May 2, 2024 • 37 mins
Mike Potts, the Bengals' College Scouting Director, joins the guys to give his perspective from inside the building on the Cincinnati Bengals' 2024 Draft Class that he helped shape. We break down Amarius Mims' pass protecting ability and where exactly his "floor" is, the upside with Kris Jenkins, Jermaine Burton, Erick All, and how strongly the team felt about some of its late-round draft picks.Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengals
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, YourTeam every Day. The twenty twenty four
NFL Draft is in the books inBengals Director of College Scouting Mike Potts is
here to break down all ten Bengalsselections. You are Locked On Bengals,
(00:29):
your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, partof the Locked On podcast network, Your
Team every Day. Hi again,everyone, and welcome in to the Lockdown
Bengals Podcast. I'm James Erpene andwe as in my co hosts Jake Lisco
and I will be joined by BengalsDirector of College Scouting Mike Potts in sixty
seconds or less. Today's show hasbrought to you by Monopoly Go, and
(00:52):
I admit it, I have acompetitive side and if you do, Monopoly
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today. And Mike Potts obviously hada huge hand in the Bengals ten draft
picks, from Amrius Mims all theway down to Matt Lee their final selection
(01:15):
in the seventh round. And so, without further ado, let's get to
our interview with Bengals director of Collegescouting Mike Potts, Mike, A lot
of picks in this draft that we'regoing to talk about today. A Marius
Mems the first of those picks.You've talked about these guys. We've talked
about these guys all week. Myquestion for a Marius Mens to start is,
(01:38):
he's talked about areas for improvement.You turn on the tape. There's
natural pass protection ability there, greatfeet, especially for a guy that's three
point forty. When you had himin and you met with him, what
were the big takeaways from meeting withhim in person that sold you on A
Marius Men's ability to play at thenext level. I think he's really just
a good person. If you haveto sum it up. The character's really
(02:00):
good in terms of the reports thatwe got from Georgia talking to everybody down
there at the school, and thenhe's just a fun guy to be around.
I'm sure you guys talked to himin some of his media availability after
we drafted him. Really good personality, a lot of positive energy, very
bright eyed young man. Really reallyenjoyed spending time with him both at the
(02:20):
combine and when we brought him inon the thirty visit. I was down
there at the Georgia's pro DA gota chance to be around him there as
well. So it just aligns withthe information that we had from the school
in our scouting process, and youjust gave us that much more conviction on
him as a person and as aplayer, Mike, as far as his
ceiling goes, I think everyone isagreement when you see six' eight three
(02:46):
forty all the physical tools. Hejust looks different when you meet him.
But the other part of it isthe floor. And I think part of
the narrative with Amarus Mims, atleast pre draft was he's got a low
floor because he only has eight collegestarts. How did you guys view or
how do you guys view his flooras a prospect, because I'm sure that
(03:06):
you take that into consideration as well. Yeah I don't. I don't necessarily
agree that he has a low floor. Honestly when when watching his tape,
because his tape's really really good there. There's honestly not a whole lot that
you can nitpick or poke holes inabout his tape. And yeah, he
only started eight games, but heplayed a lot more snaps than your average
guy that only only started eight games. He was in a rotation with some
(03:30):
high end you know, draft picksthere that that came out last year in
previous years on the offensive line inGeorgia. So he does have high quality
tape. Obviously, you would liketo see it, you know, and
more volume. Uh, you knowwhen when you're just have more overall tape
to evaluate on him. But it'snot. It's not a guy that's really
(03:50):
inconsistent and you just see the flashesand the highs and the lows on his
tape. I think he's pretty evenin his high level of production when you
watch his tape so well, Idon't necessarily think that he's a low floor,
high ceiling prospect. We kind ofview him as a high floor,
high ceiling prospect when we're evaluating him. Do you view him as a pretty
(04:11):
good pass protector already? Because whenI look at the tape for him,
he's consistently beating defenders to the spot. He's really bursty out of his stance
a lot of times, has twofeet two steps of movement before you see
the defenders even get off the snap, and then he has that incredible length
and that helps him recover even ifhe does overset a little bit or a
(04:31):
guy sees him get to his spotand you get the inside countermove. Do
you think there's a lot more todo for him? I mean, obviously
the mental part of the game andgetting used to playing beside whoever the guard
is, he's going to play beside. But do you see him as a
pretty high end pass protector already verygifted in past protection. Like you mentioned,
(04:53):
he's got all the traits. There'snot many guys that are more gifted
than he is physically. And then, like we mentioned in the beginning,
the character on top of that,you know, like you said, he's
just going to need more reps.You're facing the high end pass rushers that
we face in our division, inthe AFC North and around the rest of
the NFL. You know that there'ssome of the freakiest human beings walking the
(05:15):
earth. So that's that's never easyto pass block in the NFL, and
it's going to be an adjustment,just like it's going to be for anybody.
It's, you know, gonna besomething that he's going to have to
get used to. And as heplays more, just angles that he plays
with, the technique that he playswith is going to continue to get better
and better as he gets you know, more NFL coaching, and he's pushed
(05:38):
and is learning from other veterans inthe room on that offensive line. So
we're really excited about about what notonly what he is right now, but
what he can be in the future. Mike Colex sided was Frank Pollack when
when you've told him or he foundout that Amrius Mims was going to be
the guy at eighteen? Because I'msure position coaches all the time get excited,
(05:59):
but if I was an offensive linecoach seeing a freak like that being
able to land him, I'm sureit would be an exciting time. Yeah,
I think Frank was was really excitedfor sure, you know, you
know, he did all the workon watching his film and evaluating him and
grading him throughout the process, helpingout, you know what, the work
that we've already done as a scoutingstaff, and then yeah, I think
(06:23):
he was. He was extremely excitedwhen a Marius was in the next day
after after we selected him, SoI guess that would have been Friday.
He was watching film with him,going through you know, like starting to
install our offense, and unfortunately Mariushad to head back, head back to
Georgia, and Frank was wishing hecould have got more time with him to
(06:43):
continue that that process going. Sohe'll be, you know, even more
excited when when we get him inhere next week for rookie Mini camp and
then into OTAs and then continue thatdevelopment with him rookie Mini camp. Right
around the corner. Do you seepossessional versatility with mems? His size,
screams tackle, the sixth state andthe thirty six centch arms and three and
(07:04):
forty pounds of movement ability says tackleas well. Do you see multiple position
versatility? Do you see left rightversatility? Or what was your perspective there
when you were scouting them? Iwould say, right now, he's a
tackle for us, you know,right tackle and left tackle. He can
play. You know, he's I'veseen him down there at practice taking reps
(07:27):
over the last three years at lefttackle. That's not to say he couldn't
be a guard, but we viewhim as a as an offensive tackle and
a guy that's got the ability toto be a high end offensive tackle in
the NFL. But yeah, hehe can play both left and right side
at that tackle position, and it'llbe it'll be up to Zach and the
rest of our coaches to determine whatthe best fit is and what the development
(07:50):
plan is for him in terms ofwhere and when he's going to crack the
lineup. Mike, I'll be carefulwith how I phrased this, I guess,
but just my thousand foot view goinginto the draft was, in an
ideal world, you get the offensivetackle at eighteen, and then there will
be quality defensive tackles there at fortynine because and there only turned out to
(08:15):
be one defensive tackle that went inRound one, but you just you don't
know how it's going to play out. Did you guys kind of view it
that way? Because obviously you geta Marius Mims and then you address defensive
tackle with Chris Jenkins as well.I know you can't bank on the ideal
scenario, but was this sort ofthe ideal scenario going into the draft?
