Snubs & Surprises! Bengals 25-Year Team Cornerbacks and Safeties

Welcome back to Bengals On The Brain, presented by First Star Logistics! In this milestone Episode 187, your host Joe Goodberry is wrapping up the 25-year Bengals team project!

After weeks of meticulously analyzing each position group, it’s time to assemble the ultimate lineup of defensive backs – cornerbacks and safeties – who have graced the field for the Bengals in the past quarter-century.

Get ready for some nostalgic debates, passionate arguments, and in-depth evaluations as Joe dives into the roster of players who’ve played at least 25 games, aiming to build the whole 53-man dream team for a hypothetical 2025 Bengals season.

“We’ve got 10 spots left on the roster, and today, we’re tackling the defensive backs. It’s a strong list, a strong team, but I don’t know where it will rank compared to the other position groups,” Joe mentions, emphasizing the depth and competitiveness of the team he is building.

In this episode, Joe walks through the challenges in crafting a top 10 list from a pool of talented individuals who all needed to have at least 25 games in the previous 25 years. The Cornerback and Safety positions were the most difficult to choose.

Joe begins with the Cornerbacks!
Taking the number one cornerback spot is Leon Hall. Joe explains why, saying that during the three-wide receiver revolution, Hall thrived as a “nickel cornerback.” Hall was exceptional at covering the slot, was intelligent, tough, a fantastic tackler, and had great zone coverage. Additionally, he was an elite athlete with exceptional agility.

Next on the list is Jonathan Joseph, who had great speed and good ball skills. In the third spot, we have Deltha O’Neal, the Pro Bowler who was a smooth player with the ability to bait quarterbacks. Adam “Pacman” Jones is in the fourth spot for his playmaking abilities and ability to change the game’s momentum. Rounding out the list is Mike Hilton.

After Joe’s picks, he also shared some honorable mentions, including the following: Tory James, Chidobe Awuzie, William Jackson III, Terrence Newman, and Cam Taylor-Britt.

On to the Safeties!
Jesse Bates is the best Free Safety the Bengals have had over the last 25 years, according to Joe.

Next up is Reggie Nelson. Joe explains that Nelson developed into a strong safety, the best role for Nelson to be successful, according to Joe. Joe talks about Nelson’s tendency to kill the Steelers every single game, which added to Nelson’s appeal to Bengals fans.

In the third spot is George Iloka, who was primarily a free safety for the Bengals and was a personal favorite of Joe’s. In the next spot is Vonn Bell, who Joe credits with helping the team rebound in 2021-22. For the final Safety spot, Joe mentions Sean Williams.

After the 5 Safeties Joe has for the team, he shares a final honorable mention for Chris Crocker and Chinedum Ndukwe.

As always, Joe opens up the floor to viewer feedback: “Let me know where I went wrong, who I missed. Did I miss someone in the defensive backs?

What’s your favorite position?

Did I ring a bell or bring up a memory about a player that maybe you weren’t thinking about?”

Remember to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss the next episode of Bengals On The Brain, presented by First Star Logistics.

