Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals keeping GM candidate Trey Brown in the front office, but could benefit from preparing for his potential departure

Starting point is 00:00:00 Since the Cincinnati Bengals hired Al Golden, we've got updates on Trey Brown's GM candidacy in New York and some more details about the coaching staff. 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 Locked on Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Lisco. He's your host, James Rapine, and we are locked on. Bengals on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Part of the lockdown podcast that we're covering your team every day. Today we're going to dive into what's been going on with the Bengals since Al Golden became their next defensive coordinator updates on Trey Brown, some of the defensive coaching staff hires or retentions in some cases. And there's a lot to catch up on James. We haven't talked for a few days. They hit us with the news late on Wednesday, was it? And so we did a double recording that day, and now we're back with the people.

Starting point is 00:01:09 This episode brought to you by Fandall Super Bowl right around the corner, just a couple weeks away. And with your $5 bet with Fandul, if you win, you'll get $200 in bonus bets at Fandul.com. And let's get started with Trey Brown News, James. There was a lot of chatter, at least in my replies on social media, when retweeting or following the Trey Brown, Jets, GM, candidacy that was actually a little disappointed that he didn't get the job.

Starting point is 00:01:40 And there's two sides to it, obviously, but the Bengals in line for a couple of cop picks when and if Trey Brown does get a general manager job, which feels inevitable to me. It seems like it is coming and his time will arrive. But he will stay in Cincinnati, at least for now. I guess there is still technically one GM job open. But as of now, the job he was a finalist for went a different direction. Yeah, they didn't hire Trey Brown to New York. And I think that there were a lot of people around the league that thought he would get that job.

Starting point is 00:02:15 And I think people within the Bengals organization that were kind of preparing themselves that he was going to get it. And so he was one of three candidates, I believe, to interview twice. But this was a search that was reported as over. And Trey Brown wasn't getting the job on Friday, according to Josine Anderson. And then it went into Friday night and into Saturday. And then finally it came to a resolution. But yeah, I think it's twofold because Trey Brown is obviously not part of the Brown family for those that don't know. And I get why you would think that potentially.

Starting point is 00:02:54 And so having that outside voice in the front office, having someone that isn't one of the head scouts, Right. And whether it's Steve Redisovich or Mike Potts, two guys that have both been on this show, Troy Brown has also been on this show. I think there's value, especially in this front office where we know that they're not going to have the biggest scouting department in the league. That's just never going to be the case with the Cincinnati Bengals. And so having a guy like Tray Brown, I think does help. It does help Duke Tobin. It does help in free agency. It does help give a different perspective. And at the same time, I think people saw it and said, man, a third round compick this year and a third round compick next year. that would be nice.

Starting point is 00:03:33 And so the back and forth there, I'm not sure if one is far superior than the other. I will say this, if the Bengals have a huge, awesome, amazing off season, and Trey Brown's a big part of that, then I'd much rather have Trey Brown than a couple comps. But I also get the other side of it for sure.

Starting point is 00:03:54 And so we'll see how valuable he is and what is, we're probably going to say this every year the Joe Burrow era until they win a Super Bowl, but the most important offseason that I can remember. I think it's not necessarily until they win a Super Bowl. It's until they are in a place where they're not desperate for players at so many positions. Like last year and this year, they had so many important decisions to make it so many different decisions or so many different spots, but we don't need to get too far down that rabbit hole today. It's going to feel that way,

Starting point is 00:04:25 I think, whenever there are critical decisions to make. And if Trey Brown, is in demand for GM jobs year after year. Some people are asking why. Like, what are the Bengals done when Tray Brown has been in Cincinnati? They've drafted poorly. They've missed on a couple of free agent classes recently. Like, why do people want this guy to be a GM? And it's more than just what the Cincinnati front office has done or what's happened

Starting point is 00:04:52 with those players. He goes back and he's been to a Super Bowl with three different teams while in the front office going back to New England. He did it in Philadelphia. He did it with the Bengals. He was part of the front offices and went to Super Bowls with each of those teams. And that's attractive, I think, on one hand. He has experienced working with Howie Roseman. He has experience working with Bill Belichick in building championship level rosters in New England and in Philadelphia and in Cincinnati when they went to the Super Bowl. Then they went to an AFC championship game. So that part of his resume, I think is impressive to other teams.

