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Bengals Booth Podcast: Talk of the Town · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hie and everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The twas the talk of the
0:12
Speaker 1: audition as we travel to Super Bowl Week in New
0:15
Speaker 1: Orleans and find out what people are saying about the Bengals.
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Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
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Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
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Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
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Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
0:49
Speaker 1: thing since any random encounter with Chad Johnson. I was
0:55
Speaker 1: in New Orleans for about twenty six hours to gather
0:57
Speaker 1: podcast and social media content, and one of the first
1:01
Speaker 1: people I ran into at Monday's crowded and crazy media
1:05
Speaker 1: Night event with players and coaches from both teams was
1:08
Speaker 1: Bengals legend Chad Johnson. He kissed me on the cheek,
1:13
Speaker 1: hugged me and said, I EF and love you before
1:16
Speaker 1: we spend a few minutes talking about the Bengals. I've
1:19
Speaker 1: known Chad for nearly twenty five years and we used
1:22
Speaker 1: to do a weekly segment together on TV. But here's
1:25
Speaker 1: the thing, He's like that with everybody. I'm not sure
1:30
Speaker 1: I've ever met a celebrity of his magnitude who is
1:33
Speaker 1: better at making people happy. So here's to the one
1:37
Speaker 1: and only Chad Johnson. I e F and love you too.
1:42
Speaker 1: Now let's get to my first guest. Maybe it's just
1:46
Speaker 1: the social media algorithms knowing my interest, but it seems
1:49
Speaker 1: to me that when I go to Twitter or Instagram,
1:52
Speaker 1: everybody in New Orleans is talking about the Bengals, Can
1:56
Speaker 1: they sign their key free agents? Will they be back?
1:59
Speaker 1: And Super Bowl contention next year. We've got four guests
2:03
Speaker 1: on this episode, beginning with the NFL Networks Adam Rank Adam,
2:10
Speaker 1: where are the Bengals right now? After a disappointing season
2:15
Speaker 1: where they missed the playoffs?
2:16
Speaker 2: You know what, I wish this was the WWE and
2:19
Speaker 2: they had a money in the bank briefcase that they
2:21
Speaker 2: could cash in at the end of the Super Bowl
2:22
Speaker 2: because I would tell you right now after watching the
2:25
Speaker 2: AFC playoffs my whole time. Number one, I understand now
2:30
Speaker 2: why Kansas City took the finger poke of doom. Didn't
2:34
Speaker 2: want to see the Bengals in the playoffs because nobody
2:37
Speaker 2: stands up to the Chiefs like the Bengals do. They
2:42
Speaker 2: never kind of look at I mean, Buffalo, congratulations, you
2:45
Speaker 2: have a very nice stand but still not a serious threat,
2:49
Speaker 2: like not like Cincinnati. I think Cincinnati is in such
2:52
Speaker 2: a great spot, and I know that things didn't work
2:54
Speaker 2: out with lou Ana Rumon, who was disappointing to see
2:57
Speaker 2: him go, and it's disappointing to see the defense fall
2:59
Speaker 2: apart a little bit. However, I really truly believe that
3:03
Speaker 2: if the Bengals aren't considered the number.
3:04
Speaker 1: Two team in the AFC, it's a mistake.
3:07
Speaker 2: And honestly, I'm curious to see how they approach free agency.
3:11
Speaker 2: You know, obviously, Joe Burrow is making a lot of money,
3:13
Speaker 2: and it's well deserved when he base it on quarterbacks
3:16
Speaker 2: contracts that are given.
3:18
Speaker 1: I really hope they find a.
3:19
Speaker 2: Way to keep t Higgins, keep that together and everybody
3:22
Speaker 2: like how the Patriots used to do, like let's find
3:24
Speaker 2: a way to get rid of like even out the money.
3:28
Speaker 2: But the biggest thing, you gotta keep Trey.
3:31
Speaker 1: Gotta keep Trey.
3:32
Speaker 2: And I know that Miles Garrett wants to leave like
3:36
Speaker 2: that might not be practical from a financial standpoint, and
3:39
Speaker 2: I don't.
3:39
Speaker 1: Think the Browns would ever do it.
3:41
Speaker 2: But I think if you get the secondary shored up
3:44
Speaker 2: a little bit, get up, continue to get a little
3:46
Speaker 2: bit better on the pass rush, the Bengals will be
3:49
Speaker 2: in San Francisco next year.
3:52
Speaker 1: Oh you heard it from Aaron Rank. We like this. Well,
3:54
Speaker 1: so you heard Adam Rank. I'm sorry, Yeah, it's okay,
3:58
Speaker 1: nice slip. A lot of people are here, It's okay,
4:00
Speaker 1: it's okay. A lot of people thank you for covering.
4:03
Speaker 1: I don't hold it against you. It's fine. Good. So
4:06
Speaker 1: their biggest offseason move so far was bringing in Al Golden,
4:09
Speaker 1: the Notre Dame defensive coordinator former Bengals linebackers coach. What
4:14
Speaker 1: do you think do you think that bringing somebody in
4:17
Speaker 1: from the college level is a good move?
4:19
Speaker 2: I do like it now. A lot of times when
4:22
Speaker 2: you're bringing in somebody from the from a college level,
4:24
Speaker 2: I did. It's not necessarily an easy fit.
4:27
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily an easy transition.
4:29
Speaker 2: But I think with Al, he's got an NFL pedigree,
4:33
Speaker 2: he's got an NFL background. I don't think that there's
4:35
Speaker 2: too much. It's not gonna be too much of a
4:37
Speaker 2: learning curve. This is not going to throw him off.
4:39
Speaker 2: He's obviously very familiar with the team and the organization.
4:42
Speaker 2: So I thought it was a pretty nice stroke. Again,
4:45
Speaker 2: it's tough losing lou Anarroumo. I thought it's funny because
4:48
Speaker 2: everybody knows I'm a Bears fan. I thought that when
4:50
Speaker 2: lou was let go, I thought he was going.
4:51
Speaker 1: To be Ben Johnson's defensive coort.
4:53
Speaker 2: And I wouldn't have hated that because I think he's
4:55
Speaker 2: done a nice job, even though things fell apart this season.
4:58
Speaker 2: But I think at some point you do need to
5:01
Speaker 2: switch it up a little bit. I think Al Golden's
5:03
Speaker 2: a pretty good, pretty good starting point.
5:06
Speaker 1: We always speak in the preseason, and this past preseason,
5:11
Speaker 1: you were on the Chase Brown bandwagon. This is your
5:14
Speaker 1: opportunity to brag for knowing that Chase Brown is going
5:17
Speaker 1: to add a serious element to the Bengals offense.
5:20
Speaker 2: Well, I was out on a tightrope and I reached
5:22
Speaker 2: out a lifeline to you, and I'm like, okay, like,
5:24
Speaker 2: please tell me if I'm way off base, because what
5:27
Speaker 2: I'm seeing and what I saw.
5:28
Speaker 1: Of him coming out of college, I'm like, this guy
5:31
Speaker 1: is an NFL running back.
