2/17/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Tee Higgins is expected to be franchise tagged again according to James Rapien. James joins us to talk about that. Plus a recap of the weekend in college basketball and more

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this
nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
The bills.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
That's bills interest now bills, bills, bills, bills. What's up?
Good afternoon. I'm Mellegar and this is ESPN fifteen thirty.
These days are weird when you have one of these
company holidays, but we work and no one's here and
you actually get a lot of stuff done. It's nice.
Hope you had a great weekend. Hope you're having a

(00:26):
great weekend. Show rundown was just posted on x or Twitter,
whatever you want to call it. At Molegar Thanks to
Emery Federal Credit Union, which is closed today because it's
a federal holiday. But tomorrow, good Emperor and become a member.
Become a member, go to EMORYFCU dot org. So we

(00:47):
have a lot of ground to cover today. It was
a busy weekend. The college hoops, the frustration from UC,
the officiating, the ramifications, Xavier wins, Kentucky loses. We're gonna
get to all of that. We've got some college baseball
to spend some time on today. We have All Star
takes to talk about. Today. We have the Reds holding
their first full squad workout today and all of the

(01:09):
dispatches from Goodyear, which I'm here for. I love all
of it. The Reds maybe being the most interesting team
in baseball. Uh, there's a lot. There's a lot. We're
going to start though, with a bit of breaking news
thanks to our friend James Rapine from Bengals Talk dot com,
you know, the former producer, one of the former producers
of this show, Bengals Talk dot Com, who reports the

(01:31):
Bengals plan to use the non exclusive franchise tag on
t Higgins. This for a second consecutive year. This has
been talked about a bunch. Obviously, they can't do anything
official until tomorrow. The tag window officially opens at four
o'clock tomorrow, goes until Tuesday, March the fourth. James Wrights

(01:51):
sources say Higgins camp expects to get tagged. He would
be the top free agent if he were to make
it to free agency. I would agree with that. James
writes that's not expected to happen, and the Bengals will
tag Higgins by the March fourth deadline, so it doesn't
necessarily have to happen tomorrow, but it could. Last year,
when Tea got tagged for the first time. That took
place on February the twenty sixth, as James writes Bengals

(02:14):
Talk dot Com and James obviously covers the Bengals for
one thousand different outlets. He writes there quote why certainly
feels different this time around. Last year, the Bengals tagged
Higgins and there wasn't much dialogue about a long term contract.
He was the only player that was tagged by his
team last year that didn't sign a multi year extension.
This year feels different. The Bengals planned to sign the
star receiver to a long term deal. Sources say, go

(02:38):
read that at Bengals Talk dot Com our buddy James
orpen Bengals will, according to James, placed the non exclusive
franchise tag on T Higgins for a second straight year.
So in an off season where there are a lot
of dominoes to fall, this, if you believe James reporting,
and I do, is the first. Now, a couple of

(03:01):
things about this. First of all, yes, you could tag
him and trade him, and there's certainly been folks who
have thought that if they do tag him, that's the
most likely outcome. Let's just take what we know here,
Man Okay, the face of the franchise two and a
half months ago, a little bit more than two months ago,
said I want T Higgins back. T is a need.

(03:23):
He called him a need. He has since gone on
any number of national outlets, in any number of postgame
sessions to talk about T Higgins and why he wants
him back. That's Joe Burrow, your MVP finalist, quarterback, your
meal ticket. He is Zach Taylor's meal ticket. He is
Duke Tobin's meal ticket. He is the Cincinnati Bengals meal ticket.

(03:44):
And he has gone on any outlet he can find
his way to to talk about Tea and talk about
why he wants him and why he needs him and
why he's got to be back with the team in
twenty twenty five. So can you even imagine for a second,
I can't even get through this with a straight face.
Can you even imagine here for a second that knowing

(04:05):
that Joe wants Tea, that they tag Tea and then
trade him like that's that's like throwing a middle finger
right at the meal tickets. So I would find it
hard to believe, and I've been wrong about such things before,
but I would find it hard to believe that they're
gonna tag them and then suddenly trade them. Although obviously

(04:28):
you could certainly sell me on the idea that they
could get a lot for t Higgins. I find it
hard to believe that the Bengals are gonna tag a
player that Joe wants and not let him get to
free agency and then trade him. So you piss off
the quarterback, and you probably piss off any number of
players on the team who at the very least want
to see their guy get to free agency. So let's

(04:52):
just start with that Joe Burrow gets what he wants.
If we assume that this means that they're not gonna
trade him, and who knows of they'll get a long
term deal done. Who knows if we're not going to
be doing this whole thing all over again. Who knows Tea,
by the way, is due to get because of this
If he plays under the one year franchise tag deal,
which is obviously not what anybody wants, he's gonna get

(05:12):
about a twenty percent He's gonna get a twenty percent
pay raise, So he's gonna make close to twenty six
million dollars this coming season. Again, obviously, the idea here
is to do what they didn't do last offseason and
do what they didn't do two offseasons ago and get
a long term deal done with the guy. But Joe
Burrow gets his way, Like that's to me at least,

(05:33):
that's the first takeaway. Joe Burrow gets his way. Three
months ago, this was a dead issue, This was a
non issue. It was over. I mean, the reason why
when t Higgins went out onto the field before the
Cowboys game with Jamar and with Joe was hey, this
is the end. This is the last Dan, so to speak,
this is the last go round with these guys. And

(05:55):
then with his comments after the Cowboys game, after the
Bengals won that game, Joe flips the script and suddenly
something that felt like it was a dead issue all
along is something that's alive and well the idea of
this guy playing for the Bengals in twenty twenty five.
So there's I guess for me. The first takeaway. Never
underestimate the power of a guy like Joe. He's got

(06:17):
all the pull, he should have all the pool, and
by the way, the Bengals should do things his way,
because if it doesn't work, they could just put it
on Joe Burrow. Also, he knows what he's talking about.
And more important, you can and should figure out a
way to make the rest of your team better while
still keeping your core guys intact. And T Higgins is

(06:37):
a core guy, so to is Jamar Chase, so to
is Joe Burrow. I guess what I wonder is this
now that this has if you believe James here, this
decision has been made. They haven't officially tagged him. They
can't do that until tomorrow. We'll see if they do
it tomorrow, We'll see if they do it next week.
We'll see if they do it on March fourth. But
they've made the decision. They're going to tag him, and

(07:00):
I find it hard to believe they're gonna trade him.
So they're gonna work toward a long term deal. Are
we sure they're gonna get one done? Like a Are
we sure they're gonna get one done? And like that
sounds like, well, god Mo, T wants to be here.
But we've been talking about the Bengals and T Higgins
and a contract extension for years now. I mean, this

(07:23):
was something we were talking about at the end of
the twenty twenty two season when it was time for
Jesse Bates to walk right, Well, they're not gonna pay
Jesse because they're gonna pay Tea as three years ago.
Three years ago, they still haven't gotten the long term
deal done. But maybe with this there's increased incentive to

(07:44):
get it done. There's the words that have come out
of Tea's mouth. There's the change in representation, which is
not insignificant here. There's what Joe Burrow has said. There's
what Joe Burrow has acknowledged about a restructure or a
willingness to do some different things financially. I think there's
maybe the Jamar Chase component here. Who knows what that's
gonna have, what impact that's gonna have with this, but

(08:06):
I guess, more than anything, when I saw this report
from James about thirty minutes ago, my first takeaway was,
Joe gets what he wants, and Joe should get it
what he wants. I mean, for a guy who has
done everything you could ask him to do, who has
been asked to be the face of this franchise, who
has been asked to elevate this franchise is brand. For
a guy who's been asked to elevate this this franchise

(08:28):
is roster for a guy who has been asked at
times to do a little bit too much, for a
guy who's watched the Bengals do it one way and
have it of it the last couple of years not work. Yeah,
man do it his way and it can be done.
And when I say it can be done, I think
if there's one conversation we've had more than any other
in the aftermath of the Super Bowl, the win by

(08:50):
the Eagles, it's look at what they did. Look at
their blueprint. Look at who they paid at the skill spots.
Look at the money they've given to Devonte Smith, look
at the money they've given to aj Brown, and look
at what they've done with Jalen Hurts, and look at
what they've done with Sakuon Barkley. And they have still
figured out a way to build a really good team
around those guys via the draft, via free agency, sometimes

(09:12):
not the most highly paid free agents. Look at how
they've done it. That's the blueprint. You can do it there,
You can do it here. More than anything, Joe Burrow
gets his way, at least for now. Now they still
have to get a long term deal done, but at
the very least when you're tagged, unless they trade you,
you're stuck here. There are a few other questions we'll

(09:33):
ask about this. Phone numbers are five win three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty and eight six six seven h
two three seven seven six. It does answer one of
the questions that a lot of people had coming into
the offseason, which was will they tag them? And uh?
And so what now? What now as it relates to
the rest of the roster, And I guess more than anything,

(09:54):
what now as it relates to the contract status of
both wide receivers. Because the Tea and Jamar thing has
gone on now for a while, will it continue? You
can send me a tweet at moeger thanks to Delta Dental.
Delta Dental is building healthy, smart and vibrant communities for
all good. At Delta Dental. Oh h dot com again
you can read James support it to Bengals Talk dot com.

(10:14):
Bengals plan on tagging T Higgins. We'll discuss the fallout
and what's next. We've also got the Red starting spring training.
And yes, the Pictures and Catchers reported officially last week.
And yes, Pictures and Catchers went through their first workout
last weekend. Yes, most of the position players have been
there for a while, but today the first official full
squad workout. Terry Francona's spring training address to the team

(10:39):
has been written about. We're gonna get to all of
that the college hoops from over the weekend. Chad and
I were just talking about UC's game on Saturday. I
like consistency. I'm going to try to be consistent, and
I'm gonna try to be consistent as it relates to
Saturday's Bearcat game. Xavier wins. Now they need to win again,
and then win again and then beat Creighton. Uh, maybe

(11:02):
a little bit easier said than done. Musketeers play Butler tomorrow.
Kentucky shorthanded almost pulled off the impossible, but fell apart
down the stretch against Texas. The Mark Pope Show tonight
at six o'clock. We've got all star awesomeness. We've got
all star yawns. We've got the push to expand the
NCAA tournament. We have a lot to get to today,
and a nationally ranked college baseball team in town as well.

(11:26):
Your participation's always welcome. Five point three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty. We are here till six o'clock on President's
Day at sixteen after three on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At uce help, you'll
find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's foundless care for better outcomes. Expect more
at uce health dot com. Anieta Road is closed off
in both directions due to flour between Truesdale Road and
Mary Ingles Highway northbound seventy five approaching Western Avenue. Accident

(12:07):
on the right shoulder and Hamilton Avenue and excident north
of Belmont. I'm at Eazel like with traffic right now.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
Just FYI, this is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (12:17):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Our buddy James are ping, tentatively scheduled to join us
at four h five. James, let's see you got you
got Bengals Talk dot com, you got locked on Bengals,
you got Enter the Jungle. He's got podcasts, he's got writing,
he's got video. I'm sure he's in high demand. So
we we we've reached out. James is gonna join us,
we think at four oh five. But because he's a
busy man and has to you know, earn a living

(12:40):
and stuff that may move. But right now, James tentatively
joining us at four oh five reported just about an
hour ago, the Bengals plan on applying the franchise tag
to t Higgins. It's worth pointing out, and I don't
know if I did this last segment. It's the non
exclusive tag. So the deadline to get a deal done

(13:02):
is mid July, so very similar to last year obviously,
where we may spend the next five months wondering if
they're going to get a long term deal done and
if they don't. Tea's contractually obligated CBA obligated to play
for the Bengals on a one year contract for twenty
six mil in twenty twenty five. The hope is well
before then a deal gets done. The non exclusive tag

(13:25):
does give t the freedom to negotiate with other teams
once the league year starts, which is on March tenth, yes,
March tenth, and if he does and he gets an offer,
the Bengals have five days to match any offer and
keep t Higgins. If the Bengals choose to not match

(13:47):
the offer, the team that would sign t would owe
the Bengals two first round draft choices. So let's just
say for the sake of argument, it's the La Chargers.
Tea gets tagged, he still decides to take calls his agent,
negotiate with other teams, and the Chargers make him an offer.
The Bengals can't match it. They have the right to
match it, or they would say, now we're good, and

(14:09):
then the Chargers, Oh, the Bengals a couple of first
round picks, and so they could also obviously trade T. Higgins.
Let's be honest, and I think we're all at the
same place here that this essentially locks in Tea to
play for the team in twenty twenty five. What's going
to be interesting is what's next, because you know, Joe
has acknowledged there are some things he and others can

(14:31):
do financially to get something done long term. I think
when Joe has talked about T Higgins in relation to
him being in need, it's not been just about twenty
twenty five, it's been about twenty twenty five and beyond.
And then there's the Jamar Chase component here, where Jamar
tried to do the Bengals as solid tried to get
him to sign him to a contract extension. The Bengals

(14:53):
screwed that up, and by the way they did, I mean,
you know, folks get mad at me when I say
that Jamar tried to make it easy. Go ahead and
get it done now, because which you don't want is
to me go out and have a great season, and
then you're gonna have to pave him more. And so
what's gonna be interesting about this, among many other things,
is how long does it take for the Jamar Chase
thing to get done? Does a T Higgins thing get done?

