Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Will Amarius Mims Start For Cincinnati Bengals? What about the Punter battle? | Answering your training camp questions!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Marius Mons has had more work than expected with the first team as he gets into his rookie training camper. His chances of starting increasing. Let's break it down. 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 Lockdown Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. He's your host, James Rupim.

Starting point is 00:00:35 We're going to dive into a training camp mailbag today on the off day before I travel to Cincinnati. And, well, we're part of the lockdown podcast network here on lockdown Bengals covering your team every day. We're on YouTube. We're everywhere you get your podcast. And we're excited to have you here with us. If you're new, you can subscribe and join the club. If you're part of the club already, well, welcome back to all the everydayers. And shout out to all of you who make us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:01:02 Today's episode is sponsored by GameTime where you can save 20. $20 on your first purchase of tickets with promo code. Locked-on NFL terms do apply. And James, we have some good topics to get to today that we've covered in differing degrees of depth throughout training camp. The first of those is rookie Amarius Mims, a first round pick. And the question is, and this comes from Jeff Smith on the Lockdown Bengals Insider page, is there a growing chance of Amarius Mims winning the starting job, the longer

Starting point is 00:01:35 Trent Brown does not practice? I think it's interesting because the answer is yes. And the answer is yes, not because Trent Brown isn't out there. Honestly, I think the Bengals are confident in what they've seen from Trent Brown during his decade in the NFL. I think they're comfortable giving him time. We've seen that with a lot of veterans, even though he's a new free agent. They're comfortable with that. We've seen them do that with other guys.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Well, Collins, right? So I don't think that's a concern. or a reason why that Mims could win the starting job as much as it's MIMS has just looked good. MIMS has looked like a first round tackle, should look, that you'd hope he would look like. Mims has been a physically dominant at times player, someone who's been eager to learn and worked really, really hard and had some awesome reps against Miles Murphy during the first day of PAD. And not just Miles Murphy, other defense events, but mentioning Miles Murphy because it's first rounder on first rounder. And so, yeah, I think that there's a better chance today that Amarius Mims is the opening day starting right tackle than there was at the start of training camp.

Starting point is 00:02:52 And I'm not sure. Obviously, Trent can help himself if he was out there. So you could make that argument. But I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Amarius Mims is making the most out of his opportunity, is going out there with the one. and playing at a high level. And you talk to veterans, and this is the part that really sells me. It's not that he goes out to practice and looks pretty darn good. You talk to veterans in that room, and the veterans are like, oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:03:18 And they're saying, oh, yeah, when there's no mics around. They're saying, oh, yeah, when Amarius is, who knows where he is. But it's not like he's listening. And they don't have to say that. And there are plenty of times when if a first rounder comes in, it's like, yeah, we'll see. Or they'll phrase it as, oh, he's still learning. Obviously, Amarius is still learning, but you can just tell by the body language of how some of these guys respond to the questions, how excited they are about Amarius Mim. So I know this was a really long

Starting point is 00:03:52 answer. Sorry, Jake. You could tell I'm probably excited about Amarius Mims because I think he's going to be pretty darn good. And yeah, there is a chance that he starts and the odds of him starting or better today than they were a week ago. Can't wait to see that guy in his first preseason game because he's going to get matched up at some point against a borderline roster player or something like that. And I don't know. I'm just excited to see Amarius Mims do some destruction in the free season.

Starting point is 00:04:24 That'll be a good time. I mean, we'll see it in training camp, I imagine at some point as well. And I mentioned, I think, on yesterday's show that getting him downhill in the run game is going to be a sight to behold getting him in the open field where he can unleash some of that athleticism, some of that straight line speed and get that speed to power that when your speed to power at his size, that's going to be a whole lot of force in the old physics formula, mass times

Starting point is 00:04:49 acceleration or something like that. I don't remember. I wish I did. That would have made it a better quip. Nonetheless, he's going to hit somebody really hard at some point. And that's going to be exciting. I think that going back to the question, one of the reasons that it becomes more likely that Amarious Mims can win the starting job, the longer Trent Brown is out, is that he's just getting more work in. And as long as he's up to that task of taking the extra reps, of getting that extra work, and as long as the conditioning is there for him, and by all accounts, it is, he's an incredibly hard worker judging from Frank Pollock's comments. Seems like Pollack likes the way he's approaching things from a mental perspective as a rookie. And that's all.

Starting point is 00:05:31 things that you want to hear and kind of expect from a first round pick. And as long as he continues doing those things and fixing mistakes and the game starts to slow down for him at some point, the physical tools are almost inevitable to talk about him like he's Thanos. He will eventually, unless something goes really crazy, be a really good tackle in the NFL because of the physical tools if he can get everything else. And the signs are that he's getting everything else at a pretty good rate. He's still a rookie.

