Cincy 360 -- Tony Pike with James Rapien

Tony talks with James Rapien from Sports Illustrated about the Bengals, on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

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Sincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by Cinci Shirts Cincy
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Shirts dot com or check out anyof the retail locations and allow SINCEI Shirts
to help you out with whatever youneed. Next. Real quick, as
we recap here. Two o'clock today, Rick Browing will join us to talk
a little Norse and some Xavior basketballbecause I've heard, I've seen the messages.

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Right, you talk about Cincinnati?Can you talk about Xavier? Yes,
we'll do that at two o'clock.But before we get to any of
that, before we get to yourtalkbacks from All Bengals dot com, covering
the Bengals from every possible angle thereis, is James or Pen joining us
right now. James, Jimmy franchise. What's going on? Man? How
are you? I'm good? Howare you? James? I'm good.

(01:08):
It's good to hear your voice.Always always a pleasure. Let's talk OTAs
voluntary workouts. The mandatory stuff getsunderway next week. From a voluntary workout
standpoint, James let's just cut downto it. How much can you actually
take when the media is allowed togo in and see some of these workouts.

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How much are you actually able totake? How much you actually to
evaluate some of the players in whatyou're seeing on the field. Well,
obviously the first things first you canevaluate help and analyze Joe Burrow and whether
or not he's throwing. Obviously hedidn't throw yesterday, but that's been the
focus where my focus has been throughoutthe offseason program. How much he's throwing,

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Is he taking any periods off?All of those things? But like
for these rookies, do they lookthe part? I think that's a a
big factor. Like Jermaine Burton,he was really good at catching the ball
away from his body in college.Okay, well he's not facing defenders early
on in the soufseason program he wasn'tand so is he still doing that the

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hands his hands catches away from thebody. Does that work? Is he
still leaning on that or is hebody catching? Just little things like that.
But to your point, yeah,there's not a ton you can take
away, but you can take awaydo they look laparda Marius mims Is He
has advertised on his feet. Weknow how big he is. Everyone's talking

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about that, but is he movingwell? And so I do think there
are some takeaways. But it's Juneor May. I would not not seeing
programs started, but there are somethings you can take away, for sure.
I saw a little bit yesterday ofTed Karris talking to the locker room
about the approach and how it feelsdifferent, how they feel like they're locked
in more or a little more serious. And that's not to say that last

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year they were goofing around all thetime, but you know, he made
it a point to say, look, last year was unacceptable. We didn't
make it to the playoffs. Canyou sense that just from being around the
stadium, being around the practice field, that this is a team that is
locked in and carrying themselves maybe alittle bit differently. Yeah, Because I
think Joe Burrow knows how important thisseason is for him, and so that

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trickles down and kind of sets atone from the top on down. And
I'm sure Joe Burrow has heard plentyabout where he ranks and all of those
things, and how he's injury prone, and not that he cares about where
he ranks, but I do thinkhe knows that he has to be one
of the top quarterbacks in the leagueif the Bengals are going to get where

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they want to go. And sothat starts right now, and it started
before now, really, and soI think it starts with Burrow that tone,
and then it trickles down to aTed Terris, to the rookie class
throughout the defensive room. So thisteam does have a lot to prove because
even though they finished with the winningrecord, they were in last place last

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year and that's where they finished inthe division. That can't happen again.
Expectations are high, and they're highfor a bunch of reasons, but Joe
Burrow is the main reason. Andso we'll see if he can continue to
set the tone and deliver. We'vetalked to different folks and we've seen the
Joe Burrow leadership conversation happen in alot of different ways this offseason. Do

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you think it's more of that,more Joe Burrow setting a tone, Joe
Burrow coming into his own being morecomfortable, or is Joe Burrow sitting back
and saying, Joonah Williams is gone, Joe Mixon's gone, Tyler Boyd has
gone. It's now my turn.It's my role to step up because we've
seen so much about Joe Burrow asa leader, Joe Burrow working with different
players and taking the time to explainthings. Is that the natural progression or

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is that Joe Burrow understanding that thatis now part of his role with so
many of those veterans gone. Ithink it's probably a little bit of both,
where he's even more comfortable and probablyfeels like he's mastered the offense.
At the same time, you havesome new faiths now for the first time
in Burrow's career. He's not goingto throw past his to Tyler Boyd this