(15:15):
Does the T Higgins thing get done first? And then
what's the impact on the Jamar Chase thing? Like, it's
remarkable that we are back where we are just about
a year ago at this time, except with the very
full and public endorsement of Joe Burrow for Tea to

(15:36):
continue playing for the Cincinnati Bengals. And that, to me
is it's one of the more remarkable things I've seen
in all the years I've been following this team, where
something that we considered basically a done deal. I mean,
from mid July through the rest of training camp, all

(16:00):
of the preseason, and three quarters of the regular season,
t Higgins was talked about as being almost as good
as gone. You know, he had that game, in that
moment in that game. In fact, NFL Network was showing
it last night, and I just happened to be flipping
around and there it was, in the fourth quarter, t
Higgins making the play against the Denver Broncos. And what

(16:21):
made that such a moment in real time was, holy crap,
this could be t Higgins walk off in a Bengals
uniform in Cincinnati. This could be his last moment in
that stadium, wearing an orange and black striped helmet. And
even by then, Joe had already been talking about T
Higgins and had just mentioned him being in need and
went on as his postgame plea against the cow after

(16:46):
the game against the Cowboys just a couple of weeks prior,
and even then, what made that moment stand out so
much was it felt like there was a distinct possibility
that that was going to be it. So to go
from something that we thought it was all but an
inevitability to now something that we are discussing as almost

(17:08):
a done deal. Him playing here in twenty twenty five
is pretty remarkable. And I said this on this show
last week. I can't recall an athlete in the history
of Cincinnati sports that has flexed their muscle as it
relates to the roster personnel decisions the way Joe Burrow did.

(17:31):
And again, this wasn't just one postgame press conference. This
was a handful of them, and a handful of media
availabilities during the week toward the end of the season,
and then all the shows that he has gone on
since his media blitz in New Orleans two weeks ago,
the Pardon My Take appearance where he in great detail
sort of dove into what would have to happen and

(17:51):
how the Bengals could get this done and keep t Higgins.
I've not seen an athlete in Cincinnati. I've not seen
a Cincinnati sports figure flex their muscle and put the
screws on a team or a front office the way
Joe Burrow has. Ever we've seen players ask for trades.

(18:12):
We've seen players express a desire to go elsewhere. We've
seen players get fed up. We've seen players, obviously most
notably Carson Palmer, asks for a trade and threaten to
retire and make do on his threat. I haven't seen
anything like this as public as it played out as
emphatic as Joe was. This wasn't him going back two

(18:34):
years after the fact saying this is what I wanted.
This was him saying in real time, this is what
I want, and he gets what he wants. It's actually,
if you think about it, if you know anything about
how the Bengals have worked historically, it's really significant. This
is not a franchise. And look, you might convince yourself
that all along this is what the Bengals planned on doing.

(18:57):
I don't believe that this is not a franchise though.
That typically goes, yeah, okay, we'll give a player what
he wants, we'll let somebody make a case for what
they want, and we will pivot from what we were
going to do to what they want. This shows a
level of flexibility, a level of open mindedness, and maybe
to a degree, a level of awareness that we haven't

(19:21):
often accused the Bengals of having. Is it going to work?
Nothing's guaranteed. It wouldn't be guaranteed to work if they
let T Higgins walk. It's not guaranteed to work with
them bringing T Higgins back in twenty twenty five under
a franchise tag and it's not guaranteed to work if
they do get a long term deal done, but there is,
if you understand anything, I think, at least about how

(19:42):
this team has historically operated, there is something really significant
about them pivoting from something that we all thought that
they were going to do to something entirely different, largely
based on what one person has had to say repeatedly.
Now it helps I think that Tea has stated a

(20:03):
preference to stay in Cincinnati. It helps possibly that he
is one of the most beloved members of this team
and one of the most beloved Cincinnati sports figures we've
had in quite a while. But the driver of this
all along has been Joe Burrows, starting on December the ninth,
after the Cowboys game, and it's continued for two and
a half months. And I don't know when the powers

(20:27):
that be of what used to be called Paul Brown
Stadium decided this is the direction we're going in. But
if I would have said to you three months ago
on November seventeenth, the Bengals are going to tag Tea
Higgins would have said, I'll make that wager with you,
And yet here we are. Do we think that would
have happened without Joe saying what he has said on
multiple occasions. I do not by the way I'm applauding them,

(20:49):
if there's any ambiguity there, not that my opinion matters
all that much. This is not something that Bengals historically do.
Here's what this guy wants, let's do it. Now. What
does that do moving forward? It does put a degree
of pressure on Joe Burrow if this goes the way
he wants for him to get it done. But that's

(21:09):
pressure that I think he's willing to take on and
that he's capable of handling. It's pretty remarkable, and uh,
it's shaking up our show today twenty nine away from
four o'clock. Your phone calls wire welcome at five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty and eight sixty six, seven oh
two three seven seven six sports headlines. There's a lot
going on today, remarkably so, because it's that dead time

(21:31):
a year or so to speak. And if he's free,
James or Pine for a few minutes, we will not
carry him along because he does have work to do.
But he'll talk to you with us coming up at
four oh five. Because he broke the story on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (21:45):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (21:50):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at U see help.
You'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's spell less for better outcomes, expect
more at UCHealth dot com. Anieta Road is shut down
due to flooding in both directions between Truesdale Road and
Mary Ingles Highway. Painter rode a good alternate southbound seventy five.

(22:14):
Traffic slow from Western Avenue to Fort Washington Wade. That's
a five minute delay right now. I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 8 (22:21):
This reporting sponsored by ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. According to a
James Rapeinobengals Talk dot com, Bengals planned to franchise Tag
T Higgins. They could start that process as early as
four o'clock tomorrow. They have until March fourth if T

(22:50):
plays under the tag. In twenty twenty five, the non
exclusive tag he'll make about twenty six million bucks. Team
has until July fifteenth, now, assuming they do this, and
I have no reason not to believe my guy James,
they haven't told Ad July fifteenth to get it done. Meanwhile,
the Reds holding their first full squad workout today. Their
first official for full squad workout today. They will open

(23:11):
up the Cactus League on Saturday. They played two games,
one against the Guardians, the other against the Milwaukee Brewers.
FC Cincinnati has made a big acquisition of Vander one
name dude Evander. FC Cincinnati acquires him from the Portland
Timbers for twelve million dollars plus add ons. He was

(23:32):
a twenty twenty four MLS MVP finalist in Portland College Basketball.
Kentucky now seventeenth AP Top twenty five, twenty first Coaches Poll,
Pat Kelsey's Louisville Cardinals twenty fifth AP twenty second in
the Coaches Poll. The Mark Pope Show tonight at six
o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. DeShawn Miller Show is tonight
at seven pm on fifty five krc xavior Zach Fremantle

(23:56):
named the Big East Player of the Week after averaging
twenty one points and nine rebounds and a pair of
Xavier wins. Musketeers beating to Paul on Saturday, getting set
to host Butler tomorrow night, and congratulations to the UC
baseball team. The Bearcats go on the road against Duke
eleventh ranked Duke this weekend. They win two out of three,
finishing off the series with a nineteen to five win yesterday,

(24:19):
the Bearcat's largest margin of victory ever against a ranked opponent,
or at least since two thousand and its first series
win against the ranked team since they took two out
of three against Yukon in twenty nineteen. Carrington cross with
a couple of homers in the season opening series. Donovan
Ford got on base fifty seven percent of the time

(24:39):
the Bearcats. We had Jordan Bischel on this show two
weeks ago. Bischel Ball. If you like, if you like
small ball, and if you like putting the pressure on
the defense, and you like a team that takes the
extra base, and you like bunting for hits, and you
like watching guys utilize the skill of being hit by pitch,

(25:00):
you'll love. The Bearcats ranked in the top twenty five
for the first time ever college Baseball's Top twenty five
is put together by something called D one Baseball and
it is officially recognized. In fact, I just saw the
NCAA tweeted out the official rankings the Bearcats twenty fifth.
So congratulations to Jordan Bischell, who had a successful first
season that you see in the second season as head

(25:22):
coach of the Bearcats is off to a very very
good start. Tentatively scheduled to be joined by James Orpin
coming up in just about twenty five minutes. Even again,
he had the story Bengals, and by the way we
talked about this, I think on Friday Show that James
was out there saying he thought this was something they
were going to get done. And James is out there
saying this is something the Bengals should do, and there

(25:44):
were others who thought, you know what, it's not maybe
the most likely outcome, and there are still some dominoes
that are going to fall in the coming weeks and months, obviously,
but James all over this and again, barring a change,
will join us coming up in just about twenty five minutes.
This is about t Higgins and it's about roster building.
But to me, at least, and there's a lot of

(26:04):
different angles to this. This is about Joe Burrow. I mean,
this is about the Joe Burrow and it's about the
Bengals not caving. It's not caving. This is about the
Bengals listening. It's about the Bengals paying attention. It's about
the Bengals I think understanding. All right, you know that
we should listen to this, dude. We played the audio
I think it was a week ago, maybe Tuesday, of

(26:27):
Joe on Pardon my Take and Taran if you can
find that, we'll play that a little bit later on
where you know, he was asked about the comparison between
the Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles and how they've built
their roster, and he gave a very thorough well thought
out answer as to how the Bengals can accomplish so
many of the things they have to accomplish this offseason.

(26:47):
This wasn't someone just flying off the handle that. This
wasn't somebody who didn't put a lot of thought into
how this gets done. This wasn't somebody ignorant of the
complexities of roster building and the cap and all the
different things that go into putting together a roster. This
is not someone who I think understands or who I
think doesn't understand that this offseason has to include really

(27:10):
good drafting and good acquisitions and free agency that maybe
aren't the splashy as signings. Tara, go ahead and play
that audience in chavab.

Speaker 9 (27:18):
I'm not going to ask if you're going to restructure
your deal. I'm going to actually ask what does that mean?

Speaker 3 (27:22):
Restructuring a deal? Can you explain it to us? Like
we're five?

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yeah, So you could do a couple of different things.

Speaker 10 (27:27):
You could convert some of the money to a signing bonus,
which will lower.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
The cap hit.

Speaker 6 (27:35):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 10 (27:36):
You can push some of the money to the back
end of the contract, and then when you get to
that lowers the cap hit. And then when you get
to the back end of the contract, you can restructure
it and convert it to a signing bonus.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Okay, and then you can also just take less money.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
And which one were you going to do?

Speaker 2 (27:52):
We'll see tructure.

Speaker 6 (27:53):
Guys.

Speaker 9 (27:54):
You don't take any less money, right, you just get
you could?

Speaker 10 (27:57):
Okay, you could, but it's most of the guys just converted.

Speaker 9 (28:02):
To signing bonus is that you would do that, I
would do that, Okay, Okay, it is. It is a
weird situation though, that you're in, because, like I think
that's just part of what happens with quarterbacks where it's
like there's a little more pressure on them where they
have the biggest deal, so they if they want to
get flexibility, a lot of times it comes down to
the quarterback to have to be the guy who has
to step up and do that.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah. At the same time, though, the.

Speaker 10 (28:27):
This was the last year that all the COVID like
cap money restrictions across the league were implemented. So the
next like three or four years, I think the CAP's
gonna just.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Caps going up, the CAP's going out.

Speaker 9 (28:42):
Okay, we got to just keep saying caps going up.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Caps going see Higgins last year. It'll probably be similar.

Speaker 9 (28:48):
You've definitely crunched, You've definitely like been laying in bed
late at night just looking at like a sprench.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
You'd be like, okay, all right, CAP's going up.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
You understand the cap? I mean not really kind of,
because we don't think that it way more than we do. Well, Definitely,
some teams seem to make it feel that way.

Speaker 9 (29:06):
Yeah, Yeah, I mean, the Saints have just pretended it
doesn't exist for.

Speaker 10 (29:09):
A while, and the Eagles are paying everybody. Yeah yeah,
so it seems like the way whatever they're doing.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Like so that's Joe Burrow on pardon my take last week.
That is that is not somebody who is just saying
stuff just to say that is not somebody who hasn't
put some thought into this. And maybe the Bengals made
up their minds weeks ago, well before that interview, or
well before Joe went on his uh New Orleans Super
Bowl media blitz, but it definitely changed the conversation publicly,

(29:37):
certainly back when he started talking after the Cowboys game.
It just it feels like, and maybe I'm overstating this
a pretty monumental day in the recent and even not
so recent history of this franchise. This is the Cincinnati
Bengals who don't listen to anybody. By the way, I
think they've also listened to T Higgins. I mean, you know, here,

(29:57):
you have a player and I'm I'm a huge fan,
so I'm biased, but you you have a player that
for two seasons they haven't gotten a long term deal
done with him. He was eligible for an extension after
twenty twenty two, which now feels like forever ago. They

(30:18):
haven't gotten it done, they haven't achieved common ground on
a long term contract, and yet towards the end of
the season was still telling anybody who would listen, I'd
like to play here. I want to stay here, want
to be a part of the solution here. I understand
my you know, essentially my and I'm paraphrasing him here
into a degree, maybe putting some words in his mouth,
but I understand my place in the pecking order here.

