Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Moger. You are about to listen to a conversation between
two total pros because our favorite college basketball team is
playing right now in a huge game, a game that
could help them take a major step toward the NCAA tournament,
and yet very gamely, we are going to talk about
the Cincinnati Bengals, which is that that's the team that
(00:20):
Kelsey Conway covers for The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com
and she's actually providing news while this game is happening
right now. I just retweeted her on Twitter. She's with
us now, Hi, Kelsey.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hey Mo, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm well, do you want to play linebacker for the Bengals?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh? No, No I don't. But you know, I wish
I had better news hopping on this call. And you know,
I thought about when I put out some of myself
on X, like purfasing it by saying like Bengals fans like,
don't kill the messenger, because unfortunately I just head back
(00:59):
to back X posts that I'm going to put together
in a notebooks that he'll be available on Cincinnati dot
Com about who the Bengals aren't interested, And so I
tried to comb through what's left of the positions that
they need people at and see what I could find
and didn't find a lot of great news, so we
(01:21):
can get into it on this show. But yeah, it's
been it's been a hard day to figure out exactly
what the Bengals plan has been since day one. So
I know we'll get into it and you can ask
me all your questions, but I just wanted to bring
that up at the top of my appearance on this show.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So you no, no, Well, let's let's let's sort of
backtrack a little bit here, because you put this on
social media. This is before four o'clock. League year is
now underway. You wrote, we're thirty minutes away from the
new league year, and the Bengals have added two players
during the legal tampering period, boy A Mafe and Brian Cook,
and as you wrote, there's still time to add players.
I thought the Bengals would have added more by now.
(02:01):
If you would have told me on Monday afternoon about
four o'clock, once we saw who they had signed, I
think I think most of us would have been surprised,
and most said most of us would have said it's
unlikely that forty eight hours later, those are still the
only two names I think most would agree, and so
I guess the question is what has happened since Monday afternoon?
(02:22):
That leaves those two guys who agreed to terms on
Monday as the two most recent guys who have agreed
to terms with the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I don't know. And I say that because usually you
hear like, okay, they were in the mix, they were
a finalist. So then from those clues you can kind
of put together like, okay, here's who they were in on.
I've made a number of calls, also been following some
of the reports from other prospects, and I have not
(02:53):
gotten any sense of who they have really targeted that
they've missed out on. So there's been conflicting reports, you
know about Devin Lloyd, and it seemed every like everybody
wanted to believe that the Bengals were in on that,
and then that came out it wasn't, you know, true.
But let me just run through some names for you
(03:14):
that I can tell you that they haven't been in on.
And that's where I don't know what their plan has been.
They were not in on Caden Ellis, they were not
in on I just posted this, but Arnold Uber Katie.
They weren't in on him, they weren't in on Kay Love,
on Chase, on they and you know, I'll talk about
another one that I just posted, but specific to that position, Like,
(03:37):
they weren't in on any of those guys. Those were
all guys that I thought that they could put together,
you know, a contract that would be in line with
what the Bengals like to do in free agency. So
for them to have not even been a finalist or
in on those guys, I'm having a hard time connecting
the dots as far as who they were targeting and
(03:58):
what their plan is. I know they were targeting Boy
and Mafey, they were successful in getting that done. They
were clearly targeting Brian Cook. They were successful in getting
that done. As far as who else they were targeting,
I haven't been able to get a nail on that
because some of these guys that seem like logical fits
at the positions that they need, they haven't either been
(04:19):
in the mix owner, they haven't been a finalist. So
I'm struggling to figure out what their plan after Boy,
mafe and Brian Cook has been is their plan.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Thirty seven year old Bobby Wagner.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I have a hard time believing that that's their plan.
I mean, you know how it is with the Bengals
with people you know up in the age category. So
I think it's a matter of a matter of They
truly must believe that they have their their groups that
(04:55):
they have. They're buying the growth that they saw in
the in the second half of the season. But what
they said is the combine to us Al Golden telling us,
you know, we need a Sam linebacker. You know, we
asked Amitris and I to do stuff that he's probably
not good enough at. We need to put him in
a position to succeed. So where's your Sam linebacker? That's
(05:18):
where I started with making making calls for players that
would fit back. They were not a finalist for any
of those players that I just mentioned. Okay, so what
happens there. The other position that I'm almost like perplexed
that they haven't moved on is defensive cackle and and
(05:38):
so I saw bubbling up on social media, you know,
Bengals fans asking after a report came out from Pro
Football Talk that Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle osa Odjizua, you know,
could potentially be up for trade because the Cowboys have
added to that position, and so I made some the
(06:00):
league and the Bengals haven't shown any interest as far
as his side talking to his side, So it's not
coming via a trade right now. I mean, there could
be one in the works that they're keeping completely hush hush,
but people other teams aren't in the mix of giving away.