5:32
Speaker 2: Like he's really good and anytime he was gonna given opportunities. Now,
5:37
Speaker 2: obviously playing behind Joe Mixon is gonna hurt a little bit,
5:39
Speaker 2: But I thought coming into the season with no Joe Mixon,
5:41
Speaker 2: I'm like, how is he not the starting point? How
5:44
Speaker 2: was he not the number one option? But of course
5:46
Speaker 2: Zach Moss was gonna be given his opportunities. But still
5:49
Speaker 2: you and I both got together, put our heads together,
5:53
Speaker 2: and we're like, this is gonna work. So I had
5:55
Speaker 2: Chase Brown everywhere in all my fantasy leagues and was
5:58
Speaker 2: really impressed by the way he played. And we were
6:00
Speaker 2: talking about this before we started recording, like if he
6:02
Speaker 2: had played the entirety of the season, we're looking at
6:05
Speaker 2: twelve hundred yards, We're maybe seeing one or two more wins,
6:09
Speaker 2: Like who knows what happens, but you got something there
6:12
Speaker 2: and that's the best part. And I think for Cincinnati
6:15
Speaker 2: fans it's got to be a little bit bittersweet watching
6:17
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl knowing how good your team was, how
6:20
Speaker 2: well you compete, especially in the playoffs. There are teams
6:24
Speaker 2: that are playoff tested that do their best in the playoffs.
6:27
Speaker 2: The Bengals are one of those teams. So I think
6:29
Speaker 2: right now they're in a good spot and I.
6:31
Speaker 1: Think we should be ready to go. And I said we.
6:35
Speaker 2: I didn't mean to say we, but I love the
6:36
Speaker 2: city of Cincinnati and ever since I went out there
6:39
Speaker 2: and was able.
6:40
Speaker 1: To visit, you guys great place.
6:42
Speaker 2: So I'm very hopeful for the twenty twenty five season
6:44
Speaker 2: and sincerely barring any serious injuries or anything like that,
6:48
Speaker 2: but if they can get their ducks in a row,
6:50
Speaker 2: I would label them.
6:51
Speaker 1: I mean, whatever happens with Kansas.
6:53
Speaker 2: City Chiefs are the Chiefs. But I really do think
6:56
Speaker 2: this say this is a team that's ready to get
6:59
Speaker 2: back to the super Bowl, and I expect to see
7:01
Speaker 2: them in.
7:01
Speaker 1: San Francisco next year. I love the way you think.
7:04
Speaker 1: So we assume that Jamar Chase is going to get
7:06
Speaker 1: an extension. That's job one. And then you mentioned the
7:09
Speaker 1: other two big contracts that are kind of looming over
7:12
Speaker 1: this offseason. Trey Hendrickson, who's got a year left on
7:15
Speaker 1: his deal, but they've got to give him a raise,
7:16
Speaker 1: and you would think try to extend him and then
7:19
Speaker 1: t Higgins, who many people would think think would be
7:23
Speaker 1: the number one free agent on the market. If it
7:26
Speaker 1: gets there, Can they extend Jamar, extend Trey and re
7:31
Speaker 1: sign Tea? Is that doable?
7:33
Speaker 2: Can you defer money like the Dodgers do? Is that
7:36
Speaker 2: allowed in the NFL?
7:37
Speaker 1: Burrow says he'll restructure. Well, that's what we were talking about.
7:40
Speaker 2: Like, I think that Joe Burrow strikes me as that
7:43
Speaker 2: kind of person. He strikes me as the Tom Brady
7:46
Speaker 2: type who will be like, yeah, I'm gonna do I
7:48
Speaker 2: I Patrick Mahomes says it too. I think these guys
7:51
Speaker 2: want to win and they understand what it takes to
7:53
Speaker 2: win in the NFL, and the money is great, But
7:55
Speaker 2: if we can find a way to restructure, I think
7:57
Speaker 2: if you are willing to be create and figure out
8:01
Speaker 2: a way there, there are there are pathways.
8:04
Speaker 1: To getting it done. And I'm very hopeful that Cincinnati
8:07
Speaker 1: is going to do that.
8:07
Speaker 2: And I like what we've seen from the from the investment,
8:11
Speaker 2: from the organization over the last number of years that.
8:13
Speaker 1: We've really seen it.
8:14
Speaker 2: You've seen this team grow, you know, and the addition
8:17
Speaker 2: to the practice facilities and stuff, the training sites and
8:20
Speaker 2: all that stuff, and really it shows you that there's
8:22
Speaker 2: an organization.
8:24
Speaker 1: Ready to make that next leap.
8:25
Speaker 2: And as somebody who roots for a team that's owned
8:28
Speaker 2: by a family, which makes it different watching these families
8:32
Speaker 2: now starting to step up. We saw the Bears do
8:34
Speaker 2: it this year with Ben Johnson. I really have a
8:36
Speaker 2: lot of faith in the Brown family. One of the
8:39
Speaker 2: one of the hallmarks of the NFL, one of the
8:41
Speaker 2: reasons why the NFL is what it is today, that
8:45
Speaker 2: they're gonna do it.
8:45
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna get it. I don't know. I'm
8:47
Speaker 1: not I'm not the math guy.
8:49
Speaker 2: I'm more like that this is what you should do.
8:52
Speaker 2: But I really do if they're if they're a serious organization,
8:55
Speaker 2: and I get every every inclination from me as an outsider,
9:00
Speaker 2: I feel like the Bengals are as serious organisms.
9:02
Speaker 1: I really do. I think they'll find a way to
9:05
Speaker 1: get it done. And everybody's just got to be patient.
9:06
Speaker 2: And I know Trey wants to get his money and
9:08
Speaker 2: Jamar needs his deal. I get it, but we have
9:11
Speaker 2: you have to look at who's up, Whose turn is it?
9:14
Speaker 1: Right? Now, Let's get.
9:15
Speaker 2: Tea done and then we'll work on the other guys.
9:17
Speaker 2: And if you and if you get t Higgins done,
9:20
Speaker 2: that shows everybody else who's waiting like okay, well then
9:23
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna eventually going to get there.
9:26
Speaker 1: It shows them like, Okay, they're taking care of us.
9:28
Speaker 2: We're gonna stick together, and I really want this team
9:30
Speaker 2: to stick together.
9:32
Speaker 1: Adam, great to see you in New Orleans and now
9:34
Speaker 1: I'm happy to know we will see each other at
9:35
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl next year at Levi Stadium, because you're
9:38
Speaker 1: calling it for the Bengals. Absolutely.
9:40
Speaker 2: At that point though, when you're going up against the Bears,
9:42
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to turn it. I'm gonna have to
9:43
Speaker 2: be like Polly at the end of Goodfellas, be like, hey,
9:46
Speaker 2: this is where I turn my back on you.
9:48
Speaker 1: But it'll be bittersweet, but I'm looking forward to it. No,
9:50
Speaker 1: we next year when our teams are meeting. Definitely now,
9:54
Speaker 1: so Adam Rank is out on an early limb that
9:57
Speaker 1: the Bengals will play in Super Bowl sixty net. Who
10:01
Speaker 1: am I to disagree? Up next, another favorite of mine,
10:05
Speaker 1: Sam Monson, who worked for Pro Football Focus in Cincinnati
10:09
Speaker 1: for many years before moving to the thirty third team
10:12
Speaker 1: dot com, where he co hosts the Check the Mic
10:16
Speaker 1: podcast with another former PFF analyst, Steve Pelizzolo. We're here
10:22
Speaker 1: in New Orleans with Sam Monson from the thirty third Team.
10:25
Speaker 1: Where are the Bengals right now in your opinion? After
10:29
Speaker 1: disappointing season where they missed the playoffs.
10:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they're the kind of out of crossroads right.
10:35
Speaker 4: This is clearly a team that's capable of winning, winning
10:39
Speaker 4: at a high level, getting to the contender status. With
10:42
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow, you've got the single most important piece of
10:45
Speaker 4: that puzzle their long term. Obviously they want to lock
10:48
Speaker 4: down Jamar Chase as well. Then the question is how
10:51
Speaker 4: much do you focus on the offense try and keep
10:53
Speaker 4: all the pieces there, the pieces that Borough wants there,
10:57
Speaker 4: versus how much you try and repair the defense that
10:59
Speaker 4: was the big problem this year and really held everything
11:02
Speaker 4: back even when the offense was firing an all cylinder.
