Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Make Questionable Decision, O-Line Officially a Need Going Into NFL Draft

Starting point is 00:00:00 In a move that we can't really explain the Cincinnati Bengals have moved on from Backup Center, Matt Lee. And that means that's a bigger need than it was yesterday. Let's get into it. 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. He's James Rapine. I'm Jake Liscoe. We are your host of Lockdown Bengals.

Starting point is 00:00:35 going to get to a topic today that we won't have a whole lot of time to talk about between now and the draft, and that is what we think the Bengals could do that could surprise many people who are following this team and projecting the Bengals draft path. But we're going to start today with the Bengals release of Matt Lee. And this happened before we talked to Mike Renner for the most recent show we did. And so we haven't had a chance to talk about it, James and especially and there were a lot of people James in the locked on bengals insider subscription group join subtext.com slash lockdown bengals who when they saw this news when we when we sent out the text we're like why why now what's the possible explanation for are they opening a roster spot

Starting point is 00:01:21 no that doesn't really make sense they have 90 roster spots in the off season it's not like they need that money for anything he was a late round pick really hard to understand why this move would come now. Outside of that, and we told the insiders this a couple of days ago, like the Bengals coaching staff has never seemed to buy into Matt Lee. But even then, why are we making this move now before the offseason program

Starting point is 00:01:46 and not bringing him into training camp to let him compete? It's really hard to make sense of it, James. Yeah, it's hard to make sense of it when you look at what he was, a cost-controlled former seventh round pick that, yeah, deserved to be, or deserved is the wrong word, but theoretically would have been battling for a roster spot. And it felt like that's where he was going to be, not guaranteed after his injuries

Starting point is 00:02:13 last year, but someone that when he was drafted, we were both excited about. And I think that's part of it here is clearly we were more excited than the Bengals were about Matt Lee, about his potential, about his pedigree. And part of that pedigree was in the analytics side of it in his past blocking chops. And yeah, size on paper was an issue for Matt Lee, but I think he handled himself well. And the bummer for me,

Starting point is 00:02:43 at least as of now, and we don't know, maybe there is another reason. But I felt like I built a pretty good relationship with Matt Lee over the first two years of his NFL career. And he just feels like an offensive lineman. Talks like an offensive lineman, looks like an offensive lineman,

Starting point is 00:02:58 it carries himself like an offensive line. Like wouldn't be shocked at off. he catches on somewhere and plays at some point and is able to extend this NFL career far beyond two seasons. So I don't think his NFL career is over by any means. And so if you look at this Bengals Center room, it's Ted Karras and dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot. No one near the Matt Lee pedigree. And even though he was a seventh round pick, it seemed like he would at least be battling for the backup center spot, but that's not the case. Yeah, and the only other center on the roster right now, as far as I know, is Jacob Baer.

Starting point is 00:03:38 And the only other interior lineman backup they have are Jalen Rivers and Cody Ford. Neither of those guys play center. I don't think that they've ever practiced at center. They're both tackle guard hybrids, if they're going to be hybrids. Rivers snapped a little at the senior bowl, like snapped. So that's where it ended because I don't think. He snapped for the Bengals. I just want to put it out there so everyone's aware.

Starting point is 00:04:04 And if that's the plan, great. Like maybe that's where they think Jaylen Rivers' best home is. Maybe that works out. I don't think that that can be your only answer. And it's interesting because this is like historically a bit of a theme in the last, what, two decades with the Bengals and interior offensive linemen that fans have liked more than the team or we who watch the team closely have maybe liked more than the team. Evan Mathis, of course, the most notable of these. But like much smaller examples as well, Ben Brown played meaningful snaps for the New England Patriots last year.

Starting point is 00:04:38 He came off the bench and played for the New England Patriots last week, played against the Bengals in week 12 last year. And of course, he was with the Bengals on preseason rosters in 2022 and 2023. So it took him a while, but he's getting regular season snaps now the last couple of years with New England. And of course, New England's offensive line in 2024 is terrible. and he was part of an offensive line that was really bad, but he was serviceable this year. So there was that one, there was the whole Christian Westerman saga,

Starting point is 00:05:09 and maybe that's the most similar one, where Westerman never got a real shot, but like Matt Lee, when we saw him on the field and preseason action for the most part, like he looked good. And when we did get the opportunity to see him play, it looked good. And that was the same for Matt Lee.