[Music] Welcome back, Mr. Goodberry. The first star logistics studio is fully equipped and ready to record. [Music] Welcome back to Bengals on the Brain presented by FirstStar Logistics. I’m your host Joe Goodberry. This is episode 187 as we conclude our 25-year team for 2025. So, Bengals roster trying to build a a full 53 man. We’re down to 10 spots left. We’re going to do defensive backs today. A lot of guys talk about a pairing that actually played together. You got a lot of these guys that ended up crossing over, which I think is fun to look back on. But remember, they had to have played in 25 games and in the last 25 years. So, there’s some people that bring up names and I go, well, they that was before 25 years ago or he didn’t play in 25 games. Um, some interesting players here I I think to talk about. We’ll start with corners and go to safeties as I pull it up right now. But uh a strong list, a strong team. I don’t know where we’ll rank the position groups and maybe something for the comments when we get to the end. Like we know receiver is strong. Quarterback is strong. Offensive tackle is really strong, right, man? About two Hall of Famers there. The defensive line surprisingly really, really good. All of them are strong. The tight end might be the weakest of them. Running back great. Uh linebackers good too great. I I you know ranking these are going to be interesting and I’d like to see your guys’ like who’s the best, maybe the worst, maybe the bottom of the bottom two positions, maybe the top two positions. I’ll read the comments for that. Uh but the corner and safety rooms, not a lot of leaguewide recognition, I would say got a couple of Pro Bowls scattered in there, but I think it’s really dang good. and one guy that I’m going to talk about at the top of the list at cornerback as we dive in right now. All right, first thing you’ll see is five at corner, five at safety, 10 defensive backs. That is typical for what the Bengals have done over the last 25 years, whether that be the Marvin Lewis era or the Zack Taylor era. Sometimes you’ll go six corners for safety, but at the minimum you’re looking at five at one at corner and you’re looking at four at safety. I went strong at safety here. Uh, and I could have I understand if you would say no, go heavier at corner because I’ll get to it as as we you know get the big reasons Mike Hilton in my opinion uh to go heavier at corner and go with another cover guy. But we’ll start it off as the number one corner, the best corner the Bengals have had in the last 25 years was Leon Hall. And some people may not agree with that, but I’m going to tell you right now it is Leon Hall. And Hall at the time when he was thrusted into the number one role, you’ll see the first two guys there, Leon Hall, Jonathan Joseph. Joseph played longer, probably had at times higher peaks, especially later in his career as Hall dealt with injuries, but they played together. And when Joseph left, Hall was the number one for the Bengals, but he was the number one before that. And what I mean is we were right at the cusp of three wide receivers being the dominant offensive formation or personnel grouping and defense is counteracting by saying and taking it seriously finally to have a nickel corner and a slot corner that was actually good. And many teams were either not valuing the position, not drafting them highly, not paying them. They definitely weren’t taking their number one and then kicking him inside to play slot and the Bengals were with Leon Hall. And it’s because they felt comfortable with their other outside receivers at times, right? The or outside corners, I’m sorry, excuse me. And Hall was really good at what it took to be a slot corner. Intelligence, toughness, tackling, great in zone. Like that’s everything you want. Plus, he was an elite athlete with elite agility numbers. you could see his quickness. Um, the only time he really struggled I felt, especially early in his career, was deep ball skills. He would lose the ball at times, grab guys, just he was crazy athletic though when he jump in there and contort his body and knock them away. But he would get lost a bit there. Everything inside and tight, he was fantastic. He is probably the most underrated Bengals defender of the last 25 years and maybe making a case of top five most underrated of all time. In my opinion, I am very high on Leon Hall. I think he was really amazing. There was a time where he was, I believe, a PFF early 2007, 89 in that range where they said he is the best slot corner in the league, best nickel corner in the league, hands down, and a top five corner. Uh, the year Daryl Rivas won MVP or defensive player of the year, Leon Hall, his coverage numbers and PFF numbers are lock step. Just under, but right with Daryl Rivas. He was really good. Injury sapped his longevity, but the high points were extremely good. And we’re at this point, we’re trying to aim for those high points. Jonathan Joseph, back-to-back draft classes, by the way, at corner. Bengals spending first round picks at corner. Joseph