They're either one or top two d tackles, especially in
(06:23):
a year where the free agency crop wasn't great and
the draft crop isn't great. So that's another one where
I'm struggling to figure out, like, Okay, if they're not
going to sign one of these guys in free agency,
are they going to try and trade for a guy
who's currently on another team. Well, one of the most
logical fits to me would have been Osa, and they're
not headed in that direction. So long story short, I
(06:46):
don't know what their plan is after day one.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It feels like specifically to those two positions, and I think,
frankly a little bit more so linebacker, just because I
think there were more names out there that seem to
fit what they should be looking for. It feels like
last year. It feels like last year for the entire defense.
It was, well, you know, toward the end of the season,
we won those games, and yeah, you could say we've
feasted on bad quarterbacks, but we did just enough to
(07:13):
essentially bring all those dudes back, and then we saw
what the results were. And so I think in the
back of any fan's mind has to be that. And
then you think ahead to this coming season, and it's like,
are they really gonna go into this season with Carter
and Knight playing these significant roles that they were forced
to play in last year? Like, are is it really
gonna be bj Hill and Chris Jenkins and guys who
(07:35):
were on the team last year. I saw that movie before,
and yeah, man, they upgraded its safety and I think
they're okay on the edge, especially if Miles Murphy ends
up continuing his ascension. But I think the frustrating thing
for me you talk about plan, it feels like last
year's plan specific so far, at least to detackle on linebacker.
I hope that changes. I'm fearful that it won't.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I can completely see why you're saying that, and I'm
thinking the same thing where I think it's different than
it was last year is that they finally admitted they
needed a real guy at safety. I mean, at least
they did that, right, Okay, so at least they acknowledged
that they weren't good enough at that position. But what
(08:18):
I look at day one is those guys were signed
to replace guys that left. So I'm not saying that
the Bengals are better yet because they signed Brian Cook
and Boye Mafe because keep in mind, you're not just
replacing Trey Hendricksen's production. You're also replacing josepho size production.
(08:41):
Those are two guys that gave you a lot off
the edge. So really, Boye Mafe is just a piece
of how you replace that production and you hope it works,
and then safety you upgrade it there. But the Bengals
defense right now is not a better unit than it
was when it ended this season. And that's where I'm
(09:03):
perplexed because you see teams like the Washington Commanders who
made it a point after a bad year on defense,
we are going to fix this, and they went out
and they addressed it completely, made over their defensive line,
you know, with Odafeoway going there, kylevon Chase on and
then adding Leoshanal like they had a clear plan and
(09:27):
they executed it. And I thought that the Bengals were
going to do that and they did it. And you know,
of course there's still time. You know that you can't
the Bengals are playing a game on Sunday, but they're
really missing the window on some players. And just to
your point about the linebackers, nobody was saying that the
Bengals needed to go out and sign a mic linebacker
(09:49):
to take over for Barrett Carter. What everybody was hoping
for was that they would bring in a leader who
has experienced that can push those guys along. And is
it not like the best case scenario to have real
competition in training camp at linebacker? And that to me
(10:09):
is where I'm totally just perplexed. And I hear you
that it sounds a lot like last year. And for
Duke Oven to go up to the podium and say,
you know, we have the resources the bank will set
themselves up for their fans to be upset in a
way with that statement because they haven't backed it up.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Can they not multitask? And the reason I bring this
up was by their own admission last year from ownership.
You were there at the owners meetings, Hey, you know,
we were kind of locked into getting Jamar and t
done and that kind of precluded us from devoting all
the attention and resources we would have liked to free agency.
I thought that was an incredibly lame excuse, But the
(10:51):
message was we couldn't multitask. Can they not multitask and
go try to get the guys they got on Tuesday,
I'm sorry on Monday and even the players they tried
for but didn't get on Monday, all the while reach
out to and negotiate with players at other positions who
have signed with other teams.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So there's my response that is going to be I
think it's a little bit twofold here. Keep in mind this,
and I'm not going to get into specifics, but I
think this is an important piece of information for Bengals
fans to keep in mind. Free agency is very much
a one team can show interest in that player. That
(11:30):
player and his representation have to want to be in Cincinnati.
