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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Cincinnati Bengals · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up everybody. Hope you are doing well.
0:03
Speaker 2: This podcast episode in Opposition Territory podcast was recorded on Tuesday,
0:07
Speaker 2: March eleventh, twenty twenty five. By the time you hear this,
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Speaker 2: some things may have changed here or there, but we
0:12
Speaker 2: hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to Opposition Territory here
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0:57
Speaker 2: This week on Opposition Territory, we're gonna be diving into
1:00
Speaker 2: an NFL team that is gonna be very interesting this
1:03
Speaker 2: upcoming season and what they're gonna continue to do during
1:05
Speaker 2: this offseason, and that's the Cincinnati Bengals.
1:08
Speaker 1: As part of the AFC North Division.
1:11
Speaker 2: They're gonna be in competition, of course, with the Baltimore Ravens,
1:14
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns. Man I gotta tell you it's
1:18
Speaker 2: it's a division that's always interesting, and this Bengals team
1:22
Speaker 2: is very interesting here this offseason.
1:24
Speaker 1: So let's get to our discussion. Joining us this week
1:27
Speaker 1: from A to Z Sports.
1:28
Speaker 2: You know, we love the writers and contributors over there,
1:31
Speaker 2: and you can also hear his voice on the Orange
1:34
Speaker 2: and Black Insider. To get into this Cincinnati Bengals team,
1:38
Speaker 2: we've got the one and only John Sheer and John.
1:40
Speaker 2: How you doing, Buddy, I'm doing well, Jeff, how are you?
1:43
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right.
1:44
Speaker 2: I'm still like it's been in a month since the
1:46
Speaker 2: Eagles won the Super Bowl. I'm still in the high.
1:47
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be like all year. I'm gonna
1:50
Speaker 2: be in the high from the Eagles winning the Super Bowl. Man,
1:52
Speaker 2: But it's great to see you, great to talk to you.
1:55
Speaker 2: We were talking before we hit the record button. It's
1:57
Speaker 2: been nice to be an Eagles fan. But it's it's
2:00
Speaker 2: you know, it's been a challenge at times to be
2:02
Speaker 2: a Cincinnati Bengals fan and even writer.
2:04
Speaker 1: Correct.
2:06
Speaker 3: You know, as a writer, like the content is always there,
2:09
Speaker 3: Like I've gotten the same traction and types of topics
2:12
Speaker 3: for the past couple of years with some very pressing
2:15
Speaker 3: problems that continue to be pressing. But no, I mean
2:18
Speaker 3: this time of the year used to be very boring.
2:21
Speaker 3: It hasn't been for the past five years, which is
2:23
Speaker 3: always good for business and everything. But you would like
2:26
Speaker 3: to see some very old problems get solved very quickly.
2:29
Speaker 3: And not quite there yet.
2:30
Speaker 1: No, no, not quite there yet.
2:32
Speaker 2: But I mean I first wanted to dive into the
2:35
Speaker 2: first storyline, of course, I want to dive into the T.
2:38
Speaker 2: Higgins contract situation with you. T Higgins, you know, basically
2:41
Speaker 2: the number one wide receiver quote on the market, even
2:44
Speaker 2: though he's been franchised by the Bengals. I mean, at
2:48
Speaker 2: this point, it appears as though Higgins really is holding
2:51
Speaker 2: all the cards in these contract negotiations, and we saw
2:55
Speaker 2: the front office kind of fumbling the ball, fumbling around,
2:58
Speaker 2: you know, excuse the pun with regard to the Jamar
3:00
Speaker 2: Chase negotiations. And I'm wondering what your thoughts are as
3:04
Speaker 2: to how the front office has handled this particular situation
3:08
Speaker 2: and if you want to get into, like just overall,
3:11
Speaker 2: how they've handled this offseason thus far, and what do
3:14
Speaker 2: you think the end result is going to end up
3:16
Speaker 2: being with regard to the T Higgins contract situation.
3:20
Speaker 3: Nothing is more interesting to me than T Higgins with
3:23
Speaker 3: the Bengals right now, because I think I don't think
3:26
Speaker 3: I know that they're going to get Jamar Chase done.
