WhoDey All Dey!
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WhoDey All Dey!
March Who Dey Madness
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Happy March Who Dey Family! Our Cincinnati Bengals continue to add to the Roster. The Who Dey ALL Dey podcast is here to discuss.
Bergs, Brian, and Brant talk current Team strengths and weaknesses.
The Fellas tell you what traits they look for when breaking down NFL draft prospects. They then share their current top 3 at #10.
Fill out those brackets and keep the draft prep coming! Who Dey ALL Dey!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, happy March 18th, 2026. And welcome to the Who Day All Day Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Berggs, in hot, carefree Arizona. Got a fun fact for you. Did you know that it has never been over 100 degrees in March in Arizona? Until today. I know I would have never guessed that. Record temps 101 today. I think we're getting up to about 107 come the weekend. So let's go. It is go time here. Got our boys with us tonight, Brian Kyle, Utah County. Brian, how you living?
SPEAKER_00Hey, it is great to be here and be with you guys, talk some Bengals football and celebrate March Madness, baby. Great, great time of year.
SPEAKER_02It really is. I've been texting with mom and just saying, is this this March has been incredible? March Madness, spring training, world baseball classic. Like it just hasn't stopped. St. Patrick's Day yesterday, Brandt, Northern Kentucky. Did y'all survive St. Paddy's Day? St. Paddy's Day was fun.
SPEAKER_01It was a good time. Went to the the local hot spot, Beale Street by Shelley. So if you guys haven't hit that up, throw it was a great St. Paddy's Day party. So if you guys need to if you're looking for a place next year, would definitely recommend that. And uh yeah, I'm hoping next year might be the year where I can really get excited about March Madness again, fellas. So we'll see. The the Bearcats got to make got to make a splash with this hire.
SPEAKER_02We talked about this before we jumped on Miss UC being a part of and an important part, not just a one and done in the tournament, but absolutely agree. Thank you for all of our listeners, our subscribers, those that are liking, sharing. We appreciate it. We see it, we see the messages in the comments. People are still wanting to know what is going on with this team. So you all know the drill. We're gonna go four downs. First down, give you some latest updates on free agency. Uh, since we discussed about a week and a half ago, actually, just over a week ago, excuse me. Uh, and then second down, we're gonna talk about our current strengths, what we think are some of our best strengths and weaknesses to date today, looking at the roster. Uh, and then third down, uh, I want to get these two masterminds. Uh, this is peak, Brian and Brant season, preparing for the draft, free agency, of course, is a piece of it, but how you both break down prospects and what you're looking for, some things that you're looking for to make up for the Bengals. And then third down, that all pretty much leads us to where are we today for your? I want your top three at the 10th overall pick for our Cincinnati Bengals today. So, Brian, kick us off. Latest with free agency in the roster makeup.
SPEAKER_00What you got? Yeah, since we talked last, uh Bengals added two guys in in the defensive tackle, Jonathan Allen, former Minnesota Viking, and old Bengal alum, quarterback Josh Johnson, isn't back in the building. Um, Jonathan Allen was one of the guys I mentioned on last week's podcast. So I I personally love the signing. I think he uh fits in well with the rotation that currently stands on the roster, and I think he adds a little bit of a little bit more pass rush from the interior, which would be great. Uh Josh Johnson, I feel is a possible placeholder. Um in that we kind of talked about this. Either Flacco lucks out, and somebody views it is gonna allow him to at least compete for the job. And so Josh Johnson's our backup quarterback, and we put and we draft somebody in the sixth or seventh round. Um, or Zach Taylor can't help himself and does it in the fourth. Um, or Flacco keeps testing the waters, no one views him as a starting quarterback, strictly a backup, and he comes back to his favorite team in the NFL, the Cincinnati Bengals. Um, and whether that means we keep Josh as the third or not, it I don't I won't say it doesn't matter. I would prefer to draft still draft somebody, um, but it's nice to have that security blanket, so to speak. That you've got a veteran quarterback on your roster that if needs be can come in and and fill a little bit of a void for a little for a couple games. Hopefully, we don't have to deal with that this year. Not gone wood.