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year. He's not going to haveJoe Mixon in the backfield, and so
you've got to get Zach Moss upto speed. A guy like Mike GASICKI.
You want to have him in lockstep, knowing exactly where he's going to
be, where you want him tobe, all of those things, and
so building that foundation starts now.And so I don't think that Burrow would
have hesitated to do some of thethings that he's doing a year or two

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ago. I think he did withHayden Hurst. But there's a bigger gap.
Now there's a bigger void on offense, and so we're seeing it more.
And to your point, the veteranleadership has shifted some and so I
don't think Burrow's going to be themost vocal guy in the room, but
you don't necessarily have to speak tolead, and I still think that he
sets the tone with his actions.And when they see him on the practice

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field helping a Jermaine Burton or helpingMike is sick, he or whoever it
is, getting on the same pagewith those guys, I do think that
helps. So, Yeah, anatural progression and part of the roster revolution
for sure, that Burrough stepping upinto more of a leadership role, not
that he wasn't the leader before.I just think that that responsibility grows.
We'll talk about wide receiver in asecond, but you know what wide receiver
is going to be this year.We pretty much know what the offensive line

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is going to be. From ayou should standpoint, how do you foresee
again, very early on it wouldjust be speculation. How do you see
usage for the tight end position?How do you see snaps being divvied up
for the running backs? Because yeah, a lot of the conversations around GASICKI
he's more of a slot receiver.Do we see a lot more to tight

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end sets? How much is itZach Moss versus Chase Brown? How do
you see those things being divid upearly on? Yeah, I think Zach
Moss versus Chase Brown is going tobe that They're going to combine and be
maybe as much a fifty to fiftysplit. I mean, Zack Moss is
proven back in this league. He'sa really good pass protector. He's someone

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that was explosive last season to runbetween the tackles. But Chase Brown is
also someone that I think can bereally explosive, can be a good pass
catcher out of the backfield. Andso why not get both of those guys
on the field, keep both guysfresh. I think we may see the
first true fifty to fifty split thatwe've seen at running back and as far

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as tight end goes, I thinkMicaciki's going to play a ton and yeah,
he's going to play that slot role, but I think he's going to
line up in line more than peoplethink and still line up in line some.
And the thing that is interesting Tonyis at least to me, Drew
Sample certainly proved himself has the trustin that building, and so you can

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have Sample on the field with theTanner Hut saying, you can have Sample
on the field with a Mike Asiki, and so you may see him play
the most STAPs out of any ofthose guys. At the same time,
it's more of a blocking role,not necessarily a pass catching role. And
I do think that the evolution ofthe offense could mean more two tight end
sets, and one of which beinga Mike Yasiki who can split out wide,

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you can play in the slot ifyou need him to, or could
just play right next to Drew Sampleand then run a route from the tight
end spot. So I do thinkKasiki's going to be a big part of
this offense and the leading pass catcherin that room. But it wouldn't shock
me if Drew Sample had a fewmore snacks just because of what he brings
as a blocker and what he bringsas a pure tight end, not necessarily
a pass catcher. I asked aquestion yesterday to Austin Trent Brown. We

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saw Sheldon Rankins come back yesterday,and he talked about why he came back
and why it was important to geta feel and get comfortable before mandatory mini
camp. Let me ask the samething from the Trent Brown standpoint. Are
you surprised that Trent Brown has notbeen here yet, knowing it's a new
system and the importance of protecting JoeBurrow and knowing how communic works on the

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offensive line, or is it moreof a non issue and next week will
come mandatory camps around and Trent Brown'shere and it's no problem. He was
here for one part of the offseasonprogram, so I don't want to I
dismiss that it was brief, buthe was here for a few sessions.
But to your point, I'm notreally worried. Honestly, I think what

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Trent Brown is going to be askedto do is pretty is pretty straightforward,
right, be a wall and sowhatever the easiest way for him to do
that is. And it's training inTexas, that's fine as long as you're
strolling up in shape and ready togo, and we'll see next week.
Obviously it's mandatory, So I'm notsuper concerned that. I think interior defensive
line there's a little bit more toit, and versus what I think for

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a guy like Trent Brown. He'sseen all these different rushers he's going to
go against and have to deal with. Obviously he needs the run block as
well, but plenty of time toget all of that done. I think
he'll be fine. And then,like I said, he did appear for
uh, it was a couple ofsessions a few weeks back. He was
in town for during the voluntary process. Lastly, on the offensive side of

