Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Have a CLEAR Path Forward to Recoup Assets for Trey Hendrickson

Episode Date: February 1, 2026

Trey Hendrickson's pending free agency really should never arrive - even with the bridge burned, the Cincinnati Bengals should obviously exercise their right to the franchise tag and prepare to tag-and-trade their star pass rusher before free agency. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down why a trade makes so much more sense than trying to play a losing compensatory pick game, especially since they should be active enough in free agency to not qualify for any comp picks in 2027.Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans.Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubJoin 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!TurboTaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today.FanDuelIf you’re a new customer, bet just $5 and get $200 in Bonus Bets if you win. Make it count — because after the Super Bowl, the season is over. Last call for football on FanDuel, an Official Sportsbook Partner of Super Bowl Sixty.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.RobinhoodTrade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin.Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firmIndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/lockedonnfl.GustoTry Gusto today at http://gusto.com/lockedonNFL and get three months free when you run your first payroll.QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away. Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnfl.BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist.  Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON. DripDropRight now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to http://dripdrop.com and use promo code lockedonnfl.  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.

In all likelihood, Trey Hendrickson will not be returning to Cincinnati in 2026, but the Bengals do have some options to work through as they consider what to do with his future. 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 up Bengals fans? And welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day, the number one sports podcast.

Network in the land. He's James Rapine. I'm Jake Lisco, and we've been locked on Bengals since the inception, essentially, of the lockdown podcast network. We go back all the way to 2016, which makes us a very reliable long-term source for you, the Bengals fan, looking for everyday insight and news about your favorite team. The best place to get it anywhere, been doing it for a decade. That's crazy. You're in the right place. Welcome back to the everydayers out there. Welcome back to all of you who make us your first. Listen, today we dive into what the Bengals options are with Trey Hendrickson and what they really ought to do with this situation, this off season. I think there's a pretty clear best path forward given the assumption that that bridge is burned.

And I think that that is the assumption that we start with here in an episode brought to you by GameTime, where in the GameTime app, you can create an account and use code locked down to save $20 on your first purchase of tickets. and James, Trey Hendrickson, pending free agent for the Bengals, the number one free agent for pretty much any source that is ranking free agents. I haven't seen a list yet that doesn't have him as the best available, unrestricted free agent this year. And a lot of times, those guys, this caliber of player, doesn't become available. The caveat, obviously, being that Trey is on the wrong side of 30, but sometimes when players like this are headed to free agency,

some some things can happen that aren't just oh there's a player available in free agency yeah that's right uh look first things first on the bridge being burned i just think that the bengals and tray have tried and tried and tried and they're both dug in and there's just a lot of frustration there and i don't see a scenario a realistic scenario where he's in stripes this year because of the past, because of the age, because of the resources that it's going to take to keep him, because of all of those things.

And so whether it's logically or whether it's looking at the number of games you played this past year, like all those things are going into consideration, the trade request over the past two years, the headache of the past two years. And I mean for both sides, Trey's head hurts thinking about the Bengals. and his agent's head hurts thinking about the Bengals

and the Bengals had certainly hurt thinking about negotiating with Trey. So I think that that part has led them here. And the thing that Trey banked on at the end of August, early September, when he agreed to his one-year raise was, they're not going to tag me. And they could tag him. And I think that's what's interesting here is if the Bengals really wanted to nail this, they could get an asset a year ahead of time and maybe an asset that they wouldn't get and probably shouldn't get if they lose Trey, because you could say, oh, well,

they'll get a compensatory selection. It'll be third or fourth round. No, the hell they better not be getting a compensatory selection if they lose him because they better be so active in free agency that it doesn't matter. Odafe O.A. For example, you sign him, it's going to counteract whatever Trey gets elsewhere and you're not going to get a comp pick realistically for tray. So that's it is do you just let him walk in free agency? Do you tag him and keep him? Is that the best element of this? Well, I just went over why the bridge is probably burned on both sides enough to where he's going to end up elsewhere. Do you tag and trade him? And I think that's the one that you and I both agree would make the most sense because it gets you a guaranteed asset. You could be

proactive in your thinking and you could have it done before free agency opens, before the legal tampering period opens in March. So you know exactly where you're at from a cap space standpoint, a resources standpoint, an asset standpoint, following the deal. The no-brainer move here is during the combine, which is before the franchise tag deadline. Do you have the franchise tag deadline handy?

