Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Who's winning the CB2 battle in Cincinnati Bengals training camp?

Episode Date: July 28, 2024

DJ Turner and Dax Hill have been full-time starters through 3 days of Cincinnati Bengals training camp practices, and both have shown why they're in the running for the team's second starting cornerba...ck job. The guys break down how the most important competition of camp has gone so far, along with updates on Vonn Bell, 3 free agent signings including Hakeem Butler and another punter, and how Amarius Mims has fared so far in his work with the starters.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-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:01 One of the most impactful battles in the Cincinnati Bengals training camp is Dax Hill and DJ Turner as the Bengals try to find their second starting outside corner. Let's break down what's happened through three days of training camp practices. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Well, up, Bengals fans. And welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liscoe. he's your host, James Rapine.
Starting point is 00:00:38 We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network here on Lockdown Bengals covering your team every day, everywhere you get your podcast and on YouTube. If you're new to the show, you can join the Everydayers and all of you out there that make us your first listen and shout out to those regular groups by just subscribing to the podcast. And then you'll get those notifications every time we put an episode up. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandul, and they're hooking up all customers this summer with a boost or boost. bonus daily. There's something for everyone every day all summer long at vanduil.com. And James, we've talked about this cornerback battle for, I don't know, it feels like forever.
Starting point is 00:01:19 Probably a few weeks. We've really been doing our training camp previews talking about training camp. We've been talking about Dax Hill, DJ Turner. And with Cam Taylor Britt's absence from practice as he recovers from getting his tonsils out, those two guys have had a ton of time on the field at the same time. And you can see the direct at the same time, they're competing, not having to rotate or anything like that while KM Taylor Brick gets healthy. Yeah, it's one of the blessings, I would say. You get both of these guys that are clearly competing against each other for one starting job and you get them out there and you get them a ton of reps and a ton of reps against a variety of different players.
Starting point is 00:02:00 It's unfortunate because you're not seeing both guys deal with the Jamar Chase or T. Higgins on a regular base. They have had to face T some. But still, Jermaine Burton, Andre Yosevash, Charlie Jones, all these guys, they're different. And so whether it's a guy like DJ Turner, who I think is trying to show the Bengals that he can be physical enough at the catch point specifically to be that starting cornerback or a guy in Daxo is trying to make the transition from safety to corner, that alone, the extra snaps, the extra reps, comfort level. I think that it's good for that for both guys. And we could talk about both guys individually a little bit. Let's start with Bax, just because he's making the switch and where's his comfort level. I think he is pretty comfortable at corner.
Starting point is 00:02:51 It doesn't mean he's not going to get beat. I can see the social media post now. I've seen them. People are monitoring that. Look, he's going to get beat some. Guess what? DJ Turner's gotten beat in this camp. too. DJ Turner has been far from a lockdown corner in this camp because cornerbacks get beat and that's okay.
Starting point is 00:03:11 You just need to make sure that Dax is learning from the double move he gave up to Jermaine Burton or learning from losing to Shedric Jackson deep downfield on the, I think it was a few plays later on Thursday. And outside of those two plays, it hasn't been a lot of deep stuff and hasn't gotten beat often. So I do think that Dax has fared pretty well and is comfortable at corner. They're such different players stylistically. And that would make sense, right? DJ Turner, a slightly undersized corner or just an undersized corner, depending on your definition of slight. And Dax Hill, who is a former safety. And he was a little bit small for a safety, but for a corner.
Starting point is 00:03:54 that's pretty good size on Dax Hill. Both guys have great athleticism, very high-level movement ability that they have in common. I think D.J. Turner is probably a little bit better right now with the ball in the air in man coverage or in a man-on-man situation where you have to get your head around, find the ball. I think he's a little bit more advanced there right now. Not that Dax doesn't have ball skills. We've seen that from him before, but it's typically from a different angle. a different vantage point when you're playing safety versus when you're maybe on a receiver's hip
Starting point is 00:04:29 and trying to track the receiver rather than playing a center field responsibility. So obviously some differences there. But the biggest difference between these players is the physicality with which they play. Dax, a guy that doesn't lack for physicality at all. You've seen it with the way he's defended tight ends in cornerback on tight end or safety on tight end matchups in the past. when he's gotten aligned on wide receivers in the past. He has played emergency corner for this team in the past. So we have that tape to refer to as well.