Starting point is 00:06:07 It's not perfect. But it's very encouraging early in training camp. And so the more he has those opportunities, the more chances he has to start stacking them up and making a more and more compelling case for himself that he should be the guy to start in week one. Yeah. I totally agree with you. I think the window is there now. and he has a shot.

Starting point is 00:06:31 And by the way, that sounds great to me. It might be the best scenario. If Amarius Mims just grabs that starting job, and then you have Trent Brown, who has experience at left and right tackle as your first tackle off the bench, I don't know if Trent would like it. I don't know if Mims is the favorite necessarily right now.

Starting point is 00:06:49 But I think when Trent was signed, it's not like he was guaranteed anything. And so he knows he's going to have to earn it. He was working last practice on Tuesday on the rehab field and getting himself ready. And so I do think we'll see him in the near future. Now, if I'm Trent and I pop on that film and I see Mims and that first padded practice, looking the way I think Mims looked to the naked eye. It's not like I went back and watched film of Tuesday's practice.

Starting point is 00:07:20 But that's going to be quite a sight. I think Frank Pollack is going to be smiling. Zach Taylor, Joe Burrow probably. going to be a bit excited as well. Who knows? Who else? But no, I think that you see it and you can see the traits and they're showing through now. It's not like a year or two from now. Maybe they could get the most. It's showing up now, which is a great sight to see. Yeah, and he was even dominating Cam Sample before Pads came on. And Cam Sample is a fine, solid, rotational NFL player. I mean, he's been around. He's been a solid player for the Cincinnati Bengals. And,

Starting point is 00:07:58 And Marius Mims, even before Pads came on, was having a pretty good time dealing with that opponent. Coming up next, let's stay on the topic of the offensive line for the moment with another question that takes us to a conversation about Matt Lee before we get to the three-way punter battle. The Skyline, Chile three-way punter battle. And who's working on kickoff returns? We'll get to those questions as well. Coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Games. Game time is an authorized ticket marketplace for Major League Baseball, which means if you're

Starting point is 00:08:34 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 GameTime app downloaded, you can take advantage of their zone deals, of their last minute deals, of all of the awesome things that 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.

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Starting point is 00:09:31 Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-N-FL-N-FL-N-FL F $20 off. Download game time today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. James, our next question will take us to the topic of Matt Lee, and his name came up a little bit in yesterday's episode, and it'll also give us an opportunity to talk about Tanner McLaughlin a little bit if we're so inclined. But the question is, what are the odds at some of the late round draft picks,

Starting point is 00:09:59 Dejan Anthony perhaps as well? a guy that Jordan Kovach recently raved about that guys like Matt Lee or Tanner McLaughlin or Dejohn Anthony can make to the practice squad or that they're going to have a chance to make the roster. Well, let's start. Let's start with Matt Lee. I think he's got a pretty realistic path. Beat out Trey Hill.

Starting point is 00:10:26 Show that you're a better center than Trey Hill. If you do that, you're going to make the team. You are because they don't have a true backup center right now. It could be Trey Hill who has more position flex and can play guard. But if you're Matt Lee and by all accounts, he's someone that's approaching it the right way seems to get it. You were high on him pre-draft and rightfully so when they drafted him in the seventh round.

Starting point is 00:10:49 I think a lot of people are excited because he's an undersized athletic, really good pass blocker in college. And so the thing that's going to take a little time for him is it just the development aspect, the physical aspect, getting used to having to deal with the Cam Haywards of the world. You didn't see those guys in college. And so now, at whatever he weighs, and I'm sure they want him to get it to like 305. I'm sure that I'm just throwing out a number, but that seems realistic.

Starting point is 00:11:18 Can he get there and show that? But I think beating out Trey Hill, I think that's easier than if you're Tanna McLaughlin having to deal with Tanner Hudson, having to deal with that tight end room that is just suddenly just has a lot of talent there. I mean, I know some were thinking, oh, Eric All is going to take some time, start the year on pop, all of those things, catching a pass on Tuesday, and getting activated this week and just looks the part. I think Eric All is assuming everything continues to go the right way.

Starting point is 00:11:51 He's on track to not only make the roster, but make an impact potentially as a rookie. So that's an uphill climb for Tanner McLaughlin. Do I think he's capable? absolutely, but he's probably got to beat out Tanner Hudson to make a, or convince the Bengals that they need to keep five tight ends, which is really, that's an uphill climb too. And I wonder how much the getting them to the practice squad element here comes up because sure, I had this conversation with a bunch of fans on Twitter on Monday. It was like, they're not going to be able to get Tanner McGlocks them to the practice squad.

