Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals' D WINS opening practice | Training Camp Day 1 Takeaways

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

The Cincinnati Bengals' defense had an energetic start to training camp as Joe Burrow admitted they won the day. Jake Liscow and James Rapien take you into day 1 of Bengals training camp, including takeaways from Burrow's remarks about playing in the preseason and Wednesday's practice, and observations of deep linebacker rotations and the early rotation in this year's guard battle.   Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Play Now at yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnflRugiet150,000 men have made the switch →https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONNFLUse code LOCKEDONNFL to get 15% off your order!BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. Your well-being is worth it. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedonnfl today to get 10% off your first month. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get $150 in BONUS BETS when your first $5 BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Joe Burrow and the Bengals are back for training camp. The defense won, day one. Let's break it down. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What on Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jake Liskow.

He's James Rapine and we are your host of Lockdown Bengals covering the Cincinnati. Cincinnati Bengals here since 2016. We're on YouTube. We're everywhere you get your podcast. So if you're looking for that daily practice observations and takeaways and analysis and the nitty gritty of what's going on with the Bengals in training camp, you are in the right place. You can hit that subscribe button.

It makes it really easy not to miss an episode. And shout out to all of you who already don't miss an episode, all of the everydayers out there and everyone who makes locked on Bengals their first listen. Today, James, we dive into what Joe Burrow. had to say at the beginning of training camp, including comments about why he's excited to play in the preseason and how things went on day one of practice that the defense seemed to come out on top of. And we'll have some daily practice observations as well to finish up the show in today's episode sponsored by Monarch Money, where you can take control of your finances with

monarch money using code locked on NFL and Monarch Money.com for 50% off your first year. James, we start as we always do when Joe Burrow speaks with what Joe Burrow has. had to say validating my theory that we discussed a while ago about why I think the preseason is going to be important for him, but also coming in hot, not happy with the way practice went for the offense as camp opened on Wednesday. Yeah, Joe Burrow was certainly frustrated. And I was like, oh, man, this has happened before. Joe Burrow frustrated at the beginning of camp. And I actually think it's a really good thing. It's a really good thing because that's what should happen on day one of training camp. The defense should have its fair share of wins. And I think that's what Joe Burrow

kind of told himself as he was going 0 for three during one set, one possession during 11 on 11. One of those, he went literally 0 for three and then trotted off the field. I can't really remember how many times that's happened. It feels like it's very rare, even if the offense isn't going well and doing well, you notice that Joe's completing a pass, even if it isn't going anywhere. But the defense did more than hold their own. I would say early on in practice especially, and I tweeted out a clip of Joe kind of looking for someone, not seeing anyone, and then rolling out, and then ultimately running. And there were a few plays like that where he held the ball, he was waiting for someone to get open. It didn't happen. And either he would scramble or he's under

pressure. So there were two plays I can remember in particular where he kind of lobbed it up to T. but it was essentially a throwaway where he's throwing it to where maybe six foot four T. Higgins can get a hand out there and catch it, but otherwise it's just going to go out of bounds. There aren't many times where you see that multiple times in practice, but we did on Wednesday. So Joe's right. The defense won the day. It was pretty apparent. And his comments afterward, I don't think he was excited to talk to us afterward. I think he would have much preferred to do it after another day or to have practiced when the offense is going to get some wins because they really didn't have many. I'm trying to think if any, outside of some quick completions, there weren't many wins for the offense today. Yeah, but I will say this and we'll get to it in more detail.

It is a day that the defense should win. If you go listen to yesterday's show, once you get past the discussion we had about Trey Hendrickson and the holdout and everything, I feel like you said, I hope we see the defense win tomorrow on day one. and for the first couple of days. And the defense should be ahead early in camp. That's the tradition in training camps around the NFL. And Joe Burrow did talk about that as well and talked about the continuity they have and talked about the fact that they're typically on the same page

and you should expect that consistency year over year. And was a little bit frustrated because he added on to that and said, well, we didn't have that today. It didn't go that way today. There are reasons for that. And so I think we can dive into that. when we get to some of our other practice observations a little bit later on. One of the other things that was very interesting to me about Joe's remarks today

was when he talked about playing in the preseason more and the importance. And what specifically he's looking to take away from that. Because, James, you might remember. I'm sure you remember. I'm sure our listeners remember. I don't remember when it was sometime in the last couple weeks. Maybe it was even the training camp preview last week when we talked about Joe Burrow and playing in the preseason. And the risk-reward factor there and why he's excited to play those reps and what he's trying to get from it.