I think those were two positions tackleon both sides of the line of scrimmage
(08:37):
OT and DT that we wanted toaddress going into it. It was a
really good offensive tackle draft. Wewere fortunate that Amarus was, you know,
able to fall to us there ateighteen and then you know, there
were some defensive tackles that we hadtargeted at different levels of the draft.
(08:58):
You never know if it's going toplay out that, but we're very happy
that, you know, those wereprobably arguably two of our top positions that
we wanted to address, whether youwant to call them needs, immediate needs,
or you know, just spots thatwe wanted to add depth to.
You know, if I could havedrawn it up prior to the draft,
I would have felt really good aboutthat scenario playing out the way it did
(09:20):
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(10:28):
you Land. Chris Jenkins in thesecond round noted by many for his ability
to get off blocks in the rungame, make plays in the run game,
really high run stop rate. Whenyou look at the PFF stats,
can you talk about his past rushingability. Seemed like there weren't necessarily as
many opportunities to do that at Michiganas you would see for you know,
the pure three tech of the classthat went in this area. That the
(10:50):
Johnny Newton who went at the topof the second round. A little bit
of a different role for Jenkins,But how did you see his pass rushing
ability at Michigan. We think he'sgot even more untapped potential as a pass
rusher. Sometimes in that Michigan scheme, he was asked the two gap,
he was asked to play stout atthe point of attack. You know,
sometimes he was pinning his ears backand getting upfield and you see those flashes
(11:11):
of what he can be as apass rusher. But he did a did
a great job of playing within theirscheme and did what they were asked to
do. You can see in hisathletic testing numbers just you know, some
of the upside that that he hasin his body and some of the freaking
numbers that that he's put up.You know, you look at the Freaks
List and and all of that stuffthat you know that's been put out there
publicly in terms of what he cando in the weight room or or you
(11:35):
know what the numbers that he putup at the combine and and all that
stuff. So there's there's definite upsideboth as a run player and as a
pass rusher that I think he canhe can get better at. And he's
a he's a pretty polished player asit is right now. Is it fair
to say that you expect and obviouslyhave two veteran offensive tackles ahead of a
(11:56):
Marius. But both of these guysare ready to contribute this year potentially.
I think they're I think they're bothready for sure to to contribute as rookies.
But again it'll be up to ourcoaches that It'll be up to the
camp competitions and and just you know, whatever rotation that our coaches may want
(12:16):
to map out, you know,whatever the timeline and and development plan is
that that they deem appropriate and andyou know that could that could change on
a day to day, week toweek, months to month type of basis.
So as we sit here now,we're we're very happy. I think.
I think across the board, everybodywas on board with these guys that
we that we drafted, not justthe first and second round, but you
(12:37):
know, all ten draft picks thatthat we made. So across the board,
coaching, scouting, ownership, everybodythat's involved in that process, we're
on board with these guys and we'reexcited to see what they can do.
I think that stood Sorry, thething that stood out to me about Chris
when I met him was his energy. Is that something you guys wrote down
(12:58):
because he was Maybe it was becausehe had gotten drafted the night before,
but he brings the energy. Yeah. No, I was telling somebody the
other day, I mean he litup the room when we brought him in
for a combine interview. That canbe a repetitive process. You know,
some of these players are meeting withall thirty two teams back to back to
back, and you're asking a lotof the same questions. They're repeating a
(13:18):
lot of the same answers, soit can get very monotonous for the players.
So when we're comparing from our perspective, all of these players, you
know, asking him very similar questions, and a guy like him comes in
and just lights up the room witha huge, bright personality. Again,
like I mentioned with a Marius,it matches up with the way he was
talked about through our scouting sources atMichigan, and then we bring him in
(13:41):
for a visit as well, andit a ligne, so you're not seeing
differences in the personality. He's kindof kind of the same guy, not
only in our in person interactions withhim, but what was described to us
from staff members throughout his college career. You guys draft a lot of captains,
you talk about that ability to brightena room. Chris Jenkins was a
(14:03):
captain at Michigan. How often doyou see a guy where he has that
kind of character. You're like,that guy's going to be a captain on
this team or has a chance tobe a captain on this team in the
next say three years or something likethat, and that works out. Is
that something that you have an abilityto forecast or predict it all? A
lot of our scouts will put thatin their report. You know, not
(14:24):
every captain is the same. Someguys are voted on by the head coach,
some are voted by the players.Some it's a combination of coaching and
players voted. Some guys they wantto prop up into that captain role.
But like I said, when wego through a thorough scouting process and everybody's
raving about a guy's leadership style andleadership ability, and then he also is
(14:46):
a captain, a lot of guysare scouts in particular, will project those
guys to be potential NFL captains.It's obviously extremely hard to come in and
do that as a rookie, sousually you're talking about two, three,
four years down the line. Butthat's definitely something that we talk about.
That's something that we look for butagain just because the guys, a captain
(15:07):
doesn't necessarily carry as much weight asthe way that he's talked about, you
know, if he's if he's acaptain, and then it also aligns with
him being described in that light throughcommon themes from talking to everybody that we
talked to, then that's what carriesthe most weight. The biggest surprise for
me, Mike was the Jermaine Burtonpick, And I'm kicking myself now because
(15:31):
now that I look at the prospect, we just didn't talk much about him
because we heard about the character questionsand we're like, yeah, he's probably
not going to be high on theBengals board. But I look from a
football standpoint, and I'm not sayinganything our listeners or viewers haven't already heard
or seen, but I think hefits awesome in this offense. I think
he does everything we described that youguys were probably looking for from the inside.
(15:52):
Outside flex the vertical ability, thestrong hands. Obviously when a receiver
that can catch in traffic downfield awayfrom his body, he does all of
those things. So what we're let'sgo to the character evaluation element of this.
How was that pre draft process andhow did Jermaine make such an impact
on you, the coaching staff,the entire organization. Yeah, it's something
(16:15):
that we want to be very thoroughto find out what kind of person that
we're bringing into our building. He'sanother guy, you know, Like I've
said that, we did the fullinterview with him at the Combine in a
formal setting, brought him into Cincinnatifor a thirty visit. We're at the
pro day, We're spending time aroundhim there. So it's a it's a
thorough process. And then obviously you'retalking to you know, if your person
(16:37):
that you can you can possibly grabor or you know in person or talk
to on the phone, or youknow, set up some sort of meeting
with just to put the whole puzzletogether. And it's it's a thorough process
that we went through. Again,like the previous picks that we mentioned,
everybody was on board with this,So it's not it's not you know,
some people have concerns, some peopledon't have concerns. Some people like the
(17:00):
player, some people don't like theplayer or or are luke warm on him.
We're all on board with Jermaine,and like I've I've mentioned previously to
you guys. I think we've gotone of the best receiver coaches in the
league in Troy Walters, and thenI think we've got one of the if
not the best wide receiver room inthe league. And he's a competitive guy
(17:21):
who's going to want to come inand compete with t Jamar and the rest
of those guys. And you know, I think it's as good as any
spot in the league that he couldbe put into, and we're just hoping
to set him up for the mostsuccess possible. We of course got that
great video of Zach Taylor's excitement afterthe pick where he's slamming the arm rests
(17:41):
on his chair, the you knowBengal social media saying they thought he cracked
the table. What's the most excitingthing about selecting Jermaine Burton and getting him
in the building. I think it'sjust you see it when they show all
the all the clips and the highlights, just the explosive plays and the competitive
nature that he plays with. IfI had to boil it down to a
couple of things, you love,you love the passion that he that he
(18:04):
plays with and the the competitiveness,and it just shines through on his tape.
