7/25/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show w/ Rick Ucchino

Ja'Marr Chase isn't practicing again, is this all part of the plan that Zac Taylor has laid out or could it mean more? Plus WWE's Johnny Gargano joins the show to preview Summerslam and Jeff Carr on the Reds.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
No one covers the Bengals like ESPNfifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station, one
hundred percent accurate and we got youcovered wall to wall on all Bengals today
here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Hello, Hi there, I'm Rickyuccino in for
Mowagger today until six o'clock tonight andwe will be checking in three forty four,

(00:26):
forty five, forty today with oneTony Pike, who was down at
Bengals training camp, which is thebig story coming out of there today.
Always a little nervous around day twoof training camp last year, the ominous
clouds of what the season was goingto turn into were there with Joe Burrows

(00:48):
non contact knee injury which ended upturning into a major issue for the Bengals
last season. And then ultimately Joesuffered the wrist injury that just completely derailed
the season as it look like hewas finally getting back on track. And
now today, for the second dayin a row, wide receiver Jamar Chase
is there. He is present,he's at camp. He's not holding out,

(01:11):
but he is not participating for thesecond day in a row now.
Zach Taylor said this week he hasa plan for his veteran players, which
at this point in his career includesJamar Chase, entering his fourth year in
the league, says he's gonna belimited to start off. Same with t
Higgins, same with Trey Hendrickson.All three of those gentlemen's names have been

(01:33):
in the news throughout this off season, and a lot of that has to
do with their contract situations with theBengals. And honestly, until about twenty
five minutes ago, I was readyto come in here with a completely different
attitude, and I was ready toget some things off of my chest that
have just been building up over thecourse of this entire off season because I

(02:01):
don't have really an outlet or asounding board to kind of get my you
know, frustrations out or express myopinions on things. Because I don't have
a weekly show or a daily show. I fill in when needed. I'm
at the bottom of the depth chart, you know, more often than not,
I'm just viewing the facts during themorning news on seven hundred WLW.

(02:23):
So a lot of this frustration withthe how the national media has covered the
Bengals this year has just been continuouslybuilding up and building up and building up,
and you can ask my man Tarranlike I was ready to lay into
them when I came in here thisafternoon. And now I have to maybe
give some give thought to the factthat maybe there was some credence to what

(02:46):
Adam Schefter and Ryan Clark were talkingabout earlier on in this week where they
were discussing Jamar Chase's contract situation.Now they were still completely wrong in what
they were saying, saying that JamarChase should not be stepping foot on a
football field, should not be suitingup, should not have the motivation to

(03:07):
play for the team, considering hewas only making a million dollars this year.
He's not making a million dollars thisyear. It's closer to four point
eight with the signing bonus. AndI think it's important to awesome note that
he got multimillion dollars signing bonus whenhe first signed for the team, So
I mean he was a very wealthyman before he ever put on a pair
of cleats for the first time.The Bengals have four and a half million

(03:29):
dollars plus invested in him this year. They've already picked up his fifth year
option, which is going to beclose to twenty two million dollars. So
he is north of twenty five milliondollars in commitments to this organization over the
next two years, whether a longterm deal gets done or not. Now,
is that the kind of money thathe is going to get once he

(03:49):
signs an extension, which is presumablythe way wide receiver contracts are going anywhere
in the range of thirty five toforty million dollars a year. What he's
getting right now from the Bengals noteven sniff That doesn't even come close.
But it's still not an insignificant amountof money that he is due over the
next two seasons. So when I'mwatching Adam Schefter and Ryan Clark talk about

(04:11):
how Jamar Chase may not have themotivation to play or shouldn't have the motivation
to play, or is he gonnais he gonna sit out? Is he
gonna tough it out like he wouldif he's got a hamstring tweak or he
you know it tweaks his shoulder orback or something like that, or is
he going to sit out because he'sgoing to protect his investment, which is
himself. And I'm fully ready tocome in here and talk about what pure

(04:38):
poppycock. That is in the factthat you've been talking about Trey Hendrickson this
offseason. You've been talking about tHiggins this offseason with their contract issues,
and here they are, first dayat Camp Boom. They are here,
They're ready to work. T Higginsyesterday talking about how he just wants to
put the BS behind him and moveforward and play well. Personal stuff will

(05:00):
work itself out in the off seasonnext year once he hits free agency.
But this is a team that canwin a Super Bowl. This is a
team that has the talent here,they're all unified. Trey Hendrickson is here,
He's ready to work. It lookedlike Jamar Chase was here and he
was ready to work. And nowI'm sitting here and I'm going I don't
know. I genuinely sitting here rightnow, I don't know. My feelings

(05:27):
toward the entire situation have changed withthe fact that Jamar Chase hasn't even been
limited like Zach Taylor said he wasgoing to be limited. He's done nothing.
He's standing on the sidelines, hedoesn't have a helmet on. He's
not ready to jump in at anypoint in time. Now, could this
be a giant nothing burger. Absolutely, it is, Absolutely it is.

(05:49):
It could be anyway, excuse me. It could be a giant nothing burger.
Or this could be something that growsinto a distraction, grows into a
much bigger story. And you've alreadyhad like Adam Schefter, who are jumping
on the fact that he is notpracticing again this early in practice. What
does this mean? Again? Iwish I had some deep thought here about

(06:12):
what it could mean, but Igenuinely I don't know. He could just
be taking it easy. Zach Tayloris a is a coach that likes to
keep training camp lighter. He knowsthat this is a grind of a season.
He wants to keep his veteran playershealthy. Granted, he probably already

(06:36):
knows what kind of significant roles thatJamar Chase and t Higgins and Trey Hendrickson
are going to have for this teamthis year, which is why he's limiting
them out of the gate. Youdo have wide receiver three on down that
you have to figure out. Who'sgoing to be your starting tight end on
offense. How does Amarius Mems lookat right tackle? I mean, you

(06:58):
want to get all the young guysas much reps as possible, and maybe
that's playing a role in the situation. But when you have national media folks
who are going to be questioning yourplayers' motivations and we here in Cincinnati are
calling them buffoons and fools and this, that and everything on social media,

(07:21):
which I did, and now theoptics are pointing more towards well, maybe
Schefty and Ryan Clark kind of knewwhat they were talking about. Now,
this whole situation is really weird,Taran, in the fact that there is
if there's a contract dispute, Idon't understand. Typically you don't see contract

(07:43):
disputes between year three and year four. Now you, as a Vikings fan,
you just went through this with JustinJefferson last year, who did miss
time with injury at the beginning ofthe year. Maybe that's some of the
motivation there for Jamar Chase if thereis some kind of a contract dispute,
But why be here president at camplike a hold end? It is not

(08:05):
really a thing this is I mean, does this what was it like sitting
through Justin the Jefferson Justin Jefferson sagalast year? I mean just the biggest,
just the big thing with Justin Jeffersonis I just trusted Minnesota go ahead
and pay him. He was ouroffense, so I always felt the deal
was gonna be able to get done. We don't have the frenchisse quarterback that
you guys have Joe Burrow, solike all our money had to go to

(08:28):
Justin Jefferson. And that's a bigpart of it, right, And I
know part of the big argument withSchefter and Ryan Clark this week was was
they were they were focusing on thecomments from Mike Brown at the media day
on Monday, you know, sayingthat it's a tough it's a tough situation.
There's a lot of money that isgoing to go towards you know,

(08:50):
Jamar Chase, and you know,they were focusing more on the tough negotiation
part, and they look at aguy like Jamar Chase, who is young,
who is talented, who's already apomplished He's one of the best wide
receivers in the league. Mike Browneven called him the second most important player
on this team behind Joe Burrow.Joe Burrow has been paid two hundred and
seventy five million dollars big money kicksin next year I'm almost one hundred percent

(09:15):
showing that big money kicks in nextyear on that this is him still playing
under his fifth year option. Soin that case, it is a kind
of a messy situation where you're tryingto figure out how do you pay Joe
Burrow, how do you pay JamarChase what he's worth, which, again,
the way the wide receiver contracts aregoing is somewhere between thirty five to

(09:35):
forty million dollars most likely considering hisage, skill level, and accomplishments.
That's a lot of money. Andthen oh yeah, by the way,
you still have like fifty one otherplayers that you have to pay, So
structuring the deal, there's a lotof red tape that goes with this.
I know the Bengals have a weirdthing about guarantees, so maybe that would
be a hang up, But Ihonestly, I don't know why that ends

(09:58):
up being a hang up for eitherside, because guarantees are such an overblown
thing for the Bengals because typically theydon't cut veterans. They have been more
willing to do that recently, butyou know, the Bengals always used to
let players seek out to the endof their contract. Anyway. And if
the Bengals are just hanging on topeople anyway, why don't they just give
the guarantees. I don't know.It's such a weird dynamic with the guarantees,
and it's always been such a weirdthing with this franchise. But I

(10:22):
do find it to be incredibly weirdthat this is a contract dispute. It's
something that is going on between yearthree and year four, if it even
is that, because again I thinkthis is just a giant It could be
absolutely nothing. It could just bewhat Zach Taylor says, it is,
Hey, we're just easing him intocamp because we want to see some of
the younger guys get their snaps andkind of figure out where we're going to

(10:45):
be putting people. It could bethat. But when you already have national
media people putting the stories out therethat there might be something, a national
media that has been begging for thereto be a controverte in Cincinnati all summer
long, and trust me, Iwas ready to rail on them for twenty
minutes today between how they covered tHiggins and the incredible Trey Hendrickson situation that

(11:11):
it still blows my mind what happenedwith Trey Hendrickson in that trade request.
But the fact that the Bengals getabsolutely no credit for how they have handled
Trey Hendrickson from a football or abusiness standpoint, when they should be getting
incredible credit for how they've handled thatsituation. Think about this, Taren,
think about this. Do you rememberwhen Trey Hendrickson was signed by the Bengals

(11:33):
the first time? Yeah, thefirst time when they signed him in free
agency? It was like an hourafter they lost Carl loss into the Jets,
yep, and they signed Trey Hendrickson. It was the beat on Hendrickson
was. He was a mop upplayer. He was somebody who had a
career year off of the work ofother people, right Cam Jordan, a

(11:56):
lot of those guys over in NewOrleans. It was. He was a
clean up guy. Got a lotof coverage, sacks, a good New
Orleans defense that year. Don't knowif they if he was worth the money.
The Bengals panic because they lost CarlLawson, so they paid Trey Hendrickson,
So don't know if he's that good. Overpaid for him. Bit of
a reach. Panic signing by theBengals. Three years later, Trey Henderson

(12:20):
has proven to be a dominant,game changing defensive end, has outplayed his
contract. The Bengals turn around andgive him an extension with a raise that
they didn't need to give him.They did it anyway, because he's been
playing that well. Trey Hendrickson agreedto sign it, and then nine months

(12:41):
later he's requesting a trade because hewants a long term commitment and if he
doesn't get the long term commitment,he's going to retire because he doesn't get
the long term commitment. And ontop of that, he can't even sign
an extension because it was only ninemonths after he signed his last extension.
And did anybody in the national mediatalking about any of the weirdness of that.

(13:03):
No, the conversation turned into allthe Bengals are being cheap. They're
not. He's what. This guy'sone of the most dominant defensive ends in
the game. He deserves every pennythat he can get, and absolutely he
should. But the Bengals also needto deserve credit because they got it right
with Hendrickson. They got it right. They got an excellent defensive end at
a great value that allows them toput together a really good football team.

