Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Did the Bengals COOK? Recapping 2026 Draft Day 3's Ups & Downs

Starting point is 00:00:00 It was a roller coaster day three for the Cincinnati Bengals, but an emphatic finish leaves a great impression for their overall draft class. Let's break down how the Bengals finished the 2026 draft. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. The Bengals wrapped up their draft class on day three, and that is what we're covering today. I'm with James Rapine. I'm Jake Liskill. We're your host of Lockdown Bengals, and boy, do we have a lot to talk about today, James. Bengals go four straight picks on the offensive side of the ball. They trade back in the fourth round, which is actually a trade that I really liked when they made the move.

Starting point is 00:00:56 They clean up with their sixth and seventh round picks and finish with some prospects that were significant fallers on consensus and really high on the old draft sheet and players that you can see making the team and making an impact. But let's start at the top. We'll get to the way they finished in a few minutes here toward the end of the show. And as we continue, but the Bengals start on day three in the fourth round with the trade back where they move from one of their sixth round picks all the way up to the end of the fourth round to drop back 18 spots, which fair value on the trade charts or whatever, but to me, moving from the sixth round up into the fourth round, just eliminating that huge gap they had, really liked the trade in a vacuum. They use those picks then on Connor Liu

Starting point is 00:01:45 and Kobe Young, a wide receiver from Georgia and a center from Auburn, and different opinions on those two picks, James. And let's start with Connor Liu. I think here, they've identified a player who before the ACL injury, and he is coming off in ACL, was seen as center one in the class by many and has center of the future written all over. For sure. Let's talk about the trade first real quick, because I don't care about trade value, right? I didn't look at it once. They moved up 59 spots, from 199 to 140. That felt like the Grand Canyon, it completely shifted. They already had 180. it just felt so different.

Starting point is 00:02:32 And so I didn't even need to look at it. And this is how it ties to Loo. This is why I want to start with the trade. We know that at 110, the guys that they ended up targeting at 128, 140, were the guys they were targeting at 110. And so they do that. And they're able to secure both guys. This is the type of trade that you would ideally make.

Starting point is 00:02:54 And boy, oh boy, the Jets. I don't know what you're thinking, but I will take advantage of it. If you want to take a flyer on a quarterback, that probably isn't going to matter much. And Cade Culpnik, but the Bengals. I love this to get up too, just to make sure everybody knows I agree. It made it.

Starting point is 00:03:10 It made it day three. Like it gave them this chance to do everything that we're about to talk about them doing because I don't think they're able to do it. I think they would have a reach here or reach there, and then it just completely sets the tone for the rest of the day without that trade. I think the move back of 18 picks only saw, one of their targets, as far as we know, get picked in that time, too. So the guys they were looking at, like you said, they got them later.

Starting point is 00:03:38 And so I'm a fan of that. We'll talk about the wide receiver pick. Let's start with Connor Lou James. Center of the future, do you think? I mean, really good chance of that. They take two interior offensive line in turns out. Brian Parker from Duke, the other one. But Connor Lou comes in first, and a center prospect, who played center in college.

Starting point is 00:03:58 and has all the tools, I think, that you're looking for for a developmental piece to eventually take over that starting job. Yeah, it's nice because you get a center in the fourth round in the middle of the fourth round. That probably goes two rounds sooner, potentially, if he's healthy, certainly a round sooner if he's healthy, and he's your backup. This isn't a guy you're drafting that you need him to start right away.

Starting point is 00:04:22 You need him to plug and play. You need it a backup center. But when you believed in, and we know they didn't believe in Matley. Whether or not we wanted them to believe in Matley, it doesn't matter. They didn't believe in Matley. He also had some knee issues that may have been related, turns out. We'll have to find out a little bit more about that, but sounds like there was some neat stuff there.