was the older one year before. Hall, who had the he had the speed, the clo closing speed, the quickness. He had good ball skills. Wasn’t the best tackler. He didn’t have the consistent play. He dealt with injuries his few first few years with the Bengals. A little nagging things and that was one of the reasons the Bengals decided decided. We can talk about that. But this is one of the reasons the Bengals gave the same offer to Leon Hall and he took it and just said, “All right, we’ll let Jonathan Joseph go.” It really came down to he was going to get paid much more in Houston and he left. If the Bengals would have paid him what he got in Houston, he probably would have signed in Cincinnati. That’s typically how it goes around that. He ended up having a super long career and being really good for a long time. And I think that’s key in understanding of how good he was. Their moments together outstanding. It was really fun to watch those two at corner and what they could do on defense with those two. Uh not as physical as Hall, but the athletic talent never dropped off for Joseph and he played for a long time because of it. similar as Delta O’Neal. The Bengals traded back the year the Rams got Stephen Jackson. Bengals moved back and then moved back again. And then the first move back, they got Delta O’Neal from the Denver Broncos. The Megals ended up taking Chris Perry that year. Uh funny story that I’ve heard is they they thought they were getting Stephen Jackson even though they traded back two more spots. Oh, Jackson’s still there. Oh no, the Rams just took him. Oh, we’ll take Chris Perry then. Kind of a Billy Price situation. Anyway, Delta O’Neal hits the ground running for the Bengals. 10 picks, Pro Bowl. Uh, I don’t think Joseph or Hall ever made a Pro Bowl for the Bengals. Delta O’Neal did. Adam Jones did. You’ll see on the list. He did, but as a return man, Delta O’Neal, though, ball skill, speed, length, smooth player, knew when to take risks, knew when to bait quarterbacks to making a throw into a tight window that he knew he could recover and get to uh because of that length and ball skills. He was a very fun player, especially for that year. But for a few years for in Cincinnati, Delta O’Neal was very very good. And he was good with the Broncos. Like this is we’re talking about a a high-end player, just inconsistent, not the most physical, not the best tackler for sure. Wasn’t great against the run. Similar to Joseph. Joseph I thought at times was a better tackler, better more physical player than O’Neal. O’Neal probably of the four guys that we have here is the least physical of all of them. Then we get to Pac-Man Jones. Adam Jones, we talked about him as a return man already in the previous episode as a corner. Again, not the biggest dude, right? So, he’s not the most physical, but because he was crazy, he would hit and he would tackle and he would make plays. Uh he was a guy that would create a spark. I remember the Falcons game. Bengals are down big. This had to be 2010. Uh Adam Jones rips a ball out, returns it for a touchdown. Next play, they go deep. Leon Hall intercepts it deep down the field. And the Bengals like sideline is erupting on both of these. Both guys at corner were playmakers. I just spit a little bit. Hope you didn’t see that. Were playmakers in every sense of the word. And they could change the tide of the game in much different ways. Leon Hall more of the captain did it with his play. Made big plays consistently, you know, in in in small ways. Pac-Man was more of the gambler that would bite on double moves, but man, when he came through with a play in a clutch situation, you said, “Yeah, he that’s why he’s out there. That’s why you rely on him.” And the players really gravitated around him for all of his faults and warts off the field. Pac-Man and on the field at times. Uh Pac-Man was a playmaker for them. And I think having him as your fourth corner on this roster, you feel really good about that because he could step in and play all over, especially on the boundary for you. I also think think about that playoff game 2011 Leon Hall with the interception pick six uh pretty much to start that game and you thought oh the Bengals are going to beat TJ and the the Texans Andy Daltton as a rookie. Uh they’re going to do this and of course they did not. Honorable mentions though guys that played really well maybe for shorter periods. Tory James was older when he came to Cincinnati. He was one of the signings Marvin Lewis brought in a bunch of guys uh that first offseason. Tory James was one of them. one of the bigger name guys. He’s like a B player for most of his career. He had a couple really good years. Tory James and Del O’Neal together. Solid pairing. The Bengals have always had pretty solid quarterback duos. We’re going through more of a drive spell now than we ever really have. And yet they have the talent and you feel like one of those guys are going to emerge on the current 2025 roster. But Tory James was a solid veteran that could do everything without being he didn’t