I mean, you guys mentioned allthe things that he brings to the
table. We don't need to goback through all of them. But you
know, in terms of a guythat can separate, has great hands,
and can can create big plays andin a great run after catch ability as
well. You know, there's there'sa ton of things that you could you
(18:26):
can mark off. You know,there's there's not a lot of holes that
you can really poke in his game. He's he's pretty talented and well rounded
across the board. So we're we'rereally excited about what he can do.
You know, that's not gonna bealready made type of prospect in terms of
you just you just put him inthere day one and he's ready to go.
(18:47):
There's gonna be development needed, uhfor sure. But we're excited,
you know, getting in here inour system. We're excited about what he
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When you have prospects like Germaine,where they obviously have talent and everyone in
(20:19):
the league knows that it doesn't takea GM to realize that he has talent,
how do you anticipate where the restof the league has him? Because
outside looking in, now that youguys picked him, there are plenty of
evaluators. We had one on earlierthis week, Steve Polozolo PFF fourth ranked
(20:40):
receiver in the draft behind the bigthree. There's a and he's not alone.
There are a lot of people thatfeel that way. But obviously the
character stuff or whatever pushed him downdraft board. So how do you determine
where you should take him based onthe league and where you think he could
potentially go? Yeah, you neverknow for sure where you can go because
(21:00):
it only takes one team. Youknow, one team could have potentially taken
them off the board in the firstround. Another team maybe wouldn't have drafted
them until a lot later. Soit only takes one. But when we
are fully convicted on the player,like I said, across the board,
and we we know he's a guythat fits in in terms of what we
(21:21):
want to do on offense and canbe a real weapon for us. We
want we want to get him.Obviously, you don't want to draft him
higher than maybe you think you youcan get them. So we do do
all that work. We look atall of the external rankings, we talk
to other guys around the league.There's there's different surveys and and different things
that that we can pull in,you know, maybe that that people would
(21:44):
not have access to publicly and thereand there's there's people you know, on
other clubs that that you trust.I mean, we're we're out on the
road scouting. Sometimes we spend moretime with scouts from from other teams than
than are our own co workers withthe Angles, So you know, there's
a lot of different conversations that goon. I know there's a lot of
(22:04):
people around the league that really likedErmine a lot as a player, and
we were one of those We wereone of those clubs that liked him a
lot, and we we wanted toacquire them, and we didn't want to
you know, wait till later roundand risk losing them to somewhere else.
I'm imagining some sort of very civilespionage kind of relationship between you and other
(22:26):
scouts now where like you're like theAmerican spy and they're the Russian spy.
But you kind of have to cooperatea little bit on some things, or
in my way off there because that'swhen you're exchanging information with other teams.
Obviously you need to get something thatyou can use, but you probably have
to give something up to get that, right. Like I said, it's
usually just in casual conversation, whetheryou're at whether you're at Pro Day's,
(22:48):
whether you're at All Star Games,or if it's back during the fall.
You just kind of get engaged forpeople, whether it's in the film room
and you're evaluating a prospect. Youknow, you just keep your ears open
as a scout and listen to listento all the things you hear and taking
all the information you can with youreyes and ears and then and then put
(23:10):
it all together at the end ofthe day. So you don't feel like
James Bond you're saying, maybe alittle bit, no, not necessarily.
Not necessarily. You get the sportscar though, right, and they give
you that ality on the road.Yeah, that'd be nice. I wouldn't
turn that down. No, notat all. McKinley Jackson obviously. Yeah,
(23:30):
the need at nose tackle. Everyoneknew it. What goes into not
tipping your hand too much, butthe league knowing you need a nose tackle
and deciding to pick him at ninetyseven. Yeah, I mean, I
think at the end of the day, he was a guy that we again
everybody was on board with, Everybodyliked him as a player. We did
(23:52):
the full process on him, LikeI told you guys before we got on
here and started recording, We didthe formal combine interview and the and the
thirty visit into Cincinnati with with eachof the of these top picks, and
you know that that just happened tobe the way it worked out, and
we we gained conviction on him bothas a as a player and as a
(24:14):
person throughout the throughout the process.There wasn't a ton of those huge,
big bodied nose tackles in this draft. But you know, when you're talking
about taking a guy in the inthe top three rounds, you're you're talking
about a guy that has starter qualitiesand you know, we we think he
can he can you know, dothat for us and perform in a starting
level role for us as a nosetackle. You know, when that is,
(24:38):
you know, remains to be seen. If that's as a rookie,
it could be. I wouldn't rulethat out or or into the future.
But like you said, we welost DJ Reader, we needed a big
man there in the middle of thedefense. And then you know, adding
adding McKinley and Chris Jenkins, wefeel really good about where we came out
on the interior defensive line. Comingout of this draft. It seems to
(25:00):
have a really explosive first step.He did a lot of one gaping at
Texas A and m Jermaine Burton similarly, talking about transitions to the NFL,
his most recent year over twenty yardaveraged up the target just vertical, vertical,
vertical in that Alabama offense. Whenyou think about the transitions for these
third round picks, are those thingsthat will be stylistically a little bit different
(25:21):
or will require some adaptation from theplayers from perhaps going to more deal with
double teams, hold the point twogaping kind of thing for McKinley, Jackson
one and a half gaping and maybemore diverse. Not everything's a bomb experience
for Jermaine Burton, Yeah, Imean, I think that's why we take
every piece of information in and evaluateit. We evaluate these players' skill sets,
(25:48):
and then it's a projection in termsof, you know, maybe some
of the things that they weren't askedto do in their college schemes, whether
that's on offense or defense. Soyou know, maybe Jermaine had a lot
more of the the deep, youknow, high angle tech type of routes,
the posts, the go routes,big explosive down the field throws.
(26:08):
But you also evaluate his quickness andhis changing the direction on some of the
underneath stuff. You evaluate his instinctsas a route runner, his overall feel
and savvy, and you have toproject that and put it all together,
you know, in every exposure thatyou have in terms of if he's going
to be able to run some ofthe different routes that we may ask him
to run that that weren't asked ofhim at Alabama or maybe even Georgia as
(26:30):
well earlier in his career. Andthen and then McKinley. You know,
Jermaine wasn't at the Senior Bowl.McKinley was, so you get even more
exposure to maybe a little bit differentstyle a little bit different scheme, different
coaching there in terms of NFL coachesthat he was exposed to at the senior
bawl. So you piece all thattogether, you evaluate his physical skill set,
(26:52):
and I think he can play ina two gap scout two two gap
style of of defensive line or orone gap you know maybe, uh what
you know one or the other.These guys have more exposure to in their
college scheme and in terms of ourprojection, we think they can They can
do a little bit of everything.Mike, you guys take Eric All with
(27:14):
your first pick on day three andlocal kid from Fairfield High School. It
is just from a position standpoint,Uh, it wasn't considered a deep or
great tight end class and you endup with two of them. But let's
start with all what what stood outthe most and is this kind of ideal
with what you have on the rosteris a guy that has some question marks,
(27:37):
but if he can get healthy andget that knee healthy and stay healthy,
can be a long term piece.Yeah, I think you hit it
one hundred. There's tight ends onour roster that we feel really good about.
You know, Mike and Tanner areon one year deals. This year,
so you never know what the futuremay hold at the position. We
didn't have a ton of numbers atin the tight end room going into it,
(28:00):
but coming out, we feel likewe have really nice s depth with
adding uh these two players. EricAll, I think I think it comes
down to the medical evaluation we haveto you know, trust our trust our
scouts and trust our doctors as well, and the whole evaluation process that we've
done on him. I think he'sa player that would have gone higher for
sure if he wasn't coming off ofthe knee injury. He's an explosive guy.
(28:26):
He's we think he has y nF ability. UH can bring you
know, some nice blocking ability tothe table. But he's he's not just
a fast, straight line explosive guy. He can run the option type of
routes underneath really good change of direction, fluidity, really good hands, run
after catchability. So he's we're reallyexcited to add him. It's it's just
(28:48):
about the timeline of getting him upto speed and off of that injury.
