8/28/25: The Afternoon Season Preview Report

Dalton Risner is a Cincinnati Bengal. 

Mo and Tony have Bengals season preview reports weekday mornings at 7:25 on 700WLW, and weekday afternoons at 3:45, 4:45, and 5:45 on ESPN1530.

Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.

Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.

Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen

Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger

Follow on X: @MoEgger

Instagram too: @MoEgger

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yesterday, while we were getting set to take off for
Kansas City, we saw that the Bengals made it official.
The hunt for Dalton Reisner ends up with him in Cincinnati.
And it feels to me, Tony, and I said this
to you yesterday, like I look at social media and
an off season that has kind of been defined by
g you know, feeling underwhelmed about what the Bengals did

(00:20):
in free agency, all the concerns about the offensive line,
all the concerns about the defense. Suddenly all that went
away and this surge of optimism permeated through the fan base.
Was that surge of optimism justified based on Dalton Reisner?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, if you think Minnesota last year, Cincinnati now, Canton
would be the next stop. Based on everything I read yesterday, No,
it is. I think I equate this to the same
way we talked when Noah Fan became a Cincinnati Bengal
when that news broke yesterday. Where the Bengals better than
they were before? And I think, yes, if you look
at just the sheer numbers out of pass protection, he

(00:55):
doesn't give up sacks. That's what he's best at. That's
our biggest concern in cincinnat is protecting Joe Burrow. So
if you go based on what he's done in his career,
then you would say, okay, that's a upgrade for this
offensive line.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Would you start him Week one?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Absolutely? I've only because of what I've seen from Lucas
Patrick up to this point.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I've seen I've seen him get beat with moves. I've
seen him get bull rushed, I've seen him get beat
with speed. I saw Chris Jenkins throw him eight yards
back down the field and no offense to Chris Jenkins.
But I know Mason Graham is a very good player.
I know Miles Garrett is one of the best, if
not the best, edge rushers in the game. I'm not

(01:36):
taking any chances I would against Cleveland and what they
possessed defensively and offensively. If you've got to shrink down
some of the protections for him to be more comfortable,
I would rather do that than run the risk of
Lucas Patrick out there.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, I would agree, and I would. I would assume
that Dalton Reisner can be a quick study. He's done
this before where he's joined the team, maybe not this late,
but the last two contracts he has signed, he has
signed well after Mini camp. In one case, you know,
training camp had already pretty much ended, so this is
something he has done before. So with what they did yesterday,

(02:12):
you had a lot of folks in again this is
social media saying well, see, look they had a great offseason.
How would you assess how would you describe the Bengals
offseason incomplete?

Speaker 2 (02:22):
You know, because I thought about this driving over to
the stadium today in terms of the Bengals and all
the conversations you and I had when the season wrapped
in disappointment last year, because they were so close and
you looked at all of the the one or two
things that could have happened in each game that could
have gotten you over the hump and been in the playoffs.
And I think everything that we highlighted the day when

(02:44):
the season ended is still a question mark for this team.
Even with Dalton Reisner. I still worry about the offensive line,
even with Al Golden. I still have a significant concern
about a defense that was terrible last year. So it's
incomplete to me, because I hope Shamars do. It's an upgrade.
They just got Trey Hendrickson back, they had Reisner, but
we're still talking about the same questions we had going

(03:05):
into the offseason with the season ending.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, I am excited or at least optimistic about nearly
every player they have acquired, both in the in free
agency and in the draft. I just wish there were
one or two more of them, especially in the secondary. Yep,
I just I wish defense is a concern. Yeah, I mean,
you know, it's we've made this comparison before. It's not

(03:28):
unlike what we said about the Reds. You know, we
were okay with the individual additions. We just wish there
would have been more of them. I think the same
logic applies.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, very very mirrored franchises in the fact that there
are glaring holes that it feels like a lot of
people can see.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah,