1-30-25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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You enter it now.

Speaker 5 (00:08):
No one covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's
sports station.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Damn straight. What's up?

Speaker 6 (00:17):
Good afternoon, Molegger, ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening.
I hope your Thursday is going great. Ours is going great.
It's gonna be even better because we have a lot,
a lot of good stuff today. Kelsey Conway of the
Cincinnati Inquirer is going to join us from Mobile where
the Senior Bowl is happening. Senior Bowl practice is happening

(00:38):
this week, and you know, any good Draftnick will tell
you the practices are a bigger deal than the actual game.
And maybe the opportunity for folks like Kelsey to talk
with people like Duke Tobin, maybe that's even more important.
She has done a Q and A with Duke, the
de facto Bengals general manager, and you can go and
read that online. We are are going to talk with

(00:59):
kell coming up at three twenty. That's fifteen minutes from
right now. Plus Chad Brendle on the Bearcats. Obviously, we'll
do some hoops, but maybe some football as well. Scott
Saderfield had an availability today and they made available some
of the transfers from other programs portal guys, so to speak,

(01:20):
and so we'll chat with Chad about some hoops, but
also some football as well. Speaking of football, Scott Saderfield
joins me at five twenty. We're also going to do
some baseball. Some Reds on the heels of their latest acquisition.
The Reds have been busy this week. Busy good too.
There's busy bad, but busy good. Taylor Rogers, the latest

(01:42):
acquisition from the San Francisco Giants. Red's taking advantage of
a salary dump, so to speak. Clayborne Snowden from Just Baseball,
one of my favorite websites, joins us at four to twenty,
and Cincinnati Cyclone's all time great justin Vive as well
at four thirty five.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
There you go. Entire show preview.

Speaker 6 (01:59):
And higher a rundown available on Twitter thanks to Emery
Federal Credit Union, your credit union with heart since nineteen
thirty nine.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Go to Emery fc you dot org.

Speaker 6 (02:13):
We are going to talk about John Caliperry making his
return to Rapperena and Rick Patino begging Kentucky fans to
not boo him.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
I guess that is coming up a.

Speaker 6 (02:24):
Little bit later on college basketball, which we were pretty
heavy on college hoops yesterday. Xavier loses last night to Creighton,
a game that I kind of felt like with just
under four minutes ago, the Musketeers had one more run
in them, and defensively they got the stops they needed.
They just couldn't take the stops and translate him into points,
and so the Muskies lose to Creighton's always really good

(02:47):
offensively and really fun to watch offensively, and I think
Doug McDermott's a terrific coach or Greg McDermott is a
terrific coach. There was just too much. Ryan Kalkbrenner last night,
the Musketeers and Sean Miller talked about this a little
bit after the game. A tough loss, not an unpredictable

(03:10):
loss you're playing on the road in conference. It does
feel like they have emerged from you know, we talked
about this when Big East play started. We really talked
about it after New Year's like they were going into
this gauntlet right and now they've kind of come out
of it, and they still have some tough games in
front of them. They have to go to Villanova, who

(03:31):
nearly beat them here. They obviously have a return game
against Creighton at home, but there are a lot of teams,
and they've got to play Georgetown, and we know what
happened the first time Xavier played Georgetown. But let's face it,
if you look at the bottom of the Big East standings,
you see a lot of the teams the Musketeers have
in front of them. And so the good news is
the schedule does ease up a little bit. And you

(03:54):
can only take so much comfort in that if you're
a Xavier fan or a fan of any team. But
the good news is the schedule does ease up a
little bit, and there's a lot of games that you
would look at and say Xavier should be favored in.
The bad news is, well, the margin for error is
really really small, and it would have widened had they
won that game last night. I did not think they would.

(04:16):
I think, frankly, if you've watched Creighton and really watched
the Musketeers for much of the season, the game sort
of unfolded the way you would have expected going in
a game like that, though, And you just I misspoke
yesterday talking with Rick Boring because I was talking about
Xavier and Marquette and they've played their two games, and
Xavier and Yukon they've played their two games, and Xavier

(04:38):
and Saint John's they've played their two games. And I
misspoke and I said they they split with all.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Three of those teams.

Speaker 6 (04:46):
I know that Xavier lost both Saint John's games, but
they played so well and it were up so much
and they were so close to a really I think
season pivoting went on the road at Madison Square Garden
against Saint John's that I almost I almost think they
won the game. They obviously did not lots of reasons
why they got a tough whistle in that game, But

(05:06):
if you were watching last night, you kept thinking, like,
all right tomorrow from West Miller, nights like this happened.
Although the Musketearies were not nearly as non competitive as
Wes's team has been when he has said such a thing.
But you just you watch last night, and it's not
as impactful if they figure out a way to win
the game in New York where they had a sixteen

(05:29):
point lead. More on that coming up later on, we'll
hear from Sean Miller as well. Yeah, there's lots of
moving parts this offseason with the Bengals, and Kelsey Conway
is going to join us in just about ten minutes
to talk about her her Q and A with Duke
tobinin Duke and Kelsey cover a lot of different topics

(05:50):
and a lot of different offseason storylines here, including t Higgins,
including Trey Hendrickson. The one answer that kind of stood
out to me more than an is about Jamar Chase.
So Kelsey asked Duke where do things stand with Jamar
Chase and an extension for him, and Duke said, as

(06:11):
you might imagine, quote, it's a priority for us. It's
something we feel like there's a framework to work off of,
should be a pretty easy framework to work off of.
We believe there's a real framework to work off of.
He used the word framework three times. Let me ask

(06:32):
you a question, if you were Jamar Chase, how interested
are you in that framework? Like that framework has been
blown up? Dude, if I'm Jamar Chase, and I would
imagine if you were Jamar Chase, like, yeah, we had
a framework and then what happened We didn't get signed,

(06:53):
and I went out and won the Triple Crown. I
had the best season of any receiver in the sport.
Guess what the framework has changed? And I think and
maybe because there's so many other balls being juggled right now,
from changes to the coaching staff to players they have
to make difficult decisions on you know, cutting and maybe

(07:15):
restruction players like Sam Hubbard or you know, a Gino
Stone or a Jermaine Pratt, to what we want to
see them doing free agency in terms of adding players
to the draft. And then the t Higgins thing and
the Trey Hendrickson dynamic, all of which are really interesting
and really important. I think there's almost been this assumption,
perhaps that the Bengals and Jamar Chase and his agent

(07:40):
are going to walk into a room and just pick
up where they left off. Hey, you know, we got
we got closed last year, and then there was the season,
and you know, we don't redo deals or we don't
do a contract negotiations during the season. But the season's
over now, so all right, here here's the contract, here's
the framework. Jamar go ahead and sign it, and he
signs it, and they photos and they shake hands and

(08:02):
they go get an overprice stake dinner somewhere and everybody's happy.
And maybe that's the case, but I'm not gonna be
surprised if it's not. The framework was last summer. You know,
Jamar made this easy. Hey, let's get the deal done now,
Let's get the deal done now, pay me now, Let's

(08:23):
get the guarantees right, Let's get the structure of this
contract right, pay me now, because if you don't, I'm
gonna go out and have a great year and then
guess what's gonna happen asking price goes up. I think
Duke's word is interesting here. Framework. If you were Jamar Chase,
would you be interested in last year's framework when what

(08:46):
you did this year was better than what anybody did
at your position? Yeah, I'm not interested in that framework.
Like if I'm Jamar Chase, we're almost starting from scratch.
You know, this has not been talked about nearly as
much because of the t Higgins thing and because of

(09:06):
the way the season ended in coaching changes and Trey
Hendrickson's contract, which is being talked about extensively. If if
I'm Jamar Chase, though, man, we're not just you know, hey,
go get the Jamar Chase file. Yeah, that that framework,
that loosely drawn up contract we had last August, last September.
Go get that, let's change the date on it. Get

(09:28):
Jamar in one of those nice pens you have for
signing ceremonies, and we're just gonna go ahead and pick
up where we left off.

Speaker 7 (09:35):
Man.

Speaker 6 (09:35):
If I'm Jamar, if you're Jamar, be honest with me.
Uh ah, Man, did you see what I did this year?

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah? Guess what new framework?

Speaker 6 (09:49):
Fourteen minutes after three o'clock five point three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty is our phone number. Kelsey conways in mobile
for the Senior Bowl, where she talked with Duke Tobin.
We'll talk about the scene, the draft and Kelsey's Q
and A with Duke next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 8 (10:05):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 9 (10:11):
UC Health Traffic Center. Expect more at uce health, more
clinical trials, more treatment options for personalized care, more chances
to get you back to being you visit ucehealth dot com.
A little bit of good news for you this afternoon.
The northbound two seventy five exit ramp to westbound I
seventy four now reopened that was closed down due to

(10:33):
an earlier crash. And on North Bend Road, an earlier
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I'm at ezak with traffic.

Speaker 6 (10:42):
This report is sponsored by nineteen after three. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty on low egging f You know, for
what is typically the quote dead time of year, We've
got a little of everything today and I like it,
including Rick Patino begging can Tuckey fans to not boo
John Caliperi. I have a piece of advice for every

(11:03):
college sports fan. I'll give it to you. Coming up
at four h five. Chad Brendle on the Bearcats in
just about twenty five minutes. Kelsey Conway from the Cincinnati
Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com has been in Mobile, Alabama,
covering senior ball practices and chatting with important people like
Duke Tobin. Her exclusive Q and A with Duke you

(11:24):
can read it at Cincinnati dot com.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
She's with us. How's Mobile.

Speaker 10 (11:29):
Mobile is great?

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Mo?

Speaker 10 (11:31):
You know, you were just saying it's that time of
the year and I just really look forward to my
yearly trip to Mobile, Alabama. But at least it was
warm this year. In past it's been like frigid cold.
At least it was warm this year.

Speaker 6 (11:43):
Have you seen any Bengals any players? I want the
Bengals to draft lots of them.

Speaker 10 (11:49):
I will say that the buzz I hadn't really gotten
into a lot of draft prep or talk really yet,
and I briefly skimmed, and it really seems like the
strengths of this year's draft is the defensive line, especially
the interior, And when I was watching those guys up close, like,

(12:09):
there are so many that are just physically imposing, like
and you don't want to overreact, but I feel like
this is a good year for the Bengals to address
that position because it seems like there's a lot of
talent there.

Speaker 6 (12:23):
All right, Well, we have like three months to talk
about Bengals draft possibilities. The draft process is only just beginning.
So there's been a lot of chatter about your Q
and A with Duke Tobin, and I do want to
talk about some of these specific topics and his responses
to some of your questions. But what was your overarching
takeaway from your conversation with him?

Speaker 10 (12:46):
Well, first, I'd like to thank him for the time
he gave me because he was very gracious with his time,
and I felt like I was able to get a
ton of just important in that I know that the
fans and a lot of people wanted to hear from him.
So I was really glad that I was able to

(13:06):
get and I wish I could have had two hours
with him. But for me, the biggest takeaways other than
the contract stuff that we'll talk about, was just how
transparent he was about what went wrong with last season.
And that's where we started the interview, and I basically said,
what did you feel like was the biggest issue, And

(13:29):
whether you agree with him or not, my general consensus
after our conversation was that he does not think the
team is that far off from a talent standpoint. He's
big point was they couldn't finish games, and he said
there wasn't a team that the Bengals played that they
didn't feel like they could beat. Whether you agree with

(13:50):
that or I agree with that, you know, it doesn't
really matter. He doesn't think that because he thinks that
they have talent and some of those players just didn't
play up to that talent, and so he basically feels
like because they weren't able to finish some of these games,
or when they had a lead, keep a lead. That's
where he spent most of his time talking about that,

(14:11):
and then that turned into a bigger conversation about the defense,
and the defense was where we spent majority of our
time talking about. Rightfully so, because of how bad it
was last year. And I thought what stood out to
me most was his quote, and you can see it
in the article, but he said that he felt like
he held onto players from that Super Bowl corps perhaps

(14:35):
a year too long, and I thought that was the
first time I've ever heard anybody say anything like that.
And so again, whether you agreed with it or not,
I didn't think that they did enough last year to
address their biggest needs on the defensive line. And in
order to have done that, they probably needed to cut
bait from some of those contracts to have more room,

(14:56):
and they just at that time felt like they just
wanted to run it back one more year. And his
conversation with me revealed some of those guys don't expect
them to be on the roster. And I think we're
talking about the Germaine Pratt, the Mike Hilton's, the BJ
Hills of the world, and so I thought that was
interesting for him to be so transparent about saying he

(15:17):
got that wrong and probably should have moved on from
those guys a little bit sooner. So that was a
very big takeaway to me. And he said that they
are one hundred percent going to be addressing the guard position,
So that's probably music to fans ears who were upset
about the amount of hits Joe took. Also, I think

(15:37):
that they are going to bring in more competition at safety.
He wouldn't say much about if Gino Stone's going to
be back on the team or not, but he did
say they are going to address that position with more competition,
and he said he thought the tackling was one of
the biggest issues that he felt like went wrong with
the with the team. And then we wrapped up the

(15:59):
conversation with my question to him, and I appreciate his bluntness.
I basically said, what has Jermaine Burton done to deserve
a roster spot on this team? And he said nothing?
And I looked at him and I was like, are
you sure? He said, yeah, You asked what has he done?
And my answer is nothing? And then he went on

(16:19):
and said he better start soon. So those were some
of the highlights for me in terms of just things
that nobody has really come out and said. So that
that's where I think those were the most important things.
But so what do you think about all of that?

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Well, there's a lot there.

