Bengals Beat: Can Josh Whyle Become Next ‘All-Cincinnati’ Bengal? Zac Taylor Coy On Zeke Elliott

CINCINNATI — There’s a class of football player that has always intrigued the Bengals.

The one that played high school football in Cincinnati, stayed in town or state to play at the University of Cincinnati or Ohio State, and then eventually moved onto an NFL career with the Bengals.

Call them homegrown stars.

Paul Brown and son Mike were always fond of them, starting with quarterback Greg Cook in 1969. Born in Dayton, Cook didn’t actually play high school in Cincinnati but rather Chillicothe. But he did star at UC and, of course, was a sensation early in his rookie season of ’69 before a shoulder injury brought a premature end to his career.

Archie and Ray Griffin played at Ohio State before moving onto the Bengals in the mid-to-late 70s.

That tradition in the last decade with the likes of Kevin Huber (McNicholas H.S., UC) and his successor Drue Chrisman (LaSalle H.S., Ohio State) and star edge and defensive end Sam Hubbard (Moeller H.S., Ohio State).

And oh yeah, there’s the quarterback. Joe Burrow, of course, matriculated from Athens High, went to Ohio State, nearly transferred to UC before eventually moving onto LSU.

Now there’s another player on their radar at a position of need. Tight end Josh Whyle graduated from LaSalle High and decided to stay in the city and play at UC.

While not on the level of Covington Catholic’s Michael Mayer, who starred at Notre Dame, Whyle put a lot of production on film in his years at UC. In 2020 and ’21, playing with Desmond Ridder, he caught six touchdowns each season, averaging over 12 yards a catch.

He’s a definite NFL tight end prospect with the size (6-foot-7) and the reliable hands to produce on Sundays. The question is his speed and at what weight will he feel most comfortable?

Will he be able to use his size to block at 260 pounds? Will he be served better by losing some pounds and playing at a lesser weight? He indicated Thursday that he feels better now at the 260 weight because it makes him harder to move.

With Foster Moreau being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and stepping away from the NFL, the Bengals need some options for filling the gaps in their tight end room. Hayden Hurst is off to Carolina. Mitchell Wilcox and Drew Sample are not under contract. Devin Asiasi, Tanner Hudson and Nick Bowers are the only tight ends under contract.

What if the Bengals come calling?

“I just want to go somewhere that’s gonna utilize me in the right way,” Whyle said. “Playing here would be pretty cool. Being in the city at all three levels of the game would be pretty cool but you know, I want a team that wins championships, Super Bowls.

“Going into Senior Bowl, I feel like the question that’s been on my name has been about my
weight and how it’s fluctuated throughout the years. I came into Senior Bowl a little heavy and
weighed in at 260 pounds. I just want to show the coaches that I am comfortable playing a little
bit heavier. You can still split me out, put me in the box and do whatever with me. That’s been
my biggest thing. I weighed in a little bit lighter here and at the combine, so maybe I can get a
tick off my time, but that’s been the biggest thing.”

Whyle, who has been training with Mayer and Georgia tight end Darnell Washington, isn’t the only UC tight end prospect. Leonard Taylor is also being looked at, though he injured his knee at the NFL Combine in early March. The injury isn’t considered serious and he will be working out for teams in early April.

Another Cincinnati-based UC prospect that worked out for all 32 teams Thursday is linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. The Colerain High product transferred after three seasons at Miami (OH) and became the first unanimous first-team UC All-American this year in his only season with the Bearcats. He is consider a top-tier athlete, running a 4.5 40-yard dash on Thursday.

“I think the next steps are to continue to prepare,” Pace said. “I am coming off combine training, which is different than football training with all of the drills. Now it is just continuing to get back into football shape. It is different because of the kind of workouts that you have to do. They are truly different and it is a big difference. You come out to here to work through drills for the
Combine and Pro Day, but it is not football training and I want to be ready for when that time
comes.”

Pace had 10 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and four passes defended for the Bearcats in 2022.

“I felt like I already had that game in me,” Pace told me. “I have also had that mentality that I am good enough to play anywhere. That is why the main reason I transferred to come to Cincinnati and my
brother was here too. I could have went somewhere else, to a bigger Power-5 program, and
played there, but I came here to show those things and ball out with him.”

Scott and Tucker impress Bengals:

Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons, always on the hunt for the next return weapon, worked with UC’s two legitimate speedsters Thursday in Tre Tucker and Tyler Scott, both who flashed 4.3 40 speeds and good tracking and hand skills in drills inside the IEL indoor structure.