I will in two seconds. So before that deadline, which is I think March 4th. Early March. Yeah, I was going to say early March. So March 4th, which is right after the combine ends, when all of the GMs of the league are gathered and all the decision makers and owners are gathered in Indianapolis in one place,

you really explore, hey, if we tag tray and try to trade them, try to get them into the NFC, maybe to a division that we don't expect to play for a couple of years, if they really want to be picky. And it might not work out that well. But, you know, ideal world. What would you trade us? for Trey Hendrickson.

And realizing that he's going to turn 32 next year and that he's coming off this injury riddled season, that he only played seven games, only had four sacks, by far the least productive year he's had in Cincinnati, the least productive year he's had since he only started three games in 2019 for the New Orleans Saints. But he's still the same player when he's on the field. You can still see winning in the same way, the underlying data that the new Orleans. the pass rush win rates and the pressure rates, those are all in line with what he's done.

But at 32, coming off an injury, this is where you see careers start to turn in the wrong way for players of this caliber. Because I went and looked at players that had 16 plus sacks at this part of their career historically, and the only examples of players who dropped off and had a steep decline were players that dealt with injuries significantly for the next couple of years.

So that is a real consideration. That is a thing that's out there. And when we talk about some of the recent franchise tag and trade examples out there, why the Bengals might not get as much as some of these other teams got for their younger franchise tag and trade scenarios. But the reason is such a no-brainer is, as you alluded to earlier, Jane, the way compensatory picks work is that if you sign more qualified free agents, unrestricted free agents, then you lose. And you have to lose them for a certain amount of money.

Trey Hendrickson, if they signed no free agents this year, Trey Hendrickson would get them a compensatory pick in 2027. But I won't see anyone else on the list of Bengals free agents that's going to command a huge amount of money here. Danfaila Britt might get a decent deal. Joseph O'Sai might get a decent deal. That's probably it, Noah Phant might get a decent deal somewhere. Like those guys might qualify for compensatory picks, period, if they sign elsewhere.

But that means that you can't sign more than four free agents who qualify for the compensatory formula, which most free agents do. Most real free agents certainly do. If you're cut, you don't count. So if they only sign guys to get cut by other teams, that's one way you can do it. But is that a game you really want to play in a free agency where we've talked about the need for them to be active and the very clear needs? on one side of the ball. And further than that, you're then delaying that asset until 2027 and it's a later pick potentially, then you could get if someone offered you a third round pick because

compensatory picks start after all the regular picks in the third round. So just wanted to kind of rehash for people out there who maybe didn't know how compensatory picks worked, why that path is very unlikely to yield an asset for the Bengals. It's stupid. I'll say it. It's stupid. If the Bengals are thinking about a comp pick for Trey Hendrickson. Even if you were to get the pick, it's not the best path. It, they better not be able to get a pick. Like they better not, we better not be sitting here in April saying they've signed

four free agents. Less that will, that will be unacceptable. Period. Sorry. Standards really high right now. And, uh, that, that's unacceptable. Look, I, I think it's, it's, it's, It's foolish to bank on a comp pick in any year.

The Jesse Bates year, Orlando Brown Jr. Call, say, I'd love to block for Joe Burrow. Completely changes it. Now you get nothing for Jesse. Right? I get it. They were in a contention window. You keep Jesse, all of those things.

You obviously should have resigned Jesse. This situation's different. If you're losing Trey Hendrickson, get an asset for him. I get why you didn't move him at the deadline. You thought you were still in it. You knew Joe Burrow was coming back. It's hard to move off of them for a third or fourth round pick or whatever you were going to get fine.

Feels much different today than it did then. And so be proactive and find a way to get a deal done. How realistic is it? A tag and trade. Well, you already mentioned the combine. That's a key piece of it. Let's dive into that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Prize Picks.

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Jake, you talk about leveling up with drip drop. The Bengals could level up probably by being more hydrated during this offseason so they can multitask this off season. But this seems like really a no-brainer. Depending on where you look and depending on where the cap actually lands, they'll be in the 55-ish million dollar range for cap space. the franchise tag would cost them a little over $30 million in cash for Trey if they had to pay. And it's like $36 million cap hit.

