Seen and heard Friday at the Bengals rookie minicamp on the Paycor Stadium turf:
You figure if anyone has been aware of the long-running soap opera starring the local linebacker room, it would be the University of Cincinnati's own green dot.
But Jack Dingle says that wasn't on his mind in the months leading up to the draft, and when the Bengals called after he didn't get selected his agent said he had a good situation for him down the hill.
"I told him the Bengals are the team for me," said Dingle after Friday's workout. "I didn't talk to them much (before the draft). I talked to a bunch of other teams, but not really locally.
"I want to be a part of this culture. I did local day here (a week before the draft) and I got to know a little about Coach. It's a tough, gritty, Cincinnati culture. Just like I had at Cincinnati. They're a family-oriented team. It's great to be a part of it."
If Dingle sounds like family, he sort of is. His father Nate was a UC captain, he has grandparents in Cincinnati, and a Louisville boyhood was close enough to have the Bengals as his favorite team and to attend games occasionally. The scouts and coaches also like his down-home recipe of traffic-cop brains and character in the middle.
"I spent five years here in college," This is home," Dingle said.
His favorite Bengal? He just missed him. In the wake of the October trade of Logan Wilson, the Bengals are standing by their sophomore linebackers Demetrius Knight Jr., and Barrett Carter. So much so that Dingle is the first significant addition to the room in the middle of the $200 million or so upgrade everywhere else on defense.
Dingle was in Clifton during the 2021 Super Bowl run ("That was fun. The whole city was into it."), and that's when he noticed Wilson.
"He has kind of my style of play," Dingle said. "Old school Mike backer leading the defense. I liked watching him play.
"I'm an undrafted player. I have to be the best communicator on the field. I've got to get the playbook as fast as I can so I have every detail to prove myself out there. Just take it one step at a time."
The Real Hollywood Bengal
Because he spent the offseason working out in the Los Angeles area, some people are calling Joe Burrow, "Hollywood Joe," but they've got the wrong Bengal. That would be undrafted Nebraska cornerback Ceyair Wright.
How many rookies report after acting in a TV pilot?
That would be Wright, the USC transfer who is playing a football player in Southern Bastards, and Hula has to decide if they'll pick up the show about an Alabama criminal empire run by a local football coach.
Wright shrugs off the busy two-way life. It's what he's done. It's just that this time he's destined to have his biggest speaking part, eclipsing his role as LeBron James' son in Space Jam 2.
"The duality of that is something I've done my entire life," Wright said. "Knowing that energy is put into something all the way at the same time I'm doing something else."
He says if they decide to make a season one, it's going to happen after the football season. At the moment, he's looking to hit all his marks in the Bengals secondary.
It looks like he'll play all of them. Cornerback, nickel, safety.
"See what sticks. Whatever gets me on the field," Wright said. "I grew up playing cornerback. This year I got to play nickel. And safety as well. Just learning how much more there is in the game excites me. I feel like as the season progresses, I got better playing in the slot…I feel like my ceiling is so much higher than it is right now."
The 6-0, 185-pounder didn't burn the 40 yards at 4.55 seconds, but the scouts felt he's such a reliable and bright all-around player that he has a shot. Some of that reliability comes from having two careers, both of which rely on timing and teamwork.
Favorite actor?
"Jake Gyllenhaal. I really liked him in "Night Crawler."
Favorite cornerback?
"Darius Slay, but Troy Polamalu is my favorite DB of all-time. Even though he's a Steeler."
He winced.
"Can I say the Steelers?"
This a guy who'll know his lines once he's been on set for a few days.
Home Field Advantage
Sixth-round pick Brian Parker II, Duke's offensive lineman they think can play all five spots, showed up and it's like he was never away. And as a Cincinnati St. Xavier grad who grew up in Indian Hill, he really hasn't.
He counted five doctors with St. X ties and familiar faces during Thursday's physicals at Paycor. When center Ted Karras congratulated him after the draft, it wasn't exactly a cold call since Karras once lived four doors down from him. His mother knows ownership through the Madeira boutique where she works.
And, Parker had no trouble navigating parking. He figures he's been to about ten Paycor games and as recently as the 2022 game that was cancelled when Bills safety Damar Hamlin was revived on the field.
Friday was a much happier moment in the stadium as he looked across at Burrow's locker from the offensive line lockers.
"Surreal being in here. I used to root for Joe Burrow and the guys, and now I'm playing with them," Parker said.
He was a Penn State fan, so his favorite Bengal was easy. Penn State defensive tackle Devon Still. When Still's daughter Leah was stricken with cancer, Parker's youth football team participated in a fundraiser for the Stills' foundation.
"I wore his jersey (No. 75) whenever I went to the games," he said.
The gag is after the Bengals drafted Auburn center Connor Lew in the fourth round, they wanted to make him so comfortable in Cincinnati that they drafted Parker in the sixth.
"I've just been asking him everything," Lew said. "The best places to eat. The best places to live. He's been great."
Parker: "I'm getting to get the tour bus soon and drive the rookies around."
Throwing Strikes
Lew and Parker are the classic brainy O-linemen, like last year's rookies Jalen Rivers and Dylan Fairchild, and captains Karras and Orlando Brown Jr.
Lew went through his suburban Atlanta high school with a 4.0 GPA, and it sounds it when he talks about how his prep wrestling career has made it easier to pick up Bengals offensive line coach Scott Peters' strike system.
"Leverage," Lew said. "The teams I met with in the pre-draft process, they (Bengals) were one that had their own strike system. I'm a very black-and-white person when it comes to football and technique. With the strike system, you know exactly where the landmark is, you know exactly what you're trying to do."
Slants and Screens
Even before Lew stepped on the field Friday, he had already been coached by a Bengal.
Bengals Ring of Honor right tackle Willie Anderson returns to his alma mater of Auburn for some spring games, spring practices, and regular-season games, often enough that he's a familiar figure to the offensive linemen.
Even though Lew isn't playing tackle, he picked Anderson's brain on how to use his feet in pass protection.
"The nuances," Lewe said. "For as long as he played the game at a high level, I was able to pick up a lot of stuff that I was able to work in practice. Anytime you had a question, he was right there." …
Yes, their first pick in the draft, second-round edge Cashius Howell of Texas A&M, spent some time dropping in coverage drills Friday. That's merely first-day installation. They're not turning him into a linebacker.
"Whatever they need me to do," Howell said.
For what it's worth, he didn't have to take much coaching as he seamlessly dropped into zones.
"I thought our defensive line communicated at a high level today," Howell said. "I feel like we were very intentional with our keys, alignments, and assignments overall." …
Their first pick and their last pick, Navy defensive tackle Landon Robinson, have bonded this camp, which was just 24 hours from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon. Howell says Robinson's build of 5-11, 293 pounds, reminds him of Aaron Donald and he'll call him that. He's impressed with how Robinson survived at Navy.
"A lot of rigorous things they had to do," Howell said. "I couldn't do it. Salutes to him for doing that, though." …
The Midshipmen haven't been told who their commencement speaker is for their graduation in two weeks. It could be President Trump, and that would be ho-hum for Robinson. He's talked to him just before the Army-Navy game and at the White House.
"I was dialed into the game," Robinson said. "He was talking about the flyover and asking me what it's like to play in the game. It's always a great opportunity to talk to the president." …