have the athleticism anymore. He didn’t have the speed anymore late in his career, but was still a pretty good player. Chidito be a Wuzier. The Bengals don’t make the Super Bowl without Cheeto playing at the level he was in 2021. That was his best season as a pro. It’s a shame he hurt his knee the following year in 2022 because he was this is a prospect that everyone liked coming out and he was inconsistent in Dallas, but the the flashes, the high points were always there. Probably similar to a Cam Taylor Brit with the Bengals. Now goes in the free agency, the Cowboys are like, “Yeah, we’re not going to spend that.” The Bengals get him on a value a great deal. And Cheeto was mentally super smart. His issue with the with the Cowboys was always his ball skills. Not an issue for the Bengals. Much different way they asked their quarterbacks to play. And he was good in zone, was willing tackler, and his ball skills were really good that year. Remember, he had interception in the uh Super Bowl in quick plays here. This is the the Jesse Bates interception. Showby Wooi interception. were thinking like, oh, this is after halftime, I believe. Bengals score that touchdown real quick to T. Higgins. They get the interception right back. Cheeto in the middle of the field off of what receiver was that? Bounced off his hands, but Cheeto grabs it. Um, very good player for them for that especially that year. But he was the majority of his time in Cincinnati, he was pretty good for them. William Jackson, surprise. This is a bust, right? Understandable. 2017 first round pick out of Houston. Good. Or was it 2016? Either way, good player. He’s a prospect I loved. He had speed, length, great ball skills. Probably the Delta O’Neal probably has his best ball skills of this list. William Jackson coming out of Houston probably second best elite ball skills. We didn’t know he didn’t care. We didn’t know he wasn’t all we he was wasn’t 100% committed. But the first time he got his chance to start after missing his rookie season, so 2017, so it wasn’t he was a 2016 pick. 2017 was one of the best years at corner we have ever seen, he was shut down. He got his hands on the ball consistently. Quarterback passer rating when throwing to him extremely low. PF brings up this year all the time when they’re talking about like the 10 best quarterback seasons we’ve graded. William Jackson is in there. If you could get William Jackson to buy in, if you’re calling him up up the practice squad, maybe if this is what these great players are, we never really established that. He could give you some quality play. The talent was extreme with him. Next player, Terence Newman. Followed Mike Zimmer from Dallas. Like you followed Mike Zimmer over. Uh Newman was an older prospect coming out. He was a 24y old coming out K State, I believe. same year as Carson Palmer was drafted and highly athletic, fast, uh not the most physical player, was picking and choosing too often in Dallas when to get physical, when to play, and how to keep his level at a high game. He admitted himself he needed to have someone on him the way Mike Zimmer would be. And he comes to Cincinnati and he ends up being a starter because he wasn’t signed as a starter. He got a low-end deal to start with, ends up being a starter for quite a few years for the Bengals and was a good player for them. You could elevate him maybe right under Chino Wuzi. If you want to say uh Jackson should be at the bottom of this list, I would get that. These are guys aren’t exactly in order, but Newman was a good player, not the most physical guy. Had to be under Zimmer, though. He would give up his body quite a few times. His big play was probably he had a big play in that Packers game that was really close at the end if you remember that one. Uh Cam Taylor Britain, my last player here, he deserves a mention because of the the glimpses we have had of extremely high-end play. are worth noting and worth talking about and worth saying that you know what, one more year if he’s good this year. That could be big. That could be good for him. Uh and he would deserve a spot higher on this list. Maybe knocking on like if he’s if he has a good year and they extend him for three years, he could knock off Adam Jones at corner on this list. I think I think he’s got that type of talent. I’d love to see it more consistently. Cam Taylor Brick, come on. We need you. Moving in the slot corner. So, I made a whole list for slot corner cuz Mike Hilton deserves to be on this roster. He is corner number five potentially starter at slot. You could say we’re going to put Leon Hall in the slot over Mike Hilton. That’s fine. But Jonathan Joseph and Delto O’Neal or Pac-Man Jones on the outside. Woo, you’re doing good. It’s not great. It’s not You don’t have any Hall of Famers. You don’t have many Pro Bowls in that list. There’s going to be teams with better corners than this. But if you have Lean Hall, Mike Hilton on that team together and maybe say Hall’s on the outside, Hilton’s in the slot, and then Joseph on the other side, you don’t