And so on paper, they're going to say, why in the hell would we spend all that cap space on Trey? If we don't plan on keeping Trey, why would we risk that? And it's not a risk. If you're at the Combine and you're working it there, you're getting the deal done there. A lot of deals happen at the combine or nearly come to fruition at the combine. and this could be the exact same thing. You've already given Trey Hendrickson permission to seek a trade in the past. You know, like that's already happened.

So he had his agent negotiate certain deals with other teams, had an idea of what contract he would get a year ago at this time, a little less than a year ago. So like, do the same thing with the understanding, and you're going to have to find the right deal. But the right deal could be a third or a fourth round pick. Whatever it is, it's better. than letting Trey walk and hoping for a compensatory pick

or just ignoring the fact about the compensatory selection. And here's the other thing, getting an extra pick in this year's draft would be huge for this team. It would be huge for this team because you're probably talking about a third round or fourth rounder in that range. Like I'm willing to take a fourth rounder because it's better than the alternative. Yeah, we can talk about where compensation has generally been

what the Bengals could expect. I would take literally anything because if they don't take anything, I mean, they just get nothing. And you might have some control over where he goes to as a little. Within reason, of course, with anything. I'm not tagging him if you're only getting seventh round pick offers, but that won't be the case, by the way. I mean, let's say hypothetically where like even if that's all you got, if you managed to pull that trade off before free agency opens, that's it's that versus not literally nothing sure like that's the alternative right like no doubt i'm not saying they should settle for a seventh down pick i'm just saying like a team will offer a

mid-rounder because they won't want to risk him going to free agency and signing elsewhere and there's value in that yeah i think so but the alternative is nothing i just want to be clear about that the alternative is not a cop pick it shouldn't well maybe it is like in reality maybe it is that would be better not be yeah As we've said, unless something like unexpected were to happen, like they go trade for Jeffrey Simmons or something like that. And they decide that they don't need to go spend huge money in free agency because they've done this with the trade. Instead, like there is a world. But like that's like so far from reality.

Fantasy land. Yes. Yeah. Like we're in another universe. There's another family that owns Bengals. You know, the Mike Brown succession from Paul Brown has gone differently in that universe. But relax there, Nick Lechay. Let's show.

The history for the Bengals with tag and trades is sparse. Go back to Dan Wilkinson. The Bengals applied the franchise tag to Dan Wilkinson on February 11, 1998. I think they traded him two weeks later on February 28th. And so that's all I can find February 27th. Sorry, they traded him in 1998 according to the LA Times or maybe 26th. But within a couple of weeks, and that's around the combine time frame. I think an earlier window there to tag, to apply the tag in 1998 than we get this year.

But that's the only time the Bengals have done it. Dan Wilkinson was the number one overall pick. They got a first and third back for him. He was just 25 years old the season after they traded him. He'd average something like six sacks per year for them in his first four years. he wasn't happy that he got tagged and the Bengals, the Bengals moved on. A little bit different with Trey coming off his age 31 season,

coming off the injury riddled season. But like you said, if you get a fourth round pick offer, that is honestly a no-brainer. Like you can take this thing all the way out to the tampering period if you're the Bengals, right, that the legal negotiating window. But as soon as that legal negotiating window hits,

just take the best offer you got. Wait, here's the, other thing that the Bengals can do. And it's not like you just tag him and you're screwed. Let's say you get a deal done. O'Dafé O'A. Right? Adafé O'A and Boe-Mafé and insert whoever. Like all these dudes just want to join the Bengals and play with Joe Burrow.

And what are we going to do with this cap space? We don't have the cap space. We're sending the tag. You can rescind the tag. That's it. Like you could do that. So like, they're not. if he doesn't sign it. I'm pretty sure he has to sign it. And he's not going to rush to sign that thing.

So I would have to look exactly. But even so, like if you get word on the street, like it comes back and you're not going to get whatever you want for him. And it's a seventh rounder and you just don't want your, your cap space tied up. And just whatever. The disaster scenario, you rescind the tag and your cap space is back. A very quick Google suggests that a franchise tag can be rescinded anytime. I'm pretty sure it can't. The tag isn't signed. So Trey would have to sign it, which obviously he wouldn't do right away. No, no, he would not.

He would not be happy if he gets tagged. Yeah. So teams can rescind franchise tag offers as long as tags remain unsigned. So a potential option, I do think the Bengals will probably think they are playing with fire, right? Like they're probably thinking, man, what if the Brown's fax machine breaks again?

