In an offseason mailbag we answer your questions about what's going on with the Cincinnati Bengals' right tackle position that seems primed for a camp battle, whether Tee Higgins' extension money should go to the defensive side of the ball instead, future hall-of-famers, and more! Find and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajs Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengals Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg James Rapien and Jake Liscow take you inside the Bengals with the latest news, unique analysis, and insight on your favorite team, every day on Locked On Bengals. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team. Every Day. And follow Jake and James on Twitter, where they'll be sharing the latest news about the Cincinnati Bengals and talking with fans. Jake Liscow: https://twitter.com/JakeLiscow James Rapien: https://twitter.com/JamesRapien Podcast: https://twitter.com/lockedonbengals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. FanDuel Make Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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(00:02):
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Looks like it's about time for somemore discourse about what's going on with
(00:45):
the Bengals right tackle position, plussome philosophical questions about, well, how
should the Bengals prioritize our money withJoe Burrow superstar quarterback. We'll get into
that and more in today's episode.You are Locked On Bengals, your daily
Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of theLockdown Podcast Network, Your team every Day,
(01:18):
Well not Bengals fans, and welcometo another episode of the Lockdown Bengals
podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcastthat we're covering your team every day.
You can subscribe to this show onYouTube or anywhere you get your podcast becoming
every day or so you don't missout when we have great content coming for
you this offseason or had some greatfilm reviews last week, for example,
(01:38):
and become a first listener, jointhat first listening club with the many other
Bengals fans that make us their firstlisten every day. And James today,
it's time for a good old fashionedLockdown Bengals mail beg and we've got a
bunch of questions to get to today, as we always do. And if
you want to submit your questions forthe future, make sure you're following at
Lockdown Bengals on Twitter because that's wherewe look to compile our questions every time
(02:01):
we do this exercise. And we'regonna start with the right tackle conversation.
James really picked up on social mediaover the last twenty four hours or so,
at least as far as I cantell, and Tasha b asked at
tashad be eight to eight on Twitter. Are there any insights from coaches?
Are what does your eye test orpractice to say about Jackson Carmen potentially looking
(02:22):
good at right tackle and is aJonah Williams trade still plausible with well,
Colin's looking good on Instagram. Soreally this question gives us all we need
to talk about to get into theright tackle conversation on the whole. It's
a good starting point, right,and let's start right with the guy who's
lining up at right tackle, JacksonCarmen, Ie test wise, that's shape
(02:46):
I've seen him in, and youknow, much like you know we talked
about Joe Burrow. I think JamarChase showed up in tremendous shape. See
Higgins, this is the best shapeJackson Carmen's been in. Here's the problem
is they're limited to what they cando. And even in training camp when
they can wear helmets and wear shellsand eventually pads, you don't really get
(03:07):
a huge you don't get the answera ton of questions when it comes to
the offensive line play. And soright now, I can't say Jonah Williams
is having a good offseason program.I think he passes the eye test because
he looks like he's in good shapeor Jackson Carmen, excuse me Jackson Carmen,
but it's a perfect example outside ofjust being able to look at Jonah
(03:30):
Williams, there's no reason to thinkthat Jonah Williams isn't doing everything that Jackson's
doing, that these other linemen aredoing, and he's just doing it on
his own. And I think thatthat's the part with Carmen where yes,
he's the one that's available and sohe's lining up at right tackle. I
also think he's third in the peckingorder right now for that starting right tackle
(03:53):
job. The Bengals aren't going tocome out and say that because he might
end up being their starting right tackledepending on what happens. Let's keep it
moving. Then a Jonah Williams trade, I think it's as unlikely as it's
been, but I wouldn't rule itout. What if lall Collins does continue
to improve and shows them that heis going to be ready for Week one
(04:16):
and is going to be able tobe the guy that they hoped he would
be when they signed him last yearand flashed at times last year. If
he shows them that and then ateam calls and gives the Bengals something of
value for Jodah, and I thinkthat's the problem. They weren't getting anything
of value. A sixth round pickdoesn't do anything they wanted. Value For
(04:39):
Jonah Williams, it hasn't come yet, and so that's why he's still on
the team. I don't think they'reshopping him, but I don't think they
would ignore phone calls either and sendhim to voicemail. I think they'll pick
up the phone, so a tradecould always happen. But what's going to
be interesting is when minicamp starts.I think Jonah's going to report, That's
(05:00):
what I've been told. And soif he does report, who lines up
as that starter? Is it Jackson? Is it Jonah? And how comfortable
is Jona Art right tackle? Hashe been working and going through the footwork
and the hand motion, all ofthose things, the technique that comes with
moving from left tackle to right tackle. If so, I think he'll be
the guy that lines up there untilLyle's healthy. And if Lele's healthy,
(05:21):
then it gets a really interesting conversation. But we can also have the contract
conversation. There's just a lot toit, and Jonah there's no flexibility in
his contract, and that's what makesit tough. I think if you're the
Bengals. Yeah, that's a bigpart of it is he's going to be
on the team unless he's traded,and he's going to be making twelve and
a half million dollars. And theonly way he's not on the Bengals is
(05:46):
if, like you said, somebodyoffers something that the Bengals feel makes them
better than Jonah Williams presence on theirteam does. This year. And there
are a number of points have beenmade about Jonah right and in terms of
skepticism about his ability to play righttackle at a high level. One of
them is he's not played right tacklebefore in the NFL. Well one others
(06:06):
Jackson Carman two. At least he'sever played right tackle in his life.
He played his freshman year at Alabamaright tackle. Played really well. One
numerous offensive Player the Week awards,both from the Alabama staff and from the
SEC. One a Freshman of theWeek award in the SEC as well.
I believe as a freshman, truefreshman starting a right tackle in Alabama.
(06:30):
So it's all he was bad whenhe had the opportunity to do it before.
And then you know the concerns abouthis health. Well, okay,
there's also major concerns about Le's healthright now. And I know he looks
good on Instagram, and it's greatthat you're seeing that. I don't mean
to take anything away from his recovery. That's fantastic, But else also has
to prove he can stay healthy,right And so when you start to bring
(06:54):
up these questions and poke holes inJonah, you can start poking holes in
some of these other candidates for thatjob as well. On the other hand,
I think Jonah is a high qualityplayer. People knew that. I
was very bullish on Jonah last yeargoing into the season, and I was
pretty disappointed with the season. AndI've also talked about, you know,
he had a few extraordinarily bad gamesCleveland twice in particular. Standout is just
(07:17):
atrocious games in pass blocking, andpeople like to bring up his sack aloud
number. Outside of that, Ireally don't think Jonah was a bad pass
blocker for most of the year.He had spots where he wasn't great,
and he had some really bad individuallosses, but on the balance of his
play, he was still a prettygood pass blocker most of the time.
(07:38):
It was just injuries caught up tohim. By the end of the seasons,
as it happens, and he hada couple awful, awful performances against
Mile Scarrett and that'll also happen.Yeah, And so like your your options
are Jonah Williams, who has apedigree moving to right tackle and hoping that
he bounces back to be the playerthat he was before last year year Well
(08:01):
Collins, hoping that he bounces backto be the player before that he was
before last year, which was byfar the worst year of his career right
and had the most health struggles ofhis career, battling through them and didn't
take him off the field, butthen he had the ACL at the end
of the year. And so youhave those two options, or you have
the totally unproven you've never seen himplay right tackle in the NFL, you
(08:22):
never seen him play right tackle incollege. Jackson Carmen, who's trying to
find his way out at the doghouseand into a starting job and trying to
salvage the end of his rookie contract. Those are the Bengals options right now.
And in terms of who's healthy,it's got to be Jonah with the
first team to start, and ifa competition bruise from there because Joan is
(08:43):
awful there and he's totally forgotten howto play right tackle. And they believe
in Jackson Carmen. Great the bestplayer should win the job, but right
now Elsie isn't healthy, and soas Jackson Carmen and Jonah Williams for mini
camp. We think, and fromwhat we've heard, I would think Jonah
Williams is the first one to getthe shot with the first team. A
(09:05):
couple of things. One, Idon't care what Jonah did at Alabama.