Starting point is 00:12:23 They believe in him. He's a six-round pick. Of course they're going to keep him on the roster. And I'm not yet convinced, I guess, that it's. simple there for for mclaughlin i i think it's interesting that some think that sixth round picks are locks sixth round picks when you have ten draft picks are rarely locks and matt lee is not a lock matt lee has to win the job there's i'm sure there's some in the building that think trey hill's just going to win that job and that matt lee's going to get cut and who knows

Starting point is 00:12:58 be on the practice squad this year. Like you just don't know, right? And so you say that, and I do, I think that there are a lot of diehard Bengals fans, certainly listeners to this that would be shocked. But it's a competition. And it's a competition for Dejan Anthony, too. And I think Dejan's got to somehow find a way

Starting point is 00:13:16 to beat Tyson Anderson out and show that he can be a reliable special teamer. And I'm just not sure. Me personally, I'm not sure he can do that because I know what Tyson did before his injure. but of course Tyson has to show it too. And I think on paper Tyson is the perfect person to have behind Gino Stone and learn from Gino Stone because they have similar paths.

Starting point is 00:13:40 And I totally think that Tyson could learn from him and develop, especially as a safety. We know Tyson's a pretty darn good special teams player now, but develop more as a safety. And by the way, Luana Rumo just praising Gino on Tuesday when I asked him about him, just everything that he means to the defense already. It feels different than,

Starting point is 00:13:58 it did last year with Nick Scott. Put it that way. So I think that those guys have an uphill climb. I would give Matt Lee the best odds, but they're going to have to go out and earn it because they're late round picks. Yeah, the quote from Lou Aniruma regarding the safeties is communication has improved 10-fold, which is pretty significant. That's a lot of folds. I don't know how high I can count. I have 10 fingers, I guess. The last six-round pick to not make the Bengals team, as far as I know, is Deshaun Davis in 2019.

Starting point is 00:14:30 And you have to go back a ways before that, I think before you find another one. I'm back to 2013, 2012. Maybe Dan Herron. I can't remember if he made the initial roster in 2012. But most six-round picks, in defense of the people arguing that six-round picks are safe for the Cincinnati Bengals,

Starting point is 00:14:51 have made the team for the Cincinnati Bengals. How many times did they have 10 picks? Yeah, a few, to be fair, but not obviously every year. A few. It's hard. And they were probably worse. Probably. Anyway, I just thought it was interesting because I went back and looked at

Starting point is 00:15:12 like guys like Hakeem Adenegi came out of this Cody Corr. These were guys that like weren't necessarily high-end players but did play for a while for the Cincinnati Bengals and some in. They were definitely worse in both of those years. That's all. Yeah. Yeah. Like going into the job.

Starting point is 00:15:26 Well, Hakeepid Energy did start a Super Bowl. So there's that. No, but going into the draft. Oh, yeah. So who is he competing against to make the team? Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:39 Like Cody Corp, Cody Corp, if he's drafted to this wide receiver room, would have zero chance. Zero. And I like Cody. Right. It's just there's so much talent in that room. That's all. I do wonder.

Starting point is 00:15:50 in a specific case of McLaughlin, that is, I think, going to come down. I mean, you can easily project that to be like the hardest decision they will have to make when it comes to the 53-man roster. Is it a situation where they keep three running backs called Drew Sample and H-back and use him as a full-back, third-down back, and a tight end, and keep the extra tight end that way? It's at a situation where they try to get Tanner Hudson back to the practice squad where they got him last year, which was before he was a very efficient, reliable target for both Joe Burrow

Starting point is 00:16:24 and Jake Browning. In the limited time, he played with Joe Burrow. And then, of course, with Jake Browning, he became a bit of a favorite target for the Bengals backup quarterback. And so putting that on tape, it's not like there was huge demand for him as a journeyman tight end going into, what, age 30, age 29 season. It's not like he's like this dynamic high upside play. player per se, but he does provide a floor as a receiver that has value in and of itself.

Starting point is 00:16:54 And so in order to expose him to waivers, you would have to be very confident in your Eric all and or Tanner McLaughlin guys behind him as rookies. And, you know, I talked about this on Monday, I think, that the transition to the NFL, maybe it was Tuesday, the transition to the NFL for tight ends can take a little bit of time. And that's where the veteraniness of Tanner Hudson could be something this team values. And that'll be a very interesting roster decision. Getting those guys to the practice squad could be challenging and that will be the dilemma, I guess, that the Bengals need to solve here over the next few weeks.

