Walkthrough 6.25: Bengals FAQs, notes and Bo Jackson?

Well, it's late June. It's not quite the dog days of summer, whatever those are, but it feels like it when it comes to the Cincinnati Bengals. It's the mandatory break between the end of offseason activities and training camp, a nearly six-week reprieve for players and coaches to take a big breath before the 2015 championship season really gets underway.

It's also the time for things like free-agent quarterbacks tweeting practice videos, bottom-end roster moves, and all things "Deflategate."

Really, if you're an NFL team, you just don't want to get two specific phone calls during this time. One would be regarding a training accident that resulted in an injury, and the other being from someone in legal.

That doesn't mean the Bengals aren't on the brain though, so we'll get right into the interactive element of the Walkthrough with some Q&A.

Thanks, Sean. Being my first year on the beat, I can only draw on what the team was looking for in the 2015 draft, and there seemed to be three overriding factors outside of obvious physical ability: a football intellect, positional versatility and an "edge" in attitude.

The team didn't want to be caught shorthanded if starters went down with injury again, so (aside from the tight ends) all of the draft picks can play multiple positions. And, you've read a lot about this team wanting to regain a swagger - to change its attitude and its course in the playoffs. Well, it's hard to manufacture that. It's easy to just acquire guys who have it. They feel this group does.

Great question, Chuck - and trust me, the players who fall into that group are as anxious to hear about it as you are. The team typically locks up a couple of guys before the year, and you would think A.J. Green would be the No. 1 priority. But what's interesting to me is that the organization has some flexibility with Green, Dre Kirkpatrick and Kevin Zeitler. While the cap numbers of a 2016 franchise tag for Green and the fifth-year options for Kirkpatrick and Zeitler would be less than ideal, it means the team isn't at any risk of losing them without an extension this summer.

Personally, I think safety George Iloka should get an early call, and I think it's worth trying to get a team-friendly extension for wide receiver Marvin Jones.

Depends on who you ask.

The Twitter response was great, as usual, but I wanted to take this Walkthrough off the regular path and traverse through some different places like Bengals Reddit and the Bengals Board, so I pulled two questions out of there as well, which were:

"Which player seems to be most improved thus far? Besides the obvious ones that were injured and coming back from injury.And #2. Where do you see them lining up Shaw and Hardison?"

"Most improved" is a really difficult label to slap on a guy when they can't hit and all of the drills are being run in a relatively controlled environment. But it does seem that the two young corners, Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard, have really stepped up their games from last year to this offseason. We'll know far more in camp and in the preseason.

As for rookie corner Josh Shaw and rookie defensive lineman Marcus Hardison, I go back to the first question here - they were drafted to be able to contribute at multiple positions. The Bengals' coaches would prefer you don't see too much of them as rookies as they develop behind healthy veterans, but during the organized training activities, Shaw was moved to all corner spots. It's hard to judge linemen when there is no contact, but on draft day the team felt he could play all along the line.

Uzomah takes symposium to heart

Bengals rookie tight end C.J. Uzomah joined the 2015 draft class for the league's annual rookie symposium in Berea this week, and he decided to join the blogosphere to communicate some important lessons he learned.

The biggest one?

"Budget," Uzomah wrote. "That's one message that has already stuck with me…how to spend our money wisely and not become one of those players that are broke after a couple years playing in the NFL. You can sit here and say that's not going to happen to me, but one thing that the current and former players keep harping on is budgeting. You only get paid 17 weeks out of a 52-week year, so it's something that can be hard to manage. I've decided that the first thing I'm planning to do when I get home is starting to set up a budget."

In case you missed it

You need to tune in for former Bengals tackle Willie Anderson reminiscing about the 2005 season. This is the first installment of a five-part podcast series conducted by Paul Dehner, Jr. (with a great assist from Lindsay Patterson) looking back at that defining team and season.

Bengals Instagrams of the week

Father's Day, every day. Congrats to rookie kicker Tom Obarski …

... and heartwarming news from Devon Still.

Randomness

"Super producer" Scott Storch filed for bankruptcy and apparently he has just $100 in cash. Addiction and excess can ruin anyone, but that's crushing.

Does Sean Combs really need the "Diddy" as a qualifier? He'll always be Puffy. Always.

Sorry, PGA Tour - there will be no such thing as the #SpiethSlam - at least not in 2015. If Spieth wins all four majors in this calendar year, it's called the Grand Slam. The reason there is a "Tiger Slam" is because Tiger Woods owned all four majors at once, but we couldn't call it the Grand Slam. So, please stop with #SpiethSlam. Don't trivialize what he's trying to do with a nonsensical hashtag.

Concert goers - put your phones down. You're at the concert. You can see it hear it. Don't throw up your phone and constantly try and focus its crappy camera on the stage as all the lights change. One, you're missing the point of the experience. Two, there are a TON of people behind you that are not 6-feet, 9-inches tall. We're there for the show, not to see your waving arm taking nausea-inducing video you won't be able to see or understand the next day.

And finally …

I really don't care how many Kansas City Royals may make the All-Star Game here at Great American Ball Park in a couple weeks, because honestly - this is the only "Royals + All-Star Game" keywording anyone will ever need, ever. Bo Knows.