Speaker 6 (16:37):
So it's interesting you referenced his question, you reference his
answer about you know, running it back with a lot
of the guys who are part of the Super Bowl run,
and you mentioned some of those players. The first name
that jumped to the top of the list for me
was Sam Hubbard.

Speaker 10 (16:51):
And that I did specifically asked about Sam, and he
did not want to get into anything about Sam Hubbard,
which I respect. And you know, the reporters have asked
about Sam, and anytime we've asked about Sam, Zach hasn't
wanted to, you know, talk about it publicly. Like listen,
they know he was not good enough last year, and

(17:13):
they know he wasn't good enough the year before. It
very much feels like the writing is on the wall.
I'm not saying there's not a chance Sam Hubbard will
be back next year, but it will not be at
the price he is making. So I think it's just
kind of like a sensitive subject for a lot of
people because of how well respected Sam is.

Speaker 6 (17:32):
So I remember, and I don't think I'm revealing anything here.
I remember having a conversation with you last April in
the aftermath of finding out that Trey Hendrickson had requested
a trade, and we.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Talked about this.

Speaker 6 (17:45):
You and I talked about this on air, but I
think I said to you off like, well, what if
he goes out there and he wins Defensive Player of
the Year and then, you know, we kind of chuckled
and said, you know, well then things change. Well, he
might win the award, right. I don't think he will,
but he might win the award. And so, you know,
you have a guy who last year sought what he
couldn't get from the Bengals and he asked for a trade.

(18:08):
Since then, he's had an awesome year. He has one
year less left on his deal, and so there's a
few different options here. You asked Duke Tobin about giving
him an extension, and what stood out to me about
his answer was, quote, we can't have guys at the
top of the payroll in every position, right, And there's
certainly something to that from Trey's perspective, or I guess

(18:28):
from the perspective of the Bengals as it relates to Trey,
I think you can make a case, well, yeah, give
him an extension. He's a terrific player. I think you
can make a case. Look, man, he's never gonna be
as good as he was last year. Let him play
out this season. He'll be motivated to hit free agency
with another big year, and then you move on and
maybe bring him back or you know, and I know

(18:49):
a lot of folks have talked about this with you.
You need draft capital. Trey's really the only guy you
could trade and get draft capital for. Maybe you move
on from him. At the same time, he's her one
really good defensive play So you know the dynamic you
and I have talked about it.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
What do you think the ultimate outcome is going to be?

Speaker 10 (19:07):
You know, I'll first say that I completely agree with
all of the comments that you've made about this being
the most fascinating part of the Bengals offseason. Yes, the
receivers are going to get more airtime because they're high
profile wide receivers, right, But from the jump, I have
thought this is a really interesting, sticky situation here, and

(19:29):
you just kind of outlined all of the reasons why.
But from my takeaway from specifically this conversation with Duke,
and I will say last week I did spend some
time digging around trays contract and you know what the
other defensive ends in the NFL, the top ones are
making and I really try to spend some time trying

(19:50):
to figure this one out. Basically, the Bengals said, we
value Trey and we know we need to give him
a pay raise. Where I think it's going to get
tense is Trey and his representation feel as though he
is a top edge rusher in the NFL, and you
can't argue otherwise. Is stats and everything else speaks for that,

(20:14):
But there are so many things that go into that contract.
For example, you know TJ. Watt, he's an even bigger
factor in games because he can bat, pass his down
Miles Garrett. You can't really compare him to Tray because
Miles can move to every spot on the defensive line
like each one of them has a different skill set,

(20:36):
so it's not apples to apples. And that's where I
think the Bengals are going to point to the age
him not being you know, a good run defender necessarily
at all the times, they're going to find things that
they can say you can't compare Trey because of these things,
but they do want to pay him. It's just going
to have to be one of those things where does

(20:58):
Trey want to stay in Cincinnati and keep planning for
an organization that for the last two years he feels
has valued him, or it's he going to say, I'm
not budgeing off my number. I think that I should
be top three payroll and that's important to me. And
that's where I just don't see the Bengals getting up there.

(21:20):
And you can say they should or they shouldn't. In
my opinion, I would Patrey Hendrickson, and I know it
has to work on both sides, But had they had
a plan behind him, I could see this being a
situation where you can trade him. But the Bengals haven't
proved at that specific spot that they can get it
right with those picks that they would get in return.

(21:42):
So I think that their priority should be getting it
right with Trey. Will they do it, I don't know,
but I don't envision a scenario in which the Bengals
are willing to make him a top three paid edge
rusher at his age. It's all going to be about
is that something Trey is willing to do or not.

Speaker 6 (22:02):
So this is going to represent the biggest mess of
the off season the training camps.

Speaker 10 (22:08):
I think so because, in my opinion, I have never
really thought that there is a possibility that p Higgins
is coming back, and I know that's tough for people
to hear. I just don't see a scenario in which
the Bengals are going to get up to a number
that's going to be respectable enough to Tee in his

(22:28):
agent's eyes that they will be willing to negotiate. And
I think that's what's interesting about this. The Bengals want
the agents to always be willing to negotiate, and that's
totally fair. You can't just keep giving everybody what they
want at all times, or you would have no money.
But where I have heard for talking to multiple agents

(22:53):
is the starting number sometimes is too low and it
makes the agent and the play feel like they're not valued,
and that's where some of these negotiations go sideways. So
I think it would be in the bengals best interest
with Trey and Tea to start at a number that
they will look at and be like, Okay, we can

(23:16):
work within this framework. Anything too far below. I just
don't think it's a recipe for success. And I think
that they need to focus on getting the deals done
as opposed to just winning the negotiations and always trying
to be right because, as you just said, look at
what happened. They messed around last year and said we're

(23:36):
not going to do it on Jamar's terms. If he
doesn't take this deal, we'll bet on himself. Well what
did he go do? He won the triple crop. Same
thing with Trey. History is telling you the longer you wait,
it's not going to work out in your favor. And
that's why, in my opinion, the Bengals have to change
the way they do business when it comes to negotiations.
They might not like it, but this is a different

(23:57):
era and these players are there and it's going to
be up to them to decide if they're going to
stay or if they go, and if they go, they
have to be ready for what comes with that.

Speaker 6 (24:07):
All right, One more Kelsey Conway from Cincinnati dot Com
and The Inquiry. If you have not read her, Duke
Tobin Q and a I've tweeted out a link and
go get it right now at Cincinnati dot com. So
you mentioned Jamar Chase last year, and what I thought
was interesting is you asked, you asked Duke where things
stand with Jamar and he used the word framework in
the response that you published three times framework. Well, if

(24:30):
I'm Jamar Chase, screw that framework. That was last year's framework.
Since then, I've, as you mentioned, I've won the Triple Crown.
I was, you know, arguably but statistically the best wide
receiver in football. So that framework, you could put that
in the paper Shredder. We are starting a new and
I think for a lot of us there's been this
assumption that all right, well they might have difficulty with

(24:52):
tea and they have so many other things, but the
easy one will be we'll just get the Jamar Chase
thing done, pick up where you left off. If I'm
Jamar Chase, I'm I'm not interested in where you left
off and I'm not interested in any framework.

Speaker 10 (25:04):
Well, I can tell you right now, having talked to sources,
that's exactly how Jamar Chase fails, and his representation will
go to the table that it's not a negotiation with
Jamar at this point, it is this is what we're
asking for. And I will bring up this point because
I think it's important for people to hear. I've posted
his story when it was week one that was basically like,

(25:27):
what is the fallout in the Bengals not paying Jamar Chase?
And I talked to a bunch of agents around the league,
and I was able to find out that the year
before the Vikings paid Justin Jefferson, he was asking for
thirty and then the Vikings didn't pay him and because
of that they ended up having to pay him four

(25:49):
million more on an annual basis. So Jamar Chase's agent
knows that information, that is well known information around the league.
Why should Mr Chase and his agent not take that
same approach and say you waited and in return of that,
here's a four or five million dollar difference that you

(26:09):
now have to come up to. And so that's where
to me, I don't think and I'm not reporting this,
but if you're Jamar Chase and his agent and he
knows that, why would anything start under forty If Justin
Jefferson is the top of the market at thirty four
and he was able to get an extra four million
in waiting a year. Why should Jamar Chase and his

(26:30):
representation not at least start there. And if the Bengals
don't start there, I agree with what you said on
the radio before. It is laughable. And that's where I
say like the Bengals have got to get it right
with their starting offer. In situations like this, you cannot
come in and try and just give him thirty four.
It's got to be high enough where the agent and

(26:51):
the player feel valued, and then you work from there.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Do you stay for the actual Senior Bowl game?

Speaker 10 (26:58):
I do not. I can't on for two days check
out the prospects. I mainly come just to talk to
Duke Tobin and that is worth it in my opinion
every year. Thank you for the game.

Speaker 6 (27:09):
Plenty of time to get back for Sunday's U SEE
basketball game where things are going really well.

Speaker 10 (27:16):
Things there. Yeah, I'll just leave it at.

Speaker 6 (27:20):
Thatt as good analysis as I can offer. I appreciate
your time as always, Thank you so much. We will
do it again soon. Awesome work and can't thank you
enough for doing this.

Speaker 10 (27:30):
Thanks so much for having me on anytime.

Speaker 6 (27:33):
Kelsey Conway. Go read her coverage of the Bengals, Cincinnati Inquirer,
and Cincinnati dot com. All right, we are late, Chad
Brendle in just about ten minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (27:45):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the UC.

Speaker 11 (27:50):
Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 9 (27:52):
Expect more at u see Health, more clinical trials, more
treatment options for personalized care, more chances to get you
back to being You visit ucehealth dot com. On southbound
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through their stop and go back from Sinday Road southbound

(28:13):
seventy one seventy five. It's an accident on the left
shoulder between twelfth and Kyle's Lane.

Speaker 11 (28:18):
I met e Zelik with traffic.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
This report is sponsored boss ESPN fifteen thirty Very quick.

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Sports headlines thanks to Kelsey Chevrolet home of lifetime powertrain
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Speaker 2 (28:39):
That game in Clearwater, Florida.

Speaker 6 (28:40):
Pavel Buca the only goal for the Orange and Blue
College basketball nku's on the road against Detroit Mercy tonight
at seven on ESPN fifteen thirty. Also tonight, Ohio State
battles Penn State. Miami University extends the contract of men's
basketball head coach Travis Steele through the twenty twenty one
I'm Sorry twenty thirty one twenty thirty two season. And
UH Hockey's idea Columbus Blue Jackets in the middle of

(29:02):
eight of nine on the road skate in Vegas, which
is a pretty damn nice place to escape. UH Chad
Brendle on the Bearcats football and basketball next to ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 8 (29:13):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 9 (29:21):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Expect more at u
see Health, more clinical trials, more treatment options for personalized care,
more chances to get you back to being you visit
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Traffic there stop and go from Norwood Lateral a twenty

(29:44):
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I'm at Ezelik with traffic.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
This report is sponsored by Audible Tap into your well
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Speaker 6 (30:00):
We'll answer that question at four twenty twelve. Away from four.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moeger. Chad Rendel joins
us on Thursdays in Today's Thursday, talk about UC sports
this time of year, usually basketball.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Maybe weave in some football today as well, or you
know what, shad your buddy, your your employee.

Speaker 6 (30:22):
Keegan Nickoson on yesterday, I got my Bearcat journal fixed.
We talked about UC hoops for ten minutes. We kind
of covered everything. If you'd rather talk about something else, I.

Speaker 12 (30:32):
Mean, we could do five unpaid minutes that we haven't
done that in a while.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
I did hear mo.

Speaker 12 (30:39):
If you see Bob Huggins on Sunday, that means six
more weeks of bad basketball.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's very well done.

Speaker 6 (30:51):
Unfortunately, that covers pretty much the rest of the season.

Speaker 12 (30:54):
Yeah, that was that was exactly what I was getting
at six more weeks of bad basketball.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
You know it is going to be their Sunday.

Speaker 12 (31:02):
Like I'd put it in a thousand percent he's there.

Speaker 6 (31:07):
Well, if you see him, you might ask him when
he plans on getting a haircut.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
But that's that's that's a different story.

Speaker 6 (31:13):
Far be it for me to tell someone what to
do with their hair because because I don't have.

Speaker 12 (31:17):
It, don't have any he's in a hippie phase.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
He isn't good for him. Good for him, he'll be healthy,
he'p he's okay.

Speaker 12 (31:25):
How that's that's that's that's generally how avid recyclists look.

Speaker 6 (31:32):
What is more unfixable, uh, Bob huggins current look or
West Miller's basketball team.

Speaker 12 (31:40):
The crazy part is, like I do think there is
a way to fix West Miller's basketball team. Bob Huggins
just needs a haircut. But I don't think he's never
really listened to anybody ever in his life before. So
unless he decides he wants the haircut, he's probably not
going to get one. There is a way to like

(32:02):
get back to respectability, and it's defense and rebounding. You know,
I know people don't want to hear that. They want
to hear offense and you know, scoring eighty points. But
this team's not going to do that. We have seen
them not this year on the rebounding front. We have
seen them be a great rebounding team like that. That's
where I was the most off that I've maybe ever

(32:24):
been in my career. Well, I thought this could be
a top five rebounding team in the country. They were
number one in the Big Twelve in offensive rebounding last year.
They were better than Houston on the offensive glass. Last year,
they were thirty fifth in the country in defensive rebounding.
They lost John Newman and replaced him with a better

(32:47):
rebounder in Dylan Mitchell. This should be a team that
fights in scraps and claws on the glass. I have
never seen a team go after rebounds with less conviction
than I have seen from this team. They don't extend
their arms, they don't grab the ball. It's like they're all,
all of a sudden, they're all Tyrannosaurus rexes, Like they

(33:10):
just kind of they reach out a little bit and
if it lands right in their hands, then they got
to rebound, and if it doesn't, then the other team
can have it. Like that part of it, It just
blows my mind because we have seen them do it.
We have seen this team be a great rebounding team.
A year ago, they returned almost everyone. The reason you

(33:31):
return almost everyone is so that you stay really good
the things that you're really good at, and you work
on and hope to improve the things that you're not
as good at. They're not as they're twice as bad
on offense in relation to Ken Pom as they were
a year ago, and they've fallen completely off the cliff

(33:51):
on rebounding, and it doesn't make any sense though.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
They can't reach their potential on the glass without Dan
skilling participation. I think in three of the last five
games he's had one rebound. That's not his only issue.
What has happened to a player who I thought by
now might challenge for All League honors.