Starting point is 00:05:30 And when you have a guy like that in your front office and the role that he's in, I think that we should probably see that as a pretty valuable piece of the front office. Even if we don't know exactly what the division of labor is, we know that the Bengals have a small department. And I think that's another point to talk about. But I think, given his popularity on interview circuits the last couple of years, and like I said, the inevitability for him to get that big job, job that feels like it surrounds him should probably see that as an asset for the Bengals front

Starting point is 00:06:04 office. And when you're comparing two third round cop picks versus this guy who's a really hot GM candidate, should probably be seen as something of a positive that they kept him. On the other hand, if you're the Bengals and you see this coming, and now you should certainly see this coming, especially after this year, you should build some redundancy. around that position. Maybe they feel like they have it, but as far as I know,

Starting point is 00:06:30 they haven't hired any additional personnel department executes or whatever to kind of backfill for whatever position. Maybe they promote one of the head scouts to that position. But then you need somebody to step into the head scout position. So like, again, we're talking about expanding the scouting staff, right,

Starting point is 00:06:50 especially at the top end, like have the guys ready to ascend. So you're not caught in January, losing a key piece of your front office when you're about to have to get through the entire offseason process. Yeah, with no backup plan. Right. And it's it's one of those things like we've talked a lot about the search, the defensive coordinator search. Well, Zach Taylor has had to sweat out Luana Rumo possibly leaving for a couple of years, right, and thought that, ah, well, he's definitely going to get that Arizona Cardinals coaching job. You've got to have a backup plan in

Starting point is 00:07:22 place. And I think Al Golden was probably that plan even way back then. and have that, whatever it is. And maybe it isn't in-house. Maybe that person, that candidate that you want to hire is happy with their job and is only going to take a promotion and all of those things. So you can't necessarily hire them now. But to your point, have the plan, and it's not going to hurt to add another body in that room, in that front office, in that scouting staff.

Starting point is 00:07:49 If it is a scout, if it is someone, because you're right, they may elevate a mic pops or Steve or Dissavich and go that route. I wonder, I don't know in the pecking order how that is. Like Steve handles a lot of the pro stuff, as we know. And Mike obviously handles a lot of the draft stuff. And so it's like, all right, well, is the Trey Brown role something they want? Or is their next step GM anyway? I don't know.

Starting point is 00:08:18 I don't know exactly how all of that is and the exact structure behind the scenes. The point is, in your point, and I think a lot of people will feel this way, it wouldn't hurt to have another body and have another NFL expert in that room to help with everything that comes along with being an NFL franchise and getting it right in not just this offseason but every off season. So I ultimately agree with you. I think Trey Brown probably at one point this week thought he was getting that job and would have been ecstatic to get it. But I do also think that given the interest that he's commanded over the past couple of years, given how NFL how the league views him. It's just a matter of when he becomes a GM in this league.

Starting point is 00:09:01 Yeah. I wonder if they, like I said, have a succession plan for like a Christian Sarkesian or Andrew Johnson, who are the other two scouts listed on the Bengals front office roster to round out their six-person personnel department with four senior executives and a couple of scouts. How many? I wonder six total. You'd be losing one sixth of your personnel department. And I get it.

Starting point is 00:09:32 That happens. Like guys go and become GMs elsewhere. It happens to good teams. It will eventually apparently happen with trade. Unless the Bengals promote them. Maybe Duke's going to, I don't know, no sign of that coming, but that would be another path. What are you doing? I like that here.

Starting point is 00:09:48 There's a guy. The Bengals love promoting their own people. I'm not saying that. I just, people are going to say, yeah, get Duke out of. You know how social media is. They're going to get him out of here. People want change for the sake of change sometimes. Sometimes.

Starting point is 00:10:06 Not that they're totally wrong. I'm sure there's a Duke conversation we can have at some point. For sure. But we do have to talk about a guy that is staying, even though Duke is probably staying too. There's a cornerbacks coach that is staying as Zach Taylor's coaching staff continues to take shape on the defensive side of the ball. We'll get to that coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:11:35 I think you reported this from Lou Anarimo in retaining Charles Berks, bringing him with him to Indianapolis. But, well, you can tell this story. This is your news. You reported this. He ends up staying in Cincinnati. Yeah. Charles Berks had interest across the league.

Starting point is 00:11:54 But Indy certainly was interested. I think there were multiple other teams interested. The Bengals keep him. His contract was up, which I didn't realize. And so it was one of those things where from the jump, the Bengals wanted to keep him. And early on, I think before Al Golden was officially announced all of those things, made that clear. He met with Al Golden last week. Things went great.