And it specifically, and we talked about this, the speed of the game and understanding when the ball actually has to come out, I think that's pretty close to a direct quote from what he said in his presser today, understanding the timing of you try to simulate it in practices, but they're going to let up. Geno Stone didn't blow up Joe Burrow today when he had an opportunity to do so, right? Miles Murphy didn't blow up Joe Burrow. today when he had an opportunity to do so. And going into those preseason games where those hits are coming live, you have to get the ball out.

That's something that we've seen Joe Burrow over his career, kind of figure out as seasons go on. And figuring that out in the preseason could hopefully lead to some more of that fast start that the Bengals were looking for when the games actually start counting. Yeah. It's so interesting to me. And the idea that the preseason is going to help them get off to a faster start, Joe wants to do it.

He mentioned that when you play in preseason games, the difference between all the joint practice reps is because you can get hit. And see, to me, that's scary. He wants that, and I know it. But, like, to me, I'm like, oh, I don't want Joe getting hit in a meaningless game. That means nothing. Like, when he rolled out on the play I was talking about a few minutes ago,

I could feel people going, like, all right, Joe, just stop. You know how it is, Jake, on the sideline, when it's a weird play like that. You're like, ah, that didn't go the way it's just how it. He also looked good. He looked good moving around today. It looks better moving around today and moving off platform, throwing off platform, then I don't know. It looked good.

He looked good. Oh, well, no doubt. He moves well. I don't mean that. I don't think that's ever a concern. I mean, the best training camp practice I remember him having was a couple of years ago. And then he came out the next day and, you know, I had the cap sleeve on. So it's best practice I remember I'm having, not just camp anytime.

He was so good that day. But I just, I wonder if it's going to make that big of a difference. At the same time, it's exciting because we haven't seen this and they haven't tried it. And Joe clearly wants it. And if Joe wants those reps, great. Give them those reps. How they manage and operate in camp going into preseason game number one is interesting. And then their plan for how many games, how many quarters, how many snaps?

And I'm sure it's probably snaps more than it is quarters, an actual time. How many snaps does Joe get in the first two preseason games? I'd be surprised if you played in the third one. That doesn't really make sense. But that could mean a lot of snaps in the first two preseason games, maybe a full game of football, the first half of each game. It wouldn't shock me because clearly the Bengals want to play him more and get him all systems go for that week one matchup against the Browns.

And I think that's what we're looking for. It wasn't a fast start for the offense, and Joe Burrow made that known in his presser, but the defense had a nice day to start training camp. We'll continue with our discussion here about day one of training camp defense coming out on top. Some reasons for that, as obviously the pads aren't on and how things are different. at the beginning of this training camp coming up next.

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Stay tuned and get started by creating or joining Yahoo Fantasy Football League at Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL. That's Yahoo! fantasy.com slash locked on NFL, and let's make this fantasy season the best one yet. Now, there are reasons that the defense is expected to be a little bit ahead of the offense on day one. One, as Joe Burrow pointed out in his press conference, offense is a timing thing, and they haven't been playing against the live defense. They got some good 11-on-11 work in on Wednesday as things opened up. Two, the way that Zach Taylor runs practices and the defense

knows this, obviously. They're not pushing the ball all over the field on day one. And three, and this is sort of unique to this year, is that you've got a different defense out there. You've got Al Golden's defense as opposed to Louana Ramos' defenses as a first new defensive coordinator that has come along in Joe Burrough's tenure. So perhaps a bit of a different approach from the defense early on.