Speaker 12 (34:13):
I don't know if it was something as simple as
to take the next step. He needed to be a
better and more consistent offensive player, and his focus is
on that, but he hasn't been good on offense either.
I mean the past two games, I think he's made
one basket, and he's made one more basket in each
game than you and I on the Utah road trip.

(34:35):
And both of those were like, they weren't good baskets.
They weren't that you know, they were typical like some
of the you know stuff we've always seen from Dan
one foot kind of whirling the ball up off the
backboard and it drops in. He but he hasn't done anything.
So I don't even know what the path to get
him back on track is. But this is the guy

(34:57):
that scored eighteen points each in the first three Big
Twelve games, and now he can't score at all, Like
it's unbelievable. And his defense, he was as bad defensively
against Utah as I've ever seen in a game from
a high level college basketball player. He was lost. His

(35:18):
footwork was terrible, his effort was terrible. I mean, guys
just blew right by him. He was out of position.
He couldn't get around screens. That's been a problem for
a month. I don't even know where to begin with
getting Dan Skillings back on track because all of it
is out of whack. There's not anything Usually there's like

(35:41):
when a guy's in a slump, usually there's still some
things that he's doing well, and you know, maybe he's
not scoring or you know, he's having a little bit
of difficulty. Here. You look at a guy and he's
getting picked on on defense, and you're like, well, yeah,
he gave up twenty five, but he scored eighteen. Like
that's not ideal. But don't get that fixed. Know how
to fix Dan Skillings right now? He's broken.

Speaker 6 (36:02):
Yeah, I think that's well put on a team that
is struggling for answers. Why does Ravon Griffith never play?

Speaker 12 (36:14):
I mean, the easy answer a couple of weeks ago
was because what Raymond gives you more than anything is
defense and rebounding. And at that time, this was a
top ten defense and you know, the rebounding hadn't gotten
to a point where it was like press the panic button.

(36:36):
So at that point it was He's not a guy
that's going to give you a lot of offense, and
they were struggling to score. So you look at that
and you say, you know, there's not really a great
way to use him to make the team better. But now,

(37:00):
I mean, I don't know what, I don't know what
it hurts right that they're not defending, they're not rebounding,
they're not doing any of the stuff that that you
really believe is supposed to make this team good. So
throwing out there give him a try, especially d J.
Frederick's hurt like CJ's hurt, Connor Hickman's hurt. There can't

(37:23):
be a couple of minutes for Ravon in there.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, it might seem desperate,
but they should be desperate. It is desperate if if
you put him in the game and he goes oh
for four and four minutes and his guy scores on
him eight times.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Okay, Like.

Speaker 6 (37:40):
Why, I've heard Wes say a lot of really good
things about Ravon in practice. Well, when your team is struggling,
if the dude really is doing what you're asking in practice,
how do you not give him give him a shot?
How do you not give them and and and and
let them know you're going to play tonight. This is
your shot. You know, you're you're going to go in

(38:00):
after twelve and let's see what you can give us.
And if you can't give us anything, right back to
the bench. And if you can, we'll build upon that.
I that's you know, he's not a new guy to
the program.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
He's been a part of his program now for a while.

Speaker 6 (38:13):
I I'm not here to tell you that I think
he's the answer because they have so many different issues.
But it's interesting to me that it's not even something
that at least to this point, they've tried.

Speaker 12 (38:24):
Yeah. I mean he did say in the pregame that
before Utah that with CJ down there was a chance
Ray was going to see some minutes he didn't see him.
But at least now it's it's being broached. So yeah,
maybe you see him Sunday against West Virginia. Like I
there was at least again there was at least some
reasoning behind why I didn't think we were seeing him

(38:48):
a couple of weeks ago. But now, I mean, you
could use it if he really has helped you rebounding
in practice. Are you sure? If heck could use some
help there right now, why not put him out there
and see if he can get on the glass and
and and at least mix it up a little bit?

Speaker 6 (39:06):
Uh, really quick today Scott Sadderfield.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Spoke, Uh, you had Yeah, he spoke today. You had
him on Monday night?

Speaker 12 (39:13):
What night was that Monday night?

Speaker 3 (39:14):
You had him Monday night?

Speaker 2 (39:15):
You had him on.

Speaker 6 (39:16):
By the way, he seemed as at ease as as
I've seen him in a setting like that in uh
in quite a while. I know, off seasons different than
than in season. Uh, they've they've introduced a lot of transfers.
Had four of them speak today. Are the players they've
brought in any good?

Speaker 12 (39:34):
I think so?

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Uh.

Speaker 12 (39:36):
Mainly that one of them's name is Mick Doom, Yes, uh,
and I like that.

Speaker 3 (39:44):
No.

Speaker 12 (39:44):
I do think they got better in the secondary where
they just you know, desperately needed to get better. I
don't know that that Tywee Walker is just going to
come in immediately and replace Corey Kiner, because I think
Corey Kiner was special and his ability to absorb contact,
find a way to keep moving forward, continue to you know,

(40:06):
pick up some tough yards maybe when it wasn't wasn't
the right you know, it wasn't ideal, wasn't the perfect situation.
But he's a similar type back, so I think he
can help. I think the biggest question is going to
be did they get legitimate help at wide receiver? And
you know, we spring football starts in about six weeks,

(40:27):
so hopefully we we get a better feel for that
as as they get out on the field, because you know,
it's it's it was their biggest need last year and
it didn't feel like they addressed it to the level
that they needed to address it, so they took another
swing at it again this year. Let's let's see what
it looks like.

Speaker 6 (40:47):
Yeah, definitely need this. It's the understatement of the millennium.
More explosiveness on offense. It's always good to talk to you. Jan,
Thanks so much.

Speaker 12 (40:56):
It's always good to talk to you.

Speaker 10 (40:58):
Mo.

Speaker 12 (40:58):
It's great to see you today, and I look forward
to seeing you against it.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
You'll see me on Sunday. I look forward to it, okay.

Speaker 12 (41:04):
And Bob Huggins, and Bob.

Speaker 6 (41:06):
Huggins will be there yes, and his and his hair
he sort of looks like Sean Connery in The Rock
before he you know.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Before he got his haircut. It's kind of what he's
looking like these days.

Speaker 12 (41:15):
It's that's great, Bob.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
You're in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 6 (41:19):
Bob, thank you got ched so much. It's coming up
on four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. Make sure you
got a Chad's website, Bearcat journal dot com, Claive Worn Snowed,
and Jess Baseball on the moves the Reds have made,
including the one yesterday which most of us really really like,
and justin vive a Cyclones Alzheimer. By the way, Scott
Sanderfield's on with me at five twenty. Rick Patino's already

(41:42):
lecturing UK fans. Not already, he's lecturing UK fans again.
We'll talk about that next on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cash
enter it now, cash all right, we're a couple of
minutes late for the hour because well he had good
guest last hour. Sorry, this is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank
you so much for joining us. We have a two

(42:04):
pole questions on Twitter thanks to United Heartland Insurance.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Look, man, you need insurance.

Speaker 6 (42:10):
And maybe it's your your home, maybe it's your car,
maybe it's your boat, maybe it's your motorcycle, maybe it's
your business. I tell you what, United Heartland Insurance for
Business if you're a business owner can save you a
lot of money.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Go to uhi ns dot com, especially.

Speaker 6 (42:27):
If you have like a commercial fleet. Two pole questions
I'm gonna work backwards here. One is about the Trey
Hendrickson thing, which we're gonna talk more about later on
Kelsey Conway, by the way, was awesome. And what do
you do with Trey Hendrickson. There's really three options here.
There's extend him and pay him what he wants. There's
have him play out the last year of his contract
and put up with any off season or training camp fallout.

(42:51):
And then there's also you know, trading him for draft picks,
getting draft capital and spending the money he's owed, which
is roughly what sixteen million dollars, Spend that in reagency
and make the rest of the team better. I think
there's merit to all three. I really do.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Now.

Speaker 6 (43:05):
I know there's what I would do, which is I
would just have him play out the last year and
put up with what I got to put up with
this offseason. Right now, that is the least popular option.
We'll update it throughout the afternoon vote now at moegar.
The other is about Rick Patino and John Calipery. So
John Caliperry, as you know, if you're a Kentucky fan,
you know this. You've been talking about it all week.

(43:27):
John cala Perry is now the coach at Arkansas. The
Razorbacks are awful. They are three points away from right
now being zero to seven in the SEC. They are
not very good at all. They will be a rupp
arena on Saturday night. It's John Caliperry's first trip back
to rup since obviously last season, Kentucky coming off a
very good road win on Tuesday night against Tennessee, you know,

(43:52):
getting things back on track perhaps after what happened against
Alabama and Vanderbilt. As you might imagine a lot of emotions,
a lot of men, and a pretty heated debate among
a lot of Kentucky fans and some non Kentucky fans
about what should the reception be for John Kellaperry on
Saturday night? And I'm gonna guess there's there's you know,

(44:12):
it's not going to be one hundred percent people standing
him and sharing him, and there's not going to be
one hundred percent people booing him. It's maybe not going
to be a fifty to fifty mix. I actually have
no idea. I can't wait to see. There's what I
would do if I was at Rapperina and a Kentucky fan,
and we'll get to that in a second.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
I do think.

Speaker 6 (44:32):
There's a piece of advice that I can give you
if you're a college sports fan that applies to Saturday night.
But everybody's weighing in on this, including former Kentucky head
coach Rick Patino, who's obviously now at Saint John's and
he has a really good team. Rick Patino has in
recent years really amplified his social media presence. You know,

(44:53):
he was a Big Blue madness because Mark Pope is
his guy. And the fractured relationship between Rick Patino and
Kentucky basketball seems to have been healed, which is nice.
It should be a good relationship. Rick Patino is an
iconic figure in UK basketball history, and so I'm glad
that's the case. I don't necessarily know why Rick Patino

(45:14):
cares about the reception that John Kellaperry gets on Saturday,
but he shot a video I guess in his office
at Saint John's weighing in on the topic.

Speaker 13 (45:25):
Here it is, Hello, Big Blue Nation.

Speaker 14 (45:29):
I didn't steal you wrong with Mark Pope when I
sent out that last video, and I certainly won't steal
you wrong with this video. Toughest day of my coaching
career at Louisville was when I had to walk into Rupperena.
Tried not to show it, but when I went home
the reception it taught me.

Speaker 11 (45:48):
Up apart because I loved that place so much.

Speaker 14 (45:52):
And it's interesting because I speaking to Ed Cooley just
recently about Providence and he said he almost was brought
to tears because of the bad feelings he got going
back there. But this is different. And as you all know,
I'm not best friends with John Calipari. I respect him certainly,
but it was a mutual thing. The fans wanted a change.

(46:13):
John read the tea leaves. He needed a change, and
he really didn't want to leave.

Speaker 11 (46:18):
But what did he do for you?

Speaker 14 (46:20):
He brought the best talent in the history of the
game of any university in America to Lexington. He also
won a national championship. He also was his style of
play was extremely entertaining. So he's coming back on Saturday,
and I want all of you to show the great
class that you have, twenty three thousand plus people giving

(46:43):
him a huge standing ovation, show him what respect and
admiration's all about. I know you have the class I've
always believed in. You do it once again.

Speaker 6 (46:54):
So there's Rick Patino opining on John Calipari and Kentucky
and what UK fan should do on Saturday night at
rupp Arena. He does make a good point, like after
UK lost to Oakland, I don't know one UK fan
that wasn't ready for a change. I mean, heck, after

(47:16):
they've they've lost early in the tournament in any number
of recent years. I can't find many Kentucky fans who
didn't want him back, and so it kind of felt
like it was time, and everybody agreed it was time.
And the way it ended was messy, but it's always messy,
and so it's it's not like John Caliperry left at
the height of his popularity. It's not like John Caliperry left.

(47:40):
You know, a lot of folks thought he was going
to leave after a year or two in Lexington, right
that that didn't happen. He left when his popularity was
at its lowest, and he took off, and a lot
of people were ready for him to take off. And
if you want someone to leave and they leave, it's
like if you want to break up with a girl
and she moves out before you do it, like, Okay,

(48:00):
I got what I wanted. You can't get mad at her, right,
And it's maybe not the best comparison, but I feel
like it applies. So if you're booing John Caliperry, then
you're mad. And if you wanted him gone, why would
you be mad at him leaving? I think it's a
fair question now the comparisons you know he talked about

(48:20):
when he came back as Louisville's head coach. Well, look, man,
coming back as Louisville's head coach is different than coming
back as the Arkansas head coach.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
It just is. I get it.

Speaker 6 (48:30):
Arkansas A's an SEC team. I don't know that I
would call Arkansas an SEC rival. When I think of
great rivalries in college basketball, I don't think of Kentucky
versus Arkansas. But I do think of Kentucky versus Louisville
and the Ed Cooley thing, like, there were hurt feelings there.
They didn't want to lose him, and he was really
popular and he won a lot and then he just
bolts and leaves and goes to another big E school.