Starting point is 00:05:02 And generally speaking, Dax is a pretty sticky guy in coverage. He's generally on a player's hip. And it's just can you get that next step of either improving his play at the catchpoint, either in getting his head around or in being more consistent with forcing a few more incompletions with that physical play at the catch point? Meanwhile, DJ Turner, it's a similar question at the catchpoint as you highlighted, but also can he improve his hand usage at the line of scrimmage and throughout the route? And that's something that we'll need to see throughout campus.
Starting point is 00:05:35 Can he stay more attached to receivers throughout their route? And then, you know, there's clips out there of him trying to play strong at the catch point. And then Andre Yosevah just out muscles him. And that's going to happen to everyone at some point. It's not an indictment of DJ Turner. he's also had more past breakup clips than anyone else I've seen so far on social media. So he's had his ups as well. And this isn't meant to be a pro-Dax anti-DJ Turner segment, if that's the general thing.
Starting point is 00:06:02 Because DJ Turner has had, I think, a pretty solid set of plays to go with the continued areas where he needs to improve. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I think DJ's had the more highlight plays and hasn't given up the big play. plays. I just mentioned the two big plays that Dax has given up. The Burton wons a touchdown, probably. Maybe Gino Stone gets there and pushes him out of bounds in real life action or live action. I don't know, though. You might not have because Jermaine Burton had clear separation, had to wait on the ball a little bit from Browning, which is normal just from a timing standpoint, that everything isn't necessarily in line and still was able to make the catch. What I will say is
Starting point is 00:06:47 I think that Dax, and he had a play when we were talking, when you mentioned Andre, and we've seen the clip of Andre where DJ's helmet comes off, and Andre somehow still holds onto the ball as they're landing on the back shoulder. Plays like that, I do think Dax is pretty comfortable in. Andre had a catch like that on the sideline during the off-season program, and right in the last second where it looked like it was obviously a catch, Dax knocked it away. And so that's good to see. It reminded me of that like, all right, well, from a strength physicality standpoint,
Starting point is 00:07:22 he does have that. And so it's just a matter of can you clean up the double move stuff? And that's technique stuff. That isn't physically able to run with germane. It's also something that gets every corner from time to time. It's not like there's no corner in the NFL immune to a double move. And that's what's tough when you say like, I mentioned the social media clips. earlier. It's like, oh, noted this guy got beat. It's like, yeah, every guy gets beat.
Starting point is 00:07:49 So we can't just panic the moment that happens. That's part of life in the NFL's a corner. You know who's going to get beat when he comes back at some point? Cam Taylor Brett is going to get beat and he's going to give up a big play. It doesn't mean he's not a good corner. Mike Hilton at times gets beat. By the way, had a really nice play since we're talking about corners on Mike Gaseki on Friday, where he, Mike Gassicki tried to outmussel him and where the ball and Mike was able to say, hey, five, nine men thriving right now at training camp. That being said, shout out to Mike Hilton. I think that this cornerback battle is, it isn't someone's going to win by default.
Starting point is 00:08:29 I think both guys have showed, had their fair share of nice plays. Daxel had a pass breakup in the red zone on Friday, Friday. I'm trying to get my days ready. It's really tough, but on Friday, so that's good. We'll see what happens on Sunday night. We're recording this obviously before. the Sunday night practice, weird timing there. If anything crazy happens, we'll have you covered.