11:06
Speaker 4: So I think they have that juggling act to contend with.
11:09
Speaker 4: They clearly seem to be approaching the t Higgins thing
11:12
Speaker 4: the way they did with Jesse Bates. You know, we'll
11:14
Speaker 4: give him the franchise tag and then we'll let him
11:16
Speaker 4: walk away.
11:18
Speaker 3: But Joe Burrow is against that. You know, that's a
11:21
Speaker 3: different scenario.
11:22
Speaker 4: And Joe Burrow was not, you know, basically publicly demanding
11:26
Speaker 4: they keep Jesse Bates.
11:27
Speaker 3: He's kind of been doing that for t Higgins.
11:29
Speaker 4: So if you ignore your quarterback and instead focus on
11:33
Speaker 4: other areas, it's definitely a risky approach.
11:36
Speaker 1: I'll be honest with you. When he came out publicly
11:39
Speaker 1: and said we think we can do it, I'm willing
11:42
Speaker 1: to do what it takes. Tea is a need. It
11:46
Speaker 1: changed my opinion as to whether it was the right
11:49
Speaker 1: thing to do. Partly for what you're saying, If Joe
11:51
Speaker 1: believes it's important, you want to support a franchise quarterback
11:54
Speaker 1: as much as you can. But I also began to think,
11:56
Speaker 1: all right, this guarantees you're gonna have a good offense.
12:00
Speaker 1: Figure it out with young guys on defense. Do you
12:02
Speaker 1: feel similarly, I.
12:03
Speaker 3: Mean, I think that's definitely a valid argument.
12:06
Speaker 1: Number one.
12:06
Speaker 3: As you said, look, if it's very unusual.
12:09
Speaker 4: For a quarterback to come out instead of publicly say
12:11
Speaker 4: this is what needs to happen, and for you to
12:13
Speaker 4: then go contrary to that can't be good, you know
12:16
Speaker 4: what I mean, Like, even if you think it's the
12:18
Speaker 4: right decision and it's the one, you're stead of playing
12:20
Speaker 4: the right side of the percentages, you're actively and publicly saying,
12:23
Speaker 4: we don't really care what the quarterback thinks.
12:25
Speaker 3: We're going in a different direction.
12:27
Speaker 4: That would be an unusual dynamic in and of itself.
12:30
Speaker 3: So I think there's merit to.
12:31
Speaker 4: Saying, you know, this is what Joe wants, and even
12:34
Speaker 4: if it's not what we would do, let's do what
12:36
Speaker 4: Joe wants. In this scenario, it's clearly not a bad
12:39
Speaker 4: thing to do to lock up, you know, a really
12:41
Speaker 4: high end number two receiver, keep an incredible group together.
12:46
Speaker 4: But then you do get the question of, well what
12:47
Speaker 4: does that leave you with to go and focus on
12:49
Speaker 4: the defense. I think there's definitely merit to saying, let's
12:53
Speaker 4: try and load up with some young guys. Let's figure
12:55
Speaker 4: it out, because it's they kind of tried to do
12:58
Speaker 4: that already, right They their plan, their process I think
13:01
Speaker 4: was actually sounds We've identified two or three spots where
13:05
Speaker 4: we're gonna let guys move away. We're gonna replace them
13:08
Speaker 4: with young you know, replacements. Airs a parent that have
13:11
Speaker 4: been in the building for a year or two. They
13:13
Speaker 4: drafted well, they drafted smartly for that and those guys
13:16
Speaker 4: just didn't work out immediately. And sometimes that's just a
13:20
Speaker 4: risk that you run with that kind of strategy. Right, Theoretically,
13:23
Speaker 4: it sound you kind of have a runway of succession plan,
13:26
Speaker 4: but if the guy doesn't play well when he goes
13:28
Speaker 4: into the starting lineup, your entire plan has been immediately
13:31
Speaker 4: nullified and rendered void. So I think there's definitely an
13:34
Speaker 4: argument to say the process was okay, let's just swing
13:38
Speaker 4: again with a different.
13:38
Speaker 1: Group of people and a different defensive coordinator. That's the
13:42
Speaker 1: biggest change they've made so far in the offseason. What
13:44
Speaker 1: was your reaction to hiring El Golden away from Notre Dame.
13:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think when your defense is struggling
13:51
Speaker 4: to that degree, there's always merit to saying, look, we
13:53
Speaker 4: just need to make a change. It almost doesn't matter
13:56
Speaker 4: what the change is. Simply making a change. We'll have
13:58
Speaker 4: a new voice in there, move things in the right direction.
14:01
Speaker 4: But then I think they've gotten a good higher as well.
14:04
Speaker 4: You know, lou Anarumo got a ton of credit when
14:07
Speaker 4: the defense was doing well. And he took the broad
14:09
Speaker 4: to the blame when it fell apart. But I think
14:13
Speaker 4: they've added a good coach to that group, and maybe
14:16
Speaker 4: he can reclaim some of the players.
14:18
Speaker 3: That were supposed to be the succession plan in the
14:20
Speaker 3: first place.
14:21
Speaker 1: From your background at PFF before you joined thirty third team,
14:25
Speaker 1: what should they do on the offensive line?
14:28
Speaker 4: Again, I think that the process has not necessarily been unsound.
14:32
Speaker 4: You know, they've they've deliberately kind of gotten a group
14:34
Speaker 4: that is in the middle class of offensive linemen. They
14:37
Speaker 4: haven't overpaid as specific spots. They've been opportunistic. You know,
14:41
Speaker 4: they didn't necessarily expect to go and get Orlando Brown
14:44
Speaker 4: when he was available with free agency, and suddenly the
14:46
Speaker 4: market came to them and they said, let's pivot, let's
14:48
Speaker 4: grab this guy. I think that's not an unreasonable way
14:51
Speaker 4: of approaching it. And again, sometimes the thing with lineman
14:55
Speaker 4: like that that are let's say collectively average on average,
14:59
Speaker 4: is sometime those guys are at the same time going
15:03
Speaker 4: to reach the lower end of their range of outcomes
15:05
Speaker 4: in a given season, and when that happens, your offensive
15:08
Speaker 4: line becomes a problem. Buffalo have lived through this previously
15:11
Speaker 4: as well, and the answer is not necessarily, let's radically
15:14
Speaker 4: overhaul it. Let's get in a bunch of new players.
15:16
Speaker 4: It's like, the chances are next season they won't do
15:18
Speaker 4: that again. Right next season, they'll hit a middle range
15:20
Speaker 4: of their outcomes, or maybe they'll even hit a higher
15:23
Speaker 4: range of their outcomes, and you suddenly have a really
15:24
Speaker 4: good offensive line out of nowhere. So I think my
15:27
Speaker 4: advice on the line would be, don't panic. You know,
15:30
Speaker 4: let's certainly look at some additions we can make, let's
15:33
Speaker 4: bring in competition. But the chances are this was a
15:36
Speaker 4: low ebb of a group that's capable of much more
15:38
Speaker 4: than that.
15:39
Speaker 1: It's easy to forget that Joe Burrow had serious risk
15:42
Speaker 1: surgery prior to this season. Led the NFL in touchdown
15:45
Speaker 1: passes in passing yards five years into his career. Is
15:49
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow still getting better?