have a ton of Pro Bowls between them, they never had any between Lan Hall, Mike Hilton and Jonathan Joseph in Cincinnati. Those are players that will beat you. Do not sleep on them. They will cover you. They will hit you. They will tackle. They have great ball skill. They will make plays consistently. Uh I would take that any day of the week. Mike Hilton pound-for-pound, one of the best, one of the funnest players we’ve watched in the Bengals uniform. It’s a shame, whatever happened with Lou, and maybe it’s the realization that he wasn’t great in man coverage and teams were starting to attack and pick on him that ultimately cost him his job in Cincinnati. And he doesn’t have a job right now. He doesn’t sign anywhere else. But for the time he was here, for the four years, Mike Hilton was a blast, a pleasure to watch on film or live. Um, so he deserves his spot on this roster on the 25-y year team for the Bengals. Nate Clemens is going to be a guy that behind him here. Nate Clemens played safety for the Bengals, played slot corner. He was an outside corner for the Bills, signed with the Bengals. He just made it over 25 games for them, but he was good in that time. And he was the one that he was the first one they took from boundary corner to slot and played some safety with them before you got to Chris Crockers and Leon Halls and all the things they were doing with these guys and even Mike Hilton. So, it it went Nate Clemens, Leon Hall, and then a bunch of guys that they were trying to figure out and then Mike Hilton. But Clemens deserves a a mention here for he was a veteran, former first round pick, great tackler. I think he set the tone, maybe have rubbed off a little bit on Leon Hall because Hall followed in those footsteps and uh was pretty good. Moving to safety now. Spent our first 15 minutes just talking corners. Safeties to me are just as interesting. Got seven guys to talk about. We’re keeping five. Remember, if you said to me, “Keep Shidobia Wuzier and we’re going to cut off Shawn Williams off the bottom of this safety list.” I would have no problem with that. I would understand your line of thinking with that. Starting at the top though, two guys, these are two starters. You got a free safety and a strong safety. Jesse Bates, a free safety, is the best free safety they had over this time period. No doubt about it. I mean, this came up on Twitter recently when the Dolphins traded for Minka Fitzpatrick again. I said, ‘What’s the equivalent of the Bengals doing that? Is that just like signing some AJ P Rein back or or Michael Johnson after getting cut? And they’re like, wouldn’t you give up a first round pick for Jesse Bates right now? And I was like, yeah, I would. You’re right. I would trade for Jesse Bates. If the Falcons wanted to get rid of him, I’d be all over that. Would the Bengals? I don’t know. I hope that relationship isn’t completely spent. And uh if that was a thing, I’m into it. And even though I’m making it up in my mind right now, Bates had great range. He was a captain. He was very smart. He had good ball skills. And he developed as a tackler and run defender every single year. Got better in that area. Uh to end up being a multi-time Pro Bowler between the Bengals and the Falcons. Now all pro, I want to say at least once. Uh, Bates is a cornerstone player in my opinion that should have never have been on the table for walking at all. And the Bengals have $30 million in cap space right now. And Bates has a se 16 17 18. He’s in that range. Million dollar cap hit. Like, are you kidding me? Um, it was never we we deluded ourselves, not me. I tried to warn people to into thinking that, oh, they’re not signing Bates so they can sign T. Higgins or they’re not doing this so they can sign Orlando Brown. they could have afforded all of them and many teams would have and jumped on it early and apparently there were some hope that they were going to be able to sign him early and then things with Bates agency didn’t work out that way and the situation soured and they never rectified it. But good player, really good player that has a long time left in his career. No doubt about it. Reggie Nelson, the Bengals traded for Reggie Nelson, former first round pick out of Florida. My favorite story for Reggie Nelson is that at the combine apparently they asked him what do you play at Florida and he says I play free safety and he don’t he didn’t know anything else other than that I play cover one deep safety that’s it well there was talks like he could play corner he can do all these other things he was talked about kind of like Dax Hill and and oh this is a versatile piece you can move him anywhere remember that draft season the Jags draft him and he’s a bust for them and it goes a few years and nothing’s going on they get a corner that gets hurt Bengals David Jones, their sixth, seventh corner on the roster. They trade him in a sixth, I want to say, sixth or seventh round picks for Reggie Nelson. And I’m like, great, Reggie Nelson, former first round. I’ll take that any day. That’s when the Bengals