What if, what if Trey signs the tag and we can't resent, Like, these are probably things that they're scared of because I think they're scared of a gust of wind. Don't let him sign it. Like, get the deal done before the tamper, you know what I mean? Like, you just have the deal in place. He's not going to rush. Yeah, he's not going to rush to sign it.

I'm just saying that was his strategy. Like, if that was his strategy, be like, all right, well, we're sending you to Denver or whoever wants you. I'm just saying he, they, the front office is scared to go sometimes. the way they do things. I wouldn't be surprised now he's in the Super Bowl. In reality, though, this shouldn't be

rocket science to figure out. Tag and trades happen in the NFL. They don't happen to a ton, but they happen when you have good players that are heading to free agency. Paul Dana Jr. did a good job recently of going through recent tag and trade history.

Legerius Sneed and Brian Burns, both in 2024. Sneed got a 66 overall pickback from the Tennessee Titans and Brian Burns fetched a 39 and 140 return from the New York Giants. So I wouldn't necessarily expect either of those, but like a third or fourth round pick should be very reasonable. Jadavion Clowny, he was much younger at the time, but got a 91 overall pick and two players

back for the Houston Texans in 2019. Frank Clark, who was much younger at the time, got a first and early third, no, late second round pick in 2000. 2019, D. Ford going all the way back to 2019. Again, the chiefs have done this twice. He was 28 at the time, got 63 back. So plenty of history there, but those players all in their 20s. So I wouldn't necessarily expect that level of return if the Bengals go this route.

And they should go this route. They could benefit from another pick in this year's draft, certainly. And I think it just makes an abundant amount of sense. It's extremely obvious. And so that is a path that. That makes sense to me, James. Yep. And don't try to tell us that he has no value.

There's a team that will not want him. Joe Mixon was cut and the Texans opted to trade for him because they didn't want him to test the market to go elsewhere because he could have probably ended up elsewhere. And instead he got to Houston because they traded for him. Like Joe Mixon, after the team announced, not the team, but the reports were that they were cutting him. Like there's value with the guy who was second and defensive player of the year voting

and was really good when he was still out there from a sack production standpoint. Like, you'll be able to get something. Don't try to lie to us and say he doesn't have value. I mean, we'd be talking about keeping him if we thought that that bridge wasn't burnt. Sure. No doubt. But it is. Correct.

It is. This is not salvageable where Joe Burroughs going to fly in and say, T, Tray is it neat. Like, it's just different. It's different than T. Just this. Yep. And it feels like it's ending.

And so if it's going to end, fine. He can go get paid. but you control it like that's it you put yourself in the spot fine now maximize it james what are we doing next here up next well we we got to highlight some key pieces of uh of the the bengals coaching staff and just a really cool thing that uh that happened so we'll get to that coming up next this episode is locked on bangles is sponsored by quo new year new systems, the time of year when you look at the messier parts of how your business is running and you think there has to be a better way. Well, there is if you need to streamline your communications.

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use code locked on for $20 off your purchase. Again, that's code L-O-C-E-D-O-N, locked-on for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. And remember, it's GameTime.com. All right, Jake. Let's dive into something that I think was just a really cool gesture. And I messed up the tease there because I don't know exactly how to put it. I thanked him probably five times yesterday.

But for those that aren't aware, Jay Morrison's wife, Nikki passed away last month. Her celebration of life was Saturday night. And Zach Taylor, and we're talking about hundreds of people, buffet, reception, celebrating her the way she's. She wanted to be celebrated and it was a great night and it was a great way to to celebrate her. And Jay talked and had a great speech. Her brother-in-law talked, both of her children talked like it was just, it was an awesome night. Well, Zach Taylor, only did he show up. Zach Taylor and his wife Sarah show up.

Darren Simmons, the Bengals Special Teams coordinator shows up. Zach and former Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan paid for the whole thing. And so I hadn't seen Zach since finding out that that was going to be the case. I found out a few weeks ago. And I just, I know how much it meant to them. And so I want to highlight this because there's plenty of times where we're going to highlight the good and the bad and this thing and that thing about Zach or when Brian was here. heck, if pitcher leaves, Brian comes back, we do that and people react and do all of those things that come with it and we'll see where Brian lands.