3:28
Speaker 3: It's like the one thing that like everyone is very
3:31
Speaker 3: confident about. They made their bed. They said they're going
3:34
Speaker 3: to make him the highest paid non quarterback. That price
3:36
Speaker 3: has jumped a little bit, but I think they also
3:38
Speaker 3: kind of expected that, and obviously Jamar can hold out
3:41
Speaker 3: for as long as he wants to let that price
3:43
Speaker 3: continue to rise. T Higgins is a player that the
3:46
Speaker 3: Bengals have historically not paid because he's not of the
3:50
Speaker 3: Jamar Chase caliber. Is obviously not a quarterback like Joe Burrows,
3:53
Speaker 3: so players like him historically have not had a ton
3:56
Speaker 3: of leverage to get market value type deals from the
3:59
Speaker 3: Bengals because he's not like a Pro Bowl or anything
4:01
Speaker 3: like that. But he's still obviously a wonderful player and
4:04
Speaker 3: someone that the Bengals this year, all their messaging has
4:08
Speaker 3: been we are going to extend and re sign whatever
4:10
Speaker 3: verbage you want. We are going to pay T Higgins,
4:12
Speaker 3: like they put that in the actual press release when
4:14
Speaker 3: they tagged him they've never done before. Whenever they've tagged
4:17
Speaker 3: a player like they didn't have to do that, right,
4:18
Speaker 3: Like when teams make statements and they say and they
4:21
Speaker 3: use lingo that they don't have to use, there's typically
4:24
Speaker 3: intent behind that. And all the messaging, both privately and
4:27
Speaker 3: publicly has been that this gets done. But again, it's
4:30
Speaker 3: a player in a type of contract that I don't
4:32
Speaker 3: think we've seen before for that type of player. So
4:35
Speaker 3: I think with the Bengals tagging Teagans again, there was
4:38
Speaker 3: obviously the clear intent of extending him, but still they
4:41
Speaker 3: just dragged this out so constantly because they just don't
4:44
Speaker 3: want to give in to whatever a dollar amount of
4:46
Speaker 3: guaranteed money that they want, which is clearly the hold
4:48
Speaker 3: up at this point. It is the guaranteed money. It
4:50
Speaker 3: always is with the Bengals, and you know, just their
4:53
Speaker 3: history kind of speaks for itself like that. So how
4:56
Speaker 3: this kind of turns out and when this gets resolved
4:58
Speaker 3: is very interesting to me, because again, it'll be something
5:00
Speaker 3: that the Bengals have never really done with a player
5:02
Speaker 3: like this, but they basically just have no choice at
5:04
Speaker 3: this point. They made their bed to pay Teaguans, especially
5:07
Speaker 3: given the fact that they may not be, they may
5:08
Speaker 3: not be paying Trey Hendricks and if they end up
5:10
Speaker 3: trading him and everything like that. So if they only
5:12
Speaker 3: get Jamar Chase Dune out of this trio of star
5:15
Speaker 3: players that they set out to extend.
5:16
Speaker 1: It is a complete dud.
5:17
Speaker 3: It's a complete betrayal for Joe Burrow, who is pounded
5:20
Speaker 3: the table about extending t against constantly this offseason. Yeah,
5:23
Speaker 3: it just has to get done, and I think it's
5:25
Speaker 3: going to require the Bengals to bend it away that
5:27
Speaker 3: they had they haven't been before.
5:29
Speaker 2: I think when you look at a team, you know,
5:30
Speaker 2: like the Philadelphia Eagles, who have two pretty dominant wide
5:33
Speaker 2: receivers and I don't mind saying that in Aj Brown
5:36
Speaker 2: and Davonte Smith, and you want to shore up two
5:39
Speaker 2: dominant receivers for your offense, especially when you have a
5:42
Speaker 2: quarterback like Joe Burrow who is proven in this league
5:46
Speaker 2: year after year in terms of what he can do
5:48
Speaker 2: for the offense, what he can do with his arm,
5:50
Speaker 2: what he can do with his legs. What Joe Burrow
5:52
Speaker 2: is to the Cincinnati Bengals. If you can, you'd need
5:55
Speaker 2: to shure up to offensive weapons. I mean, aside from MIKEASICKI,
5:59
Speaker 2: and we're certainly going to get into him in a bit.
6:01
Speaker 2: But I just see what the Philadelphia Eagles have done,
6:04
Speaker 2: covering that team now for so long and watching them
6:07
Speaker 2: my entire life. And yes, it's only been the past
6:09
Speaker 2: decade that the Eagles have really seen a bunch of
6:11
Speaker 2: success and two Super Bowls. However, I just can't imagine
6:16
Speaker 2: being all of you on the Bengals sideline saying, my gosh,
6:19
Speaker 2: get this done, and you should have gotten this done
6:22
Speaker 2: with both of these receivers quite frankly. I mean, take
6:25
Speaker 2: a page out of Howie Roseman's book here, get these
6:28
Speaker 2: guys signed, because they're the best talent that the team
6:30
Speaker 2: has in terms of the offense, being able to score
6:32
Speaker 2: touchdowns and being able to get great field position. I
6:35
Speaker 2: could go on and on, but I mean that's gotta
6:36
Speaker 2: be frustrating for Bengals Nation.
6:39
Speaker 3: I think unfortunately, it's like the Bengals want to be.