(13:26):
On the field and pay some oftheir other guys. They gave him a
raise anyway, How do you gofrom overpay reach on a guy to oh,
same old cheap Bengals because they won'tpay one of the best defensive ends
in football. It boggles my mind. It boggles my mind the way that
people just misremember things or have revisionisthistory on Trey Hendrickson's time here. The

(13:48):
Bengals should get all the credit inthe world for getting it right, getting
a good player, turning him intoit, helping him turn into a dominant
player, giving him a raise whenhe they didn't have to, and now
even if they wanted to sign himto a contract extension, they couldn't anyway
for the CBA when he requested thetrade. The whole thing was nuts to

(14:11):
me. It's like they had beenlooking for something, some kind of a
big controversy with this team all offseason long, and it felt like they
were trying to manufacture one with JamarChase earlier this week, and now there
might actually be some credence to itas he doesn't practice for a second day
in a row. It's just weird, man, It's weird. I don't

(14:33):
know how to feel about it.I really don't. I'm curious how you
feel about it? Is it nothing? Is it something that could grow into
something bigger. We'll open the phonelines five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. Thatis five three, seven, four nine
one five three zero. Give mea call. Rick Ucino in for Moegger
today. Got a good show foryou today. Coming up at four oh
five, we will talk to JeffCarr locked on Red's podcast, also writes

(14:58):
for Cincy Red's Talk for I JohnathanIndia's name Surprise Surprise in the news as
he is drawing trade interest with thedeadline quickly approaching, only five days until
the Major League Baseball trade deadline,or the Red's gonna be buyers or the
Red's gonna be sellers. I thinkthis weekend series against Tampa Bay is could

(15:20):
be a deciding factor in that,in that situation. And you know,
if the Reds, you know,there are at a situation here where there's
this is supposed to be their competitivewindow. Do they still have a team
that can compete this year? Evenif they do go out and sweep the
Rays this year, there's only sixtygames left, There's still four or five
games under five hundred. I'll checkthat out there in the commercial break.

(15:41):
But interesting time, interesting decision timefor the Reds this weekend. We'll talk
to Jeff Carr about that. Ofcourse, we'll talk to Tony Pike,
get his all the latest information fromtraining camp. Coming up at three forty
and four forty and five forty todayand at five oho five it's me.
You had to know this was coming. JOHNI. Gargano, one half of
the wa WE tag team Champions ofthe World. He will be joining me

(16:03):
SummerSlam in Ohio next weekend in Cleveland. Johnny Gargano, Cleveland native. Exciting
time for him this weekend. Also, Deadpool Wolverine comes out. He's a
big comic book NERD. Can't waitto talk to him about that. Rick
Uchino in for Mowager today again.Phone lines are open five one three seven
four nine fifteen thirty five one three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty.
This is Cincinnati Sports Station ESPN fifteenthirty three twenty six here on a

(16:33):
Thursday afternoon. Rick Uchino doing hisbest Moegger impression here on ESPN fifteen thirty
as I'm already way late, comingup as close to three point forty as
I possibly can make it. Wewill get our first training camp report of
the day with Tony Pike down atpay Course Stadium again. The big news
of the day Jamar Chase not practicing. Not practicing for the second day in

(16:56):
a row to start off camp.As far as we know, he is
healthy. He has shown up tocamp apparently ready to work. Now,
Zach Taylor says he was going tobe limited. He was going to ease
him in. This is about aseasing as easing gets because he ain't doing
anything. He's got a ball capon. Somebody did just you know,
tweet out a few minutes ago aphoto of him and t Higgins and and

(17:19):
Jermaine Burton, you know, kneelingon the sidelines watching practice. So again
they're just that all that is goingto do is add fuel to the fire
of there is something brewing between theBengals and Jamar Chase. And it is
not a contract extension. It isthe the opposite of a contract extension getting

(17:40):
done. Could there be a disputeon the horizon or is is it just
you know, look, the Bengalsand Jamar Chase just wanna just want to
take it easy. A little bithere during trading. They know what his
role is, they know what hecan do. Obviously. Yes, it's
a new playbook with with Dan Pitcher, and you know it's a new I
don't know, I guess new system. Might be taking it too far.

(18:02):
It's going to be similar to whatthey had last year, but there's gonna
be some new wrinkles to it.Does Jamar Chase need to be out there
the first couple of days of practice. Probably not. But you know,
when you have national media folks likeAdam Schefter and Ryan Clark questioning whether or
not there's going to be a contractdispute, and you know, going on
national television and saying, hey,he should not suit up because he's only

(18:26):
getting a million dollar base salary thisyear. Look, those kind of stories
they seem manufactured at first, butthis kind of situation, Look, it's
only gonna make you wonder, hey, okay, maybe there is something there
to it, maybe it ends upbeing nothing. What it does do,
however, is it does give guyslike andre Yoshibas, guys like Charlie Jones,

(18:51):
newcomers to the team like Jermaine Burton, who Charlie Goldsmith for the Inquirer
tweeted out just moments ago, hasbeen one of the more active and notework
the performers in camp early on today. I think he's going to be a
really, really good player for awhile. So hopefully he can add another

(19:11):
layer of explosiveness and separation in thesecondary. But he needs reps with Joe
Burrow Micah Sicki new tight end.He needs reps with Joe Burrow. With
Jamar Chase and t Higgins not practicinga whole lot early on, it gives
Joe Burrow a chance to build arapport with some of the other players who
were down on the going to befurther down on the depth chart, and

(19:32):
it's going to give the coaches agood look at these younger guys and figure
out, Okay, who is ourslot receiver going to be this year?
Andrey Yoshivas did not take a singlesnap last year out of the slot.
All the snaps he took yesterday onDay one to practice were in the slot.
Those are five hundred snaps that TylerBoyd took last year that the Bengals

(19:56):
are looking for a replacement. Couldit be Andrey Yoshivas, who who has
done a lot of work in theoffseason to improve as a wide receiver.
We saw that raw ability from himlast year. Is he a guy who
takes a next step forward this year? Is Mike Asiki, who's kind of
like this big monster, hybrid typeoffensive weapon, who can play tight end,

(20:17):
who can block a little bit,but who can also play out of
the slot and did play out ofthe slot a little bit in Miami and
in New England. Is he aguy that fits more of that role as
there is a deep tight end roomfor the Bengals. So Jamar not playing,
is it worrisome? Yeah, alittle bit, A little bit,
could be nothing, could be something, don't know until he addresses the situation.

(20:41):
But the fact that he's not outthere, the fact that t Higgins
is limited a little bit, itdoes allow the Bengals to get another look
at the other guys on the rosterkind of maybe figure out early on.
Okay, hey, where do wewant to place these guys? Is this
andre Yoshibas in the slot? Isthat something we think could work or do
we need to move him more towardthe outside where he was playing last year
when when t Higgins was hurt alittle bit last year? So there's some

(21:04):
good and there's some bad, andit just depends on how you want to
spin it, whether you want tobe an optimist, whether you want to
be a pessimist. But hey,you can always count on one thing at
least recently. Second day of trainingcamp, gonna be some news where the
headlines out of that. We'll talkto Tony Pike coming up at three forty
get his take on everything with JamarChase and t Higgins in the wide Receiver
room. But coming up next,gotta check local sports headlines here on ESPN

(21:27):
fifteen to thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirtyCincinnati Sports Station. Sports headlines the service
of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetimepowertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their
family to yours for life, kelseyshevdot com Red's beat the Braids yesterday afternoon,

(21:48):
nine to four was the final Thatwas game one of itte was supposed
to be a double header. Thesecond game was rained out, postponed,
rescheduled to Monday, September ninth.Game time now been set for forty against
the Brave. So it was abrief two game series sweep over Atlanta,
which was badly needed after the Redscame out of the gate and just tripped

(22:08):
all over themselves in a three gamesweep against the Washington Nationals. John Morosi
on Twitter says that Jonathan India's tradevalue increasing because of his own performance and
the needs of suitors like the Yankeesand Mariners. India has a three seventy
six on base percentage when batting leadoff this season. Yankees two seventy seven
on base percentage out of the leadoffspots, second worst in all of Major

(22:30):
League Baseball. Important to note thisdoes not say that the Reds are shopping
India. It doesn't say that adeal is imminent. But what it does
insinuate is that Jonathan India may verywell be one of the most sought after
players as the July thirtieth trade deadlineapproaches, and he should be by the
way. He's extremely cheap, he'splaying really well, He's got two years
of team control left. If theReds want to move him, they better

(22:52):
be overwhelmed with whatever trade offer comesin, and considering this is supposed to
be their contention window, better includessome major league talent major league ready talent
in there as well. SC Cincinnatiformally announcing the acquisition of center back Chaddosi.
Alwasim I think I'm playing saying thatcorrectly, but there's a new Cheeto

(23:15):
in town, this one at twentyseven year old center back out of Portugal.
GM Chris Albright calls him a talenteddefender with high quality and character,
so he's going to help in filla big need with Matt Miasga, the
Reigny Defensive Player of the Year,out for the rest of the year with
injury, so they needed help backthere on the defensive side of the ball,
and the new Cheeto replayed a replacingChidabey a Woozie who is no longer

(23:38):
with the Bengals. He is goingto help out as sc Cincinnati looks to
snap a three game losing streak whenthey get back to playing. On August
first, Bengals training Camp Day numbertwo down at pay Corse Stadium, again,
the big story of the day,Jamar Chase not playing, not practicing
today. I should Sayhiggins kind oflimited, Trey hendrickson getting a day Offszach

(24:03):
Taylor did say he was going toease some of these guys in. We'll
get Tony Pike's thoughts on that heis down at pay Corp Stadium watching camp.
Our first check in training camp reportcoming up here in minutes, ESPN
fifteen thirty. What employers like sevenhundred dollars? This is the training camp
report. Brook to you, BarKimball. Credit you on ESPN fifteen thirty,

(24:26):
The official home of the Bengals.Welcome back, ESPN fifteen thirty.
Rick Uccino in for Moweger today.I am late. Let's get to the
man of the hour down at payCorpse Stadium trying to stay cool. Is
one Tony Pike, the greatest quarterbackin the history of U see football.

(24:47):
Tone, what's going on? Man? How you How are things holding up
down there? Rick? I'm good, you know it's it's it's different because
so much of the concept of practiceis centered around Jamar Chate. For the
second day he's out here, He'snot doing anything that takes a vast majority
of the conversation, especially with AdamSchefter's tweeting what he is. But yeah,

(25:07):
it shouldn't take away from Mike Gasickycontinues to look really sharp and in
sync with Joe Burrow. If JamarChase isn't there, it looks like Jermaine
Burton is playing that role. JermaineBurton's been used in motion. He's been
used in a lot of the sameways you would see Jamar Chase. I
thought Jermaine Burton's had a pretty prettygood day. It's crazy to see in

(25:29):
person a Marius Mins how big heis and how well he can move and
speaking of moving a bigger, faster, stronger, everything is true of Joe
Burrow right now, for the secondday in a row. I think Joe
Burrow looks really good out here.Yeah, that so many questions I wanted
to dive into on there. Youknow, look hearing Joe Burrow talk about
the wrist earlier this week saying,hey, look sometimes there are inconsistencies with

(25:52):
it, and he's still trying toto, you know, figure things out,
and and look he's in kind ofunshared waters, you know, with
this with this wrist injury. Notthat a lot of quarterbacks have gone through
what he is going through here.Did have a couple of balls that you
know, he overthrew Higgins on yesterday, but uh, you know, ever
from all accounts, he's looked reallyreally sharp early on and and that that's

(26:15):
the best that's the best news thatshould be the biggest news coming out of
camp. Listen, the fact thathe's practicing when there was so much unknown
when the injury originally happened and thereports in the offseason happened. Now,
I'll say this to your point.Joe Burrow also made it a point in
his press conference yesterday to talk aboutthe spiral and not having it consistently.
It's very clear right now, ifJoe Burrow rips the pass or he had

(26:37):
Jermaine Burton down the sideline on abeautiful connection earlier today, his next couple
throws sputtered a little bit, andI just think that there is still working
through. I'm sure star tissue.I'm sure the nerves of everything in that
rist. It's used on every singlethrow that he makes. So when he's
got a rare back and really zipone or put one in there, I

(26:57):
do think he's still getting it tothe next rep. And I think that's
just gonna come with time. Thisis a process. They talked about this
the whole time, but as asmuch as you would expect, as sharp
as you could expect Joe Burrow tobe. I talked to Charlie going through
with a few minutes ago. He'smade every throw, he's fit in small
windows, he's pushed the ball downthe field, He's looked sharp in every

(27:18):
possible way you could want. Today, it was interesting to note that andre
Yoshibas took all of his snaps inthe slot. You know. Dan Pitcher
says there are five to six guysvying for for Tyler Boyd snaps, which
were five hundred last year, Soobviously big shoes to fill now that Tyler
is in is in Tennessee with BrianCallahan. You know, you talk about

(27:44):
Joe Burrow getting you know, repsin with Mike Kasicki and and Jermaine Burton
kind of playing in that that Unorole with Jamar Chase not practicing. I
guess that's the silver lining here withChase and Higgins, you know, limited,
is that it gives Burrow a chanceto build a rapport with some of
these young guys as they try tofigure out the coaching staff anyway, figure
out where these guys are going toplay, how they fit in. Is