used to do this stuff, right? They should really be tapping into those wells again with this current roster. You can use that type of influx of talent. But Nelson ends up being so for the Bengals now, he ends up developing into their strong safety. And for some reason, people thought of him as a free safety more. And this is when the it started to change between boundary safety and field safety. And that’s a whole discussion we’ll get to in a in a film review eventually as the season starts, but it’s different. The strong safety as as the game evolved, he had to come down and cover tight ends. He had to come down and play the box. Obviously, he had to come down and play the slot. You you have a lot of coverage responsibilities. You’re the you’re the underdefender when you’re going to do go into a robber coverage, right? was great for Nelson who wasn’t known for being the smartest dude, but as you watched him play, you’re like, he is smart. He’s instinctual, he knows what he’s doing. He’s getting to these plays. Maybe he doesn’t need all that responsibility of being the last man, you know, last line of defense in the defense as a free safety. But if you put Bates and Nelson together, oh god, they’d be perfect for each other. You’d have one free safety, one strong safety that you could interchange because Nelson had the athleticism and range to cover his deep free safety. he could do it and they did it with him. Obviously, uh it was George Ailoca and Reggie Nelson. Loca more the confusing part was Aloca was 6’4 225 and he was the free safety and Nelson was the guy that everyone thought, “Oh, he’s the athletic, he’s fast as hell, he’s he must be the free safety.” No, he’s actually the strong more often than not. But Nelson would hit, he would make plays, he was clutch, he killed the Steelers, he killed Ben Rothosberger pretty routinely. He was a fun player for the Bengals. made the Pro Bowl uh and played for a long time and they were able to extend him and they turn that’s we could use that right now. Finding those diamonds for sixth round picks and guys that aren’t going to make your roster anyways. Trading for Reggie Nelson right now would be I take that in a heartbeat and I kind of like what the Bengals are doing at safety in a lot of ways because I like Dejon Anthony. I think Jordan Battle would be good and I like Tyson Anderson and I have hope for Gino Stone but like that’s nothing in compar comparison to what I’m even talking about for these top two guys. They don’t have that. Could they have a George Ailoca? Maybe George Loca fifth round pick that fifth round for the Bengals. Marvin Jones who we saw get an honorable mention and George Aila. I think Marvin Jones is a better player, but Aloca at safety here because the it kind of drops off. The Bengals are so good at receiver. Aloca is going to make this roster. 6’4 225. They bring him down in the box to cover tight ends one-on-one. Well, he was a free safety in a lot of ways. Coming out of Boise, played a lot of quarters coverage, a lot of deep coverage. Uh, and that’s what I think confused people when he was playing the free safety spot. It’s like, yeah, this is what he did at Boise. He did this a ton. He’s he’s ready for this. He’s he’s uh, very experienced in this. And he wasn’t the fastest, wasn’t the quickest because he was so high cut, but he could hit you and lay you out. He could cover tight ends and he was just a solid player, heady player, too. I liked him as a character fit in the locker room a lot during those times. I thought he was well spoken and represented the players in the team very well. Uh George Loco was was a favorite of mine because draft Twitter at the time young draft Twitter this is early 2000 right 201 I’m talking 2010 11 12 when Twitter was just all these analysts were were emerging um and looking for a home and looking for a way to share what you now know as modern football coverage. Uh George Aloka was a favorite of of many of us. And then Von Bell afterwards. Von Bell again value signing of the same year. We’re going to have a bunch of those guys in here. What a home run that off seasonason was. Uh we already mentioned a ton of them like Mike Hilton and BJ Hill and Trey Hendrickson. Now you got Von Bell added in there. DJ Reer. Those are two off seasonasons back toback. Lingual just loaded up. Von Bell though, strong safety, captain type, first in last out type attitude, right? Laid that hit on Juju Smith Schustster that set the tone for the Bengals to rebound the following year. strong safety type. Uh that wasn’t the most athletic. Good player though. Really good player. You could say a lot of the same things. I think a lot of these guys were captains. I want to say Bates was. Nelson was. I’m not sure if I was a captain. Correct me if I’m wrong in the comments if he was. Bell was for sure and Shawn Williams was. Bell and Williams very similar in and I think in play style a lot, but Bell had his best years in the NFL. He was good for the Saints, but he has best years in Cincinnati. Uh the, you know, sometimes that career