Both players figure to get at least a look with an NFL team this summer.

“I would say my route running and how I have continued to improve on that,” Tre Tucker said. “I had a pretty good Senior Bowl and I thought that I showed it at the Combine. I wanted to come out and
show that I am sharp and that I can do everything needed. I was catching punts, I re-ran my 40
again and went through all the shuttle drills. I wanted to show that I am very versatile.

“It is still crazy to think that three months ago or four months ago I was preparing to play my
last game at Cincinnati. Time flies by, but it goes also slow at times starting off with the Senior
Bowl. I think once that kicked in that things started to be fast. I got back from the Senior Bowl
and I couldn’t take time off because I had the NFL Combine in a few weeks and after the
combine, you go to Pro Day. It is a grind, but I have really enjoyed it.”

As for Scott? He sounded like a very mature prospect who knows how to impress in interviews with NFL teams looking for talent and poise.

“We had a lot of great guys and especially in our 2021 season,” Scott told me. “We had a Jim Thorpe Award winner in Coby Bryant on one side and the AAC Defensive Player of the Year in Sauce Gardner
on the other side. We also had Bryan Cook, who was a second-round pick, so there were so
many great players in the secondary to compete with. They have all helped me with my game.

“There were times where I would go against Coby Bryant last year and he already knew what I
could do, so I had to learn how to get open and when I got into games, I was prepared for a lot.
We had Alec Pierce, Jerome Ford, Desmond Ridder and Josh Whyle who showed us how to be
professional in the locker room. One thing that Coach [Luke] Fickell always said to us was ‘We
are training to be pros, not training as pros.’. So having that mentality through my college
career helped me to get to this spot.”

Taylor non-committal on Zeke:

It would appear that the Bengals would be a natural fit for free agent running back and pass protector Zeke Elliott, who was released by the Dallas Cowboys in February. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported Thursday night that Elliott actually isn’t considering any offers from the Bengals, Jets or Eagles after an Adam Schefter tweet earlier in the day suggested he was mulling interest from the three teams. Zac Taylor appeared to support the Florio report after serving as keynote speaker at St. Xavier’s Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction.

“There’s a lot of great players that are available right now,” Taylor said. (per WCPO’s Mike Dyer). “We like our team as where it’s at right now. But it’s always funny when things get thrown around. Sometimes, it’s the first you hear of it. But that’s just the way life works.”

Elliott was teammates with Joe Burrow and Sam Hubbard at Ohio State and his role as a pass protector, pass catcher and tailback could fit in nicely if the Bengals decide he still has something left in the tank. There’s still a lot to be determined in the Bengals running back room with Samaje Perine in Denver and Joe Mixon not likely to return on a $12.8 million cap hit.
Not that Taylor would say those things openly, of course. Elliott might be a smart on-paper fit for the Bengals at the right price in the Perine role, but Thursday’s report hardly means the team has an offer out to Elliott’s camp or has been in touch at all.

Owners Meeting in the Desert:

The Bengals will send their contingent of front office and coaching staff to the Biltmore Phoenix for the annual NFL March owners’ meetings. This is the time when teams discuss and debate rule changes, among other topics.

The league will discuss 17 rule changes and five bylaw changes. Individual teams as well as the league’s competition committee proposed multiple new ideas that will be voted on by the 32 owners and will need at least 24 votes to pass.

The NFL will discuss a few new rule changes from replays to penalties to jersey numbers. Five rule changes involving replay were presented by three different teams. The biggest came from the Los Angeles Rams, who proposed that roughing the passer penalties could be reviewed by officials and/or a coaches’ challenge. There was an uproar this season over many highly questionable roughing the passer calls.

The Houston Texans want officials to be able to review failed fourth-down attempts while the Detroit Lions also proposed a rule which would allow officials to consult on penalty enforcement. The New York Jets proposed the expansion of the “crackback block” penalty for players in motion and block past the center. The competition committee also wants to make tripping a personal foul.

The Lions also proposed that coaches can challenge personal fouls and teams could earn a third challenge if they only win one of their challenges instead of both.

This proposal, also from the Lions, would allow teams to designate a third quarterback from its inactive list or practice squad to play in a game if both of a team’s active quarterbacks are ruled out. This was inspired by the NFC Championship game mess when Brock Purdy was forced to play injured and Christian McCaffrey lined up under center because the 49ers had their two quarterbacks (Purdy, Josh Johnson) injured during the game.