(28:07):
that one of the more interesting battlesin camp for you thus far? Yeah,
absolutely, especially when you think ofthe way Burrow has been on non
team drills. He is very activeand engaged with all these young receivers,
almost playing that leadership role that isvoided because Mixon is gone, Sodobia Wozier

(28:29):
is gone, Tyler Boyd is gone. Joe Burrow has been so hands on
with all of these young receivers.And You're right, it's been Yosibots Moore
in the slot. It's been Burtonplaying that role that you would expect Jamar
Chase to play. But we talkedabout this in the sense with Amarius Memes
and Trent Brown. Every rep thatTrent Brown's got out here, Amarus Mims
is getting reps. And you seethat same positive with the wide receivers as

(28:53):
well. You know what Jamar Chaseis, you know where he's gonna be.
You need to find that rapport withthese young receivers. And I think
that is a silver lining right now. If Jamar Chase isn't gonna practice,
you get a lot more rest withthose guys. What because I'm having a
really really hard time tone trying tofigure out what it means that Jamar Chase

(29:14):
is not practicing today. Is itabsolutely nothing? Is it just easing him
in? Is it not wanting torisk, you know, a day two
non contact injury that could be detrimentalto the team season like we saw last
year. Or is there something brewingas far as the contract situation is concerned,
Like Ryan Clark and Adam Schefter wererailing on the Bengals earlier this year,

(29:37):
only paying him a million dollars,which turned out to be his base
salary. At least now they're correctingtheir mistake that he's getting four and a
half million this year. It feelslike this could be anywhere from an absolute
nothing burger to okay, maybe itcould grow into something to oh no,
there's smoke to that fire that ESPN'sbeen trying to set all summer long.
It does feel like at times likethis where there's smoke, usually it's preceded

(30:00):
by some fire. But you know, the interesting thing for me is the
messaging just doesn't add up in myopinion. Zach Taylor on Monday talked about
a different approach to training camp,about starters playing more, about starters getting
more reps in the preseason, andthe joint practice is well, that is
because they want to start faster,and the way they've started the last couple

(30:22):
of years. Maybe they think that'sbecause of how training camp has been handled.
So if Zac Taylor's messages those guysare going to do more in the
preseason, then you would expect thatmeans Jamar Chase needs to be out there
more in the preseason. If I'mnot gonna go there yet today, Rick,
but if it goes to tomorrow andwe start a training camp with three

(30:45):
non padded light practices and Jamar Chasedoesn't take part in any, I wouldn't
call it a holdout. Maybe ahold in to where he is here.
He's visible, but he's just notgoing to go out there until something,
what the contract gets done. That'sthat's where I would have to go tomorrow
if he does not practice. Nota holdout because he's here, yeah,

(31:07):
and I don't even know it's thething, but maybe a hold in.
Yeah, But it just does Itdoes seem weird that this would be an
issue between years three and four,when typically, you know, you get
your high end wide receivers who gettheir contract extensions, just like Justin Jefferson
did between years four and five,and it's not just the four and a
half million that you know he's theBengals have invested in him this year.

(31:30):
It's the twenty two million they've alreadyinvested in him next year as well.
So I mean, is it anywherenear the money he's going to be getting
next year or when the contract extensionrolls in. Absolutely not. But I
mean it's not like he's getting paidnothing. The whole thing just seems weird
to me. Ton It just seemsweird. And I also think that Younique
from the Bengals and for Jamar Chase, the market is not going to crash

(31:52):
for wide receivers. The market continuesto get resets. So if you're Jamar
Chase, you're gonna make more moneynext year. If you're the bank,
if you're gonna have to pay himmore money next year. So that's the
crazy part. The market is setright now. You know what Justin Jefferson
is getting, which means you canpretty much slot Jamar Chase right there if
you wait, which sounds like theBengals are wanting to do, You're going

(32:15):
to pay him more money next yearand on the same camp as the same
token. If you're Jamar Chase,you're going to make more money next year.
So it is on all angles.It's a very bizarre start with the
Bengals and Jamar Chase a training camp. All right, Tony, I appreciate
it. We'll we'll check in nexthour. Hopefully I'll be a little closer
to four to forty. Oh good, thanks Rich all right, appreciate you.
There you go, Tony Pike forour training camp report. He is

(32:37):
down there covering everything for the CincinnatiBengals who just cannot seem to, you
know, go a day two withouttraining. Day two is always interesting.
That's why I decided to hop infor Moeger today on day two of training
camp. It's just, again,I can't figure out how I feel about

(32:58):
the entire situation, because I canlook at it from any side, you
know, the Jamar Chase side,and go, Okay. I know they
value me here. I know they'vegot twenty six million dollars already invested in
me over the next two years.They want to keep me here long term.
But twenty six million dollars while lifechanging money, which is you know

(33:20):
something that t Higgins said about thetwenty two million dollars that he's getting this
year in the locker room this week. You know, it doesn't hold a
candle to the millions upon millions uponmillions of dollars. With the way the
wide receiver market is going right now, he could get anywhere from thirty five
to forty million dollars a year,and I think the Bengals would be willing

(33:40):
to pay him that. It's allkind of come down to structure and you
know, guarantees and maybe signing bonusesor however. Well, they need to
structure that contract to where they cankeep obviously Burrow and Chase for the next
five years or more, and alsoextend Trey Hendrickson who wants a new contract,

(34:06):
or extend you know, Mike Hilton, who is entering the final year
of his contract, or keep youknow, sooner or later you're going to
have extensions for some of the youngtalented rookies that you've just added as well.
So Cam Taylor Britt. You know, if he turns out to be
that number one corner that everybody expectedhim to be, he's going to command

(34:27):
an extension here soon. So yougot to find a way. It's not
as simple as well, let's justgive him the money because he's worth it.
He's obviously worth it. But there'sa lot of pieces that they have
to put together, so I canlook at it from that situation where it
is complicated. It would be easierto negotiate this in the offseason, which
presumably they've been looking at it forthe last few months. Jamar Chase has

(34:47):
only been contract eligible for a fewmonths. Again, this isn't year four
to five, this is year threeto four. He's only been contract extension
eligible for the last three or fourmonths. It's a complex situation. Now.
Why the Bengals would hamstring themselves andsay, well, we're not gonna
do this during the season. Thatdoesn't make any sense to me. You

(35:09):
can negotiate with an agent droughout thecourse of the season, because again,
you're only making it more expensive.The longer you wait to extend Jamar Chase,
you're gonna allow other receivers to goout there and get paidide receivers who
aren't as good as Jamar Chase.I mean, what if T Higgins goes
out after this year? Hopefully let'sjust say this season goes exactly as we

(35:32):
hope it does. T Higgins goesout there, stays healthy, has a
thousand yard season, catches seven eightnine touchdowns. Jamar Chase balls out,
they go to New Orleans in February, they win the first Super Bowl in
franchise history. And then T Higginsgoes out there, hits free agency and
he cashes in from a team likethe Patriots or the Browns or the Titans,

(35:54):
somebody who desperately needs a young,talented number one wide receiver, and
T Higgins goes out there and getshimself north of thirty maybe thirty two to
thirty three million dollars. Well,guess what, Jamar Chase guests got more
expensive. So it would be hoofthe Bengals to go ahead and get this
done as quickly as possible. Butat the same point, it is complex.

(36:14):
It's a look some of these otherteams, like Tyreek Hill, he
wants to get another extension. He'sgoing to get a massive extension, probably
in the same range as Jamar Chase. As of right now, the Dolphins,
they're not paying to at tongue ofaaloa what the Bengals are playing Joe
Burrow. So yes, it isa complex situation. But at the same
time, the Bengals have already investeda sizeable amount of money into Jamar Chase

(36:38):
and he showed up to camp.The whole thing is just weird, and
it might honestly be nothing. Hecould practice and suit up and play tomorrow,
not play, but practice, youknow what I'm saying. Very very
interesting. It's also going to bevery interesting to see what the Reds do
as we are now five days awayfrom the Major League Baseball trade deadline.

(37:00):
Jeff Carr from the Lockdown Reds podcastjoins me nect Next, I'm Rick Uchino
in from Oweger trying to talk onESPN fifteen thirty. This report is spam
found Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Therewe go our number two, but that
first hour just absolutely flew by RickUchino in for Moweger today here on Cincinnati's

(37:29):
a sports station. Of course,the big story of the day that we
have been following is the fact thatfor the second day in a row,
Jamar Chase has not been practicing foryour Cincinnati Bengals, adding fuel to the
speculation from national media that there couldbe a contract dispute as he goes from
year three into year four, whichdoes not make a whole lot of sense

(37:51):
to me personally. Charlie Goldsmith ofThe Inquirer, tweeting out moments ago quote
Zach Taylor reiterates that Chase is followinga plan in place, so the plot
thickens or thins or I don't know, man, I just genuinely don't know
what to make of any of this. We'll get Tony Pike's take on it

(38:12):
with the training camp report coming upat four forty. Right now, though,
let's talk about your Cincinnati Reds,who are coming off of a two
game abbreviated sweep of the Atlanta Braves, and they badly, badly needed that
one after getting swept by the WashingtonNationals coming out of the All Star Break,

(38:34):
the same Washington Nationals team that wasno hit by Dylan Cees. Today,
let's bring in our main man fromthe Locked On Reds podcast. You
know him, you love them.It's time for our State of the Reds
address. Jeff Carr, Thanks forcoming on again, man, always appreciate
the time. Rick, thanks forhaving me, dude, And yeah,
two great games down in Atlanta.Was really happy to see the Bats get

(38:55):
back on track. This is sucha confused, confounding and irritating at times
team that seems to consistently play upto and then play down to the level
of their competition. They have technicallyswept the Braves this year. They have
swept the Dodgers, they have sweptthe New York Yankees in New York,

(39:19):
something that this organization has not donesince the nineteen seventy six World Series.
And yet they do things like justcompletely step all over themselves, errors all
over the field, look hapless atthe plate against the Washington Nationals, and
it really has kept them from gettinggoing and getting back to being a team
that can compete to make the postseason, which right now I don't know if

(39:42):
they are or not. Jeff,It's so hard to really peg what the
Reds are. I mean, Iwas kind of breaking down the record so
far this season on today's podcast,and Yeah, against the Braves, against
the Guardians, against the Yankees,the Dodgers, and the Phillies. The
Reds are fourteen and seven against thosefive teams, and those five teams very

(40:07):
likely all five of them are goingto be playing in the postseason. Yeah,
but when you look at the Redsrecord against every other National League Wild
card contender who doesn't play in Atlanta, they are ten games under five hundred.
They're seventeen and twenty seven and thatincludes a five and two record against

(40:28):
the Chicago Cubs. I mean,they just have this weird, inconsistent performance
about them, and I think alot of it does stem from that fielding.
Like you saw the performance yesterday fromFrankie Montos where he has to throw
one hundred and one pitches just toget thirteen outs. But it really felt
like there were some innings that shouldhave been short that were extended by this

(40:51):
team's just inability to turn a doubleplay they have. It almost feels like
turning a double play is hard orderthan doing just about anything else on the
baseball field right now for the Reds, and it's very frustrating to watch,
Yeah, especially when you have playerslike an Ellie Day, La Cruz or
as we saw just Sunday night,Will Benson who can make really really great

(41:15):
plays out in the field. Isit just young inconsistency. Is there a
coaching issue like do we have topull the angels in the outfield thing and
go back to fundamentals with sixty gamesleft? Like I don't know how you
fix that or are they just arewho they are at this point? I
think they kind of are who theyare and coming into the season. I

(41:37):
made the point that I thought theywould hit enough to outweigh inconsistent fielding,
and clearly that was incorrect. There'sbeen a lot of games where that is
really been their achilles heel, andit's caused them to lose some very very
winnable games. And I feel like, you know, early on we use

(41:57):
the whole adage of you know,you win fifty, you lose fifth.
It's what you do with the othersixty two that makes you a playoff team
or not. But it feels likethey've exhausted their their you know, oh
well, gosh darn it, we'llget them tomorrow type losses like those are
gone. They're sixty games left,that's it. Yeah, Like they don't
have the luxury of gosh darn you, well, well you know, we

(42:22):
got your best shot. We wayto go, dude, you know,
we'll get you tomorrow. And itfeels like we hear that a lot,
you know, in post game conversationsand things like that. But this team
showed its upside in these two games. It showed how good they can be
it scoring, It showed how goodthey could be a pitching even in the
Mentas game where the bullpen had tocover four and two thirds. It was