(30:40):
And I've thought, We've talked about this a bunch on
this show. I've thought that that's something that can't be discounted.
You know, you have a guy who, when he gets
here in twenty twenty, has a very good rookie season
and has to be thinking like, all right, man, I'm
about to like be the man in Cincinnati. And then
they go ahead and draft Jamar Chase and it works

(31:02):
from a team perspective. He gets to play in a
Super Bowl, right, the Bengals get really good all of
a sudden, But to a degree, he's tind to play
a robin to Jamar Chase's batman. Not every game not
all the time, but often. Uh, And then you know
they don't get a long term deal done with them
because they're negotiating with Chase and all the talk is
about him getting his money, and Tea is effectively going

(31:24):
to be collateral damage because they've got to pay Jamar
and all the while, like the guy really doesn't make
a peep. He did ask for a trade last offseason,
but then showed up signed his franchise tag thing early,
came to camp on time, was very very mature and
cool about you know, hey, we got a plan to
the franchise tag and he couldn't hit free agency and
he says like, dude, I was gonna make I'm gonna

(31:45):
make twenty one million bucks. I'm good. Like that's a
guy you want around in a year where the idea
is in a window, where the idea is to compete
for championships. There's certainly a monetary value that you could
attach to what he does statistically, but there's also what
he brings to the table that doesn't really get measured
by stats. I'm willing to pay for that as well.

(32:08):
So interesting day. Let's grab a phone Callar too before
we break Matthew in College Hill. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Good afternoon, Matthew. How are you.

Speaker 8 (32:18):
Doing well?

Speaker 11 (32:18):
And I do agree that it's nice to see the
paradigm shift with the Bengals and listening to.

Speaker 12 (32:24):
Having letting Go have a seat at the table.

Speaker 13 (32:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's one.

Speaker 11 (32:28):
That they I actually think it's a great idea. It's
a non exclusive tag T just for a few reasons.

Speaker 12 (32:35):
You know, it still lets him test free agency.

Speaker 11 (32:37):
Water and you know, potentially sign an offer sheet from
another team if the Bengals don't match that from my understanding,
so from the Bengal standpoint, this sets a potential market
value for T potentially moving forward. Let's say a team
makes an offer on Tea and the Bengals say, okay,
we're gonna match that offer or you know, we want

(32:59):
you on our team, will match that offer, and then
that gives us some foundational, you know, groundwork to work
on his extension, his his contract going forward potentially. Now,
if the Bengals get an offer and they're like, man,
that's just not the market value that we want and
we value at Tea, we'll get two first round picks
for him, So that's also a win. And if we

(33:22):
decide to keep T on the on the tag, which
I hope we do. That keeps Joe happy. Let us
potentially draft his if we do move off him down
the road, another wide receiver that can learn and grow
under Jamar and T's tutelage, and that way we're not
scrambling just for you know, reaching at straws like Jermaine

(33:44):
Burton for instance.

Speaker 14 (33:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (33:46):
So I just think that it is the prudent thing to.

Speaker 11 (33:49):
Do from the GM standpoint and from T standpoint. You know,
I know he's you know, estimated twenty six million. But
if another team makes him an offer and says, hey, man,
we'll give you thirty million, and the BANG will say, well,
we'll match that, he's got the opportunity to make some cash.
And I think that with T as a cornerstone on
the offense, now we can just low down and focus

(34:11):
on the defense with free agency in the draft and
hopefully rebuild that into something that's at least serviceable. And
if we do get a replacement for Burton, whether it's
through free agency or the draft or both, then the
offense will be humming and we might actually be able
to make a run. Because the AFC the Chiefs look
very vulnerable at this point. We don't know what Baltimore is.

(34:35):
I don't know if Mark Andrews is sticking around, you know,
Lamar's helps always in question, and the Bills always seem
to unplode in the playoffs. We've beaten them in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
So I don't know.

Speaker 11 (34:47):
I just feel like it is the smart thing to do,
and I'm not too worried about it. And I think
that T has been you know, I don't think he's
going to be surprised by this. I'm sure they've talked
to Tea about this, kay and how this was all
on the table anyway, So hopefully he's not, you know,
upset about it too much. And he's a professional and
comes out in plays just like he did last year.

(35:08):
And I just, you know, that's my two cents at least.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Yeah, I want to Matthew, thank you very much. A
lot of good stuff there. I think there's there's two things.
One I would be matt Matthew's right if if one
of the outcomes here is t hits the open market
under the it's the open market with restrictions, right, It's
it's the non exclusive tag. He goes and negotiates with

(35:32):
other teams, and there's a team that says, we'll give
you thirty five MILLI year, and the Bengals can go,
all right, cool, peace out, they get two first rounders.
It it's not apples to apples. Lamar Jackson two years
ago with Baltimore was tagged non exclusive, and I don't
think got an offer from anybody. I would imagine that

(35:53):
it's going to be hard for It's gonna be hard
for Tea to get an offer from a team for
the kind of money he was looking for as a
free agent. If the team knows not only do I
have to pay him what he's looking for, but in
order to get to a point where the Bengals don't
match the offer, now I got to give up a
couple of first rounders. So I'm gonna guess, acknowledging that

(36:16):
I'm not an expert on free agent markets, that that
scenario doesn't unfold like where you you have a team
that gets to such a point that the Bengals go, cool,
we're not going to match that, and then you get
T Higgins, which is awesome. You got to pay him
a hell of a lot of money, but also you
got to give up a couple of first round picks.
We saw that market just being non existent for Lamar Jackson,

(36:36):
different player, different position. I'm gonna guess that market's not
really going to be there for t Higgins as well.
I guess from Tea's perspective, it's like, all right, I've
changed agents, which can maybe make negotiating a little bit better,
a little bit easier. Joe has acknowledged that maybe he's
willing to be flexible. Jamar hasn't talked about this publicly

(36:57):
nearly as much, but it's like, all right, you did
this to me last year. I came back. I did
everything right right like, I showed up. I didn't bitch
about being tagged. I signed it, I came to camp,
I played in the preseason, I played all year long. Yes,
he did get hurt, but when he was on the field,
he was really good. I've done everything. I want to
stay here, and so let's go ahead, let's sit down

(37:19):
and let's hammer this out and let's get it done,
and let's do something that's equitable and fair. And that's
my guess. That's my guess as to what's going to happen.
I do think this is I think this is one
of the more remarkable and interesting things the Bengals have
ever done. If you are operating under the assumption, or
were operating under the assumption as many of us were,

(37:42):
that Tea was as good as gone at the end
of the year. They have maybe not inshored it, but
they have made the extreme likelihood that he at least
plays here in twenty twenty five. Now, can they figure
out a way to not screw it up and get
something done long term? And then what's the Jamar Chase
angle here? Because obviously things have changed for him relative

(38:05):
to where they were last offseason. But yeah, look, I
mean your outcomes are t is going to play football
for you this coming season. T is going to sign
a contract extension that keeps him here beyond this coming season.
You could trade him and get a decent amount back
in return, or you could lose them in free agency
and you get two first round picks. Like those are

(38:27):
four good outcomes. Some for my money, are more preferable
than the others. But you're not going to lose him
for nothing, And chances are you've made your most important
player very very happy. Stix away from four o'clock five
point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number.

(38:48):
Rapine scheduled in ten minutes. On the story He Broke
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic You.

Speaker 5 (39:00):
See Health Traffic Center at U see Help. You'll find
comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at ucehealth
dot com. Anietta Road is closed off due to flooding
between Shrewesdale Road and mary Ingles Highway. Painter wrote a
good alternate route northbound seventy one seventy five before Donaldson wrote,

(39:24):
it's an accident off on the left shoulder. Delays from
Burlington Pike. I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
This report is sponsor you boond.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this
nationwide keyword on our website. Okay, that's pay enter it now. Hey, Hey,
it's four oh four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Elmo Lager,
thank you for listening today. Hope you're having an awesome
President's Day, A delightful Monday hope you either have had a.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
Great weekend or are continuing to have a good weekend.
We've been today our buddy James arpin Bengals Talk dot
Com reporting maybe just about an hour and a half ago,
that the Bengals will tag t Higgins non exclusive franchise
tag for a second consecutive year. Obviously, you could read

(40:15):
James story at Bengals Talk dot com, which is under
the SI umbrella, and I'm sure he is going to
be writing about this and talking about this on any
one of his eighteen different outlets Locked on, Bengals Enter
the Jungle, Bengals Talk dot Com. And in the middle
of all that, we make him come on the show
he used to produce. Hi, James, Hey, what's up, mom?

Speaker 14 (40:38):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (40:38):
I'm well, man. I appreciate you doing this because I
know you're busy. I talked about this last week and
I mentioned you that I put you in the camp
of people who were expecting this to happen, that the
tag would be applied. So just walk through for me
here why today's news that you reported is, at least
to you, not that surprising.

Speaker 14 (40:57):
Yeah, you're right, it's not surprising at all. With a
This is like a requirement. This is like stopping at
stop signs or you know, like the Bengals did exactly
what they were expected to do and had to do,
and to.

Speaker 12 (41:10):
Be clear, they hadn't done it yet.

Speaker 14 (41:12):
Right the window opens tomorrow, but they have zero plans
and I'll reiterate zero plans to let T Higgins become
a free agent. And I think that's the part of
this that's so crucial because you're talking about the fourth
best player on the team, and there are people listening
that think that T. Higgins is injury prone and the
Bengal shouldn't pay him and all of those things. This

(41:35):
isn't about that. Nobody listening. If you're hoping the Bengals
are good, should want T. Higgins to hit free agency
because that makes them lose a key asset. So yeah,
not not surprised that the Bengals are planning to go
this path. And I do think that this is it's

(41:55):
very much a requirement. It's it's Mogger showing up for
work to do his show on President's Day. It's something
that you needed to do. And so the Bengal's planning
on getting this done. If they can't get a long
term deal done.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
All right, So they do this a year ago, they
don't get a long term deal done. Things have changed,
there's new representation, there's Joe Burrow lobbying for him. I
think there's also a desire to just put this to
bed because this has been going on for so long.
What do the coming weeks look like in the relationship
between T Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 14 (42:29):
Yeah, I think that's That's the main thing set to
hammer home here is how different it is this year
to last year. It's so much different. And I think
from a vibe standpoint, a one thousand foot view standpoint,
a what the powers that be are saying, both whether

(42:52):
it's through Tobin talking last month or obviously what t
said he last week ahead of the Super Bowl when
he talked with Fox nineteen, you see any of this
stuff publicly, and it just it feels different. And I
think it feels different because I think there's real hope
and belief that they can get a long term deal done.
And it goes back to that Monday night football postgame

(43:13):
presser with Joe Burrow, and obviously the wheels were already turning.
Then when it comes to Tea's representation, and I think
he wants to be here. I think the Bengals want
him here. Obviously Joe wants him here, and so this
does not need to be a the Bengals are tagging
T Higgins, He's going to demand a trade again like

(43:34):
he did last year. I think, if anything, this was
the necessary step to get closer to a long term deal.
Because if you're a Rocky Arsenal of Alliance Sports, which
is a new agent, are you negotiating with the Bengals
when you're three weeks away from free agency? Knowing if
your client can get the free agency he's the number

(43:56):
one free agent? It makes it really hard to negotiate
when you're that close. And so this maybe a formality
for some, but I think being willing and then ultimately
using the tag can lead to a long term deal
here in Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
So are we dealing with something that not that long
ago would have seemed unthinkable? Were T Higgins assigned to
a long term contract with the Cincinnati Bengals before Jamar chases.

Speaker 14 (44:23):
You cut out there?

Speaker 13 (44:23):
Mom?

Speaker 14 (44:23):
What was the last part to Higgins instead of Jamar?
Is that true?

Speaker 3 (44:26):
So if I would have said at any point late
last summer early fall, that T Higgins will sign a
long term contract with the Cincinnati Bengals before Jamar Chase does.
I would have been laughed at. And yet that feels
like a distinct possibility. Is that what we're dealing with here?

Speaker 14 (44:45):
Yes, and we actually think it should be that way.
It should have been that way last offseason. To be clear,
I remember, I think back to my number one priority
for the twenty twenty four Bengals off season, signed T
Higgins and then it became a Jamar show at camp
and all this stuff. But no, I think, yeah, Jamar's

(45:08):
under contract. You know, Jamar's going to make twenty one
point eight million on the fifty year option. You know
when you sign him to a contract extension that his
cap number goes down. So you're going to free up
space when you do that, so it doesn't really hamstring
you get in the way of anything you would do
in free agency. Meanwhile, for T Higgins, his cap hit

(45:29):
is twenty six plus million dollars. With this franchise tag,
you have all the incentive in the world really to
get something done long term sooner. Lower that cap hit
make him happy, of course, and at the same time,
give yourself as much flexibility as possible, and who knows,
maybe they can get something done without even using the tag.