Starting point is 00:08:49 But overall, this cornerback battle, I think it's a good start for both guys. And coming into camp, I thought it was going to go down to the wire, down to the final preseason game, down to the final few days of camp. And preseason, final days of being able to evaluate these guys. I feel the exact same, essentially one weekend, three practices in for Daxil and DJ tournament. Yeah, those joint practices in the preseason games that these guys, guys participate in are going to tell us a lot more than the first few days of training camp. But as this is, one of the biggest battles of Cincinnati Bengals training camp and made sense
Starting point is 00:09:21 to do a little review over three days because as James mentioned, we're recording this before back together, Sundays practice, which is quite late. And we wanted to get a show to you guys in a timely fashion. One other quick note on the secondary James is that it has been clear that Von Bell has been getting reps with the ones at safety. We will continue to monitor that. if there is more of a rotation brewing there where Jordan Battle is getting a little bit more run. But for now, it seems like Von Bell is getting the snaps with the starters. And that is the other update there on the secondary. I guess another update on the secondaries, the Bengals did sign a corner, despite Duke Tobin's comments.
Starting point is 00:10:00 They signed two UFL players and a third punter. Let's get into those player acquisitions coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul. I love sports. I love them so much. I never want them to stop. And right now, there isn't much going on. Outside of, wait, the Olympics, outside of Major League Baseball, outside of NFL futures bets.
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Starting point is 00:11:13 The Bengals made three moves. in the time between our most recent podcast and this podcast, James. They signed UFL standout, wide receiver, tight end, Hakeem Butler, who will technically be a, I think, third year NFL player, but has been around for a while now between the NFL and the spring leagues. They signed Nate Brooks, a cornerback, and they signed Ryan Reckow, a punter, BYU, a rookie. Got a draftable grade.
Starting point is 00:11:43 We'll talk about all three of these guys. guys. They're now three draftable punters, though, on this team from the last two draft classes, which is fascinating. But Hakeem Butler, probably the most notable of these guys. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me when I heard they were working him out because you're trying to find where he fits in on this roster with the depth of tight end, with the depth of wide receiver. But they go ahead and sign him and add depth there and a relatively unique body type in terms of of receiving weapon in Hakeem Butler, who is very productive in the U.F. Yeah, I think it's interesting.
Starting point is 00:12:22 Is this the Mike Gisicki backup? And I don't mean that strictly as it sounds. I don't think he's replacing Tanner Hudson or Drew Sample or Eric Al or Ternam McLaughlin or any of these guys. But can he do some of the stuff that Mike Gisicki can do? Or is this as simple as, all right, well, we had three, open roster spots, he's productive. Let's bring him in. Let's see what he's got. It might be that simple. But I do think it's interesting. And what I would say is he clearly is, it's just much leaner than any of the tight ends they have, including Gitsicki, just leaner. And that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:13:02 He played wide receiver at the UFL level and was really, really good. I sent a message to Kyle Kaskin when they were working him out. He coached him with the battlehawks. And he was like, oh yeah, this kid is, he's got NFL talent can run well enough and can certainly, uh, has the size and ability to make place. All right. So we'll see. But it's, it's interesting that they, they went this route where tight end is kind of a position. I would say of strength because of the depth and the, the potential upside and Eric
Starting point is 00:13:34 all potentially coming back in the near future. And, and so how does Akeem Butler fit in? I don't know. It's interesting. I don't know if he would have fit in in the wide receiver room either. So I get listing him as a tight end and trying him there. And who knows, maybe it is as simple as, all right, well, he can be this guy that maybe you develop and teach tight end skills to.
Starting point is 00:13:58 And then if anything happens to Mike Gassicki, he's someone that can do some of those things that you're asking Mike to do where you're not completely changing the offense. Because there's something size-wise that Mike can do that those other tight ends can't. in the red zone, for example. And so maybe that's their vision here for Akeem. It still seems unlikely that any of these players make the roster guys that are signed because they're young free agents who have bounced around the NFL that get signed in the first week or so of training camp.