(42:45):
four and two thirds of perfect baseballfrom Sam Maul, Lucas Simms, Tony
Santion, and Justin Wilson. Simsand Wilson most pre you know, most
recently being of the group of peoplethat were mad at in the bullpen.
So there's things about this team tolove, and then they turn around they
give you things they hate. SoI'm not really sure what to expect from

(43:07):
them this weekend in Tampa Bay becauseit feels like they should win two out
of three. The Rays are notas good as they have been in years
past, but I definitely do notwant to put any sort of meaningful money
on that. It's just a confusingtime to be in Cincinnati. It really
is. Whether you're a Bengals fanor Reds fan, an FC Cincinnati fan,

(43:27):
we all confused right now. Howmuch does what the Reds do this
weekend mean toward what they do withthe trade deadline with that coming up here
very very quickly, because it seemslike from all accounts everything you read,
the front office doesn't know what itwants to do right now, whether they
want to be buyer sellers or somewherein the middle. Yeah, and that
concerns me because, I mean NickCrawl was basically telling us that they had

(43:52):
a plan in place, like Decemberfirst, he was telling everybody, Yeah,
we got a plan in place forthis offseason. We know how much
money we have to spend, weknow what we're going for, things like
that. Whenever Nick Krass says hedoesn't know, I think that tends to
mean that he does know. It'sjust not a very popular decision. And
could it be that they win thisseries in Tampa Bay and that makes them

(44:15):
a buyer, Sure, but Idon't necessarily know that they're gonna be buyers
in the traditional sense. They're notgoing to go out and get a rental
guy. I don't like. Ithink Austin Slater was an emergency band aid
breaking you know, break glass incase of emergency type acquisition, that that

(44:35):
that's not affecting what they're going todo next Tuesday. But at the same
time, I just don't see rentalguys really helping this team. They gotta
go after somebody who has at leastone more year control. They got to
be going after an outfielder. Althoughwe see reports that say that they're talking
to people about first baseman. Theyneed certain things for this group of individuals

(45:02):
of Ellie de la Cruz and Noelvi Marte and even Jonathan India if he
is not traded to the Yankees,because they're excited about maybe trading for Jonathan
India. They're excited about trading foreverybody if well. And and that was
my next question, because you know, you had the report from John Morosi
that the Yankees are interested the Marinerspotentially could be interested in Jonathan India,

(45:24):
and it's kind of one of thosereports where I'm like, well, yeah,
duh, he's he's young, he'splaying well. He's got a three
seventy on base percentage, maybe evena little bit higher when he's hitting out
of the leadoff spot this year.That is something the Yankees definitely need help
in on that department, is gettinga leadoff hitter who knows how to get
on base. He's actually healthy now. He's back to playing at the level

(45:47):
that you know, we saw whenhe won the National League Rookie of the
Year. After being hurt the lastcouple of years, having a couple of
down years, he had a slowstart this year, but he has completely
turned it around. He's back tobeing Jonathan India that we a couple of
years ago were calling a cornerstone pieceof the future of this team. He's
already gone through two offseasons now wherehis name is popped up as being a

(46:09):
potential trade candidate, and now,of course the Yankees are interested in him
because his trade value has arguably neverbeen higher and he still has two years
team control. So obviously people aregoing to be interested in a player like
that. But if the Reds makea deal like that, that has got
to be one of those where theyare completely completely blown away by the offer,

(46:32):
because this team is not in thebusiness of trading cheap, good,
young, controllable players. Those arethe kind of players they're looking to acquire,
and especially a guy that, Imean, he's arbitration for next year
has already been bought out with thetwo year deal he signed before this season,
So not only is he controllable,but you know exactly what his number

(46:53):
is. Yeah, I think thatthat is even more than somebody who's already
controllable for this office. But onthe other side of that coin, like
the Nick Kral basically said no becausethe reports were that the Reds said yeah,
the only reason that they trade Indiais if they fall out of the

(47:14):
playoff race between now and the deadline, Well they're not going to because the
nationally is so mediocre that I mean, as much as the Reds foundered in
Washington got swept now after their twowins, they're right back to where they've
been for like the last month anda half, which is four games out
of a wildcard spot. So itfeels like even as bad as the Reds

(47:35):
can be, they are always goingto be with them shouting distance or as
you know, as Dusty used tosay, with you know, a four
game thing slam distance of a wildcardspot. So I don't know that there's
even a possibility that the Reds quotefall out of the playoff race. So
that was like Nick Carl's way ofsaying, you know, big flyers the

(47:59):
Yankees. Sure. Yeah, butagain, if somebody look, you always
listen, and if somebody blows youaway with an offer that makes sense that
includes multiple guy and I don't knowwho these would be for the Yankees or
the Mariners. Obviously they love tradingwith Mariners, right, you know,
if there are those guys that'll,you know, major league ready talent with
a couple of prospects, it'll blowyou away, and it makes sense for

(48:19):
the team to compete because I lookback, Jeff, and I go back
to two thousand and nine, right, like I could see, And it's
not a direct comparison because Jonathan Indiais playing much better than what Edwin and
Carnassion was doing in his career atthat point. But is there a move
even if the Reds are for allintensive purposes out of contention, is there

(48:43):
a scenario or a move that couldbe made where they trade a player like
a Jonathan India and get back aScott Roland type player that could really come
in or or maybe even two andagain not a direct comparison, but is
there something that they could pull offlike that to where they can acquire a
guy in a lost season that comesaround and helps you get to where you

(49:07):
need to be, That veteran presencehelps you get to where you need to
be over the next three years beforehe ultimately calls it quits. I don't
know, but that's like the onlyscenario I could see where they make a
deal like that is if they believeultimately it's going to help them get to
where they want to be in twentytwenty five, twenty twenty six and beyond.
It's tough when we consider India beingpart of that trade because the teams

(49:30):
that are looking for India are theteams that themselves have trouble scoring. I
mean, the Mariners are not agood offensive team. They are wherever they
are because they're pitching is just absolutelylights out. Like, yeah, they're
going to be super dangerous in aplayoff series. I'm looking forward to seeing
how far they go, so longas they score enough runs to win.
But I don't see like a readilymade deal with them. There could be

(49:55):
an interesting and he wouldn't be fora veteran guy. I don't know what
the Yankees palette is for talking aboutJason di Mingaz in a trade, but
you talk about, you know,solidifying the future of your outfield with a
stud. Jason Dimingez is that guy. And you know, he came up
and hit a bunch of home runsfor the Yankees last year before getting hurt

(50:16):
and having to have Punty John surgerybecause he messed up his elbow. But
he's back healthy and you know,dealing with a couple of things here and
there, But the Yankees have basicallyjust said, now, we got too
many outfielders right now, we're notgoing to bring him up. So that's
why he's still in TRIPAA for them. But he is unquestionably their top hitting
prospect. So how does the Yankeesreally how do the Yankees really think about

(50:40):
the possibility of trading him? Thatwould be where I would start if I
were Nick Crawl, because you're notgetting India for anything cheap. You're not
getting I don't know that the Redsshould be looking at any trades that involve
prospects who are prod and years andyears away coming back. Yeah, even

(51:02):
with the release pitchers that they maylook to deal or something like that,
Like, how does it help theteam in the near future, because you
have a ticking clock that is Ellie'scontrollable years. Because as long as Elie
Dela Cruz is on this team,they've got a shot. But they've got
to build around him, and they'vegot to do it while they don't have

(51:23):
to pay him, you know,twenty five thirty whatever million dollars a year
to keep him past the sixth seasonafter his rookie year. So I really
think that that's got to be NickCarl's focus as much as there's gonna be.
Some people say, well, youcould do that Tyler andn Aquin thing
where they get back, you know, Victor Acosta or Hector Rodriguez, and

(51:45):
it's like, yeah, those guysare doing pretty well in Dayton, So
we're looking at him like three orfour years down the road. Still,
that's that doesn't interest me. No, this is the competitive window, man,
That's what we've been told for whatfeels like a decade now is twenty
twenty four, right, And look, this year has not gone the way
that they wanted it to obviously,and it started with thenuelvie Marte suspension,

(52:07):
and he might be starting to comearound now after a slow start that we
kind of anticipated him to have.But man, I get the sense that
this is going to be a wholelot of nothing at the trade deadline this
year, just by the way thatyou know, the reporting is, you
know, with teams being interested inReds players, but not the Reds really
shopping any The only people that they'replanning on shopping are are bullpen arms that

(52:30):
they don't have under contract next seasonbecause they got guys like Ian Jabau and
Emilia Pagan that are getting ready tocome back. Well, like, is
there outside of those back end bullpenarms? Is there somebody that you could
sit here and say, yeah,he's probably not going to be a red
come Wednesday. Not really, I'vebeen trying to think about this, if

(52:50):
there is somebody outside of those guys, like I do kind of wonder if
Lucas Sims is still here. Ido kind of wonder if we still see
like Justin Wilson or somebody like that. But honestly, that won't be that
big of a you know, shockto the system if those guys get traded.
No, they If those guys gettraded, I'm not going to be
sitting here screaming, oh my god, they're selling off. They're selling.

(53:14):
There's like I'm not going to bedoing that. If they trade Frankie Montas,
I don't know we could get forhim. But if they trade Frankie
Montas, that to me is asign of yeah, we're selling and we're
kind of giving up on the air. Yeah. And I think two,
with his most recent starts, Ithink that he's hurt. If there was
a lot of trade value, Ithink he's probably hurt that so I don't
think that there's going to be anysurprise moves by this team. I think

(53:37):
the only thing that will surprise meis if we see, like, you
know, a couple of top prospectsgo for a big time. You know,
I really, in a perfect world, in a dream world, I
want to see them go get BrentRooker from Oakland. But it feels like
there's a lot of teams that aresaying that. So there's probably this huge
bidding war going on. So Idon't know if the Reds are going to

(53:58):
bow out of that sort of thing. But I think the biggest surprise that
we will see is, oh,the Reds may have traded like a top
prospect. I don't see Johnson Indiagetting traded because I just don't think there
is the kind of trade out therethat makes sense for him. Maybe in
the off season. Maybe I thinkthat this team is going to be doing
what they've done all season long,which is, you know, except for

(54:20):
like the emergency crap, we reallyneed an outfielder right now, Let's go
get Austin's later, right like,as for a really pitcher we're not using
right now anyway, So they makethat deal. But I think it's just
going to be more of well,let's wait until TJ. Friedo comes back,
Let's wait until Matt McClain comes back. The question is will Matt McLain
emphatically says he wants to play,doesn't care where this team is at,

(54:44):
he wants to play. What doesyour gut tell you do we see him
in twenty twenty four or not?I think we do simply because all of
the reporting has been that, youknow, he's on track, there's not
been any setbacks or anything like that, and he's the kind of guy that
I buy into. He's worked ashard as he possibly can during this downtime

(55:04):
to make sure that he is backas quickly as possible. And I don't
know that I can doubt Matt McClainthe individual. As much as we have
heard some overly positive prognosies on otherplayers that have tended to be wrong,
I don't think that's the case herewith Matt McClain. I think that we
will see him at some point.The biggest issue is going to be will

(55:25):
it be too late? Because itfeels like as much as the team keeps
hanging around a wild card spot willbe a couple of teams. I think
the Mets are probably going to makesome moves and add some players. The
Pirates are really sounding like they're goingto be aggressive, and they have been
on a heck of a tear hererecently to the point that they're over five

(55:46):
hundred. They might go out andmake moves for guys that I want the
Reds to get. Yeah, becausethey're looking at outfielders. They're looking at
relief pitchers too, So it's goingto be very interesting to see how the
other teams with the Reds compete withmove because nobody else has made a move
for some reason, Rick, Ithink that there's a rule that nobody told
us about that making League Baseball teamscan't trade until Tuesday, unless you're the

(56:10):
Padres and Marlins that made the LuisaRiahs trade what felt like years And well,
Jeff, a lot of teams arein the same spot as the Reds
that they're not out of it,like the everybody's within like five games of
that pole walkart spot. Because MajorLeague Baseball wanted like every team in the
league to be competing, could becompeting at with two months left in the
season, like the Reds could goon this stretch where they finish forty and

(56:34):
twenty and win the division, orthey could play twenty and forty and still
only finish five games out. Idon't know many, and the only three
teams that are bona fide sell orsomebody wants anybody on those teams. Jeff
always appreciated, Always a blast.Where can people find your stuff? Absolutely?
Rick, Thanks for having me,dude. They can find me on

(56:55):
X at Jeff car with three Fand you can follow the podcast every where
you get your podcast, including theiHeartRadio app. Thank you so much,
appreciate it. Jeff Carr locked onReds podcast Reds Are Off tonight, back
at it tomorrow night. You canfollow me on the app formally known as
Twitter as well at Rick Uchino.You can hit me up there with any

(57:17):
any comments on what you'd like tosee the Reds do at the deadline.
Do you want to see him by? Do you want to see him sell?
Do you want to see him standpat I'll take phone calls as well.
Five one, three, seven fournine fifteen thirty. That's five one
three seven four nine one five atthree zero or like I said, hit
me up on X at Rick UchinoWe've got the training camp report coming up
with Tony Pike at four forty.We got sports headlines. We got to

(57:37):
get to surprise, surprise. I'mlate again. Rickyuchino in from Oeger ESPN
fifteen thirty. Well, you knowMoe's not in today if tarn is playing
Will Smith. I'm Ricky Uccino inhere on ESPN fifteen thirty until six o'clock
tonight, coming up at about tenminutes or so. I'm very very late.