Starting point is 00:05:25 When we saw him play in the preseason, didn't really appear that there were any, He looked like he belonged in the NFL. He looked like he moved really, really well and was very athletic and technically sound as an undersized center and what we thought he would be. So whether it was an injury thing, whether there's some interpersonal thing, whether there's some other reason for this that we are not privy to as of now. Maybe we'll never learn it.

Starting point is 00:05:49 Maybe we will. As of today, Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday evening, really hard to come up with an explanation that makes sense. Is there anything that you can think of, Jane? that is like, yeah, no, that could be an explanation for why this is happening right now in April, before the draft, before the offseason program opens? No, no, because even if you were going to sign someone, right? Like, even if you were going to sign someone, then you'd say, all right, well, they can battle

Starting point is 00:06:16 with Matt Lee. Like, there's no real scenario, especially after Lucas Patrick gets scooped up. Like, maybe it was that, like, oh, well, they're going to bring Lucas Patrick back. They know they want one anyway. They're just out on Matt Lee, but without something super unforeseen that I'm not going to speculate about because why would I speculate about something that we have no idea of, like, unless something crazy bad happened. Or, I mean, it wasn't an injury designation. So it wasn't that.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Like, no, the answer is no. Very strange. Very strange timing. He was a Centroly. Now, like I said, the guy on the roster right now is Jacob Bayer, who if you haven't heard us talk about, him. He was on Buffalo's team until he was waived in August last year. The Bengals signed him to the practice squad in November. And then they brought him back, I think, on a futures contract. So he would be entering, I believe, his second year. He was a college free agent with the

Starting point is 00:07:15 bills last year. They signed him as a college free agent out of Arkansas State. So that's it. And I think one thing that that underlines is that there is a need for an interior offensive I'm in backup or at least a backup center. If you think that Jaylor Rivers and Cody Ford can be your primary guard backups, you could talk me into the Bengals believing that that is a good path, right? I would like to see them get better there. That's common to many, many NFL teams, but very, very clearly, I think there is a need for a backup center at this point.

Starting point is 00:07:51 And ideally, the Bengals, we know they love their versatility, as do most teams, are looking for somebody that can do a little bit of center, to guard. And let's talk about where that need might be filled. Is that a direction that we think they may go now early-ish, early-ish-ish being a key part of that statement in the draft here? Let's discuss that need that the Bengals have to back up Ted Karris and maybe develop to succeed Ted Karris coming up next. Today's show is brought to by Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sports book. And look, the NBA playoffs are here. My Golden State will Warriors, and I say this because, well, I'm the biggest Steph Curry fan outside of Joe

Starting point is 00:08:34 Danneman in Cincinnati, well, they have the 10 seed, and they're in the play-in, and they need to win multiple road games, and maybe Steph can do it now that he's back. But whether you think you can or can't, Fandle is the place to wager on all things NBA. You can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. The app makes it easy to follow all the action with player stats, trends, matchups in one place. And during the playoffs, that extra insight matters when you're looking at stars role players key moments check it all out now at fandle.com and take advantage all NBA playoffs wrong again that's fandle.com to get started fandle play your game when i was talking to mike runner about this draft class a little bit yesterday james we talked about

Starting point is 00:09:22 linebacker depth still something that he really believes in and because of the matt lee release we talked a little bit about interior offensive line depth in this class and where the sweet spot is late day two early day three maybe the sweet spot for it what's the earliest you think you can see the bengals going if they decide to go the draft direction here lucas patrick no longer available obviously someone they were familiar with if they look to the draft to find the developmental center who can back up this year how early would it be for it to be a surprise and where would you start to expect it well surprise would be yawani right Can you play center?

Starting point is 00:10:04 You know, well, interior line in general. Can he play center? I would imagine no. Center would be round three, right? Like maybe you felt like it's, no, it would have to be round three, I think, would be the earliest. But honestly, it's funny. We had this conversation two shows ago, three shows ago. Like, oh, it's hard for me to see offense in round two.

