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July 1, 2025 13 mins
Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports has a newly-released newsletter called TrapSheet, which debuted with a piece on each NFL team's long-term prospects that ranks the Bengals' future outlook as the best in the league.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Five from four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on moegor.
Thank you for listening today. We'll do sports headlines in
just a few minutes. I don't want to make our guest. Weaight.
Reds have made some roster moves, none of them really huge.
That coming up in just a few So I saw
this last week and I wanted to get him on,
and he was kind enough to join us. He has
launched a new substack, a new newsletter trapsheet, which appropriately

(00:24):
named because his name is Chris Trepasso, CBS Sports, NFL
young player and draft analyst, and so this kind of
went viral here last week. It's the NFL Long Game Index,
ranking every team's future outlook. It's a good piece of reading.
I've tweeted out the link. Go check it out and
sign up for Chris's substack. He's got the Bengals number one.

(00:44):
Now we're not going to give away all of his content,
but he's got the Bengals. The Bengals ranked number one,
and so you know, we're always looking for people who
have a somewhat optimistic view of the team, so Chris
does and kind enough to join this afternoon. It's good
to have you, sir, how.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Are you hey, Thanks for having me. I'm doing great.
Thank you for the plug on my new substack trapsheet.
And yeah, let's talk about the Bengals because in taking
like a little bit over a week to formulate these rankings,
and I did them with multiple layers, and we can
get into that, the Bengals did come out at number one,
and I don't think that was outlandish. I didn't get

(01:20):
any pushback from Ravens or Steelers fans out there, so yeah,
it was pretty much widely believed to be. Yeah, that
makes a lot of sense to if we're looking at
future power rankings over the next two or three years,
that the Bengals actually come out on top.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
So you apply your own little formula here, and part
of the formula is cap affordability, salaries and headroom. And
where I was imagining you would get some pushback would
be in that particular regard, because I think there's a
lot of people who look at the Bengals the money
tied up into basically three players and go, well, they
can't have that much flexibility, and yet you don't view.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
It that way. Yeah, So what I did for that
component of the long game index is that I just
added up the cap space in twenty twenty five and
twenty twenty six. Now, if I'm looking ahead two or
three years, you could say, why don't you do twenty
twenty seven, But so many contracts change over a two
year period in the NFL, So I only looked at

(02:18):
those two years, and that is exactly what that component is.
So the Bengals actually have the fifth most cap space
in the entire NFL twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six.
And I wrote in the last paragraph, like or in
the second to last paragraph, we don't know, like, does
Mike Brown have this team operating like under its own

(02:40):
lower cap? I mean, that's kind of been the rumor.
You guys might have more inside or insight to that
than I do. However, I think even though the Trey
Hendrickson situation is still looming over this organization right now,
you know, less than a month away from training camp,
we went into the offseason thinking, oh man, are they
going to be able to keep both receivers? What's going
to happen with Tee Higgins? And they've done that, they

(03:01):
paid Joe Burrow. So there was a thought from some
maybe doomsday. Bengals fans and Bengals media members that I know, like, hey,
they might not let you know either of these wide
receivers come back. Are they going to pay Joe Burrow?
They've done all that, so I think at this point, yes,
they do have, like you mentioned, so much money tied
up in that Big three. But it is And I

(03:22):
also wrote this, and we can get to that in
a minute. I wrote that it is the best triplet
in the entire NFL and we don't have to have it.
The quarterback, running back, wide receiver, quarterback receiver, receiver in
the passing renaissance that we're in, I think matters more
than anything else. And the Bengals obviously rank very high
in that too.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, and throw into it because I know you're a
fan Chase Brown, and like, we're going to get closer
and closer to like fantasy drafts, and I know this
is not really a relevant part of the conversation. Chase
Brown is going to be a fantasy darling and he
should be because of what he did last year.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah. Absolutely, So my second component is called flex and
it stands for future lineup and expectations. So I tried
to rank all thirty two teams by what I'm calling
blue chip players. That's part of that flex component and
that I have for the Bengals that they have five
blue chip players Joe Burrow, Jamar, Chase Higgins. Obviously I