6:43
Speaker 3: They want to do things in the timely manner like
6:45
Speaker 3: the Eagles do. Because the Eagles obviously get out in
6:47
Speaker 3: front of everything and they pay guys as soon as
6:50
Speaker 3: Howie Roseman and Jeffry l and Lurie are able to
6:53
Speaker 3: pay guys who are worth it, they pay him and
6:55
Speaker 3: that makes it cheaper in the long run, and then
6:57
Speaker 3: you're not obviously replacing them in the replacement costs aren't
7:00
Speaker 3: extremely high, which is the problem the Bengals have deale with.
7:03
Speaker 3: The Bengals want to pay their guys immediately, but again,
7:06
Speaker 3: if they don't take the structure in the lack of guarantees,
7:09
Speaker 3: then they becomes a waiting game and then you end
7:12
Speaker 3: up either losing them or having to pay them extremely
7:14
Speaker 3: more than what you should have. So the Bengals still
7:16
Speaker 3: are of this mindset of draft developer retained like they've
7:19
Speaker 3: always done, but they're just entering a new world of
7:22
Speaker 3: NFL financials and they can't adapt and it's extremely frustrating.
7:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
7:26
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned John, how Joe Burrow's reportedly been vocal
7:30
Speaker 2: about certain aspects of this Bengals team from an offensive perspective,
7:33
Speaker 2: especially during the t Higgins contract situation and negotiations. And
7:38
Speaker 2: I'm wondering, like I'm wondering, do you think that level
7:41
Speaker 2: of involvement is important when it comes to the franchise
7:44
Speaker 2: quarterback or does it kind of make matters a little
7:47
Speaker 2: bit more complicated a little bit more muddled when it
7:50
Speaker 2: comes to the overall negotiations between the player, the agent,
7:53
Speaker 2: and the front office. I mean, do you think players
7:56
Speaker 2: like Burrow in the situation that he's in should really
7:59
Speaker 2: be kind of and quote getting involved in the situation.
8:02
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts.
8:04
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, Jeff, he's the only one who can institute any
8:06
Speaker 3: sort of change here and get the Bengals actually moving.
8:09
Speaker 3: And I think part of giving Joe Burrow a contract
8:12
Speaker 3: that the Bengals never gave out before, because there's obviously
8:14
Speaker 3: over two hundred million in rolling guarantees there, Like they
8:17
Speaker 3: married that, they married him essentially, and they have to
8:21
Speaker 3: have him at least someone involved in a lot of
8:23
Speaker 3: their big decisions. And I think Burrow's public pounding at
8:26
Speaker 3: the table for Higgins is one of the big reasons
8:29
Speaker 3: why this is happening in the first place. Like there's
8:30
Speaker 3: obviously been internal communication with Burrow, Higgins, and Chase. Obviously
8:34
Speaker 3: Higgins and Chase are now represented by the same agent.
8:36
Speaker 3: Like there's been this type of plan and coordination of
8:39
Speaker 3: getting this done, but obviously not in a way that
8:41
Speaker 3: I think the Bengals would prefer, Like they still want
8:43
Speaker 3: to get paid what they're worth has they should as
8:45
Speaker 3: should every player who's of that caliber should. So there's
8:49
Speaker 3: still that give and take and it's still finding that
8:51
Speaker 3: middle ground that works for everyone. But I think Burrow,
8:53
Speaker 3: being as vocal as he was, I mean, he's a
8:56
Speaker 3: very introverted person, doesn't like doing.
8:57
Speaker 1: A lot of media.
8:58
Speaker 3: So when he's doing all these interviews us and non
9:00
Speaker 3: first take, saying the same thing, answering the same questions,
9:03
Speaker 3: there's a lot of intent behind it, and he wants
9:05
Speaker 3: to make sure that he's representing his best players, making
9:08
Speaker 3: sure that they get the same treatment that he got
9:10
Speaker 3: from the Bengals.
9:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interesting situation. How I think you see
9:14
Speaker 2: more players and it doesn't matter if it's in the NFL,
9:16
Speaker 2: whether it's in the NBA, various leagues, players who have
9:20
Speaker 2: a certain stature within their team and organization, and they're
9:24
Speaker 2: able to, you know, quote get involved to an extent
9:27
Speaker 2: to provide that little push to the front office. Hey
9:30
Speaker 2: we need this type of talent. I would like to
9:32
Speaker 2: have this type of talent. We're seeing it more and more.
9:34
Speaker 2: I'm actually glad to see that kind of stuff happening.
9:36
Speaker 2: Where As players are essentially putting some sort of pressure
9:39
Speaker 2: on their front office and even on the ownership to
9:42
Speaker 2: an extent to what they know what they need on
9:46
Speaker 2: the field, and getting into free agency too in terms
9:49
Speaker 2: of what this Bengals team needs on the field. They've
9:52
Speaker 2: made some moves here in free agency, and I'd like
9:55
Speaker 2: to get into a couple of them here. First and foremost,
9:57
Speaker 2: they have re signed tight end Mike is Sis, who
10:00
Speaker 2: I have loved since he was on Penn State, Penn
10:03
Speaker 2: State tight end in a great Penn State tight end.