15:53
Speaker 4: I mean this, Yeah, I think you can argue this
15:55
Speaker 4: was as well as he's ever played. This season, he
15:58
Speaker 4: played at an MVP caliber year. The way the MVP
16:01
Speaker 4: Awards and All Pros get decided, you know, the Bengals
16:04
Speaker 4: just didn't win enough for him to really be in
16:06
Speaker 4: consideration for that. But you can absolutely argue he was
16:09
Speaker 4: as good as Josh Allen, as good as Lamar Jackson,
16:12
Speaker 4: and yeah, I mean he's up there with the.
16:13
Speaker 3: Very best quarterbacks in the NFL.
16:16
Speaker 1: You're Duke Tobin, you're the Bengals front office. What do
16:21
Speaker 1: you do this offseason? What's at the top of the
16:22
Speaker 1: list of things to get done?
16:24
Speaker 3: I would try and keep T Higgins.
16:26
Speaker 4: I think, Look, your quarterback has made it clear he
16:28
Speaker 4: wants them in the building. You got to get Jamar Chase,
16:31
Speaker 4: you got to get T Higgins. Keep that group intact.
16:34
Speaker 4: They're the right positions to lock down, even if you're
16:36
Speaker 4: paying them significant money. Right if you're you have X
16:40
Speaker 4: number of high end contracts, you want them going to
16:42
Speaker 4: your quarterback. The guys he's throwing the football too, you know,
16:45
Speaker 4: the top pass rusher you have. The money is allocated
16:49
Speaker 4: in the right spots, it just then squeezes everything else.
16:51
Speaker 4: So I'm okay with that as a strategy. Let's keep
16:54
Speaker 4: those guys in the building. They're important, and then let's
16:56
Speaker 4: work on, you know, middle class options to repair everything else.
17:00
Speaker 1: Sam, I always enjoyed picking your brain. Thanks so much anytime.
17:04
Speaker 1: There's much more to come, But first, here's a quick
17:06
Speaker 1: reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you
17:08
Speaker 1: by Paycrep, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider,
17:13
Speaker 1: by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate
17:16
Speaker 1: your home, business and community to a new level, and
17:20
Speaker 1: by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
17:23
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
17:27
Speaker 1: If you enjoy great, in depth feature stories about NFL
17:31
Speaker 1: players and coaches, I don't think there's anybody out there
17:34
Speaker 1: doing a better job of writing them than Tyler Dunn.
17:38
Speaker 1: He was a newspaper guy before starting his own newsletter
17:41
Speaker 1: and website, golong td dot com. Draft expert Bob McGinn
17:47
Speaker 1: is also a Go Long contributor, and I think a
17:50
Speaker 1: yearly subscription is worth every penny. I caught up with
17:54
Speaker 1: Tyler on Tuesday.
17:57
Speaker 5: If you look, the Bengals just ran out of games.
17:59
Speaker 6: Dan like if the season was extended, as Roger Goodell wants, right,
18:03
Speaker 6: we're all gonna get more games here soon. Cincinnati's probably
18:06
Speaker 6: playing into this game. But they were the hottest team
18:08
Speaker 6: in football. I know the defense had their issues, but
18:11
Speaker 6: it seemed like by the end of the year they
18:13
Speaker 6: were getting by, and that's how you really need with
18:15
Speaker 6: Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase t Higgins that offense. I mean,
18:20
Speaker 6: it was unbelievable by the end of the season. I
18:22
Speaker 6: know that there were a lot of teams, you know,
18:25
Speaker 6: dribbling down their leg at the possibility of maybe facing
18:27
Speaker 6: Cincinnati in the playoffs. They were very you know, I'm
18:31
Speaker 6: thinking of that Kansas City Denver game.
18:32
Speaker 5: It behooved the Chiefs, I get it. To stay healthy.
18:35
Speaker 6: There had to have been a little part in their
18:37
Speaker 6: brain that is that we do not want Joe Burrow
18:40
Speaker 6: in the playoffs.
18:41
Speaker 5: Like this is the one quarterback, the one team.
18:43
Speaker 6: The Chiefs don't match up that great with, or at
18:46
Speaker 6: least it's always a dogfight with the Bills. I mean,
18:48
Speaker 6: I still remember them Waltzon right into high Mark and
18:50
Speaker 6: taking it to Buffalo in the snow Globe. So as
18:54
Speaker 6: long as you have Joe Burrow, as long as you
18:55
Speaker 6: have the quarterback, you're a super Bowl contender. And it's
18:58
Speaker 6: crazy to talk about a non play team that way,
19:01
Speaker 6: but I feel like they're right there. I mean, even
19:04
Speaker 6: at the season ending presser with Brandon Bean and Sean
19:07
Speaker 6: McDermott at one Bill's drive last week and Brandon Bean
19:11
Speaker 6: was asked about building a team capable of beating Kansas
19:15
Speaker 6: City and he's like, that's dangerous. You do not want
19:17
Speaker 6: to just build your your team for one specific opponent.
19:21
Speaker 6: Because he goes, think about it, what if we end
19:23
Speaker 6: up playing Cincinnati in the playoffs and we lose, and
19:26
Speaker 6: I tell you, guys.
19:27
Speaker 5: Well, we build our team for Kansas City? What kind
19:29
Speaker 5: of I mean the fact that he brought.
19:31
Speaker 6: Up Cincinnati as an example when they' didn't joined the
19:34
Speaker 6: forty four percent club or everybody makes the playoffs, they're
19:36
Speaker 6: not in there says everything you know about how they're
19:39
Speaker 6: still perceived as a team.
19:40
Speaker 1: I think I missed that. So that's good to know.
19:43
Speaker 1: Our major change was required. Are minor tweaks, you know.
19:48
Speaker 6: We talked about this a little bit yesterday just offline,
19:52
Speaker 6: but I feel like it is major changes deep Defensively,
19:56
Speaker 6: you look at Philadelphia and they are unafraid to play
20:00
Speaker 6: young guys, catching up with Christian Parker their passing game
20:04
Speaker 6: coordinator and works with the DBS. He's young himself, by
20:07
Speaker 6: the way, it's thirty three years old.
20:09
Speaker 5: And they draft you.
20:11
Speaker 6: Know, k Mitchell twenty seventh overall, Cooper Dejene fortieth. They
20:15
Speaker 6: trade up for him. You know, it took a little bit.
20:18
Speaker 6: They wanted Mitchell to kind of prove himself in camp,
20:20
Speaker 6: so they had him and Nickel even though they knew
20:22
Speaker 6: they knew they'd move him to the boundary. Cooper Degene
20:25
Speaker 6: is you know, he had the fracture fibulla in mid
20:27
Speaker 6: November at Iowa. It recovers from that, That's why he
20:30
Speaker 6: fell in the draft, and then he hurts his hammy,
20:32
Speaker 6: misses a dozen training camp practices. He didn't really come
20:34
Speaker 6: on until after the bye, you know, week five, week six,
20:37
Speaker 6: But they played those rookies.
20:38
Speaker 5: I mean, they threw him out there.
20:39
Speaker 6: Next thing you know, Cooper Degene has taken on Derrick
20:41
Speaker 6: Henry the greatest hit. If anybody hasn't, if you haven't
20:44
Speaker 6: seen it yet, YouTube it, look it up on Twitter.
20:47
Speaker 5: I still don't. I feel like it's a deep fake.
20:49
Speaker 6: I mean, it's it's not real that Cooper di she
20:52
Speaker 6: is just throwing himself into the block of Granted the
20:56
Speaker 6: two hundred and forty five pound blocker.
20:57
Speaker 5: Granted that is Derek Henry.
20:59
Speaker 6: But I mean, you gotta have you gotta have the
21:01
Speaker 6: willingness to put young players out there, and a lot
21:05
Speaker 6: of coaches, a lot of teams aren't. The Bengals, with
21:08
Speaker 6: one of the best coordinators in recent memory, just weren't
21:11
Speaker 6: last year. So I feel like it's gonna take a
21:13
Speaker 6: willingness from a new coordinator and a new scheme to
21:17
Speaker 6: just try something different.