(45:50):
I think that's unlikely. I know there's been some fans
that have said, oh, well, why isn't it done yet,
and it's like, well, a lot of big news and
moves don't really happen February in the NFL. It's usually
early March if it's going to happen, so there's still time.
But yeah, I do think that there's a real scenario
where a T. Higgins extension happens before Jamar Chase extension,

(46:11):
which is pretty wild when you put it that way.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Yeah, I mean just the way we framed it, right,
and not that that doesn't make sense right now. I
guess the next question that I would have would be,
then how long is it going to take for them
to get the Jamar thing done?

Speaker 14 (46:25):
That is, to me, it could happen in like May,
like I don't think that that would needs to happen now,
and I know a lot of people want it to
happen now, and doesn't mean it won't happen soon or heck,
maybe it's the ultimate. And I would hate this because
I'd be scrambling. But the Jamar and t maybe both

(46:45):
deals get done and they're doing a joint press conference, right,
but talk about things I would hate. I would hate
that separate those things. But I honestly I think he
and Ray should be higher on the priority list of
figuring out what's going to happen because there is a

(47:06):
scenario here with t where it just doesn't get done.
I think it's unlikely, but it just doesn't get done.
They can't find common ground and both sides say, you
know what, we should explore the trade option, and so
you could go that route. I think Trey, that's that's

(47:27):
realistic too. The one that is not remotely realistic is
that happening with Tamar and so you have time there.
You know he's under contract, and the kind of the
blueprint and the president with these star receivers, justin Jefferson
being the latest is it gets done after the fourth season.

(47:48):
So I'm not as concerned there. But the sooner the better,
I would say. With all of these, the last thing
I want to do is be standing there in July
for training camp and seeing Jamar Chase roll out there
in a ball cap. Ball Caps are for goodyear, No
they're not for downtown Cincinnati. And in July, when it
comes to the Bengals, all.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Right, you briefly James Rapine Bengals Talk dot Com reporting
the Bengals plan to use the franchise tag on t Higgins.
Go read his story. You mentioned Trey Hendrickson. I think
there are some who kind of still view this as
an either or proposition. Explain why you don't with Trey.

Speaker 14 (48:27):
But either or to you or Trey. Oh, I don't
because at some point you you have to to keep
your best players and decide that. And he's clearly your
best player on defense. And so when you look at
whether it's the free agent market, whether you look at

(48:47):
the Bengals resources and assets, and that includes cap space,
cash spent, all of the all of the above that
go into signing players. They have the resources to keep
Trey and you didn't bring in now go here to
just win with guys that aren't stars. And I don't
see many star talents available in free agency, Like I

(49:09):
think that a lot of people just assume that this
is a normal free agent crap crop, excuse me. And
the top of the market isn't nearly as good as
it it has been in past years. There's no guy
at the level of Trey Hendrickson, and knowing that you
need to bolster your pass rush, isn't it easier to
pay Tray and then build around him. Now you got

(49:33):
to find common ground. But if they don't find common
ground low I think it will be because Trey, at
thirty years old, feeling underpaid for the past four seasons
because he's exceeded his contract and he has is asking
for more than the Bengals want to give him. And
I do think there is a too high of a
number with Trey, because he's really, really good. He's not

(49:57):
Miles Garrett, he's not Michael Parsons. Not that the elite
complete do it all edge rushers that are in the NFL.
That doesn't mean he doesn't deserve twenty five million or
twenty seven million per year. But if he's asking for
a three year extension at thirty plus million per year, well,
I have an idea of what the Bengals are going

(50:17):
to do there, and Trey's probably not gonna like it.
So I do think it can be done. I'm not
sure what Trey's asking, but it's going to take Trey
being reasonable I think in his desire and his request
from a money standpoint, and at the same time the
Bengals that they're going to have to be willing to
pay him significantly more than they have in recent seasons.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
Players, as a general rule, don't like the franchise tag,
which is an issue they should take up with their union.
They really is a general rule, don't like it when
it's applied twice. Do you think that at all applies
to t Higgins, assuming that this is what they're going
to do, which is what you're reporting.

Speaker 14 (50:56):
Yeah, I think sure. I mean, I know he doesn't
didn't want to get tagged a second time, but that
doesn't mean that doesn't mean that this not so good
news has to mean bad news when it comes to
his long term pay right, And I think that that's

(51:17):
how that's how you would have to look at it.
And last year it felt much different. Like I said,
it just intentious might be the wrong word between Tea
and the team, But behind the scenes, I'm not sure
there was any negotiating after the tag was applied, which
is the whole point of the tag. Players hate the tag,
but everyone but t Higgins last year that was tagged

(51:40):
got long term deals with their team. Right, So as
long as this leads to a long term deal, I
don't think it'd be too bad. So ye, I think
the initial shock, assuming Teak is tagged, be kind of annoying,
but that annoyance can lead to the ultimate goal, which
is obviously a long term deal. I would say Tee,

(52:00):
whether it's Tier or elsewhere, he obviously wants to get
paid this offseason.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
All right, one more because I know you got a
lot going on, and I appreciate you joining us on
on late notice. I think the big takeaway for me
is just and and I think you would agree. In
all the years you've been following this team, we've not
seen anybody do what Joe Burrow has done over the
last two and a half months publicly, uh and emphatically
demand what he wants, put public pressure on the Bengals,

(52:26):
make no bones about it, and do it in a
very thoughtful manner. And and and change of conversation entirely.
This was a done deal for a lot of us
back in October and November, and Joe changed it. You
mentioned after that game against the Dallas Cowboys. Is the
big takeaway here that maybe a franchise that has long
been known for stubbornness and inflexibility, is bending, bending to

(52:49):
the right person. I think we would agree if you're
going to bend anybody, bend to Joe Burrow. But they're
they're bending here, maybe for the first time in something
like this in the history of the franchise.

Speaker 14 (53:01):
I think to a degree. I also think Joe has
been very calculated. It's both like yes, no, clearly once
teen has been really outspoken about it. I also think
when Joe made those comments on the Monday night football
game afterwards they beat Dallas and he's got doughnut on
his face though that I'm kidding, but they think they

(53:24):
were already talks behind the scenes. I think this is
very calculated. I think that this is something that it's
to me. Joe when he makes the comments he's making publicly,
is not doing it to ms the front office. I
think that he is aware, much like I'm aware, and

(53:47):
a lot of people are aware. They have the resources
to get these guys done. I think they have the
desire to and so for Joe, he's just saying what
he's saying behind closed doors too, and at the same
time he knows the pressure right element and so I
do think that there that is a factor. But I

(54:07):
also think that the front office agrees that they want
to keep Tea and it is probably willing to pay Tee,
you know, a four year, one and twelve million dollars deal.
I haven't been given those numbers, but I would be
shocked if they wouldn't be willing to get in that range.
And so I think it's a little bit of both.
But I do agree with you that that how they

(54:30):
respond to Joe that matters. Everybody's watching that. And this
was the inevitable first step of what needs to be
many this offseason if they're if they're going to be
aild A championship team around Joe. Let's be honest, they
did not do that this past year, and and letting
Key leave would have been would have been a tough sell.

(54:51):
I think the number nine. So yeah, this is a
step in the right direction for sure.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
All Right, man, noget a lot going on. Thank you
on short notice. We'll talk soon, Thanks so much, Thanks Mau.
That's our guy. James Orpine, Bengals Talk dot Com. SI
broke the story Bengals plan on tagging t Higgins. They
can officially do this as early as four o'clock Eastern
time tomorrow. They have until March fourth. Assuming they do this,
it'll be the non exclusive franchise tag they'll have between

(55:17):
the time they do that and July fifteenth to get
a deal done. Good stuff from James or Pine. Twenty
minutes after four o'clock. Your reaction is welcome, we have
I came to work today thinking, for the most part
it was going to be a reds in college basketball
centric day, and yet here we are with the t
Higgins thing. But it makes sense. More on this and

(55:37):
a few other things coming up. Twenty after four ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 7 (55:43):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (55:46):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at U see Help.
You'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at U see Help. Anietta Road is closed off
due to flooding between Truesdale Road and Mary Ingles Highway

(56:07):
on Kellogg Avenue. It's an accident at Kenwood Avenue. Car
going through a poll in southbound Springfield Pike. It's an
accident at two seventy five. I'm at Ezelek with traffic
this report.

Speaker 15 (56:19):
It's sponsored by Status twenty four after four This is
ESPN fifteen thirty im Oegger again thanks to James or
Payne for joining us in the middle of his reporting.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Bengals plan on tagging t Higginson. By the way, if
you are wondering, the Bengals have never tagged a player twice.
So we've we've talked about this in recent years, the
Bengals doing things that are different from the norm, different
from what you expect. They've never tagged a player twice.
They obviously have a long list of guys that they

(56:51):
have given the franchise tag too. Now it's it's worth
pointing out that there's not a very long track record
of tagging players and then getting a long term d
all done. In fact, the only one that I can remember,
and this is just off the top of my head,
that they have given a franchise tag too, is Carl Pickens.
And I think you have to go back to like
ninety eight ninety nine they got a long term deal done.

(57:13):
Then I think they cut him after like the first
year of the new contract. For the most part, when
they tag a player, it's to keep him around for
a year. They do buy some time, but it doesn't
really feel like they negotiate. Then the player walks a lah.
Jesse Bates and others and James talked about this. I
think the word that matters here is intent. Like last

(57:34):
year the Bengals tag t Higgins, it didn't feel like
the intention was to buy time to negotiate with him.
It was let's keep him here, let's run it back
with him, try to win while we have him, and
then we may lose him. But it's not to negotiate
with him long term. And perhaps the agent may have
had something to do with that, because the former agent,

(57:56):
David Mullagetta, who was obviously also jesse Bates agent, he
famously he hasn't gotten a deal done with the Bengals,
and so it might have been, what, we can't get
a deal done with this guy, but we want to
deal with Tea in the short term, so we'll tag
him and then we'll put it on the shelf and
worry about it next year. It doesn't feel like the
intention was let's negotiate. Jesse Bates a couple of years ago, Hey,

(58:18):
look we can keep this guy, we can slot the
cost in. We know what it's gonna be because of
the tag, and so we'll tag him and he'll play
the twenty twenty two season for us, and then he'll
hit free agency. I don't know that in either instance,
whether it was Jesse in his last season in Cincinnati
or t Higgins last year, I don't know that when
either guy got the franchise tag that there were ever

(58:41):
real good faith negotiations about something long term. There may
have been brief check ins just see where he are,
but it felt like and I think most close to
it would tell you that when they applied the franchise tag,
they were not doing it with the intention of let's
get this guy here along term. In the piece James

(59:02):
Road for Bengals Talk dot com, in the headline, it says,
this feels different. This does feel different where it feels
like we're gonna do this, and I'm sure it's not
something that the player loves. I think any player would
love it. I've worked my entire life to get to
a point that I'm on the cusp of free agency,
and now I have it effectively taken away, like on

(59:26):
a human level, I'm sure and on a financial level
that's kind of disappointing. But at the same time, like,
do you want to keep basically working under one year deals?
If you're T Higgins, No, and you do want to
stay here, so let's go ahead and get it done.
And if you're the Bengals, like, do you really want
to do this all over again with T Higgins all
throughout the course of the season.

Speaker 6 (59:43):
No.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Like, So it feels to me that the intention here
is a lot different than it was a year ago.
Or a year ago it was let's win with T
Higgins this year and then worry about the rest later.
What's changed since then? Well, Joe Burrow and what he
has said has changed since then, and the pressure he
has put on the team. And I agree with something

(01:00:05):
that James said. I don't think this was Joe after
that Cowboys game, flying off the handle and you know,
saying something that was out of turn and surprising people.
He was speaking from a place of at least limited
information and maybe more information. He was speaking from a
place of communication, I believe, where there have been at
least some discussions between Joe and the Bengals about what
would have to happen. But it's still significant, man. There

(01:00:29):
is an inflexibility that the Bengals have been long identified
with a stubbornness and obstinace, if you will, that they
have been long identified with here's what we're doing. This
is what we're doing. We're not deviating from it. You
can't talk us out of it. It may be for
the better, it may be for the worse. This is
how we're doing it. And they don't come off of it.