(57:58):
We will talk to Tony Pike givingus our latest training camp report and
the word from the good Beat writersout there, including Paul Danner Junior of
The Athletic. Zach Taylor says JamarChase not participating today in practice part of
the plan along with t Higgins beinglimited. Trey Hendrickson also sitting out,
and he says Joe Burrow will notthrow tomorrow. Regarding whether or not Chase's

(58:19):
absence was contract related, he wouldnot comment and offered a will see about
Jamar's participation. On Friday, MalikWright of the Right Sports Network saying an
update on Jamar Chase. I amtold Jamar Chase is doing drills after practice.
Just does not seem to be partakingin the team portion, so that
would lean to be, Hey,maybe we just want to get the young

(58:40):
guys some reps. I don't know. The whole thing is weird, but
hey, it's training camp, it'searly. We're looking for stuff to talk
about. Like I said, couldbe nothing, could be something, could
turn into something huge. All weknow for certain is Jamar Chase not participating
in team workouts so far. Buthe's there. He's here, t Higgins

(59:01):
there here, Trey Hendrickson in town, ready to work. Talking about a
team that has Super Bowl aspirations.This isn't a situation like it is with
the Cowboys or the forty nine ersat Derek Willis hit me up on Twitter
regarding Jamar's contract situation, says widereceivers are sitting out across the league right

(59:22):
now, holding out for new contracts. Brandon Au holding out, Lamb is
too. This isn't a Bengals thing. It's the unfortunate side of the business
that's becoming more commonplace as salaries escalate. And I do agree, and I
think that is that is, youknow, just goes to show you the
kind of culture that Zach Taylor hasbuilt. Here that you have these guys

(59:44):
who had contract issues in the offseason. They know there's a business side
to it. They know that ZachTaylor is not involved in the business side
of it more often than anything,and that you know, you got to
deal with the front office. Andthe front office has an entire football team
that they have to pay with atwo hundred and seventy five million dollar quarterback
under the payroll. But they leaveall of that stuff behind and they show

(01:00:05):
up on day one of camp.And that was one of the big talking
points that I wanted to hit today. And then Jamar Chase doesn't practice and
I'm like, okay, well,is that really the case? Has everybody
bought in? Has ESPN dug awormhole into my brain here and made me
think maybe there is something going wronghere. We'll talk to Tony Pike coming
up at four forty get his thoughtson everything. Maybe they've changed since the
last time we talked to him.Training camp report coming up next, though,

(01:00:27):
it's sports Headlines Ricky Chino in fromowegor ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's is your
local sports Headlines a service of KelseyChevallet. Excuse me while tarn and I
yeat home of lifetime power train protectionand guaranteed credit approval from their family to

(01:00:50):
yours for life kelseyshev dot com Red'sOver the Braids yesterday afternoon final was nine
to four. It was the firstof what was supposed to be a double
header. The second game rained out, postponed and rescheduled until Monday, September
ninth. Game time has now beenset for six forty so it was a
very abbreviated two game sweep of theAtlanta Breves, one that was badly needed

(01:01:13):
after they got their doors blown offby the Washington Nationals the three game sweep
series beforehand, the same Washington Nationalsteam that was No Hit Today, No
Hit Today by Dylan Cease. Ifyou are heading down to Great American Ballpark
tonight, or if you're not headingdown, you may wonder why there's some
traffic out there, extended traffic.Foo Fighters concert tonight at Great American Ballpark

(01:01:35):
to believe that gets underway at fivethirty this evening. John Morossi on Twitter
today says Jonathan India's trade value isincreasing because of his own performance one,
but also the needs of suitors likethe Yankees and Mariners. India with a
three seventy six on base percentage whenbatting leadoff this year. Yankees, their
leadoff hitters are hitting are getting onbase at a robust two seventy seven clips

(01:01:58):
so far. That's second worst thanall of Major League Baseball. Very important
to note this is not saying thatthe Reds are shopping India. It does
not say that a deal is imminent, but what it insinuates that he may
be a well sought after player asthe July thirtieth trade deadline approaches. And
yeah, yeah, duh, heshould. He should be a highly sought
after player. He's extremely cheap,has two years of conteam troll left before

(01:02:21):
he hits free agency in twenty twentyseven, already has next year's arbitration bought
out, so they know exactly howmuch he's gonna cost in twenty twenty five.
After a rough start, he hasreturned to being the guy that we
saw when NL Rookie of the Yeara couple of years back. He's hitting
two seventy one, eight bombs fortyknocked in. Yes, good, young,

(01:02:42):
cheap, controllable player. Reds arenot in the market to move guys
like that, so the offer isgoing to have to absolutely blow them away.
Reds do have an off day today, then it's a three game series
against Tampa Bay starting Friday night.David Bell not messing around with this weekend
series as it really could affect whatthe Reds do with the trade deadline.

(01:03:02):
He's throwing the big guns Lodolo Gameone, Abbot Game two, and then
Green in Game three on Sunday.FC Cincinnati has now officially announced the acquisition
of center back Chidozi Awasim, atwenty seven year old a center back out
of Portugal. GM Chris Albright callshim a talented defender with high quality and
character on and off the field,so he's going to help in for the

(01:03:25):
reigning defending Player of the Year Mattand the Osgo who is out for the
season. Training camp going on aswe speak, well, actually practice should
have just wrapped up a few minutesago. Bengals were back at work today.
It was the second day. Bigstory out of training camp tomar Chase
not practicing, but Zach Taylor hassince spoken to team reporters and says it's
all part of the plan, sodon't don't panic. We'll play it coming

(01:03:49):
up. We can play it comingup in hour number three. I appreciate
that term, but I'm really reallylate. We'll get Tony Pike's take on
it because we got to hit thetraining camp Report and then Brendanman and Jones
on baseball. I'm Ricky Chino wentfrom Owagger ESPN fifteen thirty. Hey,
it's mos just a training camp report, brought to you by Hollywood Casino,
Lawrence Burg on ESPN fifteen thirty,the official home of the Bengals. Yes,

(01:04:27):
man, I miss hearing this songevery Monday night on Monday Night Raw.
Maybe maybe this will be a bigsurprise and Becky Lynchell show back up
at SummerSlam next weekend in Cleveland,by the way, at Cleveland Brown Stadium.
Coming up here at the top ofthe hour, about five o five,
I will be talking with Cleveland nativeand one half of the Wade Tag

(01:04:48):
Team champions, Johnny Gargano. Hopefullyhe'll get on the card. Come on,
get can we get some hometown kidson the card for crying out law
no logan, Paul does not count. We'll be talking all things WWE coming
up at the top of the hour. Also a little Bengals. Bengals Brown's
action with the big Cleveland homer thereand Johnny Gargano coming up at five oh

(01:05:09):
five. Rickyuchino in for Moegger.I have had Tony Pike on hold long
enough. I am late again,Tony, my apologies. Let's get to
this training camp report we have.We have big breaking news as far as
Jamar Chase is concerned. Did notpractice excuse me practice today. I can
talk, but hey, coach says, it was all part of the plan,
man, all part of the plan. You buy that. I'm just

(01:05:32):
so confused, Rick, I don'tknow what the plan is anymore. I
thought I knew. I don't know. And every time I hear Zach Taylor,
I'm more confused as to what theplan is. Look follow the timeline
with me. Monday. Doc Taylortalks at the media luncheon about the importance
of the preseason playing some starters inpreseason games because this team has started slow

(01:05:56):
in each of the last couple ofyears. Joe Burrow in his press conference
yesterday, alluded to the fact thatthey have started slow and they're hoping that
the adjustments they make in the preseasoncan help them start faster. Joe Burrow
also talked about Jamar Chase and thathe's had conversations and Joe Burrow used the
term and I think the wording tome was a little interesting. Yesterday Joe

(01:06:17):
Burrow said, I know he's withus. I know he'll be physically and
mentally ready whenever he steps back outthere. So he said back to back
days of I guess what we're callingeasing him back into camp. And then
after practice today, Zach Taylor isvery noncommittal on everything. It's been the
plan all along, the communication hasbeen there. Zach Taylor's asked, well,

(01:06:39):
Jamar Chase practice tomorrow. He says, we'll see. He asked if
it's contract related. He talks aboutthe communication, Jamar Chase is team leaving
the field. He's asked by KelseyTomway, are you holding out due to
a contract? He says, nocomment. I don't know where things stand,
but I know that the lack oftransparency Rick is now making this a
bigger story than what it needs tobe. In my opinion, Yeah,

(01:07:02):
if I didn't know any better,I'd say Zach Tayler's just playing games,
like he's just saying whatever or he'strying to to make it a non story
and by doing so, it justcontinues to throw fuel on the fire.
It's all very very it. Idon't know. I don't know. Guys
hold out all the time in theNFL. If it's a holdout, then

(01:07:24):
call it a holdout. If it'scontract related, say it's contract related,
because, like you said, theway they've handled things, it's drawing more
attention to the situation than just saying, hey, it's a holdout until they
get something done, there's no needto revisit it. Now. We feel
the need to revisit it constantly becauseit's ever changing and you don't know what

(01:07:44):
to believe here. Yeah, andyou know you had Malik right, you
know, reporting that you know he'shearing Jamar Chase is out there doing you
know, drills by himself after practice, but not you know, participating in
the team stuff. And to me, that makes it like I don't know,
Like I said, I listening toor hearing from Zach Taylor, which
we'll play that audio coming up hereat Sports Headlines at the bottom of the

(01:08:05):
hour and hour number five, Likebetween what Zach says and what's actually happening
again, I'm nowhere different from whereI was at the start of the show,
where it's like it could be nothing, it could be something, or
it could be something big. Istill don't know where to fall on that
spectrum. But let's focus on theguys who were out there today. Did
anybody really kind of stand out toyou, whether it's rookie, free agent,

(01:08:29):
you know, veteran, anybody reallystand out to you with their performance?
Yeah? I thought Mike Esicki hada really good day. He splashes
that he can do it all froma pass catcher. Now, I know
he's not a run blocker, butin this offense he's not going to be
asked to do a bunch of runblocking. He's had a really good start
to camp. I feel like JermaineBurton has had a good start to camp.

(01:08:51):
He's kind of been in that JamarChase role. Yoshi BOMs has played
a lot of the slot. He'sbeen good, and various Mims has moved
well. But Yeah, it's sohard because so much of the conversation Rick,
like we just said, is goingback to Jamar Chase, when in
reality, you know, you couldspin it away and say, look,

(01:09:12):
no, Jamar Chase means these youngguys get a lot of reps and they
need a lot of reps. Sothat that is a positive that's happening right
now. And I guess to closeon the Chase thing. What's interesting to
me Rick and you mentioned Zach Taylortalking. He said, you know,
t Higgins and Jamorrow they already knowthe offense. Were we not told that
Dan Pitcher was going to bring newthings to the offense. Is Dan Pitcher's

(01:09:35):
role now nothing? Because if they'renot changing anything, Jamar and t don't
need these reps. So it goesback to the maddening sense that it just
doesn't feel like there's full transparency goingon at pay Corpse Stadium. I guess
you know really quick here, Tombefore we wrap up and get to Brennaman
and Jones on baseball. From allaccounts, it sounds like though relatively healthy

(01:10:00):
first couple of days of practice.That's always a good thing. Yes,
absolutely, you get through the firstcouple of days. Now it's still in
that that you know period where they'rejust in helmets, no shoulder pads,
no pads yet. So when whenyou start getting into camp, you start
getting pads, you start going backto back to back days. That's when
you can see, okay, canthey stay and avoid the injury bug?