Starting point is 00:10:27 And now it's like, oh, well, could you see the trade down? and then the interior offensive linemen go there and be the center of the future. I do wonder, part of it is going to be the position flex part of it. If you think this guy can contribute in other spots and other areas, because I don't think they're going to just go either one only. If you're taking a guard or a center on day two, you want that guy to be able to do both and give you some ability there. least have some of that that flex whether it's tackled to guard or guard to to center so that's where

Starting point is 00:11:07 I think it would be I think the sweet spot honestly is probably that fourth round pick or or you got two sixes and two sevens it can you turn one of those sixes or both of those sixes into like a low five to get a center like centers are found in the fifth round all the time that are backups that develop into starters that's part of why we thought Matt Lee could be that Matt is because he was kind of like a fifth round pick that fell to the round seven because of his size, I imagine. And the Bengals were just never in love with Matt Lee the way I think a lot of people viewed him. Well, can they find that guy in round six? Maybe they can't.

Starting point is 00:11:46 But round four would seem like that. Like if you're projecting Ted Carras future replacement, I'd say you'd probably want to get him by round four. otherwise it's such a role of the dice that we could be seeing another year extension for Ted, which by the way could certainly be on the table as well. Yeah, it could be either way. I think the earliest you see a true center get drafted by the Bengals is probably the third round. I think that's probably the ceiling for a lot of these guys, maybe Slaughter. He's Consensus 109, according to the data we're tracking right now.

Starting point is 00:12:18 The top consensus centers, Connor Liu out of Auburn at 74. Sam Hect from Kansas State, 89, Logan Jones, 93. Jake Slaughter 109 and from Cincinnati, Brian Parker played tackle at Duke, but projects. We talked with Mike Renner about this yesterday. Maybe his best NFL position is center. And he's 110 on consensus. After that, big drop off to Parker Brailsford out of Alabama, 146 and Pat Coogan out of

Starting point is 00:12:47 Indiana, 173, 174 on the consensus board. So yeah, you're looking at the earliest three, maybe hoping one of those guys get to round four and the Bengals picking obviously 12 picks into round four because that's where it loops back down to them picking 12 right in the round or does a snake back? I don't remember actually how it works after the third round. They pick 110. They pick 110 overall. So that's right in the range of Jake Slaughter, Brian Parker, if those guys go where consensus

Starting point is 00:13:18 has them and that can make sense. But to your point, if they choose to go interior offensive line and prioritize in general, like Dalton risers on a one year relatively cheap deal and they think they can get better there, they think they can find a successor there. Yeah, probably Yawani. In the first round, maybe Spencer Fano.

Starting point is 00:13:37 In the first round, if they think he can play guard and is a guard in the NFL. If Maui Noah is available, he looks like he's going in the top five, but it's hard to say which offensive linemen, probably one, but which offensive linemen, at least one, will go in the top 10. if those guys are there at 10,

Starting point is 00:13:56 that would be the earliest and that would be a surprise. I'm with you there. I think that would be a surprise but in round two, if there's a guy they love. Yeah. I think that's,

Starting point is 00:14:05 it would be a little surprising maybe because you're talking about a probably guard only player there, but if there's a guy they love, I wouldn't be entirely shocked. Yeah. Well, Keel and Retledge, right,

Starting point is 00:14:19 is a day two guy that a lot of people have mentioned and talked about. And so, yeah, like, where is that line? I think to me, the trade down scenario in round two could certainly be appealing if that's what they're targeting. And if they have like four defensive players, they're down to draft and three offensive players and two of them are a lineman. And they trade down six spots. And the lineman's there. Like, that might be the path where they do that.

Starting point is 00:14:53 and then they still have another fourth or fifth round pick to work with to address some of their other needs. It would not shock me at all if that's what they do. And look, the offensive line, like we've felt, I've felt the best about it. I think you two, the best about it in an offseason quite some time, but the depth is lacking. They have no swing tackle that you feel good about. You have to mention Cody Ford now as an interior backup Because their lack of interior backup depth And so

Starting point is 00:15:28 When does offensive line become a serious contender? I think it is as early as 10 as like a surprise But would they completely ignore it If the right guy's there? No, I don't think they would Trade down in round one. I certainly think it would be on the table. Round two? Sure. And then by round three, it's like, yeah, it's certainly in play. And part of this is because

Starting point is 00:15:51 you see how valuable it can be. Like think about Dylan Fairchild. They get him last year how valuable it is to have this guy now that you just feel really confident in on a rookie deal. And if you could get the next Dylan Fairchild on the other side, even if

Starting point is 00:16:08 he is playing behind proven guys in Reisner and then maybe he has that center flexibility playing behind Ted, well, that's pretty darn valuable if you have a young guy backing up both of those spots. I wonder how the Bengals feel about some of these centers in terms of their position flex. When I talked to Mike yesterday, he felt that a lot of these guys are just straight up centers or just straight up guards.