Starting point is 00:12:21 And Charles is back. and it goes by Chuck, of course. But yeah, I think another one of those things where I think on the surface, people are going to say, man, the cornerback stunk last year. Why would you bring him back? One, I'll say this,

Starting point is 00:12:36 it was a priority for the Bengals, really from the jump. Al Golden really wanted to keep him. And two, I think he had multiple opportunities and maybe even more with the coaching cycle still continuing in the weirdness since he made that decision, whether it's the Dallas Cowboys, the Raiders, you know,

Starting point is 00:12:58 there are some teams out there that I think would have been interested to. So a really good get, I think, in what the Bengals need is a cornerbacks coach that is going to get the most out of the guys in that room because they've invested a lot in that room as far as draft capital goes. And it's not like we look at the cornerbacks and say, oh, well, that's one of the best position groups on the team. It doesn't feel that way right now. And so big job for Chuck, big job for the Bengals to get that room headed in the right direction. Yeah, and hopefully that is the right decision, of course. Positional coach is only part of the puzzle there. You look at the cornerbacks

Starting point is 00:13:39 on the hole and you think, well, they don't feel great at that spot, despite all the draft capital invested there, but you do still have two second round corners and a first round corner to work with, or well, I guess corner now. First round defensive back at the time. Corner now. And in Dax Hill, DJ Turner and Camp Taylor Britt, and you got something pretty productive out of Josh Newton as a rookie for a mid-round pick. I think that everyone can look at that, or late-round pick. Everyone can look at the Josh Newton selection and say, they got something there that can be a serviceable part of this team for that rookie deal.

Starting point is 00:14:14 You got a deal potentially with the transition out of the Mike Hilton era and figure out who are your starters going forward because it does. feel like we're on our way out of the Mike Hilton era in Cincinnati, probably a bit more of a conversation that we could have around Mike Hilton's name. That's just the general feeling at the time. But there was some development for DJ Turner from year one to year two. I think everybody that watched him would agree with that. Dax Hill was more than a viable corner option in this transition.

Starting point is 00:14:49 And we didn't get to see a full season from him. Cam Taylor Britt certainly had his ups and downs this year, but for the most part, he bounced back from what was a terrible middle part of the season to kind of finish with an overall performance that we've seen from him before, got through the entire season playing 350, 400 more snaps than 2023.

Starting point is 00:15:13 And they got to get him back on track, obviously. But it wasn't all bad. if you're lumping burks into defense bad coverage bad corners bad cam Taylor Britt bad I think that's ignoring some of the good things that we saw

Starting point is 00:15:33 last year in terms of development from these corners as well yeah I totally agree the more I think about it the Dax Hill element of this and Dax deserves a ton of credit and people know I've been bullish on Dax from the jump

Starting point is 00:15:48 I think that there might be one person in that building more bullish on Dax than me, and it's Chuck Brooks. The believer in Dax Hill. And so to see that switch, that Lightbub, go on the first preseason game, and he just takes off and leaves DJ Turner, who's probably the fastest guy on the team in the dust, one of the fastest guys on the team. It's a testament to L.O. involved, but certainly Chuck deserves a ton of praise for that. And I was thinking about one of Dax's, and I forget which game, the season is such a blur. But Dax had a really good game early on, obviously before his injury at cornerback, made some big plays. And it was part of why they won. So you think about it.

Starting point is 00:16:42 I mean, the wins were far, few and far between. There's one game that. It could be. What? Was it Carolina? Yeah, there was one game it could be if Dax played in it and they won. Maybe it was a preseason. Maybe it was preseason then when he was still ascending.

Starting point is 00:16:56 But it had to have been because Carolina was on the road. So he made some plays in one of these preseason games. And Chuck came by and you could just see how proud and happy he was that Dax had was starting to figure it out. That would align because you didn't know if Dax was going to start. start or not. And that's what you need. You need a coach that can get can maximize Dax, that can maximize DJ Turner, that can get the most out of a Josh Newton who clearly has the want to and the desire and the work ethic and they they handle business the right way. Like a lot of these guys do that. So how do you get the most out of them? You have to have the right,

Starting point is 00:17:38 the right coach. And much like you said with Trey Brown with the interest across the league, I can only say so much there. I don't even know. Anyways, yeah, I can only say so much there, but there was a lot of interest in him. And he was, there's not a scenario where he was not going to be a cornerbacks coach this year in the NFL. There's not one.