(48:52):
I think it's a little bit different from a head
coach that everybody wanted gone to begin with. I'll preface
this by saying I don't like telling other people how
to behave unless their behavior is hurting someone. So if
you want to go to a game and boo boo. Now,

(49:12):
if you want to go to a game and yell
a bunch of f bombs and I've got my seven
year old with me, well, that's not cool. But if
if you want to go to a game in boo,
then boo. If you want to go to a game
and where a bring a baseball glove, okay, I'm not
gonna do.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
It, but if you want to, like I don't.

Speaker 6 (49:25):
I don't really concern myself with other people's behavior unless
it's harming someone. You know, I get people people get
mad at the baseball You were a jersey with your
name on it and you were a baseball glove, you loser, Like,
what do you care? So if you want to go
to the game and boo whoever, boo whoever. I don't
tell people how to behave. All I could tell you
is what I would do. And if I had a

(49:47):
ticket on Saturday Night, and I'm a hardcore UK fan,
I'm standing and cheering John Caliperi. I I'm a body
of work guy. And I know I've said this on
my show in many different occasions. I'm a body of
work guy. The comparison I've made is, you know Brian
Kelly or Luke fickele A is a UC fan. Brian

(50:09):
Kelly came back when they honored the two thousand and
nine team a couple of years ago, and from where
I sat up in the broadcast booth, I stood and cheered.
I think we're allowed to do that in the broadcast booth.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Why.

Speaker 6 (50:22):
I'm a body of work guy. The body of work
is awesome. The ending sucked. The body of work was awesome.
Luke Fickle. If Luke Fickle is ever back, and God knows,
I hope one day down the road, in twenty thirty
one or twenty thirty five, they celebrate the twenty twenty
one playoff team, Luke Fickle should be there, and if
he is, I think he should get a standing ovation.
All I'm in charge of, though, is my behavior. I

(50:44):
would stand and cheer Luke Fickle, even though I hated
the ending. I'm a body of work person. John Caliperry's
body of work at Kentucky was awesome and on the floor.
But like I don't know, man, I watched him use
the office of Kentucky basketball coach to help Western Kentucky
tornado victims. And I watched him raise a lot of

(51:06):
money for people who were victimized by the Haitian earthquake.
And I watched him do from a distance. I watched
him use that job that office, which is one of
the most significant offices in sports. It's the most significant
office in the state of Kentucky. I watched him use
that office for good and I watched him recruit and
often win with players who to this day are revered

(51:30):
by hashtag BBN. It's John Callaberry brought those guys there.
He also brought you national championship and a bunch of
final fours and restored the brand to what it used
to be. And yes, man, the last few years not
up to standard. A lot of frustrating postseason exits early,
no final fours over the last what nine years, no

(51:51):
national championships over the last twelve And if you would
have told me in April of twenty twelve he would
never win another title at Kentucky, I would have said,
let's make that bet, and I would have lost.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
But the body of work is awesome. I'm a body
of work guy.

Speaker 6 (52:06):
I cannot imagine that man's body of work, him walking
in and me booing him. If I'm a UK fan. Now,
if I'm sitting next to you and you're a UK
fan and you want to boo, dude, boo like you
have your reasons, I have mine. I do not like
lecturing telling people here's what you should do and if

(52:28):
you don't, you're gonna be ashamed or you're gonna you're
gonna bring shame to the fan base. Like, uh, there's
how you feel. Act based on how you feel, how
I would feel. And again, I'm, you know, not a
hardcore Kentucky fan. I like Kentucky. I think it's fun
when they win and when they're good. By the way, like,
the program's in really good shape. So to me, if
you're booing, you're booing out of anger. If you're a

(52:51):
UK fan, Yeah, granted, and they haven't played great recently.
What are you angry about? You got a coach you like?
They play a style of ball that John Kella Perry
right now seems capable of coaching. The team's really fun
to watch. The dude seems to love being the head
coach at Kentucky. Feels like he's going to be there
for a while. And if he is, my bed is
he wins? What are you angry about? So body of

(53:15):
work for cal current happiness with the program. If I'm
a Kentucky fan, I am standing and applauding, standing and
applauding the fact that I think my program's in a
better place than it was a year ago at this time.
But the guy walking in with the other team, that
dude is a huge figure in the state of Kentucky's
history and obviously UK basketball history. I cannot fathom booing him.

(53:39):
But I'm also not going to lecture someone who boos him,
because I don't believe in lecturing people for their behavior
unless it harms anyone. I will do this just a
piece of advice if you're a college sports fan, a
big time college football fan, big time college basketball fan.
I think we should start doing this, and I've tried
to do this, and I think.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Falls on deaf ears.

Speaker 6 (54:01):
I brought this up when Luke Fickele left. Just assume,
whoever your coach is, if you if you like them,
if you love them, if you're happy with them, if
you don't want to lose them, if you're smitten with them.
Just assume that when it ends, the ending's going to
be messy. I really can't think of that many instances.

(54:25):
Just make it local if you want, but even beyond
where the end was neatly tied up in a bow,
like I thought when Chris Mack left Xavier. That was
a pretty clean ending, right. Unfortunately they had lost as
a one seed in the second round of Florida State
and and so you know, maybe there was some residual

(54:47):
bad feeling there, but it was like, all right, this
dude did a really good job here, got us in,
you know, ushered the program into the Big East One,
helped continue the level of success that was already building
when he took the job.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Over He's leaving for Louisville.

Speaker 6 (55:02):
It felt like everything was done not transparently, but it
wasn't sneaky. And yet I still find Xavier fans who
will just express disgust at Chris Mack, but beyond that,
it never ends well. So I think what you should
do if you're a college sports fan is just say, look,
however it ends, I'm not going to care, because if
you get caught up in the ending, you're not gonna

(55:25):
like any coach. Like if it's hey, this guy is
gonna be the coach and I'm gonna love him forever.
That's only gonna happen if you just pay no attention
to how it ends. If you love the coach and
he's there for a long time, obviously you don't want.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
It to end. But the ending is never good. The
ending is never good.

Speaker 6 (55:47):
It's like, you can have the most amicable breakup, there's
still hurt feelings. You can have like a fault free
divorce where you're not dragging each other through the courts,
you're still gonna be hurt feelings. So forget about the ending,
because you're not gonna like any coach ever. If you
love Sean Miller at Xavier right now, there's gonna be

(56:08):
an ending at some point, hopefully not for another decade
when it happens, unless he just retires and goes off
into the sunset, which doesn't happen that often. The ending's
gonna be ugly. The ending wasn't great in April of
two thousand and nine. The ending's always bad. I can't
think of a successful UC football coach where the ending

(56:28):
wasn't messy. Don't get caught up in the ending. Make
a pledge from the get go. We're just not even
gonna worry about it. We're not gonna pay attention to it,
and we're not gonna judge the coach's overall body of
work by how it ends, because when it does end,
it's gonna be ugly. It was ugly with John Calipari,

(56:49):
and there was some deception involved. Guess what, Most Kentucky
fans got what they wanted. If I was one of them,
if I had a ticket on Saturday, I'm standing and
cheering Claiborne Snowden on some of the newest reds.

Speaker 8 (57:04):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.

Speaker 9 (57:11):
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Northbound seventy five. The right lane blocked off from an
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thirty minute delay right now back from Mitchell Avenue, Jefferson

(57:34):
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vehicle north of Clark Road.

Speaker 11 (57:40):
I'm at Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
This report is sponsored by Taco Bell.

Speaker 6 (57:44):
Yesterday and right around this time, we found out that
they had acquired lefty reliever Taylor Rogers from the Giants.
I think a pretty solid acquisition. Claiborne Snowden just baseball
dot com calls it a no brainer. Read his piece
at just Baseball dot com and I read it this
morning and I said, that's that's the sort of a
strong take that I want on my show. So I

(58:06):
asked him to come on, and here he is. It's
good to have you. What's going on?

Speaker 15 (58:10):
Hey, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
How good is Taylor Rogers?

Speaker 15 (58:15):
You know, he's a solid veteran lufty and the Reds
now have three lufties in the bullpen, which is okay,
Brinks Suitor can face lefties antroeties, but Rogers himself has
had nothing but a great career to this point. And
you know, an ERA under four and some of the
predictive stats say that that could increase. But still the

(58:37):
guy who can gets some swing and miss but produces
a lot of ground balls, which is exactly what you
need in great American ballpark.

Speaker 6 (58:44):
So I think the first impulse that I had was, well,
you know, beyond the money, and he was due to
make what eleven twelve million bucks with the San Francisco Giants.
Bullpen arms, Lefty bullpen arms are a very hot commodity.
I don't I don't think the Giants fancy themselves as
teams that have as a team that has no chance
of contending, So why would they move on from them?

Speaker 15 (59:06):
Yeah, and you got one thing to remember is Buster
Posey took over this offseason and you know he had
no ties to Rogers. He's bringing in his own players.
So they signed Willia Domis to a big deal, and
they needed to shed some money. I don't know if
that means that they make a push elsewhere for somebody
like a Pete, a Lonzo or a different player. But

(59:27):
they were willing to eat six million on this deal,
which is key for the Reds because now the Reds
are only on the hook for six million. And just
to give people a parameter. Really, what that is? Two
relievers signed yesterday at the same day that the Reds
good Rogers, both for a higher AAV and both similar

(59:47):
enough numbers. I think Esteves, who went to Kansas City,
is a better pitcher, but more of a fly ball pitcher,
not as good of a match for this ballpark.

Speaker 6 (59:57):
So I was talking about this yesterday with someone and
then they go and get a bullpen arm. But I
my point to I was actually talking to my boss.
We were talking about the bullpen, and I go, I
feel like they need two guys. I feel like that's
an area of the team that we've talked a lot
about what they have to do in the corner outfield spots,
and a lot about what the rotation, the makeup of
the rotation is going to be. I feel like no

(01:00:18):
one's really talking that much about the bullpen and I
feel like they need some dudes. They got a dude.
Is acquiring Taylor Rogers enough?

Speaker 15 (01:00:27):
I think for now it is. And keep in mind,
I know the Reds are not always the most active
at the deadline, but bullpen arms are the easiest thing
to get at the deadline and for the price the
Reds are typically willing to pay, which is not all
that much. So for me, it's you add the veteran
and he's also closed out games. He's had over thirty

(01:00:50):
saves twice in his career, So if Alexis Diez goes down,
or even if they were to trade him, you at
least have a guy with that experience. I think with
that said, in Bolton Piece, they've addressed it kind of
what we saw this week, which is, let's sign a
bunch of guys with experience and have them battle it
out in spring. They still have two young prospect Bolton

(01:01:13):
Arms that could find their way on this roster and
Jack Maxwell, who averages over one hundred miles per hour
with this fastball. In Luis May who really showed well
this fall and also has an electric fastball.

Speaker 6 (01:01:27):
Look at the offseason as a whole, because they've acquired
players who, in some cases, with Taylor Rodgers a very
long and well established track record. In Austin Hayes, you
have a guy who's trying to bounce back from what
he was last season. Philadelphia never got, by their own admission,
the real version of Austin Hayes because he dealt with
a kidney issue. Gavin Lux played for a team that

(01:01:49):
won the World Series last year. Brady Singer pitched and
was in the rotation for a team that made the
playoffs last year. I think most view each individual move
as fine but not moving the meter all that much.
When you combine all of those moves, does the meter move?

Speaker 7 (01:02:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 15 (01:02:06):
And I would give the Reds off season a solid
B right now. They did not make the splash move
that one solid or one very good player can take
them and increase their wind total significantly. I think what
they did was raise their floor across the board. You
brought in guys who have been proven winners, guys with
recent playoff experience as well, and now you're not an

(01:02:29):
injury away from a four to a level player. I
think that they are betting on the big splash move,
the equivalent of that being steps forward from Matt McClain,
from La dayla querise, from their young core that they've established.
That's where they want to see the biggest jump and
that's where their superstars will come from these players, or

(01:02:53):
just to surround them with winners, surround them experience and
raise the floor.

Speaker 6 (01:02:57):
I feel like with Lucks and maybe even Hayes to
a degree, like we can debate whether Hayes is going
to help out against right handed pitching fair we can
wonder where Lux is gonna play. I think people forget
at the beginning of the season last year their depth
was tested from day one and it failed.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
They failed to test right.

Speaker 6 (01:03:16):
I mean they were scratching and clawing for guys like
Mike Ford and so I don't think that's insignificant, right, Like,
the headliners this season should be some of the players
you just mentioned, Matt McClain, ces et cetera. I don't
think we should scoff at depth moves. I don't think
we should scoff at guys who might play a lot

(01:03:36):
of different positions and they might not start sixty games
more than sixty games at one spot, but they end
up getting in nearly every game because they can play
a lot of different positions, like a Gavin lux Have,
they at least built their depth up that if it
gets tested early, they can be better than they were
early in the season last year.

Speaker 15 (01:03:53):
Absolutely, And I think that's key is these moves also
push some of the younger players that did not take
this step forward, like noelb Marte, like Will Benson. It
pushes them to triple A, which is great to me.
Start off in Triple A, you know, probably hit well
on Triple A because they're better than that competition, and

(01:04:14):
get their confidence, get them started on the right track
because we know injuries will happen, We know there will
be a reliance on those young players instead of throwing
them in the big leagues and see if they can
sink or swim. Improve your triple A depth, allow them
to build their confidence with hitting well in the minors,
and then hopefully they are more ready to step in

(01:04:35):
when they are needed.

Speaker 6 (01:04:37):
Awesome stuff. I Lovejessbaseball dot Com. We'll do it again, man,
thanks so much.

