton just
let him know. I had toput it in just that part of the
call. I think Josh Newton isa dog. You mean I don't know
that, ye, cornerback Kobe Bryant. Yeah, and people mentioned that,
but clearly Josh Newton isn't worried aboutthat guy. You know, he's thinking
about Kobe. So yeah, Ithink not much to add versatile defensive back.

(20:48):
We'll see if he can play outside. I think they'll give him a
shot there and then go from there. But I like him. There's a
lot to like. But yeah,let's move on Taylor because we're gonna have
time to talk about these guys.But Tanner McLaughlin out of Arizona. This
is a value pick by Zach Taylor. He said it himself where I'm sitting
one seed over about an hour ago, that they like what he can do

(21:10):
in the passing game. Obviously he'san older prospect that they watched him a
lot and they think that he cancontribute. And I do think that this
is your Eric All insurance where ifAll starts the year on the pup,
then McLaughlin, like we talked about, can be that fourth tight end even
though you think they're going to keepfifty two tight ends. Well, I
have a hard time thinking that eitherof these guys are gonna get cut unless

(21:33):
they fall in their face and theremight be like that normal NFL transition for
tight ends, right, But TanaMcLaughlin was the first pick for the Bengals
that we were tracking. That wasa consensus value pick where you know Josh
Newton's consensus ranking was one forty nine, he was picked one forty nine.
Chris Jenkins was like fifty two,he was picked forty nine. A Marius
Mens was twenty and a half.He was picked eighteen. So all of

(21:56):
those are like equal value. Andthen McKinley Jackson, according to consensus,
was to reach Eric All according toconsensus, was a reach because of those
injuries and which team was going totake that risk. But Tanner McLaughlin the
first big value consensus won sixty fiveand picked by the Bengals at one ninety
four, So was seen by Ithink Dame Brugler in PFF as as potential

(22:17):
or no, Dame Brugler and Lanceor maybe just Dane now I can't remember
and shouldn't have opened my mouth,but as a fourth fifth round player,
I believe in the Bengals get himin the sixth The athletic upside is there
and James he is the Canadian thatthe Bengals end up drafting after also talking
with Quantes Steggers, who ends upgoing to the Jets as a CFL prospect.

(22:42):
Tana mcglocklin's path took him from Canadato Utah State or Southern Utah,
Southern Utah and then Arizona where hefinally started producing when he finally got to
a real football program. So there'ssome refinement needed in his game because of
the path he took, starting withplaying football in Canada, play at a
small school in the United States didn'tget that development time and maybe just isn't

(23:03):
the most fluid of athletes, butis a player that can probably contribute for
you, I think in the passinggame if he has the opportunity. But
as a sixth round pick, hedoes have a bit of a harder path
to the roster than eric All.If eric All is healthy, they come
back with another value player in termsof consensus rankings, being Cedric Johnson one
fifty three or one to fifty fouron the consensus board two fifteen for the

(23:26):
Bengals in the draft with their compensatorysixth round pick and a guy that didn't
necessarily take all the production boxes andkind of looked like he was going to
be an as sending player Ole Missin his first two years, starting as
a true freshman and ascending as atrue sophomore and then just didn't really produce
more after that, but as afreaky athlete, and that's why his consensus

(23:47):
rating is higher. This is amultiple player, the youngest player the Bengals
picked on Day three at just twentyone and a half years old, and
with the athletic traits he has,he was a ninety three percentile athlete you're
looking to develop that athleticism into apass rushing threat if you can't for sure,
And this is one of those guys, Joseph Osai in the last year

(24:08):
of his contract. You look atit and you're like, all right,
it would be nice to hit onone of these day three edge rushers.
And can he just be a contributor? Can he can you mold him into
a contributor. He's got the profilethat you're looking for, the sec background.
He did produce early. Like youmentioned, he is really athletic,
and so hopefully they can get somethingout of him. And it was picked

(24:30):
two fourteen by the way, justso the commenters don't get you. But
nevertheless bad nevertheless type of where inthe sheet that I'm reading from? Oh
oh okay. Yeah. I waslike, you're you're bad. I'm not
reading for the sheet. I waslike, where's the two fourteen? But
yeah, I like it. Ithink it makes sense we talked about edge