Starting point is 00:17:56 So clearly he's held in high regard. And hopefully, like you said, it's the right decision. And hopefully they give him a bit more to work with, whether it's in free agency or the draft. I think they're probably going to add APs to that cornerback room. That doesn't mean five. but a piece. And whether that's in free agency,

Starting point is 00:18:15 whether that's an early pick, I'm not sure. But certainly one of the many questions, I would say, about this defense going into the off-season. Yeah, much more so because of the way DAC season ended, the injury that he'll be returning from. If we didn't have that to talk about, then we wouldn't probably be talking as much about an investment at Corner

Starting point is 00:18:36 because you'd have four young guys that are your top four in the rotation, and it would be filling out the back end up doing. If Dax is recovering really well, we don't know the answer to that question yet. James, you're probably thinking of that first preseason game against Tampa. When Dax was targeted four times, he had three pass breaks, according to PFF charting, he threw in a stop, a defensive stop, in addition to those three-pass breakups. So on 33 snaps, giving up one catch for 28 yards with three-pass breakups, is a pretty good day when you're getting that much productive.

Starting point is 00:19:09 That was probably it. Especially because he was the backup going into that game. DJ Turner was ahead of him. So it was probably that game. Good call. He played 33 snaps in that game. DJ Turner played 11 in the first preseason game. And then after that,

Starting point is 00:19:24 they tried to continue the competition. And both guys started in week two and played six snaps each. And that was it for them in week two. But at that point, it did feel like it was kind of decided. So coach kept there. And we're still waiting for some of the rest of the defensive staff to come into shape. And we know a little bit more about Jerry Montgomery, who the Bengals will be bringing in to coach the defensive line in part in hole. Based on his track record, I wonder if there is a pass rush specialist coming along as well.

Starting point is 00:19:59 We'll see. We'll talk about that a little bit. So we'll finish the show with a few more notes on Jerry Montgomery coming up next. Super Bowl 59 is almost here. One game, two teams, endless possibilities. And as we record, this championship Sunday hasn't kicked off yet. But whether it's Championship Sunday, whether it's Super Bowl 59, you can get in on all the action with Fandall because Fandall is going to have all of the different options that you need. And they're going to make it as convenient as possible.

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Starting point is 00:21:04 So download the app or head to fandle.com to get $1.com to get started, bet just $5. And if you win, you'll score 200 bucks in bonus bets. That's fandle.com. Bet with fandle, official partner of Super Bowl 59. James, a bit of additional information that we've learned about Jerry Montgomery since we first learned about the hire is that he actually spent more time with defensive tackles than anyone else when he was in Green Bay, which is a lion's share of his NFL coaching experience.

Starting point is 00:21:34 Green Bay did eventually actually bring in a pass rush specialist to work with their edge rushers a little bit more. And it's unclear to me how much Montgomery actually worked with guys like Rishon Gary, who was the primary, or one of the primary pieces of conversation that we had around the higher when we first talked about it. And we had some initial reactions, thinking about the Rishon Gary Miles Murphy comparison, thinking about rebuilding a defensive line that is going to need two defensive tackles, at least, if not three, need a couple of edge guys, at least, if not more. And you've got Trey Hendrickson, and you've got a couple of young guys on the interior,

Starting point is 00:22:15 and you've got Miles Murphy, and you've got a bunch of questions on that defensive line right now. And so that is Jerry Montgomery's job. Kenny Clark, I was told by Peter Bukowski, who does Lockdown Packers, absolutely loved Jerry Montgomery, and those guys certainly are tied together from a development perspective and Kenny Clark becoming the force that he became in the NFL. Of course, Mike Daniels, former Bengal has a connection with Jerry Montgomery as well. But I do wonder if there's a pass-ref specialist coming, but a big part of this rebuild for this Bengals' defensive line is, one, getting perhaps starter-level play from your

Starting point is 00:22:57 second and third-round draft picks in 2024 or finding pieces to complement those guys because as we know, the defensive tackle room is a rotational room. Yeah, it's that to me, this to me is the biggest question. And it makes sense that you bring in a fresh face of that room. And you have to find a way to get more pressure. Part of why the corners were so bad last year at times, it's because you just can't get pressure. And that's a tough spot to put any secondary in.

Starting point is 00:23:29 So they have to figure that out. They have to be able to develop. because there's this idea that, oh, well, they take the best defensive linemen at 17. And it's like, nah, I don't know. Like, yeah, it seems like it's a pretty deep defensive tackle class. It doesn't mean, and you're going to see a lot of mocks that they do that, but that's not the only spot they're going to look at.