SPEAKER_02No, love that. And I I think people that was the first comment was does this mean Flacco's gone? No, I think it's just planning and being prepared. We love Burrow. Hope, and obviously the team is uh giving him his best offensive line ever. So we're hoping that he stays upright and healthy. But we know what the history has been, and uh, I love that with Jonathan Allen. Adding that depth and a veteran presence to these young guys, he is somebody not to be messed with, and I think he will be a great influence for our young defensive lineman.
SPEAKER_01Brandt. Yeah, I'll start with Josh Johnson, the the third time putting on a Bengals uniform. Uh, and I'll admit I'm I've always been a big Josh Johnson fan. Uh, I think he's a solid backup quarterback. I think he's a pros pro. I if I remember right, I thought I heard this this week. He he was actually in the 2008 draft. So I think it was the same draft as Flacco. So uh give that guy a ton of credit for for just he's obviously built his reputation around the league. And I was this his 22nd, is it his 18th, 22nd team, something crazy, right? Uh so he's well traveled, but obviously well respected. People feel like if you need a solid guy in that room that's gonna come in and do his job and just be dependable, Josh Johnson's your guy. So I I love him as a backup quarterback for this team. You never know, he might be able to refine some of you know his old self too. I I worry about him fitting into our offense specifically and how we run it with Joe, but I would worry about that with any backup quarterback, quite honestly. So I I hope the the coaches have learned their lesson there. Uh, but yeah, I'm still very much open to bringing Black back Flacco. Uh, and if Flacco wants to go to another Pro Bowl, I think he knows where he should where he should land.
SPEAKER_02I mean, is that not the most iconic picture? Burrow walking out with uh Flacco and Burrow on the wings and our receivers in the middle. Like that is gonna as the at the Pro Bowl, that's gonna go down as one of the most iconic pictures.
SPEAKER_01I mean it it just couldn't have played out any better there, you know. Um Flacco put up you know career numbers, so he knows where he needs to be. He's just playing hard to get right now. Like it. Uh Jonathan Allen. Uh so I'll admit to you guys, I think I text you right away. Uh, I wasn't very excited. I think as time has gone on, I've let it let it you know marinate a little bit more. Uh I'm getting more excited about the signing. And I'll tell you why. First, I'll tell you why I wasn't super excited. I I kind of immediately thought back to the game to a certain extent when we played them. I thought he flashed here and there. I just didn't see, I think I was expect I was expecting old Jonathan Allen with the Washington Commanders, right? Um, however, some evidence has come out. Maybe he was being misused a little bit up there in Minnesota, more as a decoy, freeing up a lot of those linebackers for those pressures that they would bring uh off that uh you know unique defense that Flores runs. So I'm really excited to see what he might be able to do in our defense. And uh bottom line is bringing in Jonathan Allen, I think elevates that room from what it was already. Uh and that's what you're looking for. And then Brian hit the nail on the head. We really needed pass rush. I think he brings that. I think he's immediately your best pass rusher on the interior, even at 31, 32 years old, whatever he is now. So uh quite honestly, I if I it was me, I think I I would have done a couple different moves, but for the lack of options that were out there, I think Jonathan Allen is a very solid ad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's and I think the last piece that you know we'll talk more about as we get closer to the draft, but you know, we still have plenty of cap available to sign a couple of uh veteran uh players on the defensive side. I selfishly would like to see them come to Cincinnati earlier. I'm sure these veterans are like, meh, I'll be in no hurry. Maybe I'll get a better deal somewhere else. But there aren't gonna be too many better opportunities than in Cincinnati. You're playing with, I know that we rolled our eyes that Joe Burrow is a marketing piece on our side. That is a big deal. You know you're gonna win. We need help on the defensive side, so you're gonna get the reps and you can help these young guys, which I think leads to second down. Brant, we clearly have a lot of strengths and we have some very obvious weaknesses. Today, what is a strength and a weakness that put that sticks out to you?