Starting point is 00:04:42 And he had a knee at the end of the year. And so, yeah, it totally could be that. But for me, finding a guy like Lou who is consensus, it's a value. Now I pick 128, it's already a value. you're like all right would have felt fine at 110 and so they take him at 128 he's not 21 yet he's not celebrating

Starting point is 00:05:03 draft night with a beer legally like checkbox check box oh he's coming off the ACL we'll get the value because you have Ted Carras is your starter and so it just really fits it fits everything you want so yeah maybe center of the future

Starting point is 00:05:18 but you needed a backup center and you're getting a guy that would have likely been drafted had he not gotten hurt in October likely been drafted as a starting center for someone and that doesn't have to be the case for you. So it's a luxury to do this and it should fill that role. I asked him about potentially he took all of his snaps at Auburnett Center. I asked him about the guard Lex.

Starting point is 00:05:40 This is before they drafted Brian Parker. And he said, hey, I've taken reps at guard. I'd be happy to. We'll see if that's something that they would actually consider. I don't know. It doesn't really matter. The point is they were able to get a center that was certainly a need certainly probably higher on the board than where they picked him

Starting point is 00:05:57 and someone that could end up being a really darn good player they really believe in him as a past protector which is huge obviously for this team and what they are and they've had a lot of I don't want to say luck with Ted Karras but he's been really really durable and so you needed a real backup center someone you believed in and so if they didn't believe in Matt Lee they didn't over the past couple of years they got lucky to a degree

Starting point is 00:06:20 Lucas Patrick no longer here you needed to address it somehow I wondered when they would, they get a guy with plenty of upside, and maybe he's your center of the future, like you mentioned in Conor Lou. Yeah, I think that some people coming into the day, I mean, we tried to set the stage for the offensive line pick to occur here, and there weren't great tackle options at this point.

Starting point is 00:06:39 So it makes a lot of sense that they go to the interior at this point, and they go with a guy that ends up being, in my opinion, center of the future. We'll see how it plays out, obviously. But he has really good tape. So exciting player there. Consensus 80, the Bengals get him at 128. And like I said, before the ACL injury was seen as potentially the top center in the class,

Starting point is 00:07:06 potentially top 40, 50 player in the class. And so great value there. You mentioned the age. This is one of the younger picks for the Bengals in the entire class, just looking at all of their picks, which I was just looking at. And here we are. He is the youngest pick in the class at Younger than 21. The second youngest, Takario Davis, turns 20.

Starting point is 00:07:24 relatively soon. Jack Endries, who we'll talk about a little bit later in the seventh round, just turned 22. Brian Parker relatively recently turned 22. Connor Liu, not yet 21. So a lot of developments still to go for him, but you mentioned the pass protection chops for Lou. That is probably the strength of his game. If you were to pick a weakness, it's literally strength. It's the ability to displace men vertically. He doesn't play with necessarily the kind of power that some teams might want. But in terms of like an athletic center, that is something the Bengals haven't had the high end athlete. I think he is a high end athlete. We of course didn't get to see him test. But that was one of the themes of the class.

Starting point is 00:08:04 When we talk about themes of the class, athleticism will be one of them. Excited to see how Connor Liu develops. And he did mention that he is ahead of schedule, right? If anything, with the ACL rehab when you guys talk to him and everything's going well with that rehab. should be good to go for training camp he hopes. Zach Taylor, of course, will take a cautious approach here, and they'll bring him along as slowly as he needs to, but excited to see how Conner Lou lands. And the depth of this offensive line,

Starting point is 00:08:34 just like we talked about the defensive line, suddenly feels so much better than it did 24 hours ago. It does. It does. I really like what they did with the two linemen. I mean, and they're a package deal, because now you can take it slow. Brian Parker, he's used to snap in in Cincinnati, Maddie because he did it for years and years at St. X before he went to Duke, right? And we'll dive into him more.

Starting point is 00:08:55 But a lot of our everydayers probably know that already. And so you have the Lou insurance to a degree and a guy that's really going to help. So like they, they, the tandem makes a lot of sense. When you look at the room now and you see Lou and you see Parker and you see Jalen Rivers, like you just see these guys, obviously Fairchild, these young guys that that can be developed, that you're given to the Bengals offensive line coach, Scott Peters, and it fits. It makes sense. It makes sense behind a lot of these veterans that they're banking on.