Speaker 12 (01:04:42):
I appreciate you have a good one.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
You got it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:44):
Go read Clay'spiecejessbaseball dot Com on the Red's newest acquisition,
Taylor Rodgers. Justin Vive is maybe the greatest Cincinnati Cyclones
player of all time. They have their coolest promotion of
the season on Saturday, and uh after a really rough
start to the season, the Cyclones are playing some good hockey.

(01:05:04):
Justin five joins us.

Speaker 8 (01:05:05):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 9 (01:05:14):
back to being you. Visit ucehealth dot com. Southbound cole
Raine Avenue. Police activity is blocking off the right lane
that's at Joseph Road, a little bit of stop and
go traffic from Pool Road north found seventy five. It's

(01:05:34):
an overturned vehicle blocking off the right lane that between
Galbreath Road and Davis Street. Up to a thirty minute
delay on that ezalic with traffic.

Speaker 6 (01:05:44):
It is twenty two from five ESPN fifteen thirty sports
headlines in just a few minutes. But first, you know,
one of the the coolest sports promotions in the city
is on Saturday night, that's actually Saturday afternoon, the Cincinnati
Cyclones have a game against Liedo at four o'clock. They
do a Teddy Bear toss every year, which is really cool.

(01:06:06):
It's a great initiative, and we're going to go into
further detail about that. They also have a game the
Cyclones do on Friday night, a home game against Wheeling.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
They had a tilt last night. They win at four
to one.

Speaker 6 (01:06:16):
It's interesting the Cyclones since the first of the year
have They've rejuvenated everybody's playoff hopes because there was a
stretch of time in November and December where not only
were they not winning, but the scores were kind of ugly.
They have gotten things back on track, still lots of
time to go. They're playing really well, and a major
reason why is a Cyclones legend, the great Justin Vibe,

(01:06:38):
who is with us now. It is good to have you, Justin.
What's going on?

Speaker 12 (01:06:42):
Oh not a whole lot?

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
Thanks a lot for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
I appreciate you. Doing this.

Speaker 6 (01:06:46):
I mentioned, you know, kind of when the calendar flipped
at twenty twenty five, it feels like the switch got
flipped on for the Cyclones. You guys have been awesome
in twenty twenty five. The month is almost over. What's
been the difference.

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
I don't think there's one, you know, easy, easy answer
for that. You know, we've made some personnel changes, which
you know was always a good thing when you shake
things up like that. But I think overall, just you know,
we're a really young team kind of finding our footing
in the pro aspect of things, and I think guys
have really stepped up your game to that next level,

(01:07:21):
and you know it's showing definitely on the scoreboard and
in the standings.

Speaker 6 (01:07:25):
In that stretch, you played your five hundredth career EHL
game and you scored your one hundred and fiftieth goal
as a member of the Cyclones.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
What do those milestones mean?

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
I mean, I've been asked a lot about it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
It's a special thing to me.

Speaker 4 (01:07:42):
I mean, it also just means I'm getting old and
I've been playing a long time.

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
But at the end of the day, it's it's definitely
something cool.

Speaker 4 (01:07:50):
I can look back on when I'm retired and talked
with my family and friends about and it's just definitely
just a special moment overall.

Speaker 6 (01:07:58):
I mean, you're you're playing with You're playing with guys
who when when they when you started your professional hockey career,
were not even teenagers yet, So so what's that dynamic?

Speaker 4 (01:08:09):
Like, I do my best to keep up with, you know,
the lingo and all the happening things that they're enjoying
these days, but it's definitely definitely a unique challenge at
times when I think now officially I'm I'm closer to
a lot of their parents' age than the actual players

(01:08:30):
on the team.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
So it's an interesting dynamic.

Speaker 4 (01:08:33):
But you know, I'll credit with them keeping me young
and definitely full of energy.

Speaker 6 (01:08:38):
Do you find yourself being kind of an extension of
the coaching staff, given your your level of experience and
what you've accomplished in this sport.

Speaker 4 (01:08:47):
Yeah, I think on both sides of that kind of coin,
I see it, you know, obviously relaying messages that I
know the coaches are thinking about or talking about, but
also at the same time kind of talking to the
coaches when they, you know, want to come down on
guys for doing certain things or talking about certain things.
I'm on that other side hearing how these guys are

(01:09:07):
seeing the game now and you know, trying different things.
So it's an interesting middle, but one I've you know,
accepted and definitely enjoyed doing.

Speaker 6 (01:09:18):
Justin Vive of the Cyclones is with us. There's a
retire Vibe twitter feed Twitter account which the movement there
is is to get your number retired at the Heritage
Bank Center. I feel like that's going to happen one
day when when you look, you've been with the Clones
and you've left and you moved up the level. I
mean it's not like it's been continuous with the Cyclones.
But when you started your when you when you came

(01:09:40):
to Miami University in this part of Ohio, this part
of the country as as a kid, could you have
imagined having carved out the legacy that you've managed to
in this city.

Speaker 4 (01:09:53):
Well, first off, just to put the rumors going around
the locker room to bed. That is not my burner
account any of that all the time. To set that straight,
but definitely not. You know, when I got here at eighteen,
I never really been to Cincinnati before. I mean I

(01:10:13):
didn't think it was going to be you know, a
dream really any city picked out.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
At that point, I was just you know.

Speaker 4 (01:10:19):
Wanting to play pro hockey and wanting to have a
career in it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:23):
But as I've been here.

Speaker 4 (01:10:25):
Longer and longer, it's, like I've said many times before,
it kind.

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
Of become my home. And you know, I.

Speaker 4 (01:10:32):
Cherished the rink, the city, the fans, all that that
they've given me, and I've always said, if it's a
wish of the franchise at the end of my career,
then obviously I would be more than an honor to
accept that.

Speaker 6 (01:10:43):
Well, what's interesting about that is you use the term
end of my career, and typically stuff like that gets
floated out there when a guy's at the You're not
close to retiring, are.

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
You, I honestly, I have no clue. I've always said,
as long as I feel good out there on the ice,
and my body feels good away from the rink, then
I mean I want to play as long as I can.
I enjoy it too much and just thinking about not
waking up every day, you know, going to the rink,
that adrenaline of games and being out there in front

(01:11:13):
of all the fans.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
And stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
It's it's something I don't want to see end. So
as long as everything's feeling good and I'm out there
and able to contribute in any way, then I definitely
want to keep playing.

Speaker 6 (01:11:24):
So that the Cyclones, you know, they have a lot
of they have a lot of promotions, they have a
lot of like different novelty jerseys.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
Do you do you have like a novelty.

Speaker 6 (01:11:32):
Jersey that you've you've worn that you've been like, you
know what, I want to keep this, I like this
or I wish we were this more often.

Speaker 4 (01:11:40):
There's two that I actually have of my jersey that
we have worn, and one was the Skyline Chile. I'm
a big, big fan of Skyline, so I have I
have one of those at home. And then the other
one that I thought was really cool. I'm a big
fan of King's Island. When we wore the Beast jerseys

(01:12:01):
and they asked me to do a bobblehead kind of
promode with that jersey, So that was one that I
wanted to hold on to, so at some point in
my later years I can kind of display those at home.
But as it goes for just promos in general, I
think my favorite, and I think a lot of guys
would agree, is that the Teddy Bear Toss coming up

(01:12:23):
on Saturday. It's always something special to see, that's for sure.

Speaker 6 (01:12:27):
Yeah, and it feels like, you know, folks show up
to the game and they legitimately participate, like this is
one that a lot of people might go. Okay, I
gotta go to one game a year, but I want
to bring my Teddy Bear.

Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
I want to go.

Speaker 6 (01:12:38):
It is such a cool initiative, and fans really do
get into it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:43):
One hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
I mean, I don't really know any other sport or
event or team where, like you said, you can go
and you are actively waiting to interact with the players
and the team and just the whole crowd itself. It's
it's something that hockey is kind of adopted and it's
literally every team is doing it now, and it's it's
one of the coolest events ever. And at the same time,

(01:13:06):
you're benefiting great causes around your local city. And just
know that the players there, they're looking forward to seeing
them fly just as much as the fans are.

Speaker 12 (01:13:14):
For sure.

Speaker 6 (01:13:15):
You guys, in your sport, you have a lot of
quick turnarounds, but what is it like, and I hate
to say this, and look, you're younger than me at
your age, what does it like to play a day
game on Saturday after a night game on Friday.

Speaker 4 (01:13:29):
It's tough, you know, as the year, as the years
pile up, it definitely, you know, gets a little tougher.
But it's one thing that kind of since I've started
playing professional hockey, it's just you know, you become accustomed to,
you know, whether it's three games and three nights or
an afternoon game after a night game. I mean, it's
every team's doing it, so I mean, I guess kind

(01:13:52):
of guys just can forget about the excuses when it
comes to these things, because you know, the other team
that we're playing on Saturday probably later Friday night and
now they're traveling into Cincinnati. So everybody's doing it, and
it's just kind of the one of those mental blocks
you put in that you know, you're not tired and
you're just ready to get out there and compete.

Speaker 6 (01:14:12):
Now now you're going to have to like go in
your mental rolodex here, what is like the toughest turnaround
that you've ever had, Whether it's been a bunch of
games in a short amount of time, a game at
night and a game in the morning. Like that, You're like,
all right, we put up with a lot, we do
a lot. We're hockey players. We got through, but this
is maybe a little bit too much.

Speaker 4 (01:14:33):
There's two that come to mind. The first one was
about five six years ago. We played Friday Saturday night
on the road, and then we were scheduled to play
Sunday at home here in Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
At three o'clock.

Speaker 4 (01:14:48):
But there was a snowstorm perfect when we were coming
through Indy, so we pulled over, slept on the bus
until the morning, and we got home about eleven am
and basically went back to her house, his apartments, showered, change,
described a bite to eat, and then came right back
to the rink and still played the three o'clock games.

Speaker 3 (01:15:08):
So that one, that one was pretty crazy. And then
the other one was this year.

Speaker 4 (01:15:12):
Actually we had some scheduling conflicts and we played three
games Friday, Saturday Sunday in Norfolk, Virginia. Yeah, and then
we bust home after the Sunday night game, got home
Monday morning, and then turned around and played Tuesday Wednesday
night at home here. So five games in almost six days.

Speaker 6 (01:15:34):
That's uh, that's insane. That's that's insane. Do you like
Do you like those ten thirty in the morning games
they have for school kids?

Speaker 3 (01:15:42):
I wrote it.

Speaker 13 (01:15:44):
I've grown fond of them.

Speaker 4 (01:15:46):
I'll say that when I was younger, it was a
little tougher to kind of get up that early and
kind of get into that mental game state. But as
they've gotten older and realized getting out of the rink
at about one thirty after I'm already playing the game.

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
It's kind of nice. I'm a fan of them now.

Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
Yeah, yeah, you got your day in front of you.

Speaker 12 (01:16:04):
Well.

Speaker 6 (01:16:05):
Saturday's game is a matinee, the Teddy Bear Toss, Cincinnati
hosting the Toledo Walleye. A busy weekend of hockey downtown.
Congratulations on your recent milestones on the turnaround of the season.
You guys still have a lot of a lot of
hockey to play, and I can't thank you enough for
doing this.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
Thanks so much.

Speaker 4 (01:16:23):
I appreciate it, Thanks for having me on and looking
forward to well the whole weekend, but Saturday watching all
those bears.

Speaker 6 (01:16:29):
Fly, yeah it is. It is an awesome event, justin vibe.
Thank you so much, SINCINNI Cyclones. It's it's really cool.
You chances are you've seen this on social media, so
ask fans to come down. And by the way, there's
two dollars pizza on Saturday, and you toss your teddy
bear onto the ice and then they donate all the
teddy bears to the Cincinnati Police and fire departments. And

(01:16:52):
you know, if they've got a situation where there's a
child who needs to be comforted for whatever reason, the
teddy bear helps, and so it's it's pretty cool again.
That's on on Saturday afternoon. The puck drops at four o'clock.
Doors open at three Clones, hosting the Toledo Walleye and
they've been playing really.

Speaker 2 (01:17:07):
Well since the first of the year.

Speaker 6 (01:17:09):
A couple of things really quick sports headlines courtesy of
Kelsey Chevrolet. FC Cincinnati tied Houston Dynamo in their exhibition.
It's not really an exhibition, it's a preseason friendly. Pavel
Buca with.

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
The long goal for the Orange and Blue.

Speaker 6 (01:17:26):
College basketball Tonight, Kus on the road against Detroit Mercy
at seven on ESPN fifteen thirty. Ohio State battles Penn State.
Miami extends the contract of Travis Steel and the Blue
Jackets skate on the road tonight against Vegas in Vegas.
There you go ten away from five ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 12 (01:17:42):
To thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:17:44):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the.

Speaker 9 (01:17:49):
UC Health Traffic Center. Expect more at u see Health,
more clinical trials, more treatment options for personalized care, more
chances to get you back to being you at you
see health dot com. Police activity blocks off the right
lane southbound on col Rain Avenue at Joseph Road. That
does of traffic stop and go back from Pool Road. Also,

(01:18:11):
as a result, northbound Cole Rain Avenue traffic stop and
go between Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway and Joseph Road.
I'm at eazelic with traffic this report.

Speaker 6 (01:18:21):
Yes, it is six away from five. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Scott Saidefield joins me at five twenty. We
got well four, we.

Speaker 11 (01:18:35):
Got like four.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
We got three minutes here at three minutes here to
take a phone call. So let's do it.

Speaker 6 (01:18:39):
Bob.

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, Bob, how are you?

Speaker 10 (01:18:43):
Oh, what's going on?