There's there's uh, you know,I think he I think he just overall
has a well rounded skill set bothas a pass catcher and as a blocker,
so we're really excited to add him. It goes into what you were
asking about Jermaine, just in termsof putting a value on him. It
was it got to the fourth round, and he's a guy that we had
(29:11):
a ton of conviction on another guythat was in here in Cincinnati visiting for
us that we were able to getdue to him being from Cincinnati. We
were able to get him in ona visit and not count against one of
our thirty. So that was thatwas awesome to spend some time with him
here in the office and and gaineven more conviction on him after you know,
you kind of fall in love withhis tape in the evaluation on him
(29:33):
as a player. So you know, we at the end of the day,
we felt like taking him there inthe fourth round was was really good
value and we didn't want to riskwaiting another round and you know, in
the possibility that he could go offthe board to another team and talk about
another Iowa tight end who has allof this different skill set to play in
(29:56):
line, to play outside, straightline, speed, the ability to change
direction. I've asked this question ofothers who aren't eployed by NFL teams this
week, Mike. But I'm gonnaask you now, can I have permission
from an NFL scout to start scoutingthe helmet on tight ends coming out of
Iowa? Just like like a sliverof permission? Is that cool? I
mean, I would say, ifif there's one place that you can in
(30:19):
terms of the tight end position,that would be the best place to do
it, I would I would neverput that, you know, completely on
scouting the helmet because you could alwaysyou could always get into trouble. But
you know, in terms of there'ssome there's some schools at specific positions that
really have put out a ton ofton of guys in Iowa, a tight
end is probably as good as asgood as any that any example that you
(30:44):
could put up there. And thenthe question is is one year enough because
he obviously transferred from Michigan. Andthen you have a whole other conversation around
scouting the helmet that we don't haveto get into. Jane Starry, go
ahead, No, you're good.Let's let's talk about Josh Newton a little
bit, because he's someone that leftan impression on us just conference call.
We haven't met him yet, buthe seemed obviously excited to get picked by
(31:07):
you guys. Mentioned he wanted tobe a Swiss army knife on defense,
would do whatever lou wanted him todo. Of course, what stood out
when evaluating him and do you thinkhe can be that where he plays nick
or he plays outside and is oneof these backup boundary corners this year.
Yeah, we think he has thatkind of versatility. We think he can
play inside and outside and what youwhat you heard on that conference call.
(31:30):
I think I think we see thaton a tape in terms of the passion
that he plays with, the instincts, physicality, you know, very productive
in terms of ball production. Sowe're we're really excited about him. He's
he's a guy that we had highregard for, you know, scouting him
over the over the past couple ofyears after he transferred in there to to
TCU. So he's a he's aguy that you know, there's there's a
(31:52):
lot of these guys that you're surprisedthat they're there. And the reason that
I keep saying that is because whenwhen the guys is valued higher than where
we take him on the board's that'sthe reason they end up being the selection
in a lot of cases because thatguy is valued higher than the round that
we ended up acquiring him. Andthat's the case here with Josh as well.
(32:13):
Yeah, listen to the draft analystsagain who don't work for teams,
Dave Bruglers of the world. Theythought Josh Newton was a first round player
going into the year. Did yousee it that way after his second to
last year in university and how didhow did his last year kind of contribute
to his eventual draft status for umfor the league. Yeah, we liked
(32:34):
him a lot coming, you know, just based on our scouts evaluation off
of twenty twenty two. I think, you know, maybe looking looking at
last year, he probably had alittle bit more ball production, and then
obviously he's he's in more of thelimelight in terms in terms of the great
season that TCU had and their theirplayoff run and everything like that. Obviously
their season didn't go quite as wellthis year, and he still had a
(32:59):
productive season and still had really goodtake for us to evaluate. So I
wouldn't say there was a major dropoff or anything like that, but in
terms of the past two years altogetheras a whole, you evaluate the whole
picture in the overall product, andhe's a guy that you know, we
we haven't lost any love for,you know, over the past couple of
years, and he's always been aguy that we regarded highly. I think
(33:22):
Jake wants to ask you about afew of the Day three guys, but
I'm going to get ahead of himon one. He wants to know why
you didn't take Matt Lee eighteenth overallbecause he loves the pick and thinks that
he's going to potentially be a backupright away and contribute right away, and
he was your last pick. Solet's jump to Matt Lee. Well,
like I said, every teams hasa different draft board. You know,
(33:45):
we obviously liked Matt Lee a lot, and you know, maybe could have
taken him higher. You never knowif Matt Lee's going to be there in
the seventh round. Like I said, it only takes one team to take
him, you know, several roundshigher than that. But we were again
glad he was there in the seventhround. Been evaluating him, you know,
transferred him from from Central Florida intoMiami. Really enjoyed talking to him
(34:07):
down there at the East West game. We did a long interview with him,
and then I was down there atthe Miami Pro Day and got to
be around him again, you know, for for another exposure. So you
really like his makeup, what he'sall about, intelligence, toughness, the
passion that he plays with. Ithink when you guys meet him and spend
(34:27):
some time around him in some ofthe u the open locker rooms and the
you know, the media availabilities thathe has, I think you'll really get
you know, really learned to likehim a lot in his personality, but
as a player, very athletic center, very physical, instinctive player. Uh,
you know, put put out alot of really high quality tape this
year at Miami. So again aguy that we thought maybe could have could
(34:52):
have went higher for sure than hedid. And and you know, maybe
we would we would have considered hima little bit earlier, but we were
we were very glad that he wasthere in the seventh round and we were
able to acquire him and looking forwardto him competing here for us when we
get him in here starting at RookieMini Camp next week. Yeah, he
ends up a top one hundred playeron the board we do every year just
(35:13):
because of the past production, thepast protection production, the consistent track record
in pass pro in college, andthe athleticism, and that's what stands out
about him and Cedric Johnson to meas some of your later picks, two
guys that are high end athletes,and Lee and Min's as well, high
end athletes with good pass protection ability. Do you see Cedric Johnson as a
(35:34):
untaffed potential kind of player where hehad some production in college and looked like
he was taking off through two yearsand then didn't necessarily take the next step
in production, but has had theseathletic traits. Is there a next step
for him that you're really hoping tosee early on here in Cincinnati. I
really think there is. He checksevery box from a character standpoint in terms
(35:59):
of the way that he's wired,and then you match that up with,
like you said, the high endtraits that he has athletically, very gifted,
explosive, powerful athlete. We're we'rereally excited to get him in the
sixth round especially. I mean,that's that's a great pick for us,
I think. And then you know, you can never go wrong adding adding
(36:21):
players that rush the passer and affectthe quarterback, and you know, we
we think there's you know, similarto the conversation we were talking about with
with Chris Jenkins. We think there'seven more untapped potential there as a pass
rusher with him, and I'm reallyexcited for him to get in and uh
you know, work with Marion Hobby, Mark Duffner and all those guys on
our on our defensive coaching staff,and I think they can develop his game
(36:42):
and take him to uh two newlevels because he's got everything there from a
character, a wiring, a workethic, an intelligence standpoint, and also
has all the physical traits. Sowe're we're really excited about Cedric. Mike.
We always appreciate the extra insight thatwe can from you talking about the
draft class. Of course we seeit from the outside, but the bits
(37:05):
you can provide us from the insideare always very insightful, and I know
it's information that our listeners will appreciatehearing as well. So appreciate the time,
Mike that you make for us everyyear. Thanks Mike, absolutely,
I appreciate you guys. Always goodtalking to you. That's going to do
it for this episode of the LockdownBengals podcast. Until next time, Thanks
(37:25):
for listening, who day, andhave a good one Hey Prime members.