Starting point is 00:09:28 But we have time to get. The wrestling background, too. The wrestling. Yeah, I mean, Scott Peters and wrestlers. That's match made in heaven right there, right? It is. It is. And St. X is a heck of a wrestling school, by the way.

Starting point is 00:09:41 I know that. I don't know where Lou went. But, yeah, it's the point. So up next, though, we got to dive into the wide receiver. We got to talk about Kobe Young because he's next. The Bengals ace the trade. Connor Lou, heck of a pick. And then they go off the board a little bit.

Starting point is 00:09:56 And Jake was worried. I know a lot of you were worried. A lot of you look at this and say, what the hell is going on? Let's try to make sense of it. We will coming up next. The NFL draft is over. But where preparation meets opportunity and every decision matters, that's still going on for the Cincinnati Bengals.

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Starting point is 00:11:11 We said they would target receiver, but it's not like we spent a lot of time on receiver. In this draft process, it's weird for everybody. Because we're focused on 10, and now 10 doesn't exist, and now we're looking ahead, and it was really hard to look ahead because you just didn't know exactly what they were going to target

Starting point is 00:11:25 because usually you can kind of base it on the first round pick and then go from there. And it was a unique draft process. So when we found out Colby Young was a target and then eventually becomes a Bengal, how much had you done on Colby Young, Jake? Like it's not like we had talked a lot about him. My first thought about this was,

Starting point is 00:11:47 and I text you this was, well, this is like the Takario Davis picket corner because he's 6-4, 2-18. Takario Davis is not 2-18, but for a receiver, like a big receiver, strong receiver, fast for his size, and in the Bengals clearly just value that. Like, that's clearly what they were targeting. Like, there were, at pick 110 before they traded down,

Starting point is 00:12:13 Skylar Bell was there. I don't think he was in real consideration. Like, there were other guys there that we have mentioned, that we have talked about and thought about, And I know I would have been in on Skylar Bell at that point. They weren't. They wanted a big physical presence. And so they take the swing on Colby Young, even though he didn't have a ton of production.

Starting point is 00:12:33 There's some off the field stuff that we'll dive into. Like there's layers to this. But they take the swing on Colby Young with the last pick of the fourth round. Yeah, I think some of the guys that we did talk about, receiver went a little bit earlier. Jacoby Lane, who is consensus 114, goes 80 to the Baltimore Ravens. Chris Bell, you talked about. He goes 94 to the Miami Dolphins.

Starting point is 00:12:55 He was consensus 54. Brennan Thompson, another guy we talked about with the speed. Consensus 108 goes 105. And so after that, you know, Elijah Surrott at 115. Caden Wetgen, a returner out of Iowa, who's technically a wide receiver, goes to Pittsburgh at 121. They went way off the board for that one, too. That would have been bad.

Starting point is 00:13:16 Yeah. Yeah, Skylar Bell at 125. Kobe Young is a player that, yeah, I mean, we hadn't done work on him. He's, I like, it's kind of mean, I guess. Maybe I shouldn't say this about him the day they drafted him. But Timu Higgins, you know, he's got some T. Higgins to his game, but he's not, he's not T. Higgins, obviously. But in terms of size and style, vertical route tree stuff on the field, he brings that element, right? the issue is didn't say on the field a whole lot for different reasons.

Starting point is 00:13:50 He had injury issues and he had a pretty significant off-field issue that involved criminal charges for assault and battery of an unborn child with his ex-girlfriend. And those charges were later reduced and he pled out. And the ex-girlfriend who is not named in the lawsuit ended up recanting the allegation. So a whole lot going on there. He missed nine games as a result, I think, before Georgia reinstated him. The Beast and Dame Brugler, who does more background work on these guys than anyone outside of the NFL, actually had glowing remarks for Kobe Young from a football character perspective,

Starting point is 00:14:29 both from his teammates and his coaches. He worked his way back after breaking his leg and got back for their bowl game. And so Zachari Branch noticed that his teammate at Georgia. So it is a reach. By consensus, by production. He was 223 by consensus to Bengals pick him at 140. So the Bengals are here taking a risk. And they took two risks in the fourth rounder for being realistic.