21:19
Speaker 5: Right, what's the.
21:19
Speaker 6: Definition of insanity? You gotta get some twenty three and
21:23
Speaker 6: twenty four year olds out there. Kooper Dejine turns twenty
21:25
Speaker 6: two on Super Bowl Sunday. He's not even twenty two
21:27
Speaker 6: as we speak right now. You gotta let him kind
21:30
Speaker 6: of go through their growing pains. I feel like September October,
21:34
Speaker 6: so by the time you hit the playoffs, you are
21:36
Speaker 6: peaking into being a Super Bowl contender. I mean, that's
21:39
Speaker 6: what the Chiefs do, right, Like they I feel like
21:42
Speaker 6: the Chiefs are the San Antonio Spurs, like they are
21:45
Speaker 6: playing for January. They kind of tweak things, change things
21:49
Speaker 6: throughout the course of the year where everybody loses their mind,
21:52
Speaker 6: right all the daytime sports talks and what's wrong.
21:54
Speaker 5: With the Chiefs.
21:55
Speaker 6: And by the time you gotta win and you gotta
21:57
Speaker 6: get to Super Bowl, they are peaking into everything that
22:01
Speaker 6: they want to be at that moment and I'm rambling here,
22:04
Speaker 6: but wasn't it just two years ago? What is it
22:06
Speaker 6: the twenty twenty two season when they played the Philadelphia
22:10
Speaker 6: Eagles in.
22:10
Speaker 5: The Super Bowl.
22:11
Speaker 6: That was the year they really kind of remade their defense, right,
22:14
Speaker 6: They made a lot of changes into that year. I
22:16
Speaker 6: don't think they were expecting to be that good defensively.
22:19
Speaker 6: A lot of first and second year guys out there.
22:21
Speaker 6: They went through some growing paidents with spags, but then
22:24
Speaker 6: by playoff time they did what they always do. Now,
22:29
Speaker 6: I'm sure your listeners remember a certain hit along the
22:31
Speaker 6: sideline and we're having a much different conversation there. That
22:36
Speaker 6: Bengals team should not be lost in history. I was
22:39
Speaker 6: so excited to cover the Bengals down there in Phoenix
22:41
Speaker 6: that week, as were you. That's football, though, it is
22:44
Speaker 6: one or loss on the fringes.
22:47
Speaker 1: So you would think that hiring a defensive coordinator in
22:50
Speaker 1: Al Golden from Notre Dame who spent the last three
22:53
Speaker 1: years there and had tremendous defenses the last couple of
22:55
Speaker 1: years will lend to the development and the use of
22:59
Speaker 1: younger defensive players.
23:01
Speaker 5: I would think so, right.
23:02
Speaker 6: I mean, he strikes me as somebody He's worked with
23:06
Speaker 6: a lot of young players recently, so he knows how
23:10
Speaker 6: maybe the twenty one and twenty two year old can
23:13
Speaker 6: jump into his scheme and what they can do day one.
23:18
Speaker 5: I feel like they'll have to.
23:19
Speaker 6: It's kind of worth going through a month or two
23:22
Speaker 6: of some growing pains when the end result is a
23:26
Speaker 6: super Bowl run.
23:26
Speaker 5: It's the NFL.
23:28
Speaker 6: Sets this thing up as a marathon where I feel
23:30
Speaker 6: like every team's gonna go through a rough patch at
23:33
Speaker 6: some point, and it's just somehow surviving that rough patch
23:37
Speaker 6: to become the team that you want to be. And gosh,
23:39
Speaker 6: I just keep thinking about the teams that are in
23:42
Speaker 6: this postseason and they defensively went through I mean, Philly
23:48
Speaker 6: Zach Bond talked today.
23:50
Speaker 5: Who and who in the hell would have.
23:51
Speaker 6: Thought Zach Bond, a backup with the Saints for three
23:54
Speaker 6: years at a different position, would be a first team
23:58
Speaker 6: All Pro, a final for Defensive Player of the Year.
24:01
Speaker 6: And it just took like the right player at the
24:04
Speaker 6: right time, with the right scheme. I mean, we chatted
24:07
Speaker 6: with him for like forty minutes, and I feel like
24:09
Speaker 6: he doesn't even know how he got here.
24:11
Speaker 5: It's like we're all trying to figure this out together,
24:14
Speaker 5: like what in the hell did the Saints miss?
24:17
Speaker 6: And he kind of he would no ill will toward
24:19
Speaker 6: the Saints, which I think Also, he's, you know, in
24:23
Speaker 6: line for a lot of money. He doesn't really behoove
24:24
Speaker 6: you to talk a lot of crap about your former.
24:26
Speaker 5: Team when you're gonna get paid. So smart move, Zach.
24:30
Speaker 6: But but they didn't, I mean, they didn't know really
24:32
Speaker 6: how to use him. But he pointed the finger at
24:34
Speaker 6: himself and said, I needed a lot to learn, you know,
24:38
Speaker 6: and how to work in coverage and how to play
24:39
Speaker 6: a different position.
24:40
Speaker 5: And it took Vic Fangio.
24:42
Speaker 6: It took the right coordinator with the right scheme, having
24:44
Speaker 6: a vision for that player. So who is that for
24:46
Speaker 6: Al Golden, Like, who is somebody that he knows is
24:49
Speaker 6: gonna fit what he wants to do? I mean, zat
24:52
Speaker 6: Bond's not even he's one of the oldest guys at
24:54
Speaker 6: twenty eight on that defense too, So I don't know.
24:57
Speaker 6: I guess it's a combination of not being afraid to
24:59
Speaker 6: play young players and then easier.
25:02
Speaker 5: Said than done, like finding yours achball who out there can.
25:05
Speaker 6: Be had at a a what not a lot of
25:08
Speaker 6: money because Bengals don't have a lot of money to
25:10
Speaker 6: throw around that is gonna fit exactly what you want
25:13
Speaker 6: to do.
25:13
Speaker 5: And if you ask me who that is, I would
25:15
Speaker 5: have no clue.
25:16
Speaker 1: I won't ask you who that is. Then we're visiting
25:17
Speaker 1: with Tyler Dunn from golongtv dot com to T Higgins
25:21
Speaker 1: questions for you, can they keep Jamar and T? And
25:26
Speaker 1: should they keep Jamar and T?
25:32
Speaker 6: I want to say no, I'm not a capologist. I
25:36
Speaker 6: had no idea.
25:38
Speaker 5: If it's even possible.
25:39
Speaker 6: I know Joe Burrow has said some optimistic things, and
25:43
Speaker 6: it's Joe Burrow's town man, it's Joe Burrow's team, So
25:46
Speaker 6: maybe he knows something that nobody else does. Like if
25:49
Speaker 6: he thinks it's possible to keep both Jamar Chase and
25:52
Speaker 6: T Higgins, maybe, Hey, where there's a will, there's a way.
25:57
Speaker 6: It's a new day for the Bengals, right. Hey, you
25:58
Speaker 6: got an owner Mike Brown who wants to spend this
26:01
Speaker 6: kind of money.
26:02
Speaker 5: That's amazing and as you should. I mean, you've got
26:05
Speaker 5: maybe the best player in the sport. Do everything you
26:08
Speaker 5: can to make it happen.
26:10
Speaker 6: I don't know, though, I feel like it would be astronomical.
