4th Round: Russell Bodine, C, North Carolina

[membengal]

For fuckssake, Lapham is adament that he has a real shot to start. Week 1.

Or, cut, if you are having the psychotic break tj is.

[Wraith]

I watched lots of tape on Bodine after he got drafted, doesn't look like he has problems moving his man to me.

[HoosierCat]

Rob Rang thinks Bodine will be a superstar in Cincy.

/>http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/nfl-draft-scout/24579562/finding-the-fits-bodine-will-prove-worthy-of-rare-bengals-leap

[ArmyBengal]

I know i'm really rooting for the guy and will just trust in the fact that the coaches should know more about this than the fans.

[Scottishbengal]

I know i'm really rooting for the guy and will just trust in the fact that the coaches should know more about this than the fans.

Ditto

[ArmyBengal]

I know i'm really rooting for the guy and will just trust in the fact that the coaches should know more about this than the fans.

Ditto

My thought to that is the fact I wasn't real thrilled with the trade up for Bodine.

It was reported that the Bengals had him as their #1 Center in the draft, but they must know something that NO OTHER team was aware of.

Almost everyone had him either right where he was selected or later.

Hard to envision a guy that you have rated as the #1 guy at his position lasting until the 4th round.

Someone missed something when it comes to Bodine. Hopefully the odds play in the Bengals favor with this because it sounds like a load.

[membengal]

The sister of one of my regular poker buddies here in Baltimore lives in NC, and knows his family and knows him. Says the Bengals really got a quality person to go with the talent.

[ArmyBengal]

The sister of one of my regular poker buddies here in Baltimore lives in NC, and knows his family and knows him. Says the Bengals really got a quality person to go with the talent.

That's always a good thing and something this team has seemed to really be focused on over the past handful of years.

While i'm excited about what Hill will bring to the running game, I was a bit surprised considering his background.

Now if Bodine can be as much the mauler at Center as he his the character guy off of it, we will be set.

[HoosierCat]

Why is Bodine a happy man this morning?

Because Maurkice Pouncey just got paid:

/>http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Steelers-Maurkice-Pouncey-gets-fiveyear-44-million-deal.html

Almost $8.5 million/year. For a center. Coming off an ACL injury. Now the highest-paid center in the league, even more than Alex Mack. The Steelers have gone f***ing insane.

[cincyhokie]

Reports from mini-camp are that Bodine is taking first team reps.

I like it.

[HoosierCat]

Check this guys twitter timeline: @codiki

A lot of good breakdowns like this from an article he's writing:

/>https://twitter.com/codiki/status/476950336255451136/photo/1

I'm looking forward to the article.

[HoosierCat]

Here's the article. Very good breakdown.

/>http://www.cincyjungle.com/2014/6/14/5739480/nfl-draft-scouting-report-russell-bodine-project-or-projected-starter

[ArmyBengal]

Nice article indeed.

[HoosierCat]

Hobson on the oline in his column today:

Hi Geoff, Thanks for taking my question. Do you view the offensive line as the weakest position group on the team? It seems that many of the players are unproven and two of the opening day starters could be making their first NFL starts with Whit, Hawkinson, Bodine, Zeitler, and Smith as the early favorites. Rich Hidy, Cincinnati, OH

RICH: It would certainly be the least experienced starting unit on the roster, wouldn’t it? SAM linebacker Emmanuel Lamur has only one start in his career, which just happened to be the Wild Card Game after the 2012 season.

It seems like fourth-round pick Russell Bodine is their guy at center and I think they’ll be fine there. Bodine’s got a nice nasty streak and a real serious demeanor. The last week of workouts he struggled with some high shot-gun snaps early in practice and when I asked him about it he looked right through me with an Arctic stare. “It will get worked out,’ he said simply.

And it did even during that practice. He worked on it on the side with offensive line coach Paul Alexander and when he got back in the practice, the snaps were fine, which shows you he’s conscientious and coachable.

They like Hawkinson, but I don’t think he gets the Opening Day start. Clint Boling has had a tremendous ACL rehab and could be back in time. If not and Bodine is still the center, I would think Mike Pollak is the left guard. If Pollak is the center, then he can cover for Hawkinson’s inexperience if Boling isn’t ready. So either way they’ll probably have only one inexperienced lineman in Baltimore Sept. 7.

I know the offensive line seems to be a vulnerable target, but I think they’re in much better shape than last year against San Diego in the playoffs or even in the opener in Chicago. Right tackle Andre Smith missed the entire spring for personal reasons, left tackle Andrew Whitworth never worked in the spring, barely worked in the preseason, and missed the opener, and right guard Kevin Zeitler was never right after he injured his foot in November.

All three were back at full strength this spring, so you’ve got to feel like they’ll all be better physically. And you put Pollak in there and Bodine has plenty of experience around him, particularly on the perimeter at tackle, where it’s imperative they know what’s going on with a rookie center.

[HoosierCat]

Reports from mini-camp are that Bodine is taking first team reps.

I like it.

It appears he's getting all the snaps at camp so far as well.