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the ball, James, the JustinJefferson deal happens earlier in the week.
One hundred and ten million guaranteed overfour years. There is also the CD
LAMB deal that's kind of looming inDallas. What do you think the time
frame looks now for Jamar Chase?And if you're Jamar Chase or his camp,
are you expecting more than what JustinJefferson received? For sure? Yeah,

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that's the standard. That's the standard. Now. Like if you ask
me about Trevor Lawrence, well,guess what he's acting for more than what
Joe Burrow received. It's just partof it. In I've gotten a lot
of all. Well, Jamar Chaseisn't better than Justin Jefferson one one tony
for the first twenty two years oftheir lives or Jamar's life, he was

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better than Justin Jefferson. And soI'm not going to dismiss that now because
there's been a couple of years wherethe numbers have been there. From a
yard's perspective, I think Jamar isevery bit the receiver of that Justin is
and so is he going to askfor that that type of money. Absolutely
he is, and he's probably goingto get it. And the question for
me, and I wrote about thisfor Bengals talk back a whole breakdown of

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what the contract could look like.Does he take the three year route or
what the three year route like aJalen Waddle who was in his draft class
that would put him under contract forthe next five years, or is he
open to the idea? And thisis what I would try to do up
on the Bengals to a four yearextension this year, because if you do

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let's say the Justin Jefferson deal plusa ten million dollars sweetener, so four
years, one hundred and fifty millionbucks, one hundred and twenty guaranteed.
Oh my god, that's crazy.Why would you do that? Well,
you would do it because he'd beunder contract for the next six years.
You could spread that money out,spread those capitates out. It wouldn't crush
you nearly as badly, and youwould keep jam Our Chase in Joe Burrow

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Intown through twenty twenty nine for thenext six seasons. That sounds good to
me, But Tony, something tellsme that Jamar's side of things not gonna
want that. He's not gonna wantto be under contract until his age thirty
season. And so if they doget something done in this offseason, if
I had to bet, I thinkit would be a three year extension.
But don't be shocked if this issomething that goes into next year, because

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we have the precedent. It's justinJefferson, he didn't sign a deal before
his fourth NFL season. He signedit before his fifth NFL season, And
so I could certainly see Jamar anddeciding to wait in the Bengals deciding to
wait as well. The defensive sideis We spent a few more minutes here
with James Rapine Offollbengals dot Com forthe first time yesterday, we saw Sheldon

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Rankins, and we heard from SheldonRankins and talked about it being super Bowl
or bust and the decision to cometo Cincinnati. And I know on all
Bengals dot com you can read aboutSheldon Rankins and his confidence in playing Bengals
talk and we changed, we rebranded, rebranded, already you're all over the
place. Sheldon Rankins has a threedown back, James can can they catch

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lightning in a bottle like they didwith DJ Reader with Sheldon Rankins? And
if so, how much does thischange now? This Bengals defensive front that
was a major talking point, ina major question for a lot of the
offseason. Yeah, I think it'sa huge, I mean huge question is
how this defense a front comes together. And obviously the Burrow health and all

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those things, that's what's lingering.But as far as defense is concerned.
But let's just paint the rosy optimisticpicture because it's it's June. Sheldon Rankins
is a dynamic interior pass rusher.BJ Hill's in a contract year and has
a great year. Sam Hubbard's healthy, Trey Hendricks and is hungary, and
a guy like Miles Murphy emerges rightLike, there's scenario where this defensive front

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is really good, can get afterthe passer and so you're not necessarily missing
that nose tackle presence on most downslike you had in the past couple of
years with DJ Reader. But there'sa lot of questions there. That was
the rosy optimistic picture. That's hardto envision all of those things happening,
and so is Christianenkin's ready to contributeright away? Is McKinley Jackson ready to

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contribute right away? Is really youronly true nose tackle on the roster.
From a size standpoint, can VJ. Hill do that? Will they be
able to kick Sam Hubbard inside someor Cam Sampoint inside some because you have
a guy like Miles Murphy emerged.There are a ton of questions along the
defensive front, but one I'm notreally doubting. I think Sheldon Rankins is

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going to come in here and bea disruptive pass rusher right away. How
he does against the run, I'mnot sure, but I do think that
the Bengals pass rush should be evenbetter this year. Trey Hendrickson, we
know what he brings. I thinka healthy Sam Hubbard, Miles Murphy emerging
in year or two, plus aguy like Sheldon Rankins, hopefully it can
come together because there's a lot ofpotential in that room. If the Bengals
pass rush improves this year and they'vemade a couple additions and changes in the