You can listen to this Lockdown podcastad free on Amazon Music. Download the
Amazon Music app today
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, YourTeam every Day. The twenty twenty four
NFL Draft is in the books inBengals Director of College Scouting Mike Potts is
here to break down all ten Bengalsselections. You are Locked On Bengals,
(00:29):
your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, partof the Locked On podcast network, Your
Team every Day. Hi again,everyone, and welcome in to the Lockdown
Bengals Podcast. I'm James Erpene andwe as in my co hosts Jake Lisco
and I will be joined by BengalsDirector of College Scouting Mike Potts in sixty
seconds or less. Today's show hasbrought to you by Monopoly Go, and
(00:52):
I admit it, I have acompetitive side and if you do, Monopoly
Go is perfect for you. Themobile hit Twist on Classic Monopoly is available
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today. And Mike Potts obviously hada huge hand in the Bengals ten draft
picks, from Amrius Mims all theway down to Matt Lee their final selection
(01:15):
in the seventh round. And so, without further ado, let's get to
our interview with Bengals director of Collegescouting Mike Potts, Mike, A lot
of picks in this draft that we'regoing to talk about today. A Marius
Mems the first of those picks.You've talked about these guys. We've talked
about these guys all week. Myquestion for a Marius Mens to start is,
(01:38):
he's talked about areas for improvement.You turn on the tape. There's
natural pass protection ability there, greatfeet, especially for a guy that's three
point forty. When you had himin and you met with him, what
were the big takeaways from meeting withhim in person that sold you on A
Marius Men's ability to play at thenext level. I think he's really just
a good person. If you haveto sum it up. The character's really
(02:00):
good in terms of the reports thatwe got from Georgia talking to everybody down
there at the school, and thenhe's just a fun guy to be around.
I'm sure you guys talked to himin some of his media availability after
we drafted him. Really good personality, a lot of positive energy, very
bright eyed young man. Really reallyenjoyed spending time with him both at the
(02:20):
combine and when we brought him inon the thirty visit. I was down
there at the Georgia's pro DA gota chance to be around him there as
well. So it just aligns withthe information that we had from the school
in our scouting process, and youjust gave us that much more conviction on
him as a person and as aplayer, Mike, as far as his
ceiling goes, I think everyone isagreement when you see six' eight three
(02:46):
forty all the physical tools. Hejust looks different when you meet him.
But the other part of it isthe floor. And I think part of
the narrative with Amarus Mims, atleast pre draft was he's got a low
floor because he only has eight collegestarts. How did you guys view or
how do you guys view his flooras a prospect, because I'm sure that
(03:06):
you take that into consideration as well. Yeah I don't. I don't necessarily
agree that he has a low floor. Honestly when when watching his tape,
because his tape's really really good there. There's honestly not a whole lot that
you can nitpick or poke holes inabout his tape. And yeah, he
only started eight games, but heplayed a lot more snaps than your average
guy that only only started eight games. He was in a rotation with some
(03:30):
high end you know, draft picksthere that that came out last year in
previous years on the offensive line inGeorgia. So he does have high quality
tape. Obviously, you would liketo see it, you know, and
more volume. Uh, you knowwhen when you're just have more overall tape
to evaluate on him. But it'snot. It's not a guy that's really
(03:50):
inconsistent and you just see the flashesand the highs and the lows on his
tape. I think he's pretty evenin his high level of production when you
watch his tape so well, Idon't necessarily think that he's a low floor,
high ceiling prospect. We kind ofview him as a high floor,
high ceiling prospect when we're evaluating him. Do you view him as a pretty
(04:11):
good pass protector already? Because whenI look at the tape for him,
he's consistently beating defenders to the spot. He's really bursty out of his stance
a lot of times, has twofeet two steps of movement before you see
the defenders even get off the snap, and then he has that incredible length
and that helps him recover even ifhe does overset a little bit or a
(04:31):
guy sees him get to his spotand you get the inside countermove. Do
you think there's a lot more todo for him? I mean, obviously
the mental part of the game andgetting used to playing beside whoever the guard
is, he's going to play beside. But do you see him as a
pretty high end pass protector already verygifted in past protection. Like you mentioned,
(04:53):
he's got all the traits. There'snot many guys that are more gifted
than he is physically. And then, like we mentioned in the beginning,
the character on top of that,you know, like you said, he's
just going to need more reps.You're facing the high end pass rushers that
we face in our division, inthe AFC North and around the rest of
the NFL. You know that there'ssome of the freakiest human beings walking the
(05:15):
earth. So that's that's never easyto pass block in the NFL, and
it's going to be an adjustment,just like it's going to be for anybody.
It's, you know, gonna besomething that he's going to have to
get used to. And as heplays more, just angles that he plays
with, the technique that he playswith is going to continue to get better
and better as he gets you know, more NFL coaching, and he's pushed
(05:38):
and is learning from other veterans inthe room on that offensive line. So
we're really excited about about what notonly what he is right now, but
what he can be in the future. Mike Colex sided was Frank Pollack when
when you've told him or he foundout that Amrius Mims was going to be
the guy at eighteen? Because I'msure position coaches all the time get excited,
(05:59):
but if I was an offensive linecoach seeing a freak like that being
able to land him, I'm sureit would be an exciting time. Yeah,
I think Frank was was really excitedfor sure, you know, you
know, he did all the workon watching his film and evaluating him and
grading him throughout the process, helpingout, you know what, the work
that we've already done as a scoutingstaff, and then yeah, I think
(06:23):
he was. He was extremely excitedwhen a Marius was in the next day
after after we selected him, SoI guess that would have been Friday.
He was watching film with him,going through you know, like starting to
install our offense, and unfortunately Mariushad to head back, head back to
Georgia, and Frank was wishing hecould have got more time with him to
(06:43):
continue that that process going. Sohe'll be, you know, even more
excited when when we get him inhere next week for rookie Mini camp and
then into OTAs and then continue thatdevelopment with him rookie Mini camp. Right
around the corner. Do you seepossessional versatility with mems? His size,
screams tackle, the sixth state andthe thirty six centch arms and three and
(07:04):
forty pounds of movement ability says tackleas well. Do you see multiple position
versatility? Do you see left rightversatility? Or what was your perspective there
when you were scouting them? Iwould say, right now, he's a
tackle for us, you know,right tackle and left tackle. He can
play. You know, he's I'veseen him down there at practice taking reps
(07:27):
over the last three years at lefttackle. That's not to say he couldn't
be a guard, but we viewhim as a as an offensive tackle and
a guy that's got the ability toto be a high end offensive tackle in
the NFL. But yeah, hehe can play both left and right side
at that tackle position, and it'llbe it'll be up to Zach and the
rest of our coaches to determine whatthe best fit is and what the development
(07:50):
plan is for him in terms ofwhere and when he's going to crack the
lineup. Mike, I'll be carefulwith how I phrased this, I guess,
but just my thousand foot view goinginto the draft was, in an
ideal world, you get the offensivetackle at eighteen, and then there will
be quality defensive tackles there at fortynine because and there only turned out to
(08:15):
be one defensive tackle that went inRound one, but you just you don't
know how it's going to play out. Did you guys kind of view it
that way? Because obviously you geta Marius Mims and then you address defensive
tackle with Chris Jenkins as well.I know you can't bank on the ideal
scenario, but was this sort ofthe ideal scenario going into the draft?
I think those were two positions tackleon both sides of the line of scrimmage
(08:37):
OT and DT that we wanted toaddress going into it. It was a
really good offensive tackle draft. Wewere fortunate that Amarus was, you know,
able to fall to us there ateighteen and then you know, there
were some defensive tackles that we hadtargeted at different levels of the draft.