(24:51):
rusher. By the way, thisdoesn't mean that Trey isn't playing trays'pling.
This isn't Trey Hendrickson's replacement. Thisjust might be the guy that has a
role Joseph Osaigo's elsewhere after this yearbecause he's in a contract year. That
went quick. Anyways, Dejohn Anthony, who was the next pick, someone
we talked about. We've talked abouta few times. I think it's special

(25:12):
teams for certainly. I think he'sgot a shot at competing in that nickel
spot safety gives them some depth thereas well, if Tyson Anderson can't go,
if they realize Dax is going tobe a full time corner forever,
you know, whatever the case is. I think that that's what he brings.
And clearly they liked him because theymet with him and kicked the tires

(25:33):
on him, and I assume theythink he can be They can help on
space, he can help on specialteams, and then either nickel slash safety
safety slash nickel the fifth sixth roundgrade from the Beast and Dave Brugler,
who says he projects best as anickel defender who can work underneath and overlap
responsibilities in the secondary. And youlook at what he did as the second
straight ole miss pick for the Bengals. He played all over the place in

(25:57):
the secondary. He played safe,he played in the slot, He played
a couple of years outside before hemoved to safety a little bit more in
his last year, and that couldbe because of his speed and his ability
to stick it outside corner, andwanted to improve his versatility a little bit
to give himself a shot in theNFL. But another player that you could
see the role for the Bengals.When we saw this visit, we thought

(26:19):
it was probably a special team's drivenvisit because they're so stacked on the roster
as safety. But I'm sure he'llbe in the competition with the rest of
the guys at the back of thatroom to try to find his way onto
the roster, one of the harderpaths to the roster, along with McLaughlin
potentially or one of these tight endsif they're all healthy, just in terms

(26:40):
of the competition. But you're right, my favorite pick potentially of Day three
is Matt Lee. We were waitingall day an all draft for the Bengals
to find an interior line prospect,and honestly, when we were talking about
this leading up to the draft,we were thinking about a guy with a
little bit of positional versatil. MattLee is probably just the center in the

(27:02):
NFL. He kind of struggles tostay at three hundred pounds. He was
two hundred and eighty eight pounds atthe East West Rye game, got up
to three ZHO one for the combine, I believe, and then ran a
five h five forty with an extrathirteen pounds of weight potentially on which is
a pretty impressive feat to be honest, to add weight for the weigh in
and still move that quickly. Thisis an athletic center, so the Bengals

(27:23):
have had a two athletic offensive linemen, which I love. The pass pro
tape and grating and productivity are greatfor this guy. And the only question
the reason he falls as far isI think because of size, and even
then from a consensus to where wehad him perspective, that's value. And
you go look at Brandon Thorne's ratings. I think Brandon Thorn had him as

(27:45):
a fourth rounder. So while thisis the last pick of the of the
draft for the Bengals, I tweeatedthis James. That's a top one hundred
player on our board. He wasninety ninth on our board, the highest
graded player the Bengals drafted by ouroverall or is it weigh in some analytics
and film into the equation since JermaineBurton, who is a seventy Matt Lee

(28:06):
coming into seventy three point six,so in fact a little bit higher ranked
even than Jermaine Burton ended up withthe analytic factors included there. So when
I see this pick, I seepotential center of the future that the Bengals
nabbed with their last pick in thedraft, and when you're talking about adding
two athletic offensive linemens, something we'vebeen begging the Bengals to do for years.