Starting point is 00:14:30 It's a very uphill battle for those guys. I don't want to write them off by any means. That's not what I'm trying to do here. But it does seem to be a tough battle for any of these guys to find a roster spot. but Hakeem Butler does bring that, you know, 6-5-227, I think is where he's listed. So a very big dude who in the UFL had back-to-back, 130-plus-yard games with two touchdowns in week five and week six of UFL action, went for 710 yards in, I think, 11 games, five touchdowns. Pretty good numbers in the UFL, which is obviously a step of competition down from the NFL.
Starting point is 00:15:09 but Hakeem Butler has kicked around the NFL for a while. The challenge for NFL teams has been, where does this guy play? And that's where you look at the overlap from a size perspective between him and Gaseki, between Gaseki being a big wide receiver who's going to rarely be in line to the way Hakeem Butler was recently used in the UFL where he's a big wide receiver who is rarely used in line, but he did actually have some in line tight end snaps in the UFL, just not very many, less than Mike Keseki would have, for example. But I do wonder if that is a developmental plan there.
Starting point is 00:15:46 It'll be very interesting to see how he does throughout this training camp, see if he sticks around after training camp in some capacity. They also signed Nate Brooks a corner. This will be most likely a depth move. Do you have any other significant thoughts on Nate Brooks? My one tidbit on Nate Brooks is that his last NFL game was actually against the Cincinnati Bengals in January 2021, late in the 2020 season, playing for the Baltimore Ravens.
Starting point is 00:16:15 So the last time he played in the NFL, it was against the Cincinnati Bengals. He also played a lot of special teams in the UFL. So maybe there's that aspect with the kickoff changing. Any thoughts there? Yeah. He played in the Tuobo. The tank for Tuobo. Bengals, Dauphins.
Starting point is 00:16:34 Oh, there you go. in 2019. And it was called that, by the way, at the time. Like going into that game, it was the tank for two a bowl. Obviously, things changed a bit. And that was really the Burrow Bowl. And deep down, the Bengals probably already knew. But yeah, that was a big game.
Starting point is 00:16:54 And shout out the Jay Morrison for this. I think they asked him, they caught up with him and asked him, hey, what do you remember from that game? And he said, and I haven't heard this. Jay said it, so I'm going to say it, especially because of who he's talking about. He said, just remember John Ross running go routes. Remember John Ross running go routes in that game. That was such a wild game, by the way.
Starting point is 00:17:20 The Bengals ended up forcing overtime. Tyler Boyd picks himself up off the turf. Eifford scores, Andy Dalton, says, hey, you're not going to get my replacement with the number one pick, only for that to happen anyway. So, yeah, it was a wild game. I'm glad the Bengals lost that game. I know the Bengals were glad they lost that game. It's funny that he's a piece of Bengals history,
Starting point is 00:17:43 a piece of Joe Burrow coming to Cincinnati. Feels like an eternity ago with those names, but really it wasn't all that long ago. It feels like we're getting to the point, like COVID made it weird where time felt like it stood still. And it was like, oh, that really wasn't that long ago. It's starting to feel really long ago now. I mean, we're talking five years now that we're pushing.
Starting point is 00:18:03 So the Bengals did also sign Ryan Reckow, BYU punter, who according to the punt runs, puntalytics, my favorite draft and NFL punt analytics Twitter account, had a draftable grade on him. He was right there with PFF grade with Austin McNamara in his last year in college. The big difference between those guys from a statistical perspective is recal average two additional yards per punt with a little bit less hang time, a great. greater percentage of his kicks returned. So perhaps a little bit more power there in terms of raw power than any of the other punters on the roster, but perhaps in need of finding some control. But interesting to bring in a third punter for a competition that we already thought was going to be pretty tight between McNamara and Brad Roberts, James.
Starting point is 00:18:52 Yeah, I think my first thought was, and I haven't seen them. Obviously, we're recording this on Sunday morning. Is everyone healthy? Is everyone okay? Seems like that. That's okay. And so more competition. And that's fine.