(01:10:24):
And also, you know, canyou avoid the fights at camp when you
start going against the same guy overand over and over again. Sure,
camp first start the flare, butit's early enough in camp that everything to
this point has been solid. Allright, ton appreciate it. Practice over
for the day. Well, we'llsee what we can come up with to
talk about. Coming up at fivefifty. I appreciate it, Thanks,
Rick. All right, there yougo, Tony Pike. Our training camp

(01:10:46):
report. Next, we're coming upat five point fifty. Coming up at
five oh five my conversation with WWETag Team Champion Johnny Gargano ahead of SummerSlam
and Cleveland next weekend. But rightnow, Next it is Brennanman and Jones
on Baseball ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati'sESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC
Health Traffic Center. The future ofcare is happening now through clinical trials and

(01:11:11):
innovative treatments that give patients a chancefor better outcomes. Visit ucehealth dot com.
Butterworth Road is closed down due toa broken water made both directions between
Sibsey Road and Scott Drive. Trafficright now, stop and go along southbound
seventy five between Hopple and Fort WashingtonWay a fifteen minute delay. I'm atizeleek
with traffic. This report is sponsoredby ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's Sports station.

(01:11:41):
Here we go our number three,Rich Caontino, filling in for Mowegger
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. And you guys had to know this
was coming. If I was onthe air, I was going to find
a way to get some wrestling conversationinto the mix. When the opportunity comes
along to chat with one of thebest to ever lace up a pair of

(01:12:03):
boots from the great state of Ohio, especially with SummerSlam and Cleveland next weekend,
I was not going to pass upthat opportunity. Joining me now one
half of the new WWDE Tag TeamChampions. He is Johnny Gargano. Joarney,
thank you so much for the time. Man. How's it going.
I'm doing great, Rick, howabout you? I am hanging in there.

(01:12:23):
It is a Thursday afternoon. Trainingcamp is in full swing. Now
that's going to be you know,hopefully big seasons for both of our our
teams, which we'll talk about herecoming up here in a little bit,
but this is a big month,big weekend for the state of Ohio coming
up. You've had a good runhere in WWE as of late. It
was two years ago when you returnedto the company, almost to the day

(01:12:45):
here took a little bit of ahiatus, you know, from the company.
You said you came back because youhad a number of bucket list items
that you needed to cross off.Two of those things have come to fruition
this year, your first WrestleMania match, now winning the WWE Tag Team Championships,
if nothing else, getting to havethose experiences, do they completely validate

(01:13:06):
this decision to come back to WWE. I think so. It's tough because
I'm not one of those people thatlike live in a moment and not someone
that like appreciates things as they're here. I'm always like, Okay, what's
next? Where we go now?But being able to look back at the
past couple months to be able tobe on WrestleMania, to be the current

(01:13:27):
Thorty Tag Team Champions as we're headinginto probably the biggest weekend in Cleveland wrestling
history is so freaking cool man.I'm extremely lucky, extremely blessed to be
in a position I'm in and we'rejust getting started, though we're far from
done. Now. You capture thebelts in the same building that you and
your tag team partner at Tamasso,Champa won the NXT Tag Team Championships.

(01:13:48):
It's the same building you made yourwwe return in and we're talking about the
Scotia Banksason. They're trying to wehave Sciota here in Ohio. I'm trying
to make sure I say the SposireBank Arena in Toronto. And it makes
me think of, like, youknow, other sports, like for example,
Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase in thesuper Dome. There's magic there,

(01:14:09):
right. Bill Hall, good playerfor the Promers for a while, but
always seem to just absolutely rake whenhe came to Great American Ballpark and played
against the Reds. Is it verycommon for a wrestler to have that same
thing where you just notice something specialabout a certain venue and you know there's
the ability for magic to be madewhen you walk into the doors. I
don't know. I can't think ofany other aspects for that's actually happened.

(01:14:30):
I think just we're living in atime period where long term stories are you
to be told now and history isnot being forgetten like forgotten, I should
say, history is being embraced.History is a part of where we've come
from, so to be able togo back to the same But again,
I couldn't have its like we plannedthis. It's not like this was written

(01:14:54):
this way. It just ended upworking out where timeline wise, we win
the NXT tag titles in Toronto,then I come back in that same building
in Toronto. I was like,oh, that's pretty cool, and like
when that was all about, Iwas thinking like, oh, Toronto,
like we want the tag titles arethat'd be cool to come back there.
And then literally like there was comingup on the schedule where we were in

(01:15:14):
the midst of being against Austin andGrayson in this feud and we were coming
up and then like a big payerview was going to be in that building
as well, and it just endedup working out like it just happens.
Stance. Man, I liked saywe planned all this, it just it's
happening on a month to month basisthat it's just worked out extremely well for
us getting to go on this runhere, you know, with Tomaso Champa

(01:15:34):
finally having you know, DIY besuccessful on the main roster to do this
with him. How much has hasthat meant to you? How extra special
has that been? It's meant theworld. You know. We are two
guys who were basically told no atour tryout, told that there was no
spot for us in n XC.We had a small opportunity in the Dustry
Roase Tag Team Classic, and thenwe kicked the door down. We said

(01:15:58):
there is no no anymore. We'regoing to take this place over. And
I remember being on like the minimumand in an NFT salary when we moved
to Orlando, and it was meTomaso on campus, living in like a
two bedroom apartment in Orlando, Florida, and we would talk about this.
We talk about this moment we're currentlyliving in. Obviously, being the NFC

(01:16:18):
Tag Team Champions was awesome, That'swhat we wanted, But we always talked
about one day, what would happenif d I Y was on a ra
or a SmackDown. Could we climbthat mountain and become the w B Tag
Team Champions. And the fact thatwe were able to make it happen.
The fact we're living in that realityand the fact that me and him have
been through so much together on andoff screen is just so freaking cool.

(01:16:42):
We're able to make this happen.And you guys have been showing off a
bit of your comedic chops online aswell recently out of Nowhere that you've been
doing with Randy Orton. Where didWhat's the origin story behind these that you
guys are doing out there? Yeah, so obviously everyone knows our history with
the Glorious Bump, the videos weused to do with Bobby Rude in n

(01:17:05):
XT where we would basically play hissong. We'd find him in awkward situations
and we would just look raise thecamera play a song nodded now us back.
Those were very very popular, andI would honestly attribute those to maybe
Di Wise Bass popular like we werepopular at the starten in that NXT,

(01:17:27):
But I feel like the Glorious Bombkind of took us to whole new heights,
to a whole new level when thosestarted coming out, and people still
talk about them to this day.So we were kind of just looking for
a new twenty twenty four version ofthat. We didn't want to go back
to doing the same old thing.There's something I like to call the DIYCU,
the diy Cinematic University, And wewere like, what can we do

(01:17:53):
to kind of take this thing atthe next level? And obviously, how
do you take it in the nextlevel? You get Randy freaking Orton,
one of the greatest of all time, to be in these videos. Uh,
and that, you know, thatjust speaks to look and in reality,
Randy has no idea we're doing this. It's just me and Tomas.

(01:18:14):
So as you can watch the videos, we're still trying r Kalem. I
think he's still oblivious to the factthat's happening. But I think he doesn't
even know it is mos Is goingafter him. Still, maybe he'll realize
that one day. We're not sure. But again, long term, shorttelling,
guys, you got to stay tunedto see what happens. I'm looking
forward to the to the next installment, for sure. It's been a few
days since since we've gotten one.Johnny mcgardano, My god, what,

(01:18:35):
no worry. Okay, there's aweekly it's a weekly thing. Don't worry,
Okay, all right, I'm lookingforward to it. Can't wait.
Johnny Gargano my guest here on theESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Recugino, filling
in for mo Egger SummerSlam next weekendalready Cleveland brown Stadium. Johnny as someone
who has actively been campaigning for amajor WWE p l E to take place

(01:19:00):
in my hometown of Cincinnati, goingso far as to call county and city
city leaders and pitching my case.Hopefully, iiously through you here. Just
how exciting is it to see yourcity, your hometown, have the opportunity
to get this national spotlight and bethis host to a major ww event.
It's so freaking cool, man.I'm sure you guys feel the same way

(01:19:20):
in Cincinnati. I'm sure Cincinnati getsa bad rap. I'm sure a lot
of people are like, what Cincinnati, why would you go there? Like
the same thing like Cleveland, whywould you go there? Like? The
thing I'm most look baring to islike all these people from coming from all
over the world to Cleveland, Ohio. People that are like, why are
we going to Cleveland? Then theycome to Cleveland and they realize it's a
beautiful city, hill with beautiful people. An amazing thing used to do because

(01:19:45):
that's what's gonna happen, I promiseyou. But the fact that it's going
to Cleveland brown Stadium, a buildingI pretty much have been in almost every
Sunday for a good majority of mylife. I guys said, the Browns
for a lot of my childhood.Uh So, I would always sit up
in the noselead section and I woulddaydream in the fourth quarter while we were

(01:20:05):
down by like four touchdowns, like, man, it'd be really cool.
It's like a big WV event gamehere that that will never happen though,
it's just it will never happen,like we're outside and never go down.
And then I remember I have alot of friends that work for the Cleveland
Browns. They told me, maybelike over a year ago, we're trying
to get summer slip, and Iwas like, oh my god, that'd

(01:20:28):
be so freaking cool. I thinkI believe I might have been the first
talent to know that Cleveland was gonnaget summer slip. So the fact that
it's actually happening and it's almost likeit's the next next weekend, it's so
freaking cool. Man. Yeah,we we've probably been to some of the
same games because my dad was fromCleveland, and he never wanted to go

(01:20:49):
to like the home game, sowe always drove to the Bengals Browns road
games. Uh, and that wasalways oh yeah, yeah yeah. And
like at least he was smart,right, Like he protects me, Like
he bought me a Dennis Nord cutjersey. So I was like a Bengals
fan cognito sitting in the stands,like quietly driving for my team while wearing
a Dennis Nord cut jersey. Soit was a little confusing for the people.

(01:21:11):
But that's a good jersey though.That's that's a good vintage jersey.
Good wide receiver. Man. Istill have it. I'll have to get
you to sign it one of thesedays. But yeah, so yeah,
please. It's funny. Cleveland BrownStadium is one of the Man, it
might be only the second stadium thatI've seen an NFL game in. I
spend most of my Sundays at payCorps here in Cincinnati, but a majority
of the NFL game. The NFLstadiums I've been to have now been for

(01:21:34):
pls because they've been doing these thesebig stadium shows and it's very similar to
what you said. SummerSlam last yearwas my first time ever going to Detroit,
and I never really kind of gotthat, like any anything good about
Detroit. I never heard, likethe only thing I knew about Detroit was
like all the slum parts that theyshowed in like Beverly Hills, cop Like
that's all I knew about Detroit,right, And then I go there and

(01:21:56):
I'm like, oh, this isjust like a big Cincinnati. This is
so damn beautiful up here. Itwas such a great city and such a
great experience. Now I've been toCleveland obviously, as I just said,
but yeah, that's that's what Iwant for Cincinnati. I want people to
come to Cincinnati and realize, youknow, how great this city is.
And I'm so jealous of the cityof Cleveland for forgetting this. But hopefully

(01:22:16):
if I keep calling Hamilton County,they'll they'll get it done and get something
here, uh, in the inthe few years. I mean, Joe
Burrow obviously wants it. He's doingCody cosplay, so I mean Joe Burrows
ready for it, yes, andmaybe this is the year the Bengals will
finish the story. But you know, nah, I think it's give me
Wrestlingia thirty nine. Oh God,please, no, we already had that

(01:22:40):
in the Super Bowl two years ago. We already got uh so. But
you know, getting back to youknow, this is already a stack car.
There's I think seven matches confirmed forthe show. That's a lot for
a triple h led p l E. Yeah. Are you going to get
the wrestle on the field down there? Are we gonna get it? I
don't know. I don't know.And it's one of those things where,

(01:23:00):
look, I'm just happy doing anything. I want to do anything in that
stadium. I don't care what itis. I just want to do something
in that stadium. It's like alifelong dream of mine. So whether it's
defending the tag team titles or justpopping out and waving too the crowd,
I don't care. I just wantto do something wrestling related in that stadium,