Throw that out. There's a reasoneverybody's talked about how he everybody, Dave
Lapham, people within the organization,every single combine, it's been brought up.
Would you consider moving Jonah to righttackle? Would you consider moving Jonah
inside? Would you consider moving Jonah? It's because he's versatile, It's that
(09:28):
simple. Nick Saban on the twoon the documentary with him and Bill Belichick
on HBO literally talking to Bill Belichick. It was captured. He can play
anywhere all five spots. That's whatNick Saban said coming out of the draft,
So it's not far fetched. AndFrank Pollock, by the way,
(09:48):
praised Jonah and believes he can justmove over to right tackle. I think
that's part of it. So that'sone thing. The other is, so
you have unproven right tackle Jonah Williams, young Jackson Carman, who has been
very underwhelming since being the forty sixthpick in the draft, and we'll see
maybe he does end up being thestarting right tackle, and a guy in
(10:09):
Lell Collins, who, if healthyand he didn't have that ACL, I
just think he would probably be theright tackle. But now you have the
ACL, and you have everything thatwent into getting him ready for game day
last year, which was a lot. He didn't practice at all at all
last year. And I'm not sayingthat's not the way to go, because
if it is, if it keepsJoe Burrow upright, and he's good in
(10:31):
the run game and is the playerthat he can be. So there's all
these things, and so when Ilook at it, just let it play
out. Jonah Williams is the favoritebecause he is the guy that when healthy
has played best most recently when healthy, he didn't have a suspension in twenty
(10:52):
twenty one, like Lell he didn'thave you know, he had an injury
riddle season last year. So didLell, and he's not coming off of
nearly a significant oven injury, andhe's twenty five, and so when you
mix all of those things in,I think that that makes him the favorite,
(11:13):
plus his contract, which matters too. That said, would it shock
me if Well Collins found a wayout there and made this a real competition?
No, would it shock me ifJackson Carmen did. Yes, because
this is the same Jackson Carman thathas lost back to back training camp battles.
And I know it was at guard, but that still matters. Lost
back to back training camp battles,one against a guy that is no longer
(11:35):
in the league and the other againsta fourth round rookie from North Dakota State.
And I like Cordell Wilson a lot, but there's no reason why Jackson
Carman should have lost that camp battlelast year, and he did. So
we'll see, but miss me withthe all Jackson should start because he played
pretty well against the Bills. Ithink he was solid against the Bills,
but that was one game. Itwill be a bit of a competition,
(11:58):
that's for sure. The best playersshould win. I think we can all
agree there. Whoever wins the competitionshould win the competition, and that's the
decision the coaches will make as theywatch a playout in training camp. Coming
up next, we're going to talkabout how the Bengals should allocate their resources
knowing that they have a mega dealcoming for elite quarterback Joe Burrow and more
(12:18):
of your questions, we'll go therenext. Today's episode of Locked On Bengals
is brought to you by Fandel andthe NBA Finals are here. And whether
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There's no offseason for true NFL fans. Listen every day to the Locked On
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(13:48):
listen to podcasts. Part of theLocked On podcast network, Your team every
Day. James XO at Since Boystwenty three has a bit of a philosophical
question if Joe Burrow is a truesuperstar quarterback? We think he is.
I'll edit this to say we knowhe is. Wouldn't it be better if
(14:11):
they took that T Higgins extension moneyand just put it in the defense instead?
And let Joe Burrow elevate receivers likeTom Brady did. Well, there's
a big reason why Tom Brady left. Let's start there. The reason he
left New England a big reason becausehe was surrounded by guys mice highs trying
to catch passes and he got sickof it and he wanted to throw to
(14:35):
a tree like Mike Evans and havea reliable slot like Chris Godwin. And
also added Antonio Brown, which workedfor a year. And we could go
on and on about the receivers andweapons he had there. Obviously Gronk as
well. Weapons are the league now. So if you're going to sell me
on getting rid of you know what. I think the Bengals view is their
(14:58):
one a receiver you can because JoeBurrow is a superstar and Jamar Chase is
better than t Higgins, and I'mnot sure it's necessarily close, even though
I do think Tea can be aone in this league on other teams.
So you can sell me on thatidea. But here's where it falls short,
because it's hard to find good playersat any position. So to say,
(15:20):
oh, will I'm going to throwthat at defense, well it sounds
good. Well, which veteran areyou spending that money on? Are you
sure that that veteran is going tohave the impact that T Higgins has?
Are we sure that the Bengals aregoing to be able to replace T Higgins
with a quality receiver, because youstill need quality. You might not need
superstar level or star level, andI think T is a star, but
(15:43):
you need something like that. It'sjust it's hard for me to say,
subtract this really really good player andgo find another really really good player because
you want to structure the team acertain way, especially because this offense is
as reliant on three receivers as anyoffense the NFL. So to me,
no, I would keep Tea.Could you sell me on the philosophy?
(16:06):
You could, but you better getit right because we know T Higgins is
really good. And even if yousign a player on defense that's been really
productive in this league and is goinginto a second contract and you just think,
oh, he'll be a perfect fit, well maybe he won't, maybe
things will change, maybe it doesn'twork out. I know T Higgins works
here in Cincinnati. Yeah, itwould have to be like a specific player,
(16:27):
right, Like who would the playerbe that you would invest to,
say twenty million, twenty five million, whatever t Higgins is going to make
in twenty twenty four. And wheremy brain goes is it immediately goes to
like elite add Rusher, second contract, elite ad drusher. So Chase Young
(16:47):
has a major comeback year this yearand he's suddenly a free agent, and
you think you can get Chase Youngon your team? All right, maybe
maybe that makes sense, right,you can get some player like that.
Nick Bosa stays healthy, continues thecareer trend he's on, Josh Allen ed
Rusher stays healthy, has a productiveyear, has a breakout year, a
(17:12):
really good year. Those are thekind of players where you could try to
make an argument and say, okay, well you could get a Von Bell
style player, Khalil Mac level playeron your defense. But like you said,
James, this offense is designed aroundeleven personnel, around having really good
outside receivers. And would they beable to survive without the Higgins. We've
(17:34):
seen that they can survive without oneof those guys. We've also seen the
efficiency of the offense at various timesdiminish when they lose one of their three
receivers. And you know, thecomparison to Tom Brady thrown in there.
It's not like Brady didn't have weapons. One different era of football, two
(17:55):
his best year when they went sixteenand on the regular season. I know
they didn't win the Super Bowl.Turns out to hard to win the super
Bowl every year, even when youare a really really dominant team. That
was a Randy moss yere right,the insane fifty touchdown twenty three Randy Moss
touchdown year and yeah, m westWalker who later had an All Pro year
when Rock had an all Pro year. And then the Patriots won a different
(18:18):
direction, right like they went tothe twelve personnel that Aaron Aaron Hernando's yeah
was blinking a little bit, RobGronkowski, two tight ends, Westwelker all
Pro years in there. It's notlike they didn't have guys for Brady.