10:06
Speaker 2: They signed him to a new three year contract extension,
10:09
Speaker 2: a deal worth up to twenty five point five million dollars.
10:12
Speaker 2: And interestingly enough, as I was reading through this contract,
10:15
Speaker 2: the last time that they extended a player, the Bengals
10:18
Speaker 2: front office extended a player before the legal tampering period
10:22
Speaker 2: was back in two thousand and fifteen, twenty fifteen. I'm wondering,
10:27
Speaker 2: how are you viewing this extension, what it means for
10:30
Speaker 2: the Bengals offense in the future, and kind of maybe
10:32
Speaker 2: how the front office may be operating here.
10:35
Speaker 3: It sounded like low hanging fruit when no, not just
10:40
Speaker 3: the timing, because obviously the timing matters to that deal
10:43
Speaker 3: that you're referring to is Ray maul Luga of all
10:45
Speaker 3: people that kind of a blast in the past. So yeah,
10:48
Speaker 3: like it is rare for the Bengals to extend a
10:51
Speaker 3: player before he hits the market. Typically they like to
10:53
Speaker 3: allow players to test their market and then they can
10:56
Speaker 3: come back to the table if it's not as strong
10:58
Speaker 3: as they want. But Gaseki was a priority and it
11:00
Speaker 3: sounds like low hanging fruit because Joe Burrow also mentioned
11:03
Speaker 3: Mike Kaseki's name when he was bringing up a lot
11:05
Speaker 3: of players who deserve to be paid and want to
11:07
Speaker 3: want to be brought back, and Gasecki saw that and
11:10
Speaker 3: looked to his wife and said, is he talking about me?
11:12
Speaker 1: He is talking about me. That's awesome.
11:14
Speaker 3: So he was prioritized by Joe Burrow to be brought back,
11:17
Speaker 3: and that I think I think maybe sweeten the deal
11:20
Speaker 3: maybe a little bit.
11:20
Speaker 1: To make sure that he doesn't test the market.
11:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, in the first place, he was kind of expected
11:24
Speaker 3: to be in that seven eight million dollar range.
11:26
Speaker 1: I think he was going to be one of the
11:27
Speaker 1: better tight ends to hit the market.
11:28
Speaker 3: So you know, it was a very player friendly deal
11:31
Speaker 3: I think from the Bengals that ultimately, at the end
11:32
Speaker 3: of the day, you know how these things go. It's
11:34
Speaker 3: not really a three year deal. It's a two year
11:35
Speaker 3: deal with a team option at the end of it.
11:37
Speaker 3: So for a player who's about to be thirty years old,
11:39
Speaker 3: two years seventeen and a half million still pretty strong
11:42
Speaker 3: for a position the Bengals don't normally pay a lot,
11:45
Speaker 3: like they've allowed cj Uzama and Hayden Hurston years pass
11:49
Speaker 3: to go and get, you know, the contracts that they
11:51
Speaker 3: won from other teams that haven't worked out for them necessarily.
11:53
Speaker 3: But I think for Giseki, it was a deal that
11:56
Speaker 3: he wanted and was expecting again the open market, but
11:59
Speaker 3: he just got it from the team and the quarterback
12:01
Speaker 3: that fit in the most.
12:02
Speaker 1: Yeah.
12:02
Speaker 2: And I think what's interesting in terms of the Bengals
12:05
Speaker 2: free agency is they now have a former Philadelphia Eagles
12:10
Speaker 2: linebacker that they signed. Last night, I'm scrolling through my phone,
12:14
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like, Oran Burks
12:17
Speaker 2: is not going to be on the Philadelphia Eagles anymore
12:19
Speaker 2: because the Cincinnati Bengals front office signed him to a
12:22
Speaker 2: two year deal worth five million dollars. And I gotta say, like,
12:26
Speaker 2: this deal for the Bengals I think has tremendous upside,
12:31
Speaker 2: quite frankly, because for the entire season, Burks earned an
12:35
Speaker 2: eighty six point zero grade from Pro Football Focus, But
12:38
Speaker 2: it was really from basically Week seventeen through the Super
12:41
Speaker 2: Bowl where Oran Berks he played an average of fifty
12:44
Speaker 2: six point seven defensive snaps per game, including fifty five
12:48
Speaker 2: snaps in the blowout win over the Kansas City Chiefs
12:51
Speaker 2: when the Eagles were able to hoist the Lombardi Trophy
12:54
Speaker 2: down in Philadelphia. But you know, during that stretch of time,
12:59
Speaker 2: he had an eighty four point one Pro Football Focus grade,
13:02
Speaker 2: ranking twelfth among all NFL linebackers, and in the Super
13:06
Speaker 2: Bowl that grade and again Pro Football Focus not the
13:09
Speaker 2: end all be all, but just as a as a
13:11
Speaker 2: point of reference. In the Super Bowl he had an
13:14
Speaker 2: eighty seven point seven grade. So I think there's a
13:17
Speaker 2: lot of upside to Oron Berks. I don't necessarily think that,
13:21
Speaker 2: you know, based on the coaching situation with regard to
13:23
Speaker 2: the Bengals defense, the relationships that are able to be made,
13:28
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we've seen the best of Oron Berks.