SPEAKER_01Okay, maybe I'll I'll say one obvious one and maybe one that's not so obvious. So the so the obvious one I will go uh go with would be the offensive line. I like that. I think this is the first year in a long time where we can go into the season and feel like this is the best unit early in the in the year where we have a cohesive set offensive line. We're not having to still try to find maybe a value-free agent that we can plug in at guard, or we we have to spend a you know, first-round draft pick on a on a tackle because we don't have a tackle. So I love having the offensive line set. Bringing back uh Reisner was absolutely the right move. I love that signing and what he brought to this team. So strength is the offensive line, weakness. This is maybe my not so obvious one, but I'm gonna go tight end. Interesting, and I'm gonna tell you why. Love what Kesicki brings, and I actually love what Drew Sample brings. But there is some evidence out there. I don't can't find my chart exactly, but when those guys are on the field, we are telegraphing our plays. And you guys can probably discern what what's happening if Drew Sample's on the field and Gasicki is not on the field, and then vice versa. Don't you think Eric Al uh Eric all excuse me coming back from injury fixes that? So that's my hope, and I think that's the Bengals' hope right now. However, I I am quite quite worried about Eric All's knee and how it holds up. I mean, the word on the street is there's not a lot of cartilage there anymore, and we all know what that usually means. So I think a sneaky, big need for this team is a tight end, a do-it-all tight end. And I'll just throw this out there because uh if I was the Bengals, I'd be dangling some carrots and seeing what what could I do to get Michael Mayer away from Oakland.
SPEAKER_02They would they would definitely for draft capital right now, especially with how they're rebuilding that team and and Brock Bowers, because Mayer's that perfect blocking and a receiving threat. Absolutely love that.
SPEAKER_01That's a great exactly, and we've already brought home Brian Cook, so why not bring home the pride of Covcast? Which I'm sorry, I know that's gonna make you guys I know that's probably not sitting real well with you guys, but bring him home, bring him back to Cincinnati.
SPEAKER_02Brian.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'll say I'll start with the weakness first. I think our biggest the team's biggest weakness is still linebacker. Um there's still a lot to be desired there at that position. Uh, and currently we lack a veteran presence in that locker room, so would love to have one. Uh Bob B. Wagner would be a great, we said it last week, I'll say it again, he'd be a great addition uh to the to this team, to the locker room, to the field. He's still got some juice. And then strength, I think our biggest strength is the fact that we have what I would call a one 1B, but the the best second receiver in the NFL. Uh T Higgins. Go, I mean, if all you need to do is go back and watch the last touchdown in the Buffalo game that gave gave Bengals hope that we were gonna climb back in and win that game if the defense could get a stop. One ridiculous throw by Joe. Um and then putting it only where T can get it, and T with those Spider-Man arms of his man just holding in. He he's phenomenal. I feel like he's getting better, uh, which is fantastic. Um not only as a player, but I wouldn't say I didn't see it, but you're seeing it more and more the competitor that T is. Uh that guy wants to be on the field. He him getting his bell rung a few times and him trying to trying to stay out there. Um sometimes you gotta listen to the doctors and take a seat, but doing everything you could to get ready and and go back out and play, uh, huge, huge strength. It's it's what changes the offense uh is T Higgins.