Starting point is 00:14:54 Because Conor Liu, as much as we love the pick is coming off in ACL, Kobe Young, a whole bunch of other issues in terms of staying on the field and producing at a high level in college and the off field issues for him that are rightly going to draw scrutiny from Bengals fans. Who have watched this team, draft Joe Mixon and draft Jermaine Burton. in the comparisons to both of those guys were happening in social media and I understand why hopefully he continues

Starting point is 00:15:20 to go in the right direction off the field and can realize some of his talents on the field. On the field, he does have the ability, I think, to compete for that wide receiver three job and bring a different skill set than the Bengals have anywhere outside of T. Higgins. He's got, like you said, the Ticario Davis cop, the height weight

Starting point is 00:15:36 speed combination and the ability to win in contest and catch situation. So like the football fit with Joe Burrow, back shoulders, high pointing, and him winning in contested catch situations with a guy that can place a ball like Joe Burrow can. Like you can see the vision there. Yeah. But it is still

Starting point is 00:15:52 a big risk, I think, at this point in the draft. Yeah. You know what? Instead of, because I get the T. T. T. Mooggins and you could go that route. What if it's like, I'm trying to think of a funny way to say it, but fast Audentate. Yeah. Like, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:07 like not runs a five flat odd and Tate. Like maybe that's more realistic where it's a guy a big-bodied guy can be physical, but actually can run and doesn't move like a, like Ray Malau Luga at the end of his career, you know? I think he also had some plus notes for his blocking, and so

Starting point is 00:16:24 they could use that, a receiver too, in a pretty big way. And he did some special team stuff as well. And so, look, they're rolling the dice here, by saying, hey, we think that this guy, his physical traits, we met with him.

Starting point is 00:16:40 We believe it. And they're aware, of the Jermaine Burton thing. Like, no one is more aware of the failure than the people in this building. I promise you. Do you think Zach was always coming down for that post-fourth round presser? Do you think it was after they ended up picking Kobe Young, they decided he was going to come with Dan pitcher?

Starting point is 00:16:59 That. Yeah. I'm pretty certain that was the case. It's because they picked Kobe Young because of what comes with that. And I'll just use Zach for it. I'll speak for Zach here, and I shouldn't. He would never speak for anyone already. He always says that, but I will.

Starting point is 00:17:17 I know for a fact how much of a headache it was, like with Jermaine. And obviously the hitting the chair when they drafted him, and then how much of a meme that is just a few months later because it just all falls apart. And it's chaos. So, like, if you've just gone through that, you should know how to vet this out. And maybe it's because,

Starting point is 00:17:41 you could say, all right, well, yeah, he had the injury, the off the field issue, was a major issue that has been resolved and he hasn't had anything else. And I'm not defending him, but I wonder if like that's what, that's how they're viewing it. And then the football character is also high because I think that's what they ignored with Germain. I don't think there was anyone saying the football character with Germain was high. And so like I have no idea. Like I don't think he impressed them at the combine. Like I don't, and I'm not trying to make this a germane.

Starting point is 00:18:11 thing but maybe Kobe Young impressed them at every stop outside of that major thing that he had to deal with and put himself in and that he shouldn't have done. And that's much different than them overlooking during the process, the stuff that they were hearing and seeing about Germain. Yeah, let me. And they were like, yeah, but, you know. Let me read what Dane wrote in The Beast about him because it is interesting, right? because the off-field thing is serious, and I'm not trying to minimize it at all.