Starting point is 00:16:32 And not necessarily a ton of perceived versatility, but obviously NFL teams will always see it differently than the evaluator, the various evaluators in the world, everybody putting together their own rankings. And obviously really respect Mike's opinion. That's how we had him on. but Emmanuel Pregnone in the second round out of Oregon, an older player, but consensus 42, that one shouldn't surprise anyone to go along with Keelan Rutledge, Chase Besontas from Texas A&M just throw out a couple names. It could definitely be in playing the second round. There's definitely a bit of a gap at tackle.

Starting point is 00:17:05 Like I'd be surprised if tackle is something that they're really considering at 41 because I don't expect Max a he and a chore from Arizona State or Blake Miller from Clemson to necessarily be available, and those would be the guys that you consider before there's a big gap, and then you're considering you again in the third round. But, yeah, I mean, we're talking about Cody Ford is your swing tackle again right now, who also maybe is your first offensive lineman at the bench for four positions. And I feel the same way about Cody Ford now as I did last year

Starting point is 00:17:36 with a little bit of a soft spot for his receiving ability, but like no change in how I feel about Cody Ford being the first offensive lineman off the bench. Like if you're your second offensive linemen off the bench, is your super flex backup. Like you have a primary interior backup at a primary swing tackle. And Cody Ford is that eighth guy, that second sub at interior position or a tackle, then fine.

Starting point is 00:17:59 I think that's a good player to have on your team. But for the role they have him in, yeah, I would be looking to upgrade there. If I'm the Bengals, and then you're talking about the limited resources they have available to them at this point in the process to really make a significant move there.

Starting point is 00:18:14 Yeah, and I do wonder, like you look at it, eight are active. Seven of them that are going to be active are the five starters, Rivers, and Ford. And so maybe they think Rivers is going, it's one of two things, like the positional flex, and they need a center that can snap, a backup center that can snap and play elsewhere, and maybe that is Rivers, or they feel like they need to find that. And that's it because eight are up. And I would be surprised at this stage of Ford isn't one of those eight. Obviously, there's always injuries and always things that you need to take into consideration.

Starting point is 00:18:47 But man, when you do the math there, maybe that's why they were like, yeah, Matt Lee, it's time. It still feels odd timing because there was just no need to do it. Yeah. Get through the preseason. Get through the preseason. It didn't happen. Why now? Maybe we'll get answers eventually.

Starting point is 00:19:03 But yeah, wouldn't be shocked if Matt Lee is signed by someone soon. Maybe he waits until after the draft to see how things play out. But we need to continue the draft conversation with some potential surprises. What could be surprising in this year's NFL draft, which depending on when you're listening, is just two weeks away. We'll get to that coming up next. This episode of Lockdown Bank was sponsored by TurboTax. It's tax time.

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Starting point is 00:20:09 walking in and meeting a real person and walking out, knowing your tax, are being handled right. Head to turbotax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment. All right, Jake, let's get to some potential draft surprises and being trench man and spending 20 minutes on the trenches. This one's going to surprise you. One thing that would surprise a lot of Bengals fans, if they picked a wide receiver in round two,

Starting point is 00:20:42 I think wide receiver could be in play as early as round two. I'm not buying that they're in on Carnell Tate at 10 or Mackay Lemon at 10, but I do think that wide receiver in round two would surprise a lot of people. And while I think it's unlikely, I do think they're a possibility of one of the, you know, Skylar Bell, for example, the other Bell from Louisville, Chris Bell, someone like that that they really, really like, especially in the trade down scenario we mentioned before,

Starting point is 00:21:11 where they go from 41 to 47 or something, I could totally see them being in on a past catcher earlier than people think. And the Bengals have had some interest in, say, Chris Berzel from Tennessee, who's being discussed in the second round. You mentioned Chris Bell. There are a number of players that the Bengals have paid attention to in the pre-draft process of wide receiver. We don't have, as far as I can tell, any 30 visits reported for the Bengals with any wide receivers that I have seen so far, the way that we've seen them really pay attention to running back.

Starting point is 00:21:41 and most of those being day three projected running backs, Kalin Black and Jaden Ott from Indiana and Oklahoma, respectively. Obviously, the Jeremiah Love is that we talked about earlier this week, the one early round running back in a running back class. It doesn't have a ton in the middle class. It's Jeremiah Love, huge gap, Jadarian price. For most people, I think another gap before you get to the next set of guys.