26:14
Speaker 6: There's going to be a market for t Higgins, like
26:17
Speaker 6: a very very rich market. We could sit here and
26:20
Speaker 6: list off a dozen teams that would give him top
26:24
Speaker 6: of the line money, even though who knows if he
26:28
Speaker 6: really is that one a for the next five six
26:31
Speaker 6: years work worth that kind of money, but somebody will
26:33
Speaker 6: pay it. And well, here's what, Here's what the conversation
26:39
Speaker 6: probably is like, is tea willing to take a little
26:42
Speaker 6: less to stay in the absolute perfect situation?
26:47
Speaker 1: And I think you said the right word there, a
26:49
Speaker 1: little less. It can't be a gigantic difference, but a
26:55
Speaker 1: little less.
26:57
Speaker 6: Because the second question I think is absolutely yes, you
27:00
Speaker 6: want them, even if it's gonna hurt you as you're
27:02
Speaker 6: trying to like rebuild it.
27:03
Speaker 5: They don't overthink it.
27:05
Speaker 6: Stick to what you do best, and that is put
27:07
Speaker 6: up thirty forty points at will and scare the but
27:10
Speaker 6: Jesus out of the best.
27:12
Speaker 5: Teams in football, the Bills, the Chiefs.
27:14
Speaker 6: You know, the Ravens play the Ravens really well obviously
27:18
Speaker 6: with this guy, So why would you want to mess
27:20
Speaker 6: with a good thing, with the best thing.
27:22
Speaker 5: That you do as an organization?
27:23
Speaker 6: So you want him, man, I imagine he's thought about it,
27:28
Speaker 6: he said, some time to think about it.
27:30
Speaker 5: Joe Burrow loves them.
27:33
Speaker 6: They've figured out a way to everybody kind of gets
27:36
Speaker 6: their slice of the pie, and everybody is able to
27:39
Speaker 6: stay happy. So you know what the situation is. You
27:41
Speaker 6: don't know what it's gonna be with another team. You've
27:44
Speaker 6: covered this league way longer than me, but like since
27:47
Speaker 6: twenty ten, I mean, I feel like there has been
27:50
Speaker 6: one or two wide receivers every single offseason. They think
27:54
Speaker 6: the grass is gonna be greener, they go there and
27:56
Speaker 6: it's hell.
27:57
Speaker 5: I mean early on, I.
27:59
Speaker 6: Covered Greg jen in Green Bay and I still remember
28:03
Speaker 6: his locker room cleanup day and maybe it was twenty twelve,
28:07
Speaker 6: and he was very dramatic.
28:09
Speaker 5: I love love Greg. Jenny's always keeps it real with me.
28:12
Speaker 5: But like every little picture he's taken out very slowly.
28:15
Speaker 5: We're all crowded on his locker.
28:16
Speaker 6: He knows we're all watching, and in so many words,
28:19
Speaker 6: just said goodbye, like he was ready to make a
28:22
Speaker 6: lot more money somewhere else.
28:23
Speaker 5: Well where did he go? Minnesota?
28:25
Speaker 6: Christian ponder It did not work out even with Adrian Peterson,
28:29
Speaker 6: So the.
28:30
Speaker 5: Crass is not always greener.
28:32
Speaker 6: I think every player should maximize their worth if that's
28:35
Speaker 6: what they want. But you're also probably going to maximize
28:39
Speaker 6: your worth by staying in Cincinnati because your career will
28:42
Speaker 6: probably be longer, I would think, and you win Super Bowls.
28:45
Speaker 5: Who the hell knows what kind of marketing doors open up.
28:48
Speaker 6: But I know I'm preaching to the choir here and
28:50
Speaker 6: everybody wants them back. But I really mean it, Like
28:52
Speaker 6: if if you go back and you look at how
28:54
Speaker 6: it has ended for receivers in the NFL at the
28:58
Speaker 6: top of the market that get paid a lot of money,
29:01
Speaker 6: it can get ugly. It can get ugly fast, and
29:04
Speaker 6: you're forgotten. You're just forgotten.
29:08
Speaker 1: It's easy to forget. Using that term that Joe Burrow
29:12
Speaker 1: had serious risk surgery prior to this season. Even at
29:16
Speaker 1: the end of the year he said he still wasn't
29:18
Speaker 1: throwing the ball exactly the way he wanted to, and
29:21
Speaker 1: he led the NFL in touchdown passes and passing yards
29:25
Speaker 1: five years into his career. Is Joe Burrow getting better?
29:29
Speaker 5: Oh one, Joe Burrow is getting better. He is so
29:34
Speaker 5: different than you know.
29:35
Speaker 6: Watching Josh Allen every Sunday in Buffalo, who I think
29:38
Speaker 6: he should have been the MVP this year with how
29:40
Speaker 6: he kind of threw the team on his back in transition,
29:43
Speaker 6: No Stefan Diggs, a lot more young players, I mean
29:47
Speaker 6: who led them in snaps at wide receiver Mac Hollins. Right,
29:50
Speaker 6: it's a little different situation than jamar Chaes dggins. So,
29:53
Speaker 6: but Alan is more of like the runaway freight train,
29:58
Speaker 6: and he's such a force of Nate mature running it,
30:01
Speaker 6: throwing it like he is coming at you one hundred
30:04
Speaker 6: miles an hour, even as he is playing a little.
30:07
Speaker 5: More careful, careful lead.
30:08
Speaker 6: This year, Patrick Mahomes was kind of a game manager
30:11
Speaker 6: for stretches, and I mean then the most complimentary way,
30:13
Speaker 6: like he when eighty three drives without a turnover right
30:17
Speaker 6: up into the one in the MC Championship game and
30:19
Speaker 6: he knew he had no or sheet rice, he kind
30:22
Speaker 6: of had to improvise, and who the hell knows where
30:24
Speaker 6: the Chiefs are without him. But in terms of just
30:26
Speaker 6: pure quarterbacking, you know, slicing and dicing from the pocket,
30:32
Speaker 6: finding your weakness, finding that scab, who is that cornerback
30:36
Speaker 6: that is struggling out there, you know, and then putting
30:40
Speaker 6: your thumb on that scab and pushing all games.
30:42
Speaker 5: I mean, you watch it Bengals game.
30:43
Speaker 6: Joe Burrow is just he's finding that weakness, he's attacking,
30:47
Speaker 6: He's seeing the whole field. I would it's kind of
30:50
Speaker 6: a shame because I feel like hell weirdess laughing. I mean,
30:52
Speaker 6: I'm so mad I didn't get to Cincinnati this year
30:55
Speaker 6: with the way this season started, not knowing where this
30:57
Speaker 6: thing was gonna go. I never was able to work
30:59
Speaker 6: in a feature story down there. But I feel like
31:02
Speaker 6: that is most football consumers outside of Cincinnati just weren't
31:06
Speaker 6: paying attention to.
31:07
Speaker 5: The season he had. He was unbelievable.
31:10
Speaker 6: So I feel like they are into twenty twenty five
31:14
Speaker 6: absolutely a super Bowl contender.
31:16
Speaker 5: Joe. I mean I picked him the win last year.
31:17
Speaker 5: Joe Burrow's an MVP candidate.
31:19
Speaker 6: And this t Higgins thing, however it shakes out, you're
31:23
Speaker 6: always gonna be in good And he put it perfectly himself,
31:25
Speaker 6: like the super Bowl window is always open when he's
31:28
Speaker 6: the quarterback, and it's not cocky, it's just the truth.
31:31
Speaker 1: Last thing for my friend Tyler Dunn, if you are
31:34
Speaker 1: Duke Tobin or the Bengals front office, is there something
31:37
Speaker 1: at the top of your off season things to do list.
31:43
Speaker 6: Man, where do you start on the defense? I mean,
31:45
Speaker 6: you tell me Trey Hendrickson and a bunch of guys.