Starting point is 00:18:42 But, like, they're two parts of the character thing, right? And we need to give the information. Like, it's not, we're not the, we just, every day or should know what we know. Yeah. Just trying to relay information here, right? And I've talked about the risk. I don't love taking a player with us in his background, period. What Dane wrote about the character feedback, strong character feedback from scouts and coaches,

Starting point is 00:19:07 is an NFL scout said he likes to be coached. He's a student of the game. He's reserved, but polite, he'll fit in any locker room. And instead of preserving himself for the draft, after that 20-25 broken leggy, he broke his left fibula, had a torn ligament, needed surgery. He'll only miss six games and rehabbed hard to get back for the college football playoff. His teammate Zachariah Branch said sometimes people get injured and disappear,

Starting point is 00:19:30 but he was nothing like that. So in those senses, that stuff is going to matter to NFL teams, as well. They're going to vet the off-field stuff, but the on-field and locker room and coachability character marks, those things definitely matter to them as well. So in that way, to me, it's more similar to Nixon a little bit than Jermaine Burton in terms of there being a clear off-field incident that occurred. And the lack of like football character issues for mixing as a prospect. Yeah. The difference is obviously talent, production, you know, all age.

Starting point is 00:20:10 Like, but it's also the end of the fourth round. We'll see. Look, we'll see. He's going to have to prove it. He's going to have to earn it. I think he knows that. We talked to him on a conference call. I think he's very aware of that.

Starting point is 00:20:20 And so we'll, we'll see. It's, you got to build that equity. And we'll see if he can do that. But there are one, two, three guys. And we've mentioned two of them on the pod a bunch. One, I don't know if we've really mentioned. a ton, but great value. Great value is what the Bengals got with their final three picks,

Starting point is 00:20:44 round six and their two seventh rounders. We will dive into all three coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Indeed. Workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is sitting open. When the pressure's on, you need the right hire. This is the time to lean on Indeed sponsor jobs. Indeed sponsor jobs helps you reach the people that actually felt what you're looking for.

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Starting point is 00:21:46 and check all your boxes. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about us on Indeed. Indeed.com slash a podcast, terms and conditions apply. Need to hire, that's a job for Indeed, sponsor jobs. Three picks in round six and seven after the Bengals moved from one of their six round picks up to the end of the fourth round to pick Kobe Young. Brian Parker, Jack Endries, Landon Robinson, the three picks.

Starting point is 00:22:17 Landon Robinson, we talked about a ton as early as the fourth round, maybe in a trade back scenario where they picked up a fifth round pick and the Bengals get him all the way in the seventh round at 226. Brian Parker, we started talking about probably around where they picked Connor Lou, maybe a little bit earlier, but probably around where the Bengals picked Connor Lou. he was the top available player on the sheet, the draft sheet that we've talked about this week with Joe Goodberry, of course. If you're following closely, you've seen us reference it a ton.

Starting point is 00:22:50 He was 29th on the overall board on the sheet. So after they took some swings and took some risks in the fourth round in different ways, and we've talked about those picks a lot here today, they opened up the sheet, James, and they looked at the top of that sheet and drafted Brian Parker and drafted Jack injuries in the seventh round and drafted Landon Robinson in the seventh round. I mean, three straight picks that have a great shot

Starting point is 00:23:17 at being NFL contributors based on everything we've been tracking for years and putting together these player profiles. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Like, let's, first I'm going to start with the quote of the draft. We probably should have led the show with it. But it's one of those things, man, when a guy like Jack Andrews who was expecting to go,

Starting point is 00:23:37 round four. Like I'm sure he was Dame Bruegler's 11th tight end. So I'm sure NFL teams run to said, hey, you may go round three. Especially with the way we saw some tight ends fly off the board yesterday. Like weird tight end draft. I'll say that. No doubt. Yeah. And so

Starting point is 00:23:53 instead of the fourth or fifth round where he was projected or going earlier, he goes in the seventh. He goes to pick 180. Or he, no, not one. Sorry. Goes in the seventh pick 221. And I asked him like what that process was like. and he was emotional at the beginning of the call.

Starting point is 00:24:10 And I'll tweet out the call if you're listening to this. I'll tweet it out once we get it posted. But he said, quote, got his emotion together. And so then I asked about the fall. And he said, I'm going to make every team that didn't bleeping draft me pay. And I just love that. I love that they're getting these guys that are eye and talent, probably should have went sooner.

Starting point is 00:24:31 It's a weird draft, odd draft. In all three, you could see them being contributors to the Bengals and their sixth and seventh round picks. Yeah. Endries, I talked to Max Tuscano. We did the tight end episode with Max as the first deep dive as we were looking at positional targets for each day of the draft.