I read from Charlie Goldsmith, James, that he thought this was the most physical early camp practice he's seen from a Zach Taylor coach team with some some guys going to the ground, some some thumping or some desire for thumping and a generally low practice or low contact practice that you get in day one of training camp. I would agree with that and I thought PJ Jules was the one. He had multiple hits over the middle. There were other guys that got knocked to the ground. Chase Brown got knocked to the ground once.

but but 37 and I'm saying that because I'm not sure how many people have PJ Jules's jersey number on hand he he had a couple knockdowns but yeah it was physical there's no doubt now physical is relative you're just not expecting anyone to really go down but there's one time T. Higgins ended up on the ground and one time like I said Chase Brown I'm trying to think of all the starters but but yeah it was a bit bit it wasn't overboard. It wasn't like guys were bickering or anything like that, but I do think that there were a few guys that clearly wanted to get in on the the thumping action, even though they clearly weren't doing that and aren't at that stage of training camp. So we'll see. I think that's

going to be a teaching point probably because the last thing you want is something to happen in those situations. Yeah. Early in campus, guys are getting their legs under them. So I wouldn't shock me it off. We see a little bit less of that, but it was physical today, no doubt. And the other part, well two parts so one is Joe Burrow talking about the timing aspect of things typically we've seen the offense take a couple days to kind of figure out how it's going to operate in training camp and ideally this happens quicker right all this discussion about fast starts i think this is part of it as well is can they find that footing a little bit faster but a fast start certainly for the defense where cam taylor britt said in the locker room after practice that he felt like they had the energy edge in practice on wednesday i would say from from what i saw from afar That checks out to me. And the other thing, like I said, is they're not pushing them all over the field. They're not running guys deep a ton early in practices as they're acclimating and getting their legs back under them for what will be a very intense month here leading into the season. Yeah.

Month plus. Well, I think that's a big point, too, is you're limiting what they can do or what they're going to do. At the same time, I would agree with the energy level part of it. I also think that that kind of coincides with what Joe had to say about early on. Everybody's been working out on their own. Now you're coming together and getting on the same page. The defense clearly felt like and looked like they knew exactly what they were doing and where they were going, which is great.

It's great. First practice for Al Golden, it looked like everybody was on the same page for the most part, outside of a few plays, I would say. On offense, it's all about the timing. It's all about being in the right spot at the right time and having to do that. And if you're not, and if you're not flying around, what's going to feel like you don't have as much energy because you're thinking, thinking about where to go or how many steps you're taking. So you give it a few days and hopefully those things iron themselves out. But I would agree with that.

I think the energy element, the defense was certainly flying around. Not that the offense didn't have some wins. I think there were wins for sure. I think there were times of the offensive line. I thought played pretty well and kept the defensive line at bay, which you would certainly hope, especially. now without pads on, it's tough to make a ton of a ton of conclusions from the trenches. But defense definitely had the energy edge and they had the big play edge. They made multiple big plays, I thought, whether it was the Gino Stone Blitz and pass

breakup for Warren Berks, Cam Taylor Britt had a few nice ones, like I said. So it was good to see that element of it. Because the last thing you want at this stage, if Joe just carves them up, you're like, all right. And he's going to carve them up in camp at some point. But day one, you want to see the defense have a bit of an edge. I feel like in the last couple of years, it's not like we've seen a ton of Joe dominating practices. And last year, there was no Jamar Chase. And there were days where T. Higgins wasn't a full go or he was only doing part of practice here or there. And so there are reasons for it where you don't have your second and third best offensive players

out there last year at times. But it would be nice to see that back and forth this year. I'll go back to a Charlie Goldsmith right up here. His post-practice right up I enjoyed reading today. So you can check that out. Just give Charlie a little shout out here,