(01:00:52):
This they appear to have come off of, at least
to a degree. Now, a lot of other stuff has
to happen. It is remarkable, though, if you think about
it this way, t gets tagged a year ago. The
two sides really don't negotiate all that much, if at all.
He signs the franchise tag offer, so it's a one

(01:01:15):
year contract at that point. Now we start to shift
our focus to Jamar. Chase Jamar and the Bengals do
negotiate so much so that we actually thought there's a
possibility they get a deal done before the season starts.
They don't. For most of the season, we're thinking Tea

(01:01:35):
is gonna walk, They'll go ahead and pay Jamar. Now,
Jamar had such an awesome season, there's a chance they
have to rip up whatever framework they had in place
for a new deal, maybe start from scratch with Jamar Chase. Meanwhile,
they can negotiate with Tea Higgins, not that they can't
with Jamar because Jamar is obviously under contract. Might not

(01:01:57):
be likely, Might not matter all that much. But if
I would have said a year ago, Bengals get a
long term deal done with T Higgins before they do
Jamar Chase, and it said there's no way, now it
feels like there's at least a chance. This obviously increases
the likelihood that T. Higgins is with the team in
twenty twenty five, if not beyond. So let's assume for

(01:02:19):
a second the Tea is with the team for one
more year, Just for a second, for one more year,
Let's assume that the franchise tag will be applied, as
James reports, and even if he is here for beyond
twenty twenty five, this team does not get off the hook.
The hard part starts now. We'll get to that coming
up in fifteen minutes. Sports headlines coming up as well,

(01:02:40):
and a few thoughts on the Reds as full squad
workouts begin today too. On ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 7 (01:02:47):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:02:51):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at U see help.
You'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at uc health dot com. Anieta Road closed off
from flooding between Truesdale Road and mary Ingles Highway. Payter

(01:03:12):
Road your best alternate route east found Ohio Pike. It's
an exident at nine Mile Road and Kellogg Avenue and
accident at Kenwood Avenue. I'm at Ezelek with traffic. This
report your sponsored.

Speaker 8 (01:03:24):
Boy ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
Twenty four away from five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life at kelseyshef dot com. According to
a James Rapeina of Bengals Talk dot com, the Bengals

(01:03:50):
plan on giving the non exclusive franchise tag to T Higgins.
Teams can do this officially starting at four o'clock tomorrow.
Assuming they do this, they have between then and Mark fourth,
they'll have until July fifteenth to get a long term
deal done. The non exclusive tag means that's starting on
March tenth. He can negotiate with other teams and the

(01:04:10):
Bengals have a right to match, and if they choose
not to, the team that signs Tea has to give
them two first round picks. Meanwhile, in Goodyear, the Reds
going through their first official full squad workout today, the
first one under Terry francona Red's open up the Cactus
League on Saturday. They'll play split squad action, a game
against the Guardians and another against the Milwaukee Brewers. I

(01:04:33):
was just watching some video of Ella de la Cruz
taking batting practice and Hunter Green throwing to him, which
is kind of cool.

Speaker 6 (01:04:40):
I am.

Speaker 3 (01:04:41):
I'm a sucker for a lot of things this time
of year, but when it's eighteen degrees out, we've had
more snow and it feels like winter's never gonna end,
and I can watch video from some of the TV
folks or the dispatches. Charlie Goldsmith is down there, see
Trent and the others tweeting about posting video posting stories

(01:05:02):
from Goodyear. I eat it all up. Look, this is
an interesting team this year, man. I mean it's it's really, really,
really easy to be cynical about the Reds that they've
earned that, But there are really few stories in the
entire sport. I believe this that are as interesting as
the one that's being told in Goodyear and will be
told this summer in Cincinnati. I don't know what the

(01:05:25):
outcome of the story is going to be.

Speaker 14 (01:05:27):
But you have.

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
A franchise that is currently the owner of the longest
streak of not advancing in the postseason thirty years, a
promising young core and I think that's fair, an impatient
fan base, an unpopular owner, and you add to the

(01:05:52):
mix a Hall of Fame manager, Like that's interesting. How
good it's going to be? I have no idea. You
could lead me down a path where the Reds win
eighty eight eighty nine games and that might be enough
to win the National League Central and you could lead
me down a path where the Reds win seventy three,

(01:06:13):
seventy four games, like I think there's a pretty wide
variance we have said on this show for when did
we start it in two thousand and seven and Afternoons
two thousand and nine. Be good or be interesting. I
have no idea how good the Reds will be. None.
There's way too many unknowns, way too many guys that
don't have a track record, way too many question marks.

(01:06:35):
But they sure as hell are interesting. And as much
as I don't really care to talk about David Bell anymore,
they're more interesting with Terry Francona than they would be
a David Bell been back. They more interesting with Terry
Francona than they would be with any other human being
as their manager. Like, it's an interesting story this franchise.
Forget the actual personnel for a second, this franchise, which

(01:06:59):
has done so little winning for three decades, parachuting in
to rescue it, to revive interest in it, to energize
the fan base, and to squeeze as much as he
can out of some really promising players, comes one of
the most universally beloved figures in the sport, a guy
with a Hall of Fame resume. By the way, you

(01:07:20):
think about, like, if this works, If this works here
Terry Francona in Cincinnati, if this works, what an unbelievable
capstone to an already unbelievable baseball life. I think about that, man,
like you're you're already in Cooperstown. I mean, he's not

(01:07:43):
been enshrined yet. He's going to Cooperstown as a manager.
And he had a very good playing career. He was
the manager who broke the curse in Boston and overcame
an zero three deficit against the New York Yankees in
order to do so. Then wins another, then goes to
Cleveland nearly wins there. Imagine what that baseball resume looks

(01:08:08):
like if he wins here. I'm not even talking about
winning the whole thing. Just get him to a National
League Championship Series. The impact that Terry Francona can have
on fans in this city is it's impossible to even
like begin to try to measure, but it could be significant. Man,
the impact he can have on this team if they win.

(01:08:31):
And let's be honest, if the red stink this year,
it's not going to be because they have a bonehead
in the dugout. Like I spent a lot of time
defending David Bell and then last year he started to
lose me a little bit. But the reason why the
Reds have not won a playoff series in thirty years.
Has not been because of manager, right. I mean, for
the most part, it's been players aren't very good. But

(01:08:54):
they've had a lot of managers that you just didn't
know and in some cases were just not very good.
We know this year's manager is good. We know this
guy knows what he's doing. We know this guy's communication skills.
I like, you know, in a day and age where
people love to throw out their contrarian views, could you
find one on Terry francona one who's like, you know, actually,

(01:09:18):
once the season starts, kind of a buffoon. But it's
an awesome story. I mean, I that awesome story. It
doesn't mean it's gonna be a successful one or one
with a happy ending. A couple of the Nuggets that
have come out a good year are encouraging.

Speaker 6 (01:09:33):
One.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
Matt McLain is gonna work exclusively at second base, and
they're gonna let Gavin Lucks roam around a little bit.
By the way, if Gavin Lux is your utility guy,
that's really good. I you know, last year, and this
is something I've talked about a lot. Last year, this
team's death got tested and they failed early in the season,
death got tested once Matt McClain got hurt. Matt McClain

(01:09:55):
played a solid second base in twenty twenty three. He
is right now a second basement. I know him up
as a short stop, played shortstop before Ellie got here
two years ago. Let's let Gavin Lux move around and
he'll probably still play a bunch. But Matt McLain is
going to work exclusively at second base at least to
start camp, which I think is a good idea. And

(01:10:15):
this is good too. Rhet Louder is starting his throwing
program today. So we found out on what day two
of spring training. Well, actually he's going to be a
little delayed because he was dealing with some elbow soreness.
And they tried and maybe with success and maybe without,
depending on how you are with this, but they tried

(01:10:36):
to tell you, look, it's not that big of a deal.
He's going to be okay. And then that part of
us that has heard this so many times with different guys,
it's a little bit skeptical, and it turns out, well,
he's at least for now, he's going to start his
throwing program today, which is it's better than him not
starting his throwing program. So there you go. Let's see
here a couple of things. FC Cincinnati has acquired Evander,

(01:10:57):
attacking midfielder from Portland. This on the verge of FC
Cincinnati starting its schedule in respective competitions this week. Evander
comes from Portland for twelve million dollars. He is twenty
six years old, has signed with FC Cincinnati through twenty
twenty seven, with a club option for twenty twenty eight,
and he'll be introduced tomorrow. He effectively replaces Lucho Acosta,

(01:11:20):
maybe a younger version and a guy who was an
MLS MVP finalist last year. College hoops, we haven't done
a lot today. First of all, the AP Top twenty
five has Kentucky seventeenth Coaches Poll twenty first, the Mark
Pope Show is tonight at six on ESPN fifteen thirty.

(01:11:40):
Kentucky at Texas on Saturday. UK missus eight free throws.
They play without their top three point guards. They give
up way too many offensive rebounds in the game, still
had a chance to win in the final three minutes,
Texas flat out out executed him. That was an opportunity
missed for what would have been a really, really impressive
victory given how shorthanded they are, and I think there's

(01:12:02):
some legitimate concerns about Mark Pope's teams going into the
Vanderbilt game. Let's see. We also have the Sean Miller
Show tonight seven o'clock on fifty five KRC, The Musketeers,
Zach Fremantle, Biggie's Player of the Week XU with a
business like win over to Paul. Musketeers will host Butler tomorrow.

(01:12:22):
The Bearcats on Saturday. Let me get this part out
of the way. I was deeply frustrated by the officiating
on Saturday. I don't have a great track record about
a lot of things, but if there's one area as
a sports fan and doing this show I have a
good track record with is I don't complain about officiating.

(01:12:43):
I'm the guy who complains about officiating the least, which
means I have less tolerance than anyone for hearing a
fan of another team complain about officiating. So when I
say the officiating was frustrating on Saturday, and that's not
your typical sour Grapes fan who team was on the
short end of a few calls. The whistle in the

(01:13:03):
second half was rough, and the treatment of Wes Miller
in the second half was rough, and so let's acknowledge
those things. But what was rougher was a gap and
second half second chance points seventeen to two in favor
of Iowa State. They dig themselves an early nine point hole.
Gisel James did everything he could shooting the ball to

(01:13:24):
give the Bearcats a chance, and I liked how they played.
Didn't love how they played, but given what they are,
which is not a good rebounding team, given what they've
had to sacrifice, which it feels like they've had to
sacrifice some defense for the sake of being better offensively.
Given the opponent, they played a better team in their building.
The way the Bearcats played on Saturday was fine, and

(01:13:48):
you would love to harp on that, but you can't
because they went into the game with nine losses, eight
in the league, and so the margin for error is small,
and they're going to have to go get some wins,
including the game this past Saturday that they did not
if you were looking at this going they're gonna have
to get to five hundred in the Big twelve. Okay, Well,

(01:14:09):
that task is a lot more difficult with one less win.
In front of you, So now you got to go
win five out of six. You're still gonna have to
figure out a win at West Virginia on Wednesday, bear
Cats will be underdogs. Figure out a way to beat
Baylor Bears being a by twenty five in Waco. Figure
out a way to beat Kansas State. Jerome Tank's team
is playing well and beat Cincinnati and Manhattan. Oh and

(01:14:31):
by the way, they also have to play Houston. I
guess this is kind of something we talked about in
late December early January. These games catch up to you.
The home loss against West Virginia catches up to you.
The road loss against Utah not a very good team,
catches up to you. The road loss to Villanova a
very average team, catches up to you. And when it

(01:14:52):
catches up to you, the margin for error is so
small that games like Saturdays matter more. When the schedule
came out, most us looked at that and said, that's
one of a handful of games they are almost certain
to lose. Well, because they lost other games, there was
an amplified importance and so instead of being able to
shrug your shoulders and go god, they played well, played hard,

(01:15:13):
decent performance didn't embarrass themselves. Maybe you can grab some
good from that game and apply it to what's next. Instead,
it's a more damaging loss. It's number ten, and this
team's margin for air is even smaller. And now to
get to five hundred and the Big twelve in the
regular season, they're going to have to win five out
of six. Frustrating. What else do we have? We do

(01:15:36):
have the UC baseball team ranked in the D one
Baseball Top twenty five for the first time ever, following
a weekend against Duke where they took two out of
three on the road. Congratulations to the Bearcats and may
get a Bearcat baseball related guest on the show, perhaps
as soon as tomorrow. They were going to have their
frost pitch tomorrow, their first home game tomorrow, and obviously

(01:15:58):
the weather conditions have kept that from happening. Twelve away
from five o'clock five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen
thirty and eight sixty six, seven oh two, three seven
seven six, lots of takeaways from what the Bengals are
reportedly doing with t Higgins. We'll get to the most
important ones coming up in five oh five on ESPN

(01:16:20):
fifteen thirty. Cincinnati sports station.