Starting point is 00:23:51 And obviously, you know that. And so Jerry Montgomery, whether he gets his first round piece or not, has to maximize what they have and get the most out. of it. And I do think Chris Jenkins, Jr., is going to be a good NFL player, but he's got to get there, and he needs people to, coaches, to help him. I think he has the want to. I think McKinley Jackson did flash a little bit and might be a real piece here, but it has to continue. And obviously they have to add more pieces. I'm not saying, go bank on both of these guys going into year two and some development and thinking like that's it. But what you do have, you're, you're

Starting point is 00:24:31 not starting, the company isn't just completely bare. You need someone that's going to get the most out of these guys. And when you're talking about a first rounder in Miles Murphy, a second rounder a Chris Jenkins Jr., a third rounder in McKinley Jackson, clearly they saw something in all three of those guys. You need those guys to be key pieces this season. Not at some point, not down the line. All three of those guys need to be contributors this season. And that's in key contributors. And that's what Jerry Montgomery is tasked with. And who knows, maybe they add another piece in that defensive line room, wouldn't be, from a coaching standpoint,

Starting point is 00:25:07 wouldn't be mad about that at all if they do. Maybe I'll go and bring someone from Notre Dame, wouldn't be shocked by that, right? But regardless of who it is, it doesn't matter. You got to get the most out of the guys that you already have. Got to find another BJ Hill trade, perhaps, and maybe they're drafting, maybe they're drafting a guy. It doesn't seem, I think it is just a straight up strong defensive,

Starting point is 00:25:29 tackle class, especially early. I think you're going to see multiple defensive tackles picked in the first round, certainly the first two rounds this year. Compared to last year when we're talking about nose tackles, we're like, yeah, there's a bunch of guys you can pick in the sixth round. And they're probably roughly equal in terms of where you would hold them in a steam. You just pick your favorite flavor. But they're all the same kind of snack at that point.

Starting point is 00:25:54 Six rounds snack. You got a little food for me? Me too. I am very curious, though, because BJ Hill, by far their best interior player last year. Also played the most snaps on the defensive interior for them last year, despite dealing with some injuries, because everybody dealt with some injuries. McKinley Jackson started the year on IR. Chris Jenkins had the thumb. So a huge amount of snaps to replace on the defensive line.

Starting point is 00:26:22 Two veterans to replace. They did not get what they were hoping for from Sheldon Rankins, obviously. And so even if you're hoping for Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson to be viable pieces, starters level players, whatever it is, you still need something to supplement. You can't, cannot, 100%, cannot go into next season thinking, oh yeah, Jerry Montgomery is an awesome coach. He's going to turn Chris Jenkins into BJ Hill and McKinley Jackson into DJ Reader and everything will be fine. You can just get some young guys to supplement that.

Starting point is 00:26:51 No, that's not how it's going to work. I mean, if it does, awesome. But that cannot be your plan, right? You can plan to develop guys, but you cannot like put all of your, all of your, all of the marbles. It can't be all the marbles. I'm crossing up my metaphors now. You cannot bank on those guys with marbles. That's right.

Starting point is 00:27:13 Can't take those guys to the marble bank, man. That's right. I think it's, so Bengals Sands wrote something on Bengalstalk.com breaking down all of the McKinley Jackson snaps and his rookie year. And he said he could, his high end could be Larry Ogun Joby. And to your point, that would be great. You can't bank on that. You can't bank on Chris Jenkins to hit his high end, whatever that is.

Starting point is 00:27:40 Maybe that's souped up B.J. Hill and on an even better level, who knows? You can't bank on that. And I expect this to be a position they address in free agency and the draft. Because you need bodies. you can't be calling Lawrence Guy in week three. Like, hey, Lawrence, please save us. Like, think about that. Like, they had to give him a ton of snaps,

Starting point is 00:28:03 and then he got cut by mid-year. That cannot be. And Zach Carter was playing so much. Like, Lawrence Guy played 90-snapp. Zach Carter played 150 snaps in four games. And so the other element here is obviously the evaluation to tie our entire conversation together. And so whether it's Trey Brown,

Starting point is 00:28:21 whether it's out golden, whether it's jerry montgomery you better evaluate these guys properly you better vet out the veterans like a sheldon rankins who is on his third team in three years maybe there's a reason why right and so and by the way the texans really wanted him and they were trying to keep him so it's hard to say with free agency but it's also hard to get it right and so you can't leave any stone unturned with these guys you got to find the right guys and you have to find the right guys and you have to have to get it right. It's why they went to back-to-back AFC championship games in 21 to 22. If they want to get back