13:30
Speaker 2: And I think two years, five million dollars is a
13:32
Speaker 2: pretty darn good contract.
13:34
Speaker 1: Extension.
13:35
Speaker 2: I'm a little concerned about the linebacker position just a
13:38
Speaker 2: little bit for the Philadelphia Eagles after this, since Nikobe
13:41
Speaker 2: Dean is coming off a season ending injury, and he
13:44
Speaker 2: has been often injured during his time in Philadelphia, really
13:48
Speaker 2: only seeing the field a significant amount this past season,
13:52
Speaker 2: and again wasn't able to finish out the season because
13:55
Speaker 2: he was injured. We of course of Zach Bond, one
13:57
Speaker 2: of the best linebackers in the league, but after that,
14:00
Speaker 2: there's a lot of question marks in Philadelphia. I really
14:02
Speaker 2: think the Bengals ended up getting themselves a very, very nice,
14:06
Speaker 2: solid linebacker. Quite frankly, John, what were your thoughts on
14:09
Speaker 2: this signing?
14:10
Speaker 3: Well, that sounds great, Like it seemed like the consensus
14:12
Speaker 3: out of Philadelphia was that Burks played really well and
14:16
Speaker 3: it's gonna be someone that they will feel kind of
14:18
Speaker 3: the void now. But no like when Burks agreed to
14:22
Speaker 3: a deal like a couple months later, a King Davis Gather,
14:25
Speaker 3: who was a Bengals linebacker. He signed with the years
14:27
Speaker 3: on the Cardinals for two years eleven million. King Davis
14:30
Speaker 3: Gather has been their special team staple for the past
14:32
Speaker 3: five years and kind of their linebacker three and he
14:34
Speaker 3: didn't get a ton of playing time in the defense
14:36
Speaker 3: because you know how you know it is they're typically nickel.
14:38
Speaker 3: There's not a lot of three linebacker sets in the
14:40
Speaker 3: NFL anymore. It seemed like Burkes was the King Davis
14:44
Speaker 3: Gather replacement because in Green Bay he pretty much only
14:47
Speaker 3: played special teams as a third round pick, and he
14:49
Speaker 3: was really good at that. Right So then he went
14:50
Speaker 3: to San Francisco, played a little bit more on defense
14:53
Speaker 3: in another great defense and ended up playing in that
14:55
Speaker 3: Super Bowl, and then he got his shot with Philadelphia.
14:58
Speaker 3: I guess he got cut right before the regular season,
15:00
Speaker 3: but then he got his opportunity kind of in the
15:02
Speaker 3: middle of the season due to injuries. And yeah, I
15:04
Speaker 3: remember when when Dean got hurt in the postseason and
15:08
Speaker 3: I learned that it was Burks who was going to
15:09
Speaker 3: be the next man up, and then he shined in
15:11
Speaker 3: the postseason. I think that really made an impact on
15:13
Speaker 3: the Bengals because a lot of the guys that they've
15:15
Speaker 3: signed in recent years have had big game experience, postseason experience,
15:18
Speaker 3: and have played well in the most important games. Obviously,
15:21
Speaker 3: for a team that wants to get back into postseason contention,
15:23
Speaker 3: you need guys with that level of experience, So I
15:26
Speaker 3: think it's a great signing from that sense. Obviously there's
15:29
Speaker 3: a lot of value with it only being two and
15:31
Speaker 3: a half million or two and a half million per
15:32
Speaker 3: year over the course the next two years. I'm just
15:34
Speaker 3: a little not concerned. I'm questioning what the significance of
15:39
Speaker 3: the role is going to be. I don't think he's
15:40
Speaker 3: necessarily like the Jermaine Pratt replacement. They're still looking for
15:44
Speaker 3: a true starter next to the Logan Wilson before they
15:46
Speaker 3: move on from Jermaine Pratt, and because Burkes doesn't necessarily
15:49
Speaker 3: have that experience, I think that leads to a little
15:51
Speaker 3: bit of a question. But it could be a situation
15:52
Speaker 3: where he does well in training camp and there's an
15:55
Speaker 3: opportunity for him to play it maybe more than expected,
15:58
Speaker 3: and considering how he played at the end of this
16:00
Speaker 3: past season, I think there's promise with that.