Charlie's chalkboard. He has a Geno Stone quote where he's talking about we have full control over the defense. Everyone's lined up, ready at the snap, and you don't see people just pointing at each other. As in like, this is your responsibility. Like there's more of this conversation and Camp Taylor Britt talked about this at his locker as well, where they know what everyone's doing on the field. It seems like there's more understanding. And we'll see how this plays out as things go on, right? But the things you're hearing players talk about and the secondary are the things that you want to be hearing where you know where your coverage is. You know where your help is. You feel like you have control. You feel like you have agency. You feel like the communication is where it, you know,

should to be, it's not perfect. I think that there's a play that Gino talked about where maybe Josh Newton wasn't exactly sure where he should have been on a particular play. But overall, you're hearing people talk about the right things when they're talking about what's going on on the defense. And there's also a Joe Burrough quote I want to get to as well. After I hear what you have to say about some of these remarks

that is about the secondary that I found encouraging today. but what did you think about the tenor from Gino Stone and Camp Taylor Britt in the locker room there? Yeah, I'm reading the full quote right now that, well, you already gave Charlie Love, but it's everywhere. But the everyone's lined up right at the snap and you don't see people pointing at each other. That literally aligns with what Logan told me at Jungle Jam. And he was like, we have a new voice, we needed it. and then you talk to some guys behind the scenes, and it's like, not only did they need it,

but there were times when all three levels were on from pages last year, which is just, it's, it's believable because you watch the defense, but it's unbelievable on the surface, because how in the hell are you guys that, like, ridiculous. Like, I would much rather be on the same page

and have a simpler defense, but everyone knows what they need to be doing versus this complex defense where everyone's looking around and pointing at each other. And it's believable. that that was the case last year for a lot of the year because of how they played on defense. So someone like Gino, who the Bengals are clearly banking on and we had our questions about, this is, it's pretty noteworthy coming from him.

And he also told me he's excited to blitz a bit more, which I think is interesting. I think Al Golden is going to have one message. And that message is the message. and everyone has to get on board. And that, and whether he gets it right or not, is going to be very simple to follow. And usually if you're doing that,

even if they get beat at times and they're going to, it should bode well, I think, for their chances of being better than they were last year. I will also give you credit, bangles talk.com. You have that full quote. You actually have a little bit more context

around that quote as well. So if you're interested... Quote of the day from Jay. Yeah. If you're interested... it in seeing the full quote there. Jay Morrison has it over at bengals talk.com as well as his three up,

three down. A lot of the Bengals writers do great work at this time of year. Oh, no doubt. I'm not playing favorites or anything. I know you're not. I just, I was reading it on a different,

I was like, oh, this is, what are the odds? Clearly it was a good quote because Charlie picked it and Jay made it his quote of the day. So I was like, oh,

yeah. I wasn't there. I was sleeping at the wheel, apparently. Nice write up on, on the defense. in general from Charlie and Jay did a good job there too. But the quote that stood off from Joe Burrow when he was talking about the secondary

today that I took some heart from was that they were playing their leverage as well. They were sticky in coverage. And there are certain things that we talked about. You can't really evaluate early in camp. Can't really evaluate the trench stuff so well. Even though Miles Murphy, I'm going to shout out when we get to our practice observations in a little bit, you can pay attention to how the corners are handling the star receiver. And if Joe's saying that they were playing well, they were playing the leverage as well, they were disciplined, they weren't busting coverages, they were sticky in coverage.

I think that that is a good place to start on day one. We'll see how it goes. You know, there's a long way to go. I'm not making a mountain out of any of these molehills on day one at training camp. But you would rather hear that than the opposite and have coverage busts all over the place on day one. We'll finish up, James, with more practice observations, takeaways. including guard rotations, linebacker rotations. Plenty more to get to here as the Bengals have kicked off training camp to finish the show coming up next.

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true for Demetrius Knight. That was also true for Barrett Carter. What did you think of the linebacker looks that we saw in the rotation that we saw with all those guys getting in there? Let's use a word that Al in the front office used all offseason long. That aligns with what we heard. They said that they want linebackers to do certain things and they want their secondary to be able to do certain things and they're going to put guys in a position to succeed and in the best spot. And that always made me believe, oh, well, they're, they're open to a rotation. And clearly, they are at least day one. And I like that because I think if you're the Bengals, what you need to be thinking is our defense is going to be greater than the sum of its parts. Together, they're going to just be such a better unit

because everything fits and works. And this is how we're going to do it. And fine, Like it sounds great, but it's really hard to get there. But if you're going to get there, you need to figure out what these guys can do, what they can't do and what they do really, really well and put them in those positions. And the good news is that linebacker especially, I feel like they do have a good amount of varying styles. And a guy like Oren Burks is different than Demetrius Knight, who's different than Barrett Carter.