(04:16):
put Logan Wilson in there. I think he's still one
of the top ten linebackers at his position, and Chase Brown.
And I did this because it's future power rankings, the
long game Index. I didn't include any quarterbacks who were
over thirty three years old, any skill position players who
were over thirty years old, and any running backs who
are over twenty seven years old. So that does kind

(04:37):
of change things a little bit because there are some still,
you know, quality players that are now into their thirties.
But if we're looking way into the future, you know,
it might not be there. And I'm segueing that because
Chase Brown still on that rookie contract, still very young,
you are to me spot on with how good and
how efficient he was in terms of forcing this tackles,

(04:58):
the yards after contact, and probably his specialty was that juice,
that ability to hit those long runs. I already put
him in that blue chip player category and came out
to the Bengals finishing ninth in Flex, so their fifth
in CAP, ninth in Flex gives them a pretty well
rounded start to this long game index. By having a

(05:19):
fair amount of money and then just having a good lineup.
I think those are two core elements to any team
being really good in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
So I let's go this route too. They've got to
fix their defense. That goes without saying, and we can
discuss to what degree they have obviously a new defensive coordinator,
maybe Schamar Stewart will finally play for him this year.
Trey Hendrickson, we'll see what happens with him. But they
there's still a lot of uncertainty. And so what would
you say to someone who says, look, they they may
be poised to contend, but number one's a bit ambitious

(05:51):
because of all the uncertainty they have on the defensive
side of the ball.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Well, yeah, I mean we saw it last year that
Joe Burrow truly had an MVP caliber season, but it
got overlooked or he couldn't win MVP because the Bengals
didn't make the playoffs because the defense let them down
so often. Now, I will say there were a lot
of those tight games that they lost, and in general,
teams don't just have a poor record in one court.

(06:15):
In one score games back to back seasons, there were
like some field goals miss things like that that I'm
not going to bank on them ultimately doing. And for
as much as I think in the playoffs and in
the Super Bowl, defense can I don't know if it
wins championships, but it is probably more integral than we
like to think. In the regular season. We've seen it,

(06:37):
and you guys have certainly seen it firsthand. You've had
a front row seat. You can win games thirty four
to thirty one and thirty five to twenty eight. And
I wrote in this article that the Bengals offense, regardless
of how good or how bad the defense is, can
battle with any team in football offensively and against any defense.

(06:57):
They can face any elite level defense, a top ten defense,
and put up thirty points. So I think I'm expecting
a little bit of a regression positively for the Bengals defense.
Miles Murphy should be able to play a little bit better.
Joseph Osai a year older, some of those young pieces
in the secondary, DJ Turner, Jordan Battle, guys like that,

(07:18):
Dexton Hill. I'm not expecting this group to be as
porous as it was last season. And this is a
team in the Bengals. I don't think they need to have,
you know, that super Bowl caliber defense that they had
in twenty twenty one. They just need to be not
almost historically bad like they were last season, to just
get in the playoffs. And if that's the case, they

(07:39):
win nine time eleven games they get in. No team
will want to see Cincinnati because again not because of
the defense, but because the Burrow, Higgins and.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Chase sign Up Trapsheet, a terrific newly launched newsletter. Chris Trapasso,
Here's why I was surprised because I saw this sent
out to surprise too.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
I was surprised too when I formulated it something.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
That then so from you specifically. Here's why I was
surprised because we read this on the air and it's
a fair grade. But you gave the Bengals draft class
to see and so I think for a lot of
folks just thinking long term, like that kind of draft
grade doesn't mesh with long term success.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
No, I mean, and that's totally true, Like they I
didn't factor in. I mean, I the Travis Hunter is,
the Ashton Gent, the Abdul Carters. I kind of factor
those in a little. But I wanted this because it's
it's in the present looking forward. I didn't want to
like make put too much of an emphasis on rookies