Speaker 7 (01:16:22):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 5 (01:16:27):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At uce Health, you'll
find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your best
tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more
at ucehealth dot com. Cluffpike closed off due to an
accident between woof Old Lane and Shanta clear Way. Please
use an alternate route as they expect this closure to

(01:16:49):
last several hours. And Kellogg shut down due to flooding
between Sutton and Valterra Park Road. Seek an alternate route.
I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:16:58):
This report is sponsored by Taco Baseball. That's what's happening
right now. You know what's happening in sports. We've got
the Four Nations Hockey Tournament, which is going to pit
the US versus Canada in the final on Thursday after
three fights in the first nine seconds of their match
on set excuse me on Saturday night. Sign me up

(01:17:19):
for that. That is replacing the NHL's All Star Game,
the NBA its latest iteration of the All Star Game.
I think served its main purpose was, I think to
get people to complain about All Star games. I don't know.
Can we just let's just acknowledge this, And I think
this is true of any sport. Baseball, which I think

(01:17:40):
still has the best All Star game, the NFL, which
has blown up the Pro Bowl, and hockey and basketball
as well, and we can fold MLS into the conversation.
All Star games are relics. They were most popular during
a time when fans didn't get a chance to regularly
see all the stars of a certain league. Now we

(01:18:04):
see them all the time. I used to get excited
for the MLB All Star Game because man, get to
see Dave Winfield and Cal Ripkin, get to see Jose Conseco,
Mark McGuire, dudes who are not coming to Cincinnati in
some cases with some of those guys, guys who are

(01:18:26):
not on national TV all that often. Now you could
watch any baseball game you want. If you want to
watch Mike Trout play right field for the Angels this season,
he's changing positions. Hopefully he can stay healthy. If you
want to watch one hundred and sixty two Mike Trout games,
it's gonna cost you, but you can. All Star games
are relics. Are born out of a time when there

(01:18:50):
was a little bit more. I think, certainly in baseball,
maybe a little bit less so in the other league's
a little bit more allegiance to a certain half of
the league, like the National League, like the American League.
The line has it basically doesn't exist in baseball anymore.
It never really existed in the NBA. I think there's
more pressure to win championships and provide return on investment

(01:19:14):
than ever before. So what's gonna get squeezed out? Exhibition games?
All star games are exhibition games. I'm old enough to
remember when players played a lot in exhibition games. I'm
old enough to remember when players played in preseason games
in the NFL. Now we hide our eyes if they do.

(01:19:34):
Players played more innings in spring training games. I went
to an NBA exhibition game when I was in college.
The Chicago Bulls were at Udi Arena. I watch Michael
Jordan play three quarters. Does Lebron James do that in
the preseason now? No, they don't play exhibition games. All

(01:19:54):
star games are exhibition games. They don't care about them
as much. Just acknowledge that, and then if you do that,
you don't get mad when the product isn't great. Like
I kind of went back and forth, NBA All Star Game,
SNL fiftieth last night, other stuff going on. Like I
just I understand what these entities are. Hockey has stumbled
into something, you know, Hockey iss stumbled into something because

(01:20:16):
number one, athletes do love competing for their country. Hockey
is doing that. Also, we are in a heightened, heated
political environment these days, which has added some no pun
intended punch to what's happening between the US and Canada
when their respective countries step onto the ice. The thing

(01:20:37):
about that, though, is like everybody's gonna watch what the
the Championship Game is Thursday. Is that going to give
a boost to the NHL regular season when it resumes
this weekend. My guess is, no, it's cool, it's novelty,
it's one off, it's fun. I'll watch the championship game.
I'm all in on that, like high end, intense, high

(01:21:00):
sign me up. But for the most part, all star
games are relics. I remember when the NBA All Star
Game was a really huge deal in the eighties. So,
by the way, old heads love to go on and
on about how teams played locked in, locked up defense. No,
but they played more than they have in recent years,
but it was a different age. Back then. You'd get
one NBA game on CBS every week. Like I hate

(01:21:22):
to sound like an old guy, but you watch old
damn Leek now if you want.

Speaker 14 (01:21:27):
So.

Speaker 3 (01:21:27):
If you understand what they are now, you're not going
to be mad at what they turn out to be.

Speaker 6 (01:21:31):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:21:33):
T Higgins is going to be a Bengal in twenty
twenty five because the team is going to tag him.
We'll talk about that next. One thousand dollars entered this
nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 14 (01:21:44):
Bank that's banking.

Speaker 11 (01:21:46):
Enter it now.

Speaker 3 (01:21:47):
All right, it's five oh five. This is ESDN fifteen thirty.
I'm O Edgar. Thank you for listening. Hope you're enjoying
your President's Day. Hope you're enjoying February forty ninth, the
month that will never end. Thank you for joining us.
We've been busy today. The Mark Pope Show coming up

(01:22:08):
at the top of the hour. You and I between
now and then five point three seven four nine, fifteen
thirty is our phone number. We spent most of our
day today on T. Higgins, which that in itself is
not new because we've talked about T A Ton not
just over the last couple of weeks, but really over
the last year. Things have changed a little bit. The

(01:22:28):
reporting getting done today, I guess a little bit after
two o'clock this afternoon, our buddy James Arpine from Bengals
Talk dot com reports the Bengals plan on giving the
non exclusive franchise tag to t Higgins. Chances are you
know how this works. But in the event that you don't, well,
I'll provide a little bit of a refresher. So the
window opens at four o'clock tomorrow. It closes on March fourth.

(01:22:51):
Within that window, you could tag eligible players. Obviously, Tea
is one of them, was franchise tagged last year. It's
the non exclusive tags. So when free agency starts, when
the league year begins, Tea is welcome to go negotiate
with other teams and if a team offers him a contract,
the Bengals can match it, or if they decide not to,

(01:23:11):
then the team that gives t the contract and signs
them has to give the Bengals a pair of first
round picks, and they obviously have between tomorrow at four
o'clock if they tag them. Just because they're going to
Tagg it doesn't mean they're gonna do it at four
o'clock tomorrow, but they're gonna have until July fifteenth to
get a long term deal done with T. So this

(01:23:32):
lots of stuff has to happen this offseason. It is interesting,
for all the time that we have spent on T.
Higgins and Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow and even Trey Hendrickson,
this offseason will be defined by do they fix the
defense and do they make the offensive line better? But
that was gonna be the case regardless of what happened
with T. Higgins. And if you are like me, and
for the most part, for your sake, I hope you're not,

(01:23:55):
you believe they can get both things done, give Joe
what he wants, keep T Higgins and make the rest
of the team better. There is cap space, you can
create more by cutting players and you get draft picks.
So there you go. But the first domino, if you will,
is set to fall. And again it might not necessarily
happen tomorrow, but if you believe James and I do,

(01:24:19):
they're going to go ahead and give him a franchise
tag for a second consecutive year. So lots of questions
now I guess the first one. I just answered, do
you think the Bengals can do what they need to
do this offseason and continue to employ T Higgins? And
for me, the answer is yes, as much as everybody
made the same default take after the Super Bowl, which

(01:24:41):
was we'll look at the Eagles. Look at If you
look at the Eagles, you see a team that has
paid at skill guys and also has done really well
in free agency and in the draft and making the
rest of the team better, primarily in the trenches. That
can and hopefully does still happen this offseason. There's what
this says about Joe burrow weight and his pull, and

(01:25:02):
Joe Burrow should carry a lot of weight. His words
should carry a lot of weight. He should have a
lot of pull. He is the meal ticket, to be honest, man.
He is the meal ticket for everybody. He's the meal
ticket for everybody connected to that organization. He's also the
one who has the most to lose. He's got the
most on the line. Joe Burrow's legacy, his place in

(01:25:25):
this sport is largely going to be defined by what
happens over the next two, three and four years.

Speaker 6 (01:25:32):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:25:33):
That's going to happen, and so him putting himself out
there basically saying, look what we've done over the last
couple of years and not being able to replace players
who have left, I don't want to do it anymore now,
barring something unforeseen, at least for twenty twenty five, they're
not going to have to figure out how to replace t. Higgins.
They have to figure out ways to make the crappy

(01:25:53):
parts of the roster better. They have to figure out
ways to make the bad defense better. They've got to
figure out ways to make the interior of the offensive
line better. They don't have to go back to the
drawing board again with another good player who left trying
to figure out how to replace him. So this is
a win for Joe Burrow. It also says something about
the evolution of the franchise. This has been a team

(01:26:16):
that for a long time has been defined by rigidity
and stubbornness, and it's gonna do a and it's gonna
stick to A and you cannot convince them to do
be This is a little bit different because it has
felt like and maybe this isn't totally grounded in reality,
but it has felt like for a while like the
plan was T's gonna play for the team in twenty
twenty four and then he's gonna walk and we move on.

(01:26:39):
That is apparently not so much the case.

Speaker 14 (01:26:41):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:26:42):
You might be also asking, well, what about T Higgins
rolling all this? I'm sure he can't be all that happy.
And so here's where a lot of this are giving
the Bengals the slight benefit of the doubt. And you
might argue they haven't earned it, but I'm gonna give
it to him anyway. My guess here is if you're

(01:27:05):
tagging T Higgins when you've already done it once, you
are taking his stated desire to stay in Cincinnati at
face value, and you are in good faith coming to
the bargaining table to get a deal done. You are
doing this with intent that's different than the intent you
had last year. You are doing this with designs on

(01:27:28):
buying yourself the time and freedom in space to go
ahead and get a long term deal done. And you've
built in some fail safes. One of the fail safs is, well,
you could trade them. You own that possibility, and maybe
a team overwhelms you and you trade T Higgins. I
doubt that happens, or maybe a team actually does say, well, team,

(01:27:50):
we'll still negotiate with you, and we'll make you one
of the highest paid wide receivers in the sport. And
the Bengals are going to be in a position where
they'll say yes or no, and if they say no,
that team has to give him a couple of first
round picks. I don't think that's going to happen either.
I'm going to I'm going to assume that this is different,
and they can prove me wrong. They have many times

(01:28:11):
in my life when I've assumed the best. But I'm
going to assume here that this is being done with
the intention being to resolve this issue once and for all.
This has been going on now for a couple of years.
This has been going on since before the twenty twenty
three season. You go read stories about how, well, yep,

(01:28:33):
no deal's going to get done with T Higgins. So
it looks like he's going to go into his last
season before he hits free agency before the twenty twenty
three season. I would like to think that this is
being done with designs being aimed at ensuring that there's
a resolution to this, and a resolution that everybody finds

(01:28:54):
fair and a resolution that everybody is happy with, and
a resolution that has T Higgins as a Bengal for
at least most of the rest of the decade. I've
got to think that's the idea here. That doesn't feel
like it was the idea last year when it was
we're gonna sign Tea to the franchise tag, we're gonna tag.
I mean, he's gonna sign the offer sheet, but we're

(01:29:16):
not going to negotiate with him. We're really not buying
time to negotiate. We're buying time to him to play
for us, and he can't go anywhere and he's got
no wiggle room. And so twenty one mil is not
bad for a receiver who's among the upper echelon number
twos in the league. And by the way, that's what
he is. And it's okay. But after this, we're willing
to move on. This feels different. We'll see if it is.

(01:29:38):
We'll see if it is. We'll see if it's different,
and then we'll see how the other pieces connect. Do
they connect with the Joe Burrow restructure. Do they connect
with Jamar Chase making less? Do they not connect with
t signing a deal but Jamar Chase still looking to
be the highest paid wide receiver in the sport. Regardless
though this was we talked about this on Friday Show

(01:30:00):
that you found folks who covered the team and around
the team who thought this is not something they want
to do, and you also had folks around the team
who thought this was something they almost had to do.
It turns out the Bengals felt like it was something
they almost had to do. What does it result in?
What's next? More than anything though, to me, it signals

(01:30:20):
it's flexibility. It signals lack of rigidity, and it also
goes to show Joe Burrow has some pop, Joe Burrow
has some sway. Joe Burrow flexed some muscles, and the
Bengals responded in kind. We'll see if the results work out.
But in their history this is not insignificant, and again,

(01:30:42):
it may work, it may not work. Bengals have a
lot of work to do this off season. They've got
a lot of work to do just to get a
deal done with te Higgins Jamar Jays. But in their history,
there haven't been that many instances where a player has
spoken as publicly and is outwardly and is decisively about
something the team should do as it relates to a

(01:31:03):
player personnel decision, as Joe Burrow has over the last
couple of months. Have the Bengals done this because Joe
Burrow said what he has said? I don't know. Did
Joe say what he has said because he felt like
the Bengals were gonna get this done? I don't know.
But relative to what everybody was assuming in September and
October and November, this is a dramatic departure. And what

(01:31:26):
we are not used to the Bengals doing is taking
dramatic departures from what we have, what we have thought
they were gonna do, and pivoting to something different. And again, hey,
you still got to get the long term deal done
for this to have the resolution that everybody's looking for.
But my guess is it happens, and it's it's pretty remarkable.
If you go back to last last season, you go
back to last summer, you go back to last fall

(01:31:48):
when a lot of us thought that twenty twenty four
was going to be it for T Higgins as a
Cincinnati Bengal. So your thoughts are welcome. At five point
three seven four nine, fifteen thirty and eight sixty six
seven oh two three, seven, seven six. This does not
get them off the hook for the other things they
have to do this offseason. And I think a lot

(01:32:11):
a lot of folks have made this whole conversation about
wide receivers to be very black and white. Well, if
you want the wide receivers, you're not going to be
able to make the rest of the team better. I
do not know how if you look at where they
are financially, what they can free up financially, who they

(01:32:32):
can move on from. If you look at what they're
allowed to do in the draft, they got six picks.
If if you listen to what Joe Burrows had to
say about we're structuring contracts and taking less and there
being some flexibility there. I do not know how you
could arrive at the conclusion that it's going to be

(01:32:53):
impossible for this team to get fixed what needs to
get fixed, they might not be able to and if
they don't, they should be held accountable for the results
they achieve or don't achieve. But I wouldn't be as
bullish on this if I believed that there was no
chance that you could make the team better around t Higgins.