They have to want to negotiate with the Bengals. They
have to want their player to be there. The Bengals
have had history with some agents that represent a lot
of players, and that comes in the factor here in
(11:54):
free agency. Because the player gets to choose. So if
the Bengals were up against enough their team and that
agent of that player has had bad negotiations with the Bengals, like,
let's not forget that, that could maybe come into the conversation.
So that's an important piece of information. Don't think that
(12:14):
the Bengals reputation somehow, some way finds it finds its
way into free agency at times with specific agents. Also,
the other part of what you're saying is can they
not multitask? That's where the constant questions about the scouting
staff come into play, because if you can't have a
(12:36):
big enough scouting staff where they can handle many of
these things going on right now, like they're trying to book,
like when they're doing the pro days, they're trying to
do draft stuff while they're doing like, there's a lot
going on. But you don't help yourself get rid of
those questions about the size of your scouting staff when
it seems like they can't operate and do multiple things
(12:58):
at a high level at one time. And so I
think that's going to continue to be a question when
when you ask questions like can they not multitask? Well,
then having a really small staff doesn't help in situations
like this. But I think based off of what I
know about the Bengals and what they thought going into
free agency, I said, I said it, you know a
(13:21):
number of times, temper your expectations because the Bengals didn't
think the defensive crop at some of the positions that
they needed was as good as the outside did. And
I know that's frustrating for fans to hear. And you
can say, well, they'd at least be better than what
they had, sure, definitely, but the Bengals. The Bengals didn't
(13:45):
have high enough grades on a lot of these players,
and that's why clearly you thought them not being in
the mix for some of these guys that you could
say they need. So I think there's a lot there
as far as how the Bengals ended up up where
they are right now, and that is with just two
new players when they probably needed about four to five
(14:07):
new starters on defense right now.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
One more Kelsey Conway from The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com,
where she, by the way, takes your mailbag question. She
is also on Twitter at Kelsey L. Conway. What is
your overarching takeaway from Trey Hendrickson joining the Baltimore Ravens
and the route that was taken for him to get there.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I think it's fomical that you know, of course, Trey
Hendrickson is gonna end up with a team in the
division and it be a new storyline, you know. No,
actually think he signed well, I don't know if it's
official yet, but he went to the Ravens just so
that two weeks a year you continue to talk about him,
since I know how much he loved to talk about
(14:49):
Trey Henderson. But on a more serious note, I was
on a Baltimore podcast this morning and they asked, like,
what was the reaction from Bengals players about Trey going
to the to the Ravens. And what I thought was
the most interesting thing is as I actually talked to
a Bengals player this morning and I asked, and it
(15:13):
wasn't that they're fearful of Tray being in the division.
It was more of a relief that they don't have
to go up against Max Crosby and that he's not
going to be in the division. So I thought that
was really interesting about the whole situation. But I think
it unfolded perfectly for Trey I thought it was very
(15:33):
interesting that he waited it out, and I thought him
waiting it out might not work in his favor. But
it always felt like Trey was going to end up
going to a team that's legit, you know, trying to
win a Super Bowl, and I didn't see him going
to a team that was, you know, kind of in
a rebuild mode. So it went basically how I expected
it when it was he was going to wait it
(15:53):
out because he didn't feel that the teams were meeting
his value. You know, Trey, I'll tray the entire time
with the Bengals thought he was in the upper echelon
of edge rushers, and the league told you this past week.
You know, they didn't view him how he viewed himself.
But it ended up working out for Trey. And it'll
certainly be interesting because I covered a lot of training
(16:17):
camp reps of Trey and Orlando going at it with
each other, and it's going to be fascinating to see
the Bengals knowing, like what his weaknesses are vice versa
Trey knowing you know, how to beat Orlando Brown. Like,
the storylines are going to be really interesting there.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I can't wait. I'm excited because I'm a fan of
interesting and fun and Trey Hendrickson playing against the Bengals
twice years interesting and fun. By the way, we're winning
the game thirty four to thirty one, so I think
we're plus two. Since you jumped on the phone with me,
you've been good luck. I know you have a lot
going on. I'll let you run.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Thank you as always, Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
You're the best. Kelsey Conway. Read her coverage of the
Bengals at The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot com and submit
am bag question for while you're at it, and follow
her on Twitter as well at Kelsey L. Conway Covering
the Bengals while her beloved Bearcats are playing Cincinnati is
on top thirty four to thirty one Quick sports headlines.
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