How do we feel about starting a rookie center right out of the gate?

Me, while I'm hopeful, I can't say it doesn't give me a case of the yips. The one comforting note is that he will be surrounded by veterans. Still, he gets to be welcomed to the NFL by Haloti Ngata. That has the potential to get ugly quick.

At least we've got Pollak in case Bodine falls flat. Meanwhile, what ever happened to Trevor Robinson?

[ArmyBengal]

Knowing they traded up to get him says about all we really need to know.

They were obviously REALLY high on him and I can only hope they were right in their scouting.

It would appear that he's on the way to being the opening day starter and yeah, that gives me a bit to be concerned about.

That being said, it's also something i'm looking forward to seeing.

Drawing Ngata with your first start ?? Welcome to the NFL rookie !!!

[cincyhokie]

Reports from mini-camp are that Bodine is taking first team reps.

I like it.

It appears he's getting all the snaps at camp so far as well.

How do we feel about starting a rookie center right out of the gate?

Me, while I'm hopeful, I can't say it doesn't give me a case of the yips. The one comforting note is that he will be surrounded by veterans. Still, he gets to be welcomed to the NFL by Haloti Ngata. That has the potential to get ugly quick.

At least we've got Pollak in case Bodine falls flat. Meanwhile, what ever happened to Trevor Robinson?

You mean like the way Cook used to get thrown around by Ngata?

Time will tell. I'm assuming that Robinson is always a backup option to center and Pollack can play there as well.

[GapControl]

From Bengals.com

---

“It wasn’t a physical thing,’ Alexander said of the spring snaps. “In college, (North Carolina) didn’t have audibles and didn’t run a cadence and he got up and said, ‘Set, hike,’ and he snapped when he wanted. Now, it’s more play, call, cadence. ‘Oh, when do I snap it?’ It won’t be a problem.”

Alexander is confident people will see why Bodine is the third player in history they traded up to get in the draft.

“He’s strong, mature, with great lateral quickness,” Alexander said. “He’s going to be a terrific player.”

---

Alexander has been the O-line coach for 20 years. He is either celebrated or vilified. The Bodine pick is going to be my final decider. If he turns out to be another Kyle Cook or Eric GUY-CHECK, I`m officially on the blame Paul Alexander bandwagon.

[HoosierCat]

Cook had his good and bad points but was serviceable up until last year. But "Cook level" would be about my minimum expectation long-term.

We got spoiled by Buckethead. If the Bengals ever create a hall of fame, I would put Richie in the inaugural class.

My biggest concern with Bodine as a starter is just that he's a rookie, it's a long season and he'll be asked to touch the ball every snap and play 100% of offensive snaps. That's just a huge ask, and even if he doesn't get overwhelmed by the likes of Ngata, I guarantee you that by December he's going to be flagging.

I've always hated the idea of an o-line rotation but in this case I think they are going to have to work Pollak and Robinson into the mix somehow.

[ArmyBengal]

Funny, I was just having that converstaion about rookies getting tired come the end of the season and couldn't agree more.

I don't know about a rotation though when considering the timing that develops between center and QB.

Maybe i'm overstating that, but just thinking about the situation.

On a side note and yet another reason I know I will never grow up:

My fingers moved too quickly while typing, making the word "and" into "nad" and I couldn't help but start giggling.

D*mn childlike behaviors. NAD !!!

[COB]

Very Alexandrian trait - Confer starting status on a favored player, put your head down, then look up in about 3 years.

I looked up Paul Alexander on Wikipedia to grab a few facts to complain about, ie Ball State players getting drafted, etc. And I discovered that, though 21 years into his Bengals coaching career, our assistant head coach does not have a Wikipedia page. I'm thinking about writing one for him. Can you get sued for doing that? Don't want lawsuit.

[GapControl]

Richie Braham was one of a kind. It's too bad he never got any respect nationally. He commanded some powerful, record-setting offensive lines.

[HoosierCat]

Sound like Hue's patience with Bodine's continued bad snaps is wearing thin.

/>http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/9769/bengals-russell-bodine-hue-jackson-snap-issues

Maybe in addition to yelling at Andy, Hue might just have the gumption to yell at the sacred assistant head coach, too.

[volcom69]

Sound like Hue's patience with Bodine's continued bad snaps is wearing thin.

/>http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/9769/bengals-russell-bodine-hue-jackson-snap-issues

Maybe in addition to yelling at Andy, Hue might just have the gumption to yell at the sacred assistant head coach, too.

All these bad snaps how was he a center in college, makes no sense. I worry about this guy.

[skyline]

Sound like Hue's patience with Bodine's continued bad snaps is wearing thin.

http://espn.go.com/b...son-snap-issues

Maybe in addition to yelling at Andy, Hue might just have the gumption to yell at the sacred assistant head coach, too.

All these bad snaps how was he a center in college, makes no sense. I worry about this guy.

They'll get it worked out.

This is the point where everything is hyper-analyzed because we're so desperate for football that we'll read insane amounts of writing over...practice.