cliff just comes for you, it falls off, and you’re just not the same type of player. Talk about a player that they bring back after one year. Von Bell was one of those. Uh but he was a lynch pin in that success of the 2021 2022 teams making plays. Think of the AFC Championship game. Tip ball from Jesse Bates, the deep one, intercepted by Von Bell, right? Bell was a big player for them. and can’t say enough about character-wise number 24 for the Bengals. Shawn Williams, third round pick out of Georgia. One of my first draft misses. I loved Bari Rambo. That’s a that was the combo. It was Shawn Williams, Bkari Rambo, both coming out of Georgia. And the Bengals took Shawn Williams and I was like, I don’t like him as much. Doesn’t look that athletic. Doesn’t look that fast. Big boxy type safety. He develops into a good starter for them. Gets a contract extension. He also would make a bunch of plays against Ben Rothllessberger and the Steelers. So, I’ll take a Leon Hall, a Reggie Nelson, a Shawn Williams. When you’re making plays against the Steelers any day of the week, Vontes Perfect as well, throw him in there. Any guys that makes plays against Steelers, they’re okay with me. Shawn Williams was like that. And he was also a team captain, leader amongst the safeties in secondary. And because he was like 6’2, 25, he was a hammer and he would hit guys and hit hard. And I think that was especially that’s where he was best. Wasn’t the most athletic, little tight hipped, not not the fastest guy, but would get the plays early and lay the wood. And I will take that. But if you say we want to drop one of these safeties and take one of these corners, I’m with that completely. And I understand why you would say that. But I think with these five guys, your special teams will be dynamite. Your depth is really good and your starters complement each other very, very well. The last two that deserve honorable mention, the guy who kept coming back, kept finding a way to make it on the team and make it on the roster, uh, was Chris Crocker. And Cracker was a guy that played everything for them. He was a doit all team captain type communicator. They brought him in just for communications. A lot of times when they need a guy off the streets, they they call up Chris Crocker. He just kept returning to this team playing slot corner, strong safety, free safety, just to come in and cover tight ends in a big uh nickel or quarter coverage, quarters package, dime, however you want to consider it, depending on how many linebackers are out there and how many defensive backs were out there. But we will get into that more when we get to the film. Chris Crocker, good dude, too. Uh, so deserves a mention. One of my favorite underrated players of all time. And if you are a newer fan, you don’t know who Chinedu Manduk Mukquay is. And probably the funnest highlights of anyone. He was a seventh row pick out of Notre Dame. I think they had two either a six or seventh. Dan Sanuchi was the other Notre Dame late guy they drafted was a center. Never made it. And Duke was not a athletic safety and he was big and he was long and he ended up playing a bunch of linebacker for them and covering tight ends and playing nickel linebacker and the dude made plays. He rotated with Roy Williams. you remember why he wins the hitter from Dallas from Oklahoma originally and Duke was starting to rotate in because he every time he got on the field he made plays whether it was a tackle for a loss a script a force fumble fumble recovery I I want to say interception he’d return them for touchdowns pretty consistently the guy was a playmaker big- time playmaker that when you needed it you’re like man look at Chinadum and Duke making a play again on a team that needed it especially those late 2008, nine, 10 teams that just didn’t have enough playmakers on defense at all. Uh, he was a guy that did, and I wanted to make sure he got mentioned here before we end it. So, that’s the quarterback and safety room. I think it’s pretty strong for this 25-year team. This gives us 53 men on the roster. Let me know where I went wrong, who I missed. Did I miss someone in defensive backs? What is your favorite position? Does did I ring a bell or bring up a memory about a player that maybe you weren’t thinking about? and I remind you know you of a time or a moment. Share it in the comments. I love to read it. I do go through all of them and I appreciate you guys for watching as we are inching closer to the 2025 season. So next time on Bengals on the Brain presented by Firstar Logistics. We’re going to talk more football. We got a couple things I I got a couple projects I want to get to before we get to camp. I’m gonna squeeze them in there as much as I can. But until next time, uday. Bengals fans, tired of the same old postgame chatter? Want real insight beyond the scoreboard? Then you need Bengals on the brain with Joe Goodberry, presented by FirstStar Logistics. Joe Goodberry isn’t just a fan. He’s a diehard Bengals football analyst. 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