(08:58):
You never know if it's going toplay out that, but we're very happy
that, you know, those wereprobably arguably two of our top positions that
we wanted to address, whether youwant to call them needs, immediate needs,
or you know, just spots thatwe wanted to add depth to.
You know, if I could havedrawn it up prior to the draft,
I would have felt really good aboutthat scenario playing out the way it did
(09:20):
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(10:28):
you Land. Chris Jenkins in thesecond round noted by many for his ability
to get off blocks in the rungame, make plays in the run game,
really high run stop rate. Whenyou look at the PFF stats,
can you talk about his past rushingability. Seemed like there weren't necessarily as
many opportunities to do that at Michiganas you would see for you know,
the pure three tech of the classthat went in this area. That the
(10:50):
Johnny Newton who went at the topof the second round. A little bit
of a different role for Jenkins,But how did you see his pass rushing
ability at Michigan. We think he'sgot even more untapped potential as a pass
rusher. Sometimes in that Michigan scheme, he was asked the two gap,
he was asked to play stout atthe point of attack. You know,
sometimes he was pinning his ears backand getting upfield and you see those flashes
(11:11):
of what he can be as apass rusher. But he did a did
a great job of playing within theirscheme and did what they were asked to
do. You can see in hisathletic testing numbers just you know, some
of the upside that that he hasin his body and some of the freaking
numbers that that he's put up.You know, you look at the Freaks
List and and all of that stuffthat you know that's been put out there
publicly in terms of what he cando in the weight room or or you
(11:35):
know what the numbers that he putup at the combine and and all that
stuff. So there's there's definite upsideboth as a run player and as a
pass rusher that I think he canhe can get better at. And he's
a he's a pretty polished player asit is right now. Is it fair
to say that you expect and obviouslyhave two veteran offensive tackles ahead of a
(11:56):
Marius. But both of these guysare ready to contribute this year potentially.
I think they're I think they're bothready for sure to to contribute as rookies.
But again it'll be up to ourcoaches that It'll be up to the
camp competitions and and just you know, whatever rotation that our coaches may want
(12:16):
to map out, you know,whatever the timeline and and development plan is
that that they deem appropriate and andyou know that could that could change on
a day to day, week toweek, months to month type of basis.
So as we sit here now,we're we're very happy. I think.
I think across the board, everybodywas on board with these guys that
we that we drafted, not justthe first and second round, but you
(12:37):
know, all ten draft picks thatthat we made. So across the board,
coaching, scouting, ownership, everybodythat's involved in that process, we're
on board with these guys and we'reexcited to see what they can do.
I think that stood Sorry, thething that stood out to me about Chris
when I met him was his energy. Is that something you guys wrote down
(12:58):
because he was Maybe it was becausehe had gotten drafted the night before,
but he brings the energy. Yeah. No, I was telling somebody the
other day, I mean he litup the room when we brought him in
for a combine interview. That canbe a repetitive process. You know,
some of these players are meeting withall thirty two teams back to back to
back, and you're asking a lotof the same questions. They're repeating a
(13:18):
lot of the same answers, soit can get very monotonous for the players.
So when we're comparing from our perspective, all of these players, you
know, asking him very similar questions, and a guy like him comes in
and just lights up the room witha huge, bright personality. Again,
like I mentioned with a Marius,it matches up with the way he was
talked about through our scouting sources atMichigan, and then we bring him in
(13:41):
for a visit as well, andit a ligne, so you're not seeing
differences in the personality. He's kindof kind of the same guy, not
only in our in person interactions withhim, but what was described to us
from staff members throughout his college career. You guys draft a lot of captains,
you talk about that ability to brightena room. Chris Jenkins was a
(14:03):
captain at Michigan. How often doyou see a guy where he has that
kind of character. You're like,that guy's going to be a captain on
this team or has a chance tobe a captain on this team in the
next say three years or something likethat, and that works out. Is
that something that you have an abilityto forecast or predict it all? A
lot of our scouts will put thatin their report. You know, not
(14:24):
every captain is the same. Someguys are voted on by the head coach,
some are voted by the players.Some it's a combination of coaching and
players voted. Some guys they wantto prop up into that captain role.
But like I said, when wego through a thorough scouting process and everybody's
raving about a guy's leadership style andleadership ability, and then he also is
(14:46):
a captain, a lot of guysare scouts in particular, will project those
guys to be potential NFL captains.It's obviously extremely hard to come in and
do that as a rookie, sousually you're talking about two, three,
four years down the line. Butthat's definitely something that we talk about.
That's something that we look for butagain just because the guys, a captain
(15:07):
doesn't necessarily carry as much weight asthe way that he's talked about, you
know, if he's if he's acaptain, and then it also aligns with
him being described in that light throughcommon themes from talking to everybody that we
talked to, then that's what carriesthe most weight. The biggest surprise for
me, Mike was the Jermaine Burtonpick, And I'm kicking myself now because
(15:31):
now that I look at the prospect, we just didn't talk much about him
because we heard about the character questionsand we're like, yeah, he's probably
not going to be high on theBengals board. But I look from a
football standpoint, and I'm not sayinganything our listeners or viewers haven't already heard
or seen, but I think hefits awesome in this offense. I think
he does everything we described that youguys were probably looking for from the inside.
(15:52):
Outside flex the vertical ability, thestrong hands. Obviously when a receiver
that can catch in traffic downfield awayfrom his body, he does all of
those things. So what we're let'sgo to the character evaluation element of this.
How was that pre draft process andhow did Jermaine make such an impact
on you, the coaching staff,the entire organization. Yeah, it's something
(16:15):
that we want to be very thoroughto find out what kind of person that
we're bringing into our building. He'sanother guy, you know, Like I've
said that, we did the fullinterview with him at the Combine in a
formal setting, brought him into Cincinnatifor a thirty visit. We're at the
pro day, We're spending time aroundhim there. So it's a it's a
thorough process. And then obviously you'retalking to you know, if your person
(16:37):
that you can you can possibly grabor or you know in person or talk
to on the phone, or youknow, set up some sort of meeting
with just to put the whole puzzletogether. And it's it's a thorough process
that we went through. Again,like the previous picks that we mentioned,
everybody was on board with this,So it's not it's not you know,
some people have concerns, some peopledon't have concerns. Some people like the
(17:00):
player, some people don't like theplayer or or are luke warm on him.
We're all on board with Jermaine,and like I've I've mentioned previously to
you guys. I think we've gotone of the best receiver coaches in the
league in Troy Walters, and thenI think we've got one of the if
not the best wide receiver room inthe league. And he's a competitive guy
(17:21):
who's going to want to come inand compete with t Jamar and the rest
of those guys. And you know, I think it's as good as any
spot in the league that he couldbe put into, and we're just hoping
to set him up for the mostsuccess possible. We of course got that
great video of Zach Taylor's excitement afterthe pick where he's slamming the arm rests
(17:41):
on his chair, the you knowBengal social media saying they thought he cracked
the table. What's the most excitingthing about selecting Jermaine Burton and getting him
in the building. I think it'sjust you see it when they show all
the all the clips and the highlights, just the explosive plays and the competitive
nature that he plays with. IfI had to boil it down to a
couple of things, you love,you love the passion that he that he
(18:04):
plays with and the the competitiveness,and it just shines through on his tape.
I mean, you guys mentioned allthe things that he brings to the
table. We don't need to goback through all of them. But you
know, in terms of a guythat can separate, has great hands,
and can can create big plays andin a great run after catch ability as
well. You know, there's there'sa ton of things that you could you
(18:26):
can mark off. You know,there's there's not a lot of holes that
you can really poke in his game. He's he's pretty talented and well rounded
across the board. So we're we'rereally excited about what he can do.