Starting point is 00:17:34 For sure. It's going to be fun. It's what's going to make the preseason interesting. It's why the pads going on. You being in town soon, is exciting because this is when some of these battles are going to start to take shape. We'll have clear leaders and it won't just be, oh, well, this guy had a good day or that guy. We're starting to get there and it's going to be a lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:17:55 We will see how those. And I'd say we have some clear things to watch in preseason games this year. We're like last year, to me, the preseason was not terribly interesting. There are some very interesting battles to me that we'll get to watch this year in the preseason by comparison. Yeah, including punter. We're going to talk punter. Coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul.

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Starting point is 00:19:25 Ryan Rakeau, the newest edition to the Bengals Puncher Room to go along with... Austin McNamara in Brad Robbins. I thought you froze. I was like his internet dropped. No, he forgot the name. I didn't forget the name. It's one of those like things where you're just trying to find the thing in your brain. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:46 You know? that hamster's just running. Yeah. Running, running, running, man. Cool.

Starting point is 00:19:52 So, yeah, it's, Rae Cow, McNamara Robbins, a three-way battle. And what's interesting is the first couple of days of camp,

Starting point is 00:20:03 Brad Robbins, punted, and was averaging in the 50s and hasn't done a lot of punning in front of us since. I know he's still getting work in. I know all three punters are still getting work in. But now, Now we're seeing a lot of Raqau and a lot of McNamara.

Starting point is 00:20:21 And so that that is interesting. The one thing I will say about Raqau, because he's newer and we haven't really talked about him, he looks like a quarterback. Like he's big, physical, tall, thick. It doesn't look like a punter at all. So from a fake punt standpoint, that would be fun. Also, with the new kickoff rule, if you could get this guy on kickoffs, wouldn't be bad because he definitely could make a tackle.

Starting point is 00:20:46 Isn't McNamara also a little bit bigger than your average punter? He is, but Ray Cow is like, doesn't look like a punter at all. Like can't even, it's, it's kind of wild, honestly. It feels like a real competition. I don't think you bring Rayco in, who was by most grading systems or pre-draft books that I saw, a draftable punter. He was cut by the Kansas City Chiefs. They got an extension done with their punter.

Starting point is 00:21:16 they decided they didn't need the extra body in camp. And his availability, I think, was surprising to me. When I learned that the Bengals had signed him, I was surprised because I thought surely he would be competing for another team. But it seems to me that it would be a little bit weird for the Bengals to bring in a third punter if they felt like one of the two guys they had was good enough and could definitely be the answer. Not to say that one of those guys couldn't eventually be the answer,

Starting point is 00:21:48 but if they felt confident that the minimum outcome between Robbins and McNamara was going to be good enough, would they really waste the time and resources and energy to have a three-way puncher battle that it's its own thing to manage. There's only so much practice time for punting. There's only so many punts that happen in three preseason games. It's hard to get all that stuff in. And I know they have time as well that the specialist can maybe do some additional work

Starting point is 00:22:14 that we don't necessarily see all of, but I just don't think that it will be worth going through the effort of bringing in the third punter if he didn't have a chance to win the job. And so it's hard to imagine that that's not a real three-way competition. I agree. I think it is. And I think right now what they're doing is they're trying to get an idea of what they have in McNamara and in Ray Cow.

Starting point is 00:22:42 Because you only have so many punts. You only have so much work. You have a good idea of where Robbins is at. And so you go there and that doesn't mean they'll keep three throughout camp, right? I think that this could be a two-way competition for a little bit. And then the winner gets to go ahead to head with Brad Robbins, who, again, I still think is the favorite here. Now, it gets broken up even more with these three guys.

Starting point is 00:23:05 Now it's not two. It's three. Robbins has to beat out not just a guy in McNamara who had a draftable grade, but a guy in Raqa who honestly is probably better. You talk to a few people in the NFL, I did at least, because I was curious. We haven't talked about the punner thing, but a few days ago, NFL people think that he's better than Matt Areza, who the chief signed and replaced Raqal with. And I'm not talking about like Bengals scouts who just brought in Raqal.

Starting point is 00:23:35 So we'll see. But I do think that that's interesting that the Bengals were able to kind of, add a guy that they, I don't think we're anticipating adding in that punter battle. And hopefully this is it. Hopefully this battle settles the punter job. And we can move on to bigger and better things once the regular season starts forever, forever. Bigger and better things could include kickoff recurrence.