(01:33:15):
If he kept him. I think he can. I think
they should. I hope they do, and I think Joe
Burrow feels the exact same way. I think this is
about an understanding that you could do it both ways.
You can keep Tea, you can pay tea. You can

(01:33:36):
throw this amount of money at one position and still
have a way to figure it out. There's not that
many other players making a lot of money on this roster.
That's because the roster itself isn't all that good, and
this league right now really is about young talent and
cheap talent. Gone should be the days of drafting players

(01:33:58):
even if you're taking them late in round one that
don't help you year one, don't help you year two.
That's gonna be on Duke topin. As a matter of fact,
to a degree, I kind of feel like this this
makes Duke's job a little bit easier because the Bengals
next season are probably gonna be really really great at
doing one thing. They're probably gonna be really really great

(01:34:23):
at throwing the football. A list quarterback, a list at
wide receiver, and then a guy just beneath the A
list who could probably play his way onto it playing
for most teams, and T Higgins if T is not
a Bengal next year. Okay, well you might have a

(01:34:44):
little bit more money to spend elsewhere on the team,
and you're probably still gonna be at least pretty good
at throwing the football. Now at your foundation, and none
wrong with laying that as a foundation, and none wrong
giving Joe Burrow what he wants either. So I might
be in the minority. I don't think I am. I also,

(01:35:04):
And there's so many different components to this, and we've
talked about him for weeks on end. You've got a
player who has stated his desire to be here, Like
this is where it comes down to, like doing right
by the guy. T Higgins got franchise tagged, didn't make
a stink, even the trade request kind of went down quietly.

(01:35:25):
Came to camp, did everything you could ask, went to camp.
She played in the preseason, played played hard, was productive.
This is a guy who plays hurt. This is a
guy who has very rarely, in fact, I think never
when the games have actually started putting his own self
interest before the teams. It's done everything you could ask, Like,

(01:35:48):
that's a dude that if you tag him now, go
ahead and get the deal done. And I think the
Bengals are acutely aware of those optics. I think they're
acutely aware of what the reaction of the quarterback would
be if this season coming up ends and we're doing
this all over again, wondering where Tea is gonna play.
So a lot to it, but one of the first

(01:36:10):
dominoes of the off season is about to fall. Nineteen
minutes after five o'clock five point three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty is our phone number. I was talking a
little bit about the Reds before, and all the dispatches
from Goodyear about the vibes and the feeling and spring
training are awesome, and there is a lot of interesting

(01:36:32):
young talent and they do have a Hall of Fame manager.
At some point, this franchise needs a certain type of
moment that we'll get to next. On ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (01:36:47):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:36:52):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at U see help.
You'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best time tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes.
Expect more at uc health dot com. Kellogg is closed
off in both directions. Due to flooding between Sutton and
Balterra Park Road. Aneta Road closed off due to flooding

(01:37:15):
as well. That between Truesdale Road and mary Ingles Highway
Painter Road. They are going to be your best alternate
route on that EZ that like with traffic this.

Speaker 3 (01:37:24):
Reason, there we go. I'm here unplucked my headphones at
the worst possible second. Yeah, the folks waiting on hold
while I have battled five point three thirty and uh
eight six six seven two three seven six. Mark Pope's
show is coming up at six o'clock and we look

(01:37:45):
forward to that. Sean Miller Show is tonight at seven
on fifty five KRC, or you can listen to Lance
tonight from six to nine on seven hundred WLW. There
you go, an entire menu of possibilities for your sports
talk radio entertain and as soon as we're done at
six pm, uh, let's see here, Steve, Steve, thank you

(01:38:06):
for your patience. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon.
How are you well? I'm sitting here doing a talk show.
How about yourself?

Speaker 12 (01:38:14):
I'm driving a base basketball practice for my eight year old.

Speaker 3 (01:38:17):
Good deal?

Speaker 13 (01:38:19):
Wait, we won over the weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:38:20):
Good, Yes, nice? The one basketball team won this weekend.

Speaker 12 (01:38:26):
Yeah, so I watched that game on Saturday.

Speaker 13 (01:38:31):
I mean, how do you go from.

Speaker 12 (01:38:35):
I know they got out rebounded on offensive.

Speaker 13 (01:38:37):
Glass, I know, but how do you go from.

Speaker 12 (01:38:41):
Playing a close game everything's you know, they're they're calling
it pretty loose, and then all of a sudden, Iowa's day.
He gets all these Tiki tech foul.

Speaker 14 (01:38:50):
I mean the foul that Jiggle James got pat out
on I.

Speaker 12 (01:38:54):
Was, I was like, how did he didn't even touch him.

Speaker 3 (01:38:57):
The last time? His fourth and fifth foul? Gregiously?

Speaker 12 (01:38:59):
Man, I mean, you know, and it's how do you
I mean half their points came from free throws?

Speaker 8 (01:39:10):
Did you?

Speaker 12 (01:39:12):
At one point there was it was that Gilbert guy
number ten. He had half of his points for free throws.

Speaker 3 (01:39:22):
Uh well, he finished with eight and he had free
free throws. So close, but I understand the overarching No,
it was.

Speaker 14 (01:39:28):
It was Curtis Jones.

Speaker 3 (01:39:29):
That's who went to Curtis.

Speaker 12 (01:39:31):
Jones was I mean, And some of the fouls, it's
like like, really, I don't know, man, I I know,
And it's crazy to think if they put up a
stat where the Bearcats only like commit like seventeen fouls
a game or something like crazy and they think they

(01:39:54):
had thirty fouls?

Speaker 14 (01:39:55):
Is that right?

Speaker 3 (01:39:55):
Twenty four? Twenty four?

Speaker 6 (01:39:58):
Okay?

Speaker 14 (01:39:59):
And I don't know, man.

Speaker 12 (01:40:01):
You go to Iowa State, you're playing well, I mean,
where was gigwell all year?

Speaker 14 (01:40:05):
Where was this at?

Speaker 3 (01:40:06):
Yeah? That's the quisition that's.

Speaker 14 (01:40:10):
Was this a west thing?

Speaker 12 (01:40:11):
Like you don't have to go, you don't have the
green light? Or was this you know, I mean to
sit on the You know. Another thing too, is I'm
watching the game and you see Dan Skillings with like
eight minutes ago when we're down by three, and you
sit on a bench laughing in his towel. It's like
you're a joke dude, Like you're I'm sorry, man, Like

(01:40:33):
I don't ours And he didn't even play the second half.

Speaker 3 (01:40:36):
Yeah, right, Uh, he was on the floor. He had
a season low fourteen minutes for the game. He also
played fourteen minutes against Howard earlier in the year. But
I mean his minutes are going in the opposite direction
and understandably so it's harder and harder to justify him
being on the floor because what does he do well
for you? He's not creating offense? He's not making shots,
he's not rebounding for you, which they badly need, and

(01:40:58):
he's not giving you much on the defense. Then, like
for a guy who's supposed to be the one player
who can do everything, he doesn't do anything right now
right And I mean, I understand the frustration that people
have with his effort. I get that. I'm into the production.
The production is not there. And if we were to
talk about things that this season have been most disappointing

(01:41:18):
relative to what a lot of us thought Dan Skillings
was going to be at this stage in his career
a year ago or two years ago, that's at the
top of the list. The Gigsel James thing. Look, he
wasn't shooting it well early in the year. Now he
is shooting it well. But the way they're playing offensively,
it's like it had to bottom out for them to
decide to play fast. And on one hand, you can

(01:41:40):
give him credit for going, all right, screw it, let's
play fast and take the cuffs off on offense. But
what if that would have happened four weeks prior. What
if that would have happened when Big twelve plays started?
Where would this team be?

Speaker 6 (01:41:52):
I mean, I mean you just.

Speaker 12 (01:41:53):
Saw youth all being Kansas. I mean so, I mean
any day in any night that you can lose, but
it's just the way that they were losing. It's like,
are you guys? I just like and also like the
game against Iowa State on Saturday, you get up three,
Dan Skiing throws some stupid you know, jump shot. I'm like, dude,

(01:42:16):
we have to leave.

Speaker 14 (01:42:16):
Why are you taking that? Like, use your brain, man like.

Speaker 12 (01:42:21):
And my thing is, if you're not having a good game,
the one thing that you can do is you can
rebound the ball. Right, if you're having a bad game,
but you and you can't buy a bucket, got rebound
the ball. That's the easiest way to impact the game.

Speaker 6 (01:42:35):
I think.

Speaker 3 (01:42:36):
Yeah, you know, early in the season when he wasn't
playing because he was hurt, that's where I thought his
absence was felt most, especially on the offensive end. Yeah,
he hasn't helped him at all in that regard since
he came back. And you're referencing which I thought was
the key moment of the game, as much as you
could talk about the foul situation, which was deeply frustrating.
They go up forty eight to forty five. It felt

(01:42:58):
like they had alwa stayed on their heels. I think
Mitchell had just scored to give him a two point lead.
They get a stop, Dan gets the rebound, and then
if I recall, no one else touched the ball, he
takes a bad shot, they go the other way and
I will stayed from that point and never look back.

Speaker 12 (01:43:14):
It's just and at the end of the half. Was
at the end of the half when when Dane gets
the ball and he throws up some forty footer and
Jiggle doesn't even touch the ball, Like, where's Bob Huggins saying,
give Jiggle the ball right?

Speaker 3 (01:43:31):
Probably probably somewhere watching on TV saying exactly that, Steve,
I could hear the frustration, and I share it with you.

Speaker 6 (01:43:38):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:43:38):
Thank you so much. Man, Hey, thanks having a good
night you too. The Dan Skillings thing, you know, I
just I know what I thought watching him as a freshman,
and I know what I thought watching him at times
last year where I believed, boy, by the middle of
his junior season, that's gonna be a cock. It might
not be your best player. In fact, hopefully he's not

(01:44:00):
because you have even better players around him. But that's
going to be like an All league caliber guy. And
maybe he's not physically one hundred percent, but it's his
drop off has been remarkable, and I let me just
say this really cool. I think it's fair to talk
about this. I think it's always fair to talk about
a college athlete's performance. I know there are some who

(01:44:22):
are reluctant to do it. I have felt this way
since before they got paid. Performance and output are fair game.
Personal stuff is not. The output from Dan Skillings since
about the middle of January has been almost non existent.
He has not scored in double figures in a game

(01:44:42):
since the Arizona State game, which was a month ago.
He's not helping them on the glass at all. He's
not helping him on defense at all. And you are
seeing I mean, we've seen Wes put him on the
bench and bring him off as a sub. He played
fourteen minutes the other night. One might are it was
about twelve minutes too many. His regression, whatever you want

(01:45:05):
to attribute it to, has been striking. I mean, at
the end of the season last year, regardless of how
you felt about how it ended in the NIIT against
Indiana State. If we were to jot down a list
of from the very top of the list to the
very bottom players you wanted to stay. I'm guessing Gisel James,
for me at least would have been number one, and

(01:45:26):
I would imagine that was the case for most fans.
Dan Skillings would be number two because there was so
much excitement about all right, you know, one more year,
get some better players around him. Here's the kind of
player he could be. And man, you saw offensively and
on the glass last year. You saw flashes of it,

(01:45:48):
and you saw it in the Big Twelve Tournament. He
was awesome. That Kansas team wasn't great, they were shorthanded,
they played he was terrific. He was really good in
the NIIT. He had double digit rebound games all over
the place. He was guarding multiple positions, he was making
outside shots, he was creating offense, he was providing a spark,
and so a lot of us at the end of

(01:46:09):
last season thought like that, dude, his third college basketball
season with better players around him is gonna be terrific.
Why that hasn't happened, I have no idea. I've watched
people suggest it's because he's getting paid, and maybe that's
the reason. But they're all getting paid like you know.
I mean people love to default to nil and portal like, well, okay,

(01:46:32):
well everybody's in the NA, everybody's making nil money. Everybody
can hit the portal. Whether Dan does that this offseason
or not, I don't know. But I think the problem
is not just his lack of production, it's there's nobody
else who was supposed to replicate his skill set. Remember,
he's supposed to be the one guy who can do
everything right. He can rebound, he can make some shots,

(01:46:54):
he can create some offense, he can provide energy, he
can make plays in the open court, he can play defense.
He's supposed to be able to do all these things.
Right now, he's not doing any but the play. And
you know, there's a very good chance they still lose
the game. And the officiating. And again I'm not to
blame the officiation. The officiating. I thought the way they
officiated the game in the first half was terrific and