Obviously, Logan Wilson's running the show. But when you have that, it's one, it's going to give you some real depth and guys you can lean on. Two, it's going to give you a variety, which I think is really important if Al Golden is who the Bengals think he is, because they need him to be a top tier defensive coordinator this season. It just takes me back to the Al Golden quote after the draft when he was talking about the different ways he wanted to use these guys in different roles and how at the time it was a little bit confusing. It was like, well, how are you rotating? Like, what's exactly the plan here? We're starting to see it. We're starting to see

the packages where those guys are going to be out there, the kinds of ways they're going to be used, the three linebacker sets, the two linebacker combinations that we're going to see at different times. And I think that'll be fun to watch evolve throughout training camp, fun to watch in the preseason as we're seeing the starters out there a little bit more. We'll see how they're matching personnel sets with different linebacker groupings or maybe it's just a day one, a training camp thing. And they're just trying to figure out who's doing what early on here and getting guys acclimated to going through football practices again. And speaking of, maybe it's just day one,

I want to make sure we get to the Guard stuff. I want to make sure we get to the defensive end alignments that we saw in the absence of Shamar Stewart and the absence of Trey Hendrickson, who were, of course, discussed and asked about quite a bit throughout various pressers and locker room interviews on Wednesday as well. but at guard, we start out with a Cody Ford Day. At right guard with Lucas Patrick working at Center with the twos. Was that a surprise to you at all, James?

Or what were your thoughts when you saw the guard rotation to start camp? I think I can't wait to see Thursday because what I think is if you want Lucas Patrick to be someone that can play center reliably and be your Ted Karras backup, maybe, but certainly someone that can be comfortable at center. Well, he needs those center reps. And so on days when Cody Ford is getting the guard reps, well, then maybe you do put him at center. Maybe that's the route you go, especially early on in camp.

I don't want to draw too much from it. Is it a little bit of a surprise? Yeah, maybe, but it might just be as simple as all. Well, we know Cody's rolling with the first team today. And so Lucas is going to do it tomorrow. So let's get him some center reps today just so he keeps that knife sharp. He might have went to the coaches and said, hey, can I get the some center reps early in camp here so I can just get into the swing of things

and comfortable because he didn't really do a lot of that during the offseason program, just working with these quarterbacks. It might be that simple. But it is interesting nonetheless because of his position flex versus a guy like Matt Lee, who we talked about it yesterday, Dan pitcher saying, yeah, we kind of view him as a center. And if you're only a center, Lucas Patrick can do a little bit of both. We know Cody Ford is versatile. Interesting when you think about the game day eight.

I'm just saying if you're going to let Lucas Patrick run at center, then let Matt Lee run a guard, man. That's all I know it. But not something the Bengals seemed to be interested. Not going to harp too much on that one. But just an interesting note there that they're starting with Cody Ford at right guard. Obviously, the rookie left guard, Dylan Fairchild out there. I only saw a couple of reps from him, not judging him much without pads on, of course,

but had one rep where it looks like Chris Jenkins locked him out in the run game, had another rep where it looked like he held up nicely. So obviously not judging too much from clips, especially on day one in the trenches. The other note on trenches while we're there is a lot of Miles Murphy at right end, a lot of Joseph O'Sye at left end, and a lot of, it was TJ Slight and Chris Jenkins with the ones at defensive tackle, right? So that was your number ones with BJ Hill not necessarily doing stuff in team work on Wednesday as he's working his way back from the foot issue that he had in the spring and Notre

Hendrickson, No Shamar Stewart. So why that's interesting, a couple things. One, Miles Murphy, if he's working at the right and Osai is working at the left, that suggests that Osai is starting at the left if Trey Hendrickson is back. Or maybe it's Jamar Stewart eventually if he really hits the ground running. But with all the time he's missed, it's hard to pencil him in. a starter in any capacity at this point in time. But Miles Murphy, primarily working where Trey would be, is an interesting note there.