(01:23:21):
and I will I will die happy. Well, it's been a great
year for Cleveland so far, guardians, you know, putting together quite the
year. There're twenty games over fivehundred right now. They're in first place.
Some Slam next weekend. Like Isaid, But Johnny, I know
you're just as excited as I am. Football right around the corner training camp
is underway for all thirty two teams. How are you feeling with the Browns

(01:23:41):
this year? Every time I talkto miss he says they're going to win
the Super Bowl. Do you havethe same rose colored prescriptions of course that
he did. Of course I'm optimistic. Yeah, the Browns are gonna win
the Super Bowl. Literally the dayafter SummerSlam Cleveland Brown's training camp. I
will be there. I'm going.That just shows you where I'm at.
I'm ready to rock and roll.I'll be a clear Rouse training camp day

(01:24:02):
after Summer Slam to support my team. I mean, so, who's the
biggest threat in the Ansty North andwhy is it the Cleveland Nightmare? Joe
Burrow in the Cincinnati Bengals. Imean, how's Joe Burrow playing against Miles
Garrett the past couple? How didyou do last year? Yeah? I
don't know, man. Maybe maybeit's blonde hair and he's ready to go.
He's ready to have an MVP.Maybe you never know if it's risk

(01:24:25):
hoolds together, Jesus, just behealthy, That's all I asked. Just
is he ever going to be healthyplaying against Miles Garrett two times a year?
Just saying, I mean, theygot three dudes offensive line six eight
three hundred pounds they've invested. Hopefullythey can learn how to freaking block this
year. That would be great.Final question for you, there's a lot
to be excited about. I knowyou're a big comic book guy. Where's

(01:24:45):
the incitement level for Deadpool Wolverine thisweekend? Oh? I'm so freaking excited,
so excited to the point where Ihad no idea where I was going
to be on the night it cameout on Thursday night. I didn't know
if I was going to be inSan Diego for santy Yo Comic Con,
if I was gonna be doing madelstuff. I don't know if I was
going to be in Cleveland, whichI am currently, and I don't know
if I was gonna be in Orlando. So did I buy tickets in three

(01:25:09):
different states for this movie? Yes? I have tickets in three different states
currently for this movie. So that'show sad I am that I am seeing
it in Cleveland. So so manycameo rumors. Is there one in particular
that you want to see in thismovie? Oh, it's tough. Obviously,
I'm a big X Men guy.Uh, so I would like to

(01:25:30):
see some form of the ninety sevenX menish. I know there's there's rumors
of, like, you know,Channing Tatum, this Gambit or like things
like that. Obviously, like I'malways just an X Men guy, but
I'm also a big Spider Man guy, and Toby maguire is my Spider Man
from when I was growing up,and like, I don't know, the
final trailer, Deadpool was doing thefifth Flip Flip Flint, So maybe a

(01:25:57):
Spider Man shows up. We'll see. I'm just excited to man, I
might. I think he's been alot of fun and I think that,
uh, anything is possible. It'slike to be Anything's possible in the death
whole Universal. Yeah, I wasgonna say, you said the one that
I wanted, because Gambit was alwaysmy dude growing up, and I'm remember
I remember when the two thousand SpiderMan movie or the X Men movie came
out, and I'm like, oh, I can't wait to see who plays

(01:26:19):
Gambit. And then he never showedup. And then he never showed up
in two, and he never showedup in XTV and then ever since,
like the rumors about Channing Tatum gettingcast as Gambit and then watching him in
Hateful Eight, I'm like, Oh, this is a match made in heaven,
Like, we gotta get this sothat that's the one I'm I'm I'm
really hoping for. I'm going forbarely. He really loved the character as

(01:26:40):
well, so I'm excited to seeif that actually does happen, what he's
able to do. Uh, there'sa lot to be excited about him going
Friday afternoon. I can't wait.Can't wait to be in Cleveland. I've
never said that sentence before, butI can't wait to be in Cleveland next
weekend for Summer Slam. Thank youso much for the time, Johnny.
I really appreciate it. Thanks man, anytime. All right, there you
go, Johnny Gargana, one halfthe WWE Tag team champions Tear. Are

(01:27:00):
you going to Cleveland next weekend?I will be in Cleveland next weekend.
That makes two of us. Iam, I am. I'm very excited.
This is an extraordinarily stacked card.I don't know if Johnny's gonna get
on the show. It's gonna beinteresting. I'll be pre show right at
least, maybe, I don't know. I mean tomorrow night on SmackDown,
they're gonna determine number one contenders forthe tag team titles. It doesn't look

(01:27:21):
like mis is gonna be doing anything. I thought maybe at least he'd host
it or something, But I meanMS is making a cameo somewhere. I
think they all are. I thinkthey all are at some point. Maybe.
Oh, how about like a liveout of nowhere skit. Randy Orton's
kind of written off as a character. I don't know, I don't know,
I don't know. You know,it's gonna be interesting, but I'm

(01:27:42):
looking forward to something. Truths gotto think he's in Cincinnati or something.
Ah, that would be hilarious.That'd be hilarious. Truth is great.
Yeah. I will be there nextweekend covering it for Espenation. Maybe another
couple of outlets. You can getall my wrestling coverage. I did write
up a little bit earlier today forEspenation Cage sites heats from that Johnny Gargano
interview. You can follow all thatgood work on on my Twitter page or

(01:28:04):
x app, whatever you want tocall it these days. Rick Uccino,
say that again, I'll wave toyou in the press box. There you
go. Yeah, Yeah, Althoughit's it's summertime, like those press boxes
come in handy, especially in Philadelphiawhen it was like forty degrees outside.
Those press boxes come in handy.I think I'd rather be outside, honestly.
For for Summer Slam weekend, wegot a lot to dive into.
Rick Uccino here filling in for Moeggartoday. We're gonna hear from Zach Taylor

(01:28:29):
next actually because we we we gota little bit of details behind why Jamar
Chase wasn't practicing today day to atraining camp. But it's really not going
to answer any of the questions thatwe have that coming up next to ESPN
fifteen thirty five twenty seven. Hereon a Thursday afternoon, Rick Uccino in

(01:28:50):
for moegger today on ESPN fifteen thirtyIf you missed any of my conversations,
excuse me. I have had ahard time talking all day today. It's
a good thing I'm not hosting aradio show or anything like that. If
you've missed any of my conversations orattempted conversations Jeff Carr locked on Red's podcast,
or just a few minutes ago,Johnny Gargano won half of the WWE

(01:29:12):
Tag Team champions talking about SummerSlam nextweekend in Cleveland, Ohio. You can
catch them all on the podcast pageESPN fifteen thirty dot com under the mow
eggertab because hey, this is hisshow after all. Chad Brenda will be
back in the Captain Kirkswivel chair tomorrow. Coming up here in a few minutes,
we need to talk to Tony Pike. Our final training camp report of

(01:29:35):
the day, Bengals wrapping up Daytwo of training camp and the big story
out of the proceedings down at payCourse Stadium today. With that wide receiver
Jamar Chase not practicing for the secondday in a row, Zach Taylor was
asked about that after practice today.Audio courtesy of Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati

(01:29:55):
Inquirer. Thankings last much to borrowthe status for practice. You know,
IRONSI picture he is he helping help? We got a bunch of guys,
like I told you guys yesterday,but we've got a plan for early in
camp. Uh te being that guytoday also with Jamar Frey hendrickson tomorrow.
Joe won't throw. Joe Burrow won'tthrow. That was pre planned. I
think you guys would agree, whichpretty good out here and healthy. So

(01:30:18):
again, there's a lot of guysthat they and I are on the same
page with how we want to handlethings, and so far, so good.
This is not contract, lad,It's a plan that Jamorre and I
have. It's the plan for himto go tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow.
Would you expect by next week atthe latest tea be out. I
don't expect anything else in the plan. He and I have the place.

(01:30:42):
I mean, really unbelievable communication withJamorrow, T, Joe, Trey,
Sam Dja, Jermaine Logan, Mike, Ron Orlando. You know, so
look at my You've got great communicationwith all these guys and it's going to
be going. Joseph concerned me.I can't speak for will help the young

(01:31:11):
guys a lot, you know,But like we said, you know,
this is part of the conversation Ihave with especially receivers earlier power of even
more time because it's a lot ofopportunity with the early install that Jamar and
T specifically have repped more times thanUnion, And so now we're some of
these younger guys, might say,younger guys on Hot Red and Charlie and
Jermaine Ja Shad and Cameron, allthese guys. Now they are getting all

(01:31:35):
these reps. It's it's unbelievable forthese guys. It's it's going to help
the defter, the tay and thecompetition they've got up back there, sa
Stowns are there you go. Thatwas head coach Zach Taylor after practice today.
This clearly the communication is is greatbetween Zach and his players, maybe

(01:31:57):
not so much between Zach and theBengals and the me which that that's always
kind of been the case. Lookthat the Bengals have always been a franchise
that plays everything very very close tothe chest. They are not gonna air
out their their plans or their theirlaundry and the and the public eye you
know much, you know, whetherthat be to their their detriment or not,

(01:32:18):
whether or not you have agents andplayers maybe in the past not so
much this year that get you know, reports sent out to the national media
that may shine the organization in ain a negative light, or you only
get one half of the side ofthe story. That is just how the
Bengals have always operated. Clearly,to me, it sounds like Zach Taylor,

(01:32:40):
well maybe he's bsing the media herea little bit. Maybe Jamar's contract
situation does have have some you know, reason for why Jamar isn't playing right
now. At the end of theday, I gotta feel like, if
this were when's the first game Septemberfifth, September eighth, ninth, something
like that, whenever the free Septembereighth, I got a feeling if this

(01:33:00):
was the Friday before the September eighthgame, the home opener against the New
England Patriots, Jamar Chase would beout there practicing in full And I think
there is something to the effect ofeverybody is here. Everybody who's been in
the headlines all off season long becauseof some kind of contract dispute. T

(01:33:23):
Higgins, Jamar Chase, Trey Hendrickson, they all reported they are all here.
So far, Tea and Trey,they have at least taken part in
some kind of the team activities throughthese first two days of camp. I
go back to what t Higgins saidyesterday in the locker room. He is
here, He's ready to work.He's ready to play for a team in

(01:33:43):
a city that he loves this yearwith the ultimate goal being to not only
get to the Super Bowl, butwin it. And I feel like as
a team that is the collective goal, and everybody is ready to put all
the offseason bs behind them and focuson winning a championship this year. And
maybe part of that for Jamar Chaseis to hey, uh, if I
don't have a contract or a longterm extension. Granted, yes, there's

(01:34:06):
twenty five million dollars invested in meover the next two years. There's a
lot more that should be invested inme. Maybe he doesn't want to take
what he deems to be unnecessary risks. I don't know. Again, my
opinion has not changed from the momentthat I got on the air to where
it is right now. This couldbe nothing, This could be a little
bit of something, or this couldballoon into something that derails all of camp.