You know, that's not gonna bealready made type of prospect in terms of
you just you just put him inthere day one and he's ready to go.
(18:47):
There's gonna be development needed, uhfor sure. But we're excited,
you know, getting in here inour system. We're excited about what he
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When you have prospects like Germaine,where they obviously have talent and everyone in
(20:19):
the league knows that it doesn't takea GM to realize that he has talent,
how do you anticipate where the restof the league has him? Because
outside looking in, now that youguys picked him, there are plenty of
evaluators. We had one on earlierthis week, Steve Polozolo PFF fourth ranked
(20:40):
receiver in the draft behind the bigthree. There's a and he's not alone.
There are a lot of people thatfeel that way. But obviously the
character stuff or whatever pushed him downdraft board. So how do you determine
where you should take him based onthe league and where you think he could
potentially go? Yeah, you neverknow for sure where you can go because
(21:00):
it only takes one team. Youknow, one team could have potentially taken
them off the board in the firstround. Another team maybe wouldn't have drafted
them until a lot later. Soit only takes one. But when we
are fully convicted on the player,like I said, across the board,
and we we know he's a guythat fits in in terms of what we
(21:21):
want to do on offense and canbe a real weapon for us. We
want we want to get him.Obviously, you don't want to draft him
higher than maybe you think you youcan get them. So we do do
all that work. We look atall of the external rankings, we talk
to other guys around the league.There's there's different surveys and and different things
that that we can pull in,you know, maybe that that people would
(21:44):
not have access to publicly and thereand there's there's people you know, on
other clubs that that you trust.I mean, we're we're out on the
road scouting. Sometimes we spend moretime with scouts from from other teams than
than are our own co workers withthe Angles, So you know, there's
a lot of different conversations that goon. I know there's a lot of
(22:04):
people around the league that really likedErmine a lot as a player, and
we were one of those We wereone of those clubs that liked him a
lot, and we we wanted toacquire them, and we didn't want to
you know, wait till later roundand risk losing them to somewhere else.
I'm imagining some sort of very civilespionage kind of relationship between you and other
(22:26):
scouts now where like you're like theAmerican spy and they're the Russian spy.
But you kind of have to cooperatea little bit on some things, or
in my way off there because that'swhen you're exchanging information with other teams.
Obviously you need to get something thatyou can use, but you probably have
to give something up to get that, right. Like I said, it's
usually just in casual conversation, whetheryou're at whether you're at Pro Day's,
(22:48):
whether you're at All Star Games,or if it's back during the fall.
You just kind of get engaged forpeople, whether it's in the film room
and you're evaluating a prospect. Youknow, you just keep your ears open
as a scout and listen to listento all the things you hear and taking
all the information you can with youreyes and ears and then and then put
(23:10):
it all together at the end ofthe day. So you don't feel like
James Bond you're saying, maybe alittle bit, no, not necessarily.
Not necessarily. You get the sportscar though, right, and they give
you that ality on the road.Yeah, that'd be nice. I wouldn't
turn that down. No, notat all. McKinley Jackson obviously. Yeah,
(23:30):
the need at nose tackle. Everyoneknew it. What goes into not
tipping your hand too much, butthe league knowing you need a nose tackle
and deciding to pick him at ninetyseven. Yeah, I mean, I
think at the end of the day, he was a guy that we again
everybody was on board with, Everybodyliked him as a player. We did
(23:52):
the full process on him, LikeI told you guys before we got on
here and started recording, We didthe formal combine interview and the and the
thirty visit into Cincinnati with with eachof the of these top picks, and
you know that that just happened tobe the way it worked out, and
we we gained conviction on him bothas a as a player and as a
(24:14):
person throughout the throughout the process.There wasn't a ton of those huge,
big bodied nose tackles in this draft. But you know, when you're talking
about taking a guy in the inthe top three rounds, you're you're talking
about a guy that has starter qualitiesand you know, we we think he
can he can you know, dothat for us and perform in a starting
level role for us as a nosetackle. You know, when that is,
(24:38):
you know, remains to be seen. If that's as a rookie,
it could be. I wouldn't rulethat out or or into the future.
But like you said, we welost DJ Reader, we needed a big
man there in the middle of thedefense. And then you know, adding
adding McKinley and Chris Jenkins, wefeel really good about where we came out
on the interior defensive line. Comingout of this draft. It seems to
(25:00):
have a really explosive first step.He did a lot of one gaping at
Texas A and m Jermaine Burton similarly, talking about transitions to the NFL,
his most recent year over twenty yardaveraged up the target just vertical, vertical,
vertical in that Alabama offense. Whenyou think about the transitions for these
third round picks, are those thingsthat will be stylistically a little bit different
(25:21):
or will require some adaptation from theplayers from perhaps going to more deal with
double teams, hold the point twogaping kind of thing for McKinley, Jackson
one and a half gaping and maybemore diverse. Not everything's a bomb experience
for Jermaine Burton, Yeah, Imean, I think that's why we take
every piece of information in and evaluateit. We evaluate these players' skill sets,
(25:48):
and then it's a projection in termsof, you know, maybe some
of the things that they weren't askedto do in their college schemes, whether
that's on offense or defense. Soyou know, maybe Jermaine had a lot
more of the the deep, youknow, high angle tech type of routes,
the posts, the go routes,big explosive down the field throws.
(26:08):
But you also evaluate his quickness andhis changing the direction on some of the
underneath stuff. You evaluate his instinctsas a route runner, his overall feel
and savvy, and you have toproject that and put it all together,
you know, in every exposure thatyou have in terms of if he's going
to be able to run some ofthe different routes that we may ask him
to run that that weren't asked ofhim at Alabama or maybe even Georgia as
(26:30):
well earlier in his career. Andthen and then McKinley. You know,
Jermaine wasn't at the Senior Bowl.McKinley was, so you get even more
exposure to maybe a little bit differentstyle a little bit different scheme, different
coaching there in terms of NFL coachesthat he was exposed to at the senior
bawl. So you piece all thattogether, you evaluate his physical skill set,
(26:52):
and I think he can play ina two gap scout two two gap
style of of defensive line or orone gap you know maybe, uh what
you know one or the other.These guys have more exposure to in their
college scheme and in terms of ourprojection, we think they can They can
do a little bit of everything.Mike, you guys take Eric All with
(27:14):
your first pick on day three andlocal kid from Fairfield High School. It
is just from a position standpoint,Uh, it wasn't considered a deep or
great tight end class and you endup with two of them. But let's
start with all what what stood outthe most and is this kind of ideal
with what you have on the rosteris a guy that has some question marks,
(27:37):
but if he can get healthy andget that knee healthy and stay healthy,
can be a long term piece.Yeah, I think you hit it
one hundred. There's tight ends onour roster that we feel really good about.
You know, Mike and Tanner areon one year deals. This year,
so you never know what the futuremay hold at the position. We
didn't have a ton of numbers atin the tight end room going into it,
(28:00):
but coming out, we feel likewe have really nice s depth with
adding uh these two players. EricAll, I think I think it comes
down to the medical evaluation we haveto you know, trust our trust our
scouts and trust our doctors as well, and the whole evaluation process that we've
done on him. I think he'sa player that would have gone higher for
sure if he wasn't coming off ofthe knee injury. He's an explosive guy.
(28:26):
He's we think he has y nF ability. UH can bring you
know, some nice blocking ability tothe table. But he's he's not just
a fast, straight line explosive guy. He can run the option type of
routes underneath really good change of direction, fluidity, really good hands, run
after catchability. So he's we're reallyexcited to add him. It's it's just
(28:48):
about the timeline of getting him upto speed and off of that injury.