It was just a different philosophy,a different offensive style, a different era
of football. And then when whenBrady went in Tampa, of course they
(18:41):
had guys again, a receiver likehe had dudes a receiver. The Bengals
designed to have dudes a receiver,and and so it would take a major
offensive philosophical change. I think orjust continuing to hit in the draft,
which had been really good at hittingin the draft, to bide receiver that
that's a big gamble, right,And so there's all these unknown factors where
(19:04):
you know T Higgins fits, youknow he's good, you know he works
in the offense. Which it's oneof those things where maybe you could argue
we're being resistant to change, butalso you know it works and you know
it's gotten them very far, andso it seems like something that you wouldn't
(19:25):
want to risk. I'll just giveyou an example. Chase Young could have
two thousand sacks this year, andthere's no way I would sign him over
resigning T Higgins two two thousand.I wouldn't know a ton of injuries,
hasn't been productive throughout his career.Oh wow, his fifth year option gets
turned down and he plays well forone season. That is such a huge
game. That's a perfect example,because it'd be like, oh, yeah,
(19:48):
Chase Young and he's cumming air inthe past. Rush is gonna be
nasty, Like I could already feelit. I get it. I would
rather have T Higgins. I can'tbelieve that's a take, but I'm just
planning the flag now and he couldhave two thousand sacks. I promise you
I would not like no matter whatChase Young does, I would have rather
(20:11):
have t Higgins over even including ifI'm Washington, which is probably why they're
entertaining trading him. But yeah,outside of like this dynamic level player and
we haven't seen the best of teHiggins yet. I think that's the other
part of this, and that's whythey're going to be teams. I think
the Jaguars are going to get inif he becomes a free agent. They'll
(20:33):
try to pay him big money andreunite him with Trevor Lawrence. I think
there'll be a lot of teams thatgo after te Higgins and that's why you
can't let him hit the market.And whether you resign him or you tag
him next offseason and do it thatway, I will say this just on
Tea's future. It cannot end uplike Jesse Bates, like I would not
be okay with that where you justlet him play it out and that's it.
(20:56):
Like next year, if you realizethat something's not going to happen and
you tag him and you go upto that deadline and it's still not happening.
I want some assets for him becausehe's worth much more than a third
round compensatory pick, and this wayyou're not hamstrung to what you sign or
don't sign in free agency from acompensatory part of it, especially a wide
(21:18):
receiver. Wide receiver just so muchmore valuable right now, no doubt.
I mean, he's worth a oneplus. He's worth a one plus,
and he would be if you taggedhim, by the way, he still
would be, assuming he has agood year this year, which I think
he will. So yeah, that'swhere we are on team. We have
a ton more questions to get totwo and two segments, but those were
some long form ones. We'll dosome rapid fire coming up next. It
(21:41):
was win or go home in Bostonon Monday night in the Miami. He
didn't want to go home, knockingoff the Boston Celtics to advance to the
NBA Finals. There was a teamthat was mentally tough, ready for the
challenge, ready for a battle,and then there was the Boston Celtics.
Because Golden Knights are headed to theStanley Cup Final after taking Game six in
(22:03):
the Western Conference Final and convincing fashionthis time We're not here just to be
here. I felt like season one, we were cool about being here,
but you know, it feels likethe mission is not over. Us and
Liam Hendricks returned to the mound forthe Chicago White Sox after a battle with
non Hodgkins lymphoma. Welcome back LiamHendricks emotional moment. They didn't even go
(22:25):
to commercial break when he came intothe game out of the dugout. For
more on these stories, check outnew episodes of Locked on Heat, Locked
On Golden Knights, and Locked onWhite Sox, all free and available wherever
you get podcasts. You've got afun one to start Segment three, James,
(22:45):
this is tapping into your knowledge aboutthe Cincinnati Bengals players, other sport,
multi sport history Sincy James at CincyJames eighty three? Who has a
home run and batting practice? First? Between Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase And
is there anyone else who you thinkwould win that sort of contest on the
roster, because I think there aresome pretty good candidates on a team full
(23:07):
of free cathletes. Joe Burrow wouldbeat Jamar Chase and hit a home run.
Joe Burrow, I believe so thatanswers that part. Other guys that
could absolutely rank. This is afun one because I wonder, I wonder
how many of these guys you knowplayed baseball, and I would name a
(23:29):
couple. I think Iurf Smith Jr. Would be a guy that that played
multiple sports and could do that.I think, and you mentioned you know
some of these linemen. I'm thinking, let's just say offensive linemen. I
think Orlando Brown Junior would crush theball's I think he would crush the ball.
(23:52):
And I know he didn't test wellathletically. Well, that's because he's
big. He's a great athlete forhis size. I think that's fair to
say, because there are just aren'tguys that big and and so in baseball.
I think he would be one.I would roll with other guys that
that. I'm just I'm just kindof thinking here. I wonder if Drew
Chrisman would be pretty good. I'mjust thinking, like really outside the box
(24:17):
about guys that people wouldn't think about. I think Tyler Boyd would be good,
and all of these guys Jamar Chasewould be as well, um,
especially if you give them some reps. Who else would be sneaky good.
Brad Robbins. I bet Brad Robbinswould be a good baseball player. Brad
Robins has the baseball Facebook man.Every time Brad Robbins comes up, it's
(24:38):
a mustache face lights up. Ohyou know the other one, you know
the other Wiles Murphy. I wasgonna say one, Wan Drago, that
dude is gonna be Ricky Henderson.He's gonna just first to third on a
single. He's gonna turn singles intodoubles inside the park, coming on in
(25:00):
batting practice. Let's go there wego. But my thought, my brain
immediately went to the freak athletes onthe defensive line, like Miles Murphy being
a just absolute freak. And whenyou're that big, plus you're that athletic,
the amount of quick, quick twitchforce you're gonna be able to get
into a baseball swing. You hitone the right way, you're going to
hit it a long, long way. So like guys like Miles Murphy,
(25:22):
who you said you think he playedbaseball, right, I'm pretty sure he
did. Yeah, I'm pretty sureMiles Murphy played like guys like Trey Henderson
and Sam Hubbard, like those reallybig guys that had the quick twitch to
him. I could see all ofthem doing and DJR mead of course played
you pitch. But sure Todd amonster. I'm pretty sure Murphy, I
know he played baseball. Now thatI think about it, I'm pretty sure
(25:45):
he said he throw ninety miles perhour at one point. Like that's just
freak stuff, right, that's unbelievable. Um, who else? Who else
would be? Joe Mixon would begood? It's freak at late, you
would think. I mean, mostguys that are big, athletic, strong,
(26:07):
and twitchy should be able to hithome runs given enough like repetition,
right, andre Yosavash would be interesting. Yeah, perfect center fielder like h
like six two could cover so muchground. Yeah, let's field a baseball
team. Just just caught with baseballfever. Huh not really, it's a
(26:30):
football town. Yeah, anyways,but uh, well, it depends on
where we want to go. I'mgonna go to Jared. Do you expect
the defensive line to rank higher andSAX pressures this year compared to last year?