But I just think it's cool to highlight it and recognize that, hey, Jay, who's covered the Bengals for a long time is a prominent media member. There's no reason. Like, there's, like, Zach didn't have to do that. And Brian, sure is hell, didn't have to do that. And so for them to be as proactive as they were to make sure that the. it was at a hotel in downtown Hamilton, make sure that like Zach called the front desk,

like, hey, this is the credit card to use. That's it. And for him to do that, I just wanted to highlight that and give them their due. They're not, they didn't do it for that. But I just, I figured why shouldn't Bengals fans know the human side

of Zach Taylor and Brian Callahan going out of their way to doing something really special for the entire Morrison family? Yeah, not really football. to this sort of thing. Not the normal topic that we're covering here on lockdown Bengals, but sometimes it's important to remember that these people are humans, they're good humans at that. This is not something that I think happens in a lot of cities around the NFL, and I think it speaks to the kind of person that Zach is. Not that I think most people out there have any questions about the kind of person, Zach Taylor, is the kind of person Brian Callahan is,

And those guys have at times in their careers when Brian was with the Bengals and certainly Zach over his career have been generous with their time with us in the past on this podcast when they have had that time to spare. And this is obviously a huge step beyond that. And that sort of thing deserves the recognition. It's one of those things that sometimes when you look around in the world and things aren't going the way you want them to be, it's important to. remember that there are a lot of individuals out there that are doing good things on a local

level, on a community level, and all over the place. There's a whole lot of good happening too. Yeah. I got to talk. I mean, honestly, it was the first time I had talked with Zach, one on one on my wife and I was talking, talked with him and his wife, so two on two, whatever you want to say, but in that kind of setting in a long time. And just to talk about life and family and those things. So I think that that's, it was good. But it was just awesome of them to do that. And I think he probably got sick. I said thank you probably five times in like a eight minute span, maybe 10 minutes.

I don't know. Well, however long we talked. Is that a PR? It's got probably close, right? And it's not like, I just knew. I see I'm on the other side of, I know how stressful. Yeah. The past month and a half has been for Jay and his family, just getting everything.

ready. And so to not have that stressor of thinking about cost and what you should do or not do for this the celebration of life and to just do it, I think is it to just be able to do it the way you would hope. And probably it gets done one way or another, but this way you don't have to stress or think about that element of it. I think that's just a huge, huge gesture by a good dude, I've said that plenty of times on this spot. I think Zach is a good human being, obviously Brian as well. I'm not trying to leave him out. I think that's wild too.

I mean, he's not back here. He's probably not going to be back in Cincinnati this year. And so for that to, for them to do that, I just think it's really, really cool. I agree. Definitely worth highlighting. Last note here, James, a little bit of news happened. I saw it. That's why I screwed up the T.

too I was like should we pivot and talk about the the new assistant coach well don't know much about him yet so yeah this is something that we can talk about about it probably yeah we'll probably cover this another day this week in in further depth but the Bengals are hiring a coach and this is something that we wondered if they would do when Zach said that the coaching staff would remain the same I was curious if they were going to add anybody they did add an assistant wide receivers coach so not necessarily where like I would have prioritized at the top but something that we can dig into more Davis Cutter son of former NFL

coach dirt cutter joining the Bengals as assistant wide receivers coach he had been at uh texas for a couple years in south carolina as an analyst i see him listed as an assistant quarterbacks coach at the university of south carolina as well played wide receiver at boise state and had 70 catches for over 1100 yards and 12 touchdowns including a big year in 2019 his best year 626 yards and eight touchdowns that year and he will be joining the bengals as an assistant wide receivers coach. Yeah. So at least one change here for the Bengals coaching staff

at the assistant position coach level, which is really what I was looking for them to make a couple hires in that area this year. So we'll see what other changes might shake loose here. But you just want to get that pipeline going if you do lose. Troy, you know, Troy Walters goes elsewhere. And we can hit on it more. But no, I think that that's an interesting hire.

Dirt cutter obviously really well known. And a lot of people are going to know him in the, coaching ranks or if you've covered the NFL or listen to the pod. We've mentioned Derek Cutter's name in the past. We'll dig into that. Certainly more this week. We will very likely have a Senior Bowl in review show for you this week, working on a guest, at least one in that capacity.

And plenty of good covers that came out around the Senior Bowl, some interesting player names that you learn. Some big names, some big guys. Oh, yeah. Some good route runners. We'll get some. Okay. All right.

We're going to wrap up there, Trenchman. We're going to wrap up there here on the Lockdown Bengals podcast. That's going to do it. Until next time, thanks for listening. Ho day. And have a good one.