SPEAKER_02Do you know who has more touchdowns over the last four years, Justin Jefferson or T. Higgins? It's T. Higgins. Wow, wow. Yeah, wow. I'm telling anybody that says we shouldn't have paid the receivers, you hurt the rest of the team, it's nonsense. We've talked about this on uh on the podcast, and we've talked about how there's enough money to go around. Just even like on the last down, we talked about how there's still a chunk of change that's available that we could be adding to the defensive side. Uh, I love building through the draft, but I think when you are building through the draft, you need to have some of those veteran pieces in there. Love that strength. I was gonna piggyback with Brand. I was gonna say the offensive line. We have so many people that are so uninformed about the Cincinnati Bengals. We were a top seven offensive line last year in the NFL. So we're in the top 25 percentile of offensive line performances, and they're all coming back. Uh, and we've got young guys that are just getting better. And so I'm very excited for that group. And for anybody that keeps saying, hey, Joe's gonna get killed, it's the opposite. We've got the weapons and we've got the best offensive line he's played with. I'll list off on another podcast the five starting offensive linemen in the Super Bowl versus who they are today. And you you tell me, you tell me which offensive line is gonna go. Weakness, look, I'm just gonna go. It's the entire defense right now for me, because there's no leadership. We should have we should have extended DJ Turner by now. I know we're working on it. I'm glad that we signed a couple pieces on there, but I don't see a leader on that defense yet. And so, and that's even including on the coaching side. And so I want to be positive. I want to believe that we're gonna build great picks through the draft, but I'm not seeing and believing that this is gonna be an area of opportunity, which look, we're gonna have a last place schedule. This should be a layup for this defense. Get these young guys in there, get a couple veteran pieces. I'm hoping I'm gonna be patient. We still have money to spend that we had a couple veteran guys. Brian mentioned one and Bobby Wagner, guys like them that can help these young guys come along and bring them along. There's plenty of guys that are out there that are available. But speaking of who's available and drafting, Brian, I want to give the listeners a little bit of background. You two are so great at sending clips and film and background on players. Obviously, we don't get to see every guy, but there are just a lot of guys that stick out to us that we feel like would make great Cincinnati Bengals. What are some of the things you're looking for when you're breaking down a prospect that you're like, that guy I want to see in orange and black?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a couple things. First, you're usually ever the optimist, and I think you need to have some faith in Brian Cook. That's your leader on defense.
SPEAKER_02Woo! Thank you. Makes me feel better.
SPEAKER_01I would add Jonathan Allen to that list too. I think that's my favorite quality that he brings.
SPEAKER_02So I love that.
SPEAKER_00Good.
SPEAKER_01There we go.
SPEAKER_00There we go. So as far as breaking down prospects, as far as physical traits, I I really try, but that's where I like to watch you know clips, whether it's clips of games and watching every trying to watch as many snaps as as possible. The highlights are great, but obviously they're they're highlights, so you're gonna see nothing but the good. But so then when if you're doing that, that's fine. But then look for look, I look for some traits. The number number one thing is I I try to look for explosiveness. Um, that was the one thing, and I know we're all at this point, we're all kind of dissatisfied with last year's first round pick, but that's what kind of started to get me turned around on the corner and excited about him. Is if you turn on Shamar's tape, is there's plays where it's like, oh my gosh, like who shot that guy out of a cannon? Right. And so I'm looking for things like that. Um sometimes on tape, also you can you can tell how a big scale in football isn't necessarily how fast you are in the 40, it's how fast you can get to your top speed. Uh Troy Palomalu was not exceptionally fast, but he got to top speed like within one or two steps, and before you knew it, he was in your backfield. Um, the other thing that I like to, as far as reading up on prospects that I'm looking for is is that if it's mentioned how well they can diagnose uh a play, how how fast they can process it. It doesn't matter what position. Um and then I'm looking for some intangibles, you know, were they a captain? Did they come from a winning program? Uh those are some things that I'm looking for. And then it's a specific some of it goes, you know, position by position. You're looking for certain things, but those are the biggest things. Is is does explosiveness stand out? Do they stand out on tape? Do you like if you were if you were to watch a game and you're sitting there and you're like, wait a minute, who and you if you didn't know who they were, you'd be like, Who's number two on Ohio State's defense? Who is that guy? He's in on every play, he's telling people where to go. Like, who is he? Um, and then like I said, looking for uh in those write-ups for anything that equals leadership quality and and competitiveness. Those are those are huge because you can't teach you can't it's hard to teach those things, yeah, especially competitiveness.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Those are not teachable traits. I love what you're talking about, explosiveness, uh diagnosing plays, captain-winning programs, kind of those intangibles like you talk about. Uh absolutely love that. I I think you've got a good combination of what you're seeing on tape, uh, and then also if the guy loves football, absolutely love those uh on there. Brant.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I would echo a lot of what Brian said. I mean, like he's hitting the nail on the head with with multiple things I think you're looking for. I think uh just just throw some qualities out there. I think that every Bengals fan can uh can agree with at this point. Uh, my favorite quality to look for in in any defensive player is can they put people on the ground? Uh so tackling is huge. Like what's their missed tackle rate? Um you know, that's where everything has to start for me as a as a defensive player. Uh, I think exactly what Brian said is explosiveness. Um, specifically, if I'm looking at edge guys, I'm looking at their explosiveness. That's why I'm not a sort of backup, I'm not a huge measurable uh, you know, combine, you know, who looks the best in spandex. Like that is not how I would draft. However, there are some really good data points that you can get on players, and that would be one specifically I would pay attention to for edge players and the 10-yard split. And can they get off the ball quickly? Right. So, for reference, uh Trey Hendrickson, known in the league as one of the best guys at getting off the ball, his split was around 1.59 seconds 10-yard split at the combine. So I'm trying to compare a lot of current guys that went through the combine to that split. So, explosiveness is huge. My last one that I think I would uh add to just my uh overall, I like watching feet like offensive linemen. Can they move their feet? Do they look athletic? Or do they look like they're you know stiff? Can they move their hips? Uh you know, they have to be able to mirror other guys, cut them off, recover. So they have to have good feet. That goes along with secondary. You got to be able to flip your hips with the way guys are running routes these days. So yeah, lots of things to look at.