Speaker 12 (01:18:45):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (01:18:45):
Just sitting here and enjoying myself doing a talk show.
How about yourself.

Speaker 7 (01:18:49):
I'm enjoying myself and bullygree although we have rain too
at this time though, so you know, just at typical day. Hey,
I heard your interview with Justin and I got to
meet him. I think it was about two years ago
over at the ballpark in Florence, and really really good

(01:19:11):
guy and a big man.

Speaker 13 (01:19:15):
He's a big dude.

Speaker 7 (01:19:16):
But I met his dad about fifty years ago and
his dad is of course a Hockey Hall of Famer. Yes,
and his dad played in the wh A and he
was part of a team in Birmingham, and Birmingham went

(01:19:39):
out and hired or didn't hire, but they signed all
these guys that were prior to the NHL being able
to bring in guys as young as these people were,
which is how Wayne Gretzky wound up in the WHA.
But it was and it was a team of a
lot out of talent. I think two or three of

(01:20:04):
those guys have wound up in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
And they played in Birmingham.

Speaker 7 (01:20:10):
Yes, there was a guy named Kenny Linsman that they
called the Rat, a guy named Rob Ramage who lasted
a long time NHL, a guy named Craig Hertzburg, who
I think maybe in the Hall of Fame and along
with Rick and but yeah, just a really really good
team and a team of a lot of roughnecks as well,

(01:20:34):
I mean, tough group. But I'm really enjoyed hearing him.

Speaker 6 (01:20:38):
It was fun to talk to to Justin. And I
know you're you're probably the biggest hockey fan among our
more regular listeners. So we did that just for you, Bob.

Speaker 3 (01:20:47):
You did no?

Speaker 12 (01:20:50):
Hey?

Speaker 7 (01:20:51):
Well no, no? And are they part of Toronto's.

Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
Is a legend?

Speaker 7 (01:21:01):
Yes, And if you ever get a chance, if if
this man ever makes it to Cincinnati as a scouting
trip or whatever. They're head coach is a guy named
Craig Barrubi who won the Stanley Cup of the Blues
a few years back as their coach, and he would
be a great guy if Cover got the chance to
speak with him on the air.

Speaker 12 (01:21:23):
They call him the.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
Chief Craig Breby they do, yes, okay, and a.

Speaker 7 (01:21:29):
Real badass back in the NHL days, had a great
hockey player as well, right.

Speaker 6 (01:21:34):
And then the Stanley Cup. But is he he got
he got left go last year?

Speaker 3 (01:21:38):
Right he did? Yes?

Speaker 7 (01:21:40):
You don't laugh long in the NHL, No.

Speaker 2 (01:21:42):
It feels like they cuccle through coaches pretty quickly.

Speaker 3 (01:21:45):
In that sport, no doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:48):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:21:49):
All right, well, Bob, it's a delight to hear. How's
everybody in Bowling Green.

Speaker 12 (01:21:54):
Everybody's great.

Speaker 7 (01:21:55):
Hey, I did have one more question for.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
You, Sure, go ahead.

Speaker 7 (01:21:58):
Who do you think will be booed more of this weekend?
John cala Perry or West Miller.

Speaker 2 (01:22:05):
I think John Calipario will be bowed more than West
Miller is.

Speaker 6 (01:22:08):
But there if things go south on Sunday when you
see plays West Virginia, the the the hardy booze we
have heard in games this year will be even louder. Bob,
I gonna run, man, Thank you, thank you very much.
It's coming up on five o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Since for this nationwide keyword on our website, bonus.

Speaker 2 (01:22:29):
That's bonus. Enter it now, Yeah, ponents.

Speaker 5 (01:22:34):
Like Bonusty hous Cincinnati's sports station, bonus.

Speaker 2 (01:22:40):
What's up?

Speaker 6 (01:22:41):
It's five o five ESPN fifteen thirty onm oegar. Thank
you for listening. Hope you are having the greatest Thursday
of your life. Scott Saderfield's with me in fifteen minutes.
You see it's been exactly exactly two months since the
Bearcats played their last game, turning the page to a
twenty twenty. And so you know, they made a whole

(01:23:03):
bunch of transfer players, including one you're gonna hear from
tomorrow or earlier today, and had a chance to spend
a few minutes with the UC head football coach. And
you'll hear that conversation coming up about in about fifteen minutes.
Plus one more take on booing, since that's been a
big thing today. Subject of one of two pole questions
on Twitter thanks to United Heartland Insurance, we were talking about

(01:23:25):
John Caliperi going back to UK again. Rick Patino, the
former UK coach, has decided to take it upon himself
to go to social media to tell Kentucky fans you
shouldn't boo John Caliperi, And so I've asked on Twitter,
should should UK fans? If you're a UK fan, should
you if you have takes to the game specifically on Saturday?

(01:23:46):
Should should you listen to Rick Patino and not boom?
By the way, most say yeah, go ahead and boom.
More on that here and a bit the other pole
questions about Treny Hendricksonduke Tobin did a Q and A
with Kelsey Conway and there were there were a lot
of interesting things in there. The Trey Hendrickson answer that
he gave that I thought was interesting. You know, Kelsey asked,

(01:24:09):
are you planning to give Trey Hendrickson an extension this offseason?
And the basic crux of his answer was you don't
just hand over an extension, you negotiate on one. But
he said, and this is what I think is interesting. Quote,
we can't have guys at the top of the payroll
in every position, right, So they've got one at quarterback,

(01:24:30):
They've they're gonna have one at wide receiver in Jamar Chase.
Maybe they'll have two at wide receiver of t Higgins's back,
like you can only have And this is as much
as people will so.

Speaker 2 (01:24:40):
Well, the CAP's not real.

Speaker 6 (01:24:42):
You really can only have so many players who are
the highest paid at their position on your football team.
That's I think we could agree on that, right. So
that's that's interesting. And this is I've beaten this drum
now for a couple of months. I think this is
the most interesting amick this offseason because you could bring

(01:25:03):
back Trey Hendrickson in twenty twenty five and extend him.
And on some level, yeah, Trey is a great pass rusher.
He was the best player on the defense this year.
He was the only good player on the defense this year.
You could argue, and, uh, all right, So extend him,
and you get him for the remainder of his good years,
and you reward him, and you avoid any offseason issues,

(01:25:27):
any hold out, and any trade requests, and you eliminate
the possibility of there being any off season or training
camp noise with Trey Hendrickson, and you're good. You could
also have him play for the team in twenty twenty
five he is under contract, and not extend him and
deal with whatever fallout there is, including him leaving as
a free agent at the end of this year, including

(01:25:49):
maybe him asking for another trade, including a Jamar Chase
type hold in. You could do that, and then you
could also float him in a trade, which is a's
tough possibility to confront. If you understand how bad the
Bengals were defensively last season, right, so wait a minute,
Defensive Player of the Year finalist, bad defense, and we're

(01:26:09):
gonna trade him. At the same time, you would save
a lot of money, and you can apply that money
to other areas of the team, And the Bengals do
have a lot of other areas of the team, and
you could flip tray for I'm guessing pretty good draft capital.
All three of those options are on the table. I'm
asking you to vote now, right now. Extend his deal

(01:26:31):
and pay him what he wants. Is in the lead
fifty five percent maybe, But here's the thing about an
extension number one. Duke Tobin also, when asked about the
performance of the defense, acknowledges we ran it back with
guys who were here for the Super Bowl run, and
maybe we shouldn't have done that. And if you think

(01:26:53):
of some of those players who are here important parts
of the Super Bowl run. Sam Hubbard, Jermaine Pratt, Mike Hilton,
I think fit nicely into the role they carved out.
It just was kind of a limited role. And so
you look at those players, and you know, Mike Hilton's
a free agent, but Jermaine Pratt could be cut, Sam

(01:27:14):
Hubbard could be cut. I'm kind of ready to move
on from all three. Hilton I can make a case
for because in the one role they asked him to fill,
he was quite useful. At the same time, if the
lesson from this season is don't stick with players too long,
does that really mesh with extending Trey Hendrickson. Again, this

(01:27:36):
is worth repeating. Like Trey Hendrickson is under contract to
play for the Bengals in twenty twenty five, he cannot
leave as a free agent. If one of the lessons
from this year is you know, some of those guys
we stayed with too long, don't you run that risk
with Trey Hendrickson right now a terrific player, if you're

(01:28:00):
signing up for him being here in twenty twenty six
and beyond. It's a fair question. I think the answer
is yes. He may blow that up. He may blow
that narrative up. He may do what Andrew Whitworth did
and play a physically taxing position at a really high
level deep into his thirties. But if your big takeaway,

(01:28:25):
or if one of your big takeaways from this season
is we hung with too many guys who were on
the Super Bowl team, We stayed.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
With them too long, we counted on them too long.

Speaker 6 (01:28:42):
Then I think you have to give a lot of
thought to extending Trey Hendrickson, especially if he's gonna want
an enormous pay raise. You might say, right now, Trey
Hendrickson should be the most highly paid edge rusher in
the sport right now. Maybe because you can make the

(01:29:03):
argument he's the best. Now, there are other things that
he doesn't do as well as players who accumulate a
lot of sacks. Trey's not great against the run. He's
not a guy that's moving inside and out. He's not
a chess piece. Maybe Al Golden turns him into one.
But if he wants to be the highest page edge
rusher in the sport, okay, But is he gonna be

(01:29:24):
the best edge rusher in the sport in twenty twenty six.
Let's be honest, we love Trey. The answer is likely not,
so we're not just handing him a blank check, right
I think what I would be willing to do right
now with Trey Hendrickson is do what they did with

(01:29:44):
t Higgins. Hey man, you're under contract for a year.
Let's play it out. Let's play it out. Because I don't,
I'm okay, and I think it's I think it's interesting
to talk about what you can get in a trade
for Trey head interesting to take the money he's due,
and you know, think about what you could do with
it with the rest of the roster. But I actually

(01:30:07):
believe the Bengals can win the Super Bowl next season. Now,
a lot has to go right this offseason, and then
a lot has to go right next season. But I
think you can win a title in twenty twenty five,
and I think you your chances of doing so are
better with Trey on your team than not. This sounds
a lot like the same things we were saying about

(01:30:28):
t Higgins a year ago. And if you win a
title and you lose Trey Hendrickson in free agency, okay,
I think with some there's a concern. Well, yeah, but
you want a quiet offseason, don't you.

Speaker 2 (01:30:42):
You want no noise.

Speaker 6 (01:30:44):
You want there to be a nice, serene training camp,
no trade requests, no hold ins, no holdouts, no no
worrying about whether this guy is gonna play in the
first game, which is what dominated training camp last year,
by the way, not with t Higgins but with Jamar Chase.
And so you've got a player in Trey who did

(01:31:06):
request the trade last year, and so maybe you're concerned, Well,
if they don't extend him, then what's gonna happen. Is
he gonna sit out? I don't think he's gonna turn
down game checks. Is he going to be a disruption
during training camp? You know, maybe, But he did request
the trade, and when he didn't get it, you know,

(01:31:26):
he showed up. He was there for a lot of
offseason workouts, he was there for training camp, and it
was kind of a forgotten story by the time July
got here.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:31:35):
I think you cannot make large decisions and what to
do with a player like this is a large decision
based out of fear of what might happen if things
don't go the player's way.

Speaker 12 (01:31:51):
You can't.

Speaker 6 (01:31:52):
This is a big decision, right. You can't be afraid
of telling Trey Hendrickson no because you're worried the trade.
Hendrickson is going to throw a temper tantrum, which, by
the way, I don't think you will, but you can't.
You can't be afraid to tell Trey Hendrickson no because
you think he's going to cause a distraction. If you
worry about that, then there's something screwed up with your team.

Speaker 2 (01:32:14):
Look. I've thought about this a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:32:15):
So the Jamar and Chase thing last summer was a
sports talk radio host dream. I'm not sure it was
a head coach's dream, but I loved it because it
gave me something every single day, and it really was
an interesting story, and it was noisy, and it probably
the entire ordeal ran counterproductive to winning. But I've almost

(01:32:36):
arrived at a point where if you've got a if
you've got a football team with some good players, some
really good players, like players consider to be among the
very very best at their position. If you have more
than one of those guys, noise is inevitable. There's always
going to be somebody who wants a contract extension or

(01:32:58):
more money, or a bigger role or a trade. Always
always like they'll get Jamar Chase signed, and there'll be
a resolution to the t Higgins thing and a resolution
to the Trey Hendrickson thing, and then there's gonna be
someone else down the road. Maybe it's Chase Brown, maybe
it's one of their defensive backs. There's gonna be someone

(01:33:19):
like I think we talk about these things sometime during
the offseason, as if, all right, get this done and
then no more distractions. You have followed the Bengals for
the last let's just say since Zach Taylor took over.
How many different things were there when he first got here.
None because they had no good players. Oh yeah, there
was Carlos dun Lapp not happy, and there was the

(01:33:40):
dog and pony show with aj Green his last year
here or second to last year here. But by and large,
not a whole lot of like real hard contract disputes
because there was nobody, nobody really worth signing. Even the
noise about Joe Mixon and him holding in that had
a very short shelf life. What's happened since Bengals have
played better? Four straight winning seasons? They have good players.