Starting point is 00:19:08 Competition is good. I know Brad Robbins is welcoming it. I'm sure Austin McNamara is confident in his abilities. So how that balances out is interesting. But I'm not going to argue with that. You know what I'm going to argue with? Settling if that's what it meant, if maybe they have some reservations about McNamara,
Starting point is 00:19:27 reservations about how Robbins has done this offseason. So I want these guys, but they're best foot forward. We're literally so we don't have to talk about punters in the middle of the season because they're punning at a high level. So hopefully that is the case. We'll see if that's the case. But I'm excited to watch a three-way only in Cincinnati, right? Funner battle in training camp.
Starting point is 00:19:52 Up next? You mean four? Joe Burrow. Come on. That's right. That's true. See, but I don't get the point. I stick with the three-way.
Starting point is 00:19:59 You don't need to add onions to something that beautiful. I agree. You don't need to add beans to something. that beautiful. You know what? You do need to add a giant 6-8 alien named Amarius Mims at right tackle. We will get to the Bengals first rounder and other practice notes from the first week coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Game Time. Game Time is an authorized ticket marketplace for Major League Baseball, which means if you're hanging out at the banks, oh, and the Reds are in town this week, by the way. Let's go to the Reds game. Well, if you had the Game Time app downloaded, you can take advantage of their zone deals, of their last minute deals, of all of the awesome things that
Starting point is 00:20:39 come with having the GameTime app. You get views from your seat and it makes buying Major League Baseball tickets that easy and it's not just MLB tickets. No, no, no. Maybe you're thinking going on the road to watch the Bengals this year, coming to Cincinnati to watch the Bengals, Game Time is going to have the tickets for you. You have panoramic views from your seat, you know, exactly what you're getting all in pricing. And every event that you're thinking about, going to any event that you're thinking about going to, whether it's a concert this summer, whether it's major league baseball, whether it is the big three, which is coming here, by the way, Ice Cube's basketball league, game time is going to have it for you.
Starting point is 00:21:17 So download the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-FL-N-FL-N-FL-F for $20 off. Download game time today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Amarius Mims has been running with the ones, which is great for him.
Starting point is 00:21:39 We're still waiting to find out when Trent Brown will return. You talk to Trent Brown on Friday, James. So we have a little update for you there from James's perspective, having talked to the man himself. But let's start there. And then we'll dive into what we've seen from Amarius Mims over not a week. I was going to say a week. The first three days of padless practices in Cincinnati.
Starting point is 00:22:00 It's week one. Week one. You know, week one, whatever you want to say. But yeah, as far as Trent, I think this kind of coincides with what we expected, what we thought. He's fine health-wise. I don't think it's, like, I don't think he's perfectly healthy, right? I think he's working through some stuff. Zach Taylor mentioned tightness.
Starting point is 00:22:20 But I don't think it's a big concern. Put it that way. When I say fine, like long-term evaluation, fine, going to be okay, not a concern there. And when he's out there for practice, I think they're taking it slow with him. obviously Trey Hendrickson taking it slow with him they're doing it with a lot of veterans and a guy like Trent Brown with his injury history makes a ton of sense ease him in get him with the the strength coaches and and the the staff there and when do you need him you need him September 8th and I think they know that what I'll say about Trent is he's such a he just seems really easy going really
Starting point is 00:23:00 chill and I do think he's going to fit locker room wise. You do need to get him out there and get him comfortable and I think they will. I think we'll see him activated. I don't want to put a timeline on it. Wouldn't shock me if it's in the near future. Also wouldn't shock me if it's the week of the preseason game, so a week from now. But I do think it's coming in the near future. I would like to see you walking across the street with the Marius Menz and Trent Brown and Zach Moss, because then we'd have the extra reference point there. Yeah, I would, me and Zach Moss would just look pretty, pretty similar. Which is complimenting me, by the way, not making fun of Zach Moss for those wondering.