Starting point is 00:23:58 And that's the topic that we haven't touched on very much since the beginning of training camp. Matt Jordan sending us a question on the Lockdown Bengals insider subscription page. Join subtext.com slash lockdown Bengals, by the way, if you're interested in getting some text updates about training camp and having a direct line of communication to James and I. But Matt's question is, with the new kickoff role, has there been any news on returners? Who's working in those return spots? Or have they not been really working on that all that much when you've been watching James? Yeah, they've been working on it some. I would say it's mostly the usual suspects, the ones that you would expect. So you're talking

Starting point is 00:24:35 Chris Evans, Trayvion, Williams, Trent, Merwin, Charlie Jones. And that's, those are the ones that really stand out the most. I think Charlie Jones is going to be in that mix and returning punts and returning kicks and Chase Brown is in that mix too. I just assume, and maybe I shouldn't do this, that he's going to get so many carries and be so valuable on offense that you're not exposing him

Starting point is 00:25:00 on a kickoff return. Maybe I'm wrong about that, though. Maybe he's going to be out there. But that's another one that I've kind of, maybe unfairly dismissed because of that because I think he's so valuable in offense and going to get a ton of playing time there. So we'll see. But that's another one who I think would be awesome at it, by the way.

Starting point is 00:25:18 And maybe that's why they keep giving him reps. Is Chase Brown, of all the guys I just named might be the best kickoff return of all of them. So you might want to give him a few reps here and there just in case it's late in game, those type of situations. But him starting there, I'd be kind of surprised because I think he's going to start it running back. Darren Simmons is no stranger to the, super sub returner role.

Starting point is 00:25:41 You think back to Adam Pac-Man Jones. If they put Chase Brown in that kind of role as a kickoff returner where there's a spot where they're looking for a little bit extra juice and he has that little bit of extra speed, that would be a place for him to make an impact. But you mentioned some of the other running backs on this roster, Trayvion Williams and Chris Evans, that's got to be critical for them to make it the roster. And this has been the story for them for years is do they? find other ways to contribute because it seems like the book is kind of written for them as

Starting point is 00:26:14 running backs at this point. And you would love, you know, last off season we're still talking about Chris Evans. Is there a chance for him to take a step and find a role as a receiving back as a third round back? I feel like if that was going to happen, it would have happened by now. Not to dismiss the possibility entirely, but that has not been a topic so much this year. It's really how much is the split going to be between Zach Moss and Chase Brown. And to your point, like, how much is Chase Brown really being more of a lead back

Starting point is 00:26:43 than perhaps we initially thought, or is it really heading for more of the running back by committee split that we anticipated before training camp? And those are questions that we'll continue to ask and monitor between now and the regular season. But when it comes to the kickoff returning role, you know, if they have a couple of primary guys and Chase Brown is your, we think you have a little bit of extra juice guy, not to say that he's on the level of quality. that Adam Jones was as a returner in his prime for the Bengals because he was awesome in that role. But if he could do that to some degree, that would be a path for him to also be part of that returning room.

Starting point is 00:27:20 Yeah, it would. And we'll see. And like I said, they could have Charlie Jones and one of the third running back do it. And then when the game's potentially on the line or in key situations go to a chase and go with Chase Brown. So we'll see. I like the idea of trying Andre Yosef, Darren Simmons hasn't done that yet. Maybe he's too valuable on offense.

Starting point is 00:27:42 Yeah, if Yoshi is suddenly your Tyler Boyd replacement, I mean, how are you putting him back there on kick or trash? Dude, it beats me, and that's what's really interesting about it. It's something that is going to play out when you're in town. Yeah. And seeing the body types that they end up preferring back there, it's a question that I think a lot of NFL teams are continuing to work on and work through. I mean, as we've discussed before, I mean, they're working on position players. kicking kickoffs because of the higher chance that kickers are involved in tackles on kickoff. So not only for the returners, but also for the kickers for some of these teams, there's a lot of

Starting point is 00:28:18 experimentation happening. And that'll be another very fun thing to watch this preseason in addition to some of these roster battles that I referred to earlier as the reasons to watch this preseason, and maybe I'm just hyping myself up for football as I often do it this time of year, you know, but the reasons to watch preseason football this year feel longer for. Bengals fans. Like the list of reasons feels a little bit longer, especially for Bengals fans this year. But that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. The next time you see James and I, we will be together in person in Paycourt Stadium, most likely, unless

Starting point is 00:28:56 something comes up between now and then. But that is a plan. Excited to be there, excited to get some more work in watching training camp in person. And until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Locked-on Bengals podcast. Hey, today. And have a good.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Will Amarius Mims Start For Cincinnati Bengals? What about the Punter battle? | Answering your training camp questions!

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