SPEAKER_02I love that with the feet. Uh, you're so right because in today's football, it's not like it was even just 10 years ago. These guys, I know they're enormous human beings on the offensive line, they gotta be agile, which is scary as heck. But I love that with the tackling piece. Go ahead. What were you saying, Brad?
SPEAKER_01Well, why I got so focused on feet, greatest bangle of all time. Next to uh Fontez Perfect, Chad Johnson.
SPEAKER_02Oh gosh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Best feat for a wide receiver ever in the NFL, and Chad will let you know. Well, yeah, that's that's what made the difference.
SPEAKER_02I was worried you were gonna say something about Rex Ryan. I'm glad it was more Chad Johnson. I'm very that way, but look, tackling, I've seen a lot of people mock draft Ramsey, the safety from uh USC. I look, I like USC. I watch a lot of their games, ton of great athletes out there that love football. Ramsey wants nothing to do with the tackling. He reminds me of this guy that is going to Buffalo. What's his name? Geno Stone that said he wants to get back to a winning program. Let me know how that works out for you, Buffalo. We will not see you in the playoffs. How about that? Love those traits. That leads to fourth down. Gentlemen, today, with what we've done so far in free agency, and thank you for uh pointing that out. I hope Alan and Brian Cook are those leaders that we're looking for. And it's a great point because if you do look back to like uh Brian was talking about in the intangibles and the 2021 UC team, Brian Cook was that guy on that uh on that defense in that mode. Um, but give me your top three brand today at 10.
SPEAKER_01Are we saying real? Who do you think is gonna be there? Who we think is really gonna be there, yeah. Correct? Yep. Okay, uh, I think I would love a pass rusher to be there because I think we still need pass rush, but I think Bane is gonna be gone. Uh, I think Bailey will be gone as well, and Reese is is uh is a pipe dream. So get those guys out of your head. Uh I'd love Sonny Styles. I think if he wouldn't have done anything at the Combine, I think he would have been there. But Sonny Styles is gone as well. So I'm down to most Bengals fans are gonna love this one because he's he's a fan of uh favorite on Twitter. But Caleb Downs. Okay. I think a lot of what Brian was saying, the intangibles, uh, a coach on the field, a guy that's gonna put guys on the ground. Uh, what I would be most excited about with Caleb is you can play him in the in the deep half or as a single high, but I would actually bring him down and make him my nickel and put him close to the ball and let him just eat. So it would be Caleb Downs. This might be maybe an unpopular opinion, but my second choice would be Thieneman out of Oregon. You love him that much, the safety from Oregon. He's a difference maker. And I would put him again at nickel. And we're disrupting things at the line of scrimmage, and he's making he can he can cover in the slot, he can cover tight end. I'm not worrying about that anymore. Uh, and I like what Jalen Davis can offer, but I'm a little worried about depth and and other things. Those guys give you great depth as well. So, my third one, I'm gonna probably surprise the crap out of you guys with this one, maybe. But we we love to throw the ball. We have Joe Burrow. Let's quit messing around. If Carnell Tate is there, I'm not I'm not worrying about our third receiver anymore. And can we get open? I'm putting Carnell Tate outside, and I'm gonna scare the crap out of every defense. And Jamar's going into the slot and good luck. Good luck covering Jamar in the slot with your linebacker or your safety. You're gonna have to move one of your top outside corners inside, and they're not gonna like it, and they're gonna have to guard Jamar all day long, and he's gonna just keep eating.