Starting point is 00:23:42 Yeah. Good news there for Trump Brown, if he is indeed dealing with some minor things, getting him back on the field sooner than later, would obviously be preferable, but the guy's been around for, what, 10 years in the NFL now? He's getting to be a little bit long of the tooth. Very experienced, though. Nice and slow. They get nice and slow with Trent.
Starting point is 00:24:02 Yeah, and this, you're right, has been the approach for many veterans on this team, especially early in camp when they're doing the three days on one day off. The start of the Bengals training camp scheduled this year is a little bit more aggressive than the remainder of training camp in terms of amount of time on task versus rest days. They are three on one off, three on one off for the first eight days of camp. and then there are two on one-off after that for essentially the rest of training camp until we get to a more regular season scheduled down the road.
Starting point is 00:24:34 So especially when there are compared to the rest of camp, some extra practices in there, early in camp when there's a ramp-up period where you want to avoid those lower extremity soft tissue injuries, the hamstring injuries, the calf injuries, etc. It makes sense to go slow with these guys and make sure that you're taking care of them as best you can. But in lieu of Trent Brown playing right tackle, we've seen Amarious Nims playing right tackle. And the rookie, I think, has acquitted himself pretty well, James, from what I've seen. In terms of past protection especially, which is kind of where things start with this team, I think he's looked pretty good going against Sam Hubbard.
Starting point is 00:25:20 It sounds like Sam Hubbard got him once on Friday with a little bit of an inside move. Hubbard said, told Jeff Hobson at least that Mims just overset a little bit. And you see that for every tackle at some point. But you've also seen Hubbard try to go through Amarius Mims or try to go around of Marius Mims, and that doesn't go well for Sam Hubbard. Not the Sam Hubbard is a bad player, but when you try to go through or around of Marius Mims, he's really good at stopping you from doing that, and that has been apparent as well from some of the early returns.
Starting point is 00:25:53 Look at you, just trying to find ways to take shots at Sam Hubbard anyway, you can't. You know, he's from here. You know, I mean, can you just give him? No, I'm just kidding. Let's not perpetuate this further, James. Oh, man, break, let's go the Sam Hubbard hater. My God.
Starting point is 00:26:08 Lord. I'm excited for Sam Hubbard this year. I am too. If he's 20-22 Sam Hubbard, that's going to be a huge boost for this defense. It was awesome. I think Amarius Mems, you see it. You see it translating.
Starting point is 00:26:23 And Willie Anderson saw it firsthand. You went back and watched some clips and it's there. You're right. I remember the play because I was the one that confirmed it. The writers were like, hey, because it got blown dead for some reason. I forget why it was blown dead. Or maybe it was just a bad play. So I was going to delete it or bad shot by me.
Starting point is 00:26:44 But I was able to get that clip. And he did. He hit him outside, Mims overset, came back inside and was able to get to Joe or get closer to Joe. I think Joe got rid of it. But the point being that those moments have been few and far between so far. There haven't been a ton. And that doesn't mean he's been perfect. There's been other times where he's been beat.