(01:34:02):
With good players come things like contract extension negotiations and
franchise tags and good questions about, you know, whether it's
really worth extending them if their best seasons might be
behind them. I'm just to a point where as long
as you have good players, offseason and training camp noise

(01:34:23):
is almost unavoidable. Look the Kansas City Chiefs two off
seasons ago, Chris Jones missed all of training camp. If
I recall, didn't play the first game. Chris Jones is awesome.
Was coming off of winning the Super Bowl, making a
huge play in the AFC Title Game against the Bengals

(01:34:44):
sat out like, that's the Chiefs. A great franchise. You
might hate for me to say that, but a great franchise.
I just I feel like noise is going to be inevitable.
You have high caliber players. They all want more money, understandably,
so they all want longer extensions understandably, So like you're
just you cannot act in fear that if I don't

(01:35:07):
do this, there's gonna be a trade request or oh no,
there's gonna be a hold in. Hopefully your team is
good enough and you as a staff are good enough.
Your staff is good enough to figure out a way
to work through the noise. And maybe the Bengals weren't
last year, and maybe that's something Zach Taylor's gonna have
to get used to. Right as long as I'm the
head coach of this team, if we have good players,

(01:35:28):
there's always gonna be something or someone. So what I
would do with Trey Hendrickson, and this is the least
popular of the choices I have on my poll question,
I would tell them, look, let's talk about an extension,
but chances are you're gonna want more than you're making
right now. Chances are those years we'd be signing you
for You're not gonna be as good as you are

(01:35:49):
right now, So tell you what, let's just play it out.
Let's just play it out and hopefully you come to
camp on time. If you don't, we'll deal with it.
Hopefully you don't request of trade. If you do, we're
not gonna trade you. And you're motivated to go have
a great year and then hit free agency. We benefit
from it in the short term. We could still negotiate

(01:36:10):
with you at the end of this season, and if
you leave and we win, you leave and you're a
guy who at that point is gonna be thirty one
years old, who knows what's next.

Speaker 2 (01:36:22):
But we're not gonna give you what you.

Speaker 6 (01:36:23):
Want because if we don't, huh, he's gonna make a
big stink out of it. You can't do that. You would,
no company would do. If we don't do this, the
workers are gonna throw temper tantrums. You don't do that
with your kids, right If I don't let her have
two desserts, she's gonna throw a temper tantrum. And then
trade didn't throw any temper tantrum. But I think you
get what I'm getting at here, like, the noise is inevitable.

(01:36:47):
I just I've arrived at the point where I think
we're gonna do this on some level every single year.
It's part of what makes the NFL offseason fun.

Speaker 2 (01:36:57):
But I do think.

Speaker 6 (01:36:58):
We act like, all right, you gotta get Like just
over the last couple of years, we've had Jesse Bates.
That was a saga. We've had t Higgins that was
a saga. Well, we had Jamar Chase that was a saga.
Right now, the common denominator is the Bengals can't get
a deal done with any We'll see if they get
one done with Jamar good players, like, it's unavoidable, it's unavoidable.

(01:37:19):
So I think with number one, with Trey, let's just hey, dude,
come play for us next year. We could talk about
an extension. Chances are we're not going to find much
common ground on what you want and what we are
willing to give. So let's have you play next year.
Let's go win a title, and let's see what happens
at the end of it, and we'll deal with the
fallout from that and hopefully if there is noise, hold ins, holdouts,

(01:37:43):
trade requests, the culture of this team, the front office
of this team, the team itself is good enough to
figure out a way to work through it. May be
drawing lessons from last year when they weren't good enough
to deal with it, and big picture, we're gonna deal
with this as long as as long as they have
good players. This is something we're gonna have to confront
every single year. You cannot make a decision like this

(01:38:08):
out of fear of oh no, he's gonna hold in
I just because you're gonna end up. You're gonna end
up doing that every single year with someone. Don't do
it with Trey Hendrickson, especially not now. And you know
the other one is and I know I'm late here.
We gotta get to Scott Saderfield. If you paid attention

(01:38:32):
to a stretch of time when the Bengals were constantly
just running it back with iconic players like Geno Atkins
has a Hall of Fame case, did it feel like
they gave him one contract too many, Carlos Dunlapcott one
contract too many? Andrew Whitworth didn't. I'll admit that. Like

(01:38:52):
there's a well established track record here of there being
times where really productive players, really popular players, maybe got
one contract too many. If you acknowledge that that's been
an issue in the past, you have to at least
acknowledge that there's some peril in giving Trey Hendrickson, as

(01:39:15):
great of a player as he is, maybe one contract
too many. I'm gonna guess it's January thirtieth. We're gonna
be talking about Trey Hendrickson clear through August thirtieth. We're
going to talk with Scott Saderfield next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:39:30):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 9 (01:39:35):
UC Health Traffic Center. Expect more at uce Health, more
to get you back to being you visit ucehealth dot com.
Southbound cole Raine Avenue. Police activity continuing to block off
the right lane at Joseph Road that does have traffic
stop and go back from Pool Road southbound seventy five.

(01:39:58):
It's an accident on the entry. It's ramped from Hoppel Street.
Police are blocking off the very end of that ramp
on that He's that like with traffic.

Speaker 13 (01:40:06):
This report is sponsored by Rapid Radio.

Speaker 6 (01:40:09):
For five ESPN fifteen thirty. My name's Moeger Thank you
for listening today. You see has a like every college program,
a transfer portal class, and Scott Saderfield talk with the
assembled media to discuss some of those players, and some
of those players spoke publicly today.

Speaker 2 (01:40:27):
We'll hear from one of them tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (01:40:29):
After he got done, they took me into that room
where the rich people go before basketball games and during
basketball games. And I'm, you know, folks like you and
I aren't allowed in, but they took us in there
and Scott Saderfield and I sat down and I brought
my tape recorder with me and we had a conversation.
I started by asking him to tell us where the
class of transfers from other programs can make an immediate impact.

Speaker 16 (01:40:55):
That's a good question that remains to be seen. I mean,
I think I think probably the biggest is going to
be a wide receiver. I mean, I just think that
was one of our huge knees that we had to
go out and find some guys. And I think with
the guys that we added and we wanted to get speed,
you know, Cyris Islam, Caleb Goody, two of the faster
guys in the country last year who I think will
really help us with knocking the top off, throwing the

(01:41:16):
ball deep in some of those crossing rountdes where they
can take it to the distance.

Speaker 13 (01:41:20):
A guy like Jeff Calwell, who's a six to.

Speaker 16 (01:41:22):
Five player, extremely long arms, great leaping ability.

Speaker 13 (01:41:26):
We've already seen he broad jumped over eleven feet, you know.

Speaker 16 (01:41:28):
So I mean, here's a guy who's who's has that
link but also can really jump. And then know what, Jennings,
I think it is just an outstanding solid football player
who can play a lot of positions for so you know,
add that with a Tony Johnson, who's the guy who
had six touchdowns for us last year. I feel like
that room now we've replentished that room. We've had some
guys that are that have playmaking ability. So I think
that's I think that room will have the biggest impact

(01:41:49):
that of all the transfers. But I do certainly think
that we have brought some guys that can help. We
brought two defensive ends. I think that will really add
to that mix up front. Three safeties that I think
we can now use some guys that's maybe some other positions,
maybe corner, you know, maybe in a nickel position. But
having those guys there, it's gonna really help. They bring
some good experience. So you know, I think those just

(01:42:09):
guys name to name a few that I really have
impact on our team.

Speaker 6 (01:42:13):
When when you hear people talk about the NFL Draft,
they often say you draft players, not positions. Right, Does
the transfer portal work similarly?

Speaker 3 (01:42:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 16 (01:42:23):
I mean I do think you know, when you're looking
at it, you're gonna have your certain needs that you're
looking for. So when you're going into the portal, what
are the added benefits of the portal? You're actually seeing
them play. You see what they can do. You see
if they're a good pass rusher, You see if they're
a good tackler, or if they're a good cover guy.
So then you also see if they have versatility, and
I think that's something else. Do you want a guy
that's versatile, then that's what you got to go after.

(01:42:45):
Do you want a guy that can can play corner
and cover, then that's what you go after.

Speaker 13 (01:42:49):
So I do think you're able.

Speaker 16 (01:42:51):
To really kind of pinpoint exactly what your needs are
for your specific team. And you know, a wide receiver
we talked about, you want size, We got a size
almost be We got to seeds you know, so, so
I do think you know, you're able to look at that.

Speaker 13 (01:43:03):
We wanted a bigger back, so we went and got
Ty Weee.

Speaker 16 (01:43:06):
You know, he's a guy who's, you know, two hundred
and fifteen eighteen pound guy who can break tackles. We
didn't need another scat back.

Speaker 13 (01:43:11):
You know.

Speaker 16 (01:43:12):
We have Evan Pryor, we have Mannicub, you know, so
we we got some guys that can do that. So
I think you're able to go out and get the
guys that you actually fit for your team.

Speaker 13 (01:43:20):
I've got to think.

Speaker 2 (01:43:20):
And he saw it.

Speaker 6 (01:43:21):
As the season unfolded toward the end, there was I
think you would admit this a lack of explosiveness. So
you sat down, I'm sure, and said, you know what,
that's something that no matter what we do and who
we bring in, that we have to address absolutely.

Speaker 13 (01:43:34):
I mean, you know, if you if you watch us play,
you know that.

Speaker 16 (01:43:36):
I mean, Evan Pryor was probably a big play guy
who you know, knocked off some big runs and catch
us you know, and and and I think we had
to go out and get a guy to really they
can catch a ball and run off with it and
go get some yards, you know, We had some solid
receivers last year and did this really nice things. But
there comes point in times in those these games where
you have to go make a play.

Speaker 13 (01:43:57):
You know, we've seen it with some teams we played.

Speaker 16 (01:43:59):
You know, if they catch a dig and all of
a sudden they go they ride out for fifty yards.
I mean, so we got to be able to have
those type of guys and I at least nothing else you're
able to You got a threaten the defense. All right,
maybe you don't connect on some of those, but they
do back up and now that's going to create some
more space underneath and we're able to make some more
big plays.

Speaker 13 (01:44:15):
So we wantly wanted to.

Speaker 16 (01:44:17):
Go out from trying to find some of those type guys,
and I think hopefully we were able to do that.

Speaker 13 (01:44:20):
You talked about.

Speaker 6 (01:44:21):
Brendan Soresby's involvement in recruiting some of these guys, and
maybe there are players you wouldn't have been able to
get had he not been involved.

Speaker 2 (01:44:29):
What's what does he do? What's his level of involvement.

Speaker 13 (01:44:32):
Like, yeah, no, he's extremely involved.

Speaker 16 (01:44:35):
He was in our he was in our offices as
coaches every day that we bring guys in. So he's
up there, we're doing sosby just checking in coach when
we got to that, you know. So that's the way
he was, and you know, and he should be like you,
you're a quarterback. You want to have some guys to
throw the ball to, So you better go out and
recruit these guys as long with the coaches, because these
players are gonna going to come play for somebody they

(01:44:55):
know they feel good about.

Speaker 13 (01:44:57):
And and Brendan has a you know, he's.

Speaker 16 (01:44:58):
Got arm, talent, he he's got he's got all the
stuff you want. And so he was able to sell
these guys that the fact that hey, look, we need you,
we want you come here.

Speaker 13 (01:45:07):
Let's get this thing going.

Speaker 16 (01:45:09):
And so he was texting them, he was calling them,
he was talking to him, he was went to dinner
with them, and just trying to build that relationship, to
that bond because we all know that is huge for
the quarterback.

Speaker 6 (01:45:17):
Receiver when when a kid comes to U see from
another program and the next semester begins. Obviously we're still
a few weeks away from spring ball, but what are
what are you allowed to do as a staff with
those guys on the field.

Speaker 16 (01:45:29):
Yeah, you know, there is certain restrictions. So but we
were able to go out on the field. You know,
with the strength staff, they're gonna do a lot of
the agilities and run. We're gonna be out there with them.
We're gonna we're gonna coach that up with them as well.
We're gonna see how competitive they are. We're also doing
some walk to through type things on the field where
you know, we're like these new guys, we're teaching them formations,
how to line up, you know, operation of the offense

(01:45:51):
and or defense.

Speaker 3 (01:45:53):
You know.

Speaker 16 (01:45:53):
She really it's a lot of learning, but it's not
a slow tempo because I think we want to build
that up to where when we get the spring practice,
they got a great knowledge about what we're doing and
then they able to go fast, and I think and
then we a lot of times we leave and the
guys will stay out and throw you know, sourcing. These
guys they'll run routes and throw in that type of thing.
You can't line up in a in you know, eleven
or eleven or any of that type of stuff.

Speaker 13 (01:46:13):
But you're able to go out and teach.

Speaker 16 (01:46:14):
And I think that's really what the point of this
off season is right now is just teaching our offense
and defense.

Speaker 6 (01:46:20):
And how nice is it to have the continuity of
the quarterback you had last year?

Speaker 13 (01:46:24):
Uh, yeah, it's really nice.

Speaker 4 (01:46:25):
You know.

Speaker 16 (01:46:25):
I see a lot of these teams, man, you know,
the new guys coming in, you gotta teach them everything.
It's it's easier to teach I think some skilled guys
that are coming in compared to the quarterback. He's got
to know everything. And I think that was a critical
for us to be able to keep a guy like
you know, Brendan that that went through some ups and
downs but had some great plays. And now we'll build

(01:46:45):
off of that because now when you're coaching them, you
can say, hey, remember when you did this, you know
that's what we want, you know, and that kind of thing,
and so he understands us. We got a great working
relationship with all our coaches in Brendan. So it's really
big and to your points for as continuity goes. This
is the first time we've had a defensive coordinator the
same one in five consecutive years, so that's huge year

(01:47:07):
two in this defense. We made some improvements last year,
but now I think we'll make a huge strides this
offseason and this fall, and we need to because if
you can stop teams, man, you got a great chance
to win.