There's there's uh, you know,I think he I think he just overall
has a well rounded skill set bothas a pass catcher and as a blocker,
so we're really excited to add him. It goes into what you were
asking about Jermaine, just in termsof putting a value on him. It
was it got to the fourth round, and he's a guy that we had
(29:11):
a ton of conviction on another guythat was in here in Cincinnati visiting for
us that we were able to getdue to him being from Cincinnati. We
were able to get him in ona visit and not count against one of
our thirty. So that was thatwas awesome to spend some time with him
here in the office and and gaineven more conviction on him after you know,
you kind of fall in love withhis tape in the evaluation on him
(29:33):
as a player. So you know, we at the end of the day,
we felt like taking him there inthe fourth round was was really good
value and we didn't want to riskwaiting another round and you know, in
the possibility that he could go offthe board to another team and talk about
another Iowa tight end who has allof this different skill set to play in
(29:56):
line, to play outside, straightline, speed, the ability to change
direction. I've asked this question ofothers who aren't eployed by NFL teams this
week, Mike. But I'm gonnaask you now, can I have permission
from an NFL scout to start scoutingthe helmet on tight ends coming out of
Iowa? Just like like a sliverof permission? Is that cool? I
mean, I would say, ifif there's one place that you can in
(30:19):
terms of the tight end position,that would be the best place to do
it, I would I would neverput that, you know, completely on
scouting the helmet because you could alwaysyou could always get into trouble. But
you know, in terms of there'ssome there's some schools at specific positions that
really have put out a ton ofton of guys in Iowa, a tight
end is probably as good as asgood as any that any example that you
(30:44):
could put up there. And thenthe question is is one year enough because
he obviously transferred from Michigan. Andthen you have a whole other conversation around
scouting the helmet that we don't haveto get into. Jane Starry, go
ahead, No, you're good.Let's let's talk about Josh Newton a little
bit, because he's someone that leftan impression on us just conference call.
We haven't met him yet, buthe seemed obviously excited to get picked by
(31:07):
you guys. Mentioned he wanted tobe a Swiss army knife on defense,
would do whatever lou wanted him todo. Of course, what stood out
when evaluating him and do you thinkhe can be that where he plays nick
or he plays outside and is oneof these backup boundary corners this year.
Yeah, we think he has thatkind of versatility. We think he can
play inside and outside and what youwhat you heard on that conference call.
(31:30):
I think I think we see thaton a tape in terms of the passion
that he plays with, the instincts, physicality, you know, very productive
in terms of ball production. Sowe're we're really excited about him. He's
he's a guy that we had highregard for, you know, scouting him
over the over the past couple ofyears after he transferred in there to to
TCU. So he's a he's aguy that you know, there's there's a
(31:52):
lot of these guys that you're surprisedthat they're there. And the reason that
I keep saying that is because whenwhen the guys is valued higher than where
we take him on the board's that'sthe reason they end up being the selection
in a lot of cases because thatguy is valued higher than the round that
we ended up acquiring him. Andthat's the case here with Josh as well.
(32:13):
Yeah, listen to the draft analystsagain who don't work for teams,
Dave Bruglers of the world. Theythought Josh Newton was a first round player
going into the year. Did yousee it that way after his second to
last year in university and how didhow did his last year kind of contribute
to his eventual draft status for umfor the league. Yeah, we liked
(32:34):
him a lot coming, you know, just based on our scouts evaluation off
of twenty twenty two. I think, you know, maybe looking looking at
last year, he probably had alittle bit more ball production, and then
obviously he's he's in more of thelimelight in terms in terms of the great
season that TCU had and their theirplayoff run and everything like that. Obviously
their season didn't go quite as wellthis year, and he still had a
(32:59):
productive season and still had really goodtake for us to evaluate. So I
wouldn't say there was a major dropoff or anything like that, but in
terms of the past two years altogetheras a whole, you evaluate the whole
picture in the overall product, andhe's a guy that you know, we
we haven't lost any love for,you know, over the past couple of
years, and he's always been aguy that we regarded highly. I think
(33:22):
Jake wants to ask you about afew of the Day three guys, but
I'm going to get ahead of himon one. He wants to know why
you didn't take Matt Lee eighteenth overallbecause he loves the pick and thinks that
he's going to potentially be a backupright away and contribute right away, and
he was your last pick. Solet's jump to Matt Lee. Well,
like I said, every teams hasa different draft board. You know,
(33:45):
we obviously liked Matt Lee a lot, and you know, maybe could have
taken him higher. You never knowif Matt Lee's going to be there in
the seventh round. Like I said, it only takes one team to take
him, you know, several roundshigher than that. But we were again
glad he was there in the seventhround. Been evaluating him, you know,
transferred him from from Central Florida intoMiami. Really enjoyed talking to him
(34:07):
down there at the East West game. We did a long interview with him,
and then I was down there atthe Miami Pro Day and got to
be around him again, you know, for for another exposure. So you
really like his makeup, what he'sall about, intelligence, toughness, the
passion that he plays with. Ithink when you guys meet him and spend
(34:27):
some time around him in some ofthe u the open locker rooms and the
you know, the media availabilities thathe has, I think you'll really get
you know, really learned to likehim a lot in his personality, but
as a player, very athletic center, very physical, instinctive player. Uh,
you know, put put out alot of really high quality tape this
year at Miami. So again aguy that we thought maybe could have could
(34:52):
have went higher for sure than hedid. And and you know, maybe
we would we would have considered hima little bit earlier, but we were
we were very glad that he wasthere in the seventh round and we were
able to acquire him and looking forwardto him competing here for us when we
get him in here starting at RookieMini Camp next week. Yeah, he
ends up a top one hundred playeron the board we do every year just
(35:13):
because of the past production, thepast protection production, the consistent track record
in pass pro in college, andthe athleticism, and that's what stands out
about him and Cedric Johnson to meas some of your later picks, two
guys that are high end athletes,and Lee and Min's as well, high
end athletes with good pass protection ability. Do you see Cedric Johnson as a
(35:34):
untaffed potential kind of player where hehad some production in college and looked like
he was taking off through two yearsand then didn't necessarily take the next step
in production, but has had theseathletic traits. Is there a next step
for him that you're really hoping tosee early on here in Cincinnati. I
really think there is. He checksevery box from a character standpoint in terms
(35:59):
of the way that he's wired,and then you match that up with,
like you said, the high endtraits that he has athletically, very gifted,
explosive, powerful athlete. We're we'rereally excited to get him in the
sixth round especially. I mean,that's that's a great pick for us,
I think. And then you know, you can never go wrong adding adding
(36:21):
players that rush the passer and affectthe quarterback, and you know, we
we think there's you know, similarto the conversation we were talking about with
with Chris Jenkins. We think there'seven more untapped potential there as a pass
rusher with him, and I'm reallyexcited for him to get in and uh
you know, work with Marion Hobby, Mark Duffner and all those guys on
our on our defensive coaching staff,and I think they can develop his game
(36:42):
and take him to uh two newlevels because he's got everything there from a
character, a wiring, a workethic, an intelligence standpoint, and also
has all the physical traits. Sowe're we're really excited about Cedric. Mike.
We always appreciate the extra insight thatwe can from you talking about the
draft class. Of course we seeit from the outside, but the bits
(37:05):
you can provide us from the insideare always very insightful, and I know
it's information that our listeners will appreciatehearing as well. So appreciate the time,
Mike that you make for us everyyear. Thanks Mike, absolutely,
I appreciate you guys. Always goodtalking to you. That's going to do
it for this episode of the LockdownBengals podcast. Until next time, Thanks
(37:25):
for listening, who day, andhave a good one Hey Prime members.
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