SPEAKER_02So Ohio State fans are gonna love that from you. I'm personally not a fan of Tate. I know he's great over the shoulder, which Burrow does very good at. I think Tate's really gonna be overdrafted, though, but he would be a on our offense, he would be a great weapon. Uh I don't think he's a leading man, like if he goes to Cleveland or something like that. But that's uh that's a pretty scary three. Absolutely like that. Brian.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm going to uh I'm going to believe that one of these three guys will be there uh when we pick. And so I'm gonna include somebody that Brant left out because you know it is it's pretty logical that he's gonna be gone, but you never know. And here's hoping. So I'm gonna say Ruben Bain would be great. Uh obviously adds to the pass rush, has what we just talked about. You see explosion from him, crazy strong. That that is a guy that if there's a bar fight, watch out because tables are getting thrown. Um not that he's a bad guy, I'm just saying how strong he is. I mean, with people sitting on the table, he could probably pick it up and throw it across the room. Uh comes from a winning program recently. Uh always the you is a great program to come from. Second guy is Caleb Downs, like Brent said, he's a difference maker on the defense. Um, you know, playing him at the nickel allows you to keep you've shown faith in Jordan Battle for at least one more year, so it allows you to do that. Uh and your secondary starts to really probably become the strength of your defense, actually. And then my last guy, kind of in the same vein as Brandt, um, adding to the offense and adding a weapon, not an offensive lineman. I think this guy is arguably the best player in the in the draft in 2026, and that's Jeremiah, Jeremiah Love out of Notre Dame. Watched him again today, and I love Chase Brown. I love Chase Brown, but it seemed like Zach started to figure out it's okay to give another back a few carries as he started to give P Ryan a few more carries, and and the offense hummed uh a little bit more. So I imagine a backfield of of love and love and brown. I mean, that guy, I love having guys on offense that any touch, uh, if you blink, they're gonna be in the end zone, high five and their teammates. So I love Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_02Love fans would lose their mind if we drafted love or Tate with other guys being on the board, but weapon-wise and what that would do for our offense, and I agree. I'm hoping Zach saw, you know what, we helped that offensive line with Burrow. You know what else was helped Burrow? Let's run the dang ball. Yeah, that is absolutely we we've talked a ton about that. I love that. Uh uh, Brant said it. He thinks Bane will be gone. I'm hoping that his short arms, I'm gonna spread as many rumors as possible. Exactly. I'm hoping short arms, Bain. You know, just you know what? Every team just needs a pass on him. I would love him at 10. Brian, I would echo that. That would be hands down, my number one, number one. Even if I pick number one, I'm I would be taking Bain at number one. Uh, but I'm gonna go downs, I think is my first, who I think will be there at safety for all the reasons you said. I'm gonna put Delane at two, the corner from LSU. I think with CTB leaving, hopefully we're gonna keep uh re-up DJ Turner, Dax, who knows what's going on. It just I think it just adds one more talent to that secondary. I know we need to build the trenches. So surprisingly, I love Maonoga from uh Miami, but I'm gonna go Venga Yanni from Penn State. The more I watch this guy, this guy might murder any Raven, Brown, or Steeler that touches Burrow. And having him as our sixth lineman and running at Trey in those two Ravens games, sign me up for that. Bengals fans get pumped. Look, I know we want more activity on the free agency side. I still believe it's coming. I think with the draft and all those guys, both of you mentioned, it's gonna be some of these pieces that are gonna come together. Uh that then we can go to these veterans and say, hey, you're that missing piece, you're that missing piece. You both are the best. Stay cool, Brant. We'll send some of that warm sunshine your way and food all day.