(01:34:28):
It is somewhere on that spectrum.We'll see if he suits up any
place tomorrow. Gotta get a checkof sports headlines. Got to talk to
Tony Pike one more time for ourtraining camp report coming up at five fifty.
I'm Ricky Chino win from owegor ESPNfifteen thirty, Cincinnati's is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station TARN It's weirdhearing that song without Pyro going off on

(01:35:09):
that downbeat. You know what I'msaying, I'm like, I missed the
bang and I'm you know, youneed Cody, you know, dropping down
and dropping the fist and doing theboom and just doesn't quite hit. The
same sports headlines the service of Kelseychev Sorry head away for that as well.
Kelsey Chevrolet home of the lifetime powertrainprotection and guaranteed credit approval from their

(01:35:30):
family to yours for life, kelseyshevdot com reads over the braves. Yesterday
afternoon, nine to four was thefinal that was game one of what was
supposed to be a doubleheader. Thatgame second one postponed and rescheduled to Monday,
September. The ninth game time hasnow been set for six forty.
John Morossi on Twitter today says JonathanIndia's trade value is increasing, one because

(01:35:54):
of his own performance and two theneeds of suitors like the New York Yankees.
Yankees right now from the leadoff spothave an OBP of two to seventy
seven thus far this season, thatis second worst than all of Major League
Baseball. Jonathan India, to hiscredit, three seventy six on base percentage
when leading off games for the Redsthis year. Again very important to note,

(01:36:15):
this is not say that the Redsare shopping Jonathan India. It doesn't
say that a deal is imminent.In fact, there are other reports that
say the Reds do not expect tomove Jonathan India at all. But what
it does in sinuate is he isa highly sought after player as the July
thirtieth trade deadline approaches, and ESPN'sJorge Castillo saying that New York at least
has interest in India, and theyshould. They should. He's extremely cheap,

(01:36:39):
He's got two years of team controlleft, he already has arbitration for
next year bought out, doesn't hitfree agency until twenty twenty seven, his
age thirty season, and after arough start to the year, he's returned
to the NL Rookie of the Yearwinning form that we saw two years ago.
He's healthy, hitting two seventy one, eight home runs, forty knocked
in at in nine stolen bases.This is a really, really good,

(01:37:02):
table setting leadoff hitter playing at ahigh level on the chief, These are
not players that the Reds are inthe market of dealing. So if you
want them. You're gonna have topony up and overwhelm Nick Crawl with an
offer. Will somebody do that?I don't know. Trade deadline coming up

(01:37:24):
on the on Tuesday the thirtieth atsix pm. It's so weird because I
am used to being July thirty firstfor so many years, but it's now.
It was August for a hot minutethere, now it's it's July thirtieth.
Reds are expected to trade away someof their bullpen depth, with Emilia
Opagan and Ian Jabou nearing returns,Lucas Simms, Buck Farmer Justin Wilson all

(01:37:45):
likely candidates to be moved. Accordingto The Athletic, Nick Martinez might be
the most valuable asset they have,with how he's performed out of the bullpen
this year and his ability ability tostart in a pin. She does carry
a twelve million dollar player option fortwenty twenty five, but so much is
probably going to depend on what theReds do this weekend when they go up

(01:38:05):
against Tampa. If they sweep theRays, maybe that puts them in a
position to buy. If they getswept, well, maybe it puts them
in the category of well, let'ssee what we can get for a Frankie
Montass or any of these other expiringcontracts. David Bell certainly not messing around
this weekend. He's throwing out thebig guns Lodolo, Abbott and Green against

(01:38:26):
the Rays. SC Cincinnati has nowofficially announced the acquisition of center back Shadozi
Awasim, twenty seven year old outof Portugal. GM Chris Albright calls him
a talented defender with high quality andcharacter. So he's going to help fill
in for Matt Miasga, who isout for the season, the reigning defender
of the Year in MLS. FCCincinnati on an extended break, I believe

(01:38:50):
due to the Olympics. They arenot back in action until August first.
They are currently riding a three matchlosing streak. Bengals training camp or two
in the books. The big storytoday Jamar Chase did not practice for the
second day in a row. ZachTaylor says, calm down, it's all
part of the plan. Wouldn't discusswhether or not it had anything to do

(01:39:13):
with his contract situation, as thereare some who are speculating he might be
doing some kind of a hold inand not a hold out, as he
is seeking a new deal. Ithink it's all incredibly weird considering it's year
three to year four, not fourto five. But I digress. I
can. I can look at itfrom every side out there and go all
right, I understand it. Ultimately, I think Jamar Chase is going to

(01:39:34):
play, He's going to play well, and he is going to get a
ton of money from the Bengals atsome point, whether it's before the season
starts or over the summer next year. The Bengals are also reportedly set to
work out United Football League tight endto King Butler on Friday. Butler finished
the twenty twenty three season with fortyfive receptions, six hundred and fifty two
yards and five touchdowns for the SaintLouis BattleHawks and the Steelers. Today,

(01:39:59):
Mike Tomlin telling reporters quarterback Russell Wilsondealing with a calf issue that he woke
up with and he's considered day today. Justin Fields took first team rep
here alone, Russ. Justin Field'staking the first team reps today. So
there you go. There's your sportsheadlines. We got to check in with
Tony Pike get his take on everythingthat he saw the players that actually practice

(01:40:23):
today, so we focus so muchon Jamorrow. Let's talk to Tony next
and discuss the guys who were onthe field. Rick Uccino in from Oeggar,
ESPN fifteen thirty. Hey, it'sMoweger. Hope to see Cot.
Prove to you bar Skylight Chili,feeling good. It's Skylight time on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home ofthe Bengals. Welcome back, ESPN fifteen

(01:40:45):
thirty. Ricuccino in for Moegger Today. My time is almost up. Chad
Brendle, I be I believe we'llbe back in the Captain Kirk Swivel chair
tomorrow. Afternoon. It is timefor our final training camp report of the
day. Tony Pike's spending the daydown there watching the guys run around.
Everybody but Jamar Chase. Tony.We have, we've we've talked about Jamar

(01:41:09):
Chase at nauseam today. We don'tknow if he's going to be practicing tomorrow,
so that is a story for Friday. We do know Joe Burrow is
not going to be throwing tomorrow.That is all about easing him back in.
Obviously, we know it's important toease him back in as he comes
back from the wrist injury. Butby all accounts, how has he looked

(01:41:30):
to you coming back from this injurythese first two days of camp, he
is he's checked every box Rick oneuh not on the field when he's he's
on the sideline when there's another drillgoing on. He has been so hands
on with the receiving corps, especiallythe young receivers, with Mike Kasicki,
with the offensive line. He hascommunicated more through two days than I remember

(01:41:54):
seeing him throughout much of a trainingcamp in years past. And one it's
because they do have young, newplayers. And two, Rick, I
do genuinely think there's something there alongthe Jamar Chaser, along the Joe Burrow
side, where he understands Tyler Boydis gone, Joe Mixon has gone,
Peter o' woozy is gone, JodahWilliams has gone, a lot of leaders

(01:42:15):
are no longer with this team,and he knows that his role is to
step up in that sense as well. From an on the field standpoint,
short intermediate down the field. He'smade all the throws. He's made,
the tight window throws, he's thrownwith touch. He's had to put zip
on the ball at times. Hispocket movement looks well, so much has
been made about his size. Yeah, and if you don't physically, if

(01:42:38):
you don't physically see him in person, you don't get to tell, I
think, genuinely how much bigger heis, how much stronger he looks.
He took off for a scramble todayand the burst just looked like so much
more than what it was. Sotwo days in, you've done. You've
seen everything that you need to seefrom Joe Burrow. Yeah, he looks

(01:43:00):
like he bulked up in the offseasonto take a starring role in a Marvel
movie, Like he's gonna be inthe next Captain America film. Like that's
how much bulk that he's added upfrom from a quarterback standpoint, adding you
know, putting that kind of workin, you know, to your body,
adding that kind of size, youknow, what can that do for
you? From from a confidence standpointjust as a player. Well, it's

(01:43:23):
the main thing he's gonna have toget through is the confidence of getting hit
and getting back up. So ifyou are stronger, if you're bigger,
then you can absorb a lot moreof those hips. You can drive off
the back leg and push the ballfurther down the field, or push the
ball more on a line to getin a small window. So it's gonna
help his game the whole way around. And I actually think what he's going
through right now is gonna help becausehe still doesn't have the zip consistently,

(01:43:46):
he doesn't have to push down thefield, and with that comes a little
bit of a lack of a spiral. I think him having to play through
this right now is just helping histiming and his accuracy as a quarterback.
And and when it all comes togetherand when that risk is full go,
I think you're gonna see a JoeBurrow that that's going to take the NFL
by storm. All right. Whatshould be the biggest story of camp is

(01:44:10):
something that we have not talked aboutyet here. Tone has bj Hill bleached
his hair yet? And if not, what are you personally doing to hold
that man accountable for what he toldJoe Burrow? Well, I'll just take
the Zach Taylor approach. There's aplan in place, you know, there's
just a plan in place, Rick, And whether that happens today or whether

(01:44:30):
it happens tomorrow or next week,trust that the plan is there and that
the process is already in place forthings to go well. With BJ Hill
dyeing his hair at this point,too much pressures already on him. Joe
Burrow caught him out. There arefat heads outside that fans are holding today
with BJ Hill heaven his hair dyed. He can't run from this now,
He's got to do it. Iwas gonna say he I saw him entering

(01:44:54):
camp, walking across the street withhis helmet already on, like just just
masking it. So yeah, Ithink Joe Burrow is very smart to get
that out there and get this campaignmoving. I think he's going to have
to do it sooner or later.And I'm telling you right now, if
this team comes out and starts firingon all cylinders at the beginning of the
year, you're going to see everybodywalking out there looking like they're about the

(01:45:15):
main event WrestleMania. You're going tohave an entire team full of American Nightmare
Cody Rhoads going out there every Sundayat pay Corpse Stadium. Tony, Let's
let's talk about the defense here alittle bit, because we've spent so much
time on the offense. A lotof question marks, especially in the secondary.
We've heard lou An Rumo talk aboutthat this is a team that they

(01:45:38):
want to get after the quarterback.Right, and you bring in a guy
like Sheldon Rankins who's more of apass rusher than he was a run stopper
like DJ Reader was from a defensivestandpoint, you know, how how has
the team looked so far? Iknow Cam Tator Britt has not been out
there as anything really stood out toyou. I know it's top day to
a camp. Yeah, it's hardto tell day to a camp because all

(01:45:59):
of that interior moves that were made. You can't tell when they don't have
pads on. Until you get padson and you go one on one against
that offensive line. You really don'tget a sense there. And look the
secondary, I think I'm giving thema little bit more of a pass because
the mouthpiece at the back end isdifferent. Right, Geno Stone is here,
they're a Jordan Battle is here andvon Bella is here and they're now

(01:46:23):
communicating with Dax Hill, who hasnot played a lot at corner with DJ
Turner. Cam Taylor Britt is notout there yet because you got his consoles
removed so it's still young. They'relearning on the fly. The offense has
won in my opinion, the firstcouple of days, but I look forward
to seeing what that shifts to whenthe pads go on and when they get

(01:46:43):
some of those guys back. What'sthe mindset like for some of these younger
guys when they come in, becauseyou know, and I'm talking like you
know, the Chris Jenkins or thethe Amarius Mims, or maybe some of
these lower round draft picks or unsignedfree agents who want to come in and
they want to make an impression,but at the same time, they don't
want to injure themselves or they don'twant to burn themselves out where they're performing

(01:47:04):
well the first two weeks of campand then they just kind of run out
of gas. So like, asa young player coming in, you know,
how do you try to compartmentalize andbalance everything? Well, it's the
mental that's the hard part. Becausethey take care of the physical. Now
there's avenues on which you can rest, get your wits about your physically,

(01:47:26):
you're going to be sore, butit's nothing like two a days three of
days used to be. It's themental because when you're not out there practicing.
That's more time in the film room, that's more walkthroughs, You're adding
more to the playbook. So it'sthe mental side that is exhausting to these
guys. And the only thing Ican say to that is if you fall
behind or you're not sure, youhave to speak up. A lot of

(01:47:48):
times with younger players you feel like, man, I don't want to be
a burden. I'll just figure itout on my own, and then you
fall behind and then they move onto the next thing and you never feel
like you can catch up. Sofrom a younger player standpoint, you've got
to be willing to ask questions,and you've got to be willing to say,
look, we need to slow downa little bit or I'm not there

(01:48:08):
yet, because if not, thenthat small, small room of where you're
behind becomes a much larger gap asit continues. Are you mentally prepared for
three hours of radio tomorrow starting attwelve o'clock on this station, Well,
Rick, I get to be atthe Holy Grail tomorrow from noon to three.
We are live on location at theHoly Grail. We'll be drinking some

(01:48:30):
Cincy lights. So yeah, justthe change of scenorly I needed. It's
awesome down there at the Holy Grail. I'm gonna get down there early because
the food is fantastic, the drinksare fantastic, and the show is going
to be fantastic. Man, it'salmost like you've read commercials for that before.
Appreciate it. Tone, take careman, Yes, sir, thanks,
Rick all right, there you go. T Pike back on noon to

(01:48:51):
three tomorrow down at the Holy Grailwith Austin Elmore and then Chad Brendle in
here three to six. Tony'll giveyou all the big headlines from training camp
tomorrow at four forty or three forty, four forty five forty, assuming chads
on time. I was not today, but I'm gonna get out on time.
Appreciate everybody who tuned in. Ibelieve Moe's back next week. I'm

(01:49:14):
Ricky uchinoll Uh. I'll talk toyou guys tomorrow morning, five point fifteen
in am on Mike McConnell and sevenhunderd WLW. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

(01:49:42):
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