'A bowling ball with butcher blades all around him' — Former coach of Bengals' draft pick shares insight on Cincy's newest player
Sixth-round draft picks don't always become major players in the NFL. For every Antonio Brown or even Tom Brady, there are thousands upon thousands of names who get lost in the rigorous shuffle. Tahj Brooks has a tall task in front of him, but the Cincinnati Bengals invested their sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft […]
Sixth-round draft picks don't always become major players in the NFL. For every Antonio Brown or even Tom Brady, there are thousands upon thousands of names who get lost in the rigorous shuffle.
Tahj Brooks has a tall task in front of him, but the Cincinnati Bengals invested their sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft in the hopes he becomes the exception to the rule.
One of his former coaches from college believes this can definitely be the case.
Tahj Brooks' former coach reflects on his college career
Kenny Perry spent the last three years coaching running backs at Texas Tech, the same three years Brooks led the Red Raiders in rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns. He watched all the big runs on Saturdays and all the hard work done between Sunday and Friday.
All of it seemed to validate his first impression upon meeting Brooks in 2022.
"Well, first of all, he looks like a bowling ball with butcher blades all around him," Perry told ESPN1530's Mo Egger. "I'm not sure how good he is. . .but then when I got around him on a day-to-day basis, in my head I just knew. I said before he leaves here, he's gonna be one of the greatest in our conference. And, you know, I was right."
How does one tackle a "bowling ball with butcher blades all around him?" it's a question Big 12 defenders may still not have an answer for.
Brooks' 4,560 rushing yards is the most in Texas Tech history and the fourth-most in the history of the Big 12 conference. Cedric Benson, Ricky Williams, and Darren Sproles are the only names above him on that leaderboard.
Racking up that much production not only meant he carried the ball a lot, 879 times to be exact, but he also remained available to take on that immense workload. That was a testament to how
"The thing about Tahj that I think is unique is he takes care of his body," Perry said. "And when I say about that, he's the first guy in the building when we lift, he's the first guy when we did medical checkups after games, and he was first on the field. So guys like that, usually are gonna take care of their body. Their body can take that punishment."
Most rookies have an acclimation period when it comes to NFL-caliber strength and conditioning, but Brooks appears to be ahead of the curve when it comes to preparing and maintaining his body for the tribulations ahead.
That's all very promising, but perhaps not more promising than the reaction Perry had to Brooks landing in Cincinnati.
"After they picked him, I called him and I was screaming into the phone," Perry recalled. "Because I don't think he could have gone to better team that fits what what he does and how he can help them."
All the boxes need to be checked for a late-round draft pick to produce above expectation. Brooks' mental, physical, and production profiles check those boxes, and being inserted in an offense that runs out of the shotgun and relies on its backs to generate yards after contact screams an obvious fit.
Perry will be just like all of Cincinnati watching to see if this pairing is as special as it's made out to be.
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