31:48
Speaker 1: Well, let's start with Trey. Then he's got one year
31:50
Speaker 1: left on his deal. He's gonna get a big raise.
31:53
Speaker 1: Do you sign him to a multi year extension or
31:56
Speaker 1: do you say he's thirty. This is the time to
31:59
Speaker 1: say save that money, try to get a high draft pick,
32:03
Speaker 1: a couple of high draft picks. What do you do
32:05
Speaker 1: with Trey?
32:05
Speaker 5: I wonder what the market would be for him.
32:07
Speaker 6: I mean, you do have to consider everything here, because
32:10
Speaker 6: the gut instinct is that's insane. Why would you just
32:13
Speaker 6: trade away one of your best You're only truly a
32:16
Speaker 6: level A or B level talent on defense.
32:20
Speaker 5: You got to think about it. But I don't think
32:22
Speaker 5: you do.
32:22
Speaker 6: I think you just get it done. You just you
32:24
Speaker 6: have to get it done. There's every team is looking
32:26
Speaker 6: for a Trey Hendrickson Again. I kind of bring everything
32:29
Speaker 6: back to Buffalo. They don't have that player on defense.
32:32
Speaker 6: They just don't.
32:32
Speaker 5: They were fine defensively through the regular season, middle of
32:37
Speaker 5: the road to a little above that because.
32:39
Speaker 6: They were able to force turnovers, but their third down
32:42
Speaker 6: defense was terrible most of the year.
32:45
Speaker 5: Von Miller is.
32:46
Speaker 6: I mean he tours ACL the first year into his contract,
32:49
Speaker 6: came back, never really rediscovered himself.
32:53
Speaker 5: I'm Gregory Russo, you know, first round.
32:55
Speaker 6: Pick has his moments, but he's he's not a Trey
32:57
Speaker 6: Hendrickson like they're they're looking. Every team is looking for
33:01
Speaker 6: that kind of player that is going to just turn
33:04
Speaker 6: a game upside down. Chris Jones here in Kansas City,
33:07
Speaker 6: Zack Bond. I mean, if you can find another one
33:09
Speaker 6: of those guys, good luck. I don't you again, you
33:13
Speaker 6: should tell me what the cap ramifications are.
33:15
Speaker 5: I think you do.
33:16
Speaker 6: Just have to pay him whatever the market is and
33:21
Speaker 6: pay t Higgins.
33:23
Speaker 5: Is that possible?
33:24
Speaker 1: Dan and extension?
33:25
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I'm just And isn't that funny? We just
33:28
Speaker 6: assume that that's done just where we've already put it's
33:32
Speaker 6: Larry Bird at the free throw line. We've already said
33:34
Speaker 6: that's going in. But a lot of moving parts here.
33:37
Speaker 6: But you know what, like how many opportunities of the
33:40
Speaker 6: Cincinnati Bengals had throughout history to truly go for it.
33:46
Speaker 6: I mean, you don't have to talk yourself into God
33:49
Speaker 6: bless the soul.
33:50
Speaker 5: Andy Dalton and the gang, right, you don't.
33:52
Speaker 6: Have to talk yourself into Giovanni, Bernard aj Green, Geno
33:56
Speaker 6: Atkins like very good teams with very good coach. But
34:00
Speaker 6: you knew there was gonna be an endpoint wildcard, maybe
34:04
Speaker 6: the divisional round.
34:05
Speaker 5: Like, you don't have to play that game with the scene.
34:07
Speaker 6: You aren't going to be in the super Bowl conversation
34:10
Speaker 6: every year with this quarterback.
34:13
Speaker 5: So if the dollars.
34:15
Speaker 6: Make sense, just do it. Push the dead money down
34:18
Speaker 6: the road. Who cares, because these guys are all worth it.
34:21
Speaker 1: Let's do a quick promo for golongtd dot com. I'm
34:25
Speaker 1: a subscriber. There's nothing like it for a footballfan. In
34:29
Speaker 1: depth feature stories, podcasts. You've got the best draft analyst
34:34
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34:41
Speaker 6: Thanks so much, Dan, It is so good to run
34:42
Speaker 6: into you and catch up on all things Bengals. But yeah,
34:45
Speaker 6: golong t dot com also on substack, so you can
34:49
Speaker 6: read at the site at substack. When you play your
34:51
Speaker 6: email in every story goes write your email inbox. And
34:55
Speaker 6: there are stories that I post for free. But to
34:56
Speaker 6: get everything just eight bucks a month, fifty for the year,
35:00
Speaker 6: and I mean at this time, lots of Cincinnati stuff coming.
35:03
Speaker 6: We are overdue to get back down there to Cincinnati,
35:05
Speaker 6: and I don't I guess the goal is always to
35:07
Speaker 6: kind of like take you behind that curtain on how
35:09
Speaker 6: this league really works, you know, beyond the podium and
35:13
Speaker 6: the I mean we're at some of the Super Bowl podiums.
35:16
Speaker 6: A lot of poll tested responses from players. They are
35:19
Speaker 6: very calculated with what they're saying, so always trying to
35:21
Speaker 6: get the real in the raw here.
35:23
Speaker 1: Appreciate you, thanks so much for your ton Hey, thank you.
35:25
Speaker 5: Dan enjoyed it.
35:27
Speaker 1: So we've heard from three experts who were largely positive
35:30
Speaker 1: about the Bengals prospects going forward. There's bound to be
35:34
Speaker 1: a contrarian, right. Enter Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk,
35:39
Speaker 1: who frequently draws the ire of Bengals fans by constantly
35:44
Speaker 1: projecting doom and gloom. Like him or hate him, and
35:48
Speaker 1: it seems to be the latter for most Bengals fans.
35:51
Speaker 1: He knows how to draw an audience. We are with
35:55
Speaker 1: Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk. Where are the Bengals
35:58
Speaker 1: right now? They're missing the playoffs this year well.
36:02
Speaker 3: And it's amazing too.
36:03
Speaker 7: It's got to be frustrating to them that they got
36:05
Speaker 7: so close. You think about different games that if it
36:07
Speaker 7: goes the other way, and I know you have to
36:08
Speaker 7: go back and finish the season.
36:10
Speaker 8: From that point, I go all the way back to
36:11
Speaker 8: Week one.
36:12
Speaker 7: If they had the Jamar Chase situation under control, and
36:14
Speaker 7: they beat the Patriots, they're in the playoffs. Then I
36:17
Speaker 7: think the Bengals are still trying to understand what it
36:21
Speaker 7: means to have a good team and what it costs
36:23
Speaker 7: to have a good team.
36:24
Speaker 8: They've paid Joe Burrow, but that's hardly the end of it.
36:28
Speaker 7: And I know Joe Burrow is optimistic they'll find a
36:31
Speaker 7: way to keep t Higgins and make Jamar Chase happy
36:34
Speaker 7: and make Trey Hendrickson happy.
36:36
Speaker 8: I'm not so sure that's going to happen. They run
36:38
Speaker 8: it like a business. It is a business.
36:39
Speaker 7: Fans don't like to hear that, but it is a business,
36:42
Speaker 7: and the business of football suggests based upon the way
36:44
Speaker 7: the Bengals have done things that T Higgins won't be back.
36:47
Speaker 7: They've never had a guy who they used the franchise
36:49
Speaker 7: tag on stay more than one year. That franchise tag
36:52
Speaker 7: year Carl's Carl Pickens is the only exception. He got
36:56
Speaker 7: a long term deal and they cut him after one year.