16:02
Speaker 2: I absolutely think there's promise with it. I'm hoping that,
16:05
Speaker 2: you know, I'm hoping that the Bengals quite frankly, are
16:08
Speaker 2: able to utilize him.
16:09
Speaker 1: In the way that he can be utilized.
16:11
Speaker 2: I mean, he's been in a Vic Fangio defense now
16:13
Speaker 2: for this past year, what it's going to be like
16:16
Speaker 2: with Bengals defensive coordinator. You know, I'm hoping it works
16:19
Speaker 2: out for you guys, but you know, there are still
16:22
Speaker 2: roster moves that I know this Bengals front office would
16:25
Speaker 2: like to make over this next week as free agency
16:28
Speaker 2: here has started, you know, making sure they have a
16:31
Speaker 2: strong offensive line to protect Joe Burrow, to open up
16:34
Speaker 2: those holes as well. You know, even though they re
16:36
Speaker 2: signed Cody Ford to another two years, they want to
16:40
Speaker 2: also have a robust defensive front in terms of you know,
16:43
Speaker 2: what their defensive priorities are going to be, as well
16:46
Speaker 2: as some secondary priorities. I know, possibly going into this draft,
16:50
Speaker 2: what's going to be happening with Trey Hendrickson as well
16:52
Speaker 2: is certainly a question mark, you know. So let's talk
16:55
Speaker 2: about what this front office really needs to do, John,
16:57
Speaker 2: from a logical priority perspecise dive over these next couple
17:01
Speaker 2: of months. Let's start with free agency and then we'll
17:04
Speaker 2: get to the draft. But when it comes to free agency,
17:07
Speaker 2: who are you hoping the Bengals front office could potentially
17:10
Speaker 2: land again As we're like ending with the legal tampering period,
17:13
Speaker 2: free agency really beginning to start. Where do you hope
17:16
Speaker 2: the Bengals really go from here in terms of, you
17:18
Speaker 2: know what the front office could land in free agency.
17:22
Speaker 3: So their messaging out of the combine was they have
17:25
Speaker 3: to get better at stopping the run. And I don't
17:26
Speaker 3: think that there's a problem with that. Obviously, if you
17:28
Speaker 3: can't stop the run, you're not gonna be You're not
17:30
Speaker 3: gonna have any shot of beating Sequon Barklay company. Right,
17:33
Speaker 3: So this is obviously there is there's a rightful emphasis
17:37
Speaker 3: with that, And they went out and signed TJ. Slayton,
17:40
Speaker 3: who is a nose tackle from the Green Bay Packers
17:42
Speaker 3: with experience playing under J Montgomery, who's now the defensive
17:45
Speaker 3: line coach for the Bengals. There's there's a good chance
17:47
Speaker 3: that he can play really good football under a coach
17:50
Speaker 3: that he knows and be the nose tackle that they
17:52
Speaker 3: didn't have last year when they lost DJ Reader. They
17:55
Speaker 3: re signed BJ Hill, who is again like a solid
17:58
Speaker 3: all around defensive tackle. I think the value is as well,
18:00
Speaker 3: but you don't really have a lot of juice in
18:02
Speaker 3: terms of pass rushers from the interior of your defensive line.
18:05
Speaker 3: Chris Jenkins, McKinley Jackson, We're never really that guy coming
18:08
Speaker 3: out of college in bj Hill. He was a decent
18:11
Speaker 3: pass rusher in the prime of his career, but I
18:12
Speaker 3: think he's probably lost a little bit of that step
18:14
Speaker 3: and he's now more reliant or more reliable in terms
18:17
Speaker 3: of run defense. And obviously t J.
18:19
Speaker 1: Slaton is that nose tackle.
18:20
Speaker 3: So you have a pretty full defensive tackle group right now,
18:22
Speaker 3: but you don't have anyone that you can just say, hey,
18:24
Speaker 3: it's third and long, win a one on one, push
18:27
Speaker 3: the pocket, get a stack, right, you don't really have
18:29
Speaker 3: that guy defensive tackle. Yeah, and that probably has to
18:31
Speaker 3: come through the draft and we can talk about that later.