The second reason it's interesting is because I thought Miles had a couple really nice reps today. And again, you can't judge the trenches too much before pads come on, but had one play where he had a very clear hurry on Joe Burrow led to a checkdown. It was such a clear win. And I think Orlando Brown actually fall started on this play too. But it was such a clear win that you hear a coach from the sideline cheering on Miles. There you go, Miles. I was trying to figure out what he was saying for a long time until Joe Goodberry put the caption on it. I thought he was saying, where are you going somebody?

But it was actually, there you go, Miles, because of the clean get-off, wins inside against Orlando Brown there and forces a quick checkdown. Might have been a sack in a real game. Probably Joe gets rid of that in time for the checkdown there. But a couple of nice plays for Miles Murphy there throughout the practice on Wednesday as well. that deserve a little bit of love, even though I know it's before pads come on. Disclaimers abound there. Still matters.

Still matters. It's still important. And I'm going to use that to explain why it's so important that Shamar needs to be in camp. I talk to someone that is on the defensive side of the ball. I'll leave it there because I don't want to out this person. And I was like, man, how important are these reps for Shamar? He was like, you aren't going against Orlando Brown Jr. And Amarius Mims in the SEC.

Like these guys are. different in facing them play in and play out, it's going to make you better. And so I think players, they understand the business side, but it's a unique situation there because it, it sucks because Joseph Osai is maybe ends up being really, really good if he starts this year. But you want that to be a battle, much like you're talking about like a Matt Lee, like getting in the mix to battle. Like you want this, you want to get the best guys out there. and Shamar might be that. He might be their best option at defensive end,

but we're never going to know if he's busy working out in Texas. And so that's where I'm at. And these reps are just really valuable if he's going to develop and be the guy that the Bengals thought he would be. But regardless, speaking of development, I think Miles looks good. I think he looks strong and still really agile, moving well. And so, yeah, hopefully he can put it together.

What would it do for this? team if obviously you have the tray factor but if miles murphy played a significant role in matter this year it would be it would be huge for the bengals they have a lot of questions there and if they can answer half of them maybe they're in an okay place a big a big one is obviously tray continues a hold out not going to spend too much time there you can go listen to the pressers joe burrow expressed some disappointment about it everyone said you wish all your guys were here it's nothing new on that front. I think we're all tired of talking about that.

Last thing for me, James, and then we'll get last thing from you. Last thing for me, a couple of clips of Amarius Mims going against Joseph Osai, and it just doesn't look fair for Osai sometimes. Like if Amarius gets his hands on you, you were just engulfed. And that's always been the case. But it was a nice reminder for me on Wednesday of the potential of Amarius Mims, especially as a past protector, just that size, that length, that strength. Like he gets his hands on you and you're just dead in the water sometimes.

And that showed up a couple times when I was watching. It's funny you mentioned that because I talked to Amarius after practice. And it was the first time I'd seen him in a while and chatted with him. And I was like, hey, man, I saw you firing off the ball on because they did a lot of run plays too. I should have mentioned that probably earlier in the pod. There was a lot of running. Some Joe Burrell under center handed off to Samajai P-Rine. Yeah.

And Chase Brown. But the one I saw was Samasha. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, for sure. And that's awesome. But I noticed Amarius firing off the ball a few times on those run plays. And I was like, oh, like you kind of see like, oh, man, like this guy. He was like, it's the white because he's wearing white.

It's the white. I looked thinner in the white. And I was like, Amaris, I don't think that was it. But you could keep wearing white, my man. But, no, I just like saw him in a stance and firing off. And I was like, man, that dude just could be so, so good. It was just a reminder in 11 on 11 how good he could be. And so hopefully it gets there.

We do wonders for this offense. I think if Amarius Mims takes a huge step forward this year. Very exciting piece. Is there anything else you want to make sure we cover here from practice? Okay, he's shaking his head if you're not watching on YouTube. So that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Two more practices this week. Our current plan is to have coverage for you for both of them, Friday.

will be probably a bit of a shorter episode, but we'll see what developments between now and then. Until next time after Thursday, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, Ho-Day, and have a good one.