(08:37):
that we haven't seen yet. That yes, I do a
lot of work with the draft. I you know, evaluate
three hundred plus guys didn't love what they did in
the draft. But I still think the last couple of
draft classes, although the Bengals have not gotten those huge
contributions yet from a lot of those players. Really outside
of Chase Brown, I still like the young core. Maybe

(08:58):
not the rookie class, but guys in year two and
year three that are still cheap, that are still under
twenty five or twenty six years old. And again, Joe
Burrow is not thirty five. Kee Higgins is not old.
Jamar Chase is entering the prime of his career. The
last component is a quarterback component, and I have the
Bengals ranked force in terms of just how good Joe

(09:18):
Burrow is relative to his money. That he's under a
fifty million dollar capit this year and next year, which
I think we tend to believe, oh hey, once you're
on that second contract at quarterback, you're exorbitantly expensive. Your
team's totally you know, strapped financially. To get Joe Burrow
with a capet under fifty million in today's NFL is

(09:40):
one of the better bargains in the entire league. So
even if the rookie class doesn't come to fruition in
year one, I think there's with Burrow and enough younger pieces,
along with the star receivers and Chase Brown, enough for
this team to go far into the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
You ranked the Browns thirty first. Have you gotten a
lot of pushback from Cleveland fans?

Speaker 2 (10:01):
I have not, And I think in general, I mean
talk about a strange draft, like I did not understand
what Cleveland did whatsoever. As someone that likes to lean
into the numbers. Obviously, and Andrew Berry their GM, you know,
Ivy League guy that apparently is big on the analytics
of the game, they trade out from number two. They

(10:23):
pass on Travis Hunter. I understood that because the team's
rosters so far away, but then to draft a running
back early in round two, and then Dylan Gabriel, who
has a very weak arm, does not have mobility in
round three and then Sanders in round five. It was
one of the weirdest draft philosophies that I've seen a

(10:45):
team make in general, and if we're looking at long term,
I think Miles Garrett can still be a really good player,
and he just missed the cut for this article to
be considered a blue chip player, which he obviously still is,
but beyond him, there's no I had a lot of
needle movers on that roster, Jerry Judy, maybe Mason Graham.
The rookie plays really well. The offensive line isn't quite

(11:07):
as good, so I thought that I could get some
pushback because I know Browns fans are passionate and everything
that's been sold to them over the last few years
is Hey, they're pushing for the future, but then they
extend Miles Garrett. I really didn't hear much on Twitter
from Browns fans with that ranking.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
I enjoyed this because, as you know, Chris, it's list
season for people who covered the NFL, and many of
them are mind numbing, some are really good, very few
apply a formula you did. And it's even more fun
here when the Bengals rank high. I appreciate you doing this.
Best of luck with the newsletter. Hopefully we can do
it again.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
Well, thanks Lott, I appreciate that anytime.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
Anytime, you got it.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Chris Trapasso read and subscribe to Trapsheet, which is Chris
does a very good job and I've read his work
for years. It's a sub stack. I've put out the link.
Go read it, go subscribe, and we'll get Chris on again.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
That was good.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
It was fourteen. It is fourteen from four o'clock. Sports
headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to
yours for life, Kelsey chev dot Com. Game two Reds
and Red Sox in Boston seven to ten tonight, first
pitch seven hundred WLW has it. Brady Singer on the
mound for Cincinnati against Richard Fitz. Starting lineup tonight for

(12:24):
Cincinnati Fridols and center, McLean's and second Ellie's at short,
Hayes's dhing, Gavin luxon left field, Spencer Steer at first base,
Jose travino Is catching Will Benson in right field. Cees
playing third base tonight and batting ninth. Reds have made
a couple of transactions. They have picked up from Louisville

(12:46):
the contract of right handed pitcher Sam Ben Scooter, Sam
Ben Scooter. They have called up Sam Mall from tripa
A Louisville, and they have optioned Joe Lesursa and Connor Fillips.
And Noel Marte has been transferred to Louisville to continue
his rehab assignment. Also tonight Florence on the road again. Schomberg,

(13:11):
Sam look here on tipping pitches. Six words I don't
often say next on ESPN fifteen thirty

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