18:33
Speaker 3: But you don't have a lot of guys on the
18:35
Speaker 3: defensive line period who can win one on ones. That
18:37
Speaker 3: was a problem last year and it's really only Trey
18:39
Speaker 3: Hendrickson that you can rely on and who knows if
18:41
Speaker 3: easy to be going to be here right now. So
18:42
Speaker 3: you don't have proven pass rushers on the defensive line,
18:45
Speaker 3: despite spending a decent amount of defensive tackle on the
18:48
Speaker 3: first day of free agency. So that was again, like
18:51
Speaker 3: those signings in the vacuum I think are fine, but
18:53
Speaker 3: in terms of the overall plan, it seems like they
18:55
Speaker 3: could have spent some more money or just any money
18:57
Speaker 3: at all on a proven pass rusher. And then on
18:59
Speaker 3: the other side of the ball, they still as of
19:01
Speaker 3: this recording right now, they haven't signed a guard yet
19:03
Speaker 3: outside of Cody Ford. They still need at least one
19:06
Speaker 3: proven starter, one proven pass protector to make sure that
19:09
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow's pocket is not any worse than it was
19:11
Speaker 3: last year because they had the two worst starting guard
19:13
Speaker 3: tandem in the NFL with Alex Kapa and the court
19:15
Speaker 3: of Volson. Volson is now in a strict competition with
19:18
Speaker 3: Ford and probably a rookie, and you're looking for probably
19:21
Speaker 3: a veteran signing to fill one of the other guard spots.
19:24
Speaker 3: So those are the two biggest needs I see right now.
19:26
Speaker 3: I think they're going to be relying on new defense
19:29
Speaker 3: coordinator out Gold and really developed pieces in the secondary,
19:32
Speaker 3: so you're probably not going to see any notable signings
19:34
Speaker 3: like cornerback or safety. And then at skill position, I
19:37
Speaker 3: think some pierance just feels like the RB three role.
19:39
Speaker 3: Maybe they draft an RB two, but you're probably not
19:41
Speaker 3: going to see any more additions at tight end or
19:43
Speaker 3: wide receiver.
19:43
Speaker 2: And free agency, yeah, and that's what makes the draft
19:46
Speaker 2: so interesting for the Bengals. At the end of April,
19:48
Speaker 2: We're going to see this Bengals team probably really concentrating
19:52
Speaker 2: on drafting younger defensive help for this team to develop
19:56
Speaker 2: over these next couple of years. So when it comes
19:58
Speaker 2: to the NFL Draft, what are you hoping the direction
20:02
Speaker 2: of the front office is going to be. We're talking
20:04
Speaker 2: about the pass rush, talking about the secondary. I'm seeing
20:07
Speaker 2: them really concentrating on that. What are your thoughts?
20:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think right now the favorite is still probably
20:13
Speaker 3: their seventeenth dough Roald Pick is going to be the
20:15
Speaker 3: best pass rusher on the board, whether that is an edge,
20:17
Speaker 3: whether that is a pass rushing defensive tackle. I think
20:20
Speaker 3: that's where the direction is point right now. They met
20:22
Speaker 3: with a ton of first round edge rushers at the combine,
20:25
Speaker 3: and you know they meet with everyone, right every team
20:28
Speaker 3: meets with everyone, but typically you look at the Bengals
20:31
Speaker 3: likely draft targets. These guys they've met with multiple times.
20:34
Speaker 3: So you're gonna see guys like Michael William, Shamar Stewart,
20:37
Speaker 3: James Pierce, Jor You're probably gonna see them being brought
20:39
Speaker 3: in for Top thirty visits like those are the caliber
20:42
Speaker 3: players I think the Bengals are looking at in that
20:44
Speaker 3: first round not only just the boost the bulst of
20:47
Speaker 3: the pass rush, but if they don't have any clarity
20:49
Speaker 3: on the future Trey Hendrickson by then, it's going to
20:51
Speaker 3: be kind of preparing for the future at that point.
20:53
Speaker 3: So just making sure that you have as deep of
20:56
Speaker 3: a defensive line as you possibly can, because they've rain
20:58
Speaker 3: into so many injuries last year year and they were
21:00
Speaker 3: so depleted at defensive tackle. It was just it was
21:03
Speaker 3: not a sustainable situation, and I don't think that's what
21:06
Speaker 3: they want to go into next year. I think they
21:08
Speaker 3: want to make sure that they enter training camp with
21:09
Speaker 3: double digit guys at the position group to make sure
21:12
Speaker 3: that they have his solid group being on once the
21:15
Speaker 3: regular season comes around. And then obviously I think they're
21:17
Speaker 3: gonna still draft the guard somewhere in the first four rounds. Yeah,
21:20
Speaker 3: it's not a position that they draft in the first
21:21
Speaker 3: round pretty much. Ever, it was only Kevin Zeiler like
21:24
Speaker 3: ten years ago at this point, so you're looking at
21:26
Speaker 3: maybe a day too early, Day three pick to again
21:28
Speaker 3: compete with Cody Ford and Kordo Volson for one of
21:31
Speaker 3: those spots, and then maybe you see a tight end
21:33
Speaker 3: maybe because Casekie, I mean he's listed as a tight end,
21:37
Speaker 3: but he's really a wide receiver. He's really just a
21:38
Speaker 3: big slot and they could use probably an upgrade over
21:41
Speaker 3: Drew Sample and Cam Graandy as a guy who's a
21:43
Speaker 3: true inline player, because unfortunately Eric All Junior, who showed
21:47
Speaker 3: a lot of promise in that role last year as
21:49
Speaker 3: a rookie, he's now going to be out until twenty
21:50
Speaker 3: twenty six with two knee injuries. So that was really unfortunately.