Starting point is 00:22:05 But, yeah, wide receiver in the second round, I think would be a surprise, but is something that would be feasible. Like you can see that happening. You can see them being overwhelmed with an evaluation for a guy. I do still think, we talked about this a couple days ago, it will be a surprise. It would be a surprise to me too because of the way things look like they're going to line up. And maybe it doesn't play out this way.

Starting point is 00:22:33 But the way it looks like it's going to line up for the Bengals second round pick, like it just looks like there will be. a really strong candidate on the defensive side of the ball. But if they were going to go offense there, we just talked about the interior offensive line. I mean, they were so healthy on the offensive line last year. You mentioned how good we felt about the offensive line, how good we feel about the offensive line right now.

Starting point is 00:22:54 A lot of that's because they were really healthy last year. And they got to put the same five guys on the field at an above average rate. And so interior offensive line, offensive line in general shouldn't be surprising on day two. I think that tight end would be pretty surprising on day two, just sticking with an offensive skill position here, tight end running back. Those would also be surprises that I think are probably less likely.

Starting point is 00:23:20 Like it's Max Claire if he's there for the Bengals third round pick. And that's the one that we have probably discussed a little bit more than other possibilities on day two. But running back tight end on day two, those would be bigger surprises, I think, than wide receiver that if we're talking about the skill positions on offense I would be a little bit less I think it's just less easy to see the path to them picking those spots yeah I totally get it and it's it's one of those things where they've they've had a lot

Starting point is 00:23:56 of success in round two in general but it it would not it would not shock me like the the germane Burton draft. They were in on wide receiver earlier if that right wide receiver would have been there. Obviously, they went with Chris Jenkins Jr. And then they took the big swing on Jermaine Burton. But we knew that. We tried to prepare people for that. I don't feel as strongly this year about that.

Starting point is 00:24:21 That doesn't mean that they're just completely canceling out receiver or tight end. I don't think that. But I just think, man, do they, I think they feel, and this is the worst way to draft. but it in my opinion but I think there's a real desire and need on defense like they feel it and and that doesn't mean that they're going to completely ignore the jeremiah loves of the world obviously he visited this week but you get my point and this is show number 12 in a row of me mentioning jeremiah love at some point but so you can't force force defense and they know that but i just think there's such a a thirst for it that in round two exactly that's the word that i've been

Starting point is 00:25:01 waiting for you to stop talking so I can say thirst like it goes it takes me back to giovanni bernard and running back thirst that's the first time I thought about the bengals and thirst and and the geo bernard pick yeah and boy did they need it boy did they need that pick at the time uh you play out giovanni bernard's career uh in a lot of different ways and he's actually much better than it ended up being and it was still a good career but um really really talented and explosive uh early on in this career so that being said uh that would not try me. You know what would shock me and it would be a surprise. I'm just going to mention it. And I actually, I don't think it would, it would surprise me more if they used a day two pick on a

Starting point is 00:25:41 running back than the 10th pick. Yep. I think I agree with you. Because like are they are they really picking Judarian Price in the second round? No. I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah. Because no, it's like you're either taking the freak or you're taking a day three guy. And like I said, there's like no real middle class for it this year. And so that makes it so unlikely on day two. Let's talk about a couple of other things that I think would be surprising, but I could talk myself into seeing the path or seeing the direction to get here. And it would be, there's a couple of directions we can go here. One, we can talk about trades a little bit. I don't know how much time we'll have to talk about trade scenarios. It's a very hot topic, I think, in the last couple of days from what

Starting point is 00:26:25 I've seen people talking about on social media. So there's some trade scenarios that I would still be surprised by because of the Bengals track record of being inactive in draft day maneuvering. But also the other thing that I think could be interesting is how surprising would it be if they drafted zero safeties? How surprising would it be if they came away with zero players at a position where we're like, yeah, we think they're going to try to attack that spot because we've talked about they could use a slot defender for sure. They could use a corner, especially if you don't think they're going to pay both corners, which is a thing that James and I wouldn't agree with,

Starting point is 00:27:04 but it's something that the Bengals have certainly done in the past. So you could talk yourself into needing a corner for the future. Edge rush help, for sure. Defensive tackle help, for sure. Linebacker help, for sure. But they only have four real picks before you get to the six-and-seventh-down picks. You know? So one of those things probably doesn't get addressed in a significant way.