36:58
Speaker 7: But they've all only stayed one year. I think Higgins
37:00
Speaker 7: is gone. They got to make Chase happy. I think
37:02
Speaker 7: he's going to want more than they expect. And Hendrickson,
37:05
Speaker 7: he's less than half of the market. They've got to
37:08
Speaker 7: take care of Hendrickson and Chase, and they have to
37:10
Speaker 7: accept that Higgins is going to be gone. Joe has
37:12
Speaker 7: to accept he's going to be gone, and you hope
37:14
Speaker 7: you can just load draft picks, develop them and fill
37:18
Speaker 7: in those gaps and get players who can take advantage
37:21
Speaker 7: of whatever window is left for Joe Burrow, he's still
37:23
Speaker 7: at the front end. But when you have great players,
37:26
Speaker 7: at some point you've got to pay them. And that's
37:30
Speaker 7: the tension between the players and the front office, and
37:33
Speaker 7: specifically between Burrow and the front office.
37:35
Speaker 1: So just to be clear, keeping Tea is the right
37:38
Speaker 1: move in your opinion, Well.
37:42
Speaker 7: It would probably be the right move if you could
37:44
Speaker 7: work it out. I'm just saying they won't because they
37:46
Speaker 7: never have. It's completely out of character. They apply that
37:48
Speaker 7: franchise tag, which is a signal this is it.
37:51
Speaker 8: We're not going to double the franchise tag.
37:53
Speaker 7: Because he's got he's got negotiating power now, because they
37:57
Speaker 7: could keep him for one more year at a twenty
37:59
Speaker 7: percent raise over the time twenty one point eight that
38:00
Speaker 7: he made last year, and then next year.
38:02
Speaker 8: He'd be free and clear because they're not gonna tag
38:04
Speaker 8: him a third time.
38:05
Speaker 7: So what is it gonna take to get him to
38:07
Speaker 7: trade in being tagged the second time? And they wouldn't
38:11
Speaker 7: tag him the second time. I think they're just gonna
38:13
Speaker 7: have to see what's out there on the open market,
38:14
Speaker 7: and that's the way it should be. The franchise tag
38:16
Speaker 7: is just a tool to keep teams or to allow
38:20
Speaker 7: teams to keep players from getting fair value.
38:22
Speaker 8: So if they want to keep them, they can compete
38:24
Speaker 8: with whoever else wants him.
38:25
Speaker 7: I don't think they're gonna want to pay it. I
38:26
Speaker 7: think they'd be smart to keep him around. I think
38:28
Speaker 7: he's better than just a guy who who gets the
38:31
Speaker 7: benefit of double teams for Jamar Chase, because we've seen
38:34
Speaker 7: what he does when Chase is injured. We saw what
38:36
Speaker 7: he did before Chase even got there. He's not just
38:39
Speaker 7: the number two. He's one B to one A and
38:42
Speaker 7: one A is pretty damn good. I just think they
38:44
Speaker 7: have to accept the fact that's not gonna work, and
38:46
Speaker 7: they're gonna have to reallocate their assets because I think
38:48
Speaker 7: Jamar is gonna want at least forty and I wouldn't
38:51
Speaker 7: be surprised if he wants more than forty.
38:53
Speaker 8: And you could make the argument he's.
38:55
Speaker 5: Worth every penny.
38:56
Speaker 1: I've only got you for five minutes. I've always wanted
38:58
Speaker 1: to ask you about this, wrote about it in your
39:00
Speaker 1: book Playmakers. You've always maintained the prior to the draft,
39:04
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow seriously considered whether he would play in Cincinnati.
39:09
Speaker 1: It's five years in. He says all the right things,
39:12
Speaker 1: love's playing for the Bengals, loves still being in the
39:14
Speaker 1: state of Ohio. Were you wrong? Did he change his mind?
39:18
Speaker 1: Where do you stand on that? Five years later?
39:21
Speaker 7: What I said in Playmakers is if he was from Athens,
39:23
Speaker 7: Georgia and not Athens, Ohio, he would have refused to
39:26
Speaker 7: play for the Bengals.
39:27
Speaker 8: And I can tell you that is entirely true.
39:30
Speaker 7: The fact that he's an Ohio native tipped the scales
39:33
Speaker 7: in favor of him playing for the Bengals, and then
39:35
Speaker 7: he went through a period where before he signed the
39:38
Speaker 7: second contract. Am I doing the right thing? Is this
39:41
Speaker 7: the place where I can win? That's why this push
39:44
Speaker 7: and pool over whether or not money is going to
39:46
Speaker 7: be invested in these other players is important.
39:48
Speaker 8: Not that he has an easy path out, but.
39:51
Speaker 7: He's always got that Carson Palmer option if he gets
39:53
Speaker 7: to the point where he's had enough, and we saw
39:55
Speaker 7: it happen fourteen years ago, and that I think is
40:00
Speaker 7: something that the front office needs to be considering. At
40:02
Speaker 7: some point he can decide I've been here long enough.
40:06
Speaker 7: I'm not gonna win here. We just saw Miles Garrett
40:10
Speaker 7: do it yesterday with the Browns. If they don't change
40:14
Speaker 7: their ways as to players beyond the quarterback, that is
40:18
Speaker 7: at least a blip on the radar screen. And yes, yes,
40:21
Speaker 7: if he wasn't from Athens, Ohio, he wouldn't have wanted
40:24
Speaker 7: to play for the Bengals. That is true. People can
40:26
Speaker 7: get mad at me. I'm just the messenger. It is true.
40:29
Speaker 1: People will get mad at you. They are convinced you
40:32
Speaker 1: hate the Bengals.
40:33
Speaker 7: Well, every fan of every team is convinced that sometime
40:36
Speaker 7: or another that I hate them because two things I'll
40:39
Speaker 7: tell the truth, even if the truth is inconvenient for
40:41
Speaker 7: the fans. And number two, I have a very good
40:44
Speaker 7: knack for identifying the thing that each fan worries about,
40:49
Speaker 7: each fan base worries about that they'd rather we not
40:52
Speaker 7: talk about. And when we start talking about that, they
40:55
Speaker 7: get pissed because they don't want to hear it.
40:57
Speaker 8: They want to hear that everything's great.
40:59
Speaker 7: Everything sunshine and and glasses half full and go renew
41:02
Speaker 7: your season tickets and we're gonna win the super Bowl
41:04
Speaker 7: this year. That's what they want to hear. And the
41:05
Speaker 7: teams will sell that because it's in their best interest.
41:08
Speaker 7: I sell truth. I sell honest, authentic analysis, and when
41:11
Speaker 7: there's an issue, and I think this Borough thing could
41:13
Speaker 7: become an issue if they don't take care of Chase
41:15
Speaker 7: and they don't take care of Hendrickson. Not now, but
41:17
Speaker 7: it's something to watch down the road. And we saw
41:19
Speaker 7: it again with Carson Palmer. That gets people mad, but
41:23
Speaker 7: it also gets people to see what we have to say.
41:26
Speaker 1: I enjoyed the book. I went thirty seconds too long.
41:28
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time.
41:29
Speaker 8: All right, man, good talking to you. Thank you.
41:31
Speaker 1: Here's what I'll say about Mike Florio. He is a
41:33
Speaker 1: classic provocateur and ticking off football fans around the NFL
41:38
Speaker 1: has been very good for business. But when it comes
41:41
Speaker 1: to Joe Burrow, I'm convinced that no matter what Joe says,
41:45
Speaker 1: and no matter what the Bengals accomplish with Joe at quarterback,
41:50
Speaker 1: Mike will always see dark clouds on the horizon. Like
41:54
Speaker 1: he said, he knows what people worry about. That's going
41:59
Speaker 1: to do it for this epsiod so of the Bengals
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Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
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