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back end of the secondary. Atthe cornerback position, this team got gassed
last year by explosive plays. Havethey done enough or do you need to
see more from this team from thecornerback position to help trying to limit so
many explosive plays that they had givenup last year. Yeah, I think

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it's a major concern. I fora few reasons. One just depth alone.
You know, you have can Taylor. Britt like Cam a lot.
I think he's a really really goodplayer, DJ Turner, Dax Hill.
You know, maybe you're bullish onthose three guys. Great Mike Hilton and
the nickel obviously is one of thebest in the league. But what if
Cam gets nicked up again and he'sdealt with injuries in his first two seasons.

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What if Dax Hill it takes alittle longer to develop at outside corner,
which he hasn't played since high school. And so I'm sure he's catching
on now, but man, it'sa tough ask. And so I am
surprised and you look and you haveDjid coming back from an ACL, you
have a fifth rounder and Josh Newton. It's not like they took a first

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round corner talking about a fifth roundcorner, and so there's just a lot
of question marks in that cornerback roomoverall. Could it work out? It
could? There are scenarios where Icould paint where it does, but some
major questions, and I would beI'm still kind of surprised they haven't done
it yet, but I'd be surprisedif they didn't add a corner between now
and the start of training campers,certainly at the start of the season that

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has played in this league and hasproven himself in this league. At the
same time, I think the safetyroom shouldn't be much improved. These are
guys that they targeted. Obviously,we know what von Belt does and what
he brings. And then Genostone tosomeone they were targeting all along, and
we're able to get him out apretty good value contract. So I think
they'll be better at the safety roomas far as corner goes. The major

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question mark, and I would notbe shocked if they address it a free
agency at some point. James tofinish up when you look at next week
now and we hear the term mandatorymini camp. It's a three day stretch.
Two part question one, do youexpect everyone outside of probably T Higgins
to be here in two? Whatchanges? What differences does next week look

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like compared to what's happened over thelast couple of weeks of the off season.
Yeah, I think T Higgins fo. I'd be stocked if we see
T Higgins before. Put it likethis, Tony, you and I will
be covering training camp, assuming you'redoing that again this year, multiple training
camp days before we see T Higgins. Yes, just the reality of the

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situation. By the way, Tee, if you're listening, I'm sure he
is. I would love to seeyou before that. Yes, yeah,
please come back to touch base.There would be no problem to do that.
You don't even have to sho upfor practice. I think Tonyo bydy
Skyline, absolutely so. But no, I think it would be a shock
to see or to see Tony,to see Tony too before August, but

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to see t before probably the endof August. The end of August makes
sense like preseason's over come in,get acclimated a little bit, and then
hit the ground running for the regularseason. Outside of that, for this
team, it's really health. Andthen are they willing to dip their toe
in the free agent market for acorner, maybe for another running back,

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or for one of these positions thatwe look at. We're like, Kah,
they're a little shallow there. Andthose are the two that I would
put probably near the top or atthe top of the list of put certain
positions that they could address. James, you're the man. All of your
coverage of the Bengals is easiest tobe found where there we go. Now
you ask may a Bengals Talk dotcom. The brand is still part of

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Sports Illustrated in that side dot com. To just go to Bengals Talk dot
com. It's really easy to remember. Yeah, Now I go with it.
Goes with the YouTube channel, Tony. It's easier than ever Cincinnati Bengals
Talk on YouTube and the Lockdown Bengalspodcast. Just get into Bengals Talk and
you're gonna find your way somewhere toJames Repine and all of his content.
Right, James, you're the man. I look forward to seeing you in
August. Thanks James, I lookforward to seeing you at Augisty that too.

(19:22):
Thank you James, James Rapine,Bengals Talk dot Com. No,
I'd get that right at some point. Having a hard time with that that
even on your screen, YEP,didn't even look at that. Try to
help you. I'm so used toJames that you know, the former before
the rebrand. Uh. Anyway,Uh, talkbacks are coming up, Kenny
Chesney ticket giveaway is also coming up. Rick Browing is coming up, and

(19:48):
uh Jay Morrison said something yesterday Austin. He kind of slid it under when
we were talking about the new kickoffrule. I want to revisit that an
hour three as well. We'll getto all of that with more of your
phone calls, but talkbacks first.Since he three p sixty ESPN fifteen thirty
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