Starting point is 00:27:23 And if they choose a double-dip anywhere, pick a couple players on the offensive side of the ball. maybe one of these doesn't get addressed at all. And those are a couple of things that I think we should be preparing ourselves for as potential outcomes of this draft. Yeah. Yes. Not everything is going to get addressed.

Starting point is 00:27:42 It's been a theme and it's unfortunate. It's why I was so critical of free agency is now there's too many things because future needs and current needs, you blend those together and you you want to address future needs in the draft in an ideal world and add to your depth and add impact players. And add the best players you can and try to not be forced to pick for needs so much. Draft players, not positions. It's a simple, I mean, I default to it every year because it's just, it's so simple.

Starting point is 00:28:17 You know, I went down a rabbit hole the other day trying to find the first time that those words were like printed or said. I couldn't find it. I think it's been at least 15 years. And I don't remember the original. I'll see if I can find it while you finish up. I'm the original. I made it up.

Starting point is 00:28:34 I didn't see it anywhere, just to be clear. I'm serious. I'm not kidding. You might have had the thought independently, but someone said it before you for sure. I'm sure because they're old in those old heads are the ones that drafted 10 out of the, the Bengals have spent 10 of their last 13 picks on day one and day two on defense. Everyone's talking about how crappy their defense is.

Starting point is 00:28:56 I'll say it again, 10 of their last 13 picks. And then the other three were Germain Burton, Amaris Mims, Dylan Fairchild. So you're two out of three on the other ones, but like, just awful. And so if that doesn't tell you that you have to get the player right

Starting point is 00:29:14 and this idea that need, need, no, like you have to get the player right. Like I would rather Sonny Stiles if he's right than David Bailey, if David Bailey's wrong, I don't care that he plays linebacker. Same thing goes for Caleb Downs. The same thing goes for Jeremiah Love. The same thing goes for insert whoever.

Starting point is 00:29:32 And it's such a basic thing. Now, after that, of course, would you rather have the edge rusher that's really, really hard to find or the defensive tackle that's really, of course. But at a pure baseline, it's such a simple thing. And they've tried so hard to fix this defense with these draft picks. And some of them have been okay. But there are no stars as of now. and that's a tough spot to be in. So, yeah, draft players, not positions.

Starting point is 00:30:00 And it's just been delayed development too. In addition to just like some of the guys that aren't necessarily living up to the draft status in the first place. But the delayed development, the delayed path to getting these guys on the field. But maybe that's where the tradeback does come into play. Jeff Hobson just traded back in his latest Bengals media roundtable mock that he does where he nasty work recruits yeah i mean i didn't love the pick but uh traded back uh what to the 16 was it nasty it's all nasty don't do it you got you got others in and prominent bengal's media spots really talking about the tradeback scenario this week uh so maybe that's how if you can

Starting point is 00:30:42 pull it off and still get the player that you want and hopefully it's not a player that we don't want that that will be a way for them to to target some more of these spots but when you draft for need as Joe Goodberry points out, that's where you draft from the weakness of the draft class. You draft guys, you thrust them into roles that they maybe aren't appropriate for, and you end up still having the needs. Drafts the two linebackers last year still need a linebacker. How did that work out? You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:31:07 I've drafted all these guys on the defensive centerball. Still need defensive tackle help. Still need to edge help. And we're still talking about these positions of need that they've drafted and with premium picks. And so sometimes you've got to try to get the best players that you can to earn. earliest reference that I can find, James, on the internet of the words you draft players, not positions was incidentally, 2013 on the Steelers SB Nation site of all places. I don't think that's where you got it.

Starting point is 00:31:38 No, draft players, not positions, not you draft. Draft players, not positions. TM, trademarked. Good luck with that one. That's going to know for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast coming up in our next episode we're going to get into our position targets by rounds series. We're going to start with tight end. We're going to talk with Max Descano about tight ends. We're going to talk to Joe Goodberry about a bunch of defensive positions over the next week. And then it'll be draft week. We're

Starting point is 00:32:08 getting you ready. You're in the right place. Until next time, thanks for listening to this episode of the lockdown Bengals podcast. Ho day and have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Make Questionable Decision, O-Line Officially a Need Going Into NFL Draft

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