And do you have any concerns aboutthe depth of the defensive line,
specifically the interior. Yeah, backto a bit of a serious football question
here. I think the interior defensiveline. We talked about a lot where
(26:52):
they could add a piece there.I thought that would be the direction they
would go, as far as addinga piece in the drafty if they were
going to add a defensive line andthey the edge route instead. I think
though, and Louia Rumo talked aboutthis. I think with Mike Hilton and
Kelsey Conway, when you have abunch of dudes at edge, you can
put them on the interior two insome situations to get them all out there
(27:15):
together. And we've talked about thatNASCAR package, talked about that immediately in
Miles Murphy was picked. Lou talkedabout it too. You know he's thinking
about it. You know they're thinkingabout those packages. So I think there's
certainly a path of being more consistentin closing out sacks. I think they
were pretty good in terms of pressuringthe quarterback last year. I don't think
(27:37):
that was really an issue. Itwas really the conversion rate. They left
some sacks on the field, Sothere could be some regression there in a
positive way, like regression toward finishingmore sacks. Could certainly see that wouldn't
surprise me though, if they're lookingto add something on the interior. That
being said, the world where theydon't do that as a world where they
(27:59):
feel really good about putting extra edgeguys on the field, like Lewis talked
about, like we've talked about.Yeah, I think And there was another
question. I mean, shout outwho it was, Alex Zabonic at Zabonic
Alex on Twitter. Biggest concern areaon the team? I think you could
say interior defensive line. Is thatjust because there's some question marks there and
(28:21):
who will it be? You couldgo a few other areas, but there
aren't many, and so I thinkit's a bit nitpicky to look at any
unit really. I mean, heck, they have two punters competing, and
I know we expected to go oneway, but we just led the show
by talking about three right tackles inthree options that at least two of the
(28:41):
three feel pretty decent, if healthy, I would say, regardless of how
you feel about the order, like, they're pretty deep at a lot of
spots, So could they add someonemaybe? I think they're done spending on
the defensive line though they have alot of money. There man a lot
of money, and so we'll see, but there aren't many concerns with this
(29:04):
team and they have pretty good depth. Just on that note, the Bengals
are spending the sixth most money onthe at drushing position in the NFL this
year, and that includes a firstround pick who's not getting paid a ton
but as a first round pick,and on the injury defensive line. I
think it's like tenth most on thedefensive line. Combine, then you can
imagine that number of ranks pretty highly. A fun one, James. For
(29:30):
our next question from Bullet Smasher atBullet Smasher, one over under point five
Hall of Famers on the current CincinnatiBengals roster. So projecting out into the
future, is there at least oneHall of Famer on this roster? James,
Yeah, I think there's two.I think there's two, and Hall
(29:53):
of Fame is put it like this, the Bengals have two Hall of Famers
total. None of their quarterback arein, none of the receivers, And
they've had good quarterback play throughout theirhistory, and they've had really good receiver
play. And yet are you tellingme that Joe Burrow isn't going to end
up in the Hall of fame,Like, if I had to bet,
(30:14):
I wouldn't bet against him, noton the trajectory he's at, because there
hasn't been a trajectory for any ofthe quarterbacks. And I've just done I
did a project on all of them. Boomer, Ken Anderson, Carson Palmer.
Carson Palmer didn't even get on thefield as a rookie. Now that
was a mistake looking back, andhe should have, but he didn't get
on the field as a rookie.Boomer was battling Kenn Anderson. Ken Anderson
(30:37):
wasn't even the starter, necessarily hadto fight for the starting job going into
his MVP season. Joe Burrow ison another level, and I think,
and that's not necessarily Ken's fault.There's a lot of stuff going on,
but context matters, but the pointis the point. So yes, I
would say Joe, And then Ithink back on Draft night, probably more
often than I should, and usuallyit's when he catches a deep ball or
(31:00):
is doing a gritty in the endzone and Jamar says, Dan Horte sits
up there and it's like, whatdo you think about joining an organization with
such great receivers? And he namedaj and Chad I'm gonna break every record
they have. I was like,in the moments, I can't believe he
said that, and yet here heis doing exactly that on a crazy pace,
(31:22):
and so I would say they haveto. I think it's those two.
Could they have more? Maybe?And I'm not here to make people
mad. Hall of Famer is reallyhard to do, right. They have
zero Hall of Famers in my lifetime. Zero and then that might continue until
Joe or Jamar. But if Ihad to bet I would get I would
bet those two. I think Genoshould get in before those. I don't
(31:47):
think it's as obvious as I've talkedto some people across the league, and
I get the All Decade team stuff. I don't think it's as obvious as
some Bengals people have made it.It's it's one of those things where he
played for the Bengals, that's goingto be held against him, didn't have
the postseason success, it's going tobe held against him. I think he's
(32:07):
a He's a clear Hall of Famerpersonally, my personal opinion, I'm maybe
one of those Bengals people who youare talking about. I've asked about it.
I've asked about. I think AndrewWhitworth is the other one where he
himself by leaving Willy still has achance. Willie's been potentially building momentum the
last couple of years. In Willieis in, he'll be in. I
(32:30):
think he'll be the next one in, but there might not beat. I
think Andrew probably gets in, butI don't know about Gino. I think
it's more of a coin flip thanyou realize. I don't think it's a
sure thing, but I think he'sworthy of it best in his position or
you know, in the top twoof his position for a very very long
time. Anyway. I'm also takingthe over the way that they don't end
(32:54):
up with at least one Hall ofFamer on this roster is like things go
really really badly, and it's likea world I'm not even going to speak
into existence, because if things gothe way we think they're going to go,
they have at least one Hall ofFamer on this team, right,
I mean that's pretty simple. Yeah. I think if they get the ring,
(33:19):
if they get the MVP, Ithink Burrow at some point we'll win
an MVP like Ken Anderson if hewins in nineteen eighty one wins the Super
Bowl, He's already probably in theHall of Fame. Yeah, right now,
it is in the conversation. He'snot even in the Hall of Fame
conversation right now, but he wouldprobably be if he had won Super Bowl
twenty three. So it's the samething. I think part of it is
(33:43):
is Burrow has had postseason success.He has now he hasn't finished yet,
but my god, he's taken thisthis franchise to New heights. So yeah,
I think worst case it's one.Hopefully it's like five. Hopefully this
is like the Golden Age where we'retalking about Joe Jamaar t uh. You
know if you you want to say, I want to heck Orlando Brown place
(34:06):
for the next ten years and isjust super elite at left tackle. Hey,
sure, take it last one realquick. We did a James question.
We gotta thank Jake question. Yeahat Jake underscore d underscore Rake,
speaking of guys that can Rake,if you could use magic to do one
(34:27):
mundane task for the rest of yourlife, what would it be? Mundane
task? Who is it? Laundrymight be folding, laundry, might be
cutting the grass. I would justsay. I would say, you haven't
(34:47):
seen the yard. I would sayall of the landscaping right, all that
the outdoor maintenance stuff like that.Yeah, that one, because it takes
time, laundry stay, but youcould do it while you're watching TV and
people say, oh, well,cut in the grass and doing all that
stuff. You could do while you'relistening to a podcast. By the way,
shout out to those that are doingthat right now listening to us at
(35:09):
the same time. It takes alot of time when you have and I
don't have a giant yard, butit's not small and so it takes time.
So that would be the one.Yeah, I think I'll go to
the laundry out folding and putting awaylaundry. And I don't know if it's
mundane, but working out if Icould use magic to do my workout for
(35:31):
me? Talk about time consuming thingsthat are you serious? See, I'm
not opposite. I need that.I'm like Burrow, I need that metal.
You would still, you would stillget it. It's just that magic
would do it for you. Noah, I now that's fine. I enjoy
it, and that's I don't Idon't dislike it. I've grown to enjoy
(35:53):
it actually, as I've been doingit, like I've been very consistent this
year, as you know, andlike to make fun of me about um,
but what look uh but that's likesix hours a week. I think
that that I could get back.That's pretty good, pretty good time saving
(36:13):
there. Laundry is like once aweek sure, And that's why I said
laundry. You know I'm doing offof the yard stuff. I don't always
fold every piece of laundry. IfI could use magic on the yard for
all the landscaping, all the grass, all that stuff, like take care
of restaining defence every year, allthat stuff, like, yeah, it's
(36:36):
that's great. Yes, that's thepart where I now in real life instead
of magic is just money. Sothat's your option to do it. If
you're not doing it yourself. Anybodythat's gonna do it for this episode work
just have someone work for you.Well, but this is my job and
I like this. I'm not havingmagic do this podcast for me or AI.
(36:57):
Nope, pass I can't replace us. That's gonna do for this episode
of the Locked On Bengals podcast OTAs. Next week, James, somebody have
Mini camp will have your coverage ofBengals Ota open to the media next week.
Until then, who day and havea good one. It was win
or go home in Boston on Mondaynight in the Miami, he didn't want
(37:19):
to go home. Knocking off theBoston Celtics to advance to the NBA Finals.
There was a team that was mentallytough, ready for the challenge,
ready for a battle, and thenthere was the box this Celtics. The
Vegas Golden Knights are headed to theStanley Cup Final after taking Game six in
the Western Conference Final and convincing fashion. This time, We're not here just
(37:39):
to be here. I felt likeseason one we were cool about being here.
But you know, it feels likethe mission is not over. Us
and Liam Hendricks returned to the moundfor the Chicago White Sox after a battle
with non Hodgkins lymphoma. Welcome backLiam Hendricks emotional moment. They didn't even
go to commercial break when he cameinto the game out of the dugout.