21:54
Speaker 3: It really puts a dent in their plans. So I
21:55
Speaker 3: could see a tight end being drafted relatively early as well.
21:58
Speaker 2: It's going to be interesting to see how this Bangal
22:00
Speaker 2: front office handles this NFL draft. But to close us
22:04
Speaker 2: out here, I really wanted to talk about how this
22:07
Speaker 2: team and this franchise itself can remain relevant in the
22:11
Speaker 2: years to come, because you know, they want to remain
22:14
Speaker 2: competitive of course in the AFC overall, and it's just
22:16
Speaker 2: it's so bizarre, John that they didn't make it to
22:19
Speaker 2: the postseason this year given the overall offensive performance. I mean,
22:22
Speaker 2: we've heard that storyline, So I'm wondering, how do you
22:25
Speaker 2: think that the team in this franchise still remains relevant
22:29
Speaker 2: in the AFC when there are teams like the Bills,
22:32
Speaker 2: like the Ravens, who have pretty stellar teams and who
22:35
Speaker 2: are really looking towards the future as well, how does
22:38
Speaker 2: this Bengals team really continue to remain relevant?
22:41
Speaker 3: Well, like you kind of alluded to, like there are
22:43
Speaker 3: right on offense rights so long as Joe Burrow's in
22:45
Speaker 3: his prime, like they're always gonna be able to compete
22:47
Speaker 3: in score points and everything. But there was a reason
22:49
Speaker 3: why Lunaruma was fired in the first place. A lot
22:51
Speaker 3: of Bengals fans were afraid to think of not a
22:53
Speaker 3: lot of change on that side of the ball. But
22:55
Speaker 3: when you do have an extraordinary passing offense and you
22:58
Speaker 3: still only win nine games, the blame has to go somewhere,
23:01
Speaker 3: and it went to the defensive side of the ball.
23:03
Speaker 3: And I still think and Rumo is a fine defensive coordinator,
23:06
Speaker 3: but a big problem with his regime was he was
23:09
Speaker 3: very reliant on veteran players and not getting the most
23:11
Speaker 3: out of the plethora of draft picks that he was
23:14
Speaker 3: given over the past few years. So this defense still
23:17
Speaker 3: has a lot of unproven and really untested young players
23:21
Speaker 3: that were taking with very high draft picks, and now
23:24
Speaker 3: it comes down to Al Golden, the new defense coordinator
23:26
Speaker 3: comes to the college ranks, who has a well documented
23:29
Speaker 3: history of maximizing young players and getting a solid plan
23:33
Speaker 3: for them immediately when they come into the building, to
23:36
Speaker 3: just basically take hold of a lot of these guys
23:38
Speaker 3: that they drafted in recent years and just maximize them
23:41
Speaker 3: the best that they possibly can. Because the answer to
23:43
Speaker 3: the question is how the Bengals get back into relevancy,
23:45
Speaker 3: they have to start developing their draft picks, specifically on
23:48
Speaker 3: the defensive side of the ball. You cannot have this
23:50
Speaker 3: expensive offense with Jamar Chase making over forty million a year,
23:53
Speaker 3: t Higgins making thirty million a year, Joe Burrow making
23:56
Speaker 3: fifty five million a year and continue every single year
23:58
Speaker 3: to go out and spend a lot in free agency
24:00
Speaker 3: on the defensive side of the ball. You eventually need
24:03
Speaker 3: your draft picks on that side of the ball to
24:05
Speaker 3: compliment all the spending you're making on the offense. Is
24:07
Speaker 3: exactly what the Eagles are so good at doing. It's
24:09
Speaker 3: the model of the NFL right now, and the Bengals
24:11
Speaker 3: have to do their best to match it.
24:12
Speaker 2: I think it's a great way to end this podcast
24:14
Speaker 2: and end this discussion again, folks, John Sheer and from
24:18
Speaker 2: A to Z Sports can also catch him and his
24:21
Speaker 2: co host over at the Orange and Black Insider Podcast. John, Buddy,
24:25
Speaker 2: it was great talking to you, Always great talking to
24:27
Speaker 2: you about the Bengals and at the NFL in general.
24:30
Speaker 1: Come back and join us down the road. I'd love
24:32
Speaker 1: to have you back on my friend.
24:33
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Jeff.
24:35
Speaker 2: That's gonna do it for us here on Opposition Territory
24:38
Speaker 2: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
24:41
Speaker 2: family members who are Philly sports fans or sports fans
24:44
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24:47
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24:51
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25:04
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25:08
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