Starting point is 00:27:07 But that's part of life in the NFL. It's similar to the corner thing that we were talking about earlier in the logic with that. I will say is not only does he look the part we knew that, but the footwork is there. And it technically, like all of the traits that you're looking for to translate, they're there. It's about refining them now and getting used to life in the NFL and getting more experience, which is why Trent Brown not being out there right now isn't a big concern for me for Trent or for Amarius. It's good to get Amarius as many reps, as many valuable reps as possible. And just talking to people in the building, because you remember,
Starting point is 00:27:44 remember pre-draft. It was like, oh, yeah, mims. What a, you know, people were acting like his attitude was just awful. His work ethic would be bad. And some of that vibe, I think, impacted him falling to number 18. No one in the building has said anything like that. And I've asked a lot, because my initial impression with Amarius is, oh, he gets it. And so is he fooling me or is that how he's approaching it when I'm not around? And when there aren't eyes on him and talking with people that I do trust. He's been bought in. He's working really hard. He's made major strides from the draft through the offseason program, from the off season program to now, which is really, really exciting, I think, for the Bengals and certainly for Joe Burrow and for fans and for everybody
Starting point is 00:28:32 involved. Yeah, you talk about the technical aspect of his play to go along with the work ethic that you've just described. And to me, the technique looks pretty good and haven't seen a ton yet. And I'm excited to get down there and see him in person and get to focus on him a little bit more, hopefully in some of the team drills. But from what I can tell, the kicks, the kick slides that the pass sets still look really good. To me, those look really good at Georgia. He stays balanced. He is very quick feet. And I'm not even qualifying that with four men of his size, like his feet as a tackle are just good. He's under control and moves explosively in short areas. And the length shows up, the power shows up.
Starting point is 00:29:15 And what he described as where he needs to continue his growth is he needs to continue to improve his consistency. And that's where you talk about things like oversetting, recognizing pass rush plans from opposing pass rushers. And, you know, this obviously matters more in a week-to-week basis where you're not going against the same guys every single day and you have to prepare for what, you know, T.J. Watt is going to prepare for you this week and how that will be stylistic. different from a Bosa or whatever the pass rusher is in question, right?
Starting point is 00:29:48 Whatever elite pass rusher the Bengals are playing on a given week, Zadaria Smith with the Cleveland Browns will be another matchup that will face. Miles Garrett as well, who will move around a little bit. But besides the point, it's that, you know, and then it'll be preparing week to week for those different plans. And then it's, he mentioned it, speed of the game. And that'll be the other big adaptation for him. He credited Georgia with getting him ready from a camp intensity perspective.
Starting point is 00:30:14 He's been able to keep up and Georgia did a good job preparing him for the strain, let's say, or strenuousness of NFL camps. And maybe it's even not as hard as a Georgia camp was, hard to say. But I think that the early returns are positive for MIMS. And I guess my question is, can he win that job? Is it more realistic that he's going to win that job today than it was a month ago? Yes. Yes. Because if he continues to show growth and improvement and Trent isn't out there, at some point, that becomes a thing. And the question is when? When does it, and I think it's a competition, but when does it become a thing where MIMS can take the lead? And I don't think it's yet. I still don't think it's now. But if you get into preseason game number one and then preseason game number two and Mims are, like wins a lot of those joint practice reps outperforms brown when when both guys are out there
Starting point is 00:31:17 then we're then we're having a real discussion and so that's a ways away still but i think he's off to a good start i think he has the right mindset and i'm excited he's one of my targets this week to chat with and he's he's been popular anytime i've rolled by the rookie locker room he's he's been busy chatting with with different reporter so my goal is to to track on Marius this week and chat with it. Yeah, got to get the, uh, the pads on as well for, for an observation perspective. It makes such a difference.
Starting point is 00:31:48 He's not going to practice in pads. He's too big. They, they don't have pads. They don't have pads that fit him or Trent. So they're going to padless. It's wild. Yeah, it's crazy. People are going to believe that if we don't tell them that.
Starting point is 00:32:01 It was a joke. Hobie and pads and so will Trent when he's, uh, all right. We've got a practice tonight that we will not have covered for you until tomorrow. So unless something wild happens, unless something really noteworthy happens.
Starting point is 00:32:16 Obviously, we'll track it everywhere. If we need to return with breaking analysis and reactions to back together weekends, late night practice, we will do so. But for now, this will get you through until after Monday's practice, barring something unforeseen between now and then. If you need something else to listen to between now and then, you can check on the lockdown sports today 24-7 streaming channel on your Amazon on Fire TV or on YouTube.
Starting point is 00:32:42 And until next time, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening, Ho-Day, and have a good one.

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