JD: Good morning Joe! I am glad we got a chance to talk to you during training camp. 

 

JB: No problem Jeff. I’m glad to be sitting here chatting with you. 

 

JD: So let me get started because we have a lot to talk about. So my first question, What went wrong with the Bengals? 

 

JB: Well let me start by saying that I respect Coach Rondell Fox but I am all about improving as a passer and running a more exciting offense. I don’t have the desire to run an offense that is based on running primarily mesh plays and angle routes to our HB. 

 

JD: I mean coach Rondell Fox was a consistent playoff team with this scheme but I respect your decision. So my next question.. So with all the controversy surrounding you and where you were being traded, Did you have say in where you were traded to? 

 

JB: I would love to say I had all the say but the best way to describe it is that I had some influence. Unfortunately I didn’t have as many suitors as everyone expected. From what my agent told me there was only 1 team that was aggressively trying to trade for me and that was the Seattle Seahawks. 

 

JD: interesting. So I’m assuming you’ve seen all the drama recently on social media when you were traded to Detroit and how the Seattle organization have been extremely vocal about trade negotiations with your former team. Do you care to share anything about this and if you had any influence on how that turned out? 

 

JB: Sure. My agent and I were approached by the Bengals GM about possibly heading to Seattle. I told him If this was my only other option right now I’d rather give training camp a shot in Cincinnati before making a move. Nothing personal with Coach Sampson but I have zero interest in going through a complete rebuild. I told the Bengals GM I want to be sent to a contender or a coach that will help mold me into a top 5 passer. 

 

JD: interesting. You know Coach Sampson is a well respected coach. He would have got you there. 

 

JB: You are probably right but at that moment with Seattle being my only option as opposed to sticking around in Cincinnati. I like the Cincinnati personnel better.

 

JD: Fair enough. Seeing Seattle moved on to Tua . How did you end up Detroit?  

 

JB:  Well this isn’t so complicated. So during my early years at LSU I watched and studied 2 quarterbacks,  Eric Haskins and Stanley Parks.  I was huge fan of how they played. Their coaches got the most of them. The reason I am telling you this is because the first day of Bengals training camp was more bizarre than anticipated and I lost faith immediately. So I told my Agent I need to leave asap and if I can get to one the coaches that coached up my favorite quarterbacks I will go.  So at that point I knew it was either Colts or Lions.  So I left it up to my agent and the Bengals gm to figure it out. 

 

JD:  Do you regret rejecting Seattle? Are you happy with being a Detroit Lion? 

 

JB:  I absolutely do not regret any decision I make and I am excited to play for the Lions.  Having Coach Bird coaching me up is going to mean great things for this Lions offense. 

 

JD: Joe thanks for taking the time to talk. Good luck man

 

JB: anytime Jeff thanks for having me.