(38:00):
For more on these stories, checkout new episodes of Locked on Heat,
Locked On Golden Knights, and Lockedon White Sox, all free and available
wherever you get podcasts. Ay Primemembers you can listen to this Locked On
podcast add free on Amazon Music.Download the Amazon Music app today
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, Yourteam every Day. Make a fast break
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Looks like it's about time for somemore discourse about what's going on with
(00:45):
the Bengals right tackle position, plussome philosophical questions about, well, how
should the Bengals prioritize our money withJoe Burrow superstar quarterback. We'll get into
that and more in today's episode.You are Locked On Bengals, your daily
Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of theLockdown Podcast Network, Your team every Day,
(01:18):
Well not Bengals fans, and welcometo another episode of the Lockdown Bengals
podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcastthat we're covering your team every day.
You can subscribe to this show onYouTube or anywhere you get your podcast becoming
every day or so you don't missout when we have great content coming for
you this offseason or had some greatfilm reviews last week, for example,
(01:38):
and become a first listener, jointhat first listening club with the many other
Bengals fans that make us their firstlisten every day. And James today,
it's time for a good old fashionedLockdown Bengals mail beg and we've got a
bunch of questions to get to today, as we always do. And if
you want to submit your questions forthe future, make sure you're following at
Lockdown Bengals on Twitter because that's wherewe look to compile our questions every time
(02:01):
we do this exercise. And we'regonna start with the right tackle conversation.
James really picked up on social mediaover the last twenty four hours or so,
at least as far as I cantell, and Tasha b asked at
tashad be eight to eight on Twitter. Are there any insights from coaches?
Are what does your eye test orpractice to say about Jackson Carmen potentially looking
(02:22):
good at right tackle and is aJonah Williams trade still plausible with well,
Colin's looking good on Instagram. Soreally this question gives us all we need
to talk about to get into theright tackle conversation on the whole. It's
a good starting point, right,and let's start right with the guy who's
lining up at right tackle, JacksonCarmen, Ie test wise, that's shape
(02:46):
I've seen him in, and youknow, much like you know we talked
about Joe Burrow. I think JamarChase showed up in tremendous shape. See
Higgins, this is the best shapeJackson Carmen's been in. Here's the problem
is they're limited to what they cando. And even in training camp when
they can wear helmets and wear shellsand eventually pads, you don't really get
(03:07):
a huge you don't get the answera ton of questions when it comes to
the offensive line play. And soright now, I can't say Jonah Williams
is having a good offseason program.I think he passes the eye test because
he looks like he's in good shapeor Jackson Carmen, excuse me Jackson Carmen,
but it's a perfect example outside ofjust being able to look at Jonah
(03:30):
Williams, there's no reason to thinkthat Jonah Williams isn't doing everything that Jackson's
doing, that these other linemen aredoing, and he's just doing it on
his own. And I think thatthat's the part with Carmen where yes,
he's the one that's available and sohe's lining up at right tackle. I
also think he's third in the peckingorder right now for that starting right tackle
(03:53):
job. The Bengals aren't going tocome out and say that because he might
end up being their starting right tackledepending on what happens. Let's keep it
moving. Then a Jonah Williams trade, I think it's as unlikely as it's
been, but I wouldn't rule itout. What if lall Collins does continue
to improve and shows them that heis going to be ready for Week one
(04:16):
and is going to be able tobe the guy that they hoped he would
be when they signed him last yearand flashed at times last year. If
he shows them that and then ateam calls and gives the Bengals something of
value for Jodah, and I thinkthat's the problem. They weren't getting anything
of value. A sixth round pickdoesn't do anything they wanted. Value For
(04:39):
Jonah Williams, it hasn't come yet, and so that's why he's still on
the team. I don't think they'reshopping him, but I don't think they
would ignore phone calls either and sendhim to voicemail. I think they'll pick
up the phone, so a tradecould always happen. But what's going to
be interesting is when minicamp starts.I think Jonah's going to report, That's
(05:00):
what I've been told. And soif he does report, who lines up
as that starter? Is it Jackson? Is it Jonah? And how comfortable
is Jona Art right tackle? Hashe been working and going through the footwork
and the hand motion, all ofthose things, the technique that comes with
moving from left tackle to right tackle. If so, I think he'll be
the guy that lines up there untilLyle's healthy. And if Lele's healthy,
(05:21):
then it gets a really interesting conversation. But we can also have the contract
conversation. There's just a lot toit, and Jonah there's no flexibility in
his contract, and that's what makesit tough. I think if you're the
Bengals. Yeah, that's a bigpart of it is he's going to be
on the team unless he's traded,and he's going to be making twelve and
a half million dollars. And theonly way he's not on the Bengals is
(05:46):
if, like you said, somebodyoffers something that the Bengals feel makes them
better than Jonah Williams presence on theirteam does. This year. And there
are a number of points have beenmade about Jonah right and in terms of
skepticism about his ability to play righttackle at a high level. One of
them is he's not played right tacklebefore in the NFL. Well one others
(06:06):
Jackson Carman two. At least he'sever played right tackle in his life.
He played his freshman year at Alabamaright tackle. Played really well. One
numerous offensive Player the Week awards,both from the Alabama staff and from the
SEC. One a Freshman of theWeek award in the SEC as well.
I believe as a freshman, truefreshman starting a right tackle in Alabama.
(06:30):
So it's all he was bad whenhe had the opportunity to do it before.
And then you know the concerns abouthis health. Well, okay,
there's also major concerns about Le's healthright now. And I know he looks
good on Instagram, and it's greatthat you're seeing that. I don't mean
to take anything away from his recovery. That's fantastic, But else also has
to prove he can stay healthy,right And so when you start to bring
(06:54):
up these questions and poke holes inJonah, you can start poking holes in
some of these other candidates for thatjob as well. On the other hand,
I think Jonah is a high qualityplayer. People knew that. I
was very bullish on Jonah last yeargoing into the season, and I was
pretty disappointed with the season. AndI've also talked about, you know,
he had a few extraordinarily bad gamesCleveland twice in particular. Standout is just
(07:17):
atrocious games in pass blocking, andpeople like to bring up his sack aloud
number. Outside of that, Ireally don't think Jonah was a bad pass
blocker for most of the year.He had spots where he wasn't great,
and he had some really bad individuallosses, but on the balance of his
play, he was still a prettygood pass blocker most of the time.
(07:38):
It was just injuries caught up tohim. By the end of the seasons,
as it happens, and he hada couple awful, awful performances against
Mile Scarrett and that'll also happen.Yeah, And so like your your options
are Jonah Williams, who has apedigree moving to right tackle and hoping that
he bounces back to be the playerthat he was before last year year Well
(08:01):
Collins, hoping that he bounces backto be the player before that he was
before last year, which was byfar the worst year of his career right
and had the most health struggles ofhis career, battling through them and didn't
take him off the field, butthen he had the ACL at the end
of the year. And so youhave those two options, or you have
the totally unproven you've never seen himplay right tackle in the NFL, you
(08:22):
never seen him play right tackle incollege. Jackson Carmen, who's trying to
find his way out at the doghouseand into a starting job and trying to
salvage the end of his rookie contract. Those are the Bengals options right now.
And in terms of who's healthy,it's got to be Jonah with the
first team to start, and ifa competition bruise from there because Joan is
(08:43):
awful there and he's totally forgotten howto play right tackle. And they believe
in Jackson Carmen. Great the bestplayer should win the job, but right
now Elsie isn't healthy, and soas Jackson Carmen and Jonah Williams for mini
camp. We think, and fromwhat we've heard, I would think Jonah
Williams is the first one to getthe shot with the first team. A
(09:05):
couple of things. One, Idon't care what Jonah did at Alabama.