Starting point is 00:24:49 And I don't know if we talked about injuries in that episode. I mean, he goes very late. I don't remember talking about him much at all. On June 17th, Max said that Texas's Jack Andrews has a little Sam Laporte it to him. He's got to continue to emphasize technique in line to make up for that in terms of being an offball guy, but there's a path to being in every down tight end.

Starting point is 00:25:11 He said today after the Bengals picked him, Tanner McLaughlin, if he were good, which poor Tanner McLaughlin catching one day. Tanner McLaughlin, if he were good. He got up to 245. He played in line a ton at Texas after at Cal. He was playing outside, not attached, quite a bit, and was very productive as a receiver,

Starting point is 00:25:33 and has a path to being in every down tight end in the NFL is that do-it-all mold who can play in line, might need to get a little bit stronger, but really excited about his potential as a do multiple things kind of tight end who has experienced playing plenty in the slot, plenty in line as well. He went from 38% in line at Cal in 24 to playing 65% of his snaps in line for Texas in 2025 last year. So a big change for him being more of an in-line tight end getting a lot of experience doing that also tested well continuing the theme of the bengals drafting green r a s numbers for every single pick except connor lou who didn't test but i think he's a very athletic player who would have tested really well so uh i was pretty happy to see uh injuries here

Starting point is 00:26:24 as a player who absolutely can contend to make the roster and be game day active as a seventh round pick. Yeah. Well, that's how you can ask for. Like, you could tell me, let's just play the game. Could Brian Parker be your eighth lineman, week one? Yeah, he could. He really could. And he's someone that if you would have picked him two rounds earlier, feel like, man, I felt, I feel pretty good about this guy because he can do a little bit of everything. And so I referenced that earlier. He played center in high school, took all of his snaps at tackle in college, left tackle, right tackle. obviously he played center so they're going to look at him from a body type and during this NFL process and pre-draft process they looked at him at guard 309 pounds without looking I'm pretty sure that's what he is like I would imagine that's their view I asked Zach about it he said he could play all five I assume the Bengals are going to view him as an inside guy mostly but maybe not maybe they try him I would love if I'm an NFL team I would love to have an eighth lineman that could do everything yeah that is that is about as valuable like get you through a game game active.

Starting point is 00:27:31 If there's an injury, he needs to go in. He can do whatever you need him to do. And maybe he's even your seventh lineman. Sure. You know, how things shake out. I think Cody Ford is going to be really challenged here is the point that I'm trying to make with the addition of Connor Lou and Brian Parker in the pay cut that Cody

Starting point is 00:27:45 Ford took. I think that that speaks to a real battle there that is brewing. I see I see Parker more of like a tackle and a pinch and primarily the interior, but he's played a lot of tackle. So he's at least done it. a bunch in both sides at Duke. And that's it. And I wonder, and I assume that's what the Bengals will view it as,

Starting point is 00:28:07 but that's really valuable to have. And that was one of my takeaways in the media room. I'm like, Cody Ford is on notice. Cody Ford is very much on notice now, and I get it. And it is also, again, it's Connerloo Insurance. If that knee doesn't get where it needs to be by the time, well, you got a guy in Brian Parker who can be your backup center. And that's the beauty of doing this.

Starting point is 00:28:27 That's the beauty of the waves of pass rush. you want waves of offensive line you do you want to have guys you don't want to see the waves yeah you want to keep one wave yeah yeah yeah you don't want to rotate but you don't want the world to end if one guy goes down yeah and that it's that simple you want to be okay well fine well we'll get this actually you want to have multiple surfboards that can ride the waves how about that we'll keep that analogy there i was thinking about like um like phalanx battle formations and the way that you would have guys come in to leave the tired shield bears in ancient combat anyway we don't need to go too far down that path here but but

Starting point is 00:29:12 I really like them and it's not the Cincinnati native thing it's the oh my God he's really versatile and going to be good and as as impressed everywhere he's went good yeah like that's just a heck of a pick it's a heck of a pick and then the the the The last, I mean, we're going to have, we're going to talk about these guys plenty more, of course. But it had to be. It felt destined. I've never, the only pre-draft interview I've ever done, I don't even think I told you I did it. And I saw you saw it.