Starting point is 00:28:59 there, you better get it right in March, you better get it right in April and evaluating defensive tackle defensive line is going to be a huge part of that. I would not be opposed to them adding a pass rush specialist or somebody to work with the edge guys as well. Even if it's like an assistant defensive line coach, the way we see with the assistant offensive line coach, let me ask you one quick question here james before we go and you can tell me if you think there's anything to this or not the bengals have hired three coaches away from one of the worst teams in the

Starting point is 00:29:31 national football league in 2024 obviously we've talked a lot about scott peters did a full episode talking about what we think is going on with him last week obviously there's a longer track record to jerry montgomery than his year in new england but what are your general thoughts or do you give any thought to the fact that these coaches come from New England? Not really. I don't because they were all there for this past year. It was, that was such a weird year in New England and a weird staff. Like offensive line-wise, and I said this last week,

Starting point is 00:30:10 they were talking about not playing their top pick at all because they were worried about the offensive line from a talent perspective. that's the nightmare like that's a nightmare to have that discussion and then on the other side of it look jerry montgomery he might be good but it clearly wasn't working at a high level in new england um but maybe he would have gotten a second year had they not brought in a guy like mike rable maybe scott peters would have gotten a second year had they not brought in a guy like mike rable who clearly was going to bring back josh macdainiels who clearly had guys that he was targeting to build his staff it's it's a tough situation

Starting point is 00:30:45 So, like, it's the same for Marion Hobby, for example. I don't know if he's a bad coach. Like, I don't know. It didn't work out here. Like, Lou, do I think Lou's bad? No, it didn't work out here. I'm not sure if it's going to work in India or not. But I don't think that they should necessarily not get coaching jobs.

Starting point is 00:31:04 So the fit matters so much. Who you pick matter so much. Like, Marion Hobby shouldn't get blamed for not getting more out of Zach Carter. Zach Carter. They shouldn't have picked him. It was dumb. Never should have picked them. Never felt like the right pick.

Starting point is 00:31:18 And so there's a balance there, I guess. So I don't really, I'm not like, oh my God, they're from New England. It's not going to work. Put it that way. I think you got to look at the talent on both sides of the ball. Christian Barmore was hurt last year. And you look at the defensive interior players that played the most snaps for New England. You've got an undrafted free agent.

Starting point is 00:31:36 You've got a fifth round pick and you've got an undrafted free agent. You got a couple undrafted free agents that are that have bounced around a little bit. One of them had been with New England for four years, but was on three teams in his NFL career and the second year on draft of free agent and Davin Godchow who went from New England or from Miami to New England as a fifth round pick. So it's not like there's a wealth of talent

Starting point is 00:31:58 on that defensive front in terms of pedigree in New England. And the one guy that had it, Keaum White's second round pick recently, played pretty well for them. And so there's something to be said, about the talent that you have available to you there's also something to be said about getting the most out of limited talent but when you're talking college free agents and guys

Starting point is 00:32:24 off the street I mean we've seen in Cincinnati how hard that how hard it is it to get a functional defense going when you're talking about that level of pedigree in the trenches yeah it's tough hopefully they got it right I'm I'm open to these guys I also think that it's it's going to be it's not going to be easy for of them because it's either developing guys and getting more out of guys that are part of why they fired a lot of the defensive staff or on offense. It's maximizing an offensive line that's going to be asked to drop back a lot. And that's a tough position to be in. None of these guys are part of a first year coaching regime. This is like we've talked about Philly so many times or I've brought up

Starting point is 00:33:07 Philly so many times. This is a Philly kind of thing where you're in the middle of your contention window and you're trying to write the ship after a disappointing season. Really, two disappointing seasons, but one of them we can chalk up to Joe Burroughs injury. But we're going to hear from Al Golden on Monday. So maybe you've heard from him a little bit already with the Bengals media, Bengals, Bengals. Benagles.com, Dan Hordes podcast. We'll hear from Al Golden on Monday as he meets with the media in Cincinnati for his introductory press conference and senior bowls this week, James.

Starting point is 00:33:40 Is that right? Senior Bowl? The shrine game going on? The All-Shroud games? going on as is time to start thinking about that draft a little bit more, James. Plenty to talk about this week here as we continue into the offseason on lockdown Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening. Ho-Day and have a good one.

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