Throw that out. There's a reasoneverybody's talked about how he everybody, Dave
Lapham, people within the organization,every single combine, it's been brought up.
Would you consider moving Jonah to righttackle? Would you consider moving Jonah
inside? Would you consider moving Jonah? It's because he's versatile, It's that
(09:28):
simple. Nick Saban on the twoon the documentary with him and Bill Belichick
on HBO literally talking to Bill Belichick. It was captured. He can play
anywhere all five spots. That's whatNick Saban said coming out of the draft,
So it's not far fetched. AndFrank Pollock, by the way,
(09:48):
praised Jonah and believes he can justmove over to right tackle. I think
that's part of it. So that'sone thing. The other is, so
you have unproven right tackle Jonah Williams, young Jackson Carman, who has been
very underwhelming since being the forty sixthpick in the draft, and we'll see
maybe he does end up being thestarting right tackle, and a guy in
(10:09):
Lell Collins, who, if healthyand he didn't have that ACL, I
just think he would probably be theright tackle. But now you have the
ACL, and you have everything thatwent into getting him ready for game day
last year, which was a lot. He didn't practice at all at all
last year. And I'm not sayingthat's not the way to go, because
if it is, if it keepsJoe Burrow upright, and he's good in
(10:31):
the run game and is the playerthat he can be. So there's all
these things, and so when Ilook at it, just let it play
out. Jonah Williams is the favoritebecause he is the guy that when healthy
has played best most recently when healthy, he didn't have a suspension in twenty
(10:52):
twenty one, like Lell he didn'thave you know, he had an injury
riddle season last year. So didLell, and he's not coming off of
nearly a significant oven injury, andhe's twenty five, and so when you
mix all of those things in,I think that that makes him the favorite,
(11:13):
plus his contract, which matters too. That said, would it shock
me if Well Collins found a wayout there and made this a real competition?
No, would it shock me ifJackson Carmen did. Yes, because
this is the same Jackson Carman thathas lost back to back training camp battles.
And I know it was at guard, but that still matters. Lost
back to back training camp battles,one against a guy that is no longer
(11:35):
in the league and the other againsta fourth round rookie from North Dakota State.
And I like Cordell Wilson a lot, but there's no reason why Jackson
Carman should have lost that camp battlelast year, and he did. So
we'll see, but miss me withthe all Jackson should start because he played
pretty well against the Bills. Ithink he was solid against the Bills,
but that was one game. Itwill be a bit of a competition,
(11:58):
that's for sure. The best playersshould win. I think we can all
agree there. Whoever wins the competitionshould win the competition, and that's the
decision the coaches will make as theywatch a playout in training camp. Coming
up next, we're going to talkabout how the Bengals should allocate their resources
knowing that they have a mega dealcoming for elite quarterback Joe Burrow and more
(12:18):
of your questions, we'll go therenext. Today's episode of Locked On Bengals
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(13:48):
listen to podcasts. Part of theLocked On podcast network, Your team every
Day. James XO at Since Boystwenty three has a bit of a philosophical
question if Joe Burrow is a truesuperstar quarterback? We think he is.
I'll edit this to say we knowhe is. Wouldn't it be better if
(14:11):
they took that T Higgins extension moneyand just put it in the defense instead?
And let Joe Burrow elevate receivers likeTom Brady did. Well, there's
a big reason why Tom Brady left. Let's start there. The reason he
left New England a big reason becausehe was surrounded by guys mice highs trying
to catch passes and he got sickof it and he wanted to throw to
(14:35):
a tree like Mike Evans and havea reliable slot like Chris Godwin. And
also added Antonio Brown, which workedfor a year. And we could go
on and on about the receivers andweapons he had there. Obviously Gronk as
well. Weapons are the league now. So if you're going to sell me
on getting rid of you know what. I think the Bengals view is their
(14:58):
one a receiver you can because JoeBurrow is a superstar and Jamar Chase is
better than t Higgins, and I'mnot sure it's necessarily close, even though
I do think Tea can be aone in this league on other teams.
So you can sell me on thatidea. But here's where it falls short,
because it's hard to find good playersat any position. So to say,
(15:20):
oh, will I'm going to throwthat at defense, well it sounds
good. Well, which veteran areyou spending that money on? Are you
sure that that veteran is going tohave the impact that T Higgins has?
Are we sure that the Bengals aregoing to be able to replace T Higgins
with a quality receiver, because youstill need quality. You might not need
superstar level or star level, andI think T is a star, but
(15:43):
you need something like that. It'sjust it's hard for me to say,
subtract this really really good player andgo find another really really good player because
you want to structure the team acertain way, especially because this offense is
as reliant on three receivers as anyoffense the NFL. So to me,
no, I would keep Tea.Could you sell me on the philosophy?
(16:06):
You could, but you better getit right because we know T Higgins is
really good. And even if yousign a player on defense that's been really
productive in this league and is goinginto a second contract and you just think,
oh, he'll be a perfect fit, well maybe he won't, maybe
things will change, maybe it doesn'twork out. I know T Higgins works
here in Cincinnati. Yeah, itwould have to be like a specific player,
(16:27):
right, Like who would the playerbe that you would invest to,
say twenty million, twenty five million, whatever t Higgins is going to make
in twenty twenty four. And wheremy brain goes is it immediately goes to
like elite add Rusher, second contract, elite ad drusher. So Chase Young
(16:47):
has a major comeback year this yearand he's suddenly a free agent, and
you think you can get Chase Youngon your team? All right, maybe
maybe that makes sense, right,you can get some player like that.
Nick Bosa stays healthy, continues thecareer trend he's on, Josh Allen ed
Rusher stays healthy, has a productiveyear, has a breakout year, a
(17:12):
really good year. Those are thekind of players where you could try to
make an argument and say, okay, well you could get a Von Bell
style player, Khalil Mac level playeron your defense. But like you said,
James, this offense is designed aroundeleven personnel, around having really good
outside receivers. And would they beable to survive without the Higgins. We've
(17:34):
seen that they can survive without oneof those guys. We've also seen the
efficiency of the offense at various timesdiminish when they lose one of their three
receivers. And you know, thecomparison to Tom Brady thrown in there.
It's not like Brady didn't have weapons. One different era of football, two
(17:55):
his best year when they went sixteenand on the regular season. I know
they didn't win the Super Bowl.Turns out to hard to win the super
Bowl every year, even when youare a really really dominant team. That
was a Randy moss yere right,the insane fifty touchdown twenty three Randy Moss
touchdown year and yeah, m westWalker who later had an All Pro year
when Rock had an all Pro year. And then the Patriots won a different
(18:18):
direction, right like they went tothe twelve personnel that Aaron Aaron Hernando's yeah
was blinking a little bit, RobGronkowski, two tight ends, Westwelker all
Pro years in there. It's notlike they didn't have guys for Brady.
It was just a different philosophy,a different offensive style, a different era
of football. And then when whenBrady went in Tampa, of course they
(18:41):
had guys again, a receiver likehe had dudes a receiver. The Bengals
designed to have dudes a receiver,and and so it would take a major
offensive philosophical change. I think orjust continuing to hit in the draft,
which had been really good at hittingin the draft, to bide receiver that
that's a big gamble, right,And so there's all these unknown factors where
(19:04):
you know T Higgins fits, youknow he's good, you know he works
in the offense. Which it's oneof those things where maybe you could argue
we're being resistant to change, butalso you know it works and you know
it's gotten them very far, andso it seems like something that you wouldn't
(19:25):
want to risk. I'll just giveyou an example. Chase Young could have
two thousand sacks this year, andthere's no way I would sign him over
resigning T Higgins two two thousand.I wouldn't know a ton of injuries,
hasn't been productive throughout his career.Oh wow, his fifth year option gets
turned down and he plays well forone season. That is such a huge
game. That's a perfect example,because it'd be like, oh, yeah,
(19:48):
Chase Young and he's cumming air inthe past. Rush is gonna be
nasty, Like I could already feelit. I get it. I would
rather have T Higgins. I can'tbelieve that's a take, but I'm just
planning the flag now and he couldhave two thousand sacks. I promise you
I would not like no matter whatChase Young does, I would have rather
(20:11):
have t Higgins over even including ifI'm Washington, which is probably why they're
entertaining trading him. But yeah,outside of like this dynamic level player and
we haven't seen the best of teHiggins yet. I think that's the other
part of this, and that's whythey're going to be teams. I think
the Jaguars are going to get inif he becomes a free agent. They'll
(20:33):
try to pay him big money andreunite him with Trevor Lawrence. I think
there'll be a lot of teams thatgo after te Higgins and that's why you
can't let him hit the market.And whether you resign him or you tag
him next offseason and do it thatway, I will say this just on
Tea's future. It cannot end uplike Jesse Bates, like I would not
be okay with that where you justlet him play it out and that's it.