Starting point is 00:29:45 But on Thursday, the only pre-draft interview I've ever done with the player ever, ever happened on Thursday morning. I talked with Lannon Robinson. And he was out there doing these interviews. And I was like, you know what? I'm just going to DM them. and see if, you know, and we worked it out Thursday of the draft. And I'm like, it's worth, let's do it. Let's talk.

Starting point is 00:30:05 Even though he could be, even after the Dexter Lawrence trade it, even after, let's talk. And he ends up becoming a Bengal because it just felt like he was going to be a Bengal. And I love this pick because I think that you want to talk about challenge? I think second round pick Chris Jenkins from a few years ago could be challenged by Landon Robinson. I do think that. I think that there's a chance that that happens. I'm excited they took a chance on this body type again, the shorter. I mean, he's under six feet tall, 2.93.

Starting point is 00:30:33 I'm excited that they took a chance on this body type. Again, they haven't gone smaller defensive tackle since Gino Ackins, really. They've had some tweeners that have played multiple positions, and they've moved into defensive tackle. So they've done that sort of thing before. I guess that's kind of the case here, but yeah, excited to see where Landon Robinson fits in. We were looking at him as early as a sixth round. The Bengals get him with their second seventh round pick. one of the guys that we did talk about in our mocks, I think we also talked about Brian Parker as a target

Starting point is 00:31:02 as early as 110. I'm just looking back at our notes from our mock draft episode. And so at least we got a couple of those guys. And the biggest surprises to me, James, we'll get into this a little bit more another day. We'll get into grades and all those things, surprises, trends, themes, all that good stuff as we have time to digest and look back on this class on the whole. No running back. They don't end up picking a quarterback they don't end up adding any picks although i'm sure they tried at

Starting point is 00:31:31 different points in the draft no slot corner those are and no linebacker of course no linebacker yeah uh and and one of the first priority free agents or college free agents that they signed was uh is his name jack dingle the jacked from uc from uc they can't draft barricads but they can sign them to free agent deals look we'll take one hopefully they sign another jeff caldwell maybe to a little camp camp deal to see if he can come in and work out uh because cyrus where did he go to baltimore cyrus allen was drafted by the kansas city cheats no the cheats i knew it was a bengal's rival i couldn't remember which one yeah yeah so look i uh i love what they did are the last three picks are just crazy good crazy good and really i i see the logic with young but we'll talk more

Starting point is 00:32:25 about it. I want to think more about it. The Conor Lou makes a ton of sense. To Cario Davis, I see the logic. Cash is how I love. Day later, still love it. I still love it. I met him today. I got to talk with him today. It certainly has a personality,

Starting point is 00:32:41 and I want a personality. I want some dog and your edge rushers that are a little undersized especially, but bring juice. They needed some juice. They needed juice. They got a bunch of juice. I mean, all these guys were athletes. Another undrafted free agent, I was just looking as we're wrapping up here.

Starting point is 00:33:00 Kentucky tight end Josh Katas, who Joe Goodberry knows is a 74th percentile run blockers. So they got there perhaps more do-it-all, pass-catching themed tight end with injuries. And Katas, add them to the stable of guys that maybe are going to be blockers. And in that Drew sample kind of mold for this team as an undrafted free agent. We'll keep an eye on the undrafted free agents, of course. those won't become official until they can take physicals, I think. So those will be a little bit of time before they become official. And we'll be back probably Monday, right?

Starting point is 00:33:37 Monday, that's usually what we do. Yeah, we'll be back Monday with themes. We'll get into grades and we'll have had some more time to process what the Bengals have done with this draft class. We'll see if they make a move for a veteran linebacker on Monday or a veteran slot corner on Monday or if they rocked with what they got at those positions. But until then, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast.

Starting point is 00:34:01 Until next time, thanks for listening. Hoodee. And have a good one.

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