(28:27):
I know he's a little undersized,but he has experience with inside zone
and duo stuff. As Brandon Thornhas pointed out, that's a very exciting
pick for me, and I trulythink Center of the Future should win a
roster spot immediately this year. Well, yeah, he's going to beat out
Trey Hill. Trey Hill's aficial,absolutely, that's what this is. Now
after that, who knows, He'sgot to develop and show that he can

(28:49):
and all of those things. Butyeah, I think that's the new favorite
for backup center this year, whicheither beat out Trey Hill or say it's
Max replacement. But yeah, Ithink the one of the surprises was they
waited Matt Lee was someone if theywould they had taken him where McLaughlin went,

(29:11):
so their first sixth round pick oneninety four would not have been shocked.
If they had taken him there,I wouldn't have said anything about it.
I'd have been like, yeah,there you go, there's your interier,
there's your center. And so toget him here it is their best
value pick by far, which iseasier to do because it's the latest.
Of course I get it, butI was surprised that he fell that far,
and maybe that they knew that theyhad a feel for where where NFL

(29:36):
teams felt he was, where hewas going to go, if he was
going to go, and so that'swhy they let it happen that way.
But yeah, I mean, ifthey had taken him literally forty three picks
earlier, I wouldn't have blinked atall, and I would have been like,
yeah, that's that's about right,that's and that's still pretty good value,
I think. So to get himwhere they did, I get why

(29:56):
it's your favorite pick, and Ithink you're right. From the athleticism standpoint,
it is nice, isn't it toget to athletes and on the interior
that's okay. Like Tanner Bordalini,the guy I liked that at Wisconsin,
he wasn't the heaviest guy in theworld, but he could move. And
the thing I like about Matt Leecertainly not the heaviest guy in the world,

(30:17):
he can move. We know he'sathletic. Good note on him gaining
weight and still running that well,so he's able to stay athletic even though
he's moving or even though he's gainingweight. But the pass protection part of
it, Dane Brugler described him asboring. He's a boring pass protector because
he just never gets beat. That'ssign me up for that. That's what

(30:37):
I want to hear. And soyeah, hell yeah, that's the heck
of a pick. We'll have somepriority free agent notes for you as we
get those officialized later this week,but the most notable one that I saw
early here, James, is theBengals did reportedly sign or agree to terms
with Texas Tech punter Austin McNamara.And we're not going to spend a ton

(30:59):
of time here because we're pushing ourtime limit already, but bringing in punting
competition for Brad Robbins after the draftafter there was some speculation the Bengals would
add a punter. I thought thatwas worth noting. He was PFF's third
highest graded punter in college football lastyear, coming in right ahead of Ryan
Recal and had a solid hangtime averageover four seconds. Was one of the

(31:22):
better net punters in the country incollege football. So some competition there for
Brad Robins. YEP, not shockedthis would be a fourth predictive. We
didn't mock a punter. We thoughtthey were going to go this route,
and so our third if we're goingwith our predictive either way, we nailed
this. Now we didn't say MattNumara. We didn't know which one would
make it there. But I alwaysstrongly felt like they were like, all

(31:47):
right, we're not using another draftpick on a punter. We're just not
this year. We're going to findone. We're going to get one.
Because if you're a free agent punter, where do you want to go?
You want to come here after whatBrad did last year and so game on.
I knows competitions coming, by theway, so this is this is
exactly what should happen. Who knowsAustin Brad. There we go. Let
the games begin, because that's gonnabe something we're talking about during training camp.

(32:10):
Baby had a fringe draftable grade fromDame Brugler, who had Tory Taylor,
the Iowa punter with a fourth roundgrade. Isn't that where he went?
I'm pretty sure he went in thefourth round. Was that the punter
that got picked? I honestly tunedit out. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. So Austin McNamara witha with a fringe draftable grade seventh round
of PFA grade from Dame Brugler.There to wrap up our coverage, did

(32:32):
you say you wanted the punter overeric All? What's wrong with you?
Jake? Huh? Why would yousay that I didn't want that punter over
eric All in the fourth round?Oh? I see what you're doing.
That's gonna do it. For ourcoverage of the twenty twenty four NFL Draft,
we'll have more in terms of grades, in terms of thoughts on this

(32:53):
draft. We might have some guestscome on to tell you what they think
of this draft. We're hopeful totalk to some folks with the Bengals as
well on the podcast. We'll seewhen we can get those scheduled. So
plenty more on the draft coming yourway for the next week, but that's
going to do it for the Draftweekend. Until next time, we're back
on Monday night. Thanks for listeningto this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast.

(33:19):
Who Day, and have a goodone.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Wrapping up the Cincinnati Bengals 2024 Draft | Day 3 Analysis