(20:56):
Like next year, if you realizethat something's not going to happen and
you tag him and you go upto that deadline and it's still not happening.
I want some assets for him becausehe's worth much more than a third
round compensatory pick, and this wayyou're not hamstrung to what you sign or
don't sign in free agency from acompensatory part of it, especially a wide
(21:18):
receiver. Wide receiver just so muchmore valuable right now, no doubt.
I mean, he's worth a oneplus. He's worth a one plus,
and he would be if you taggedhim, by the way, he still
would be, assuming he has agood year this year, which I think
he will. So yeah, that'swhere we are on team. We have
a ton more questions to get totwo and two segments, but those were
some long form ones. We'll dosome rapid fire coming up next. It
(21:41):
was win or go home in Bostonon Monday night in the Miami. He
didn't want to go home, knockingoff the Boston Celtics to advance to the
NBA Finals. There was a teamthat was mentally tough, ready for the
challenge, ready for a battle,and then there was the Boston Celtics.
Because Golden Knights are headed to theStanley Cup Final after taking Game six in
(22:03):
the Western Conference Final and convincing fashionthis time We're not here just to be
here. I felt like season one, we were cool about being here,
but you know, it feels likethe mission is not over. Us and
Liam Hendricks returned to the mound forthe Chicago White Sox after a battle with
non Hodgkins lymphoma. Welcome back LiamHendricks emotional moment. They didn't even go
(22:25):
to commercial break when he came intothe game out of the dugout. For
more on these stories, check outnew episodes of Locked on Heat, Locked
On Golden Knights, and Locked onWhite Sox, all free and available wherever
you get podcasts. You've got afun one to start Segment three, James,
(22:45):
this is tapping into your knowledge aboutthe Cincinnati Bengals players, other sport,
multi sport history Sincy James at CincyJames eighty three? Who has a
home run and batting practice? First? Between Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase And
is there anyone else who you thinkwould win that sort of contest on the
roster, because I think there aresome pretty good candidates on a team full
(23:07):
of free cathletes. Joe Burrow wouldbeat Jamar Chase and hit a home run.
Joe Burrow, I believe so thatanswers that part. Other guys that
could absolutely rank. This is afun one because I wonder, I wonder
how many of these guys you knowplayed baseball, and I would name a
(23:29):
couple. I think Iurf Smith Jr. Would be a guy that that played
multiple sports and could do that.I think, and you mentioned you know
some of these linemen. I'm thinking, let's just say offensive linemen. I
think Orlando Brown Junior would crush theball's I think he would crush the ball.
(23:52):
And I know he didn't test wellathletically. Well, that's because he's
big. He's a great athlete forhis size. I think that's fair to
say, because there are just aren'tguys that big and and so in baseball.
I think he would be one.I would roll with other guys that
that. I'm just I'm just kindof thinking here. I wonder if Drew
Chrisman would be pretty good. I'mjust thinking, like really outside the box
(24:17):
about guys that people wouldn't think about. I think Tyler Boyd would be good,
and all of these guys Jamar Chasewould be as well, um,
especially if you give them some reps. Who else would be sneaky good.
Brad Robbins. I bet Brad Robbinswould be a good baseball player. Brad
Robins has the baseball Facebook man.Every time Brad Robbins comes up, it's
(24:38):
a mustache face lights up. Ohyou know the other one, you know
the other Wiles Murphy. I wasgonna say one, Wan Drago, that
dude is gonna be Ricky Henderson.He's gonna just first to third on a
single. He's gonna turn singles intodoubles inside the park, coming on in
(25:00):
batting practice. Let's go there wego. But my thought, my brain
immediately went to the freak athletes onthe defensive line, like Miles Murphy being
a just absolute freak. And whenyou're that big, plus you're that athletic,
the amount of quick, quick twitchforce you're gonna be able to get
into a baseball swing. You hitone the right way, you're going to
hit it a long, long way. So like guys like Miles Murphy,
(25:22):
who you said you think he playedbaseball, right, I'm pretty sure he
did. Yeah, I'm pretty sureMiles Murphy played like guys like Trey Henderson
and Sam Hubbard, like those reallybig guys that had the quick twitch to
him. I could see all ofthem doing and DJR mead of course played
you pitch. But sure Todd amonster. I'm pretty sure Murphy, I
know he played baseball. Now thatI think about it, I'm pretty sure
(25:45):
he said he throw ninety miles perhour at one point. Like that's just
freak stuff, right, that's unbelievable. Um, who else? Who else
would be? Joe Mixon would begood? It's freak at late, you
would think. I mean, mostguys that are big, athletic, strong,
(26:07):
and twitchy should be able to hithome runs given enough like repetition,
right, andre Yosavash would be interesting. Yeah, perfect center fielder like h
like six two could cover so muchground. Yeah, let's field a baseball
team. Just just caught with baseballfever. Huh not really, it's a
(26:30):
football town. Yeah, anyways,but uh, well, it depends on
where we want to go. I'mgonna go to Jared. Do you expect
the defensive line to rank higher andSAX pressures this year compared to last year?
And do you have any concerns aboutthe depth of the defensive line,
specifically the interior. Yeah, backto a bit of a serious football question
here. I think the interior defensiveline. We talked about a lot where
(26:52):
they could add a piece there.I thought that would be the direction they
would go, as far as addinga piece in the drafty if they were
going to add a defensive line andthey the edge route instead. I think
though, and Louia Rumo talked aboutthis. I think with Mike Hilton and
Kelsey Conway, when you have abunch of dudes at edge, you can
put them on the interior two insome situations to get them all out there
(27:15):
together. And we've talked about thatNASCAR package, talked about that immediately in
Miles Murphy was picked. Lou talkedabout it too. You know he's thinking
about it. You know they're thinkingabout those packages. So I think there's
certainly a path of being more consistentin closing out sacks. I think they
were pretty good in terms of pressuringthe quarterback last year. I don't think
(27:37):
that was really an issue. Itwas really the conversion rate. They left
some sacks on the field, Sothere could be some regression there in a
positive way, like regression toward finishingmore sacks. Could certainly see that wouldn't
surprise me though, if they're lookingto add something on the interior. That
being said, the world where theydon't do that as a world where they
(27:59):
feel really good about putting extra edgeguys on the field, like Lewis talked
about, like we've talked about.Yeah, I think And there was another
question. I mean, shout outwho it was, Alex Zabonic at Zabonic
Alex on Twitter. Biggest concern areaon the team? I think you could
say interior defensive line. Is thatjust because there's some question marks there and
(28:21):
who will it be? You couldgo a few other areas, but there
aren't many, and so I thinkit's a bit nitpicky to look at any
unit really. I mean, heck, they have two punters competing, and
I know we expected to go oneway, but we just led the show
by talking about three right tackles inthree options that at least two of the
(28:41):
three feel pretty decent, if healthy, I would say, regardless of how
you feel about the order, like, they're pretty deep at a lot of
spots, So could they add someonemaybe? I think they're done spending on
the defensive line though they have alot of money. There man a lot
of money, and so we'll see, but there aren't many concerns with this
(29:04):
team and they have pretty good depth. Just on that note, the Bengals
are spending the sixth most money onthe at drushing position in the NFL this
year, and that includes a firstround pick who's not getting paid a ton
but as a first round pick,and on the injury defensive line. I
think it's like tenth most on thedefensive line. Combine, then you can
imagine that number of ranks pretty highly. A fun one, James. For
(29:30):
our next question from Bullet Smasher atBullet Smasher, one over under point five
Hall of Famers on the current CincinnatiBengals roster. So projecting out into the
future, is there at least oneHall of Famer on this roster? James,
Yeah, I think there's two.I think there's two, and Hall
(29:53):
of Fame is put it like this, the Bengals have two Hall of Famers
total. None of their quarterback arein, none of the receivers, And
they've had good quarterback play throughout theirhistory, and they've had really good receiver
play. And yet are you tellingme that Joe Burrow isn't going to end
up in the Hall of fame,Like, if I had to bet,
(30:14):
I wouldn't bet against him, noton the trajectory he's at, because there
hasn't been a trajectory for any ofthe quarterbacks. And I've just done I
did a project on all of them. Boomer, Ken Anderson, Carson Palmer.