(01:47:14):
then it just fell apart in the second half, and
the Bearcats quite frankly, were on the short end of
a lot of those calls. But okay, that happens. You're
up forty eight to forty five. Dan Skillings just takes
the sort of the sort of shot that if it
goes in, you acknowledge that wasn't a good shot, and
if it doesn't go in, it just it felt like

(01:47:35):
at that point, oh boy, that's going to be a
difference maker, and it was. He's been disappointing this year.
It's fair to say what the reasons are for that.
If it's health, if it's I don't know. But if
I would have said to you at the end of
last season, bearcats are going to play a game in
mid February with their NCAA tournament lives hanging in the balance,

(01:47:56):
and he's going to play fourteen minutes and score one
point and have one rebat, you would have said, there's
no way something will have gone terribly wrong. And with
him this year, unfortunately, something has gone terribly wrong. And
the problem is it wasn't just an isolated bad game.
He's had a bunch of them. And the loss is
specifically felt on the glass because this is just not
a very good rebounding team and so just not It

(01:48:19):
hasn't been all year long, but they've been able to
overcome what Dan hasn't given them offensively over the last
couple of weeks, where he should be giving them something
is on the glass, and unfortunately recently he hasn't given
him anything. It is twenty five away from six o'clock.
We'll get to Rob, we' get to Mike and hopefully
you on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:48:40):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 5 (01:48:45):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. At u see Help,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's fell less care for better outcomes.
Expect more at u see health dot com. Cluffpike is
closed off due to an accident in both directions between
Woobole Lane and shot the clear Way. Please use an

(01:49:06):
alternate route. And Kellogg also closed off both directions between
Sutton and Balterra Park Road that due to flooding. I'm
at Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:49:16):
The sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home
of Live Time, powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family to yours for life, Kelsey chev dot com.
James a Pen of Bengals Talk dot com reports Bengals
plan on giving the franchise tag to T Higgins. They

(01:49:37):
can do so as soon as four o'clock tomorrow, have
until May fourth to do so if they truly do
plan on it, which there's no reason not to believe James,
and then they have until Lodge Live fifteenth to get
a long term deal done. If they don't, Tea will
play for the Bengals get a twenty percent raise.

Speaker 5 (01:49:52):
Not bad.

Speaker 3 (01:49:52):
Twenty six mil roughly is what Tea would make this
coming season. Reds winding down their first full squad workout,
first official full squad workout today in good Year. Terry
Francona addressed the team. Rhett Lauder started his throwing program today.
Matt McClain's gonna play basically second base during spring. That's good.
Cactus League starts on Saturday, two games Reds and Guardians

(01:50:15):
and Reds and Brewers. FC Cincinnati has acquired Evander. I
love these soccer guys with these one names. Can we
make this a thing in football? We're like today we
could just say the Bengals tagged Higgins. We're gonna tag
Higgins and playing second base for the Reds is gonna
be McLain Evander. Evander is coming to Cincinnati from Portland

(01:50:36):
for twelve million dollars. Plus add ons. He has signed
through twenty twenty seven, with a club option for twenty
twenty eight. He was an MVP finalist playing for Portland
last year. Kylege hoops Kentucky is down to seventeenth in
the AP Top twenty five Men's Poll, twenty first Coaches Poll,
Pat Kelsey's Louisville team twenty fifth, AP twenty second Coaches Poll.

(01:50:57):
Mark Pope Show is tonight at six on ESPN fifteen
thirty to Shawn Miller Radio Show is tonight at seven
pm on fifty five KRC from the Dilly Zach Fremantle.
You are Big East Player of the Weekend for the
first time in program history of the UC baseball team
is ranked in the D one Top twenty five, ranking
twenty fifth after taking two out of three on the

(01:51:19):
road against Duke this weekend. Congratulations and good luck. Let's
see here, Rob, thanks for hanging on. You're on ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:51:28):
What's up, hey, Mattie, Thanks for having me. First thing
I want to talk about. Everybody knows that Bengals got money.
I don't care what anybody says. We know they got money.
I just saw an article that they just made Barron
family just made the fortune five hundred club.

Speaker 3 (01:51:45):
They are a washing cash rob. Yes, you are correct, And.

Speaker 6 (01:51:50):
I'm up with the Bengals breakdown and Joe Goodberry's breakdown
of the cap and now they make the proper cuts.

Speaker 14 (01:51:57):
They're looking at.

Speaker 6 (01:51:58):
One hundred and thirty million dollars one hundred and forty
million dollars to spend. It's just if they're gonna spend it.
And I'm on Joe's side, man, I mean, he's the
best quarterback we've ever had. The guy's been through hell
to be our football leader of the team. He's done
numerous injuries, He's battled back from This guy is in

(01:52:19):
tune with this team. I mean, once he do he
gets the offensive line lineman's swords swords for the president.
Now you're thinking, what the why would he do that?
Oh well, come in fact, we just hired an offensive
line coach that believes in protecting a quarterback with a
sword instead of a shield aka Frank Pollock. We're not

(01:52:43):
gonna stand back and take a blow. We're gonna give
the blow.

Speaker 14 (01:52:47):
We're going to attack.

Speaker 6 (01:52:48):
And that's the difference with this offensive line coach. They're
gonna attack, and I.

Speaker 12 (01:52:52):
Think that's what the players want, and I think Joe
maybe knows more than.

Speaker 6 (01:52:55):
What we know.

Speaker 3 (01:52:57):
Yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly. Like I think Joe
has had real, serious, legitimate conversations about the direction of
the offseason, the direction of the roster, the direction of
the coaching staff, and why wouldn't they engage him? Right?
I mean, he's he's he is the meal ticket. He
is the face of the franchise. You not only have
to keep him happy, you have to take advantage of him.

(01:53:19):
And I think you you have no choice but to
involve him in the conversations. It doesn't mean he has
final say, but I believe Joe has been speaking from
a place of knowledge when it comes to what the
Bengals can do with TA, what they can do financially,
what they can do with the roster, and most importantly, Rob,
you are right this team number one has lots of
cap space and they are flushed with cash in order

(01:53:40):
to be able to provide guarantees to players.

Speaker 6 (01:53:44):
And the one other thing I want to mention is,
you know, I've been following the Bengals since I was
a kid. My parents used to work the stadiums, do
vendors and everything. I've been a big fan of my life.
This is the window. This is the time. You know,
they got the players, and I truly believe that keep

(01:54:04):
what you know. You know what you got, and you
got some great players, keep them and figure out the rest.

Speaker 3 (01:54:11):
Yeah, this is the window. I mean the I've said
it many times. There's only five quarterbacks who have won
super Bowls their first one after they had played eight seasons.
It's it's it's gonna happen now, or it's you know,
you hate to say it, it's not likely to happen.
This is their window. They've got the most important player,

(01:54:31):
They've got arguably the best player at the most important
position in the league. They have a guy in t
Higgins who wants to be here. They have a guy
in Jamar Chase who wants to be here. They they
have a lot of work to do, but those are
great components to build around, and they've got the cash
to spend to be able to build around them. So yeah,

(01:54:52):
I'm right, I'm I am optimistic. I am encouraged by
what I saw today. I hope it results in a
long term contract for and I do think you can
build around those guys and.

Speaker 6 (01:55:03):
I hope they get Trey Henderson back, at least getting
a couple of years deal, and I'll take it.

Speaker 3 (01:55:08):
I think that's interesting, you know, because the difference between
Trey and t is Trey is older, and he is
under contract for this year, and I think there are
good arguments. I guess what I want to know with
Trey is how much of what they do is is
designed to avoid him making any noise this offseason. Are
they going to sign him to a deal just because
they don't want him to make noise about not getting one?

(01:55:29):
And indeed, what would his trade market be? But Mike,
I agree with what James told us before. I cannot
imagine Al Golden is coming to town with the idea
that his rebuild of the defense is going to not
include Trey Hendrickson.

Speaker 6 (01:55:44):
I feel the same way. Keep what you know.

Speaker 3 (01:55:46):
Yeah, there you go, Rob, thank you, thank you. It's
fourteen away from six o'clock. There is money to spend.
There is money against the cap. They can create more
by cutting players. There's money to give in guarantees like
there's I just I know what the reaction around the

(01:56:10):
country is going to be to what they're planning on doing.
Well you're just locking into the same reason why you
haven't won recently. You're just paying this one. You're paying
the toys. I think a deep examination. Now, look, they
may decide to keep Sheldon Rankins. I can't imagine they will.
And they may decide to keep Alex Cappen. I can't
imagine they will, and then, well, okay, you're keeping these, dude.

(01:56:31):
It's not about keeping T Higgins. Where you have a
hard time making the tea better is keeping bad players,
keeping Zach Moss, keeping Alex Kappa, keeping Sheldon Rankings, keeping
a geno stone like, let's do it that way. Would
you rather have T Higgins or those guys? To me,
the answer is pretty obvious. Mike, go ahead. You're on

(01:56:52):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 13 (01:56:54):
Well, if I, first of all, thanks for taking Michael. Secondly,
if I might switch the tuck from mister Higgins and
the Bengals, I'd be appreciative. I'd like to discuss two things,
one college basketball and the second to slam dunk contest
and the history of such contests. Okay, now you'll you'll

(01:57:20):
remember back when, uh actually, I think the initiator that
made the slam Tunk Contest really flamboyant and interesting was
the doctor, So the docs started it. Then you had
these classic matchups with you know, you'd have Spud Web

(01:57:44):
or even before that, you'd have Larry Nants, who was
an incro incredible I'm sorry, mom, incredible dunker, just incredible,
and Dominique with his windmill dunk. You remember the nat
Welcome was something else, wasn't he.

Speaker 3 (01:58:01):
One of the most one of the biggest travesties I've
ever seen in sports, Mike, the nineteen eighty eight NBA
Slam Dunk Contest, which I think was rigged. It was
at Chicago Stadium, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan. Obviously, I don't
want to say made the dunk mainstream, but certainly popularized
the contest itself. But if you watch that event, look

(01:58:24):
at Dominique Wilkins third dunk. It's perfect. He got a
forty five out of fifty. I raged about this when
I was ten years old. I'll rage about it three
and a half decades later. Dominique should have won the contest.
But you're right, I mean, look at it started with
the seventy six ABA Dunk Contest, which Julius Irving won.
The NBA then took it. Spudweb was a great story

(01:58:47):
in the mid eighties. The key, though, is in talking
about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan was a star already and
he was competing in the Dunk Contest. What the league
has had a hard time with over the years is
getting the stars to compete. Mac McClung won it, which
is nice. Do you know how many NBA games Mack
McClung has.

Speaker 13 (01:59:04):
Played in, Yeah, about a half a dozen.

Speaker 3 (01:59:08):
He's played in less than that. He's played in five, right, So,
like for the Dunk Contest that a lot of us
and like, I hate to do this, but the Dunk
Contest that a lot of us grew up loving. Dominique
Wilkins wins it. He was a star. Jordan wins it.
He was a star. Spotweb won it, but he was

(01:59:31):
unique because he was tiny. Uh, Kobe Bryant won it.
He was a star in the making. We've had very
few stars compete in it, much less win it. And
now you've got a guy who's played in a whopping
five NBA games winning it for a third straight year.
It's just it's it's hard for it's hard for a
casual fan to get into Mac McClung.

Speaker 13 (01:59:54):
It is, and that's why the NBA all start again.
I'm with you, you know, even still to this day,
the MLB All Star Game is in my opinion still
by far, by far, the only All Star game that's
worth anything.

Speaker 3 (02:00:09):
Well, it's it's the one event that looks like the
regular season product, right, I mean.

Speaker 13 (02:00:15):
Go ahead, we've got to put the team to go
with the guys.

Speaker 12 (02:00:18):
I'm with you one hundred percent.

Speaker 13 (02:00:19):
This is this is our biggest buggaboo right where your teams.

Speaker 3 (02:00:23):
You got correct. If they do that, then we're good
to go. And I think that's going to change this year. Mike,
anything else, we're at the end of the show.

Speaker 13 (02:00:30):
Yeah, real quick. College basketball, Auburn clearly solidified to number
one standing over the weekend. The set's probably got eleven
teams going in the way I.

Speaker 6 (02:00:42):
Look at it.

Speaker 14 (02:00:43):
Uh.

Speaker 13 (02:00:44):
Nick is slowly but surely working his way into the tournament.
Mick will be in the tournament and may cause some trouble.
And Patinos thirteen and two in the Big Ten, ketting
guys out of the portal and developing guys and in stories.

Speaker 3 (02:01:01):
Yeah, bounce back in the Big East. Bounce back after
beating Villanova. Mick is going to have his team in
the NCAA Tournament. Then he's going to be the coach
in Indiana. We gotta go. The Mark Pope Show is
next back at it tomorrow at three h five on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (02:01:13):
Nation, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (02:01:26):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. At uce Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal it makes your
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
more at uce health dot com. Kellogg is closed off
in both directions this due to flooding between Sutton and
Valterra Park Road. Cluff Pike remains closed off due to

(02:01:49):
an accident between woo Bold Lane and Shot the Clearway
and northbound seventy five. It's an accident at Town Street
on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (02:01:58):
This report is sponsored