Speaker 6 (01:47:17):
What you gonna expand upon something you talked about earlier,
the collaborative effort in coaching special teams. That area again
you'll admit, has to get better. Walk me through how
that's gonna play out.

Speaker 16 (01:47:29):
Yeah, you know, And we break it down, and there's
four core special teams. You have punt team, punt return,
kickoff team, and kickoff return. And in those four teams
you've got different skill levels that you have to do.
And so we're gonna have let's say four to five
coaches that will be on the punt team. And you know,
you got your gunners, all right, we've got to coach

(01:47:50):
coaching the gunners.

Speaker 13 (01:47:50):
You got your left side.

Speaker 16 (01:47:51):
That's gonna be coaching a left tackle, left guard, the
right side, right tackle, right guard. You got your shield,
and you have your snapper and punter. It will be
broken down and o those aspects. And so when you're
watching practice or when you're at practice, those coaches are
actually on those kids and coaching those kids hard. Then
we go into the film room, those same coaches are
sitting right there and they're coaching.

Speaker 13 (01:48:09):
Here's what we need.

Speaker 16 (01:48:09):
We need to you know, that step needs to be
a little bit bigger. Got to get your hands on
them right here, you know. And so they're getting they're getting,
you know, coached every single step.

Speaker 13 (01:48:18):
Of the way.

Speaker 16 (01:48:19):
And I think because I just we got to have
all eyes on it. You know, we have to be better.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
We can't.

Speaker 16 (01:48:24):
We have to be attention to detail. We can't let
anything slip. And and also what it's going to do
is create a lot of competition because we as I
mentioned earlier, on our punt team, we got to have
a best eleven. It's the best eleven on your out
of your roster, so because that's the most impactful team
that we have. And also individual performers have to perform.
If I'm the punter, I have to put the ball

(01:48:45):
where it needs to go. If I'm the punt returner,
I have to fill the ball. If I don't fill
the ball and it rolls fifteen yards, you hurt our team.
And so those are the things, man, that we have
to get better at. So individually and as coaches, we
got to get better.

Speaker 6 (01:48:56):
We got to make sure if you have an All
American punter, he's not making tackles.

Speaker 13 (01:49:01):
No doubt, exactly right.

Speaker 16 (01:49:02):
Well, and I think some of that is, you know,
where did you punt the ball like on the one
that you're referring to. You know, Mason did punt the
ball toward the middle of the field. We have everybody
going to the sideline, so if it's a little bit off,
now you may have to make the tackle. So we
don't want you to have to do that. You know,
punt this towards the sideline, and as are some things
that we're going to work on to get better at
and technique wise within the cover teams, we got to

(01:49:24):
get better. But you're right, I mean, all it takes
is one big return and now and you may just
hurt yourself in that football game.

Speaker 6 (01:49:31):
Scott Ciderfield earlier today with me in a room that
my pay grade does not allow me to go into
during basketball games.

Speaker 2 (01:49:39):
Tomorrow, we're gonna chat with one of his transfers. I'm
excited for that.

Speaker 12 (01:49:44):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:49:44):
You'll hear Kelsey Conway on a number of different issues
following her Q and A with Duke Tobin.

Speaker 2 (01:49:49):
Next to ESPN fifteen.

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Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

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Speaker 1 (01:50:28):
This report is sponsored by load.

Speaker 2 (01:50:31):
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Speaker 6 (01:50:32):
It's on nineteen away from six o'clock, ESPN fifteen thirty.
Couple of things really quick, Thanks for our friends at
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(01:50:53):
Ohio State battles Penn State. Travis Steel gets a contract
extension from Miami through the twenty thirty two season, and
the Blue Jacket skates tonight in Vegas. Good luck to them,
good luck to us, good luck to Kelsey Conway joining
us from the Senior Bowl Inmobile. Big Q and A
with Duke Tobin Go read it now at Cincinnati dot com. Kelsey,
your conversation with Duke, what was your big takeaway?

Speaker 10 (01:51:17):
Well, first, I'd like to thank him for the time
he gave me, because he was very gracious with his time,
and I felt like I was able to get a
ton of just important information that I know that the
fans and a lot of people wanted to hear from him.
So I was really glad that I was able to

(01:51:37):
get and I wish I could have had two hours
with him. But for me, the biggest takeaways other than
the contract stuff that we'll talk about, was just how
transparent he was about what went wrong with last season,
And that's where we started the interview, and I basically said,
what did you feel like was the biggest issue and

(01:52:00):
ether you agree with him or not, My general consensus
after our conversation was that he does not think the
team is that far off from a talent standpoint. He's
big point was they couldn't finish games, and he said
there wasn't a team that the Bengals played that they
didn't feel like they could beat. Whether you agree with

(01:52:20):
that or I agree with that, you know, it doesn't
really matter. He doesn't think that because he thinks that
they have talent and some of those players just didn't
play up to that talent. And so he basically feels
like because they weren't able to finish some of these
games or when they had a lead, keep a lead.
That's where he spent most of his time talking about that.

(01:52:42):
And then Matt turned into a bigger conversation about the defense,
and the defense was where we spent majority of our
time talking about. Rightfully so, because of how bad it
was last year. And I thought what stood out to
me most was his quote, and you can see it
in the article, but he said that he felt like
he held on to players from that Super Bowl corps

(01:53:05):
perhaps a year too long, and I thought that was
the first time I've ever heard anybody say anything like that.
And so, again, whether you agreed with it or not,
I didn't think that they did enough last year to
address their biggest needs on the defensive line, and in
order to have done that, they probably needed to cut
bait from some of those contracts to have more room,

(01:53:26):
and they just at that time felt like they just
wanted to run it back one more year. And his
conversation with me revealed some of those guys don't expect
them to be on the roster, and I think we're
talking about the Germaine Pratt, the Mike Hiltons, the bj
Hills of the world. And so I thought that was
interesting for him to be so transparent about saying he

(01:53:48):
got that wrong and probably should have moved on from
those guys a little bit sooner. So that was a
very big takeaway to me. And he said that they
are one hundred percent going to be as the guard position,
So that's probably music to fans ears who were upset
about the amount of hits Joe took. Also, I think

(01:54:08):
that they are going to bring in more competition at safety.
He wouldn't say much about if Gino Stone's going to
be back on the team or not, but he did
say they are going to address that position with more competition,
and he said he thought the tackling was one of
the biggest issues that he felt like went wrong with
the with the team. And then we wrapped up the

(01:54:29):
conversation with my question to him, and I appreciate his bluntness.
I basically said, what has Jermaine Burton done to deserve
a roster spot on this team? And he said nothing?
And I looked at him and I was like, are
you sure. He said, yeah, you asked what has he done?
And my answer is nothing? And then he went on

(01:54:50):
and said he better start soon. So those were some
of the highlights for me in terms of just things
that nobody has really come out and said. So that
that's where I think those were the most important things.

Speaker 2 (01:55:05):
But what do you think about all of that? Well,
there's a lot there.

Speaker 6 (01:55:08):
So it's interesting you referenced his question, your reference his
answer about you know, running it back with a lot
of the guys who are part of the Super Bowl run,
and you mentioned some of those players. The first name
that jumped to the top of the list for me
was Sam Hubbard.

Speaker 10 (01:55:22):
And that I did specifically asked about Sam, and he
did not want to get into anything about Sam Hubbard,
which I respect. And you know, the reporters have asked
about Sam, and anytime we've asked about Sam, Zach hasn't
wanted to, you know, talk about it publicly, like listen.
They know he was not good enough last year, and

(01:55:44):
they know he wasn't good enough the year before. It
very much feels like the writing is on the wall.
I'm not saying there's not a chance Sam Hubbard will
be back next year, but it will not be at
the price he is making. So I think it's just
kind of like a sensitive subject for a lot of
people because of how well respected Sam is.

Speaker 6 (01:56:02):
So I remember, and I don't think I'm revealing anything here.
I remember having a conversation with you last April in
the aftermath of finding out that Trey Hendrickson had requested
a trade, and we talked about this. You and I
talked about this on air, but I think I said
to you off like, well, what if he goes out
there and he wins Defensive Player of the Year, and then,

(01:56:23):
you know, we kind of chuckled and said, you know,
well then things change. Well, he might win the award, right,
I don't think he well, but he might win the award.
And so you know, you have a guy who last
year saught what he couldn't get from the Bengals and
he asked for a trade. Since then, he's had an
awesome year. He has one year less left on his deal,
and so there's a few different options here. You asked

(01:56:45):
Duke Tobin about giving him an extension, and what stood
out to me about his answer was, quote, we can't
have guys at the top of the payroll in every position, right,
And there's certainly something to that from Trey's perspective, or
I guess from the perspective of the Bengals as it
relates to Trey, I think you can make a case, well, yeah,
give him an extension. He's a terrific player. I think

(01:57:06):
you can make a case. Look, man, he's never going
to be as good as he was last year. Let
him play out this season. He'll be motivated to hit
free agency with another big year, and then you move
on and maybe bring him back or you know, and
I know a lot of folks have talked about this
with you.

Speaker 2 (01:57:22):
You need draft capital.

Speaker 6 (01:57:24):
Trey's really the only guy you could trade and get
draft capital for. Maybe you move on from him. At
the same time, he's her one really good defensive player.
So you know the dynamic you and I have talked
about it. What do you think the ultimate outcome.

Speaker 2 (01:57:35):
Is going to be?

Speaker 10 (01:57:38):
You know, I'll for say, that I completely agree with
all of the comments that you've made about this being
the most fascinating part of the Bengals offseason. Yes, the
receivers are going to get more airtime because they're high
profile wide receivers, right, But from the jump, I have
thought this is a really interesting, sticky situation here, and

(01:58:00):
you just kind of outlined all of the reasons why.
But from my takeaway from specifically this conversation with Duke,
and I will say last week I did spend some
time digging around Trey's contract and you know what the
other defensive ends in the NFL, the top ones are making,
and I really try to spend some time trying to

(01:58:21):
figure this one out. Basically, the Bengals said, we value
Trey and we know we need to give him a
pay raise. Where I think it's going to get tense
is Trey and his representation feel as though he is
a top edge rusher in the NFL, and you can't

(01:58:41):
argue otherwise. Is stats and everything else speaks for that,
But there are so many things that go into that contract.
For example, you know TJ. Watt, he's an even bigger
factor in games because he can bat, pass, his down
Miles Garrett. You can't really compare him to Tray if
Miles can move to every spot on the defensive line,

(01:59:03):
like each one of them has a different skill set,
so it's not apples to apples, and that's where I
think the Bengals are going to point to the age
him not being a good run defender necessarily at all
the times. They're going to find things that they can
say you can't compare Trey because of these things, but

(01:59:24):
they do want to pay him. It's just going to
have to be one of those things where does Trey
want to stay in Cincinnati and keep playing for an
organization that for the last two years he feels hasn't
valued him, or is he going to say I'm not
budging off my number. I think that I should be
top three payroll and that's important to me. And that's

(01:59:48):
where I just don't see the Bengals getting up there.
And you can say they should or they shouldn't. In
my opinion, I would pay Trey Hendrickson, and I know
it has to work on both sides, but had they
had a plan behind him, I could see this being
a situation where you can trade him. But the Bengals
haven't proved at that specific spot that they can get

(02:00:10):
it right with those picks that they would get in return.
So I think that their priority should be getting it
right with Trey. Will they do it, I don't know,
but I don't envision a scenario in which the Bengals
are willing to make him a top three paid edge
rusher at his age. It's all going to be about,
is that something Trey is willing to.

Speaker 12 (02:00:32):
Do or not.

Speaker 6 (02:00:33):
So this is going to represent the biggest mess of
the off season training camp visit.

Speaker 10 (02:00:39):
I think so, because, in my opinion, I have never
really thought that there is a possibility that t Higgins
is coming back, and I know that's tough for people
to hear. I just don't see a scenario in which
the Bengals are going to get up to a number
that's going to be respectable enough to Tea in his

(02:00:59):
agent eyes that they will be willing to negotiate. And
I think that's what's interesting about this. The Bengals want
the agents to always be willing to negotiate, and that's
totally fair. You can't just keep giving everybody what they
want at all times, or you would have no money.
But where I have heard for talking to multiple agents

(02:01:24):
is the starting number sometimes is too low and it
makes the agent and the player feel like they're not valued,
and that's where some of these negotiations go sideways. So
I think it would be in the bengals best interest
with Trey and Tea to start at a number that
they will look at and be like, Okay, we can

(02:01:46):
work within this framework. Anything too far below, I just
don't think it's a recipe for success. And I think
that they need to focus on getting the deals done
as opposed to just winning the negotiation since and always
trying to be right because as you just said, look
at what happened. They messed around last year and said,

(02:02:07):
we're not going to do it on Jamar's terms. If
he doesn't take this deal, we'll bet on himself. Well
what did he go do? He won the Triple Cromp.
Same thing with Trey. History is telling you the longer
you wait, it's not going to work out in your favor.
And that's why, in my opinion, the Bengals have to
change the way they do business when it comes to negotiations.
They might not like it, but this is a different

(02:02:28):
era and these players are there and it's going to
be up to them to decide if they're going to
stay or if they go, and if they go, they
have to be ready for what comes with that.

Speaker 2 (02:02:37):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (02:02:38):
We will do it again soon our awesome work and
can't thank you enough for doing this.

Speaker 10 (02:02:43):
Thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:02:44):
On Kelsey Conway.

Speaker 6 (02:02:46):
Go read her Duke, Toby Q and A at Cincinnati
dot Com. Show's over. Gotta go back at it tomorrow
at three oh five. Thank you for listening. Thanks to
Tarran Bland for producing, and have an awesome night. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 8 (02:02:59):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the uc.

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