Carson Palmer didn't even get on thefield as a rookie. Now that
was a mistake looking back, andhe should have, but he didn't get
on the field as a rookie.Boomer was battling Kenn Anderson. Ken Anderson
(30:37):
wasn't even the starter, necessarily hadto fight for the starting job going into
his MVP season. Joe Burrow ison another level, and I think,
and that's not necessarily Ken's fault.There's a lot of stuff going on,
but context matters, but the pointis the point. So yes, I
would say Joe, And then Ithink back on Draft night, probably more
often than I should, and usuallyit's when he catches a deep ball or
(31:00):
is doing a gritty in the endzone and Jamar says, Dan Horte sits
up there and it's like, whatdo you think about joining an organization with
such great receivers? And he namedaj and Chad I'm gonna break every record
they have. I was like,in the moments, I can't believe he
said that, and yet here heis doing exactly that on a crazy pace,
(31:22):
and so I would say they haveto. I think it's those two.
Could they have more? Maybe?And I'm not here to make people
mad. Hall of Famer is reallyhard to do, right. They have
zero Hall of Famers in my lifetime. Zero and then that might continue until
Joe or Jamar. But if Ihad to bet I would get I would
bet those two. I think Genoshould get in before those. I don't
(31:47):
think it's as obvious as I've talkedto some people across the league, and
I get the All Decade team stuff. I don't think it's as obvious as
some Bengals people have made it.It's it's one of those things where he
played for the Bengals, that's goingto be held against him, didn't have
the postseason success, it's going tobe held against him. I think he's
(32:07):
a He's a clear Hall of Famerpersonally, my personal opinion, I'm maybe
one of those Bengals people who youare talking about. I've asked about it.
I've asked about. I think AndrewWhitworth is the other one where he
himself by leaving Willy still has achance. Willie's been potentially building momentum the
last couple of years. In Willieis in, he'll be in. I
(32:30):
think he'll be the next one in, but there might not beat. I
think Andrew probably gets in, butI don't know about Gino. I think
it's more of a coin flip thanyou realize. I don't think it's a
sure thing, but I think he'sworthy of it best in his position or
you know, in the top twoof his position for a very very long
time. Anyway. I'm also takingthe over the way that they don't end
(32:54):
up with at least one Hall ofFamer on this roster is like things go
really really badly, and it's likea world I'm not even going to speak
into existence, because if things gothe way we think they're going to go,
they have at least one Hall ofFamer on this team, right,
I mean that's pretty simple. Yeah. I think if they get the ring,
(33:19):
if they get the MVP, Ithink Burrow at some point we'll win
an MVP like Ken Anderson if hewins in nineteen eighty one wins the Super
Bowl, He's already probably in theHall of Fame. Yeah, right now,
it is in the conversation. He'snot even in the Hall of Fame
conversation right now, but he wouldprobably be if he had won Super Bowl
twenty three. So it's the samething. I think part of it is
(33:43):
is Burrow has had postseason success.He has now he hasn't finished yet,
but my god, he's taken thisthis franchise to New heights. So yeah,
I think worst case it's one.Hopefully it's like five. Hopefully this
is like the Golden Age where we'retalking about Joe Jamaar t uh. You
know if you you want to say, I want to heck Orlando Brown place
(34:06):
for the next ten years and isjust super elite at left tackle. Hey,
sure, take it last one realquick. We did a James question.
We gotta thank Jake question. Yeahat Jake underscore d underscore Rake,
speaking of guys that can Rake,if you could use magic to do one
(34:27):
mundane task for the rest of yourlife, what would it be? Mundane
task? Who is it? Laundrymight be folding, laundry, might be
cutting the grass. I would justsay. I would say, you haven't
(34:47):
seen the yard. I would sayall of the landscaping right, all that
the outdoor maintenance stuff like that.Yeah, that one, because it takes
time, laundry stay, but youcould do it while you're watching TV and
people say, oh, well,cut in the grass and doing all that
stuff. You could do while you'relistening to a podcast. By the way,
shout out to those that are doingthat right now listening to us at
(35:09):
the same time. It takes alot of time when you have and I
don't have a giant yard, butit's not small and so it takes time.
So that would be the one.Yeah, I think I'll go to
the laundry out folding and putting awaylaundry. And I don't know if it's
mundane, but working out if Icould use magic to do my workout for
(35:31):
me? Talk about time consuming thingsthat are you serious? See, I'm
not opposite. I need that.I'm like Burrow, I need that metal.
You would still, you would stillget it. It's just that magic
would do it for you. Noah, I now that's fine. I enjoy
it, and that's I don't Idon't dislike it. I've grown to enjoy
(35:53):
it actually, as I've been doingit, like I've been very consistent this
year, as you know, andlike to make fun of me about um,
but what look uh but that's likesix hours a week. I think
that that I could get back.That's pretty good, pretty good time saving
(36:13):
there. Laundry is like once aweek sure, And that's why I said
laundry. You know I'm doing offof the yard stuff. I don't always
fold every piece of laundry. IfI could use magic on the yard for
all the landscaping, all the grass, all that stuff, like take care
of restaining defence every year, allthat stuff, like, yeah, it's
(36:36):
that's great. Yes, that's thepart where I now in real life instead
of magic is just money. Sothat's your option to do it. If
you're not doing it yourself. Anybodythat's gonna do it for this episode work
just have someone work for you.Well, but this is my job and
I like this. I'm not havingmagic do this podcast for me or AI.
(36:57):
Nope, pass I can't replace us. That's gonna do for this episode
of the Locked On Bengals podcast OTAs. Next week, James, somebody have
Mini camp will have your coverage ofBengals Ota open to the media next week.
Until then, who day and havea good one. It was win
or go home in Boston on Mondaynight in the Miami, he didn't want
(37:19):
to go home. Knocking off theBoston Celtics to advance to the NBA Finals.
There was a team that was mentallytough, ready for the challenge,
ready for a battle, and thenthere was the box this Celtics. The
Vegas Golden Knights are headed to theStanley Cup Final after taking Game six in
the Western Conference Final and convincing fashion. This time, We're not here just
(37:39):
to be here. I felt likeseason one we were cool about being here.
But you know, it feels likethe mission is not over. Us
and Liam Hendricks returned to the moundfor the Chicago White Sox after a battle
with non Hodgkins lymphoma. Welcome backLiam Hendricks emotional moment. They didn't even
go to commercial break when he cameinto the game out of the dugout.
(38:00):
For more on these stories, checkout new episodes of Locked on Heat,
Locked On Golden Knights, and Lockedon White Sox, all free and available
wherever you get podcasts. Ay Primemembers you can listen to this Locked On
podcast add free on Amazon Music.Download the Amazon Music app today
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